"I'm glad you like it," Gabe replied.
The waiter appeared then and took their drink orders. Gabe ordered a bottle fancy French wine that Monica had never heard of. She felt out of her depth and a little flustered.
"Do you come here a lot?" she asked once the waiter had left.
"Not often, and not lately," he replied. "I used to come here with my ex-wife."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry," Gabe said, "It's terribly rude to bring her up, isn't it? Especially when I'm on a date with a beautiful woman."
"You don't have to say that," Monica replied shyly. "I don't mind really. Besides, I'd like to know more about you. I mean, I feel like I know you, but when I think back to our conversations, you never really said much about yourself."
"Well what would you like to know? I'm an open book," he replied.
"Really? I can ask you anything I want, and you'd answer it?" she asked.
"Anything you want," he said with a smile.
"Hmm, I better think hard about this," she replied, starting to relax. Talking to Gabe in person was just like online. She grew comfortable in his presence--or as comfortable as she could be. She still couldn’t believe this devastatingly handsome man was her date--the guy she'd been chatting with the past two weeks. The same guy who joked about accidently setting his kitchen on fire when he tried to make pasta.
"You've been thinking a long time. I'm beginning to get nervous," he joked, breaking into her thoughts.
"You don't have to be scared of me. I won't bite," she laughed.
Gabe smiled at her and licked his lips. His eyes darkened as he said "I hope that's not a promise."
Monica felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She couldn't believe she was flirting with him. It seemed so easy and effortless; the words were out of her mouth the moment she thought them. She had never felt so comfortable with a guy before. Maybe it was because he acted like he wanted to be there, or the way he looked at her as he licked his lips, but Monica felt desirable, something she rarely felt.
"I expect your question to be groundbreaking since it's taking you such a long time to come up with one," Gabe added.
"Patience, Grasshopper," Monica chided. "I've got more than one question."
"Well, we've got all evening," he responded suggestively.
Before Monica could respond, the waiter came back with their wine. She was thankful of that since it gave her time to compose herself. She took the glass and took a deep gulp, choking on the liquid. She spluttered and gasped for breath as her cheeks turned crimson again. Why do I always make a fool of myself? I'm blushing like a school girl, she berated herself.
Gabe smiled at her, charmed by her flustering.
"So what's your first question," Gabe asked kindly, trying to put her at ease.
Monica wiped the corner of her mouth before speaking, grateful for his tact.
"So what do you do for a living?" she finally asked, deciding to go with a safe question even though she was dying to find out more about his ex-wife.
"I'm an investor," he answered simply.
"What exactly do you invest in?" she asked, once it was clear he wasn't going to elaborate.
"Oh businesses--start ups mostly," he replied. "I've had some success with internet and software start ups.
"Is there any company you've invested in that I might have heard of," she asked.
"Maybe," he responded. "Have you heard of YouHoot?"
"Get out!" Monica uttered shocked. "Who hasn't heard of them?" YouHoot was the biggest social media site on the internet. In fact, Monica had an account there.
"Well I was an early investor and own a 35% stake in the company."
"Wow, I didn't know that," Monica replied, awed. Gabe smiled at her, flashing his pearly white teeth.
"I'm pleased to hear it," he responded warmly.
"Wait a minute, you're Gabe Stark," Monica declared, after a moment's thought.
"So I am. I thought we had established that fact weeks ago," Gabe replied jokingly.
"No I mean, the Gabe Stark. The billionaire investor. Oh my God," Monica rambled on. "I've heard of you. I mean, my company has. I mean, you're investing in that solar energy project, aren't you?"
"Yes," he answered simply. Seeing she was shocked by the revelation, Gabe tried to change the conversation.
"I'm don't want to be difficult," he started, "but I'd rather move onto another topic. I find that I really don't feel like talking business when I'm out with a beautiful woman."
Monica was embarrassed by her momentary outburst and grateful to him for steering the conversation to other topics.