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“What do you feel like having?”
Rachel paused and quickly scanned the menu. “I’ll have a martini, please.”
“Make that two, a beer, and some of your house salad.”
As soon as the waitress disappeared, I leaned back against the booth and watched Rachel as she studied her surroundings. Considering I’d spent the past two hours peeking at her from across the restaurant, unable to look away, I half expected to have lost interest by now.
I usually did.
Instead, I was as intrigued by Rachel as I was when I first saw her, standing stiffly and allowing that man to insult her. She’d handled it with so much grace and poise that I’d known I wantedto meet and talk to her. Having grown used to people who knew how to use every weapon in their arsenal to put others in their place, it was refreshing to see someone show some restraint.
In the business world, Rachel wouldn’t make it far.
But I didn’t seem to care.
Not when her face was alight with emotion and curiosity, making it impossible for me to look away. I had no idea what it was about her or why I couldn’t look away, but the second those blue eyes looked at me, I’d known I was in trouble.
And I still pursued her anyway.
Already, I knew I’d never met anyone like her.
Rachel was the kind of woman who relied on her strength to get through adversity and who faced every cruelty with kindness and humility. Not only did it make me want to get to know her better, but it also made me strangely protective of her. Three hours into our meeting, and I felt like I wanted to have her next to me forever and protect her from the world outside.
Get a grip, Bernie. You just met her.
And there was no way she was as nice as she made herself out to be.
She couldn’t be.
Rachel swung her gaze back to mine, her eyes swimming with emotion. “You seem to know the hotel pretty well.”
“I come here a lot for business purposes.”
Rachel sat back against the booth, a vision in her dark jeans and long-sleeved black sweater, her hair falling in loose waves around her face. “You work for a company.”
I nodded.
“Let me guess, finance?”
I chuckled. “Am I that obvious?”
“When you work in the restaurant business, you learn to read people,” Rachel replied, her gaze moving to a spot over my shoulders. “I don’t always like what I find out, but it can come in handy.”
I crossed one leg over the other and linked my fingers together. “Do you work at the restaurant full time?”
Rachel shook her head. “No, I only work there part time.”
“What else do you do?”
“A little of this, a little of that,” Rachel said, pausing to tuck her hair behind her ears. “Whatever pays the bills, honestly.”
The waitress materialized to set down our drinks before disappearing again. Rachel picked up her drink, and I watched her over the rim of my glass, my stomach tightening into knots.
She had no idea how alluring she was.
Or how much I wanted to reach across the table, set down her drink, and touch my lips to hers.
I wondered what she tasted like.
