When half an hour rolled by, I found myself checking the clock on my phone on multiple occasions. I wasn’t going to lie, I was starting to get impatient. The guy knew that I would be coming today, I guess it was my fault for not setting a time. I just wanted to introduce myself and talk a little about the project with him before I started to plan. It wasn’t asking for much, I didn’t think I needed to wait this long for it. As pretentious as this place seemed to be, I didn’t plan on going anywhere. Even if he made me wait an entire hour, I wouldn’t move from the seat. I was getting paid to be here.
Ten more minutes passed by before the man of the hour finally made his appearance. At this point, I was already tapping my foot against the ground. All while I waited, I prepared to give him an earful on why he shouldn’t have made me wait so long. However, the moment our eyes met, all of the impatience and annoyance I felt seemed to just melt away.
The guy was good looking and holy hell, I struggled to be the first one to look away. As if feeling stuck to my seat, I didn’t budge as he approached me.
The outfit he was wearing showed that he belong in the kitchen, there was some dried ingredients splashed on the front of his chef coat. Beneath the loose fabric, I wondered what he was hiding underneath. His striking blue eyes captured mine and held my gaze as a smile came to his lips.
Realizing that I look like a fool buy just remaining where I was, I quickly stood up and held out my hand. “Hi there, I’m Evelyn Cathaway.” I introduced quickly, my words stumbling out of my mouth.
This was the same guy that just made me wait forty minutes. By now, I should have already had something snarky to say but with the thickness my tongue was feeling in my mouth at the moment, it was impossible.
“Good to meet you, I’m Rhett.” He introduced himself, his voice catching me off guard. It was much deeper than I was prepared for and his accent only made it sound sexier. After only emailing all of this time, I didn’t know what to expect but what I got was not it. He wrapped his hand around mine and gave it a firm shake. His skin felt hot against mine.
While looking at him, I found myself fighting back a blush. I noticed his eyes drag downward, taking in my appearance. Rather than in a mocking way like his host had, I felt like this guy was ready to eat me alive. While he could have been just looking at me normally, I might have been mistaking it as a dormant hunger instead. It was hard to tell by the heavy weight of his stare. I suppose being devoured by a handsome stranger wouldn’t be so bad. Even if it was just some and saying thought, my body was responding with it.
Despite this man being a stranger to me, I felt like I was ready to just throw myself at him. Pressing my thighs together, I bit my lip as I tried to contain the heat pooling between them.
My reaction to him only left the corners of his mouth raising. He seemed amused. “Let’s go to my office and we can talk.” He suggested, despite his words sounding more like in order. With the low tone he was giving me, it was very tempting to follow his demand.
But by the way he was looking at me, I doubted that it would be a good idea. What if something dangerous would happen? While it could have just been some sort of fantasy, if I was reading the room correctly, and this man wanted to sweep me off my feet just to give me a type of pleasure I couldn’t imagine, I would give in without any hesitation.
I had to remind myself that I was working. It would be pretty unprofessional if I actually wanted to act on my fantasies.
Letting his hand go, I clapped mine together to help break this trance I found myself under. “How about we get some fresh air instead?” I suggested after letting out a heavy breath. My face felt hot, I was pretty sure I needed to cool down and going outside should do the trick. Even if it was hot as hell outside, nothing could compare to the heat I was currently feeling beneath my clothing. I needed to reel back and remind myself why I was here. Leaving the restaurant would do just that.
I could see the enjoyment in his eyes as he nodded his head, “Lead the way.” He then followed behind me as we left the restaurant, sticking close to my heels. “I am sorry for the wait by the way,” he apologized as we walked through the parking lot. Once we were far away enough to get a view of the whole area, we both turned our attention to the building in front of us.
Pushing his apology to the side, I didn’t feel like condoning him for making me wait. I didn’t want the same thing to happen the next time I stopped by. “With the larger area surrounding the building, I was thinking we could work with an outdoor eating space. The weather is usually nice enough and people do enjoy eating outdoors.” I explained as I stared at the perfect spot for the possible seating. While I was sure wearing the type of formal wear his customers would be wearing would be quite uncomfortable in the heat, I was sure at night time, it would be perfect. “I’m sure your evening guests would love the opportunity for a romantic setting such as what I’m imagining.”
“This is a fine dining establishment, people don’t come here to enjoy the weather. They come to eat dishes that they can only get here.” He explained, already denying the suggestion. It seemed like I struck a chord.
Rather than offend him more than I apparently had, I nodded to him anyway. “I will go ahead and draw up a design and be back in a few days to get your opinion. I’ll see what I can come up with. Once you give me the clear, we can go ahead and get this project started.” I explained to him shortly.
While my idea didn’t match his, this wasn’t the first time this has happened with a client before. I’ve clashed many times and I wouldn’t let it deter me, just like I hadn’t anytime before. What would happen was normally have the same outcome. We would come to a disagreement, I would show them the perfect design and they would fall in love with my idea the moment it became reality.
“Sounds like a plan,” he told me as we turned toward the few amount of cars. He was very nice enough to walk me over to my car, telling me to enjoy the rest of the day. As fed up as I should have been with him at this point, I couldn’t find myself able to be. Was this guy really the one Janet put him out to be? If he was supposed to be an asshole, he was doing a poor job at it. So far, with the exception of the wait time, he’d treated me fairly nicely.
As I drove away, I noticed him still looking my way in my rearview mirror. He remained that way until he disappeared from my sight. There was a lot that I was feeling from just being near him, things that I couldn’t really explain. While I could use the time to try to figure out what those feelings were, I knew I needed to have my head somewhere else. I needed to plan on what I was going to be doing to his restaurant.