The restaurant had the same cozy ambiance as the rest of the hotel. Every inch — from the walls to the floors and even the ceiling — was colored in rich brown and burgundy hues that matched the tastes of its rich clients.
It was most likely intentionally built in the middle of nowhere, not a place an ordinary person like Natalie would have reached herself if she hadn't been tricked by her so-called best friend and Mr. Moneybags.
"Welcome to dinner, Ma'am. Enjoy," the exceptionally tall, blond waitress standing to greet people at the door spoke with an exaggerated smile on her face.
"Thank you," Natalie murmured, summoning confidence from her one-shoulder golden dress, the fanciest piece in her wardrobe reserved solely for performances at weddings.
Her smoky makeup which was perfected over an hour she spent in front of the large mirror in her spacious suite added a certain sharpness to her innocent looking doe-eyes. Tonight, she was going to present a more confident version of herself to Mr. Moneybags.
Her head turned when she heard a chair being dragged, but it wasn't Alonso; just a man adjusting his seat to stare at her. She paused, scanning the restaurant more thoroughly for her dinner partner instead of going around in circles to look for him and making a fool of herself. The longer she took to look around, the more men ogled her.
Keep your head held high; that's the whole purpose of this look. Natalie could turn heads when she chose to. Alonso Valois should add that to the list he was compiling about her.
Her eyes landed on the far end of the restaurant, the most secluded area where the cabins offered a more private setting. There, she spotted Alonso standing tall and buttoning his black jacket, his dreamy eyes filled with awe.
Keep your head in the game; you're the one trying to leave an impression on him not the other way around!
She took a steadying breath as he began to make his way toward her. Torn between waiting for him to reach her or meeting him halfway, she ended up standing her ground like a tree as he approached.
"Thank you for coming."
She nodded, trying to at least look confident on the outside, "Thank you for giving me the choice."
When he extended his hand towards her, she reciprocated expecting a simple handshake. To her surprise, he took her hand and raised it to his lips then planted a kiss on her knuckles. The last man to kiss her hand with such tenderness was her late father, and she couldn't decide whether she liked Mr. Moneybag's gesture or felt uncomfortable by it.
"Our table is over there."
With her hand clasped in his, Alonso led Natalie forward through the restaurant. While her eyes were on his perfectly styled grey hair, his eyes wandered across the patrons at the tables and he offered sly smirks to their surroundings.
Is he a familiar face to everyone in this restaurant?
Entering the cabin where shadows dominated the candles light on the floor and the table, she felt a rush of blood behind her ears.
"Have a seat," he offered pulling out a chair for her.
"Thank you."
She smoothed her dress before sitting then ran a hand through her hair keeping it to the side over her sleeved shoulder. Her eyes followed him as he unbuttoned his jacket and sat down across from her with a smile and eyes that conveyed cryptic messages.
She smiled back unintentionally, "Are you just going to sit there and smile like that?"
He rested his elbow on the table and rubbed his lips with his thumb. From his watch to his perfectly ironed white shirt and jacket, Alonso Valois reflected not only wealth but also authentic good taste. Natalie had to admit to herself; this man was easily the most handsome she had ever met.
"Would you care to hear a little about me?" he finally said.
Choosing to let him cook for a moment before replying, she reached for the glass of sparkling water and took a sip, pleased to find that her smudge-proof red lipstick left no mark. Placing the glass to the right of her plate, she looked up from beneath her long perfectly mascaraed lashes.
"...I am listening."