Free Love Beyond Words (City Lights: San Francisco Book 1) by Emma Scott

I’m actually really hungry,” Natalie said. “I skipped lunch. What about you?”
    Julian tapped the steering wheel. “I think I know a place that’s open.”
    “Anything but a coffee shop.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter Nine
     
    Julian navigated the car through light traffic from the Sunset District to the Financial. Natalie had remembered from one of their talks that he lived in this part of town. She watched him drive, biting back a smile. The car commercials are right , she thought. There’s something sexy about a man driving a stick shift . He pulled the car under an old-style electric sign that read Tadich Grill.
    “Do you like seafood?” Julian asked, handing the car keys to the valet. “I think you mentioned you did once before.”
    Natalie laughed. “You know I do. I have three obsessions: reading, numbers, and grilled halibut. In that order.”
    He opened the front door for her and Natalie saw that the Tadich Grill was a “nice” restaurant. The kind where her father would have reminded her to put her napkin in her lap and keep her elbows off the table. They stepped up to a long, narrow bar, where a bartender in a white smock was polishing a glass and eyeing them as though they had barged into his home during dinner.
    “Well?” the bartender demanded. “Bar or table?”
    “Table,” Julian replied.
    The man sighed as if they’d had a long-standing beef and pulled out two menus. “This way.”
    “Do you know him?” Natalie whispered. “He seems upset with us. Is it the holiday…?”
    “Nah.” Julian grinned. “He’s always like that.”
    The surly man led them into the pleasantly dark confines of the restaurant. Cozy tables draped in white lined the walls. Delicious smells of fresh seafood and steak permeated the air, as did the muted conversations of a dozen or so patrons.
    The bartender waited impatiently as Julian took Natalie’s coat and draped it across the back of her chair. Her lavender dress was simple and rather plain, she thought, but Julian was wearing only dark blue jeans and a gray long-sleeved shirt—albeit clearly expensive jeans and shirt. None of the other patrons appeared particularly dressed up, either. The bartender handed over the menus with a grunt and returned to his post.
    “What a grouch.” Natalie laughed. “I like it. I like him . Suits this place.”
    “I think so too.”
    Her laughter died when she perused the menu and saw the prices. They weren’t outrageous, but far more than she could ever afford to spend. Some of the dishes, she noted, had no prices at all. She could hear her mother’s knowing tone. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it .
    The waiter appeared. He rattled off the day’s specials and Julian ordered a bottle of cabernet from a long list full of old-sounding French titles. When the waiter returned to present it, the label showed it predated the Cold War.
    “I thought we’re supposed to drink white wine with fish,” Natalie managed. She was no connoisseur but the bottle had to cost half a month’s rent.
    “You hate white wine,” Julian said. He tasted the small sip the waiter offered, and nodded. The man poured and left them.
    Natalie laughed weakly. “Ah yes. Everything I told you of my likes and dislikes is paying off exactly to plan.”
    Julian grinned. “Is it?”
    “How else would I get my fix of…” she turned the wine bottle to face her, “1947 Chateau Gruaud Laros?”
    “A real mastermind.”
    “A girl’s gotta drink.”
    They laughed again as the waiter returned to take their order. Julian caught Natalie’s dismayed expression. “Shall I?”
    “Yes, please.”
    He ordered appetizers, entrees—Alaskan halibut for her, red snapper for him—and sides of sautéed mushrooms, pasta, and grilled asparagus.
    “Okay?” he asked.
    Natalie nodded. “Okay.”
    The waiter winked. “Okay.”
    #
    Over a Dungeness crab cocktail, Julian asked her