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My life could be aLifetimemovie...
ChapterFour
KATERINA
“You look beautiful, Katie.” Blushing furiously, I giggled nervously as Brandon held out his arm, and he grinned just as hard. “I was worried you wouldn’t show up.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” My gut was tied in agitated knots, but my voice was surprisingly steady. His ears twitched and tinged pink under the soft lights of the incredibly expensive restaurant entryway, and the fine hairs on my face stood on end. Rather than answer me, Brandon leaned in to kiss my cheek, and my breath hitched when he hesitated ever so briefly. Taking hold of my hand, his smile lost a good few megawatts, and I glanced over my shoulder out of habit.
Photographers lined the other side of the street. Supposedly, this was a very popular date spot for celebrities. And Brandon was one of the most reclusive of all, like a rare Pokémon.
“I like how you did your nails.” Forcing my gaze off the dozen or so cameras pointed directly at me, my heart did a little flip as fire licked my cheeks. Brandon caressed the backs of my fingers, and my polka-dot fingernails threatened to fall right off. “The artist did a great job.”
“Thank you.” Appreciative eyes met mine as his brows rose, and I reached to poke his forehead before I could stop myself. Tensing as his pupils widened, I pursed my lips tightly as my mind raged furiously to find something to say. “I–I’m not that great. I just had to learn for my job, you know? Sort of like learning how to do a lot of things pretty okay. Acting is a lot more than just knowing how to look in front of a camera.”
“Speaking of..." Leaning away to clear his throat roughly, Brandon led me up the marbled walkway, and a smartly dressed man opened the door for us. Embarrassment clung to my chest, and I silently berated myself for getting carried away. No matter how many times I told myself that these dates weren’t real, I couldn’t help but enjoy myself.
Who knew the next time I’d get to go on a date? I had the worst luck with men because of my line of work. I saw the worst of them... not that Brandon was anything like that.No, no, no. He’s the reason my dad is dead... and besides, I don’t even know him. He could just be charming me.
Even then, I had a nagging feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong.
“Are you sure it was okay to send me that picture? Aren’t you going to get in trouble for leaking it?” Snapping me back to reality, Brandon’s concerned question tightened my throat, and I shook my head. “I thought it was against the rules or something is all.”
“I’ve worked on this before, so there’s not so much secrecy about my costume. It’s my biggest role so far, and the director, Mat, let me take the photo on the first day of shooting since it’d be one of my last. I only have a couple of scenes left.” We were by a table by the time my little anecdote ended, and I struggled to avoid sucking on my lips. Smiling as Brandon pulled out a chair for me, I smoothed my plain black dress, and he moved to sit across from me. “So, have you been to this place before? I don’t think I could afford this on my best paycheck so far.”
“No, I haven’t, but it’s Italian, so we should be okay.” Giggling at Brandon’s boyish smile, I nodded in agreement, and my fingertips glided easily over the lamination of my menu. “You mentioned before that this is your biggest part, right? What’s your next step?”
“I actually have a really promising supporting role that my agent asked me about a few weeks ago.” Excitement brightened my tone, and my smile widened as I gripped my menu with tingling fingertips. “I’m really hopeful for it. I’ve lived here since I was eleven, so it’s not like I left behind my small town beginnings for the gold screen, you know? It’s not so much of a sob story, but I’ve been doing small stuff since I was fourteen. My mom agreed to take me to the set of this Speed Racer-type movie they were making, and one of the actors spotted me in the crowd. Right then and there, he took me on set and told me to ‘stand right here,’ and he literally improvised a scene with me. They shot it, but I didn’t actually make it into the movie.”
“That must’ve been awesome.” Chuckling deeply, Brandon’s voice caressed my ears, and his gaze softened as he propped his chin on his palm. Everything he did was casual, so out of place in this incredibly fancy restaurant, and my cheeks flamed. “I’ve been heading my dad’s tech companies since I was seventeen. At first, it was so difficult even though I’d prepared myself, or I thought I had. I never thought of doing something different. I like what I do, but it’s kinda taken over my entire life at this point.”
“They put you in charge at seventeen years old? Isn’t that kind of young?” Alarm bells rang inside my skull, and I licked my lips as a cold sweat broke out between my shoulder blades. Brandon shot me a wry, resigned smile as he gave a half-shrug and tore his gaze from me to look at the menu. My mind worked furiously, trying to do the math, but I didn’t have the time before he spoke up again.
