“I ordered us some wine on the way in. I’m looking forward to tasting something more local.”
Brenda came back with a bottle and moved to uncork it, but Luca took it from her hands. “Thank you, Brenda, but I can do this.”
Mari looked at him, tilting her head as he applied the corkscrew to the bottle. He was new, and likely jet-lagged, but he’d remembered Brenda’s name. She couldn’t help but be impressed. It showed an attention to detail that surprised her, and people didn’t often surprise her.
He pulled out the cork with a minimum of fuss and put the bottle down briefly. “You haven’t said anything.”
“I’m waiting to get to the business portion of the meal.”
She set her lips and looked him dead in the eye. A deal was a deal. As long as he kept it about the Cascade they’d have no problems.
He chuckled as he poured wine into two glasses. “Single-minded. I like that. It means you’re focused, driven.”
“A compliment.”
“Perhaps. I’m reserving judgment. Waiting to see if you’re also rigid, stubborn and always need to be right.”
Mari grabbed her tonic water as her face flamed. Of all the nerve!
“I don’t apologize for being organized or efficient.”
“Nor should you. They’re admirable qualities.”
Mari looked out the window and away from him. She’d never met a man like him. She couldn’t quite pin him down and that threw her off balance. Normally she could typecast a person within moments of meeting. She put them in a file in her mind and dealt with them accordingly.
But not Luca. There was something different about him that she couldn’t put her finger on. He was very urban with his carefully messed hair, the way he left his collar open so that Mari was treated to a tempting glimpse of the tanned hollow of his throat. As he lifted his glass she spied a ring on his right hand…plain, not ostentatious at all. It almost looked antique. In the centre of the flat gold oval was the imprint of a lily. The same imprint that she recognized from the company logo. It was the only jewelry he wore. His entire demeanor suggested playboy, but there was something more.
“Let’s order,” he suggested, his voice drawing her eyes away from the ring. “We’ll talk about the food and brainstorm about what the Cascade will become.”
He flipped open his menu, skimmed it and shut it again.
“Just like that?”
“Absolutely.”
Mari looked down at her own menu, though she could recite it without seeing the words. Everything about him threw her off her stride. Just when she credited him with not making decisions, he surprised her by being annoyingly definitive.
“We should switch tables. There’s usually a wait for this one and our guests do come first.”
Luca regarded her over his glass. “No need. I took care of it.”
“And how, may I ask, did you do that?”
His smile was disarming. She noticed again the sensual curve of his lips and wondered what cruel joke the universe was playing, sending such a man for her to deal with. She was completely out of her depth and drowning fast.
“I called the room, spoke to a lovely gentleman who is here celebrating his twentieth anniversary with his wife. I explained who I was and said that the hotel would be happy to treat him—and his wife—to a five-course meal in their room, along with a bottle of champagne.”
Mari’s lips dropped open before she could help it. Mentally she added up the cost of such a thing. It was selfish. Indulgent. All so he could have the best table.
“It would have been easier, and cheaper, for us to simply eat at a different table.”
Luca ran a finger down the leather spine of the menu, a smile playing on his lips. “Perhaps. But they get an anniversary to remember and I get to enjoy the sight of you at the best table in the house. It is…how do you put it? A no-brainer.”
She ignored the compliment. “It’s self-indulgent.”
“Of course. Shouldn’t the Cascade be about indulgence?”
She lowered her voice to a whisper that hissed across the table. “You’re going to indulge us right out of business!”
A waiter came to take their order. Without missing a beat, Luca ordered the Harvest Squash Soup and Pancetta Salmon, while she scanned the menu once more. In the heat of the discussion, she’d forgotten what she wanted, and the gap of silence was awkward.
“The pasta, Ms. Ross?” the waiter suggested. She closed the leather cover and nodded. When the menus were taken away, Luca leaned forward, close enough she could smell the light, masculine scent of his cologne. Exclusive, expensive and somehow perfectly Luca. Her pupils widened as he took the finger that had caressed the menu and ran it lightly over her wrist. The action surprised her so much she couldn’t even think to pull away.