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I wrapped my hand around his and he took my lips in a searing kiss. His tongue pressed against my lips, and I opened my mouth to him. His hips stuttered and I knew he was close. He grunted, and that’s all it took to pull me over. We stood there panting and I waited for my heart to return to normal while Eli guided us under the spray of water. “I love you, Randy. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“I love you too.” I didn’t say more because I knew I’d tell him what I’d done, and I wanted to make it special for him the way he’d made this night special for me. “I love you so much.”
Eighteen
Eli
We dressed for dinner and shared looks of longing even though we’d just gotten off together. There wasn’t another person I could think of that I could imagine feeling this way about. Randy had my heart, and anything else he wanted.
“What time is dinner?” he asked and rummaged around in the bag he’d packed.
“Eight, I didn’t want it to be too early.”
“It’s perfect.” He smiled at me before walking closer. “This whole night has been perfect so far. Thanks again.”
“Hopefully you feel the same after dinner and the show.” I knew he’d love dinner, but the show was a random choice I hoped would be good. Neither of us had been to a show in a casino so even if it wasn’t good, it was new and different, and we were experiencing it together.
“Oh, I’m sure I will,” Randy said, and kissed my cheek. “Are we ready?”
I patted my pockets before I remembered I didn’t need my keys, because we’d be walking just down the street to the casino the restaurant was in. “I’m ready,” I said and together we walked out of the room. When the door to the hotel opened to the street the cold wind reminded us once again winter wasn’t quite done, we huddled close and hurried to the warmth of the casino.
Walking into the casino was like walking into a blast furnace. My cheeks flushed at the sudden change of temperature, and Randy’s widened eyes told me he felt the same way. “Which restaurant is it?” he asked and looked around. There were several restaurants, but the one we were going to was in the far back of the casino and on another floor.
“Back this way.” We walked through the noise and flashing lights of a million slot machines, neither of us giving in to the temptation to drop a coin or two in. Both of us turned and looked back over the casino as we rode the escalator up to the next floor. When we stepped off the restaurant was right in front of us.
We stood there a moment and Randy looked around, a sweet smile on his lips, then he noticed the one restaurant I hoped would be the one that blew his mind. “No, are you kidding me?” he asked.
“If you mean, are we eating at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant then no, I am absolutely not kidding you.”
“Eli. Oh my god, I can’t believe you did this. You know I love Gordon Ramsay.” He grabbed my arms in his excitement and shook me.
I laughed and grabbed his arms as well. “I know you love Gordon Ramsay, now come on, there’s a table with our name on it.”
“Oh my god,” he mumbled as we hurried to the entrance. We were immediately seated and the whole experience was surreal.The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Gordon himself had been there. But I couldn’t imagine it could have been any better than it was. We chatted and tasted everything they brought us, and it all went by so fast.
When it was time for dessert, we studied the choices and discussed which would be better, the sticky toffee pudding or the famous brownie. “I wish they offered a warm cookie. I’d love to taste a cookie Gordon baked,” Randy said.
“I’m going to try the sticky toffee pudding, it just sounds too good,” I said and set down the menu.
“I’ll try the brownie, then we can share.” Randy set his menu down and took my hand. The waiter took our order and after he left, we sat quietly and soaked up all the atmosphere. Tahoe wasn’t Vegas, but there was plenty to look at and so much going on everywhere. I watched as a woman walked through the casino in a wedding dress surrounded by a group of rowdy women who all had giant drink cups. I laughed, and imagined it must be a bachelorette party, or perhaps even a divorce? I wasn’t sure but they looked like they were having fun.
“Eli, I have a surprise for you too.” Randy shifted around in his seat and took out a manilla envelope from inside his jacket. He looked nervous but excited, and I had no idea what was about to happen.
“You do? When did you have time to plan anything?” I said and bumped his foot with mine.
“Well, you know how you saw me downtown last week?”
“Yes, you were delivering cookies.”
“I lied. I had a meeting with Emily Jones.”
“The president of the downtown association?” I racked my brain for a reason for their meeting but had no clue. “What for?”
“She wanted to show me a building that’s become available. It’s on the block her family owns. A small café that was theremoved out. She thought P.M. Kisses would be a perfect match for the area.”
“Oh, wow. We were just talking about how nice it would be to have a place to work from. I mean you know I love working at home, but it would definitely be nice to leave work at work. But can we afford that? I mean is it a good idea?” He smiled at me while I talked and waited for me to finish before he began again.
“You won’t believe this, but apparently her family has always leased that building out to businesses that need a boost. She’s willing to let us use the space for a dollar a month.”
