“Let me just double-check myself,” Crystal says, pulling out an iPad. “I’ll check the guest list right now for Sofia and Gio.”
“They aren’t on it,” Mark replies with a certainty I don’t question. If he knows, he knows. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t use another name. Do you have a photo of Sofia and Gio?”
“I’ve never met Sofia, but Gio, yes. Yes, I do.” I grab my phone and key up my photos.
Crystal reports on her progress. “No luck. Sorry.”
I slide an image of Gio between Mark and Crystal.
They both inspect his image and then Crystal glances up at me. “He’s very handsome, Aria. I’d remember him. I’ve never seen him before.”
Mark smirks. “Yes. He’s very handsome. I’d remember him as well.”
I blink at Mark and cling to sanity, which means anything besides the discouraging news they’ve just handed me. “Was that a joke?” I ask and glance at Kace. “Did he just tell a joke?”
“Hard to tell,” Kace replies dryly. “He’s a walking corpse.”
Mark flicks him a look. “Says a man who hides behind a violin.”
It’s an interesting comment, one that doesn’t just speak of a deeper friendship between these two than I’d previously recognized. Mark understands Kace. He knows the man beneath the rock star. I wonder how well. His promise that I will run if I know all there is to know about him, has me wondering if any of us fully know Kace.
“And I do it without a stick up my ass,” Kace replies, his arm settling on the back of my chair. “You should try a few activities without that stick in your ass. For instance, sitting here at this table. I suspect it’s painful.”
My eyes go wide, but I swear Mark’s lips quirk ever so slightly, as if he’s amused, before he slips back into cold, hard Mark, and looks at me. “Walker runs our security as well. They have access to anything you need that might help, including the handful of approved guests that didn’t show up to the event.”
“I’ll go down that list myself, too,” Crystal offers, “and see if anyone stands out to me. My assistant, Lori Hamilton, helps out. I’ll discreetly see what she has to offer.”
Discreetly.
Because they know who I am.
We all know they know who I am, and so far, the floor hasn’t opened up and sucked me into a hell of my own making. But Gio is missing, I remind myself. I have to be cautious. The formula would be priceless and for that kind of money, hell might open up and send its own army of demons to collect.
The food arrives. Italian spices tease my nose, and for a bit, the attention for all of us is on the food. After a taste, which Kace attends to with way too much interest, I grade the pasta as excellent. This earns me his charming smile and a kiss. A few bites in, Kace steals an opportune moment when Mark and Crystal are chatting, and leans in and whispers, “You handled him like the queen you are, baby. Well played. Well played.”
I smile at the compliment, and shiver with the feel of his fingers on my nape, the touch teasing me in all kinds of ways and places. It amazes me how easily this can make me feel wildly inappropriate at my most tense of moments. I like this about him. I like this about me with him.
We both twirl pasta around our forks and with his voice still low, for my ears only, he glances over at me. “Based on my present thoughts, you should be blushing right now.”
I grin and meet his stare, daring to reply with, “You should, too.”
He laughs, a low, rough, sexy rumble that is almost as perfect as his music. Oh yes. I am feeling so very inappropriate right now. Which of course is exactly when Crystal decides to glance our direction, a knowing smile breaks on her lovely face. She then delicately clears her throat and straightens. “We should talk business before we run out of time.” She checks her watch. “Oh yes. We definitely need to do this now. I have a meeting in twenty minutes.”
“I’m all ears,” I say, sliding my plate aside.
She picks right up where we left off. “Forty percent of our commission on the wine,” she says. “If that works for you, I’ll email you the structure, but it varies per negotiated terms with the clients.”
“I need a negotiating tool with a particular client, so even without looking at the structure,” I say, “I can make it work.”
“I think you’ll be pleased,” she says, “and if this goes well for all parties, Mark and I have a proposition for you. We have clients that need us to move items well before auctions are held. We start mini private auctions by just calling known bidders or even hunting down new bidders. I do that. You do that, too, in your business, which makes us a perfect match. I’d like you to consider doing it for us. As a contractor to start, but we might have a more official, larger idea to discuss as well.”