“My dad was already fifty-nine when he married my mom. She was twenty at the time, and she knew she was basically a trophy wife. Even now, she’s so beautiful. But anyway, my mom got pregnant almost immediately, but my dad died before I was born. She never talks about him. I have a feeling he wasn’t all that great to her for what little time they were together.” My heart twisted painfully at the forlorn twinkle in Brandon’s eye when he glanced up at me, and he blew out a hot breath as mine stuck in my lungs. “I was the point of the relationship. My mom and my dad had a prenup agreement that she can’t remarry or we’d both lose everything. When I told her that we were talking was actually the first time I’d seen her smile—really smile—in months.”
“My mom did the same thing.” Speaking up before I could stop myself, I held my hand to my chest as it threatened to crush my heart. Sympathies welled up to flood my lungs, and Brandon arched a brow as I gulped down the dense lump in my throat. “Uh, you know, she was glad that I’m ‘getting out of my shell’. Her words, not mine. I work so much, such crazy hours and stuff, that it’s hard to date.”
Creeping his free hand across the table, Brandon’s smile warmed my frigid blood as his fingertips brushed mine. Rolling my lips between my teeth, I couldn’t tear my gaze from his as he stroked my nails and the atmosphere became so heavy that breathing was impossible.
“I spend so much time trying to fix other peoples’ mistakes that I don’t even know who I am anymore. I still can’t answer your question from last Friday—what am I passionate about? I can’t think of a single thing I’ve done that I wanted to do again.”Oh, my God. This was gettingwaytoo intense for me, and Brandon pulled back to heave a big, rough sigh and shake his head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bear down on you or anything, Katie... I just... I feel like we have a lot in common—the good and the bad.”
“No, no, it’s okay. To be honest... I can’t think of anything, either.” Shoving my fist into my lap, I willed my voice not to shake, but my failure seemed to work in my favor. Across the increasingly short table, Brandon clenched his jaw and his eyes sucked me in even as I opened my mouth. “Maybe, we can find something we both like to do.”
“Maybe.” Goosebumps washed my skin, and I tugged absently on the ends of my hair until Brandon straightened. Surprise rocketed through me, but the reason for his sudden level expression appeared beside me in a smart feminine tuxedo. “We need a few more minutes, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course, sir.” Just like that, she was off, and fire licked my cheeks as a little giggle bubbled up from deep in my being. Brandon’s eyes snapped to mine, and he chuckled as he finally picked up his menu.
“It looks like there’s nothing on here that’s not standard, if that makes you feel any better, Katie. Do you want to order some wine or anything?” Shaking my head, I breathed a hot sigh of relief before opening my own menu, and the nerves eating at my gut eased some. “Since we’re on the subject, what’s your favorite food?”
“Actually, I’ll eat just about anything except chocolate. I’m allergic to cocoa. Not any other nuts, though, strangely.” I picked the first thing on the menu, a pesto spaghetti dish, as I answered, and Brandon gasped in surprise. Smiling sheepishly, I nodded over the rim of my menu, and his brows shot up at my confirmation. “If I eat it, I have a bad reaction. Birthday parties and Halloween were the worst when I was a kid.”
“Wow... I am so sorry that you can’t enjoy peanut butter cups.”
“Oh, my God, let me tell you the story, okay?” A huge grin broke out on Brandon’s face at my dramatics, and I set down my menu to lean forward. “I was seven, and my friend at school brought in peanut butter cup cupcakes—like, with the chocolate cake and peanut butter icing—and I couldn’tdeal!”
Brandon’s boisterous laugh sent shivers down my spine even as he covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Smiling broadly, I nodded furiously, and the memory of that day floated up into my mind’s eye quicker than the time it took to blink.
“I told the teacher that I was gonna eat one. Ihadto. And she was all ‘Okay, but first, call your mom and I’ll call the ambulance.’ And we did, and I ate the cupcake, and let mesay... it was the most amazing cupcake I’d ever eaten before or since. I went into shock, but it was so, so,soworth it.” Slumping back in my chair from the force of my tale, I hummed at the mere memory of that forbidden treasure, and Brandon’s gaze twinkled with merriment. “Then, my mom grounded me for a week... but it was still worth it.”
