My heart fluttered and I steeled myself not to get all warm and gooey over David, a guy I barely knew.
“Hey, Sarah, Kelly.”
I shot him a smile over my shoulder, then turned back to Sarah, hoping that would be enough for him.
Turns out…. not so much.
Next thing I knew, he was on my left, towering over Sarah and me. Right then, I wished I had my camera. The photographer in me pictured David wearing that sexy tux and leaning against a door frame, ankles crossed, a faraway look in his eyes, bow tie loosened and his hands stuffed in the pockets. Black and white, matte finish.
His weight rested on one leg, like he was in no hurry to leave. That pose would’ve made a great shot too. “How’s your nose?” he asked.
“All good now. Thanks for asking. And thanks for the save out there.” I gave him another smile, but it faltered when he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.
“David, what movie are you working on now?” Sarah asked, jumping to my rescue.
“I’m between projects.” His eyes flashed to mine. “I’m home a lot these days.”
Sarah gave a nervous giggle. “That’s great.”
Oh, geez, if Sarah buckled in his presence, how could I be expected to do any better?
Damn, he smelled good. A little bit musky and a whole lot of yum.
David nodded, his gaze steady on me. “Maybe I could switch seats with Sarah and she could sit with my brother. You remember, Dave, don’t you, Sarah? He's been asking about you.”
“Uh…” Her words stuck in her throat and, for a moment, she seemed torn.
“Sarah and I are going over some things.” I opened my tiny purse and pretended to look through it. "Privately. Maybe next time?"
David’s brows lowered as he studied me. “You two are up to something. You’re both acting weird. You,” he aimed an index finger at me, “especially.”
“Ha,” I scoffed. “It’s business as usual. We just have a lot going on.”
“I’m not buying it.” One corner of his mouth curved up. “You’re sitting with me.”
My jaw went slack as I stared at him, unsure how to respond. If I said no, would he become even more suspicious? Plus, my resistance was breaking down. I mean, hello? I’d crushed on him for years and here he was asking me to sit next to him in the dark. How much did Kelly expect me to take?
Sarah gave a nervous laugh. “Kelly and I are working.”
“Now?” He shook his head. “Come on.”
“Sure, if it makes you happy,” I told David, trying to convince myself that giving in to his request was only to keep up the charade. Kelly was Sarah’s boss. I needed to act like it. Right? “You and I can go over that stuff later.”
Sarah looked panicked, but what choice did I have?
He pressed his lips into a straight line, like he was suppressing a smile, and offered his arm. “You look beautiful tonight.”
I stood and slipped my arm through his. “Thank you. You look…” Dallicious? I couldn’t say that. “Good too.”
He chuckled as we entered the theater. Oh, Lord, he had a sexy voice, all low and growly.
Once we found our seats, Sarah’s gaze followed the direction of David’s index finger. A slightly older version of David waved from a seat near the next aisle over.
“I’ll go around to the other entrance.” Sarah’s lips thinned to a straight line and her eyes gave me the silent message, Don’t say too much, then she took off.
Why did David want to sit next to Kelly anyway? Was he interested? Hadn’t he already been there and dumped that? This made me wonder how serious Kelly and David had been. I'd never gotten the details, just the glossy version. Did they have sex? I immediately ejected that image from my head.
As soon as we’d taken our seats, David twisted to face me. “Everything going okay?”
“Of course.” I unfolded my hands to make a production out of straightening my dress.
“You’re not fooling me, you know.”
“What do you mean?” My entire body tensed.
“Shh!” He held a finger to his lips as the lights dimmed and the screen lit up, saving me from his scrutiny. I crossed my arms over my chest and vowed to ignore Mr. Hotness.
Yeah, like I could forget David Cullen was currently sitting right next to me in the dark.
I stared straight ahead, but the expression out of sight, out of mind meant nothing when I could still smell that clean, musky scent that made my mind go in forbidden directions.
Despite his broad shoulders and my constant struggle not to rest my head on one of them, I managed to catch snippets of the movie. It was a romantic comedy, which was usually my thing when I didn’t have certain distractions...
An hour and forty-five minutes later, the credits rolled over the giant screen, lights flooded the theater. As soon as I could get away, I needed to find Sarah and, hopefully, get the hell out of there.
“What did you think?” he asked.
“It was great.” I grinned.
