Yours For The Taking Part 8

When Hunter came in, he gave Fisher a slap on the back. "s.h.i.t, you beat me again? What did you do, fly? I live five miles closer than you." Hunter bent over the bar and waved to Ben.

"Who said I was at home?" Fisher waggled his eyebrows. "I haven't been home in a week."

Ben looked over at Fisher and Hunter; they were twins and looked almost identical except for their hair color, Hunter's was dark, Fisher's platinum blond. Fisher was a little leaner, probably because of his occupation. Hunter ran the ski school in the winter and was a white-water rafting and fishing guide through the summer months. The man was ripped, not that Fisher wasn't; he just wasn't as bulky.

Ben sat back and listened to the guys razzing each other. It was good to be home.

Chapter 5.

Gina looked up from the spreadsheet she was working on and found her boss delivering a venti caramel macchiato. Except for the day Gina moved into her new office, Rosalie never brought her Starbucks unless she wanted information or a favor. From the look Rosalie wore, Gina knew she was in for a good grilling. She was in no mood for Rosalie this morning. Her mood went straight downhill at breakfast as soon as her asinine brother-in-law refused to take the thirty grand she'd offered to deposit into his and Tina's dream house fund.

"A little birdie told me you moved out of the apartment yesterday morning. When were you going to tell me about it?"

"When I decided if I was staying in my new digs. I'm paying the rent; I don't know why you're worried." Gina took a sip of her coffee and almost moaned with pleasure. Whole milk, extra whipped cream, and enough caramel to drown an apple, just the way she liked it. If Rosalie kept this up, Gina would have to go on a diet. There's nothing like 500-calorie drinks to make a short woman a short, fat woman.

"So, tell me about the new place. What did you and your new sugar daddy buy?"

"It's a five-story brownstone on Montgomery Place."

Rosalie whistled between her teeth. "Wow, that's some spendy real estate. What the heck are you going to do with a five-story brownstone?"

"Other than sell it as soon as the ink is dry on the divorce decree? Not much. I stayed there last night and the place was so huge and empty, it gave me the w.i.l.l.i.e.s. I practically begged Tina to come over for dinner and a pajama party."

Rosalie raised an eyebrow.

Gina got up to pace. "Sam works nights so there was no need for her to go back to the city. It was fun until he came over for breakfast. I tell you, Rosalie, my sister and brother-in-law are two of the most hardheaded people I've ever met."

"Worse than you?"

Gina ignored her sarcasm. "I offered to give them thirty thousand dollars so they could start house shopping and they had the nerve to refuse. Why do you think I married Ben in the first place? So I could help them out and make sure they had a nice house all bought and paid for."

Rosalie gave Gina one of her annoying looks that was usually followed by a lecture. Great, here it comes.

"It didn't occur to you to ask them how they felt about taking that much money from you?"

"No. What sane person would turn down a gift of $30K?"

Rosalie crossed her arms and smiled. "Oh, I don't know. Someone related to you, maybe. Just because you think you know what's best for your little sister doesn't mean you do."

"That's just insane. Of course I know what's best for her. Who do you think raised her?"

Rosalie smiled. "You did, and you did a great job. Tina's all grown up now, not to mention married. She doesn't need you to make decisions for her."

Gina slumped back into the chair next to Rosalie's. "Yeah, thanks. Like I didn't hear that enough last night and this morning. When they refused the money, I asked them to move in with me. The place has seven bedrooms. They can move in and we'd still have to phone each other if we wanted to talk."

Rosalie sat forward. "You're afraid to live alone."

Gina shot out of the chair. "What are you, nuts? I'm not afraid. It's just stupid for them to pay rent when I have four stories of a beautiful Romanesque Revival brownstone sitting empty. That way they can take all the rent money they'd be sh.e.l.ling out and put it right into savings."

"And you won't have to live in that big place all by yourself."

Gina looked away. So what if she was a little uncomfortable living alone? She'd get used to it in time, maybe.

"Gina, you know you can always come over and hang with me and Nick, if you want. Hey, you can even borrow Dave until you feel more comfortable."

"You loan your dog out?"

"Only to you. He's great company. I know-why don't you get a dog?"

