Page 45 of My Casanova

I stared at the phone and willed it to ring.

“Just call him,” I muttered, but my fingers didn’t move.

Instead, I turned toward the fridge. “First I’ll make dinner,” I reasoned. Just as I opened the door, the sudden buzz of my phone made me jump. I spun around and dove for it with my heart pounding when I saw Smoke’s name lighting up the screen.

I answered quickly. “Hello?”

“Angel.” His voice purred through the line and sent a shiver down my spine. “Miss me?”

“Oh, maybe,” I teased. “It was pretty slow at the store today.”

“So you had time to think about me?” he asked.

“Did you call just to see if I missed you?” I laughed.

“Yeah, but I also needed to talk to you.”

Something in his tone made my stomach twist. “Okay, what’s up? Why don’t you come over and we can talk?” I sounded a little too eager, but why should I act like I didn’t want to see him? I wasn’t into playing hard to get.

“Uh, that’s what I want to talk to you about, angel. Things are happening with the club, and I won’t be able to come over for a bit.”

My heart sank. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s just the whole TV show thing. Yarder wants everyone here twenty-four-seven.”

“Oh,” I said and felt disappointment settle in my chest. “Well, what if I came there?”

“No, no,” Smoke protested quickly. “You don’t need to do that, angel. Having a camera in your face is not fun.”

I leaned against the counter. “We can sneak away to your room.” A part of me was excited by the idea of slipping away unnoticed, just the two of us.

“There are cameras everywhere, Dani. You really want to be a part of the TV show?”

I chewed my lip. “I mean, I never really thought about it before.” Being on a reality TV show was not a normal thing.

“It’s not great, angel. Just let me get the show wrapped up, okay? I don’t want you to have to deal with it.”

I heard what he was saying, but I also heard what he wasn’t saying. “I mean, okay, but if you wan—”

Shouts erupted in the background, followed by a loud crash.

“Shit,” Smoke muttered. “I gotta go, angel. I’ll call you in a couple of days, okay?”

“Sure, sure,” I muttered as the line went dead.

I set the phone down on the counter and stared at it like it might ring again. I grabbed my glass of wine and took a long sip. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and sighed.

“That is not how I thought that was going to go,” I muttered to myself and looked around the empty kitchen.

It wasn’t like he had broken up with me or anything, but it kind of felt that way. He said he was trying to keep me from dealing with the camera crew, but could it really be that bad?

I drained my glass and refilled it with a heavy sigh.

I wasn’t going to find out because Smoke didn’t want to see me for two weeks.

Looked like I was going to go back to working and spending my nights with Queen Latifah.

Chapter Twenty

---