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I glance toward the bar where Luke is already on his feet. I wave him off, letting him know it’s all good and to stay where he is.
Normally, I hate being interrupted, but on this occasion, the more eyes on my date with Clarke, the better. Which is precisely why I didn’t opt for a table in the back. Doesn’t do me much good to be out on a fake date if there’s no one around to witness it.
“Sure.” I plaster on a smile, sliding from the booth. “Clarke, do you mind?” I turn, not missing the ever so slight roll of her eyes as she, too, slides out of the booth, taking the cell phone of the girl to my right.
I drop an arm around each of the women as Clarke readies the camera.
“Ready. One. Two. Three.” She snaps a couple pictures before extending the phone back to its owner, wasting zero time before reclaiming her seat.
“Thank you so much.” Both girls coo at me, not bothering to thank Clarke for taking the photo. I have half a mind to say something but decide against it. Why the fuck do I care if they thank her or not?
After hugging each of them, I wait until they’ve begun to walk away before sliding back down in the booth.
“Sorry about that.”
“A day in the life, huh?” She leans back over the menu, not meeting my gaze.
“Unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately?” Her brilliant greens swing up to me. “Seems to me you were enjoying yourself just fine.”
“What would you have me do? Tell my fans to leave me the hell alone? Yeah, that’ll really do a solid for my career. You, of all people, should understand what that’s like.”
“Me?” She seems absolutely confused by my statement.
“Tell me you don’t deal with your fair share of asswipes on the daily. In your profession, there’s no way you don’t. If you don’t like someone or if you don’t want to show a house to someone you don’t care for, do you say no? Or do you put a damn smile on that pretty face of yours and suffer through it?”
“I suffer through it.” She swallows hard.
“Exactly.” I pick up my menu, pretending to read it over. “Now, have you decided what you want to eat?”
“I’m not sure.” She blows out a little breath. “I’m torn between the Alaskan halibut and the filet. Do you have any recommendations?”
I’m a bit surprised that out of everything on the menu, she would choose either of these two. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, I just expected her to order a salad or some vegan option like most other women in L.A.
“Halibut is good, but I’m more of a red meat man myself.”
“Yeah.” She considers my words. “I think I’m going to go with the filet. Are you ready?”
“Yep.” I hold up my hand and the waitress all but runs to the table. Way too eager if you ask me…
We place our orders and after lingering around for longer than necessary, our waitress leaves and once again we’re alone.
“So,” I clear my throat, “tell me about Clarke.”
A small grin slides across her face as she sits back, resting her hands on the table between us.
“And here I thought you already knew everything about me.”
“Maybe I do.”
“Then why ask?” She lifts a brow, the action oddly endearing.
“Better to hear it from the source.”
“Guess you can only learn so much from Google.” She smirks. “Not like you can read about my personal life in a magazine or anything.”
“Cheap shot.”
