Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set by Virna DePaul, Tawny Weber, Nina Bruhns, Charity Pineiro, Sophia Knightly, Susan Hatler, Kristin Miller
Authors: Virna DePaul, Tawny Weber, Nina Bruhns, Charity Pineiro, Sophia Knightly, Susan Hatler, Kristin Miller
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have you supervising the project." The budget was way too tight for that kind of vigilance and she was certain that between her and her two partners, they could oversee the work being done. Plus, she sensed she could trust Rey to do the right thing by them.
Anthony nodded. "I tell you what, Bianca. I'd like nothing more than to help you guys out. If you're willing to have me and my wife over for a free dinner one night, I'm yours."
"I'd planned on inviting you to our pre-opening bash. You're a friend, after all." Granted he was more David's friend than hers, but from the few times they had worked together on the plans, she sensed Anthony and his wife were decent and honest people.
"I'd love that, Bianca. And I'd love to drop by and see how the work is going as well as meet this artist of a contractor you've lucked into. I want to see if he's as good as he seems," he replied, giving her a hug as they exited David's study and returned to the living room, where about a half dozen or so people remained from the dinner earlier that night.
"Trying to steal my girl?" David teased as she and Anthony walked in arm-in-arm.
"Nah, David. I've got a beauty of my own," Anthony answered and hurried over to his wife, who smiled and shifted on the couch to make room for him.
David approached Bianca, hugged her, and then escorted her to the other sofa, where they sat together, holding hands.
The conversation with his friends was fun, although as she sat there, she realized that David really didn't participate. He was more of a listener and watcher, throwing out something every now and then to either get the conversation going again or turn it in a different direction.
It was an amazing skill which she hadn’t noticed before. It was also a little unnerving. It let him avoid any real involvement in what was going on. A different side of him for sure. When she was with him, he was all too eager to talk about himself and listen to her. She realized now that even though this was supposed to be a meeting of friends, that it was all-business David who sat beside her, taking notes on these people. A little weird and almost troublesome, she thought, half-wondering if when he was with her he was doing the same thing, but on a slightly different level.
Was he listening to her because he was really interested or because he was trying to learn how to get her to do what he wanted?
The remaining couples lingered for only another hour or so, but it was still well past one in the morning before they were all gone. Bianca wasn't looking forward to the end of the evening for a number of reasons, chief amongst them that she suspected that David would raise the issue of sleeping together again. He must have sensed her mood since when the time came he didn't press.
Like the gentleman that he usually was, the other night notwithstanding, he accompanied her down to street level where his doorman flagged a cab. After a kiss that did nothing to up her pulse, he helped her into the cab and waved as she drove away, leaving Bianca more confused than ever before about where this relationship was headed.
Chapter Five
Bianca stared at her laptop, wishing for a change in the numbers entered into the spreadsheet. No matter how she worked them, it still added up to them being short nearly twenty thousand dollars for the renovations, even given the low bid that Rey had submitted.
There was little room for slashing on the other items, since it was kind of hard to run a restaurant without pots, pans, dishes, and of course, the food.
They were lucky to be spared the expense of setting up a full bar and wine collection. There were a limited number of liquor licenses in Jersey and Eduardo's uncle had already sold his license off a long time ago. For the moment therefore, their restaurant was going to be strictly BYOB - bring your own bottle. That was actually a really good thing since diners could have a nice meal out without spending a fortune on the
Anthony nodded. "I tell you what, Bianca. I'd like nothing more than to help you guys out. If you're willing to have me and my wife over for a free dinner one night, I'm yours."
"I'd planned on inviting you to our pre-opening bash. You're a friend, after all." Granted he was more David's friend than hers, but from the few times they had worked together on the plans, she sensed Anthony and his wife were decent and honest people.
"I'd love that, Bianca. And I'd love to drop by and see how the work is going as well as meet this artist of a contractor you've lucked into. I want to see if he's as good as he seems," he replied, giving her a hug as they exited David's study and returned to the living room, where about a half dozen or so people remained from the dinner earlier that night.
"Trying to steal my girl?" David teased as she and Anthony walked in arm-in-arm.
"Nah, David. I've got a beauty of my own," Anthony answered and hurried over to his wife, who smiled and shifted on the couch to make room for him.
David approached Bianca, hugged her, and then escorted her to the other sofa, where they sat together, holding hands.
The conversation with his friends was fun, although as she sat there, she realized that David really didn't participate. He was more of a listener and watcher, throwing out something every now and then to either get the conversation going again or turn it in a different direction.
It was an amazing skill which she hadn’t noticed before. It was also a little unnerving. It let him avoid any real involvement in what was going on. A different side of him for sure. When she was with him, he was all too eager to talk about himself and listen to her. She realized now that even though this was supposed to be a meeting of friends, that it was all-business David who sat beside her, taking notes on these people. A little weird and almost troublesome, she thought, half-wondering if when he was with her he was doing the same thing, but on a slightly different level.
Was he listening to her because he was really interested or because he was trying to learn how to get her to do what he wanted?
The remaining couples lingered for only another hour or so, but it was still well past one in the morning before they were all gone. Bianca wasn't looking forward to the end of the evening for a number of reasons, chief amongst them that she suspected that David would raise the issue of sleeping together again. He must have sensed her mood since when the time came he didn't press.
Like the gentleman that he usually was, the other night notwithstanding, he accompanied her down to street level where his doorman flagged a cab. After a kiss that did nothing to up her pulse, he helped her into the cab and waved as she drove away, leaving Bianca more confused than ever before about where this relationship was headed.
Chapter Five
Bianca stared at her laptop, wishing for a change in the numbers entered into the spreadsheet. No matter how she worked them, it still added up to them being short nearly twenty thousand dollars for the renovations, even given the low bid that Rey had submitted.
There was little room for slashing on the other items, since it was kind of hard to run a restaurant without pots, pans, dishes, and of course, the food.
They were lucky to be spared the expense of setting up a full bar and wine collection. There were a limited number of liquor licenses in Jersey and Eduardo's uncle had already sold his license off a long time ago. For the moment therefore, their restaurant was going to be strictly BYOB - bring your own bottle. That was actually a really good thing since diners could have a nice meal out without spending a fortune on the
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