Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
She planned to hang up before he answered. The first time she spoke to Zach in eleven years had to happen in person and she needed the element of surprise on her side. Maybe then he’d be so happy to see her again, he wouldn’t throw her out before she had a chance to explain her sudden disappearance.
* * *
Zach Dare sat on a barstool, watching in amusement as his niece, Leah, ripped open her birthday gifts with all the exuberance of a seven-year-old. He was surprised her accompanying squeals hadn’t yet shattered someone’s eardrums.
The good news of the day was she’d had a party for just her friends last weekend and though Zach had stopped by, he hadn’t had to deal with all the kids running around and shrieking. Because why speak when yelling was so much fun?
Leah’s father and Zach’s brother, Nick, hushed her while stuffing the wrapping paper into a big garbage bag, trying his best to keep up with the mess. Nick’s wife, Aurora, held their ten-month-old daughter, Ellie, on her lap while writing down who brought each present. The rest of his massive family gathered around, talking and laughing with their significant others, their children and various family friends.
Zach strode over to Remy, his longtime friend and more recently, his business partner. Last year, Remy had retired from his position as a New York City detective and bought into both of Zach’s businesses. Together they ran two bars, one in the city and the other in East Hampton, along with a private investigation business.
But there was more to Remy than being a former cop. He kept a low profile but Remington Sterling was one of The Sterlings, a family with old-money wealth thanks to a financial equity firm going back generations and real estate holdings all over Manhattan. But like Zach, Remy was wealthy in his own right thanks to a joint venture that had begun back in their college days.
“Hey,” Zach said to his friend.
Remy looked up from the iPad he’d been viewing. “Hi. The birthday girl looks like she’s having fun. Sounds like it too,” he said with a grin.
“Thanks for shutting the restaurant so my family could have a party for Leah,” Zach said.
“She calls me Uncle Remy. How could I say no?” Remy asked, chuckling.
Zach grinned. “She does know how to wrap the men of the family around her finger, doesn’t she?”
His friend laughed.
“Drink?” Zach walked behind the bar to get himself a soda.
“Diet.”
Using the fountain gun, he filled two glasses and slid one across the bar.
He lifted the other for himself and walked back to a stool, taking a seat beside Remy. He faced the alcohol bottles lined up on shelves which were bolted into the wall behind the bar. His family’s Dirty Dare brand of spirits took up most of the space and Zach was damned proud. Both of his siblings, their lives and careers, as well as his own.
He took a gulp from his glass, wishing he’d remembered to grab straws.
“So how was your date last night?” Remy asked.
At the question, Zach choked on his soda. “There was no date,” he managed to say as he wiped his eyes, which had watered from swallowing wrong.
An attractive bar regular had invited him out to dinner. “I said no, remember? She’s not my type,” he muttered. But she had been pushy and hadn’t liked being turned down.
Remy took a long sip of his drink. “While we’re discussing your type, quit hitting on Raven,” he said of the woman who’d been a server at the New York City location for a couple of years.
Raven had seen the Help Wanted sign in the window, walked into the bar and handed him two references. One had been from a restaurant where she’d waitressed, the other from a bar where she’d mixed drinks and served. After Zach verified her references, he’d rented her the apartment upstairs and hired her as a server.
She’d provided excellent service to the customers and had become an invaluable employee and friend. She was so good that after Remy had become his partner, and they’d opened a second location last year, they’d promoted Raven to manager. Remy held down the fort in Manhattan and Zach managed the Hamptons.
Not once in the years she’d worked for him had Zach considered sleeping with her. It was Remy who had desired her from the second they’d met.
“Relax. Banter is our thing,” Zach reminded him. Whatever Raven’s hang-ups about getting involved with Remy, Zach was no threat.
“As long as you remember Raven isn’t your type either,” Remy muttered.
“I’m not interested in her and she sure as hell isn’t attracted to me,” he told his friend, realizing his behavior had gotten under his pal’s skin.
Remy nodded. “Yeah. It’s just… something’s bothering her and she’s not letting me in.”