Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93575 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“Aiden and my dad would fly to California just to eat here. My whole family would.”
“Will I meet them?” I asked, strangely nervous. “Your family, I mean.”
She looked at me over the rim of her glass. “I expect so since you’ll be in the complex.”
“How will I meet them?” I asked.
“How? I don’t understand.”
“Will I meet them as ‘this is Nicholas Scott, the actor,’ or—” I swallowed the sudden thickness in my throat “—‘this is Nick, my, ah…’” I flicked my fingers, unsure how to complete the sentence.
She smiled and took my hand. “I will introduce you however you’re comfortable with, Nick.”
“I’m yours.”
“Then I’ll introduce you like that. ‘This is my Nick. My boyfriend.’”
A word shouldn’t make me smile so hard, but that one did.
“That works.” I leaned forward, suddenly worried. “What if they don’t like me?”
“My mom will want to take care of you, and my dad will quiz you, then talk to you man-to-man. My uncles will test you, and my aunts will love you up. My cousins will tease you to death, so tease them right back. You’ll be fine. I think they’ll like you a lot.”
“Yeah?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
Again, I smiled so hard, my cheeks hurt. I wanted to meet her family and get to know them. I hoped they gave me a chance.
Carmen came over, and I handed her my credit card. “Put it through before your dad knows,” I warned.
She smiled, and I settled the bill. Manny never wanted to take my money, but this was a date and I wanted to pay for it.
We headed for the door, pausing as another customer came in, shaking his head.
“Holy shit, what a circus,” he muttered, looking at me. I saw the recognition in his eyes, but he didn’t react. Men usually didn’t. The women, though—they often screamed. I hated it when they screamed. It made me want to run.
“If they’re waiting for you, I’m sorry, man.” He brushed by me, and I peered out the side window, cursing.
“What?” Mila asked.
“We’re surrounded. Paps everywhere. Fuck.”
Manny came from the kitchen. “They’re out back too, Nick. I have no idea how they found out.”
I had a pretty good idea, although I never recalled telling MJ where I was going. But this had her written all over it. She’d anger me and out Mila at the same time.
I wasn’t going to allow that to happen.
“We’ll just stay inside until they get tired of waiting,” Mila suggested.
“They never get tired,” I snapped.
“Oh.”
She was quiet for a moment as I fumed, internally cursing MJ, this life, and everything else.
Carmen joined us. “I’m off now. I could run over a few with my car.”
Mila looked at her. “Oh, I have an idea!”
“What?”
“If you loan me a uniform, I could go out with you. They’ll think I’m just a waitress and not look twice. Nick can wait a bit and walk out on his own.”
“They’ll follow me.” I protested, even though I saw how she was thinking. My car was parked around back close to the door, so they’d only get a few snaps of me and I would be alone.
Carmen waved her hand. “I’m headed into the city to meet some friends. I’ll drop Mila off wherever she needs to go, and you can head to your place.”
Mila smiled at me. “I’ll meet you at the hotel.”
“This isn’t how I wanted our night out to go.”
She squeezed my arm. “We won’t let them spoil it. We’ll have fun at their expense.”
I couldn’t resist her smile. “Okay.”
Ten minutes later, Mila and Carmen headed out the door, casually strolling, ignoring the muffled shouts I could hear. Mila wore one of the simple uniforms Manny had loaned her. She’d put her hair up under a bandanna and donned a pair of glasses she’d borrowed from the lost and found. She didn’t appear upset or worried, instead offering me a mischievous smile and a fast kiss.
“See you at the hotel.”
I watched anxiously as she and Carmen walked through the throng of photographers. They threw questions and yelled at the girls, but neither reacted, although Carmen flipped them the bird once. Then they got in Carmen’s car and drove off.
“Jesus,” I breathed out. “It worked.”
“Your woman is clever. Cool under pressure too.”
She had been cool. She hadn’t panicked like I had or gotten mad. And she hadn’t passed out. She simply came up with an idea and went with it. Now I had to do the same.
“I’ll wait fifteen minutes and head out.”
Manny handed me a bag. “This has her dress. I put a towel around it and some food on top so it looks like you’re taking a doggie bag. They’ll think you ate here alone.” He grinned. “No story.”
“Perfect.”
I drank a cup of coffee, then texted Mila. Except her phone chirped from inside the bag, and I realized she’d left her purse behind. With her phone. Now I couldn’t get hold of her. My anxiety crept up a little, but I pushed it down and got ready to head out.