Within the anonymity of the dating site, she’d allowed her natural vivacity to flow free when they’d chatted, and she wanted Ryan to meet that side of her.The uninhibited woman who could and would appear when she wasn’t being cowed by her mommy and daddy.
Irritation flared, and she embraced it.Embraced the heat because it burned that inner core of cold that she’d created over the years as a defense mechanism.
Spying Diana coming with her drink, El took a look around the restaurant and smiled.It was a fancy place, that was for sure.
Bright white, it should have been cold, but huge golden orbs were suspended from the ceiling in different heights, creating a wave of sorts.The orbs were like miniature moons.All of them in assorted sizes.
They swirled about the room, even appearing on the floor; in corners or over on the dancefloor in the center of the restaurant, which was bordered by the bright orbs.
Tables were sectioned off for privacy with low frosted glass partitions, but the bright cerulean blue tablecloths were a spark of color in the otherwise white restaurant.Even the waitstaff wore all white.
She looked at the doorway where the maître d’ stood.The woman was tall, close to six feet, and she was the only staff member that El could see who wore color—the same bright blue as the tablecloths.Her white starched blouse was tucked into high waist trousers, and the result was a tailored dream.
El wished like hell she had the figure to pull off something so simple, but she was way too round for that.
A pear when she needed to be a ruler.
Feeling Diana’s approach, she was about to turn when she saw Ryan—immediately recognizing him from his pictures online.He didn’t come from the front door, but from a back room behind the maître d’.He stopped to talk to the woman, smiled at her as he bent over the stand, and studied the plans she kept on there.
Just as El was wondering whether Ryan managed the restaurant or something, he kissed the maître d’s cheek.
Bile tried and failed to gurgle around her insides, but jealousy did.It hadn’t been a sexual kiss, El tried to reason with herself.Still, seeing it hurt.
The thought had her stiffening in her seat because she didn’t own the damn man.
It had been a kiss on the cheek, not an all-out make out session in the doorway.Friends kissed friends, right?It could be perfectly natural.Innocent, she thought frantically.
Before the tension from her date kissing another woman could flood her, Diana appeared and popped her drink down in front of her.The server must have seen where she was looking because she half-turned and saw Ryan.
El frowned at Diana’s reaction—the other woman dropped her tray to her side and declared, “You’retheRyan?”
El flushed.“Excuse me?”Mortification succeeded in turning her bright pink.What the hell was going on?
Ryan approached the table, and now he was nearer, and not kissing cheeks with beautiful members of staff, she had to admit he was better looking in person.
God, talk about a total understatement.Better looking?That was like saying he was handsome.
Ryan was…
Well, handsome wasn’t the word.
He was a god.
That was it.
No other way of describing him.
Taller than the maître d’, she knew from his profile he was six-seven.But he wore it well.He wasn’t thin and lean, but lithe and strong.His muscles were evident through his brutally tailored navy suit.It clung in all the right places and displayed a soupcon of a white silk shirt that lay flat against abs so delineated, she could see them through the fabric.He wore no tie, but he had a little pocket handkerchief… the lack of one and the presence of the other equalizing the semi-formal look.
His hair was a blond any woman would have killed for.So many shades of gold, her own hands longed to touch the silky locks.He was tanned and bronze, and his eyes were a bright blue that seemed to scan the situation with ease.
He had a strong Roman nose, a wide brow, lips made for kissing, and a jaw so hulking she knew from looks alone how stubborn he was.
All in all, she felt totally underdressed and overwhelmed.
Who was this god and why had he elected to date her?
She gulped when he shot her a smile that made her pussy melt.Just like that.
