“I’ve got her,” I growled, beating him to the side of her car.
His eyes jerked up to my face and recognition dawned. I’d had Shawn book us a private dining room at Il Cielo for the privacy. The last thing I wanted was for our date to get outed because of the damn valet. It galled me to do it, but I slid two crisp hundred-dollar bills into his palm. “You’ll get another one at the end of the night if nobody finds out we’re here.”
“I get it.” The little shit flashed me a knowing grin. “But if Morgan Kelly was mine and I made the kind of money you do, I’d spend more than a couple of hundred to keep the paps away from her.”
“Take what I’m willing to give, keep your mouth shut, and be happy you still have a job,” I muttered before pulling Morgan’s car door open and reaching my hand out to her. I wasn’t sure if the humor in her blue eyes was due to her hearing what I’d said or the way the valet held his hands up in surrender and took a couple of steps backward. It didn’t matter either way, as long as she was smiling.
Her laughter filled the air as the valet handed me two tickets, one for each of our cars. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, lacing my fingers through hers and leading her into the restaurant. “It’s all fun and games until some young punk gets the shit beat out of him for looking at my girl.”
“Your girl, huh?”
It was a stronger claim than I’d ever made toward another woman, but I still found myself agreeing. “You heard me.”
Her smile held a hint of well-deserved feminine satisfaction, but her lips soon parted in shock when we walked into the private dining room. “Holy crap!”
Scanning our surroundings, I realized that her reaction didn’t even begin to cover it. With the fireplace, curved cream couches, and table for two set in the middle, the room was more than romantic. But it didn’t stop there. Rose petals were strewn across every available surface. White lights were hung on the fireplace. Two floor-length candlesticks were situated on either side of the table. It looked like the set for a cheesy romantic movie. The only thing missing from the scene (thankfully) was the dulcet tones of Kenny G.
“I know I gave you a hard time about not being able to be romantic, but I never imagined that it’d push you to do all this.” She swept her arm around the room, and I felt the heat in my cheeks as the impossible happened—I blushed. For real. Not because I was in character. The setting for our date was so over the top that it was embarrassing.
“This’ll teach me to be more specific when I’m asking my assistant to set shit up for our dates,” I sighed.
“Aww, you mean you didn’t arrange this especially for me?” She laughed. “I should take offense to that, but I’ll let you off the hook since I’m your girl and all. Gotta cut my guy some slack, right?”
“Slack?” I protested. “Shawn might’ve taken romantic to a whole new level, but I should earn points for picking the location and menu at least, right?”
“How about I reserve judgment on that until after we’ve eaten?”
“That I can do,” I agreed, feeling confident with the choices I had made. With my hand on the small of her back, I led her to the table and pulled her chair out for her. Once she was settled, I pulled my seat around and sat right next to her. As I was taking her hand into mine, our waiter walked in with an ice bucket. He lifted a bottle out of it for my inspection and went to work on the cork after I nodded.
“Champagne? More of your assistant’s romantic streak?” Morgan asked.
I lifted her glass after the waiter filled it and pressed it into her hand. “No way. These brownie points are all mine.”
She took a small sip and licked her lips as she hummed in appreciation. My gaze focused on her mouth, I heard the waiter say something about being right back with our appetizers. When the door shut behind him, I dipped my head low and traced where her tongue had been only a moment before with mine. When her lips parted, I moaned in need and took the kiss deeper. I wasn’t sure how much time passed as I devoured her mouth, but I would have happily kept at it except for the clearing of the waiter’s throat as he approached the table with several plates of food.
“Your Antipasto del Cielo,” he said as he set down a tray with prosciutto, salami, Mediterranean olives, buffalo mozzarella, grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, and crostini with pesto and olives. “And the Il Polpo, char-broiled octopus with poached potato and a spicy Sopressata vinaigrette. Two of our most popular appetizers.”