Beauty (Fated Encounters) (6 page)

She’d planned on showing up at
the restaurant a little early, but in order for that to happen she was going to
have to pray she’d find a cab driver who could drive fast...and maybe run a few
yellow lights. They had scheduled the tasting at four in the afternoon, so Nico
would have enough time to deal with them before the dinner crowd.

All thoughts of hailing a taxi
fled as soon as she stepped outside and she saw Gus leaning against the side of
the town car at the curb. He had his phone in his hand, but he put it back in
his pocket when he saw her. “Hi, Tessa. I was just about to call you.”

“What are you doing here?”
Realizing how she sounded, she hurried to say, “I mean, it’s good to see you, but
I’m just...”

“Surprised to see me?” He
grinned. “Drake sent me over to make sure you had a ride. And since I’m
starting to know you, I came a little early figuring you would want to arrive
before the set meeting time.”

She thanked him as he opened the
back door of the car for her. She liked Gus, and now considered him a friend.
Feeling completely at ease, she chatted companionably with him during the short
ride. When they pulled up in front of Devine’s, Gus parked in front and got out
to open Tessa’s car door. He walked with her to the building, then held the
door open for her before following her inside.

She shot him a questioning glace
as they walked through the empty restaurant, and he winked at her in response.
“Drake wouldn’t want me to leave you alone with an unscrupulous scoundrel like
Nico Devine in his absence.”

“Unscrupulous scoundrel? Uh oh,
Gus has been reading again.” Nico wore a big smile as he quickly moved forward
to embrace Tessa. After he pulled her into his arms for a hug, he held onto her
arms as he looked her over. “Good. You look better.”

“Nico, I wanted to thank you again
for the wonderful soup you made us. I honestly think you have a miracle cure
there.”

He laughed. “I’ll keep that in
mind. I’m just glad you’re feeling better. I was worried when I heard you were
so sick. This flu is kicking everyone’s ass. It’s not good for you to be alone—”

“She wasn’t,” Gus said with a
mischievous gleam in his eyes. “Alone, that is. She was with Drake.”

 “Oh?”

Tess could feel her cheeks
heating. “It’s not like that...I mean, I was sick and he took care of me, then
he got sick and I—”

“Ah, I see,” Nico said with a
grin. Noticing how uncomfortable she looked, he changed the subject. “Well, I’m
glad you’re feeling better. Everything is ready for the tasting. I have twelve
appetizers for you to try, both hot and cold. You can pick your top six for the
event, along with four of the eight entrees as choices.”

“Oh my...that’s a lot of food.”

“Don’t worry, I’m only serving
you a bite size portion today, just so you can have a taste. We also have
printouts for you that explain what each item is so you can take notes.”

“Thank you. I can’t wait. I’ve
been looking forward to this for weeks. Are you staying for the tasting, Gus?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Nico eyed Gus. “Why should I feed
you?”

“Because you love me, brother.”

“You’re lucky I do.” Nico said
with a good-natured punch to Gus’ shoulder.

Tessa smiled at their playful
banter. She was curious about how Drake, Nico and Gus had met one another, but
she hadn’t had the opportunity to ask...until now. “How do all of you know one
another? The two of you and Drake seem very close.”

“Like brothers,” Gus confirmed.

“It’s a long story,” Nico began
as he put his arm around Tessa’s shoulders. “Let’s go into the private dining
room, and we’ll tell you all about it.”

***

CHAPTER SIX

Drake shut down his work a few
minutes earlier than planned.

He knew Tessa was probably at
Devine’s already, and he couldn’t wait to see her. This week had been brutal.
He’d recovered from his bout with the flu quickly, but the work had piled up in
his absence.

Tapping his fingers on his thigh,
he waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor of his office building. He’d
missed Tessa. His feelings for her had completely blindsided him, and she’d
somehow become the most important person in his life. The way she’d looked at
him told him she cared deeply for him. He’d seen similar looks from women
before, but none of them had mattered before Tessa.

