Page 10 of Isn't She Lucky
“Way. The last fancy restaurant I ate at was Red Lobster.”
He belts out a hearty laugh and I don’t see what’s so funny. Fresh-out-of-the-oven cheddar bay biscuits and all you can eat shrimp is the come up for people like me. Show me another restaurant that compares to Red Lobster. It’s certainly not this place!
“Good ol’ Red Lobster, huh?” he teases, on the backside of a laugh. “I ain’t mad at that.”
“You eat at Red Lobster?” I ask, flicking up both brows, already showing my disbelief. No way a man like him eats at Red Lobster.
“No, dear, but I’m not opposed to it.”
Dear.
I’m not sure how I feel about him calling me that in this context. It comes across as condescending, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t mean it that way.
“You don’t have to do that, Kasim.”
“Do what?”
“Lower yourself to my level. I already know what you on.”
He smiles the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen on a man and asks, “What am I on? I’m an ordinary guy.”
Ordinary...
Itwouldbe a rich man to make a statement like that. What’s ordinary about being a millionaire at twenty-eight years old and inheriting everything your parents owned, including their business? Ain’t nothingordinaryabout him. His money ain’t ordinary. His face ain’t ordinary. His lips ain’t ordinary. That beard ain’t ordinary. That suit ain’t ordinary. The way he smells ain’t—
“Giada?”
Ahem. I clear my throat. “Yes?”
“I was saying you should probably take a look over the menu before the server returns.”
“Oh. Right.”
I pick up the fancy menu, and my heart drops to the carpeted floor. These prices are outrageous, but with a name like Essence of Noir, I don’t know why I’m surprised. If we skip appetizers, I could probably keep the bill under eight hundred dollars. Either way, I’m walking out of here with substantially less money thanI had when I came in. I didn’t think I would need to clean out my savings just to have a meal, but it looks like that’s the way it’s going.
“Everything’s on me tonight.”
I glance up from the menu. I didn’t realize I was frowning until I heard his voice, nor did I realize he was looking at me. I say, “No, that’s not how it works. You’re my guest.” Yeah,guestbecause I refuse to say date. “So, I’m supposed to pay.”
“Well, I’m here to tell you,Ms. Gardner—there’s no way you’ll pay for anything while you’re in my presence. Now—” he says, focusing on the menu. “How about an appetizer?”
I grin at these outrageous prices and say, “The cheapest appetizer is the shrimp, and that’s $275. I wonder if it’s a typo.”
“Money is no object,” he says casually. “Get whatever you want.”
“Interesting.”
Kasim lowers the menu. “What’s that?”
“If money is no object, why bother to go through all of this when you could very easily write a check to the foundation and be done with it? For men like you, time is more valuable than money, is it not?”
He studies me for so long, my stomach sours. Did he not like my question? I didn’t think it was rude – just simply straightforward.
He looks at the menu again, saying, “That is a good question, isn’t it?”
“Yes, one you haven’t answered.”
“Let’s choose an appetizer, shall we?” he asks, blatantly ignoring my question even further. It’s at this point that I know theboyKasim and themanKasim are two completely different individuals. Time has changed him, matured him, given him status, but I suspect money and power have changed him more than time ever could.
