He took a deep breath and strode across the dining room to a small table cozied up in the corner of two floor-to-ceiling windows. As he approached the table, he squinted slightly as he studied Annabelle’s appearance.
She was even more smoking hot in person. Her platinum blonde hair was sleek and straight, cut bluntly above her shoulders, smoky, smoldering blue eyes, and lips as red as the wine she sipped on. High cheekbones; arching eyebrows. She was impeccably dressed in a well-fitting white blouse with a bit of a plunging neckline.
Damn.
He adjusted his tie once more and reminded himself he needed to be professional if he wanted to avoid the restaurant getting any kind of a bad reputation.
“Miss Driscoll, Nick Chapman. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he greeted her as he offered his hand. “Thank you for joining us tonight.”
She flashed a set of blinding white teeth as she shook his hand firmly. “Hello, Nick. Please, call me Annabelle. It’s lovely to meet you.”
She paused as she appeared to eyeball him, and then lifted one of her eyebrows. “Have a seat so you can tell me all about what I’m going to experience this evening.”
He hesitated before pulling out the chair and sitting.
Is she flirting with me?
“Well,” he began as he motioned to Chase, who stood next to the kitchen doors, waiting for his cue like an actor about to grace the stage. “When I started this restaurant, I wanted to create a place that would cater to the unique dichotomy that makes up the Austin food enthusiast. Austinites are incredibly health conscious, but they’re also serious, ah …foodies.For lack of a better term. They want something unique and interesting, but—as a rule—it has to be something of superior quality that features nutrient dense ingredients. To accommodate that, we take inspiration from more traditional dishes, and then give them a little twist. Everything is sourced from small, family-owned farms around central Texas so that all of our ingredients are of the highest quality.”
Annabelle smirked a bit … seductively? “And how long did you rehearse that little spiel?”
He chuckled politely. “All morning.”
She laughed along with him as Chase approached the table with the first dish.
“Annabelle, I’d like you to meet Chase Powell, our head chef,” Nick introduced.
Annabelle gave a demure nod. “Hello, Chef Powell.”
“Good evening, Miss Driscoll,” Chase said in his most gentleman-like tone. “It’s a pleasure to have you this evening. For your first selection, we’ve prepared a julienned zucchini salad with truffle sautéed chanterelles, ricotta, and soft boiled quail egg.”
Annabelle’s eyes appeared to light up as she smiled politely at Chase. “So many of my favorite ingredients.”
“Please enjoy,” he responded and saw himself back to the kitchen, but not before Nick made a subtlebring me a damn drinkgesture at him.
Annabelle placed a dainty bite into her mouth as her gaze scanned the landscape out the window. “This is a breathtaking view. When I’ve visited Austin in the past, it was all restaurants trying to appear hoity-toity and obnoxious music clubs,” she admitted, then sipped her wine. “This is positively serene. Sunset over hills and a river. It’s very romantic.”
With that, she drifted a glance back at his face.
He knew the look well.
Eye-fuck.
Yeah, she was definitely flirting with him.
* * *
By the time Annabelle had taken three bites of the blueberry moonshine poached pears over pannacotta, she’d polished off three glasses of wine and was obviously tipsy. And—not to mention—obviously flirting with Nick.
But she was also obviously quite pleased with the selections and Nick had a good feeling about her forthcoming review.
If Annabelle Driscoll told the world that his restaurant was a hot spot, it would be a game changer in the best way possible. He might actually get the success beyond his wildest dreams that he’d always hoped and worked so hard for.
As Chase cleared the final dishes, Nick prepared to walk Annabelle to the front of the restaurant and then treat himself with a bottle of Maker’s in the privacy of his office while he finished up for the day. Much to his surprise, however, Annabelle indicated her business wasn’t quite complete.
“Nick, I’d like to speak to you privately if you’ve got a moment,” she requested.
“Of course.” He waved an arm in the direction of the hallway. “My office is down this way.”