Gina shook her head. "You should see this place, Rosalie. It's so perfect, I'm afraid to live there. It looks like a castle filled with antiques and priceless s.h.i.t. They even have real china in the kitchen. Like Wedgewood. I didn't know if I should put the stuff in the dishwasher last night. The first time in my life I have a dishwasher, and I'm afraid to use it."

"That's just wrong in so many ways."

"Don't I know it. I gotta tell you, though, the sheets Ben had stocked in there were the nicest things I've ever slept between. I swear they must be 10,000 thread count."

"There is something to be said for quality linens. The only thing better is to have a quality man between them with you."

"Yeah, so you say. I, for one, am happy to enjoy them alone."

Rosalie didn't look as if she believed her, and after that kiss Ben had left her with, Gina wasn't too sure either. No s.e.x for a year was not something she wanted to think about.

"I heard Ben went back to Idaho."

"Aren't you just a font of information? Are you checking up on me, Rosalie?"

"No, but Annabelle gave me a call this morning. She said Ben probably wouldn't be back for a month."

"He doesn't go over his schedule with me. As far as I'm concerned, I won't see him until the divorce."

"Oh good, then you won't mind taking on a new project."

Gina rubbed her hands together. "I'd love to take on a new project. Tell me all about it."

Ben looked over his notes from the board meeting. It seemed to last forever and he had the darnedest time concentrating on the topic at hand. And leave it to his spry old grandfather to notice. It didn't help that Ben had woken up hungover. He should know better than to play pool with Trapper while doing shots of tequila. It never bothered him when he was younger. He must be getting old. He regretted he'd told Trapper he'd meet him up at the Rock for night skiing. He really wasn't in the mood but canceling wasn't worth the s.h.i.t Trap would give him if he didn't show. Ben threw the papers in the drawer of the desk in his new office at the corporate headquarters and shut down his computer before walking over to his grandfather's office.

When he found his grandfather alone, he stepped into the doorway. "Gramps, I'm going to take off. Trapper and I are going to hit the slopes tonight. I'll be back late."

"You just got here and you can't even put in a full day's work? Lord knows, you didn't do much at the board meeting."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I have a lot on my mind."

"I told you that you should have brought Gina with you."

"Don't worry about Gina. She's doing fine."

"Yeah, you say that now. It's going to take you a good month to get this system up and running. Are you going to fly back and forth to New York City every weekend?"

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Well then, how in the h.e.l.l are you going to give me those great-grandbabies you promised me?"

Ben held up his hands. "Hey, I said I'd get married. I never said I'd have kids right away. Gina and I aren't ready to start a family." Ben told himself that it wasn't exactly a lie. The two of them would never be ready-especially not with each other.

"Ben, you're thirty-two years old. At the rate you're goin' you're not going to be ready for parenthood until you're my age. s.h.i.t, you just need to go and get that little lady and bring her back home with you and let nature take its course."

"Gramps, I told you. Gina doesn't fly." Ben reached into his pocket, grabbed his keys, tossed them in the air, and caught them.

"Of course she flies. She's not going to fall out of the d.a.m.n sky. But it's impossible to get in the air if you never set foot on an airplane. If you need to hog-tie her to get her on our company jet, that's just what you're gonna have to do."

Ben swung his keys around on his pointer finger. s.h.i.t, if he was going to tie Gina up, it certainly wasn't going to be to put her on a plane, though the plane did have a nice bedroom suite in the back. He shook his head as he backed out of his grandfather's office. "Have a great night, Gramps. I'll see you in the morning."

Ben's grandfather picked up the phone with a knowing smile. s.h.i.t. The old guy was up to something and Ben figured it wasn't going to be something he would enjoy.

Gina jumped into her first solo job as a turnover expert with both feet. It was a small restaurant chain that wasn't quite making it. The food was very good. That was one of the first things she'd checked out. There was nothing you could do to save a restaurant if the food wasn't top-notch, especially in the city.

She spent the first week going over the books and came up with several immediate stopgap measures to keep them afloat. Gina was revamping their benefits package since it had been years since they'd shopped it around. She also called in a few favors with two food critics she knew. They said they'd visit the place once she gave them the go-ahead.

