Something to Prove (8 page)

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Anger burned in her stomach. Colin had only been here a few short hours and he was
turning her life upside down. She didn’t need this kind of stress.

He stared at her while holding a shot glass. “I’m doing inventory like you asked.”

“Somehow, drinking the inventory is how you decide what we need to buy?”

“I’m tasting it to see if it’s good. It’s not.” He poured the contents of the bottle
into the sink.

“Pouring alcohol down the drain isn’t going to make this place profitable.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “The alcohol has all been watered down. If that’s the
way you plan to do business, let me know now and we can terminate our contract. I’m
not in the habit of cheating people.”

Her face flushed. He’d done it again. At every turn he was embarrassing her. “I have
no intention of cheating anyone. I didn’t know the alcohol had been diluted.”

He shook his head and turned back to the row of bottles. “It would just kill you,
wouldn’t it?”

“What?”

“To trust me. We’re supposed to be on the same side. You know, a team, but you walk
around like you’re expecting me to screw you over.” He shifted again to face her.

“I don’t know you. I’m not looking to be on a team. We have a partnership, a limited
one at that. I need to make sure this works. I can’t afford to waste time or energy.”
He didn’t need to know how close he was to guessing the truth. Her brother had taught
her early on not to count on anything or anyone.

“Fine. I’m going to dump all this liquor. Do you have a problem with that?”

Of course she had a problem with losing hundreds of dollars’ worth of alcohol. But
he was right. Again. “Go ahead and dump it, but I did tell you that I expected all
decisions to go through me.”

“Excuse me for showing initiative. It won’t happen again.”

She turned and went back to the office, closing herself in the silence. This would
never work. She couldn’t even have a conversation with Colin without it turning into
a power struggle. She should’ve known better than to partner with a man like him.
He wanted to be the boss just like every other man.

She opened the bottle of antacids she’d brought with her and chewed on one. Her stomach
was still upset. She wasn’t just hungover; she knew that feeling. Maybe her stomach
was upset because she’d skipped breakfast. It was past lunchtime and she hadn’t even
eaten a doughnut.

Her thoughts ran back to Colin. Strange that while on the topic of pain she had thought
of him. She shouldn’t have snapped at him. She felt crappy because she hadn’t gotten
enough sleep and she was hungry.

Maybe she’d invite Colin to lunch. She had to be able to work with him. He hadn’t
done anything to make her think he wasn’t trustworthy. He’d done nothing wrong. In
fact, he’d come up with some good ideas.

She grabbed her purse and headed back into the bar. He stiffened at the sight of her.
Oh, yeah, this was going well. “We missed lunch. I thought maybe you might want to
grab something to eat before we have to meet with people.”

His shoulders relaxed and his mouth quirked. “Is that an invitation?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“That’s all?”

What else did he want? She raised her brows, waiting for an explanation.

“No ‘thank you’?”

“Why should I thank you for doing your job?”

He walked around the bar and stood much too close for her comfort. “I think you owe
me a thank-you for rescuing you from the biker.”

She rolled her eyes. “You did not rescue me. I handled myself fine.”

His smile broadened. “From where I stood, he was about to handle you.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“What would you have done if I wasn’t here?”

She debated telling him that the door wouldn’t have been open. The clientele of this
establishment made her uneasy, but she wasn’t about to give him that fuel. “I would’ve
called the police.”

“Wrong choice. You need me more than you thought, Legs.” He walked past her toward
the door.

“What did you call me?”

“Legs.” He tilted his head and his gaze ran down the length of her. “As in you’re
all leg.”

“My name is Elizabeth.”

He smiled, and her heart jumped. A smile should not have that effect.

He continued, oblivious to her condition. “Anyway, if you’d made that call to the
cops, he would’ve gone into a rage. You have to be able to read people.”

