“Well… I’m going to leave the details a surprise for everyone, but I know I want to do it during our scene,” Patrick said, putting the ring box away without showing off the ring, much to everyone’s obvious disappointment. He chuckled at the noises they all made as he did so. “Lexie gets to see the ring first, people. And don’t tell the others about this. I’m only telling you all since we’re going to be running the opening night.”

“What can we do to help?” Michael asked.

“I was thinking—ah, damn it!” They all turned to look where Patrick’s eyes had gone—at the security cameras in the parking lot where Lexie’s car had just turned into a spot. “How did she get back here so quickly?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll go stall her for just a minute,” Olivia said, volunteering. “Tell them what you need and we can talk just the two of us later.”

“Not by yourself,” Luke said, frowning down at her. Immediately, Olivia gave him a Look, her eyes practically shooting daggers. Ouch. Maybe that was what Andrew had meant by ‘the mean look.’

“I make the most sense,” she said, a little frostily. “You or Ellie would have to run and get shoes and clothes, Patrick can’t stall her, and Michael’s not wearing a shirt—he’ll freeze. I’m wearing boots, a dress, and have sleeves. But I need to go right now.”

On the security camera screens, Lexie was already getting out of the car.

“But…” Luke gritted his teeth. He didn’t like the idea of Olivia going out alone, but she was right. The rest of them would freeze. The parking lot was full of cameras with people arriving fairly frequently and Lexie would be there. He glanced at Patrick.

“We can probably talk about this later…” But Patrick sounded hesitant, as he should. There was only a week until Marquis opened, a lot to be done, and Lexie was often glued to his side. This really had been a fairly opportune time to get all club owners and their manager in the room together without her there.

Besides, the club was hopping. It was the holiday party after all; people had been coming and going all night and all of them were just inside.

“I’ll be right back,” Olivia said brusquely, pulling away from Luke and stalking to the door which led to the lobby. She moved quickly, with her head held high and not looking back.

“I only need a minute or two!” Patrick called after her, before turning back to the others and looking sympathetically at Luke. “Sorry.”

“I get it,” Luke said, waving his hand. “What do you need from us? We better make this quick, because she’s really not going to be able to slow Lexie for more than a couple minutes.”