Page 22 of Torrid Passion
“Pssh.” I wave the compliment off.
“Pssh, what?”
“Come on, Loki,” I say rolling my eyes. “The woman is a beauty icon.”
“And you’re not?”
“I’m just me,” I shrug.
“Then you don’t seeyoulike I see you. You might not have been paying attention, but since you waltzed into the bar, men have been checking you out every minute.”
“It’s the bright colored top,” I say.
“No. It’s the stunning woman they wish accompanied them.”
He keeps turning up the heat on these compliments and I don’t quite know how to keep up. Or how to respond.
“Thank you, Loki,” I say simply.
“So, Monica Bellucci, what have you been up to?” Laughter lights his eyes.
“Loki,” I warn.
He ignores me. “When did you get back to LA? Any makeup or modeling deals? Maybe you have a few blockbuster movies in the works? Perhaps you’ve moved fully into your new career as a screenwriter? Do tell. The American public wants to know.”
“You’re hilarious,” I laugh. “What do you know about Monica Bellucci?”
“Not much until I watched James Bond’s‘Spectre’. After that, I went on Google with a vengeance. I searched everything about her. I browsed through every single one of her photos. I can attest with the utmost certainty, you’re her doppelganger. After all, you’re Italian.”
“Half on my mom’s side,” I remind him.
“Half Italian and half French on your mom’s side. And all-American with roots tracing back to Ireland on your dad’s side. What an exceptional mix.”
“Do you always layer it on this thick with your dates?”
I expect a smart repartee, but instead he studies me for a few long seconds.
“I’m not pulling your leg, Kyla. I’m being honest. You make beauty so effortless. It’s a gift in a city like LA.”
“Thank you, Loki.”
I really have to come up with something wittier to say.
There I go blushing again.
The man’s words are going straight to my head.
“And for the record, I don’t date,” he adds.
“You don’t?”
“I don’t.”
“Naughty Loki is celibate?” He pins me with a hard stare. “That’s what the press calls you,” I explain.
A look of confusion mixed with surprise fills his eyes. “I mean, I don’tdate-date. And you’ve been Googling me?”
“I was checking out the red carpet fashion after the Billboard Music Awards. There you were, standing next to a very tall, very slim and very blonde model-slash-actress-slash-Instagram-female-celebrity or whatever it is she does. The headline was pretty clear.‘NAUGHTY LOKI STEPS OUT WITH THE FLAVOR OF THE WEEK’.”
