Page 41 of Falling Like Stars

The waitress returns with two beers.

“I’m listening,” Zach says after she’s gone. His face is open, waiting. Ready to hear whatever I have to say.

I take a fortifying pull of beer from the bottle. “I wanted to make costumes for Hollywood. That had always been my dream. But…a bad thing happened, and I haven’t been able to make my way back to it. I work as a PA to stay close to the action, so to speak.” I heave a breath. “And I don’t really do relationships. Or more like, I don’t know how to do relationships.”

There. Being a tiny bit honest wasn’t so terrible. No need to dive into the abyss of Josh’s death, even as some part of me is screaming to. I meet Zach’s eyes that are soft and intent on mine.

“So anyway,” I continue, “when you ask why I came…I don’t know. Without wanting to sound presumptuous, I’m pretty sure I’ll fuck anything up that could possibly happen…here.” I gesture vaguely at the space between us. “And the last thing I want is to jeopardize your work. Or be a distraction.”

Zach is quiet for a moment, his eyes impossibly soft. “First off, thank you for saying all that. Secondly, you’re not a distraction, Rowan, and you’re most definitely not being presumptuous.”

Oh damn.

I have no idea what to do with that, or that his gaze now holds some heat. But a thought overtakes him, and his expression darkens with what looks like anger. “I might be overstepping, so feel free to tell me to fuck off, but this bad thing that happened to you… It wasn’t what we talked about in the hot tub all those weeks ago? Some asshole with nefarious intentions…?”

“No,” I say, and his concern nearly pulls the truth out of me. I nearly tell him. I nearly let it all out, knowing that once I start, I might not stop. The floodgates will open, and Zach will have to pull me off the floor of this restaurant while I wail about my dead boyfriend.

Classic first date maneuver.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the waitress chooses that moment to appear with our burgers. Zach is still looking at me.

“It wasn’t that and I’m fine,” I say and put my napkin in my lap. “Eat, please. It’ll get cold.”

I dig into my burger and Zach does the same. I can’t help but feel warm at the idea he’d been angry at the phantom villain in my backstory.

“So can I ask a question?” he asks after a minute.

“Is this another hot tub lightning round of questions?”

“We’re way past that. This is a first date question.”

I roll my eyes with a smirk. “Don’t push it.”

He chuckles. “There’s not one romantic bone in your body, is there?”

“Is that your question?”

“No. My question is, do you think you’ll go back to costumes?”

My smile slips. “I don’t know. It feels like that dream belonged to another life.”

“That’d be a shame, Rowan,” Zach says. “I haven’t seen anything but a few sketches, but what I did see was really fucking incredible.”

Old instincts to protest, to deflect, deny, rise up. But Zachary Butler is making it impossible for me to be anything other than myself.

“Thank you. That’s…nice to hear.” I clear my throat. “My turn.”

“You have a first date question to ask me?” Zach says, grinning.

Yes, how are you this impossibly good?

But before I can say a word, his phone on the table beside his plate buzzes with an incoming call. He flips it over, looks at the name, and makes a face. No sooner has he silenced the call than it vibrates again. And again. And again, with incoming texts.

“Fucking hell, Eva,” he mutters and shoves the phone into the pocket of his coat. “Haven’t heard from her in weeks.” He smiles grimly. “Almost got used to the quiet.”

“Maybe I should be asking about her?” I say slowly. “No pressure, but I mean…what’s happening there?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know why she’s calling or what she wants.”

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