Page 48 of The Puck Stops Here

‘Huh?’ He glanced up at her. ‘Oh yeah sure.’

The waitress placed her drink down. ‘Are you ready to order?’

‘I am,’ he said, his stomach giving a growl as if on cue.

‘You order first,’ she said, having no idea what she fancied as she stared unseeing at the menu; she was too hyped to fancy anything.

‘I’ll have the chicken fusion, but easy on the spice.’

‘Not a fan?’ Astrid asked.

‘It’snot a fan of me.’

‘An allergy?’ the waitress asked.

‘More a mild aversion.’

Astrid was taking notes…

‘I’ll have the same. Butallthe spice. I like it hot.’

She held Aiden’s gaze as she said it, keeping his focus as the waitress took their menus away.

‘So…’ he said, placing his phone aside. ‘Work kept you away, hey?’

She gave a sanguine smile. ‘I knew you’d understand, what with your passion for the game and all.’

His eyes sharpened, a flicker of amusement dancing around his mouth… or was that a slight prickle in his ego? ‘Can I ask what you were working on?’

‘What do you think? Or rather,whodo you think?’

‘Anything you want to talk about?’

‘So much, but…’ It was far easier to flirt over small talk. ‘Let’s save it for the interviews and keep tonight light.’

His phone started to ring, and he cut if off, only to have it start up again and he smothered a curse.

‘Is something up?’

‘It seems a video of me is going viral.’

‘It is? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?’

‘I don’t know yet.’

‘What kind of video?’

‘I don’t know that either.’

She glanced at the screen, saw Cheryl’s name flashing up. ‘If your publicist is after you, you should probably go and deal with it.’

‘Would you mind?’

‘I kept you waiting for almost an hour, I think you can step out and deal with this while I wait.’

He was on his feet before she’d finished. ‘Thanks.’

She pressed her lips together.Here we go…

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