Impatience had him quickly
striding across the lobby of his building. He heard the muffled sound of
someone yelling, but he ignored it until he felt a hand on his arm. “Hey, Vidal!”

A slow smile spread across
Drake’s face as he saw one of his closest friends, Turner McCord, grinning at
him. “McCord.”

“I wanted to stop by and see with
my own eyes that you were still alive.”

Drake frowned at him. “How did
you hear I had the flu?”

“You were sick?”

“Yes.” Confused, Drake asked, “If
you didn’t know I was sick, then what are you doing here?”

Turner’s brown eyes took on a
mischievous gleam. “I got this invitation in the mail saying you were throwing
a charity event, and I needed to come make sure you weren’t replaced by some
pod person.”

“Fuck you, McCord. I’ve given to
charity before.”

Turner laughed. “I know you have,
but you’re the man that gave enough money to the hospital to have an entire
wing named after you, then threatened to pull the funding if anyone found out
about it. Why are you doing something so...public?”

“It’s a long story, but I have
somewhere to be.” Drake pushed passed him and went outside. The sky had already
turned dark, and a light flurry of snow fell, turning the sidewalk white.

Turner kept pace with him, not
the least bit offended by Drake’s curt brush-off. “There’s a woman.”

Drake stopped in his tracks. “Why
the hell do people keep saying that?”

“Ha! So, there is a woman!”

“It’s complicated.”

“Brother, it always is when a
woman is involved.”

Giving in, Drake gave Turner a
quick summary of why he was throwing the charity event, and when he was
finished, he glared at his friend who couldn’t stop laughing. “Oh God, this is
priceless. A ball. You’re throwing a masquerade ball. Does this make you this
Tessa’s prince charming?”

“I fucking hate you.”

Turner laughed again. “Naw,
you’re more like the evil queen...or king, to be more precise.”

“I’m leaving now. We’re doing the
tasting at Devine’s, and you’re making me late.” Drake had only taken a few
steps before frowning at Turner, who was still at his side. “What are you
doing?”

“If you’re going to eat at Nico’s
place, I’m coming with you.”

Drake let out a sigh. “Fine. But,
Turner?”

“Yeah?”

“If you hit on Tessa, I may have
to kill you.”

“Don’t worry, I’m having issues
with my own woman right now.”

Drake relaxed after hearing that,
but when he asked Turner what was going on, the other man just told him not to
ask. They entered Devine’s and made their way back to the private dining room.
Drake’s steps slowed as he heard the laughter coming from the room, then he scowled
as he walked in and saw Tessa sitting between Nico and Gus.

Tessa heart did a flip-flop in
her chest at the sight of Drake. The love she felt for him made it difficult
not to rush up to him and fling her arms around him. God, he looked good, even
if he was glaring at them.

Her eyes misted a bit as she
watched all four men greeted one another with the ease of old friends. While
they’d waited for Drake to arrive, Nico and Gus had regaled her with stories of
their childhood. They’d all grown up in foster care together, and even though their
stories had been amusing, she’d heard what they hadn’t said. The men had grown
up in horrible conditions, but they’d all made something of themselves despite
their difficult beginnings.

And knowing that only made her
love Drake more.

She watched as he and the
newcomer removed their coats, and Tessa couldn’t help but wonder if he had any
ugly friends. The thought made her want to laugh. It was a fair question, though,
since the four of them were some serious eye candy.

But none of them made her heart
race the way Drake did.

“Tessa.”

Her breath caught in her throat
as Drake’s voice softened to that tone that seemed reserved only for her, and
she felt like a fool when all she could manage in response was a breathless,
“Hi.”

“This is Turner McCord.”

She forced her gaze away from
Drake and pasted a polite expression on her face. It took her a moment to place
the name, but when she did, her lips turned up in a grin. “Ah, the toy store
owner.”

