“Like—” She leaned over the table at him and whispered.“—these prices.”
Kingston snorted mildly. “Stop looking at the numbers. Get what you want, or else I’ll order the Wagyu Steak Frites for you. That’s what I’ll probably get. I know you like a steak occasionally.”
That was just a downright threat.
The Wagyu was the most expensive thing on the menu, of course. She could have taken six people out to eat at her favorite Mexican restaurant for the same amount of money as just one order of the Wagyu.
He looked over the top of the menu at her, and his voice lowered. “Tell me what you want to eat.”
Nicole took one more glance at the menu, but she’d already been eyeing what sounded good. “The cavatelli with shrimp.”
It wasn’t the cheapest thing on the menu, which would have aroused his suspicion, but it was less than half the price of the Wagyu.
And it sounded good.
“Excellent choice.”
He signaled to a waiter and ordered for her, then added the Wagyu for himself, and then he spoke a bunch of French that Nicole didn’t catch.
When the waiter was gone, Nicole said, “You really ordered the Wagyu beef.”
“Proper Wagyu beef is an excellent dish. The chef here does it exceptionally well. You should try a bite.”
The waiter was back with a napkin-draped wine bottle, which he twisted the cork out of with a champagne-distinctivepop,and then poured the pale wine that sparkled like the crystal around them into the flutes beside their plates.
It was yummy.
After their salads—the summery watermelon and definitely heirloom tomatoes were exceptional and slightly spicy from red chili—she tried a bite of his beef.
The Wagyu steak was exquisite, tender without being mushy, earthy and meaty without being too strong, and the sear was almost sweet on her tongue.
Nicole’s eyes popped open.
She didn’t think she’d ever be able to eat a regular ol’ ribeye again.
Kingston was watching her, his fork held in the air between them.
“Yeah, it’s good,” she said.
He casually switched their plates.
“No, no, no! I didn’t mean that! It was just a really good bite. I’m sure I’ll like the pasta and shrimp, too. That’s what I ordered.”
“You will eat,” he said quietly, forking a bite of her pasta into his mouth.
And then he looked at the plate with the slightest raised-eyebrow surprise. And then he ate another bite, this time with a shrimp, and made a little “ Hmmm” sound.
Yeah, okay. Nicole was outfoxed.
She ate the insanely good Wagyu beef fillet with its fantastic crisp-outside, fluffy-inside steak fries, and a lemony herb sauce that somehow,impossibly,made it all even better.
This meal would probably be the best food Nicole would ever eat in her life, so she tasted and chewed every bite, noting how this bite was a little more rare and tender, that one was a little more crisp, and so on.
Her tongue absorbed every flavor out of the food, savoring it.
Kingston’s smile at her was too knowing as she tucked the last bite of steak fry in her mouth, biting down on the fantastic potato goodness.
Around the fry, she demanded, “What?”
