“And a rude douche,” I reminded her with a grin that she didn’t seem to notice when her beautiful eyes popped back open so she could gape at me.
“Oh my God, I did! I’m so sorry,” she apologized, clasping her hands together to twist them back and forth in a nervous gesture. “It’s just that I’m more than a little protective of the dogs I play with, especially the ones I see regularly like Duke. A couple of the dog walkers I’ve met should never be put in charge of an animal’s well-being, so I may have overreacted a little when you swore at him.”
She was naturally gorgeous, loved dogs to the point that she’d go up against a guy who was bigger and stronger than her to protect one, and had no idea who I was. I needed to leave this park with plans for a date with her, or else I was going resort to stalker-ish behavior.
“There's no need to apologize. The misunderstanding was more my fault than yours. It's not like I’m going to hold your defense of my canine best friend against you,” I reassured her. “I should have realized by how Duke reacted to you that your approach was because of him and not me.”
“Yeah, I wasn't expecting to play with him today, but then when I spotted him in the park, I couldn’t exactly ignore him. You know what I mean?” I got my first smile from her as she reached out to pat Duke on the head.
“Only if you had wanted to get a massive guilt trip complete with puppy dog eyes,” I chuckled.
She laughed and nodded, amping up her beauty even more. “He definitely has the guilt trip down pat.”
“I swear it wasn't a part of his puppy training. I have no idea where he learned it,” I joked.
“Maybe he got it from you? You know what they say about pets and their owners. He could have learned his acting skills from his human dad.”
Her suggestion made it sound like she knew exactly who I was. I briefly considered the possibility that she'd been pulling something over on me from the start, except I still didn't see any recognition in her blue eyes. “How so?”
“Oh, crap. I just put my foot in my mouth again, didn’t I?” she sighed, shaking her head. “Since you thought I was a fan of yours, I figured you must be an actor. Although I guess you could be an athlete instead? Or maybe a musician? I’m not sure why I leaped straight to actor except you definitely have the looks...You know what? I think I’m going to shut up now. Sorry.”
The pink tinge coloring her cheeks and her babbled confession—plus the fact that she practically admitted she thought I was hot—were the cutest thing I’d seen in just about forever. “Give yourself more credit. Your guess was spot-on. Meanwhile, when I jumped to a conclusion about you earlier, I was way off base. But you know how it is. You land one big role”—which was technically true, except I was about to majorly downplay my success—“and then you think everyone is going to recognize you.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure my mom or sister would have. They follow all of that Hollywood stuff like it's a full-time job. I’m more into books and documentaries. Plus, I have an actual job. Well, more like four between all the stuff I do. So it's not like I have time to keep up with the gossip rags, even if I wanted to.”
I flashed her my best grin, the one that Dane liked to tell me had helped him make me a star. “How about dinner?”
“Pardon me?” Her nose wrinkled, and it was so damn cute that I wanted to kiss the tip of it—something that was completely out of character for me.
“Do you have time to go out to dinner with me tonight at seven o'clock?”
“I don't have plans tonight,” she answered slowly, her plump lips turning down slightly at the edges. “But—”
I wasn't about to let her finish that thought because I was certain she was getting ready to come up with a reason she shouldn't come with me. “I’m going to the opening of Il Piatto, and my invitation included a plus one. My agent said the pasta is supposed to be the best this town has ever seen.”
“Il Piatto?” she echoed softly, standing back up to pace back and forth in front of Duke and me. After giving Duke a quick scratch, I also stood. “Even I’ve heard about that opening. My mom was going on and on about it when the family got together to celebrate her birthday. She kept unfavorably comparing the amazing place my dad picked for dinner to all these celebrity hot spots, and she went on and on about how Il Piatto is about to make every other restaurant obsolete. Her complaining was annoying, to say the least, but it did make me wonder about the restaurant.”