The Temporary Siren

Chapter One 

Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood glanced around the ballroom and wished she was anywhere else.  

And then hated herself for the thought.  

She was in a beautiful city. Fort Worth glittered beneath them. This hotel was luxurious. Her family and friends were all around her. The dress she was wearing could have come off a runway in Paris. She had the best job. She had every privilege. Every reason to be on top of the world.  

Yet she sat here while everyone else was having a marvelous time.  

“Hey, you look way less happy than a maid of honor should,” a familiar voice said. Bobby Farley. He looked handsome in his suit, his hair slicked back. He usually dressed like he was a cast member of The Big Bang Theory, but then he could be. He was about to graduate from MIT with a doctorate in physics.  

And he was about to graduate into his truth by telling his parents what he’d known since he was a kid.  

“I guess I never thought my little brother would get married before me.” She would hand it to her parents. They knew how to throw a party. Well, her mom did. Dad would have thrown a backyard barbecue, and Papa would have brought the beer. For all their success, her dads were still down to earth, which was probably why her papa was standing to the side pulling at his bowtie like it was strangling him.  

And then her mom stepped in and smiled and took his hand to lead him to the dance floor, and Sam Fleetwood didn’t look like he cared about the fact that she had forced him into a tux.  

She wanted that. Wanted it so badly she couldn’t stand it, and she had to consider the idea that it wasn’t in the cards for her. Her parents loved each other. They were each other’s best friends. Together for years, they still kissed and held hands and had real passion between them, along with all the softer things that came with a long-term marriage. They took care of each other.  

Josh and Nicole and Grim were going to do that, too. They were going to start a family in their house on the ranch their parents had bought them. She had moved into the guest house, and it was nice to have her own space.  

She hadn’t had a real date in over a year.  

Bobby grabbed another two glasses of champagne, offering her one like the complete gentleman he was. “Well, I never thought Josh would marry anyone. I remember way too many times he would come to Bliss and hit on every available woman in sight. Some who weren’t so available.” 

Olivia couldn’t help a snort that came with the memory. “Yes, he even did that when he was five. That boy has always liked the ladies.” 

Her heart ached as she said it.  

His hand came out to cover hers. “I can hold off if you need time. Honestly, I’m not sure I need to tell my parents anything at all. They don’t talk to me much anymore. Or Will. It’s like we betrayed them by leaving Colorado. I think the only reason my mom called Will was because she got the invite to the wedding.” 

“Do you think she’ll actually go to Massachusetts?” Bobby had a twin brother, and they were still close. They had gone to college together and chosen MIT for their PhDs, and now they were both accepting positions in California. They were starting their lives.  

For the longest time everyone thought they would go the Bliss route when it came to a relationship. Even their parents had wrapped their very closed minds around the thought of having a single daughter-in-law. After all, there were throuples everywhere.  

And for some of that time, Olivia acted as their temporary girlfriend. When she would go to Bliss she would hang out with Bobby and Will and look like the perfect long-distance threesome. It worked for all of them. It kept Bobby and Will’s parents off their backs about settling down. It kept her momma from setting her up with every half-eligible man in their circle.  

But she had to face the truth now. There was some part of her that had wanted it all to be real. Will had offered, but the truth was she’d always loved Bobby.  

And she wasn’t Bobby’s type.  

How was it she still ached after all this time? She loved this man, but it wasn’t romantic anymore. It was comfortable. It was friendship that felt like it could have been so much more if not for that one trick of fate.  

She gave him what she hoped was a bright smile. “No. You need to come out to your parents once and for all. If they reject you, you know you always have a home with me.” 

He huffed and sat back. “Maybe not once your parents know you’ve been my cover for ten years.” 

Now she was sure her smile was bright. “Oh, my dads cannot have a say in that. Though they might ask if you’ve tried being bi. I think they’ve been comfortable because they thought once your PhD is done we would get serious and settle down.” 

He held her hand, tangling their fingers together. “Well, they’ll know something’s up when they get their wedding invite next week. I asked Will to delay sending them out so I could be your date to this function.” 

She squeezed his hand. “Thank you. If you weren’t here, my mom and sister would be trying to introduce me to every single man in the ballroom. I overheard Mom and Lexi talking about how they thought Travis Taggart would be a good match for me if he could find a friend to share me with. Seriously? He’s almost ten years younger than me and already has a kid.” 

