Page 74 of Ski You Later
“You are just obsessed with me, Langley,” he laughs into my hair. I lightly smack his shoulder, but the grin on my face negates any hostility behind the action.
There’s a small coat room further down the hall, and Roman passes both our jackets to the attendant. His hand falls to my lower back as he guides me down a very dark hallway, and I survey the framed photos lining the space.
As we reach the end, a woman in a skin tight black dress stands at the ready with menus in her hand. “Good evening, Mr. Huxley. Please follow me.” My brow furrows in confusion at the fact that we didn’t even check in, but Roman doesn’t seem bothered as I follow behind him.
The restaurant is very gothic, with tall ceilings and chandeliers emitting a low light. Giant framed art uniformly lines the walls, and everything is organized mathematically. The space looks very uniform, but the chatter from the full tables provides a cozy environment.
We follow the lady further to the back of the restaurant, and I notice the people in the surrounding tables all look to be couples in the midst of intimate conversations. The sound of hushed arguing stands out in the atmosphere, and I look to the booth on the opposite side of the room.
Long, curly dark hair springs out from behind a menu, and two guys sit on either side of the figure. Both men are pulling baseball hats down over their heads, and I watch as the woman and man whisper angrily to each other.
I have no idea how Aurora got ready and beat me here, or how those idiots managed to get a table, but I smile to myself as Roman pulls out my chair for me. As he pushes my seat back in, I see his head whiptowards the booth, and an angry frown takes over his face.
He angrily steps towards them, but I quickly snake my hand out and catch his wrist. Looking down, he stares at the place I’m gripping him, and slowly looks up at me. “It’s fine. They’re harmless and dumb, let’s get our date started,” I say calmly, and do my best to put him at ease. I know Roman just wants this to go well, and I think it’s funny that they’re here. I’ll also not forget this moment for when Aurora starts dating.
With one more glance towards Landon, Xander, and Aurora, he sighs and moves to the seat across from me. He seems to push them from his mind as he extends his hand across the small table and lays his palm up. I can’t explain why this moment is so intimate, but I feel special as I gently place my hand in his.
The waitress appears before us then, introducing herself as she flips our glasses upward and pours us each some red wine. We thank her, and she promises to return soon.
Instinctively, I swish the wine in the glass, and I lean in closer to Roman. “Isn’t it kind of weird that she just poured us wine? Aren’t we supposed to order it?” Roman starts to squirm in his seat, and my suspicionsimmediately rise. “What did you do?” I say with accusation heavy in my tone.
With a face that depicts both his nerves and excitement, he releases my hand to put both of his in front of him. “Alright, I want you to know I’m fully invested in this Rhodes. I’m fully invested in us, and I thought bringing you here is a great start.”
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t confused, but I don’t interrupt as he continues. Picking up his wine glass, he raises it towards me in a toasting motion, and I slowly mirror his movement. “Now, I know you don’t know much about me, so I thought we could spend this time getting to know each other. And even though you know a lot less about me than I do about you, the last thing I want to do on our first date is just hear myself talk.
“I would love it if we could take turns, each of us saying something about ourselves and the other can listen? Yours don’t even have to be major secrets or anything. Truthfully, I just want to hear your voice.”
I can’t help but smile ruefully at him. The fact that he doesn’t want to spend the whole night talking about himself makes me more excited for this night already. But I’m dying to know about the service here first and foremost. “I agree,” I say hesitantly. “As longas you go first, and you start with the reason people seem to know you at this restaurant.” His gaze looks almost impressed with me as I stare back with a challenge in my eyes. Tipping my wine in his direction, I wait to see if he accepts my terms.
The clink of his glass solidifies our arrangement, and I take a slow sip of the wine. I’m pleasantly surprised when I taste one of my favourite brands, and my gaze shoots to his in bafflement.
“I’ll start us off strong, Langley,” he says with confidence. “The wine the waitress poured is your favourite red. The one we drank at the team banquet last year, and you said, ‘you loved it so much you wish you could marry it’.” My eyes widen dramatically, and he keeps his gaze locked with mine. “I never knew I would be jealous of a glass of wine, but it happens,” he says easily.
“I also had a set menu for tonight that I planned, and it consists of all your favourite foods. I’ll have you look through it, but if you want something else, feel free to get whatever you like.” I know I’m staring at him with a dumbfounded expression, but I can barely comprehend what I’m hearing.
“Anyway, this is a good time to tell you, this is my family’s restaurant.”
CHAPTER 28
This is everything I’ve ever wanted.
My glass stops midway to my mouth, as his words sit at the front of my brain but refuse to process. “Your family restaurant?” He nods in my direction, apprehension bracing his features as he waits for my response. “So, like, your family owns this place? One of the most popular and exclusive restaurants in the city?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yes,” he states.
“Why have you been keeping this a secret?” I ask with astonishment, looking around the room in a new light.It’s not that I care he’s kept it a secret, but the team would probably be a lot nicer to him if they knew he could get them into one of the nicest restaurants in the city.
“We keep it a secret because it’s stupid.” The harshness of his words surprises me, and he seems todeflate before my eyes. “This place got crazy popular a couple years ago, and everyone on the team at the time would harass me to get them a table, and to give them free drinks. This was before Landon and Xander joined, so I was the only one everyone pestered about it. As athletes started to pick up on the fact that I wasn’t going to help them, I was immediately met with the cold shoulder.”
I watch as Roman talks about his experience, this being something that obviously upsets him and I don’t think twice as I extend my hand over the table. His eyes track the movement, and I’m happy to see a small smile form on his face as he takes it.
“It was just really frustrating, you know. I had just started at the university and people only knew me asthat guy whose parents owned a cool restaurant.” He huffs out a breath, taking another sip of his wine as he looks around in frustration.
Frankly, I’ve never heard him speak so much all at once and I’ll not be the one to stop him as the flood pour opening. “The next year we had a major athlete rotation, and it was just normal for everyone to keep giving me the cold shoulder, even without knowing why. Honestly, I wasn’t too pressed about it because no onepestered me anymore, but then I noticed who some of the new athletes were.
“I already knew about Xander and Landon joining, as well as Rhys coming back which I was happy about. It meant I didn’t need to make friends or play nice because I had my brothers with me.” He looks at me then, his face morphing from mild frustration to a radiating genuine joy. “But the thing that I was most happy to see that season was when I saw your name on the roster.”
I look back at him with shock, the last bit causing my heart to stop. “My name?” I ask in confusion.
