Chapter 67: Pretentious
** Harper **
Harper was weak for cliffhangers, and Eli’s words kept her guessing all the way into Saturday evening. She wondered if he would make it another shocking surprise like last Wednesday. What would it be like to work with him in a professional context?
It wasn’t until she arrived at the grand front gate of Le Jardin that she remembered — oops, her curiosity had kept her too distracted, and she had forgotten to plan out the next "seduction game" for the day. Which was very unfortunate, because Le Jardin looked like a perfect place for it.
The restaurant was a chateau style estate tucked into the heart of the harbor, with a magnificent facade centered around an imposing columned portico. Beautiful archways and huge windows graced every wall, adorned with intricately carved cornices and corbels. A blacksuited maître d’ greeted Harper at the entrance and led her into the marble-floored foyer, up the wrought-iron staircases spiraling under a splendid crystal chandelier.
She glanced around her, studying the building with fascination. It was impressive that, despite the palatial grandeur that the venue gave off, the ambiance around her felt ... intimate. Each room along the hallways held its own dining table, giving the guests almost complete privacy from each other. The only thing they shared was the slow, romantic music of a piano playing somewhere, as well as the whiff of flowers and wine drifting in the air. In a way, the style reminded her somewhat of The Balconies ...
Harper smiled to herself. Yeah, this was totally Eli’s style.
She was trying to guess which room the maître d’ would lead her into, when he turned at the top of the stairs and held the door to the terrace open for her.
Harper gasped.
Fresh ocean breeze kissed her cheeks. In the distance, the harbor was a serene shade of deep blue under the sunset sky, where gold and red and pink clouds stretched for as far as the eye could see. Closer in the foreground, directly beneath the terrace, was a gorgeous rose garden spread out in a lush maze, every vine draped in blossoms of ivory and scarlet.
But what made her gasp was not just the scenery. It was Eli rising from his seat at the only table on the terrace, his smile warm and bright against the evening light and the swaying candle flames on the table. He straightened his white suit — a color that both contrasted and blended in with the garden and ocean behind him — and walked up to her.
Harper felt her heart stop. This moment, this scene ... It was too beautiful, too perfect. It was like a wish come true — the man of her dreams from all those years ago, walking up to her in a sea of flowers and candles, and ...