Bobby shrugged. “I mean technically you would be getting two men. Only one of them is in diapers.” 

She rolled her eyes. “You are terrible.” 

He sobered. “Sometimes I worry I am.” 

“Bobby, you are not. You are who you are.” She knew he worried about her. He worried he broke something in her, but that wasn’t true. She didn’t blame him for being who he was. He had never promised her anything. He told her when she tried to kiss him once and then he cried because he worried he would lose her friendship.  

Never.  

“I know, and I can’t tell you how much I love you for believing that and letting me be who I am when I’m with you,” Bobby replied. “For keeping my secret all these years. But I worry I’m holding you back.” 

“You are not.” She said the words, but she knew that being around Bobby was an excellent excuse to not pay attention to her own love life. She could keep telling herself that she would start trying after her travel schedule calmed down. After Bobby’s graduation. After her brothers’ wedding. There was always a reason to stick her head in a book and pretend the world didn’t exist.  

Bobby’s voice dropped to a whisper. “When was the last time you had crazy, righteously nasty sex? You belong to a whole sex club and from what I’ve heard you never go.” 

She felt herself flush because the real answer was sad. “I do. I was at The Hideout a couple of weeks ago.” 

“And did you play?” 

She sighed and sat back, taking another sip of champagne. She was in Dallas every couple of weeks. The company kept an apartment there. She always had a meeting with her uncle, and she always went to play night at The Hideout. She did not always play. The Hideout was as much for socializing as it was for D/s. “No. I sat in the locker room most of the night listening to Chloe complain about Seth.” 

Bobby leaned in because he loved some gossip. He always claimed the gossip in his lab was boring compared to Bliss and Dallas. “That’s Big Tag’s older son and the really scary dude’s daughter, right? I mean I know she’s got a fluffy, happy dad like most of you do, but the other one is… He’s a lot, and I say that as a guy who’s known Big Tag for years. I would be kind of scared to be Seth.” 

Ian Taggart would have usually been the scariest authority figure in their world. He was an ex-Green Beret, maybe not-so-ex-CIA operative, but they weren’t supposed to talk about that. He ran a security company. He was six and a half feet of pure sarcasm on a good day, and he could freeze a person with his stare.  

He was nothing compared to Julian Lodge. Oh, he would argue, but Taggart followed rules, and she was pretty sure her Uncle Julian made the rules up as he went along. There were always rumors that he was mafia, but she discounted those. He was just a ruthless billionaire who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. That’s why they made soap, he would always say.  

In a lot of ways, Julian was her mentor. Oh, Dad was ruthless, too, but Uncle Julian took it to new levels.  

“Yes,” she replied. “But I happen to know that the whole Seth and Chloe thing is never happening. He’s one hundred percent into her, and she is dating some asshole named Tom. Seth is a singer/songwriter. Tom has an MBA and all the right qualifications. She’s looking at her relationships like there’s a checklist she has to fill for it to be real. She thinks she needs someone who’ll look good standing next to her in boardroom photos.” 

“Uh, Seth is hot as hell. I mean seriously, he’s glorious. I should know. I’m a connoisseur.” 

He was, but Chloe wasn’t simply looking at Seth’s hotness level. “I mean in a business sense. She’s known for a long time that she’ll take over Lodgecorp and her mom’s business one day, and she wants to present the right image. Apparently a super-hot guy with a guitar isn’t it.” 

He shook his head. “We are getting off topic.” He looked up as someone approached their table. “Hey, when was the last time Olivia had hot sex with a random, gorgeous man?” 

“Bobby,” she admonished. He was usually so discreet, but something about making the decision to be open and honest had caused him to throw all his caution straight to the wind.  

Miranda McNamara-O’Malley’s pretty face lit with a grin. A mischievous one. She was the daughter of one of the members of the Barnes-Fleetwood Collective, a group of independent cattle ranchers who worked together to get the best prices and deals. They found they had far more power in negotiations when they worked together. And when they sent in a shark in heels and a business suit. That would be her. One of the blessings of her job was getting to make friends all over the country. Miranda was a good one. “Well, she had the chance a couple of months ago. She came up to teach my parents how to use the new accounting software and my brothers tried to seduce her.” 

