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But if you had enough money, anything was possible on short notice. Lucas and I were worth billions, but we knew Brooke wasn’t the type to have fun at a Michelin star restaurant. We wanted to take her to a place where she’d be comfortable but feel like she was being treated to something special.
I dressed down, since the restaurant was nice, but not fancy. Plus, I wore dress pants and shirts to work all the time, and I wanted Brooke to see me how I usually was outside of the office. I was serious about having our personal relationship be completely separate from our work one. I worked a lot, and I worked hard, but that wasn’t all there was to me.
It was a nice evening, so we had the entire outdoor patio set up with candles, low lights, and gentle music. Lucas checked his phone, stretching his legs out in front of him. A server had brought us each a glass of wine while we waited, and he swirled his drink around in his glass.
“I hope she likes this,” Lucas said. He was even more worked up about this than I was, at least on the outside. “What if she doesn’t actually like pizza?”
“Who the fuck hates pizza?” I asked. “I’ve seen her split some with that woman from marketing a few times. She loves it. And do you think she’d really bitch if she hated it? There’s other food here, you know. We hired the chef for the night, and he can cook us anything.”
“You’re right.” Lucas raked his hand over his face. He’d shaved and was also dressed down in a button-down and jeans. “It’s been a long time since I’ve cared this much about making a woman have a great time.”
“Outside of bed, I’m assuming.” I picked up my wine and took a sip. Lucas snorted. “It’ll be fine.”
“You aren’t at least a little bit nervous? When’s the last time you went on an actual date?”
“I’m nervous as fuck. It’s been a really long time.” I put my wine down. “But I know once she gets here, we’ll be good.”
Lucas’s phone lit up on the table, and he answered it, pushing to his feet.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll go meet you both at the front,” he said. He put his phone away after he ended the call. “The driver is almost here with Brooke. I’ll go meet them out front.”
Lucas disappeared, and I downed the rest of my first glass of wine. I wasn’t all nerves—I was excited, too. But Brooke was clearly unsure about dating both of us, so I didn’t want to fuck this up somehow. I took a breath through my nose and let it out. I wasn’t great at feelings when it came to being with a woman, but I knew how to have fun despite my general demeanor. Everything was going to be fine.
A few moments later, Brooke’s warm, musical laughter floated through the open back windows of the restaurant. She and Lucas came outside, Lucas’s hand on her back. I’d never seen her in casual attire. She was in snug jeans that hugged her curvy hips and a low-cut green blouse that was the same shade as her eyes. My eyes went straight to her cleavage, lingering before I took in the rest of her. The way her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail showed off her stunning face.
Her eyes brightened when she took in the space, her mouth popping open. She stopped on the stairs, resting her hand on the railing.
“You guys did this all for me?” Brooke asked, her voice just loud enough for me to hear.
“Of course we did.” I met her and Lucas on the stairs, taking her free hand and kissing her temple. “We told you we were going to make tonight special.”
“You didn’t have to go through all this trouble,” she said, waving her hand. Her cheeks were flushed. “I’ve heard so many things about this place. I didn’t think it was even possible to rent it out for the night.”
“We can make a lot of things happen.” Lucas pulled her along. “Sit down. What kind of wine do you want?”
“Oh, jeez, anything?” She let out another nervous laugh. “I don’t drink wine often, but rosé is my go-to when I do.”
“Then we’ll get you rosé.” I flagged down a server. “Can you please bring us a sample flight of the best rosé you have?”
“Of course, sir.” The server bowed his head and disappeared inside.
I pulled out a seat for Brooke, and she sat down, still taking everything in. The wonder in her eyes was scratching an itch I hadn’t realized was bothering me—I hadn’t been able to really treat her before. This was just the beginning. Tonight was all about making her feel comfortable, not overwhelmed, but our next dates would be much more luxurious—trips on our private jet, afternoons on yachts, anything out of her wildest dreams.
How was I already thinking of things in terms of “someday”? I always struggled when my relationships with women got deeper, but I wanted to push past that for Brooke.
“Did you guys read my mind and know I wanted pizza?” Brooke asked, as Lucas and I sat down.
“Nope, we just took an educated guess,” Lucas said. “And as Hunter just said, ‘who the fuck hates pizza?’”
Brooke snorted. “True.”
“Honestly, I hated it for a while,” I admitted. “I worked at a pizza joint when I was a teenager. We got free food on our shift, but the pizza was as bottom-of-the-barrel as you could get. It was like cardboard and salt and cheese that was barely fresh. Plus, my boss was a fucking maniac, so I hated the work, too.”
“But you still ate the pizza each shift?” Brooke asked.
“Of course. I wasn’t going to turn down free food.” My mom worked a lot just to pay the bills, but we never went hungry. But feeding a hungry teenager was a different story. I was a bottomless pit. “And I stuck around enough to tell my boss to fuck off. He was probably half the reason I worked so hard to be the boss—so I wouldn’t have to deal with small-dicked assholes on a power trip like him.”
A server returned with Brooke’s rosé and told her about each one. Brooke nodded along, listening intently, until the server left her to try them.
