Gloria smiled. “I see that already.”
Her hair was a mess, Oz thought. But it was a sexy mess. “May I?” He was motioning at the empty chair on the side of her desk.
Gloria would have immediately said no to Oz the clubber. But Oz the businessman presented such a compellingly different picture. She knew what he probably wanted, but she had a different goal. She wondered if he could give her some insight into the local business climate? “Yes,” she said. “Please.”
Oz was a tad surprised that she hadn’t kicked him out of her office on sight, especially after seeing him with Jennifer that night. Why he thought that would bother her was a mystery even to him. But that was how he was thinking.
He unbuttoned his suit coat and sat down. They were now sitting parallel to each other. He could see that she wore a short skirt and that her shapely legs were crossed beneath her desk. And just like that he began to get hard. He folded his legs too.
“I guess I should formally introduce myself. My name is Odysseus.”
“But everybody calls you Oz,” Gloria finished for him. “Yes, I remember. And I want to thank you again for helping me with that idiot.”
“No worries,” said Oz. “But I’m still surprised.”
“By what?”
“You didn’t tell me you were moving to my neck of the woods when we were talking in Vegas. I think I mentioned I was from Apple Valley, no?”
“You mentioned you were from Florida, which was one of the two states I was considering at the time.”
“Oh, yeah? What other state?”
“California.”
“Ah. And you chose Florida instead? Why? The fact that there are no state taxes here?”
Gloria smiled. “Nothing that brilliant.”
“Then why?” Oz smiled. “Because I’m here?”
“The truth?”
Oz hesitated. Was it because he lived there? Now he was worried. Was she some kind of stalker? He’d had that kind too. “Yes, please tell me the truth.”
“I didn’t want to be too far away from my family.”
“Oh, I see.”
“They all live on the east coast. That’s why Florida won out. I know that sounds silly.”
“Not at all! I did the same thing. But I’m worse. I moved all the way from Greece following behind my big brother. I think, in a way, we all need that familiar, even as we desperately want to get from under their shadows and want to make a name for ourselves.”
Gloria stared at him. Nobody seemed to understand why she was doing what she was doing the way he did. “That’s actually how I feel. I’m not getting any younger. I figure I’d better get on with my life.”
“Not getting any younger? How old are you?”
“I’m pushing thirty.”
Oz laughed. “You’re a baby,” he said, and Gloria laughed. “Because, my dear, if you aren’t getting any younger, imagine my situation. You’re pushing thirty, but I’m pushing forty! Might even have already pushed pass it. Who knows?”
Gloria smiled. “Your old butt knows, that’s who,” she said, and they both laughed.
But when she laughed her big breasts bounced too, which suddenly reminded Oz why he bothered to come all the way to that diner to begin with. He wanted her. “Have dinner with me,” he blurted out.
Gloria’s smile slowly faded. Because she knew why he asked it. His eyes were still staring at her breasts when he did ask. And just like that, his ability to understand where she was coming from wasn’t enough for her to go down that too familiar heartbreak lane again. “Can’t,” she said.
Oz stared at her. “Can’t? Or won’t?”
“No, really. I’m swamped here. I’ll probably work late into the night tonight. Every night. I’ve got to get a handle on things.”
Oz was hurt by her rejection. Again! But he wasn’t about to let her see it. “Yes, I suppose it is daunting taking over a business.”
“It’s a tiny business, and I know most people wouldn’t give it a second thought. But this is my first time around, and I’ve got to get it right. I need this business to remain profitable. But thank you for the offer.”
For some reason, Oz believed her. It wasn’t him; it was the circumstances. She was just too busy! It wasn’t an out-and-out rejection. Not this time anyway. Perhaps he could help alleviate some of her concerns. Why he would even want to was a different story. He knew he could have just called it a day and went and found him a different woman. Like Jennifer, for one. He could use more bed time with that gorgeous creature.
But Gloria, for some unfathomable reason, interested him.
“What seems to be your difficulty?” he asked her.
“Oh, that’s easy. My vendors.”
“Right. You did mention vendors. What’s the issue?”
“Margins. They’re killing me with the margins, man.”
“Let me guess: they increased their prices on you?”
Gloria nodded. “And not by a few pennies, either, which I might have accepted.”
“Which vendor specifically?”
“Like every one of them.”
That surprised Oz. “Everybody? Give me an example.”
Gloria should have hesitated. It was obvious that he wasn’t interested in her business or anything about her beyond her body. But she was feeling so overwhelmed already! “I just got off of the phone with one vendor, for example, who charged Miss Lucinda forty cents per hamburger bun she bulk-purchased. They want to charge me fifty-five cents a bun.”
Oz frowned. “Twenty-eight percent markup just because you’re the new owner? Why that’s outrageous!”
Gloria nodded. “That’s how I feel. Now I’ve got to find a new vendor. I’ve got to find a ton of new vendors because they’ve all raised their prices on me in a similar fashion.”
Oz shook his head and began pulling out his cell phone. “The one thing that angers me most,” he said as he searched for a particular number, “is people taking advantage of other people. What they’re doing to you is wrong, and you’re right to protest it.”
“One guy said I was being a bitch.”
Oz frowned. “Which one? Tell me and I’ll kick his ass.”
Gloria smiled. “It’s okay. Name calling never bothered me.”
“I can relate,” Oz said as he pressed the number he had been searching for and placed his phone on Speaker when it started to ring. “I’d be dead, sleeping in my grave, if name-calling bothered me.”
“Who are you phoning?”
“My inventory manager.”
Gloria was surprised that he wasn’t bragging about the fact that he co-owned The Drakos casino with his brother, a casino almost as large as her Uncle Reno’s PaLargio casino in Vegas. In the club the first time she met him, he seemed like the bragging type. But now, oddly, not so much.
The ringing stopped, and a male’s voice came on the line. “This is Tom Marzin. How may I help you?”
“Hello, Thomas, this is Oz.”
“Mr. Drakos! Well, hello, sir. How may I assist you, sir?”
“I need some figures from you.”