Page 86 of Wingwoman
I hated to admit it, but after the next six weeks? She was probably going to have a hard time doing anything under the radar. She had no idea what vultures the paparazzi could be. After we ‘break up’ publicly, they’re going to hound her, wanting every little detail of what went wrong and whose fault it was.
Eventually, they would give up though. Back off and let her live her life normally, but people would probably always recognize her. They may not know why she looks familiar, but they’ll stare at her with squinted eyes and wonder where they know her from.
“I thought of that already.” I admitted. “You previously did a really good job of keeping that info off the Internet. And I took care of the rest of the few places that mentioned you by name, so you should be in the clear. So long as no one you personally know talks to the press and tells them, you’re safe.”
My mind immediately went to her ex, Brent. He wanted attention. Sought it out, it seemed. And if he thought he could leverage Hope’s identity to put his face in the magazines too? My money was on him eventually being our leak.
“Not many people know what I do,” she said. “Even my friends and family don’t know much. I’m intentionally very vague. With the exception of my two best friends, I’m even evasive with my father.”
That didn’t surprise me with all she’d told me about her dad.
“What about your past clients?”
“They signed an NDA,” she said.
I pressed my lips together. NDAs were good, but not foolproof. Sometimes people didn’t quite understand or realize how intense they were and can plead ignorance.
Still, I supposed it was better than nothing. And we did our due diligence. It was the most we could hope for.
As she took a bite of the cornbread, her eyes went wide. “Oh wow. This is really good. Who would have thought spicy honey would be so delicious?”
I smiled with pride even though I had nothing to do with the cornbread or how it was made. I’d tried very hard to plan a first date she would like. I wanted it to be quintessentially Texas, but I also knew Hope liked the finer things in life. So somewhere that served great barbeque, but also put linens and candles on the table was a must.
I’d only been to this restaurant a couple of times and though I usually found it pretentious and always left hungry enough that I had to stop for a pizza on my way home, it seemed like the exact sort of place Hope might enjoy.
While she was distracted with the cornbread, I took her in. She was painfully beautiful tonight. Well, always really, but especially tonight.
My gaze slowly trailed down the beautiful dress she wore then back up again, pausing on the silk scarf tied around her neck.
Sensing my stare, she looked up from her cornbread, her hand instinctively going to the scarf at her neck. “Can I ask you something?” she asked quietly.
“Anything.”
“What’s with the scarves?”
My brows lifted. Well I wasn’t expecting that. “Don’t you like them?”
“I love them. It’s just… well, it’s an odd piece of clothing to give witheverygift.”
I grab my own cornbread square and slather it with hot honey butter. “You were wearing a Prada silk scarf the first time I saw you… and after a little research, I discovered it was from several seasons ago. I thought to myself, someone as beautiful as her? She needs scarves from this season, too.”
“That is both flattering and pretentious of you all at once.”
I tipped my invisible hat her way. “I’m here to serve.”
She was smiling now and I would give my entire bank account to see that smile every damn day. “So because you saw me wearing a scarf once, you decided to buy me a hundred of them?” she quipped.
“Three is hardly a hundred. Would you like a hundred? I can make that happen.”
“No! No more gifts!”
A grin spread across my face. Hell would freeze over before I stopped spoiling her.
Luckily, I didn’t have to argue my case anymore. Our server came out and placed our first small plate down in front of us.
Smallbeing the operative word there.
Hope stared blankly at the beautifully adorned plate in front of her as the server said, “For your first tasting, we have a pan-seared sliver of pork belly atop cheesy grits, drizzled with a fig demi-glaze sauce.”
