Chalk Butterfly: Part One (First Time Erotic Romance) by Audra Red Read Free Book Online

the house tonight, aren’t ya
Fox?” the pretty bartender asked, leaning over and clinking down a
frothing mug of amber beer. She gave Owen a flirtatious wink,
propping herself up on her elbows which displayed a rather generous
amount of cleavage for all to see. To her dismay, Owen was too
preoccupied with guzzling his beverage to notice.
     
    “I wouldn’t call it abuse, Madeline,” Daniel
interrupted, smiling wryly. “I believe it’s called gluttony, in the
Bible at least.”
     
    Owen snorted, throwing back his drink.
“After today, I need a few… dozen of these,” he said, rubbing at
his forehead.
     
    “Oh, planning the revamp already?” Madeline
asked. She slid a dish of pretzels Owen’s way. “Pace yourself,
sweetie.”
     
    “Yep,” Daniel said. “This is our year, I can
feel it.”
     
    Owen chuckled, laying his head down on the
bar and groaning. “You say that every year, Daniel.”
     
    Daniel smiled, shaking his head. “This year
I mean it.”
     
    Every year the New Yorker conducted a city wide search for New
York City’s top fifteen restaurants and dining halls, and every
year “City Lights Over Park Place” just barely missed out on the
list.
     
    It wasn’t that Daniel cared about the status
it would bring, or the publicity (his restaurant was doing
extremely well, list or not), he merely needed something to work
toward, some way to improve himself and his establishment. That’s
how Daniel lived his life, never satisfied, always searching for
something better.
     
    He frowned, picking at a pretzel, mulling
his life over in his head, and deciding he really just needed
another drink.
     
    “A scotch, Madeline, please,” Daniel said.
He surveyed his restaurant from the bar; it was packed tonight with
wealthy clients, all smiling, chatting and enjoying their
meals.
     
    Why did he need more?
     
    “Scotch?” Owen asked, rising from the bar.
“Yeah, something is definitely off with you tonight, and it isn’t
this redesign scheme you’ve got going on. We’ve been planning it
for ages and you’ve laid most of the work on me, you ass.”
     
    Daniel chuckled, stirring at his drink when
Madeline set it before him.
     
    “Now I… I am going to take a piss,” Owen
announced. A well dressed woman at the bar huffed, and made a scene
of excusing herself from the unsavory company.
     
    “Driving away clients? I think you’ve had
enough,” Madeline said. Owen steadied himself, and gave Madeline a
withering look, stumbling to the restrooms.
     
    “By the end of this month he’s not going to
have a functioning liver,” Daniel mused, sipping at his drink.
Madeline raised an eyebrow as she flicked open a Corona, sliding it
down to a gentlemen at the end of the bar, and then making her way
back toward Daniel.
     
    “So, boss-man, what’s going on with you,
really?” Madeline asked, leaning seductively over the bar,
toothpicked olive in hand.
     
    “Come now, Madeline, we both know that
doesn’t do it for me,” Daniel said. He plucked the olive from the
toothpick and popped it into his mouth.
     
    “But you found someone who does, huh?”
     
    Daniel gaped for half a second and then
swallowed the olive. “How-”
     
    “As you all seem to forget, I’m a woman. We
know these things,” Madeline replied, flipping her hair.
     
    “I don’t think Owen forgets,” Daniel
countered, trying to dodge the subject. “He’s just a little worked
up tonight. We’re redoing the menu.”
     
    “Don’t try to get on my good side, you
wouldn’t like it,” Madeline said. Daniel sat back in the chair and
let out a short breath. “So, who’s got you grinning?”
     
    “Can’t I be happy without a cause?”
     
    “You haven’t been in awhile. Last time I
think was, well, when you were dating that German shoemaker.”
     
    “He was Italian and a chef at Melba’s,”
Daniel said.
     
    “So my memory’s shit, but at least I
remembered the important part. You were happy.”
     
    Daniel