Olivia couldn’t help it. She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that Tanner and Kade weren’t hot. They were gorgeous, but they were also way too young for her. They were young bucks doing all kinds of things with the oats they were supposed to sow. “I remember them as toddlers. I can’t. Same with all the Harper boys.” She looked to Bobby. “You know you could have been a way more protective fake boyfriend.” 

He laughed. “Oh, I think most of the younger set has figured me out. I tend to go to Hell on Wheels when I come home. Naturally my parents think I’m at church functions or helping the sheriff with his Internet. It’s a weirdly good place to pick up guys. Unless you’re with Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood, and then she scares them off.” 

“Do not.” Except she kind of did. She was starting to worry that she wasn’t capable of love. She had grown up around so many beautiful, beat-the-odds love stories, but she had never felt for anyone the way she did Bobby. It might be that fate or the universe had screwed up, and she hadn’t found a way to settle for less.  

Not that they’d ever had a physical relationship.  

She’d had them. He’d had them. But never together. Bobby wasn’t one of those guys who needed to try sex with a girl to see if he was truly gay. Nope. He’d always known.  

Olivia had a couple of boyfriends over the years. In high school she had dated a football player. She thought he was brave and crazy about her since her family was still known as the town scandal. Then she overheard him talking about how her parents were rich and he didn’t care that his momma called Jack Barnes the devil. He wanted to cash in. Marrying Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood was the ticket to an easy life, and he wanted it.  

She dumped him before the championship game and the Willow Fork Tigers lost. Then she was the child of the scandalous family who also cost them the state title.  

Then there was the college math major. They had a good time, but when he left for his graduate work she hadn’t been heartbroken.  

For a little while she thought she might try with a rancher who had joined the collective a few years back. He was perfect on paper. They had a lot in common. He knew about her parents and wasn’t worried about it. He got along with Josh and Grim. Then she heard him talking about how hard it was to work with a woman.  

It was the last straw, and now she was done with all things romantic and she was barely thirty.  

“Oh, no. She’s thinking about all her other relationships and coming to the conclusion that she should be a nun.” Gigi Dawson sank onto the seat beside Miranda, who looked their friend’s way and nodded her agreement. She wore a yellow cocktail dress that clung to her every curve. Her glorious, naturally curly hair was in a halo around her head. 

“I don’t have a look,” Olivia insisted.  

“She does, and I’m pretty sure she is contemplating living the rest of her life alone, concentrating only on business and being everyone’s weird aunt,” Bobby agreed and then leaned forward. “I think we should find her a hot, random dude to celebrate her brothers’ keeping up the family tradition of two guys marrying one woman.” 

Gigi’s eyes widened. “I mean from what I know her dads are like all into each other, too, so they’re all married.” 

“Ewww,” Olivia said, shaking her head. Gigi was always amusing and loved to be a bit shocking, too. “Josh and Grim are brothers. I know they’re not biological brothers and it’s not like my parents formally adopted him, but they are brothers. My dads have a unique relationship.” 

“You mean like Chloe’s dads have, and Aria’s dads and oh, all of your nephews’ dads? Like every relationship in Bliss except the billionaire dude and the scary guy who wears socks with his Birkenstocks.” Gigi shrugged. “They are not unique. Just the originals. I like to tell your dad he led the way when it came to two guys and a girl all getting it on together. That’s usually when he pretends to not know who I am and mutters something about my dad. Which should prove that he does know who I am.” 

Gigi was a menace. “I’m only saying Josh and Grim consider themselves brothers, and I do, too, and I do not appreciate you making me wonder how careful they are when they sleep with their brand-new wife. So again with the eww.” 

Bobby shrugged. “Well, they are pretty together.” His eyebrows rose. “Oh, and so are they. Hello, pretty boys.” 

Every woman’s head turned as the two started walking by.  

Bobby wasn’t wrong. They were hot. They wore suits, but it looked more natural on one of them. The taller of the two had an elegance about him. A male-model thing going. He was masculine but in a graceful way. The other one was pure linebacker hotness. Male Model had hair as black as a raven’s wing, while Linebacker’s was a deep brown with threads of red and blond running through it. The best of both worlds.  

“Oh, well, that’s quite nice,” Miranda said, and her hand actually came up to make sure she wasn’t drooling.  

