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“I hope so. You think I got all dressed up for you not to put out?”
With a laugh, Viper laced his fingers with mine, and as the car came to a stop, I peered out the darkened window, trying to see where he was taking me. Wherever it was, there wasn’t a paparazzo in sight.
Aria sat at the top of a five-star hotel with a prime view of the Empire State Building, lit up tonight in various shades of blue. As we entered the spacious room, the first thing I noticed—other than the stunning view—was that the restaurant was entirely…empty.
“It’s a pleasure to have you join us tonight, gentlemen,” a fastidiously dressed man said as we walked inside. “We hope that you’ll have a pleasant dining experience at Aria. Please follow me.”
As the man led us down the stairs to one of the tables situated in the center of the restaurant by the windows, I whispered, “Did you rent this whole place out, or did they have an outbreak of food poisoning that’s keeping people away?”
“Angel, do you really think I’d let anything dangerous get past those lips of yours?” Then he seemed to think that over. “Well, except for me.”
I chuckled and took a seat across from Viper. Menus were already laid out in front of us, along with a bottle of white wine chilling.
“This evening, we’d like to offer you our signature experience, a ten-course meal accompanied by our finest wine pairings.”
I glanced over the menu, willing my stomach not to growl at all the delicious food mentioned. Viper looked at me, a question in his eyes, and I nodded.
“Sounds good,” he said, handing the host our menus, and as he walked off, a waiter approached to open the bottle of wine for us. Once he left, I raised a brow at Viper.
“Feeling fancy tonight, are we? Suits, wine, a killer view at a starred restaurant. If I wasn’t yours already, I’d think you were harboring a pretty serious crush.”
“I am.”
“But you already have me.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll never stop trying to win you over, Angel. Not ever.” Viper’s eyes darkened, the look on his face one that always made my pulse race. It was the knowledge that someone so tempting, so confident, so sexy, was infatuated—and in love—with…me. How could Viper, someone so resistant to falling in love—hell, so resistant to a second date—do such an about-face? It was as if once he’d made up his mind, once he proclaimed his feelings in front of everyone the night of the prerelease party, he’d never had a second of doubt, not about me or us or what anyone else thought.
I reached across the table for his hand and squeezed. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know. I’d find you.”
With a laugh, I lifted my glass, tapping it lightly against his before taking a sip. In the periphery, the lights of New York glittered, but the only thing I had my eyes on was the man in front of me. He wasn’t in all black tonight—a shocker—but wore a fitted navy suit, though he’d left off a tie and had undone the first few buttons of his shirt. His dark hair was tucked behind his ear, showing off the strong cheekbones and the stubbled jaw I loved to brush my lips across. Viper was so beautiful to look at that it hurt sometimes, and it made me wonder why, out of everyone in the world, he’d chosen me. Because that was definitely the way it’d gone. I sure as hell wouldn’t have been brave enough to choose him first.
Viper hooked his foot behind mine, his lips quirking, though he didn’t call me out on staring at him. He was staring right back.
“This is nice,” I said, and took another sip of the slightly fruity wine. “What’s the special occasion?”
“The special occasion is I’ve fucking missed spending time with you without the others around all the damn time.”
“You sure it’s not that you wanted to see me all dressed up?”
“As good as you look in that suit, Angel, that’s definitely not the reason. I can’t wait to take it the fuck off you.”
My cock throbbed, making me shift in my chair as Viper’s grin widened.
“So why not just have dinner at your place? We could be naked…”
Viper growled, and then his eyes fell behind me and he quickly placed a napkin in his lap, trying to hide the way his dick obviously was having the same reaction to me as mine was to him. As the waiter approached with our first round of food, Viper said, “You’ll see.”
“I’ll see? You mean there’s more than this?”
Viper shrugged and sipped his wine. I didn’t get a chance to ask him any more, because then the waiter launched into details about our first course, and we focused our attention on the mouth-watering food in front of us.