Ben still called her every night, but even that wasn't bothering her since he'd made it a point to call before she went to sleep. It didn't take him long to figure out their conversations were much more pleasant if they spoke while she was awake. He'd called her from a few unusual places. A ski lift was probably the strangest. Who knew people actually skied at night? One night he'd called her from a bar where he'd been playing pool with some of the guys he'd grown up with. But mostly, he called her from his grandfather's house. It was almost nice. They talked business, and they'd both given each other enough ideas that it more than made the conversations worthwhile. Not that she was paying the phone bill. Still, she was surprised by what a great business mind Ben hid behind those good looks of his. The man definitely wasn't just another pretty face. He attacked problems from a different perspective than she did. Together, they'd come up with a few amazing solutions which meant happy clients and an even happier boss. Rosalie was bringing Gina coffee as a reward system now, which worked for Gina.

The last few nights when Ben called, they debated about suggesting a change of the menu to attract a higher cla.s.s of clientele, which would then increase the sale of wine and alcohol. Ben didn't think the owner would go for it, but she proved him wrong.

Gina snagged a seat on the subway and spent her commute making notes and smiling to herself. When the subway car hit the elevated tracks in Brooklyn, she dialed Ben's cell to tell him how her meeting went. Her eyes scanned the list of ideas she'd planned to throw at him. She really enjoyed listening to him think things through and seeing where he took them. It also felt great when she saw a hole in his logic about something he was working on. She'd saved his a.s.s a time or two. That made up for some of the guilt she felt when she saw another deposit hit her account.

"Hi, Gina. I was just thinking about you."

"You were?"

"Yeah, how did your meeting with the owner go? Who won the bet? I believe the loser has to take the winner out to dinner."

Gina crossed her win off her list. "I don't remember that."

"It was late and you were tired. You were practically falling asleep on the phone."

"I'm just not much of a talker." There was silence on the other end. Gina looked at the phone to make sure she hadn't lost the signal. "Okay, I'll admit I'm good at telling people what to do, but this thing between us, it's different."

"Yeah, the whole marriage thing is definitely odd."

"So, okay. I won. It looks like you're buying."

"Good. I'll meet you at the house in an hour. Will that give you enough time to change? We have reservations in town."

"You're here?"

"Yeah, I flew in late last night."

"And you want to go out tonight?"

"Why? Do you have a hot date?"

"No, but Tina's expecting me."

"So, call her and tell her something came up."

Gina wondered if this would be a good time to clue him in on the fact that Tina and Sam had moved in, but then part of her said it really wasn't his business who she lived with just as long as she wasn't sleeping with any of them.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Someplace nice. It's a surprise."

"How nice is nice?"

"A c.o.c.ktail dress would work." When she didn't say anything, he continued. "Did you do any shopping while I was away or do I have to take you?"

"I don't need you to take me shopping. It's not as if I don't have plenty of other gay friends who are up to the job. As a matter-of-fact, Wayne, Rosalie's upstairs neighbor, and I went shopping together a few weeks ago, so I'm all set."

"Good. I'll pick you up at 7:30."

"I can meet you there." She would rather break the news that Sam and Tina had moved into the brownstone in person, and without Sam breathing down her neck while she explained.

"I left my car at the house, remember? I need to pick it up anyway, and it's not as if you can drive it in."

Good point. c.r.a.p. "Okay, then. I guess I'll see you at my place."

"Our place."

"Hey, cowboy. Your name may be on the deed, but it's my house and you know it. You are definitely not a resident."

"Touche. Feel better now that you've put me in my place?"

"Marginally. I've got to go, I'm almost at my stop." She disconnected the call and prayed that Sam was working. She doubted her luck was that good.

Ben stood outside the well-lit brownstone and smiled. Gina must be nervous living there alone. She even had the upper stories lit. He walked up the steps and had the urge to use his key; instead, he rang the bell and was surprised when Sam answered wearing jeans, a long-sleeved NYPD T-shirt, and no shoes.

"Come on in. Gina will be down in a minute."

Ben stepped in and shook Sam's hand while he looked around. The coat tree in the hall held Sam's coat and a sweatshirt that would dwarf Gina. There was a mix of men's and women's shoes lining the wall.