An Offer You Can't Refuse by Sal Bianchi (best beach reads .txt) 📕

a few things, depending on how adventurous Roxanne was. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about her. We’d only slept together once, and this was the first time I’d seen her since then. “Why don’t we start with dinner? There’s an Italian place near here that looks good.”

“You’re all about being Italian, aren’t you?” she chuckled. “That night at the bar, you kept bragging about it, too.”

That was a little embarrassing to hear. To be honest, my memories of that night were fuzzy at best. I only had vague memories of anything that had happened after the shot-drinking contest I’d had with Jase.

“Italian men are the most handsome,” I replied before steering her in the direction of the restaurant. “An international survey found that, worldwide, Italian men are the most attractive on average.”

“What?” Roxanne cackled. “What survey was that?”

“I don’t remember,” I replied honestly. “But I really did read that somewhere. I swear I’m not making it up.”

“I believe that,” Roxanne replied coyly after staring intensely into my face for a few seconds.

We chatted for a few more minutes as we made our way to the restaurant. I hadn’t paid very much attention when I’d looked it up earlier, but the restaurant was actually a lot fancier than I'd anticipated. I’d known it was on the beach, but I hadn’t realized just how close to the water it was. Had we taken a few steps further, we would have literally been standing on sand, and even from the outside it looked incredibly opulent and expensive.

“This is where we’re eating?” Roxanne whispered as we made our way up to the host standing at the front of the restaurant. “Nick, isn’t this a bit much?”

“Do you think so?” I whispered back, feeling a little uncertain myself.

“Do you have a reservation?” The man at the podium asked before she could reply.

“No, we don’t,” I admitted. I was beginning to regret not having read anything past ‘specializes in authentic Italian coastal cuisine’ under the restaurant’s description earlier.

“That’s perfectly fine.” The man smiled. “We’re pretty slow tonight, so I’ll be able to seat you right away. Just two for tonight?”

“Yes.” I nodded, relieved that we didn’t actually need a reservation to get in tonight.

“Perfect.” The man smiled again. “Would you like a table outside?

“Sure.” I nodded again.

“Excellent,” the host replied. “If you’ll just follow me, I’ll take you to your seats.”

He took off at a rapid pace, and I hurried to keep up with him.

“Nick,” Roxanne hissed as he took hold of my sleeve. “I’m not dressed up enough for this. Look at this place!”

“You look gorgeous.” I grinned back at her. She blushed and rolled her eyes, and I had to suppress a chuckle at her reaction. It wasn’t all talk, though. She was wearing a simple black dress that hung off of her shoulders to show off her delicate collarbone and a pair of black high heels. It wasn’t an extravagant outfit, but it was still nice enough that I didn’t see why she would feel out of place.

Still, she had a point. The restaurant was stunning with walls and furniture all shades of stark white, accented by black and gold. It was also bigger than I expected on the inside, and it seemed as though the host was leading us through the entirety of it. Finally, we arrived at a large open doorway that led to an outdoor area at the back of the restaurant.

“Oh, wow,” Roxanne gasped as we walked past the occupied tables. The outdoor area of the restaurant consisted of several semi-private booths set literally on top of the water. Each table butted against a terraced balcony so that diners could look out over the sea as they ate.

“Someone will be by soon to take your order,” the host informed us before offering us one last smile and turning to walk briskly back into the main part of the restaurant.

“Why didn’t you tell me this was such a fancy place?” Roxanne admonished me as soon as he was out of earshot. “I would have worn something nicer!”

“I told you, you look gorgeous,” I replied. “And I also didn’t know. I didn’t realize it was going to be this high-end.”

“Amazing,” she chuckled. “So what do we do now? We can leave if you want. I won’t be upset or anything.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could say anything, the server showed up and handed us a set of menus.

“Good evening,” the man greeted us politely. “My name is Bryce, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I get you started on some drinks?”

“I think we’re fine for now,” Roxanne replied right away. She looked like she was trying hard not to laugh.

“All right.” Bryce smiled. “I’ll let you have a few moments to look over the menu then. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

He turned and walked briskly away, and Roxanne broke into a fit of giggles as soon as he was gone.

“Look at these wine prices!” she exclaimed. “This is insane.”

I grinned at her outburst as I looked down at my own menu. I knew as soon as I saw this place that the prices were bound to be outrageous, but it still shocked me when the first item my eyes landed on was a two-hundred-dollar antipasto that featured caviar as its main component. On second glance, though, there were other, less extravagant dishes like pasta and lamb that were a little more reasonably priced.

“This is too much, Nick,” Roxanne murmured. “We can go somewhere else.”

“It’s fine,” I insisted. “We’re already here. We’re in too deep to quit now.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I’m sure.” I nodded. “Besides, I already have something else planned for later. If we leave now, we might not have time.”

“Oh, you do?” she giggled. “And what is it that you have planned?”

“It’s a surprise.” I winked at her. “You said you wanted to do something fun, right? I have the perfect idea.”

“Okay, I’ll trust you,” she hummed.

I