Chapter 15
He had to wait until the following evening to see Luke because his friend had been busy.
“Busy doing what?” he asked.
“Busy being busy,” Luke drawled. They sat across one of the tables on the rooftop terrace, in a far secluded corner. The tinkle of glasses and bottles rippled in the background.
Xavier waited for his friend to elaborate, and prompted him when he got nothing. “Busy being busy with what, or whom?”
“Nothing exciting. Just looking at more premises.”
“Where?” Xavier asked, directing the conversation back to his friend while he worked out how he was going to say what he needed to.
“I’m looking at some sites in Tribeca. I’m thinking it’s about time I opened another bar.”
“We’ll be practically neighbors.”
“Yeah.”
“Dude, do you ever think of slowing down?” Xavier asked.
“What for? Have to keep busy.”
“For what?” He didn’t understand. The guy was rolling in money and didn’t need to work another day for as long as he lived. But buying real estate and turning it into cash cows seemed to be Luke’s specialty, and, more than that, he seemed to have a real passion for it. There were times when Xavier wished he’d had the same kind of luck. Maybe luck had nothing to do with it, and it came down to good old-fashioned persistence and hard work. At times he felt like a fluke, but nobody needed to know that. It didn’t matter. The gloss on the outside was what everyone saw and loved.
“So that I don’t become a lazy old man floating around on my yacht like my old man.”
“And instead you’ll be hanging around your bars and clubs?”
Luke dismissed his comment with a nod. “When I hold the launch party, I might need you to get some of your actress and super model friends to come and create some buzz for me.”
“Just say the word.”
“Thanks, I will. How’s that project of yours going?” Luke asked. “I’m assuming you’re still batshit crazy and pursuing it?”
Xavier made a noise in his throat then reached for his beer bottle. “The project’s going … fine.”
“Yeah?” Luke swept his hands through his hair again, his signature move. “You getting anywhere?”
“Of course.” Why the fuck couldn’t he tell Luke the truth? That he wasn’t even on the field yet, let alone first base.
“I don’t need proof or anything. Your word’s good with me.”
“That’s good to know.” He weighed it up in his head. I want out. But instead he found himself saying. “I might need more time.”
Luke grunted. “More time?” He sat forward, his cornflower blue eyes glinting under the soft light. “I always got the impression these things were a done deal with you, from the pick-up line to getting them home.”
“She’s complicated.” And that was putting it mildly.
“Yeah?” Luke folded his arms and sat back, seemingly taking pleasure in his pained confession.
Xavier nodded. It didn’t sit well with him, his manhood being challenged so blatantly. His pursuit of this woman, this girl, this college student, was turning out to be not as simple as he had once thought. Physical attraction aside—he liked the look of her, could see himself with her, and, well, what was there not to like about him?
She probably did fancy him, but was in denial about it, or she would come to, if she gave him half a chance, but, moving all the physical attraction aside, he wasn’t sure they had much in common.
He hadn’t dated a college student in years. He liked his women to be more experienced, and even though Savannah had said she was a couple of years older, he still wasn’t sure. When it came down to it, it was now a couple of weeks since he’d met her and he still didn’t know much about her. Hell, he didn’t even know what she was studying. All he knew was that she was a teetotaler and a vegetarian. It hardly made for a scintillating twosome.
He just hoped that sex wasn’t off her menu, either.
And now that he was here, did he really need to put himself through this? A glance around The Oasis showed him that he was surrounded by beautiful women. He only had to walk into this place, or its sister club in the basement, and he could get the number of at least five women by the time the night was over.
Why was he busting his balls over a college girl? Laronde didn’t know a good thing when she saw it—but maybe that was part of the allure that stopped him from walking away completely?
“She’s complicated, or she hates the sight of you?” Luke asked, digging deeper. It was spooky how spot on Luke could be at times.
“She’s at college most of the day, and the only time I can see her is with Jacob. I spent yesterday having lunch with the kid’s grandparents.”
“There’s commitment for you.” Luke looked suitably impressed. “But, if you want out, pal, that’s fine. Just admit it, there are some girls who you can’t win.”
The hell he would, especially now that Luke had given him the option to quit. To take it would be the easy way out, and Luke and Tobias already thought he always took the easy way out, in most things.
“I’m not giving up.”
“It doesn’t sound as if you’re getting anywhere because, if you were you wouldn’t be here now talking about it.”
“It’s only been a week since we got back.”
“Does she actually like you?”
“Like is too strong a word.”
“No shit.”
“She hasn’t fully appreciated my charms.”
Luke massaged the back of his neck. “If she doesn’t, you need to accept that you’re not god’s gift to women, and move on.”
“I’m growing on her.”
“You’re growing on her? You mean like mold?” Luke chuckled, and it pissed Xavier off even more.
“She’s interested. She just doesn’t know it yet.” Of that he was confident. Izzy Laronde was too bogged down in her day-to-day crap that she wouldn’t know a good thing if it snuck into her bed and made her come all night.
“You’re struggling to get anywhere with her, aren’t you?” He hated it when Luke guessed correctly.
“No.”
“I don’t believe it.” The wide grin on Luke’s face made him want to punch him. “You’ve finally found a girl who’s not interested in you, and you can’t take it.”
It might be a tiny bit true, but he was going to fix it.
It was rare that he met a girl who showed such open disdain for him. Sure, he’d been in the situation many a time, when girls were plainly interested, and he wasn’t. Heck, he’d even been in the situation where more than one girl had been interested. Three had been his limit—so far—three girls all interested in him at the same time. It had been one heck of a crazy time. Two nights of debauchery in a Las Vegas hotel. Fun, pure and filthy.
But Izzy wasn’t one of those virginal, sweeter than honey girls either. There was fire in her, he could sense it from her bubblegum to her ripped jeans and her attitude. He was making progress, but it was slow.
He needed more time.
“She is interested, but she doesn’t know it, yet.”
“Doesn’t know it yet?” Luke repeated, slowly, as if he was thinking it over. “Is she allergic to your charm, or does she just find your pick-up lines offensive?”
He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m not used to dealing with college students. I barely know anything about her.”
“That’s never stopped you before.”
He shrugged. “She doesn’t drink, either.” Because usually, a couple of glasses of age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon or Pouilly-Fuissé would have lowered her steel defenses a heck of a time sooner.
“You’re going to have to try some different moves,” Luke suggested. “You’re going to have to woo her another way.”
This pursuit had left him in a precarious situation lately. He’d had no pussy in weeks, and he’d been tempted to make some booty calls last night because there was only so much of a dry spell a virile young man could take. And exactly how loyal did he have to be? He was single, and he hadn’t yet paired up with Izzy.
He had even gone as far as calling someone, and then hung up before she’d picked up. Something about wanting to prove himself had made him back off, even though no one would have known if he’d been up to anything last night.
“How much time do you need?”
“6 months should do it. She has exams and shit, and Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming, and she’ll probably go home.”
“Take as long as you want.”
“I don’t need as long as I want. I’ve got this. 6 months.”
“Whatever.”
Going without pussy for as long as it took to win Izzy Laronde over, meant that when he finally had her, the reward would be all the more sweeter.