“That’s why I hired you. So we’re back to you just doing your job and no thanks are
necessary.” She turned to the door with her car keys in hand. His laugh echoed in
the empty bar behind her and she couldn’t hold her smile back.

She pressed the alarm button for her car, and Colin stopped her. “I’ll drive.”

“I’m capable of driving.”

“But I know the area and I don’t want to be seen in your ritzy car. I have a reputation
to protect.”

She let her mind wander to what kind of reputation he had. “Fine. Where are you parked?”

He pointed to the Jeep in front of them. He had to be kidding. It was one of those
off-road things with no top.

CHAPTER 5

C
olin barely kept his laughter in check. She stood in front of him trying not to be
insulted that he’d checked out her legs, and now she stared openly at his Jeep in
fear. “I’m a safe driver. No worries.”

She ran a hand over her neatly tied-up hair and tugged at the hem of her jacket. Could
she possibly be more buttoned up? At the rate she was going, she’d need surgery to
remove the stick up her ass. No one was always that tense. “Are you worried about
your hair? Seriously?”

“No,” she snapped. “My hair is fine. Let’s go.”

“How about Jimmy’s? Good hot dogs and burgers.”

“Whatever you want. I don’t live here.”

As if he needed the reminder that their partnership was temporary. He drove to Jimmy’s
and pulled into the lot. They didn’t speak on the short trip. At the counter, Elizabeth
ordered a salad and a side of fries, then stepped aside for him to order. He pulled
out his wallet to pay.

She nudged in front of him. “I invited you to lunch.”

“I never let a beautiful woman pay my way.” He shoved bills into the hand of the cashier,
who was clearly amused by their conversation.

“So if I were homely, you’d allow me to pay.” She stood behind him with her arms crossed,
ready for a fight.

He knew there was no correct way to answer that question. The woman obviously didn’t
accept compliments well. “My mother raised me to pay when I’m with a woman.”

That was diplomatic.

“That’s sexist. I make plenty of money. I certainly don’t need a man to pay for my
lunch.”

He couldn’t win. “I’ll let you buy me dinner then.”

She smiled. “What makes you think we’ll be eating dinner together?”

He couldn’t answer. Her smile was amazing. It totally opened up her face and made
her so much more than beautiful. Unfortunately, it only lasted a brief moment because
then she scowled.

She waved her hand in front of his face.

He lifted a shoulder. “We have a lot of work to do. Long days and nights. We’ll be
eating plenty of meals together.”

She picked up the tray with their food and walked toward a table. His mouth went dry
at the thought of long nights with Legs. He gave himself a mental shake and walked
to the counter to get some ketchup and napkins.

Legs could not be a conquest. He needed to keep it professional. Starting with calling
her Elizabeth instead of Legs.

Besides, he didn’t think she even liked him.

He sat across from her. “Is the salad supposed to balance out the fries for a healthy
meal?”

“No. My stomach was upset earlier and so I wanted something bland, but I love french
fries.”

He took a big bite out of his burger and moaned to let her know what she was missing.
Her face became stone. After swallowing, he held the sloppy burger out to her. “Want
a bite?”

She looked at him like he’d asked her to swallow a flaming sword. Maybe she was afraid
of germs. It would explain why she wanted to pay someone to clean the bar when they
could easily do it themselves.

He sank his teeth into the burger again. She picked at the salad. This was going to
be a long meal.

“Why did you come to see me about the bar?”

Her question caught him off guard, and he choked a little while trying to swallow.
He heard his mother’s voice echo in his head:
If you chewed your food, you wouldn’t choke
. When his airway was clear, he said, “Ryan told me about the offer you made him.
He already has two bars, so his plate is full. But it sounded like a good business
move to me. Of course, that was before I found out it was The Irish you owned.”

“But if you have O’Leary’s, why this?”

The tension crept back into his shoulders. “I don’t have O’Leary’s. Ryan does. I help
run it, but he’s the owner.”

She chewed on some fries. He felt like he’d just passed a test.

