"Mr. Benton? Mr. Benton?"Tomas asked on the other side of the phone.
And Ifinally managed to squeeze out,“What restaurant?”
CHAPTER27
Sunny
"And then,when I brought him my 50 Clubbin' State project, he just said, 'The profit margins in nightclubs don't warrant further investment outside our brand.' So, I ended up having to scrounge up the investment money myself. Do you know how embarrassing it was to have to walk around with my hat in my hand when I'm the scion of a major hospitality brand?"
Sigh.I glanced toward the Mexican restaurant's patio doors, hoping the waiter would return to the alfresco dining area with our orders so I'd actually have something interesting to do.
I didn’t want to use the word“boring”to describe Cole’s brother, but if the description fit...
Our food hadn't even arrived yet, and I was already beginning to deeply regret skipping lunch with Cole. This meal with Max Benton, who'd been talking nonstop about himself since we sat down, was the opposite of afternoon delight.
When I’d knocked on the door to Nora's house, Max—not his grandmother—had opened it.
"Aw, man, this is all my fault. Father Ted slipped down some stairs, and Grandma insisted on rushing him to the emergency vet."
"Oh, no! I hope he's alright!"
“Father Ted's going to be fine.”Max waved a dismissive hand."That yapper's too mean to die. He’ll probably outlive us all.”
I smothered a smile because it was true. I’d never wish ill on any animal. But Nora’s Jack Russell had to be at least 100 in dog years, and he was still more than a little yappy—and bitey. I’d learned after the first time I'd visited Nora at her casita-style mansion in Summerlin that dressing defensively was the best way to avoid getting ankle-nipped by the small dog.
But I had to ask,"How is it your fault?"
A terrible thought occurred to me, and I raised a hand to my chest to cross myself if I didn't like Max's answer to my next carefully worded question."You didn't have anything to do with his fall, did you?"
"Should have thought of that,"Max answered with a considering look."But no.Grandma gave me your number and asked me to call you to cancel your visit. But I got distracted with a video call about this new club I just opened in Paris, and it must have slipped my mind.”
“Oh,”I said, agreeing that it did sound like Max was at fault for me making this unnecessary trip. But I wasn't one to complain—especially to the grandson of the woman whose generous charity fund had been emptied.
“Well, that’s okay. I’ll just head home. Please tell Nora I’m thinking about her and Father Ted."
With that, I'd started to go, but then he'd tempted me with an offer to take me to lunch someplace, where he promised to give me all"the dirt"on Cole.
I'll admit that my curiosity won over my good sense.
And by the time our food arrived, I was beginning to suspect that the"good dirt on Cole"Max had promised me was really just a laundry list of complaints about his much-more-responsible half brother.
Most of his tales ran a predictable pattern of Cole warning him not to do something and Max going on ahead and doing it anyway, usually with disastrous results. He’d been telling me these stories for nearly an hour, and judging from the way he laughed at the end of all of them, Max thought they were great.
Somehow it was just hilarious to end up in jail in a foreign country or having to climb out of some married countess’s window naked. The list went on and on and convinced me Max wasn’t exactly a mysterious international playboy, as he’d been painted in the press. More like a self-centered, rich prick with a knee-jerk need to rebel.
“So you don’t work, like, at all?”I asked.
"I told you, I've launched my own series of nightclubs."Max narrowed his eyesas if he suspected I was purposefully trying to rain on his parade. "I also receive a monthly salaryfrom Benton Worldwide."
“To do what?" I asked as I tucked into my paella dish. "Party all over the world?”
Max proudly pulled out his card and handed it to me.“The official title is brand ambassador. I live the glamorous life all over the world, and that reflects well on the hotel.”
I inwardly grimaced. That wasn’t what Cole had insinuated. Obviously, Max had a much higher opinion of what he did for the company than Cole.
But I kept my opinion to myself and said,“It sounds like you’re putting your degree in marketing to good use. Could you pass the salt?"
Max slid the hen-shaped container across the little table.“How about you, then? You got your degree in dance from UNLV and became a Benton Girl, then what? Decided to get all buddy-buddy with my grandma, make sure you got a piece of the Benton fortune?"
