Secrets and High Spirits: Secrets, Book 4 (14 page)

E
pilogue

D
espite Teag’s doubts and worries, the pre-official-opening wrinkles smoothed out one by one. Bruce found a new chef through a friend of a friend of a friend. Chef Alexander the Great—as he only half-jokingly introduced himself—was primed for the challenge of creating bar food in a small kitchen after a long and unhappy stint in a food truck. Alex had an oversize ego, but his duck sliders and stuffed chicken wings soon caught the attention of a few foodie bloggers.

The official grand opening of the Blue Parrot was declared a smashing success by everyone in attendance, and not only because inebriation softened their judgment. On a balmy Friday night in April, tourists, locals, couples coming out of movies and theaters, senior citizens and musicians blended together not unlike a variety of spirits in a punch bowl.

Some wandered in, enticed by the vintage-style entrance and the painted parrot—a copy of the one inside—above it. People from the neighborhood, out for a stroll, strayed from their familiar paths as if pulled by an invisible tether.

More than a few of the patrons turned up because they were intrigued by the two-page article—complete with then-and-now photos—in the latest issue of
LA Weekly
. Toby had outdone himself spinning a dazzling yarn of crime and mysteries old and new, then twisting it around and making it about the revival of classic cocktails.

A segment of their dress-rehearsal party showed up too—in period clothing. The gents had on vintage suits complete with bowler hats, while the ladies wore flapper dresses. Teag opened his mouth to point out how flappers were the product of the jazz age and Prohibition, unlike his aspirations of mixology, but then said nothing. The shimmery short dresses were so much more attractive than the drab garb of the Temperance movement. Helen looked especially fetching in a silver-and-black number.

Dylan kept sneering at Teag’s lovingly crafted authentic mai tai. Teag pretended not to notice when Bruce poured a tall glass of pineapple and orange juice, added a splash of rum, and topped it with half a dozen homemade maraschinos. He called it
mai bow tai
. Naturally, Dylan loved it.

At the end of a long, exhausting but thrilling night, Teag and Bruce retired upstairs, into
their
living quarters. Long after they turned the lights off, Teag was staring at the ceiling, replaying every word, every drink of the night in his mind.

“You can’t sleep either?” Bruce asked, glancing sideways.

Teag rolled his head back and forth on the pillow. “Nah. Too keyed up. I still can’t believe it. We have our own bar. For real. And we even had customers. There’s a possibility we won’t go down in flames.”

“Ye of little faith. We have a friendly ghost, restored an old bar, and been trouble-proofed by witchcraft. Unless all the movies I’ve ever seen were lying, we’ll be just fine.” Teag snorted but didn’t offer a rebuttal. Bruce went on. “I was thinking of a different kind of going down.” He started sliding down under the covers.

Teag deftly pushed Bruce back. “Nuh-uh. It’s my turn.”

Bruce lay back, tucked his hands under his head and smiled. “As you wish,
partner
.”

About the Author

Under a prickly, cynical surface, Lou Harper is an incorrigible romantic. Her love affair with the written word started at a tender age. There was never a time when stories weren’t romping around in her head. She is currently embroiled in a ruinous romance with adjectives. In her free time Lou stalks deviant words and feral narratives.

Lou’s favorite animal is the hedgehog. She likes nature, books, movies, photography, and good food. She has a temper and mood swings.

Lou has misspent most of her life in parts of Europe and the US, but is now firmly settled in Los Angeles and worships the sun. However, she thinks the ocean smells funny. Lou is a loner, a misfit, and a happy drunk.

Web site:
www.louharper.com

Blog:
louharper.blogspot.com

Look for these titles by Lou Harper

Now Available:

Last Stop

Secrets and Ink

Secrets and Charms

Secrets and Bow Ties

Secrets and High Spirits

Sanguine

Temper Sanguine

Spirit Sanguine

Don’t miss the other titles in Lou Harper’s Series!

Who said nerdy can’t be sexy?

Secrets
, Book 3

Self-confessed gold digger Dylan Price is cooling his heels as a waiter at a trendy West Hollywood restaurant, waiting for the sugar daddy of his dreams to walk through the doors. Someone rich, sophisticated. Preferably old.

Bookish Simon Wainwright couldn’t be further from Dylan’s ideal. Aside from his terrible fashion sense, Simon suffers from a glaring lack of a Beverly Hills mansion. And he’s barely over thirty!

Dylan, however, isn’t made of stone. Coincidence, an obscene candle, even Simon’s dorky cardigan compel him to give the shy academic a very special birthday gift, which Dylan files away as a one-night stand. But when Dylan’s quest lands him in hot water, he runs to Simon to hide.

The two take off for Las Vegas, where Dylan takes upon himself to give Simon a complete makeover. For reasons he can’t comprehend, Dylan begins to reevaluate his life—and what he holds most dear. But with danger not far behind, he might be too late.

Warning: Contains a nightclub where the staff is as hot as the food, a waiter with a smart mouth (in more ways than one), a nerdy college professor, Vegas “boylesque” shows, and lots of smexy times.

One hot ginger. One cool blond. The result is anything but lukewarm.

Out and proud from a tender age, Olly Blackwood is content with life in LA, working at a Hollywood gourmet grocery. There’s only one thing missing—romance. He’s had his fill of casual hook-ups. He wants a man for keeps, and he wants sparks.

He certainly gets them when he meets Rich Willson, who has the stormy temper to go with his fiery hair. But is he keeper material? He might be…if only he’d come out of the closet.

After losing his disapproving father, his job, his girlfriend, and pretty much all his money, Rich packed up his secrets and moved to his actress sister’s house to regroup and help her renovate. He doesn’t like the curmudgeon he’s become, but something about the perpetually cheerful Olly rubs him in a way that should be wrong, yet feels pretty damned right.

Over paint buckets and sanding tools, Rich finds Olly getting deeper under his skin. But when an altercation with a paparazzo comes back to haunt him, he finds that sordid Hollywood secrets can be murder…maybe his own.

Warning: Contains a hot-tempered ginger, a cool-headed blond, redecorating shenanigans, and sordid Hollywood secrets. Happy ending guaranteed or your ticket price refunded.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Secrets and High Spirits

Copyright © 2015 by Lou Harper

ISBN: 978-1-61922-638-8

Edited by Linda Ingmanson

Cover by Angela Waters

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: October 2015

www.samhainpublishing.com