A Fare To Remember_ Just Whistle_Driven - Vicki Lewis Thompson [94]
Alec was ready to cry uncle. Sabina Amanar was obviously more powerful then he could have ever imagined. “I’ve been thinking we might want to make alternative plans. I mean, why sit on those properties when we don’t know if the old lady is going to sell?”
“Are you giving up already?” Simon asked, disdain dripping from his voice. “One little curse and you get scared off. I was cursed every year and I never let it bother me.” He shook his head. “When I put you in charge, I thought I could trust you to get the job done.”
“You said it. You’ve been after Ruta for years and she’s never wavered. Unless she gets into some financial trouble, she’s there to stay. And her granddaughter has plans to stay long after she’s gone. I think we better consider doing the condo project. We don’t need Ruta’s building for that.”
“Have you even made an offer?” Simon asked.
In truth, whenever he’d been around Sabina, the last thing he thought about was business. His mind became consumed with touching her and kissing her, testing the limits of their attraction to each other. “Well, not formally. But I’ve already been turned down.”
Simon stood up, bracing his hands on his desk. “Don’t come whining to me until you’ve tried for at least five years. Then we’ll talk.”
Sensing the meeting was over, Alec got to his feet and tucked the crutches under his arms. But there were still things that needed saying. “You gave me this job because you wanted me to make the big decisions. If I decide to do the condo project, then that will be my decision. And if you don’t like it, then you’re going to have to find someone else to run this company.”
Simon slowly sat down, a scowl on his face. His father was stubborn. But he’d also gotten used to the lifestyle of a semiretired real estate mogul. Weekends in the Hamptons, golf with his buddies and winters down south. “Are you going to make an offer?”
“I’m going over there now. But first I’m going to get her to remove this curse.”
Alec hobbled out of the office and grabbed his briefcase from the receptionist’s desk. “Did you call a cab?” he asked.
Karen nodded. “Security said he’s waiting out front.”
Alec turned for the elevator. But it was impossible to hang on to his briefcase and the crutches. Karen hurried out from behind the reception desk and took it from him, then rode the elevator down.
“So she cursed you,” Karen mused, staring up at the lights above the door. “My grandmother has this neighbor who goes to a psychic healer and she’d probably be able to break the curse. Would you like me to call her?”
Alec smiled politely. “I think I can take care of this myself.”
Getting into a cab was tricky, but after a few stumbles, he was comfortably seated. Only then did he realize he was sitting in a familiar backseat. Photographs lined the interior of the cab and Mario Capelli’s face stared back at him from the rearview mirror. “Ruta’s?” he asked.
Alec didn’t even want to consider the sheer luck it took for him to get inside Capelli’s cab for a second time. He could only take comfort in the fact that he was relatively safe considering Capelli and Ruta were friends. “Yeah, Ruta’s,” Alec replied.
“She’s not home. I took her to New Jersey this morning. She’s doing a brunch for a family reunion. She’s very popular as party entertainment.”
“I’m not interested in seeing Ruta. I have business with her granddaughter, Sabina.”
Mario’s grin grew wider. “Now, there’s a beautiful girl.”
“Beautiful, but dangerous,” Alec muttered. “Very, very dangerous.”
“Ah, but what woman isn’t? When they have the ability to steal your heart away, it’s a frightening thing. But once it happens, you realize that it’s better off in their keeping.”
“That’s a pretty sappy sentiment,” Alec said.
“I believe in romance. I believe that for every single guy, there’s a gal out there waiting to be needed. And for every gal, there’s a guy waiting to be saved. Look around you. I know what I’m talking about.”
Alec scanned the photos, the smiling faces of at least a hundred couples, young and old. “And you