“Where did they come from?” Gigi looked around like she was offended she did not know who the hottest guys in the room were. “They can’t be from our side. I would have noticed them.” 

“I don’t know. I’ve never met them. Nicole invited a few people from her old life. After her nasty ex died, a bunch of her friends came looking for her,” Olivia explained. “Maybe they’re from her side. I think they’re all from Oregon.” 

“Perfect,” Miranda declared. “They’ll go back to Oregon, and you won’t ever have to see them again.” 

Bobby grinned. “It actually is kind of perfection.” 

“Or they could be married or have girlfriends. And I would bet they aren’t ménage partners,” Olivia pointed out. Although she had shaved and let a makeup artist work on her for hours, and then there was the hair. She looked good. Did she want to waste all that time and effort? 

They were in a luxury hotel. She had a hard deadline to be out of here tomorrow morning. She had to be at the airport by noon. There was a narrow window to get her freak on, and that made it seem more possible. There wouldn’t be any awkward exchange of phone numbers.  

It wasn’t like other people weren’t hooking up. There was a stall in the ladies’ bathroom that wasn’t being used for the purpose it was created for. Not at all. Many of the single people were circling each other.  

And Chloe Lodge was staring at Seth Taggart across the room as he started to get ready to play a set. She explained earlier that Tom was caught in New York working on a big project.  

Tom was always working on a project. Chloe was alone more than she was with him.  

Did she want to end up being Chloe? Pining for something she couldn’t have? Although Chloe could have Seth if she wanted him. She was pretty sure Seth slept with every halfway attractive woman who said yes.  

She loved Bobby, but it wasn’t romantic anymore. Her sorrow was more about what could have been.  

It might be time to enjoy the now.  

Miranda put a hand on Gigi’s arm, her eyes wide. “She’s thinking about it. She’s actually thinking about it.” 

“No, I’m not.” She lied and found the best reason of all to not make a complete idiot of herself at her brothers’ wedding. “Like I said they’re probably married. Or maybe they’re together.” 

Bobby stood and smoothed down his jacket. “Only one way to find out.” 

“What are you doing?” Olivia whispered as her bestie stood up. 

“I’m going to see if they’re available, though you’ll probably have to pick one if they’re against the whole threesome thing,” Bobby offered.  

She thought about it. “Do not tell them my name. If they’re interested, no names exchanged.” 

He grinned. “We’re going the ‘dirty night we never speak of again’ route. I like it.” 

He strode toward them, and Olivia worried she made a terrible mistake.   

“He’s going to take them if they’re gay,” Gigi said with a sigh.  

“He is not. He has a boyfriend.” Olivia watched in horror as Bobby walked up to the two men who were ordering from the open bar. “That’s why he’s coming out. He wants to take Mark to Will’s wedding. And now I have to tell my parents I’ve been lying to them for a couple of years.” 

A good reason to get some stress relief in. She promised to stick close to home while her brothers were on their honeymoon. She was usually the one on the road, but she was going to take over Josh’s work in the office. She was supposed to work with some lawyer her uncle was sending out to Willow Fork next week. It would be boring.  

Shouldn’t she have some fun? 

It was only one night.  

When they walked her way, she sat up and decided to make it a memorable one.  

* * * * 

Garrett Pace tried not to look at the redhead who seemed to be the bride’s sister. Wasn’t that usually the person who took the maid of honor position? He wasn’t sure, but then it wasn’t like he’d been to a bunch of weddings. They didn’t look alike, but she was the maid of honor. Maybe they were nothing more than best friends. He felt bad that he missed the part of the reception where they made toasts. He would like to have found out her name, maybe gotten a chance to get an introduction.  

“Did the call go okay?” His best friend sat down next to him.  

Keane Rollins had been around for most of his life. Keane was the only person in the world he knew he could count on. He was rapidly coming to trust his new bosses, but for so long it was only him and Keane. Through the roughest times. Through the times he wasn’t sure they would come out alive.  

“It was an accounting error,” he replied. “I had a long talk with them about being more careful, but I’m absolutely certain it wasn’t on purpose. The money was in another account, but it was a business account, not anything personal. I’m far more worried about Gladen Farms. There’s some weird accounting going on there.” 

The good thing about a collective was everything they could do together. They were far more powerful than they would be on their own. The Barnes-Fleetwood Collective had grown to the point that they had a whole legal department that served the ranches. Legal. Accounting. A head office that ensured everything worked right.  

