The Millionaire's Intriguing Offer

Dinner and Some Surprises

After about the tenth nuisance phone call that day, Bailey decided to give Maria a call and ask if she was free for coffee the next morning. According to Tito, his brother Joey would be the perfect addition to their office. She could really use the extra help answering phones, running errands and just helping in general to get things ready for the launch. Given Maria's amazing artistic talent, Bailey was betting that some of that creativity was in Joey's blood as well, and it would be fun to test out on him a few of her ideas for the introductory glass art class she was putting together, if only to see what kind of things kids in the teen demographic would find interesting and challenging while not being so complicated that they got discouraged.

But according to Tito, his sister was adamantly opposed to Joey doing anything at all at OFC this summer, and Bailey wanted to know why.

If Maria was surprised to hear from her again so soon after they had lunch last week to discuss plans for the art program, she didn't say so. Instead, she seemed to take it as a casual and friendly invitation, which made Bailey feel a little guilty for not telling Maria what she actually wanted to discuss with her. That was on Tito's advice, who said Bailey would have a much better chance of convincing his sister if Maria didn't come already prepared for the argument.

Bailey hoped it wouldn't be a total disaster, especially since she was starting to consider Maria a friend. But the situation at the office was getting desperate and it would only get worse when they added the actual classes into the mix. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Bailey stuck her head in Tito's door.

"Hey, boss, I'll be in a little late tomorrow morning."

Tito looked up from his laptop. "Hot date with Jonathon tonight?" He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

"As a matter of fact, he's coming over and cooking dinner tonight. But that's not why I'm going to be late."

"If you say so."

She wondered if Tito was dating anyone. For someone who was so upfront and transparent about his criminal background, he was surprisingly secretive about his personal life.

Well, maybe secretive wasn't exactly the right word. But her certainly wasn't forthcoming about it.

"I'm having coffee tomorrow morning with Maria."

Tito leaned back in his chair.

"Operation Joey Save Us," he said.

"You got it."

"Good luck with that."

"If this doesn't work, we're going to have to think about a temp agency." Tito had tried posting the temporary position on some job sites online, but apparently vaguely defined positions that paid minimum wage did not result in an influx of resumes.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now get out of here,' he said, glancing at his watch. "You've worked long enough today."

* * *

Bailey still wasn't sure how she felt about Jack having the spare key to her apartment. But the moment she opened the door she had to admit there were definite advantages. The aroma of baked salmon blended with a scent that was rich and cheesy, and . . . was that chocolate?

"Hey," Jack called as she shut the door behind her. "Just in time." He was lifting a glass pan out of the oven that held thick pieces of salmon with sliced lemon and herbs on top. Her mouth watered.

"How did you time that so well?" Bailey asked, kicking off her shoes and dropping her work tote on a chair.

He looked back over his shoulder. "You texted me when you left the office, remember? Salmon fillets only need about 12 minutes in the oven at this temp." He set the pan on top of the stove, then used a spatula to lift a fat fillet onto each dinner plate, and then two more onto a plate on the side.