Page 56 of Take It Till You Make It
Is he standing like that because he knows he looks mouth-watering? “Um…huge? Come on. I’m sure there are bigger.”
He looks mock offended. “What? Not bigger than me, surely.”
“I can think of five right off the bat.”
With a shake of his head, he pats his heart. “You are brutal, Ari. Brutal!”
Remi breezes in. “Oh, to what do we owe this pleasure? A star in our midst.”
Crispin raises a brow at me as if to say, “See?”
“He’s slumming while he waits for publicity to show up.” I bite my lip to keep from grinning when his eyes go round at my dig. I think I like keeping Crispin guessing how I feel about him. He glares at me, and I have fun holding his stare with a haughty expression of my own.
Remi picks through my hair with a comb before pulling out a spray bottle and dampening it. I have to break eye contact to close my eyes to avoid them being sprayed.
“Did you have fun last night?” Crispin asks.
When I open my eyes, I see Remi’s curious expression reflected in the mirror. She’s going to grill me later. “I did. Thanks again for doing that for all of us.” There, now she’ll know it wasn’t a date or anything.
“I had fun too.” Crispin watches me closely, as if looking for a particular reaction or emotion to show up on my face. “We should go out again. Soon. Something mellow. Do you roller skate?”
“I don’t, why?”
“I thought it would be fun to be among the many roller skaters across the street from your place.”
Uh oh. This sounds suspiciously like a just him and me type of date. I’m surprised when the corners of my mouth want to curl upward at the thought.
“We could roller skate,” he continues. “You could cook me dinner. I could get to know you and your mom better.”
Remi and I make eye contact in the mirror. Her perfectly arched brows are at the top of her forehead. My eyes are as round as they get. Though I want to panic, I decide I need to face whatever this is head-on. So, I narrow my eyes and shift my gaze to him. He’s still leaning into the flattering light, his intense gaze glued to me. “Are you asking me on a date, or are you hoping to get a home-cooked meal out of me? Because I’m not a great cook, so you’ll be very disappointed.”
The corner of his mouth curls into a sexy smirk. “I’m asking you on a date. You don’t have to cook dinner. We can order in.”
A little snort escapes me. “And we’ll watch a movie after?”
“Oh, that sounds fun. Where did you come up with that idea?”
I laugh, but it falls away when the full impact of what he said hits me. “Wait. You’re really asking me on a date?”
He looks a little confused, but nods. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“The question is, why would you? I’m too young. You’re a huge star.” I overemphasize the word huge, which makes him laugh. “I’m a nobody. Who can’t even drink legally.”
He crosses his arms and leans against the mirror again. “You have a totally skewed self-image. And you’re really hung up on my fabricated nightlife. You are a beautiful young lady whose strength and courage and sense of humor have completely captivated me. It’s not like I want to get you drunk and take advantage of you. I’m not a big drinker myself. I just want to get to know you better. That can usually be done over takeout.”
My mouth is flopping unattractively while I consider all the answers and several of the questions I want to share. But in the end, I ask, “When?”
“How about Friday? I don’t want to be the reason you show up to work in slippers twice in one week.”
Though I’m gnawing my bottom lip, I’m also grinning. “Okay. You can come over for takeout and a movie on Friday. Maybe we’ll even go across the street to watch the sunset. But there will be no roller skating.”
“Spoil sport.” He pushes off the mirror with a grin. “I look forward to it.”
Remi and I watch him saunter away.
“Little one, he’s like walking diabetes.”
I look over my shoulder at her. “What does that mean?”