“That’s me,” Turner said with a
smile as he shook her hand. He was a handsome man, with short, sandy-brown hair
and a devilish twinkle in his dark eyes.

“I love your store, Neverland. I
could spend hours there.”

“That’s what I like to hear,”
Turner said, then had to hold back a grin when Drake practically body checked
him away from Tessa.

“McCord decided to crash our
party,” Drake announced as he sat down in the seat next to Tessa before sending
a pointed stare at Gus. “And I see someone else has as well.”

Gus leaned back in his chair with
a smirk on his face. “I’m not passing up a free meal.”

Nico snorted. “Free my ass, this
is on Vidal.”

“Even better,” Turner said with a
laugh as he sat down. “Speaking of...where is the food, Nico?”

Nico held up his hands. “Give me
a few minutes. We’ll start with the appetizers, then move on to the salad. Then
we’ll serve the entree options and desserts. Feel free to give feedback.”

He directed the last statement to
Tessa, making Drake roll his eyes. Nico signaled to a waiter before he left,
and the waiter rushed into the room to hand each of them a printout of the menu.
Drake ordered a bottle of wine, then sat back and listened to his friends
talking to Tessa with a satisfaction that surprised him. Nico, Gus and Turner
were the closest thing he had to family, and he enjoyed how easily she got
along with them.

The waiter returned and their
wine was poured. Drake took care of the tasting before giving the nod to the
waiter to pour everyone else a glass. He liked the sound of Tessa’s laughter as
Turner told her some of the more amusing stories about patrons at his toy
store. It warmed his heart every time she looked over at him, as if to include
him into the conversation even though he wasn’t participating. He noticed she
did things like that whenever they were together, and he had to fight back the
urge to take her hand in his.

Christ, what was wrong with him?

Drake welcomed the distraction
when a couple of servers brought in their food. Both men carried two large,
white, rectangular plates with several smaller spoons on them. Each spoon
contained a sample of the appetizers Nico had prepared for them. The visual display
was amazing, but the scent of the food was even better.

Tessa pulled a pen out of her bag
and looked down at the menu before turning to Drake. “Why don’t we all try the
same things together, then we can decide which ones we like the best.” He
nodded, and they all sampled the first offering of tuna tartare on a crispy
wonton. “Oh, wow. This is amazing.”

Drake agreed. “That is a definite
yes.”

Tess wrote down their assessment
on the menu, then reached for the next spoon. Drake took a sip of his wine, but
before he could reach for the second offering Tessa shook her head at him.

“Don’t eat that one. You won’t
like the capers.”

Knowing she was right, he bypassed
the second spoon and moved on to the third. After tasting it, he said, “You’ll
like this spicy shrimp.”

Turner watched them through the
rest of the tasting, fascinated by their dynamics. Drake and Tessa seemed to
know what the other would like before they knew it themselves. He’d never seen
his friend so in sync with a woman before. Hell, he’d never seen Drake like
this with anyone before, and he found it very interesting. Turner liked the way
Tessa held her own against his overbearing friend, but what sealed his opinion
of her was the way Drake looked at her.

If he didn’t know better, he
would think that his friend was in love.

But Drake didn’t believe in
love...or had that changed?

When the meal was complete, Tessa
felt like she was going to burst. She looked down at her notes and said, “Okay,
so we have three hot and three cold appetizers and the salad with the raspberry
vinaigrette and candied pecans. We also have the entrees and desserts picked
out.”

Her smile slowly faded as she
looked over at Drake to find him staring at her with an intensity that stole
her breath. God, he was so handsome. A short lock of his dark hair had fallen
across his forehead, so it was almost in his eye. She wanted to reach out and
smooth it back in place, but the sound of a throat clearing had her tearing her
gaze away from him. She blinked when she saw Gus, Turner and Nico were all grinning
at her. Feeling like an idiot, Tessa rushed to say, “Nico, everything was
wonderful. You’re truly a first-class chef.”

