Page 36 of Landlord Wars
I checked my phone. “I need to be somewhere. Starlight is off the table, but feel free to pitch it to another company.”
I moved to pass him, but my father blocked the way. “You know you’re our only chance at getting Starlight off the ground. Are you really going to do this to your mother?”
I moved around him. “Like you said about those who have far less—you’ll land on your feet.”
My phone vibrated on my way to the parking garage, and I checked the screen.
Jack: Meet us at O’Malley’s in the inner Sunset.
The conversationwith my dad about Starlight left a sour taste in my mouth. I rarely saw eye to eye with my parents, but I cared about them and wanted them to be happy. I just wished their happiness didn’t hinge on my doing their bidding. Hanging out with Jack would be a welcome distraction, and I was glad to see him getting out again.
Max: Be there in 20.
It wasn’tuntil I made it to O’Malley’s that a sinking suspicion replaced thoughts of Starlight and my parents. Jack had said “us” in his text message.
I scanned the room and caught sight of a familiar dark-haired woman with baggy slacks and white sneakers standing at the bar. Sophia was here, and suddenly my pulse kicked up a notch.
She was more interesting than I’d imagined, and I’d been fighting imagining her since the day she moved in with Jack. That near kiss in the kitchen last night had been less of an impulse and more a result of the attraction that had been building since we met.
Sophia stood near the bar, squeezed between a man in a dark button-down and a barstool. She was attempting to gain the attention of the bartender while seemingly fielding the man’s questions.
The urge to walk over and shove the guy away from Sophia was as intense as it was disturbing. Fighting for a woman’s attention had never been a consideration. Not until I met her.
I angled for Jack’s table and made my way across the busy pub. The place was old, with smooth, wide-plank wooden floors and tables with a thick, shiny finish over old-growth redwood. Some people looked like they’d come from the Financial District, while others were dressed casually.
Jack looked up. “You made it.” He was wearing jeans and an untucked button-down. I hadn’t seen Jack this cleaned up in months. Sophia’s sister was also there, drinking a beer and laughing at something on her phone.
I tipped my head toward the bar. “What’s going on?”
Jack’s gaze landed on Sophia. “She went to grab another beer. Guess she got distracted. This is our night to be each other’s wingman.”
A prickly heat filled my chest, and I looked her way. “I’ll head over. I could use a beer.”
“Bad day?” Jack asked.
I gripped the back of my neck. “I told my father I wouldn’t be doing Starlight.”
“Ahh,” Jack said and nodded. “He wasn’t happy.”
My parents and Jack had always gotten along because Jack was an exceptional person. He’d been among the few students clever enough to gain entrance on scholarship to the prestigious San Francisco private school I attended. Later, he received more scholarships to attend an Ivy League school. He also understood Kitty and Karl and their limited ability to put themselves in other people’s shoes, and he never judged them for it. “It’s the only life they’ve known, Max,” he’d tell me.
I turned to the bar, but Jack grabbed my shoulder before I could go anywhere. “Dude, don’t interfere in whatever Sophia has going on.” The woman in question was smiling at something the man next to her had said, and I almost heeded Jack’s advice. Almost.
“Me? Interfere? Never.” My words were casual—and didn’t hold an ounce of truth.
Jack’s look said he knew exactly what I was up to. “That kid is skittish with the male population. You saw her the night she went on the blind date.” He glanced at Sophia worriedly. “I should be over there helping her.”
Elise set her phone on the tabletop and placed her chin on her hand. “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing,” I said at the same time that Jack said, “Sophia.”
Elise twisted around and looked at her sister. “Ooh, she’s hooked one. Nice!”
“Not particularly,” I murmured under my breath, and headed for the bar.
I heard Jack calling my name, but I ignored it, my hand in the pocket of my suit pants. I lifted my chin at the bartender, and she caught my gaze. I held up two fingers and said, “Guinness.”
The bartender nodded, and that was when Sophia looked up, her beautiful eyes widening ever so slightly. Her gaze flashed to the man beside her, then back at me.
