“How long do you think that can last?It’s just you, even with staff.”
“There are lots of caterers out there and private chefs.I’m kind of a mix of both.Are you worried that I won’t be able to pay rent?”
“No, I’m just trying to look out for you,” Carter brushed his fingers over her hand again.“We have a lot in common.I know you’ve resisted spending time with me, but if you’re working less, there’ll be no excuses.”
“Carter, I told you I’m not interested in dating.”
He moved even closer to her, his chair scraped along the floor.“If you had more help, I think you’d reconsider that.I like you, Josie.”
Her stomach tumbled to the floor and suddenly she wished she had listened to Cecilia and cut ties with him.
“I like you as a friend, Carter, nothing more.”
“You say that now.”
“Excuse me,” a server interrupted them and placed an app tray in front of them.
“Perfect.”Carter picked up a piece of calamari with his fingers and held it out to Josie.
“Not right now.”
“You got to try it!”Carter squeezed her arm.
“No, I’m fine.”She shuffled back in her chair.
“Okay, but Josie, think about it.You’ve been too stressed.I know you have staff but only two-part timers.Look, here’s my friend now.”
A tall man with grey hair patted Carter on the shoulder.
“Hey Jared, this is Josie.Two J’s, isn’t that fate?”Carter did that obnoxious, fake laugh thing again.
“This is your friend?”Josie glanced at the man in the suit, her cheeks hot.She shouldn’t have assumed Carter’s ‘friend’ would have been a female but that’s what she had pictured when Carter asked her to meet his friend tonight.
“The friend I was telling you about,” Carter said.
Jared sat down next to her, so now she was sandwiched between the two of them.“Nice to meet you.Carter has told me a lot about you.”
“He’s the friend who wants to start a catering business?”
The two men exchanged a look that made her feel very small, and she wished she was anywhere else but here.
“I might have exaggerated,” Carter said.
Jared laughed and slapped Carter on the back.“All you had to tell her is I know how to make restaurants successful.”
The place was starting to pick up and behind them at the bar she felt the press of people surrounding her.
“I should go.I have lots of work tomorrow.You guys know how it is.”Josie lifted herself from the table to stand.
Carter practically pushed on her shoulder until she was sitting back down.“Stay.Look, Jared is an expert.He increases a restaurant’s productivity and I want you to hear his ideas for Josie’s Plates.”
Her stomach churned.This stranger was here to tell her how to run her business?The business she started in her mother’s kitchen while she was sending our resumes to fine dining restaurants?The business that her mother’s friends raved about and the one that Ares supported?
She shook her head.“No, that’s fine.I’m going to call it a night.Thanks for the thought, Carter, but I’m happy with how my business is going at the moment and I don’t need anything else.”
17 ARES
“Your new mercenaries are keeping their noses clean,” Alica Doyle glanced up from her screen, giving him a wry smile.