He gave me a skeptical glance. “Really? I thought you didn’t like chick flicks. You always go for the action packed movies. ” He turned toward me, his arm brushing against mine. A little shiver skated along my skin. “You're full of surprises today,” he said.
“No, not really.” I should have made my excuse and left, but I was frozen in my seat with my heart pounding wildly from his touch. Help! Where was Sarah? A chill vibrated through me and I held my arms.
“Here.” He stood, then shrugged out of his jacket and turned it so the jacket lining faced me.
I rose to slip an arm into one sleeve, then turned as he slid the fabric over my other arm and past my shoulders. His musky scent wafted from the fabric and invaded my brain. Involuntarily, I bent my head and inhaled. I faced him again, but he hadn’t let go of the jacket, which left me uncomfortably close to him.
“What game are you playing?” he asked.
The metaphoric gun clicked at my temple. “What do you mean?”
“C’mon. You know what I’m talking about.” It was almost a whisper, but not like he was the bad guy cornering me. He sounded… concerned. And very nice.
Nice. That’s how Kelly had described David when she’d said he wasn’t her type. Well, if nice meant incredibly sexy, sweet and confident, nice was definitely a good thing to me. A very good thing.
Uh… what was his question?
"We’ll talk about it over a drink,” he said when I didn't answer.
I swallowed. If he knew Kelly well enough — and I was struggling not to think about the two of them really getting to know each other — given enough time, he’d figure out that I definitely was not Kelly. My head reeled with various scenarios of us having drinks together and me giving myself away. Every ounce of me wanted to say yes, but it could ruin Kelly if he discovered the truth.
He motioned for me to go first and I led the way from the balcony section and into the second floor lobby. We took the elevator down to the first floor, but could barely push through the mass of schmoozing people.
The giant chandelier cast deceptively little light on the women showing off their sparkling gowns. Cameras flashed as the media captured the various celebrities in natural situations — and I use the term natural hesitantly considering how acutely aware they all were of their bodies and what positions flattered them most.
How would Sarah find me amidst the throng of people? Because of David’s height, he’d stand out. But if Sarah only saw his back, he’d look like a lot of other guys in a dark suit.
My skin tingled when David’s hand closed around mine and we squeezed through the crowd. He stopped on the other side of the large room where a few inches of free space opened up.
A waiter appeared in front of me, but I hardly noticed as my focus remained fixed on David. I hoped I successfully hid my fascination over his masterfully chiseled features. And that little smile that reached his eyes. Totally swoon-worthy.
David was only around twenty. He gave the impression he’d packed a lot into a short time. With all that experience, would he be a good kisser?
I blushed when I caught myself focusing on his lips. He was talking. Oh, crap, I hadn’t been paying attention.
“Kelly? Would you like a drink?” David said, nodding toward the server who appeared to have said something to me. That same smile played at the corner of his mouth, like he had a secret.
My brain engaged again and I gawked at the server. “I’m not drinking. Besides, I’m not twenty-one.”
The waiter’s blond brows flew up and I wondered what I’d said wrong.
“Really?” a woman asked behind my shoulder. “Kelly Bloom has given up drinking? That can’t be.”
Apparently, my brain wasn’t fully up and running or I would’ve just accepted the glass. I didn’t have to drink from it. I twisted around to see a redheaded woman with an extremely smug look on her face. Did Kelly know her?
“Lisa Alcott, Exposed Magazine.” Instead of reaching out for a hand shake, her green eyes narrowed. “What would make you give up alcohol?”
“I… I’m not in the mood tonight,” I said. Exposed was the worst of them all, constantly printing retractions or getting sued. They probably kept printing trash because they sold enough papers to make up for it. Forget the truth.
Lisa’s cat-like smile grew wider with each second. “Hm.”
I sucked at impersonating Kelly. I’d make a horrible actress. And I couldn't help wondering how much my little sister — by two minutes — drank when she went to these events. I forged on, adding a little snark like I’d seen Kelly do. “It’s not mandatory, is it?”
“No, but you’re not exactly known for your discretion.”
Witch. “You don’t have many friends, do you?” I asked.
She’d already sidled up to David as though she hadn’t heard me.
“Are you two back together?” she asked him, then her eyes strayed to my shoulders. “Nice jacket.”
Oh, yeah. It totally looked like we were dating.
“Lisa, I promise you Kelly and I are just friends. There’s no story here.”
“You’re hiding something.” Lisa folded her arms over her chest and smirked.