“What about you? Why are you doing this? It’s obvious you don’t particularly like
bars.”

“This is what I do. I take something that isn’t working, that isn’t profitable, and
I turn it around. Sometimes we sell, and sometimes we hold on to the property.”

“I know that much. You’re not in the bar business. You do resorts. Why this?”

She shifted and stared at her plate. He had hit on something.

When she lifted her face, she was nothing but business. “Let’s just say this is a
pet project.”

He knew that was all he was going to get out of her. She could call it whatever she
wanted as long as they made a profit. She could keep her secrets as long as they didn’t
interfere with the business at hand. It wasn’t like he didn’t have some of his own.

They finished eating without conversation. Elizabeth pushed her salad away. “We’d
better get back to the bar. People are going to start showing up. Do you have the
inventory ready to talk with vendors?”

“All set, boss.”

“Do you need me to sit in on those meetings?”

“No. I think I can handle ordering beer and liquor.”

She stood. “I figured you could. What’s your schedule look like for the rest of the
week?”

He led the way to the Jeep. “I’ll be around plenty. We need to clean the bar before
we can get anything else done.”

“We?”

“If you pay people to do what we can do ourselves, you lose money for other things
we need, like some kick-ass high-def TVs.”

She buckled in as he started the engine. “That’s a need?”

“For a sports bar it is. You can’t call yourself a sports bar and then set up some
crappy thirty-six-inch TV.” He pulled into traffic not hiding his smile as he caught
sight of her death grip on the door.

Hours later Colin was dog-ass tired and he still needed to work at O’Leary’s. If he
didn’t at least make an appearance after only one day at The Irish, Ryan would never
let him hear the end of it. He rapped on the office door.

“Come in.”

He swung the door open and saw Elizabeth sitting behind a cluttered desk, looking
completely out of place. “I’m heading out. The inventory is done and ordered. Information’s
on the bar. There are some good promotions coming up I think we should do. That’s
on the bar too.”

She twirled her pen. “About what you said earlier.”

Shit. What’d he do now? He waited, but she didn’t continue. “I talked a lot today.”

“When you said we could handle the cleaning ourselves. Did you mean it?”

“Yeah. Afraid of a little dirt?” Maybe germs did freak her out.

“It just seems overwhelming.”

“Nah. Once you scrape off the first layer of scum, the rest will be easy.”

“Okay then. I’ll get cleaning supplies tonight and we’ll start scrubbing tomorrow.”

“See you then.” He walked out of the bar knowing that she took him seriously and liked
his ideas, but he was too tired to celebrate. Now he’d talked himself into cleaning
a bar that hadn’t seen a mop in years. It was time to call in reinforcements.

Elizabeth opened the bar early the next morning. Colin hadn’t said what time he’d
be in, but since he had worked at O’Leary’s last night, she didn’t think it’d be any
time soon. She hauled the box of supplies she’d purchased into the bar and tried to
figure out where to start. The tables were as good as any other spot. She took a bucket
and went to the back to fill it with hot water.

As she hefted it to the front, the door opened, flooding the room with sunlight. Shit.
She knew she should’ve locked it. She squinted against the glare. Although she couldn’t
make out any features, she knew it was Colin.

“I didn’t expect you here so early. Aren’t you tired?”

“I’m fine. Cleaning was my idea, and I’m not about to have you accuse me of slacking
off.” He propped the door open and she was grateful for the fresh air.

“I’m starting with the tables. They all look salvageable if they come clean.” She
turned away from him and began scrubbing with the soapy sponge. She heard no movement
behind her, so she turned back to see Colin staring at her. “Is there a problem?”

“Yeah. You don’t want me to call you Legs, but then you show up wearing a pair of
jeans that show just how long your legs are.”

“Did you expect me to wear a suit to clean the scum?”

“I thought that’s all you owned.”