The bad part? If one ranch didn’t follow the rules, it made them all look bad. 

“Are you going to deal with it while we’re in Willow Fork?” Keane asked, and his eyes trailed away.  

Was he looking for a woman? It had been a while since either of them had a girlfriend. Since they started working for Barnes-Fleetwood, they had taken to an entirely different lifestyle. While Garrett worked for Barnes-Fleetwood directly, they lived in Deer Run. Keane took over the day-to-day running of the ranch so Aidan O’Malley could focus on his family and the business. Aidan’s partner, Lucas, was the one who hired him as an intern and helped him out when he passed the bar, bringing Keane along for the ride. Keane only had to work on the ranch for six months before Aidan started delegating a lot of the management to him. He’d recently been promoted to foreman.  

It was weird to be at a high-society wedding. He didn’t fit in here. Despite his law degree, he was still that eight-year-old kid whose life fell apart when his mom died and no one wanted to take him in.  

“Yeah, we’ve got some time there. One of the things I want to talk about is doing a complete review of every ranch in the collective.” His job could be done over the course of a week, but Keane was taking over as foreman while the guy who usually ran the Barnes-Fleetwood Ranch was on his honeymoon. So they would be in Willow Fork for a few weeks.  

“Do you ever think about it?” Keane’s eyes stopped on a table toward the front of the room where family and close friends were.  

Garrett was almost entirely sure he was looking at the redhead. The gorgeous, curvy, probably had a smart mouth on her redhead. A brat. He fucking loved a brat.  

“Think about what?” He was pretty sure his friend was asking him about the woman in particular.  

Keane turned his way, his eyes going serious. “About trying to have a relationship like Lexi and Aidan and Lucas?” 

The O’Malleys. Lexi was Jack Barnes and Sam Fleetwood’s stepdaughter. She had two husbands, Aidan O’Malley and Lucas O’Malley, who changed his name when they married. They were happy. They were a solid unit raising kids and building a business and loving each other. The fact that he caught Lucas and Aidan kissing as much as he did the two of them with Lexi didn’t bother him a bit. In fact, it made him wonder. 

“Yeah, I think about it. I’ve thought about it since the day we met them. I’ve enjoyed the hell out of the short-term relationships we’ve had as a threesome. It makes sense when you consider all the factors. I have to weigh it against societal norms, but there seems to be a whole society that accepts those types of relationships. I think it might be time for us to start looking for a more settled one.” 

Keane snorted. “Yes, Counselor.” 

Garrett sighed. “I’m not trying to make it clinical. You know that’s how I make decisions.” 

Keane sat back. “I know, and I go with my gut. And that’s why you’re the lawyer and I’m the ex-con.” 

“Hey, don’t talk about that. It’s behind us. You have a good job, and you don’t have to worry about it again.” It was a part of their lives Garrett didn’t like to think about. “What we do need to worry about is tonight. We’re about to be stuck in a tiny town.” 

“And the big boss’s daughter ,” Keane pointed out. “Aren’t you going to work with her?” 

“Yes, I’m going to work with her, and we are going to keep our hands off her because she is the big boss’s daughter and we like these jobs.” He finished up his rye. He could have another since it wasn’t like they were driving. They had a room in the hotel, and they would take a taxi out to the private airport in the morning. “We have to be on our absolute best behavior for the weeks we’re out in Willow Fork. So I say we have some fun tonight. What do you think of her?” 

“Her?” 

“The redhead we’ve both been staring at all night long.” 

Keane’s lips curled up. “We’ve always had the same taste in women.” 

“Which is why all of this makes sense. Let’s grab a drink and see if we can get close to her.” Garrett stood.  

Keane did not. “Garrett, she has a boyfriend. She’s been holding his hand all night.” 

Garrett had gotten good at reading body language. If he wanted to, he likely could have specialized in jury management. He wanted to say it came from his legal studies and being in courtrooms. It was far more complicated than that. It was a skill that helped him survive his childhood. “I will bet you two hundred that they’re just friends.” 

“How would you know that?” 

“If I tell you, I won’t get two hundred dollars.” 

Keane’s eyes rolled but he stood up. “I’m not betting two hundred dollars.” 