“You’re wasting your time with us, Lisa.” David grabbed my hand and led me away. Realizing that Lisa was right behind us, he stopped short of the door and whirled around. “Have a good night.”
She scowled, probably because all her baiting hadn’t gotten either of us to slip. But she didn’t need our cooperation. She’d probably use the pictures of David and I together to make up a story, simply because that was her job — to twist the truth and create controversy. I’d heard enough rumors about Kelly to know I should never take anything at face value. But other readers may not see through the lies.
“Let’s go.” He tugged on my hand again, compelling me to trail after him.
Although I wanted to go with him, the sane part of me knew this was a bad idea. Where was Sarah? I glanced back, but didn’t see her. David stopped just outside the back door. My gaze drifted to a group huddled several yards away and the cloud of smoke around them. The smoking section.
Lisa hadn’t followed us outside, probably because she’d already gotten what she needed. Dread settled in my stomach. Kelly was supposed to be on sabbatical. She didn’t need to read a bunch of garbage about herself while she was still recovering from her previous humiliation. I glanced at David.
He was staring at me. “That was odd.”
Oh, geez, what had I done?
“You know they wouldn’t serve a minor here. Or was that just a clever way of getting attention?”
Oh, crap. Of course they wouldn’t serve me with the press around. Worse, while I was being an idiot, I confirmed what a media whore Kelly was.
“C’mon. You’re going to pretend you’ve never been served in a public place before?” I lifted a careless shoulder.
“Not with the press around.”
This impersonation gig couldn’t end soon enough for me. Life was much easier when I could just be myself. Except then I wouldn't see David again.
“So I forgot myself for a moment.” I rolled my eyes. Acting was kind of like lying. I felt bad deceiving David, but isn't that why I was there?
“Well, Lisa won’t see it that way. She’ll put a crazy spin on you refusing a drink, along with some trashy speculation. It’ll probably get picked up in every tabloid across the country.”
“Does that kind of stuff ever bother you?” I asked, overlapping the lapels of his jacket against the chill night air and tucking myself into the fabric.
He held his arms close to his sides and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Not tonight. You?”
“It’s expected, right? Without publicity, an actor’s career could die. Goes with the job.” A generic enough reply while not really answering the question. I felt uneasy blatantly lying to David and needed to keep it to a minimum.
“It sure does.” He studied me a moment. “Do you want to go back inside?”
Kelly would say yes. Not me. I’d shown up at the premier and that’s all that was required. My job was done. “No. You?”
“Not really. Are you hungry?”
I knew I shouldn't say it, but… “Starving. Haven’t eaten all day. I was afraid the dress wouldn’t fit right and I didn’t want to feel fat when I had to look good.”
“It’s great to be a guy.” He flashed me a smile. “Did you drive here with Sarah?”
Sarah. I kept forgetting about her. “Yes.”
“Why don’t you leave the limo for her and I’ll drive you home?” He grinned. “Since I’m going there anyway.”
He was impossible to resist. But he was my sister’s ex. Forbidden territory. Going there was not a reality for me, no matter how fab he looked in a tux. But I rationalized that we already knew he wasn’t interested in Kelly. He'd even made that clear to Lisa. What kind of trouble could I possibly get into? David would drive me home and we’d say goodnight.
“Sure. I’ll just text her and let her know the car’s all hers.” I reached into my purse to grab my cell. Four texts had come in, all from Sarah. If I hadn’t turned my ringer off during the movie, I would’ve heard the alerts.
The first text, Sarah said she was sorry for allowing Dave to distract her and that she said she was looking for me. Knowing now what Dave looked like, it was easy to imagine how he could delay a girl. The next three texts wondered where I was, each more hysterical than the last.
“New phone?” He nodded toward it, smirking. “Or should I say old phone? Downgraded, huh?”
Oops. Right. Kelly and I hadn’t switched phones.
“The other one was acting up, so I had them connect to this one until Sarah could sort it out.” I returned to texting Sarah, hoping he bought my lie. Lies would be so much easier to avoid if I walked away and drove home with Sarah. But I’d already committed…
My cell phone vibrated and I checked the text. Sarah again. Don’t go a/where with him. 2 risky. Where r u?
I glanced at David and the thrumming in my veins reaffirmed my decision.
It was just dinner.
Leaving the volume down, I closed my phone and dropped it in my purse. “Let’s go.”