Read Online Winner Takes It All by Karen Mason - Free Book Online Page B

empty except for a lone man sitting by a table
close to the window. As soon as Alex took in the handsome, battered
face, dark blond hair and muscular build, instinct told her this
was Jack. He was gorgeous and she suddenly became conscious of the
fact she’d only had a few hours sleep and had dark circles under
her eyes.
    Mel weaved her way
through the tables and as she approached, the handsome guy stood
up, a broad smile beaming across that somehow wonky
face.
    ‘ Hi ya Jack
lad,’ Mel said, grasping her cousin’s hands and kissing him on the
cheek. Alex silently wondered to herself what their family put in
the water. How on earth did they produce two such gorgeous
offspring?
    Jack stood up to embrace
his cousin and Alex had to do all she could to avert her eyes from
lingering on his obviously muscular body, wrapped up in a fairly
tight dark blue suit. She’d been expecting some wizened old
soldier, but Jack was the sexiest man she had ever seen.
    ‘ Yer looking
good girl,’ he said, pulling away and surveying Mel. His rough
Scouse voice belying his smart appearance. He then looked at Alex,
his blue eyes hooded beneath a sultry brow. Alex felt giggly and
nervous in a way she hadn’t since she was about
fourteen!
    ‘ You must be
Alex?’ he asked, offering her his hand.
    ‘ H-Hello,’ she
uttered, shaking his big, rough paw, wondering how on earth she was
going to work with this man when he reduced her to feeling like a
schoolgirl. ‘What can I get you to drink?’
    ‘ Er, just a
mineral water thanks,’ she replied, sitting down and realising she
still had hold of his hand. She quickly pulled it away, blushing
like a fool.
    ‘ I’ll have
half of lager please la,’ Mel said, sitting beside her friend. Jack
went to the bar and Mel looked at Alex, giggling.
    ‘ Look at you,’
she commented. ‘Don’t worry about it, Jack always has that effect
on girls.’
    ‘ I don’t know
what you’re talking about,’ Alex replied, blushing
deeper.
    ‘ Well you’d be
the first heterosexual female mate of mine not to go weak at the
knees on meeting him if you haven’t.’
    ‘ Mel I’m not
here to judge him on his looks, I want to know if he can help me
buy a hotel.’
    Jack returned with the
drinks and sat before them. He gripped his small, shot glass with
his big, meaty fingers and Alex was positive the whimper she gave
was audible.
    ‘ Why don’t you
tell Alex a bit about what you’ve already done,’ Mel said, trying
to conduct the electricity in the air.
    ‘ Not that
much,’ he shrugged. ‘I started off by buying an house in the road
where me mam grew up in Anfield. I did it all up and sold it for a
thirty thousand pound profit. With that I bought two flats in the
Scotland Road and did the same to them. At the present time I own
eight houses and flats in the City. I rent ‘em all out, mainly to
students.’
    ‘ It must give
you a healthy return?’ Alex managed to ask.
    ‘ I get by,’ he
smiled. ‘I’ve just bought me mam a house in Nutsford so she’s
finally got out of the City.’
    ‘ That’s the
thing about Liverpool,’ Alex said, finding it easier to speak if
she just looked out the window at the people walking around Albert
Dock. ‘The people who live here seem eager to get out. So why
should I invest my money in a hotel?’
    ‘ Cos, like
anywhere, there are two sides to Liverpool. I come from Walton,
it’s an okay area, a bit bland but crime and the like isn’t too
bad. But there are parts of the city that are like ghettos.
London’s the same, but when tourists go to London they don’t see
Brixton or Tottenham or wherever; they see Knightsbridge,
Kensington, Chelsea. Well up here our City centre’s developing and
there’s plenty for tourists to do when they’re here. A lot of the
hotels are also doing conferencing as well.’
    ‘ What sort of
hotel do you think would do best?’ Alex asked, finally looking at
him and feeling disconcerted when she noticed a cheeky twinkle in
his