Page 8 of The Money Man
Of course he had a driver. But now she had to figure out where they should eat. He’d said “quick” so that was a factor. Was he a vegan or a carnivore? Did he like Italian or Chinese? As the questions rolled through her brain, she thought of the perfect place: one where he could get almost anything he might want.
“Let’s not make your driver wait any longer,” she said, grabbing her phone and heading for the door.
Chapter 3
When Alice told the driver to turn left into the parking lot of Nick’s Diner, with its neon motto flashing FAST ANDFRESH, she glanced sideways to see Derek’s reaction as he ducked his head to look out the window.
“This place is straight out ofAmerican Graffiti,” he said, his expression bemused.
“You asked for quick,” Alice said with a challenge in her tone as she climbed out of the limo.
He held the diner’s door for her, and she stepped into the familiar cacophony of voices, canned music, and clattering china and silverware. The interior sported the classic diner decor of black-and-white floor tiles, red vinyl upholstered booths and counter stools, and gaudy murals of local sites of interest. A glass case displayed towering wedges of lemon meringue pie and cheesecake smothered in bright red cherry topping. The aromas of garlic and cooking grease floated past her nostrils, making her salivate.
When they sat down in a booth, the host handed them multipage plastic menus the size of blueprints. Derek flipped through his.
“You look overwhelmed,” Alice said, not without a certain satisfaction.
He lowered the vinyl tome. “Not at all. I’m just enjoying the nearly infinite range of offerings. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten at a diner.”
“How long a while?” It was hard to picture him frequenting diners.
“A few years ago when I had a project in Philadelphia. How’s Nick’s Specialty Burger?”
“Huge and messy.”
“Sounds like my kind of lunch.” He closed the menu.
When the waitress appeared, Alice ordered her usual frittata with ham and peppers while Derek ordered the burger with the works.
After the waitress raced away, Derek folded his arms and leaned back, his shoulders spanning half the vinyl banquette. “When I arrived this morning, you seemed somewhat ... wary. I’m interested in finding out why.”
“Wary?” She swallowed and stared down at the place mat printed with coupons. “Just a little overawed by having a founding partner from KRG in my humble office.”
“Overawed?” His tone was skeptical. “Challengingwould be a better description.”
Alice glanced up to find his attention focused on her with the intensity of a laser. She hadn’t expected this because she didn’t think he’d care how she felt about him.
She cast around for a way to deflect his question, but what difference did it make anyway? He was going to shuffle her and her issue along to the company’s resident computer genius so she’d never have to deal with Derek again.
She lifted her chin. “If you want the truth, it was your phone call that made me ‘challenging.’” Her stomach twisted into a ball of nervousness. Who was she to criticize a man with his position and success? “You made it clear that you thought I was simply incompetent and you didn’t need any input from me.”
His frown seemed directed more at himself than at her. “I don’t remember saying anything to indicate that.”
“Of course not. You’re too professional to come right out and state it. But it seemed obvious when you asked me no questions and got off the phone in less than two minutes.” She considered adding that she suspected her gender had contributed to his assumptions, but she couldn’t honestly say that she’d seen any indication of sexism from him. She’d give him a half a gold star for that.
His frown had deepened with every sentence and she waited for him to explode. Instead he twirled a spoon between his fingers while he stared out the window, affording her an excellent view of the slight bump in his nose, along with his perfectly angled cheekbones. Her fingers itched to touch him in both places.
“But you knew who Ada Lovelace was, so that’s a point in your favor,” she finally said, trying to make up for her frankness.
He turned back to her. “My apologies. I didn’t intend to give that impression.”
Alice goggled in disbelief. Had he really apologized? Her mother never felt the need. Gabrielle believed that a mere smile on her beautiful face would take the place of a sincere “I’m sorry.” In fact, she couldn’t remember Gabrielle ever acknowledging that she had been at fault.
“The truth is that I washopingthat you were incompetent,” he said with the smile that brought out his dimple. “I have to be in Asia in about ten days to work with a new client and I have a huge amount of preparation to get through before I leave. If you didn’t know what you were doing, I could find the problem quickly and go back to my project. Instead, you’ve hooked me on the mystery of the tiny discrepancies.”
“I thought you were going to turn it over to Leland Rockwell.” Alice raised the objection to cover how he had knocked her off-balance with his admission.
“Only because he knows far more about software than I do. I expect to be kept in the loop.”