“Don’t,” Drake warned. “If his
ego gets any bigger, he won’t fit in his kitchen.”

Nico chuckled. “So, did you
decide?”

“We did,” Tessa confirmed, then
picked up the menu with her notes and handed it to him.

He looked it over and nodded. “Good
choices. Of course, everything I made is excellent, so you really couldn’t go
wrong.”

“As I said, ego.” Drake stood up.
“Knowing you, you have estimates already.”

“I do, but since I’m doing this
at cost, some of the stuff is going to depend on market price before the event.
I can show you what I have, though.”

“That’ll work. I can pay for part
of it now, then you can bill me for the rest after the event.”

“Sounds good to me.”

A waiter slipped into the room to
ask if they wanted more coffee or tea. Tessa frowned when Drake was asked and
he ignored the man as he started out of the room.

“Vidal,” Turner called out in a
loud voice. When he turned, Turner asked him if he wanted more coffee. Drake
nodded, then left the room with Nico.

“Why does he always do that?”
Tessa sighed under her breath.

Gus looked at her with a blank
expression on his face. “Do what?”

“Ignore people. It’s really
rude.”

He and Turner shared a look
before Gus said, “He didn’t tell you.”

Confusion had her asking, “Tell
me what?”

“He’s not ignoring them,” Turner
said carefully. “He doesn’t hear them. He’s pretty much deaf in his left ear,
so sometimes he can’t hear if people are standing on that side.”

Her eyes went wide with shock.
“I...I didn’t know. How did it happen? Was he born with—”

“No. He wasn’t born deaf...it
happened when he was young. Don’t ask,” Gus warned, but his gaze softened as he
saw the look of concern on Tessa’s face. “That’s something you have to talk to Drake
about if you want to know more.”

“No one knows about this, Tessa.
Please respect his privacy,” Turner added.

Tessa nodded solemnly. “I won’t
say anything to anyone.”

She understood they were telling
her something important. This was something that they wouldn’t normally share
with anyone, but they’d trusted her with Drake’s secret. All of a sudden,
everything made sense. She’d always assumed that Drake ignored people when he
didn’t answer them. That it had been his arrogance and ego made him overlook
those he didn’t think were worth his time.

But that wasn’t it at all.

Feeling ashamed for believing the
rumors about Drake, she now understood that she’d let the unfounded gossip skew
her perception of him. She knew it hadn’t been true. Even when she had thought
the worst of him, she knew in her heart that he was a good man. He wasn’t the
beast everyone thought he was, and she was suddenly very angry on his behalf.

Not that she could do anything
about it.

He was such a powerful man, with
a strong presence and a domineering personality that it was difficult to
imagine him having any sort of weakness. Still, she thought back to the times
that she’d gotten annoyed by his behavior in the past. Sometimes Drake had
ignored her unless she’d been standing on his right side or facing him
directly. It was the same with others. She knew others were intimidated by his
unflinching gaze, but had he been focused on watching their lips to help him
understand what they were saying as he listened to them?

Possibly.

Tessa realized that Drake wore
his reputation like a cloak of protection, using it to keep people away from
him. It kept him safe from anyone finding out his secrets...secrets
that—knowing his past—were probably very painful. Her heart ached for him as
her imagination ran wild, going over possible scenarios that would have left
him deaf in one ear. She wanted to know what had happened to him, wanted him to
trust her enough to tell her.

Stop it, she ordered herself. It
didn’t do any good to guess. She’d just have to speak to him about it...when
the right time presented itself.

When Drake and Nico returned, the
five of them chatted for a while before Drake and Tessa left with Gus. After
they were gone, Turner nodded toward the door. “What do you think?”

“About Tessa and Drake?” Nico
asked. “I really like her. And Drake? He’s different around her. Happier, I
guess.”

“He hasn’t told her about his
hearing.”