“Ha. Ha,” I gesture at Gage. “I didn’t maul her, at least.”
Gage snorts. “At least she didn’t grab my ass this time.”
Alessa laughs and follows Helena.
She sits us at a table with Gage and me on either side of Alessa before sitting across from us. “These are what I have so far,” she says, sliding design plans across the table. Alessa looks through them carefully, one at a time.
“These are excellent,” Alessa comments. “Can we expand this, though?” she slides a drawn-out picture of a bar back to Helena. “Maybe curve it around both sides, so we have more room.”
“Certainly,” Helena jumps up. “I almost forgot some samples came in.” She bustles out of the room with a swish of the green dress. I can’t help but like the woman.
“Is this your restaurant?” I ask. I knew she owned several, but I never put the connection together when she said she had a meeting.
“Yeah,” she smiles. “It’s the first one I’ve bought and designed. The other ones were Dad’s.”
“Can I look?” I ask, gesturing towards the plans. This is what I did in North Carolina. I helped the designers get everything up and running to make it successful and helped restaurants out of the red to survive.
She shrugs. “Sure.” She pushes them in front of me, and I look through them, impressed as hell.
“Is it themed?” I ask, looking at different looks that looked digitally made.
“Each Friday and Saturday, the staff will pick a different country,and we will make the dishes from that country, and also dress code for that night will be in the theme they picked.”
“Damn, baby. You came up with that?”
“Of course she did,” Gage answers, kicking back in his chair with an arm slung over the back of her chair. “Our girl is smart.”
“Our girl, huh?” she asks, looking at him.
“You’re damn right,” he answers without hesitation. She turns to me with a raised brow.
I shrug. “I have to agree with Gage.”
“Was I going to be consulted on this?” she asks.
Gage leans in close. “You were consulted the night we had our cocks inside you at the same time.”
She shrugs“Fair point.”
“Real classy, Gage,” I laugh.
“What can I say? I’m a real classy guy,” he replies, making me and Alessa snort with laughter. Gage is many things, but I don’t think classy was one of them. He just grins, not at all offended.
Helena busts back into the room with fabric laid over her arm. She lays them out in front of Alessa before saying she would give her time to look before disappearing again.
While thinking, she runs her hands over a shimmery gold and then a shimmery silver.
“Where do you want this to go?” I ask, trying to help. Gage is just content to watch her work.
“Over here.” She points to a picture of tables that sit to the side of the bar. “It’s VIP. It gives a sense of privacy but doesn’t close you off from the rest of the bar if you don’t want to be.” She points to a deep burgundy. “This one could be there too if you wanted the extra privacy. There are seven VIP booths and one large one in the middle for groups.”
I lay the gold with the burgundy before switching it to silver so she could see them together. “Silver,” we both say at the same time and then smile at each other.
“I can use the same burgundy for the tablecloths,” she says, mostly talking to herself.
Helena bustles back in. “Thoughts?”
“Silver and burgundy for the VIP drapes and burgundy for the tablecloths. Will you see about getting different ones for the themed nights? The burgundy can be used on weekdays.”
