Page 3 of Obsession on Repeat
"Sorry, sweetie. I’m already taken care of."
"Shame." He moved forward to take his cup and reached for his wallet with his free hand.
Ricky waved his hand to stop him. "Don’t worry about it. You two go enjoy the nice weather."
Smiling, I led the way outside; the door swinging shut softly behind us. I shifted my sunglasses to cover my eyes. "So…"
"So…" Sullivan sipped his coffee. "I'm surprised to see you this early. I didn’t think Venom opened until ten."
"It doesn’t. I always come in early for setup and cleaning." It was partly the truth, masking the real reason that I had nothing to look forward to all day except playing my music at night. The only day I took off was Sunday and that was because Danny forced me to. "What brings you by so early?"
"I was looking for you." A corner of his mouth upturned. "Alice told me where to find you."
"And why would you be looking for me?"
He chuckled as he caught my sly smile. "You vanished on me last night."
"My shift was over," I teased.
"Alice said you’d be difficult."
"Alice tells people a lot of things." I shifted my weight, buying a second of silence. "Listen, no offense, but I don’t have time for a relationship or… whatever it is you’re looking for right now. My work is my life; it’s the only thing I care about. There’s no room for anything else."
"You don’t have any friends?"
My grip tightened around my cup. "I don’t stay in one place long enough to make friends."
"What about food? You have time to eat, right?"
"Well, yeah, but—"
He flashed another dazzling smile. "Great. Let’s get something to eat, and you can tell me all about work."
I wondered if he knew exactly how his smile made my insides twist in knots. Did he practice in front of the mirror? If I trusted my gut, and I usually did, it was telling me that he knew exactly how he affected women.
"I don’t have time for lunch."
"You’re going to need energy for work tonight. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, my treat."
"You’re persistent," I muttered into my cup.
"You’re interesting."
"I’m unavailable."
"That’s not what last night told me."
I hated how calm he was, direct and self-assured that he was going to change my mind. "You think everyone flirts the same?"
"I think most people pretend not to want what they want. You didn’t."
"I’m not most people."
Sullivan flashed me a disarming, Hollywood smile that he had no doubt used on countless people in the past. "Most people are boring."
"Are you always this charming?"
"Only when it counts." Shrugging, he sipped his coffee, glancing around as if any minute he expected paparazzi to surround us. The mere idea of it made my skin crawl. There was no doubt in my mind that our picture had probably already been taken together. He was a popular actor, a golden boy with a bright future ahead of him in the entertainment industry.
