Page 7 of Dirty Secret

CHAPTER 3

Heidi

"The picture of happiness," Felipe said sauntering into the café.

I tried my best to attract my friend's attention to the round wooden table with a wave. But it was his astonishing smile with teeth that gleamed like a flashbulb that captured the room. He's gorgeous with a thick head of wavy chocolate hair, and silky, caramel skin any model would pay a lot of money to replicate.

The hum of the room dimmed as everyone turned around for a peek.

"How is the hottest lawyer in DC? Still killing it with the guys?" I asked with love, affection, and the tiniest hint of jealousy.

Felipe sat, and everyone took notice. I felt their eyes melt for him as he eased into the small wooden chair. The man was born to be a model or actor or something that placed his face and that mythological body of his on a screen for all to see.

An all too familiar quirk of his lips formed before he corrected me, "Men, Heidi. Guys are good for watching sports and eating sloppy food with, but men are good at everything else."

He raised his finger toward the front counter catching the cashier's eye. That's all he had to do. Felipe exuded confidence, charisma, and could turn a glance into a request that would happily be filled by anyone.

"Now, how did my perfect plumber fit your pipes yesterday?"

My eyes dropped from his as heat crawled up my neck. Memories of me staring at Max's thick arms flipped like a picture book behind my eyes. As hard as I tried, I couldn't keep from falling for Max's delicious blue eyes. Did I embarrass myself coming across like a drooling creeper yesterday? Yes. Was it worth it? Hell yes!

"No more leak. He patched it up." I stared at my fingers clasped neatly in front of me on the table.

"But?" Felipe said.

I shrugged my shoulders. The one thing I was good at in life—the one thing that had worked in my favor—was being clueless. Not that I was naïve or even innocent in the general sense, but I pretended to be.

It's how I made it this far in life with senators as parents. I had learned to perfect the "I had no idea" expression like a child with sticky fingers pointing to the dog and the empty candy bowl. My parents taught me that most people judge a person by their appearance within three seconds of laying eyes on them. If a person had a scowl and closed off body language, even ratty clothing, they expected that person to do something bad. But a sweet smile and good posture could get that person an invitation into someone's home. As my dad said, "It could even get their vote."

Therefore, they dressed me, emphasized manners, and made sure I always had a smile on my face, even if all I wanted to do was cry.

Despite how I appeared on the outside, my inner wild was dying to break out of its gilded cage. As crazy as I tried to be when I was younger, my parents could easily cover up anything I did that wasn't appropriate for a senator's daughter. Even that one night at my university . . .

"I knew it." Felipe slapped the table just as the waiter arrived with a plate of small sample squares of various sandwiches. He placed a glass of white wine in front of Felipe, and I made a note that Bake & Take served wine. As I smiled up to thank the waiter, he slapped down a glass of tap water in front of me, never taking his gaze off Felipe.

Poor guy. He didn't realize Felipe had eyes for no one and everyone all at the same time. Eventually, the waiter gave up and returned to his post behind the counter.

"Knew what?" I asked clinging to my innocence card.

"Don't give me that knew what crap. I have known you since you started wearing big girl pants. The man is hot. Why do you think I gave his phone number to your father's assistant?"

"Just because a man is good-looking, there is no reason to think of him in that way. Besides, my love life is none of your concern."

With the strength of a thousand single ladies wanting to stay home on a Saturday night and eat cookies while binge-watching Outlander, I held Felipe's gaze. My brow itched as a bead of sweat tickled its way down, testing my resolve.

"What love life? Last guy . . . yes, guy and not in any way a man, the last guy you dated was Sheldon when you were a junior at Georgetown. That was seven years ago, Heidi. No wonder you leer at men. Especially after the strip club incident."

My intake of breath was swift but not enough to render me speechless. "I told you not to bring up what happened with the stripper. My father paid good money to make that go away."

"Yes, your father. Can't taint the White family name. Despite that, what you did on your twenty-first birthday was reckless, I was happy that for once you did the opposite of what your parents wanted."

It was stupid to run off like that but I couldn't go through with the trap my father had laid out for me. The engagement he was forcing upon me. Running to a strip club wasn't the best idea, but I didn't expect it to go as far as it did.

"That's the past. I'm over it. And as for my current association with men, the last thing I do is leer . . . don't I?"

A soft chuckle rumbled from Felipe. He nodded but before he could say anything, his eyes settled on the sandwiches and that's where they stayed. Perfect. Food, his weakness. Licking his lips, he ogled the sandwiches, completely unable to focus on our conversation.

Good time to change the subject. But he surprised me.

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