My computer crashed and I lost all the books on my e reader-so i have several I am looking for…here is the first one.
It is a gay m/m romance. a man owns a bunch of restaurants and he is talking to a friend, and he decides to open a private club/restaurant/hotel for gay men-a membership, so they can be themselves, not be harassed, and enjoy themselves. He hires a man to manage it who used to be his companion, but they separated after the companion was attacked and he has a scar on his face. The manager hires this guy who helped him with his physical therapy-he works part time in a coffee shop but he isn’t making enough money. He was in med school, but he dropped out to move back and help his dad out after he got cancer. The dad dies, and now he is responsible for his younger brothers-I think there are 3.
So he goes, reluctantly to work at this club-because he can earn enough to support his family.
The owner sees him, and wants him, he sits in the waiters section, and orders all night, at the end of the night he propositions the waiter-going as high as $2000…and the waiter turns him down. the boss is stunned-the bartender and the manager are laughing-they love seeing the boss get shot down-he thinks everyone is for sale…he tries another time, and nothing….
He finally gets the waiter to go out with him-by not bringing up money, and they have a great time…but after they spend a night together, the waiter wakes up in bed alone, with a wad of money on the dresser. He is very hurt and leaves. The boss finds out where he lives, and goes there. it is a poor neighborhood, and the boss gives the envelope with the money to one of his brothers calling it a ‘bonus’. The older brother freaks out, yelling at him, about how didn’t he realize if he wanted to do that kind of thing-he could have-years ago, but he went to med school, he wanted more for his family, and in one move, he took away all his pride, and what gave him that right to think everyone was for sale? The boss realizes how bad he screwed up, and he tries to win the waiter back….but the waiter wants nothing to do with him. He goes online through the college they went to, and talks to him. Meanwhile, the mother they thought dead shows up when she learned the father was dead-she is a drug addict, active, and wants custody of the boys, but for the death benefits money.
Another fact-the company owner is trying to develop a line of flavored vinegars, and designer cooking oils to sell on the Home Shopping Network.
Anything you can do to help me is great….I really appreciate it….
remembered some other things-the club manager hired the wiater outside of company policies, so the owner was lecturing him when he sees the new hire, and he immediately forgets what he is saying. he goes and sits in the waiters section, there were no tables available, so he sits with 2 men already at a table, and pretends to be with them-
the waiters wear these shorts , and i think vests-like silver sparkly shorts-there is not ‘typical’ uniforms…and the fact that thewaiter is obvious.
he puts up the order at the bar, and the bartender recognizes the order immediately as the owner, and the witer is nervous that he is waiting on the owner….
the owner doesn’t have ‘normal’ relationships-he pays ‘companions’ for their time, on monthly basis…the manager was his last companion, for a year. it ended when the manager was attacked-in the first book in the series-this one is the second.
the third book is going to be about the manager and a customer he nicknames the ‘marlboro man’ (his parents divorced as a child-and he got skewed ideas about relationships-but hs parents reconcile during this book)
at the epilogue of the book-they have moved in together, and the waiter is in school, and they have a house full of guests, watching his business partner, a character from the first book, on a home shopping network, introducing his cooking oils and vinegars.