“Reservations for two. McDermott,” Grant said to the host.
“Ah, yes, Mr. McDermott,” the man said, looking him up and down. “Right this way.”
We were seated at a little candlelit table by a window with a bottle of champagne waiting.
“Okay, seriously. How did you get us into Orchids on Valentine’s Day?” I asked.
Grant shrugged and gave me his most devious look. “Connections.”
“But this place is next to impossible to get into on a regular day.”
“You said you wanted to come here, so I brought you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What? I never said I wanted to come to Orchids.”
“Well, I heard you mention it to your friends. Same thing.”
“Oh. No, it’s where my dad always comes for business.”
His face fell as the news hit him.
“Not that it isn’t nice. It’s a great restaurant.”
“Did you want to go somewhere else?” he asked.
I caught his eye and shook my head. “No. This is perfect. Really.”
Perfect. Really.
I’d never heard so much bullshit come out of her mouth in one night.
I’d put in all of this work to get her the kind of Valentine’s Day I thought she would want. Fancy dinner, town car, tuxedo—I thought these things were a fucking prerequisite. But she had been more uncomfortable since I picked her up than I’d seen her since I pursued her like a fucking maniac last semester.
She sweetly smiled back at me and then opened her menu.
Man, I’d better be getting laid after this.
“So, you like French food?” she asked.
French food? I opened the menu. Half of it was in French. Well, fuck me.
“Sure.” I shrugged as I tried to understand what the fuck was in front of me.
The waiter came by and introduced himself. Ari asked for a bottle of some French wine I couldn’t come close to pronouncing, and she did it all in flawless French. The waiter was enamored with her. He left with a skip in his step.
“You speak French,” I said tightly.
“Not fluently.”
“Uh-huh.”
I peered over my menu at the people surrounding us. It was a myriad of older couples who were barely looking at each other and flighty gold-digger types with sugar daddies. We were the youngest people in the room by a long shot, and the longer I sat in here, the more uncomfortable I felt. I had been a fool to think that by putting on a tuxedo, I’d suddenly belong here. You can take the boy out of the trailer, but you can’t take the trailer out of the boy.
When the waiter returned, he uncorked the bottle, poured a small amount into my glass, and then handed it to me. Really? That was all I was going to get? I could down that bottle myself in a couple of minutes.
“Is this not the bottle you requested?” the waiter asked carefully.
“You’re supposed to taste it,” Ari whispered across the table.
“Right.” I sipped from the glass. “Uh…yeah, that’s great.”
The waiter arched an eyebrow and then poured the wine for both of us. “Are you ready to order?”
I’d stared at the menu for ten minutes, and the only thing that sounded appetizing was the steak, but it was a hundred fucking dollars. Who paid that much for a steak? I could buy one and grill it at home for ten bucks.
“You go first,” I offered.
She swiftly spoke in French to the man. Who knew what she was getting?
When their eyes turned to me, I took that as the cue to order. “I’ll have the steak. Medium rare.”
Ari blanched as I handed him the menus, and then he left the table.
“That steak is really expensive,” she murmured.
“It’d better be fucking good then.”
She giggled. It was the most amazing sound I’d heard all night. She slapped her hand over her mouth and shook her head. She couldn’t stop laughing. Her shoulders were shaking, and soon, tears formed in her eyes.
“What is so damn funny, Princess?”
“Honestly? This whole night. No! This whole damn day.”
A few people were peering over at us because she was still laughing uncontrollably.
I couldn’t help it. A smile appeared on my face, and then I was laughing, too.
“People are looking at us,” I told her.
“Since when have you ever cared?”
That was a good point.
“I’ve got an idea,” she said. She took a deep breath to try to control her laughter and pressed a hand to her side. She must have had a stitch from laughing so hard. “Oh my God, my cheeks hurt.”
“You’re fucking insane.”
“To be dating you? Obviously.” She winked at me.
Who was this chick in front of me? This gorgeous, confident girl. When we had first met, I would never have thought she would be like this.
“Are you ready for my idea?”
“This’d better be good.”
She leaned forward and whispered, “Let’s ditch this place.”
“And go where?” I threw my hands out.
Her eyes twinkled. “I have an idea.”
“All right.” Who was I to stop her from being spontaneous?
Aribel promptly stood, grabbed my hand, and walked out of the restaurant with her head held high. I’d dined and ditched before but never at a place like this. Definitely never at a place where I’d ordered a hundred-dollar steak. Then again, I’d never fucking been at a restaurant like this before either.
Before I knew what was happening, Ari threw her arm out, and a yellow cab zoomed up in front of us.
“But what about the town car?”
“We don’t need it,” she said. She reached forward, undid my bowtie, and pulled it off. “Or that.”
I grabbed her by the arm. “Are you sure about this? I thought this was what you’d want.”
“I know,” she said with a smile. “If I wanted all of this, I could have it. But I just want you.”
That was all I needed to hear before I claimed her. Her lips felt so fucking good, and if she kept clutching at me so desperately, I was going to skip whatever her idea was and find the nearest hotel. She groaned into my mouth, and I nearly lost it.
But the cab honked at us and ruined the moment. Ari laughed and then darted inside, apologizing along the way. She gave the driver our destination.
“So, where are we going?” I asked.
“To do what I thought you might have planned all along. I have to admit though,” she said, looking me up and down, “you might be overdressed for the occasion.”