Chapter1
LAILA
The taxi pulled up in front ofIl Cavalluccio Marino, and my nerves about the evening ahead disappeared.I got out of the car, smoothing down my electric blue dress and flicking out my hair.There was always something thrilling about arriving at a new restaurant, especially when I was going there in order to write a review.
"Laila!"
I turned to find my roommate waving me over to where she was standing with her boyfriend and another man I'd been introduced to a couple of times.
"Hey, Ivy," I said with a smile.
"You remember Nick, right?"she asked, gesturing to her boyfriend.
"It's hard to forget Captain Christmas," I joked, still notentirelyused to the fact that one of my best friends was dating Santa.
He chuckled."I still prefer Nick.This is Pieter."
"I remember.Pieter is the sensible one," I said, flashing a smile at the other guest.
"That's me," the other man responded.
"He's sensible, but he's already complained twice about having to turn down a date tonight," Ivy said.
Pieter shrugged."Getting to eat at Poseidon's restaurant for free is worth missing a date."
I laughed."You still have to pay for it with your opinions," I responded."That's why the magazine lets me bring you all, they want me to work on more opinions than my own."
"Worth it.Have you seen his prices?"Pieter responded.
"Good food costs good money," I responded.I knew enough about gourmet food to be certain that the prices would be worth it.
Another car pulled up, and a giggling Eloise spilt out of it, followed by the curly-haired god she was dating.And if it was strange to me that one of my best friends was dating Santa, it got stranger still when the other one was dating one of the most famous love gods in existence.
"Why do they look like they've just fooled around?"Ivy whispered to me.
"They probably have," I responded.
"Sorry, we're late," Eloise said, a little out of breath.
"Do we want to know why?"I asked.
"There was a matchmaking emergency."The way she said it made it seem as if it was true, though I wouldn't be surprised if a little of Ivy's suggestion was also true.
"We should tell your boss not to keep you late," I teased.
Cupid laughed and put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him."Her boss told her to go home and get ready, but she insisted on helping," he said, looking at her with a devoted expression on his face.If I didn't get them into the restaurant, there was going to be a chance that they'd sneak off to do something more and delay our meal.
I cleared my throat."All right, well, everyone's here now.Shall we head inside?"I didn't wait for any of them to respond and headed into the restaurant.We had a reservation, and I didnotwant to be late for it.
I half-expected there to be some kind of nautical theme to the seafood restaurant, but that seemed to have been relegated to the beautiful pieces of art on the cream walls.Everything around us was beautifully presented, and made it feel as upscale as the menu made it seem.There was a low murmur of chatter coming from the people already dining, and it added to the ambience in a pleasing way.If the food was anywhere near as good as I'd read about, then it was going to be a great evening.
A waiter dressed in a black suit with a matching tie approached."Good evening, Madam," he said.
"Evening," I responded."I've got a table booked under Mandal, for six."
"Right this way."He gestured for us to follow him, leading us over to a table in an alcove that was already set up for us."Have you eaten with us before?"he asked.
"No, this is our first time," I said, knowing from when I invited my friends that the same is true for their plus-ones.I slipped into my seat, pleased to find that there was plenty of room at the table for the six of us.
