"It's okay," she said, smiling happily at Vane as her heart pounded with relief.
"You sure?" Vane asked.
"Yes. It wasn't her fault."
Henri breathed a sigh of relief. "I will still have a word with her and this will never happen again. I promise you."
The woman with Taylor huffed loudly. "Why do they get a table without waiting, Taylor? He's not on TV."
Vane turned toward them with a penetrating glower that shut both of them up immediately.
"Please follow me," Henri said. "We have your terrace table waiting."
Bride looked over her shoulder at Vane as Henri led them through the restaurant. "How do you get such great service?"
"It's good to be king," he said with a shrug as he tucked his hands in his pockets. "Money talks and a lot of money sings and dances."
Yeah, but still…
They were led to a corner table upstairs that overlooked the beautiful courtyard below. It had a breathtaking view of the flowering fauna. Henri held a chair out for Bride, who scooted into it.
Vane pulled out his wallet and handed several hundred-dollar bills to Henri. "Do me a favor. That guy downstairs… Taylor. Give him the worst table in the house."
Henri's eyes danced with amusement. "For you, Mr. Kattalakis, anything."
Vane took his seat as Henri walked off.
"That was so bad of you," she said with a coy smile.
"Do you want me to take it back?"
"Hardly. I was merely pointing out that it was bad."
"What can I say? I'm just a big bad wolf." Vane took her hand in his and laid a sweet, endearing kiss to her palm where that strange mark was. It was kind of odd that he didn't seem to notice it. "You look good enough to eat."
Heat exploded across her face. "Thank you. You look pretty scrumptious yourself."
"I'm sorry I was late," he said, pulling a single red rose out of his jacket and handing it to her. "It took them a little longer to get my suit ready than they thought it would."
"You bought a new suit for our date?"
"Well, yeah. I'm not really a suit kind of guy. I'm more of a natural beast."
Two waiters came up to the table dressed in black jackets and ties. One was an older, distinguished-looking gentleman, and by his short stature, accent, and coloring, Bride would take him for a Cajun. The other was a younger man in his early twenties.
"Mr. Kattalakis," the older one greeted. "How nice to see you with company for a change."
Vane gave her a hot, searing look. "Yeah, it is nice, isn't it?"
"Would you like your usual wine?" the waiter asked.
"Sure."
They looked at Bride.
"Evian, please."
"You want some wine?" Vane asked.
"No, water's fine. Really."
He frowned while the waiters went to get their drinks.
Bride picked up her menu and noticed that Vane didn't bother looking at his. "Just how often do you come here?"
He shrugged. "A couple of times a week. They have a really good breakfast and I've become addicted to their Bananas Foster. What about you? Do you ever come here?"
She squelched the pain she felt at the thought of Taylor and his date, and Taylor's refusal to bring her here. "I haven't in a long time, but yeah, I love their food."
Vane looked relieved by that.
Bride tried to read the menu, but it was hard since he didn't take his eyes off her. There was something extremely animalistic and powerful about the way he treated her. The way he watched her.
It was flattering and, at the same time, almost scary.
She glanced up at him. "What?"
"What?" he asked back.
"Why are you staring at me?"
"I can't help it. I keep expecting you to not be real."
His words floored her.
The waiters came back with their drinks. "Are you ready to order now?"
Bride set her menu down. "I'll have the Brennan salad with no cheese, please."
He wrote it down.
"And?" Vane asked.
Bride looked up at him. "And what?"
"What else are you eating?"
"Just the salad."
Vane frowned at that. "Bernie," he said to the waiter. "Could you please give us a minute?"
"Sure, Mr. Kattalakis. Take your time."
Vane waited until they were gone before he leaned forward. "I know you're hungry, Bride. What did you eat for lunch? Half a deli sandwich?"
His question surprised her. "How did you know that?"
"It was a guess since I can hear your stomach rumbling."
She put her hand over her stomach. "I didn't realize I was so obnoxious."
He growled at her. Bride shifted nervously at the sound that wasn't quite human.
"Look, Bride," he said, his voice deep and resonant. "I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know what I'm doing tonight, okay? I've never had a date before and I was told that women liked to be taken out someplace nice to eat. Grace and Amanda said that I should be myself and not try to impress you. So here we are at my favorite restaurant, but if you don't like it here, we can go someplace else and eat something you want."