I pause, craning my head. “Are you being serious right now?”
He laughs some more, no doubt at my expense.
The smell of the ocean is potent as he leads me to wherever the fuck we’re going.
I become insatiably curious as I hear cars and people all around me, while still following him blindly.Like, literally.We walk through what I think is a doorway before Chase voices, “Okay,” gripping both my biceps to stop me.
“Ready?” Shane startles me from behind.
“For what?” I can’t fathom what the two of them are up to.
“This.” Shane pulls off the blindfold. It takes a second for my eyes to focus in the bright, natural light. I look around the spacious room, confused. The decor is beachy with a contemporary flair. All whites and creams, with bleached wood floors, a thatched ceiling, and a huge chandelier made out of a school of stark-white paper fish. I spin slowly as I drink it all in. It’s understated, clean, breezy, and beautiful. Rustic but classy, with small accents of distressed wood signs hanging here and there, and a large vintage surfboard in one corner of the room.
“It was my vision.” Shane leans on the sleek, oak bar in one of his ridiculously expensive suits.
“Vision?”
“Yes, remember? When we had dinner at the Corkscrew that night, and we talked about remodeling it.”
I remember he wouldn’t divulge any details. “This is what you saw?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Whose is it? I mean, why are we here?”
“It’s yours. Ours. If you want it,” Shane reveals.
“What?”
“We leased the building, I designed the restaurant, and now, here we are.” Just as simple as that.
“You bought me a restaurant?” My stunned gaze jumps between them.
“Guilty,” Chase affirms.
Tears immediately pool in my eyes. I’m dumbfounded. Just completely mystified. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you love it. Say it makes you happy.” Shane crosses the room with purpose. “We know it’s not the Corkscrew, but maybe with time, you can love it just as much.”
I scan the beautiful room with blurry vision. The huge wall of windows showcasing the sparkling Atlantic is the perfect backdrop for the understated decor.
“I already love it.”
“You do?” Shane raises his eyebrows with a surprised look of elation.
“How could I not? It’s incredible.” I lose myself in the paper fish swimming over my head. Shane’s talent is immense. No wonder Ty traveled across the country and recruited him like a pit bull.
“There’s more.” Shane snatches my hand and drags me across the restaurant to a swinging door with a hole cut out. We enter the kitchen, and I’m blinded by the abundant amount of gleaming stainless steel.
“State of the art,” Shane boasts. “High-end everything. We didn’t spare one expense.”
My jaw is on the floor. This kitchen alone . . . The cost. Outrageous.
“I’m speechless.”
“Good. There’s one more thing.”
“There’s more?” I’m dragged still in shock out of the kitchen, through the dining room, along the bar, and past the hostess stand to another door tucked away in a nook with a sign that reads “Restricted.”