She wasn’t about to admit that she’d made a special trip to buy some T-shirts and
jeans. Although she owned some in her regular wardrobe, she hadn’t packed them. “I’m
a regular person. I wear business attire when conducting business and casual wear
when I’m not.”

He still didn’t move, so she swung her arm out. “Get to work. We have a lot to do.”

She turned back to scrubbing and watched the white, soapy bubbles turn gray after
only a few swipes. Part of her was tempted to get rid of all the tables and buy new
ones, but it wouldn’t be fiscally responsible. She needed to watch the bottom line
on this site closer than any other.

Music suddenly blared from the bar and she jumped at the noise. She looked over her
shoulder to see Colin grinning. He’d brought a stereo with him. “Better, don’t you
think?”

“Keep it down. We’ll talk about music selection later.”

He tuned to a classic rock station and she didn’t argue. When he began singing along,
slightly off-key, she almost did. He wasn’t horrible, though. She moved on to the
next table and she saw him drag a large trash can toward the bar.

“I’m going to throw out all the crap. Is that all right?”

“Yes.” She sighed, but knew she had it coming. She’d said she wanted all decisions
to go through her. They worked to the sounds of the radio for the next half hour and
didn’t talk.

She went back to refill her bucket for the third time. When she returned, four people
were standing in the middle of the bar, staring. “I’m sorry. We’re not open for business.
We’re in the middle of renovations.”

A short, busty redhead snorted. “You might want to start with a wrecking ball.”

The tall blonde standing next to her elbowed her. “I’m sorry for Moira’s rudeness.
Colin asked us to come help today. I’m Indy, Colin’s sister-in-law, and this is my
fiancé, Griffin. This is Moira, Colin’s sister, and his brother Michael.”

She couldn’t have been more shocked. She quickly recovered, wiped her hand hurriedly
on her jeans, and extended it. “I’m Elizabeth.”

“I know. We’ve heard about you.”

They shook briefly, and Elizabeth did her best to hide the fact that not only did
she not know they were coming, she knew nothing about them.

“Hey, you made it,” Colin called from behind her.

“Of course we did,” Griffin said, leaning forward to slap Colin on the shoulder.

Colin looked at Elizabeth. “Did you meet everyone?”

She nodded.

Colin continued talking. “Where’s Colleen?”

Indy answered, “With your mom. She can’t get enough of being a surrogate grandma.”

Griffin looked at Indy. “You’d better learn to drop the surrogate. It’ll piss her
off.”

Elizabeth watched the exchange with fascination. They were all so at ease with one
another. That feeling was something missing from her childhood.

Indy turned to her. “Where do you want us to start?”

She shrugged. “Everything needs to be done, so—”

Colin interrupted, “The basement really needs work. Take Griffin with you. There might
be some animals or something down there.”

Once her mind had a chance to clear, she looked at the man standing next to Colin.
Griffin, was it? There was something familiar about him, but she couldn’t put her
finger on it. They’d never met, of that much she was sure.

Griffin smiled. “How about you take the basement and I’ll do the bar.”

“Consider this payback for taking Indy from me.”

Indy laughed. “As if you had a chance.”

Indy and Griffin turned toward the back. Elizabeth couldn’t believe Colin had convinced
them to do the basement. She stood staring for a moment, taking it all in. Colin and
Indy? Now she was with Griffin . . . Griffin Walker. Holy cow. That’s where she knew
him from. Her mother read the society pages religiously. Elizabeth paid little attention,
seeing them as tabloids. She had better things to do than gossip.

Her mother, however, had thrust the paper under her nose at least once a month to
point out someone else she thought would be the perfect bachelor for her to snag.
Now she knew why Mom hadn’t mentioned Griffin Walker. He was engaged and had a baby.

Colin nudged her. “I didn’t think you’d mind me calling for help. If you have a big
family, you might as well use it.”

So much for getting this done themselves. At least they would be cheaper than professional
cleaners.