Page 10 of Midnight & Memories

Ridge smiled.

“I do, but that doesn’t mean you have to deal with it, too. Please let me know if the pap is bothering you, and I will take care of it.”

“I’m sure they have better people to cover than boring old me,” Poppy said with a chuckle before she diverted her eyes from his.

“Poppy, you are something special. I wish you could see yourself the way I do.” He lifted her chin to meet his gaze.

“Right this way, Mr. Turner!” Said a maître d’ as he came to seat them.

He whisked them off to a private area of the restaurant, where there was a line of VIP rooms. They stopped at the fifth one on the left of the long hallway.

The maître d’ placed menus on the table and explained that the waiter would be with them shortly.

“Poppy, would you mind if I ordered the wine for us?”

“No, I don’t mind. Frankly, you’d be better at it than me. Dom Perignon is the first champagne I see listed, and it’s at 55 dollars a glass. I’m pretty sure that’s much higher in quality than my usual seven dollars a glass Fetzer.” She said as she placed the menu back onto the table and giggled.

“I like to hear your laughter,” Ridge smiled.

The waiter came, and Ridge ordered the Vincent Dauvissat Vaillons, vintage 2000. The waiter smiled and said he’d return with the order.

Poppy gasped.

“That wine is more than I pay for groceries in a month!” Her voice was a low whisper.

Ridge grinned and placed his hand over Poppy’s.

“You deserve nothing but the best, my dear, and it’s worth every penny to hear your laughter and to treat you like the princess you are.”

“Ridge, you don’t have to do so much. I mean, it’s only dinner.”

“I want to do this for you. Please let me.”

Poppy smiled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

The waiter returned with two glasses and placed them in front of each. He opened the bottle and handed the cork over to Ridge, who nodded after taking in the wine’s aroma. The waiter then poured a glass for Ridge. He swirled it, took in its scent, and then finally sipped. Ridge nodded at the waiter, who smiled and poured a glass for Poppy.

Poppy gazed at Ridge in sheer amazement.

“How is it, Poppy?”

“Oh! It’s fantastic. Um, but I must admit, I’m not as good at tasting a glass of wine as you are. I had been to a couple of wine tastings with my gal pals before, but it was never an intimate experience. You practically made love to the wine as you took in the notes of peach and citrus.”

She cupped her mouth as a fresh tinge of pink colored her cheeks again.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be so candid like that.”

Ridge let out a chuckle from deep within his belly. The woman was candid, and that made his dick hard. What she said about making love to the wine merely helped his erection grow even more.

“It’s not hard to enjoy the subtle notes. Wines are like women. Not only do both get better with age, but they should be savored and cherished for their gorgeous body.”

He couldn’t help himself. Poppy’s line about the wine was an admission of her attraction to him—not that she could hide it that well to begin with. He’d heard her heart race from the minute she walked into the office and realized who he was, and that racing heart was music to his ears. His gaze flicked from her eyes to her lips as she gingerly bit her bottom lip. Heat rushed to her cheeks, making her sexy as hell.

“Well, I don’t know about all of that, Ridge. No matter how opulent a wine truly is—someone out there will call it flabby.”

“It’s clearly apparent that you’ve learned much more about wines than you are letting on!”

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