Page 11 of Koda's Love

Whatever makeup she wore around her eyes made them pop even more. There was still a little sadness there, but not the same as the night before.

I was supposed to be returning the greeting, but for some reason I couldn’t open my mouth. She was breathtaking to me.

“Are you okay?” she asked with concern.

“I’m sorry. I’m great. You just took my breath away and I couldn’t find my words. Hi, Avalon.”

Her cheeks rose as they reddened.

“Thank you. I’m ready.” Her lips looked juicy from the gloss she wore.

I noticed she wore black at the restaurant, then again today, and I wondered if that was the only thing she wore.

I held my hand out and she placed hers inside it.

“We aren’t going far, but I think you’ll like it,” I told her as we walked toward the elevator bank.

“That’s fine, and I’m sure I will.”

The elevator doors opened and I let Avalon enter first. Once I stepped inside, I pressed the button to take us up to the rooftop.

“What kind of perfume do you have on?”

“YSL Black Opium.”

“It smells good on you.”

Her perfume had notes of what I assumed was coffee, but also vanilla.

“Thank you.”

“How was your night? Was the room to your liking?” I asked.

“My night was good. That bed was amazing. The one in the room I had was good, but that suite mattress felt like I was on a cloud. I don’t think I will ever want to stay in another room again.” She giggled.

I was happy that she liked the room, not just because it was her, but because I prided myself on having the best rooms. We wanted everyone’s experience to be good. The hotel was supposed to feel like a home away from home for our guests.

“Let me know ahead of time when you want to come back and you won’t have to.”

I might have been jumping the gun about how our relationship or whatever would progress, but I couldn’t help myself. I still didn’t know what made her sad, but I was serious about making her smile whenever I could. I’d only seen her smile maybe twice so far, but it was beautiful, and I felt like she should show it more.

The elevator opened, and I put my hand on the small of Avalon’s back and ushered her off. I pushed the door open that led us outside.

“Oh wow. This is beautiful.” Avalon gushed as we walked over to the table I had set up for us.

White lights were strewn all around the restaurant. There were some areas that had black tables with chairs. In other spots, there was love-seat style seating with tables.

Each table had fake lit candles. I preferred fake candles because sometimes it would get overly windy, and I would have hated for the wind to blow a candle over, and it started a fire.

Big green plants were placed in multiple places. It was something my mom insisted we have. My mother played a big part in decorating multiple areas of the hotel.

I pulled the chair out for Avalon and pushed it in when she was seated.

“I’m surprised there is no one else around,” Avalon pointed out as she looked around.

“That’s because I closed it for the night.”

Initially, I wasn’t going to shut the restaurant down, but after I thought about it, I decided to have uninterrupted time with her.