Garrett wouldn’t have taken it anyway. “All right. Watch them carefully. They are very affectionate, but he hasn’t kissed her once. Not even come close. I think their affection is actually comfort. Also, if he is her boyfriend, she should probably be told he’s gay. He’s watched every man who walks in the room, and not merely to see who was here. His eyes linger on the tall, muscular ones. He has a type, and it is not that curvy redhead.” 

“He’s attractive,” Keane said and then flushed.  

He could see it in an aesthetic way. “I suppose, but he’s still not into her. Not physically. Let’s get another drink and talk about how to approach her.”  

Keane followed him. “What if she’s not into guys?” 

“Then I’m going to go cry somewhere because that is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Nicole has excellent taste in friends.” They’d met Nicole for the first time earlier this evening. He’d met Joshua Barnes-Fleetwood once in Dallas, but they’d been all about business, and Lucas had done most of the talking. He wondered where the daughter was but hadn’t been introduced to her. He could go and ask Lucas, but the man was dancing with his wife and having a lovely time. He didn’t need to worry about business.  

“She really is something,” Keane said as they walked by her table. She and her friend had been joined by two other ladies who would have definitely caught his interest had they not been sitting next to that glorious woman. “Hey, she looks like she’s got money. She probably wouldn’t want to hang out with a ranch hand.” 

“I wasn’t going to ask her to take us to social events, Keane. I was going to offer her a crazy night in bed with two men who know what they’re doing.” He walked up to the bar. “Rye on the rocks, and he’ll have a beer.” 

Keane didn’t touch the hard stuff. Just a beer, and never more than two or three if the evening was going long. He stayed in control. Always. Garrett understood why, but he also thought it was good to let go every now and then.  

“You’re right.” Keane gave him a sheepish grin. “We leave Fort Worth in the morning and she likely goes home, too. It’s not like we’ll see her again, so she doesn’t need my whole sad story.” 

“It’s not sad.” Sometimes his friend couldn’t see the positive side of things. “It’s a survival story, and you’re still here so there’s a happy ending.” 

“Hasn’t ended yet.” He straightened up. “Oh, her friend is coming our way, and he looks like a man on a mission. Do you think he’s about to hit on you?” 

“No idea.” The evening was looking up. He was unashamed to admit he liked a little drama. As long as no one got hurt. People were weird and he was here for it. He took the drinks from the bartender and slid a tip into the jar before turning and handing Keane his beer. His timing was perfect, but then it always was.  

Maybe her friend was getting drinks. Maybe he should ask about her.  

He didn’t have to.  

“Hey, I’m Bobby Farley. I’m good friends with…” He huffed. “Sorry, she asked me not to tell you her name. I think she wants to do this whole secretive undercover thing. I don’t understand it entirely, but she’s definitely not looking for anything more than a night, and now I realize I should have eased into the conversation.” 

Oh, he liked the sound of this. Lucas told him that most of the people he would meet at the wedding would be in the lifestyle. “No need. Are you here to negotiate a scene?” 

Bobby’s eyes widened and then he shrugged slightly. “Well, I should have known. I am not her top. I’m a friend. A good friend who will hunt you down and kill you if you hurt her. She needs a wild night, and she knows most of the people here. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for her, and she could use a scene. Are you members of a club?” 

“Yes,” Garrett replied with confidence. “We belong to Subversion. We’ve completed all the courses and have Master rights. We’re allowed to attend the Dallas club when we’re there.” 

The Austin club had become a second home for them. They spent weekends there when they had the time, indulging in D/s and simply being in a place where it felt like they belonged.  

Bobby stared for a moment as though his brain was making connections. Or he was nervous about leaving his gorgeous friend with them.  

“I was sponsored by Lucas O’Malley if you want to talk to him,” Garrett offered.  

“Well, that makes it weirder.” Bobby shook his head. “Nope. I’m going with it. All right. Yes, let’s talk this out, but again, no names.” 

“We are talking about the redhead, right?” Keane asked. “Sorry. I only want to make sure. You could be talking about anyone, and I’ll be honest after seeing her, I don’t want someone else.” 

“That’s what I want to hear.” Bobby looked to the bartender. “I’ll take a gin and tonic.”  

When Bobby had his drink, they took a seat. 

It was time to negotiate. His evening was looking up.  

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