Page 101 of No Summer Hotter than You

“Anthony,” she gasped, followed by a thick and wet swallow.

“Baby,” I said softly.

Her dark eyes pinned me under the yellow glow of the dim lights. A sweet smile danced across her lips. She moved closer to me after our waiter took our orders and whispered, “I can’t believe you brought me here.”

The tone of disbelief on her voice made me flushed all over. “Why?” I asked. “It’s our first date.”

Shoua quickly glanced around at the fancy sushi restaurant we were in. “Anthony, we’re at Natsuki. It takes months to get reservations here. How did you do it?”

“I have my ways,” I said with a smirk and a shrug. “Thanks to all the projects I’ve worked on.”

She raised a curious brow at me. “Let me guess. The owner was one of your previous clients?”

I nodded with a small laugh. “As always. This place is nice, but I promise there are many more places I want to take you to.”

Where we were at tonight, Natsuki, is the top restaurant in Sunset Valley for its sushi and opulent and fancy ambience. Needless to say, our first date was a special occasion, and I wasn’t going to downplay that.

Shoua’s cheeks blushed lightly. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said.

I tilted my head and leaned into the palm of my hand, curious why she’d even thank me. “As I should.”

Her cheeks flared brighter. “Thanks . . .”

“Stop thanking me. I’m your boyfriend. This is exactly what I’m supposed to do.”

“Anthony—”

I laughed. “I want to spoil you. You and your client just closed on a million-dollar house today, didn’t you?”

“You’re just like your twin.” She sighed and shook her head.

“How? It’s our first date and we’re celebrating you.”

Shoua smiled softly. “He spoils Julie, and you want to spoil me.”

I threw back my head, chuckling. My laughter died in the sea of conversations surrounding us, but I knew she could hear me perfectly fine. “Well, we are twins and”—I took her left hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over her ring finger—“we love spoiling our women whenever we can.”

I placed kisses on her fingers again and again until the blush sitting on her face spread all the way down to her chest. My eyes dipped low to her teasing cleavage for a moment before our waiter came back with Shoua’s cocktail and our beautifully plated appetizers along with a small bottle of sake, which neither of us ordered. When I asked about it, he explained it was on the house because of Haru.

“Who’s Haru?” Shoua asked as soon as the waiter left.

I smiled. “My connection here.”

She raised a brow at me. “The owner, I’m presuming?”

“Yup, and Tim’s friend.” I nodded slowly.

“Do you just happen to know every wealthy person in Sunset Valley now?” Her eyes narrowed playfully at me, causing me to laugh again.

“No,” I said as I smiled. “I don’t. But I’d say I’m close to knowing most of them.”

Shoua shook her head at me, smiling wide, as she dug into the food. She immediately moaned, delightedly, making me dig in as well. We shared a nod as the light flavors and deep richness of our food hit our tongues.

As the night continued and we shared laughs and nods of our astounding dinner, I couldn’t help but just be happy whenever I looked at Shoua. There were moments when we didn’t even need to talk to one another as we enjoyed our time together.

Soon enough, we were served a yuzu panna cotta on the house, and it was the perfect way to end our meal. Haru brought out the check to us, and I was surprised to see the cost a mere fraction of what it should have been.

“Anthony, that was so good. Thank you for bringing me here,” Shoua said after we got into the truck and headed home.

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