The Cinderella Arrangement Read Online Free

windows. The tiny, square sign glowed in the misty air. I stopped for a moment to calm myself. I checked my phone one last time to find a text from Natalie:
    Good luck
    Closing my eyes, I said a silent thank you to her for the confidence boost needed to grasp the dark door’s brass handle. The smell of baking crust and tomatoes blasted into my face, making my mouth water. It was funny how I rarely realized how starving I was until the smell of something appetizing floated across my nose.
    The interior of the restaurant was dark and intimate. Like most places in San Francisco, the space was small. The bar and kitchen stretched on the right side of the restaurant, and a row of tables draped with linen on the left. The back of the restaurant had a long table enclosed in a glass room, slightly separated from the rest of the restaurant.
    I squeezed past the people waiting for a table on the sides and approached the hostess.
    Well, now what? What do I tell her? I don’t even know his name.
    “Ma’am, would you like us to take your coat?”
    An employee swooped in from nowhere and held out his hand.
    “Oh!” I was clutching my coat as if I depended on it for survival. “Yes, please.”
    I slipped the fake wool coat from my shoulders, feeling naked without it. My black purse dangled from my shoulder.
    The hostess gave me a dubious smile as if she could see through the carefully constructed wardrobe and deduced that I had nowhere near the amount of money to afford this place. “Welcome to A16! Do you have a reservation?”
    “Yes.” My high-pitched laugh made me cringe. “It’s for seven o’clock. I’m supposed to meet someone. My name’s Jessica.”
    Her eyes widened with renewed interest. “Ah, yes. Mr. Pardini has been waiting. Please follow me.”
    Yeah, that’s right, I thought as I returned a haughty smile to her bewildered expression. I have a date with a billionaire.
    The cacophony of surrounding conversation swallowed my short, nervous laugh. My teeth clenched together so hard that my jaw ached. How awkward would I be with the billionaire?
    Stop referring to him as ‘the billionaire’!
    Something stirred inside my head when the host mentioned his name. Pardini. Where did I hear that name before?
    The hostess walked straight to the bar, and I scanned the people sitting on the stools, trying to figure out which one was L. She walked to a man dressed in a dark blue suit sitting on the bar, his long fingers playing with the stem of a wineglass. I couldn’t see his face at all, only the back of his head thick with dark brown hair, imperfectly groomed as though he had just had a long day at work. Afraid to touch him, she leaned in.
    “Mr. Pardini!”
    His head turned to the left, and I glimpsed a stunning profile. She said something I couldn’t catch and his dimples creased into a smile. Now it was his turn to pick me out of the crowd. I wanted to run away, but his cool blue eyes froze me in place. His calculating gaze swept up and down, and I was so entranced that I didn’t even notice he slipped off the stool and walked toward me.
    He was so beautiful that it made me sad, because I knew that someone like that would never, ever be into me. It was impossible.
    “Hi, I’m Luke.”
    A high-pitched, teenage voice squealed inside my head. Oh my God. This guy is incredibly hot.
    Stunned into disbelief, I forgot my fear. I pulled my lips into what I thought was a sweet smile and slipped my hand into his. His hand was reassuring and instant heat traveled through his skin and into mine, up my arm and glowing somewhere in my chest. He was the stuff of fantasies, and yet, his face wasn’t so perfect it was unnerving like so many actors in Hollywood with straightened teeth as white as Chiclets.
    I had to say something, but his mesmerizing eyes promised there was no other person in the world he would rather see than me. I sniggered and felt a violent blush creeping up my neck.
    “It’s nice to meet you.” Really,