“How are you?” I smile wide.
“Great, man.” He holds out his hand and then pulls me into a hug, releasing me with a slap to the back.
“How’s business?”
“Dude.” He shakes his head, smile wide. “My wife and her sister have been signing artists left and right. Albums going platinum. Couldn’t ask for more.”
“That’s great.” I glance around for Lexi, or any of the guys from his band, but he must be alone. “Conquered the music scene. Now on to movies?”
“Oh, no. Meeting a friend for dinner.” He rocks back on the heels of his combat boots. “She’s supposed to be on break now, but you know how that goes.”
I’ve dated a few actresses over the years, so yeah, I do.
“Jude?” Rachel’s voice reaches my ears like a hit of my favorite drug.
“Good to see you, man.” I clasp Trent on his shoulder, and nod over to where Rachel stands. “I have my own dinner plans.”
“I won’t keep you.” Trent grins and tips his chin, offering Rachel a wave good-bye as she approaches. “See you around.”
As Trent walks away, I turn to meet Rachel. Slack jawed and eyes glued to the rock star, she’s distracted by his retreating form. Irritation prickles down my spine. I want her looking at me like that. Only me.
“Was that who I think it was?” She all but bounces on her toes.
My lips pull down in a frown. “He’s married.” I grumble. I stalk to the Escalade and unlock the doors.
“I know that!” She blinks and shakes her head with a smile, catching up to round the vehicle and climb in. “I also listened to his album on repeat for most of my senior year of college.”
“You went to college?” I snap my seat belt into place and start the engine.
“Yeah.” She rolls her eyes. “Didn’t you?”
“Sure. Yeah.” I mean, technically I went. For a semester. She doesn’t need to know I dropped out, and I have no desire to take a walk down memory road.
“But because I’m a makeup artist, what, you assume I’m not smart?” Her smile fades. “That I couldn’t possibly have a degree? That instead of working some corporate gig, I decided to take a chance and follow my passion? Do you even realize how competitive this industry is? How difficult it is to find regular work?”
My mouth hangs agape as I try not to cringe under her rant. Shit. I have a lot of work to do if I expect to convince her to have dinner with me again. I pull out of the lot and into traffic.
“What?” She juts her chin in defiance.
“First off, I guessed you didn’t go to college because I assumed you went to school for this. You’re really good, Rachel.” I sneak a side glance. “That doesn’t happen overnight.”
“How do you know I’m any good?”
“I did a little stalking of my own last night.”
“What?”
“Sorry, that sounded wrong.” I inhale a breath, not understanding how I always end up saying the wrong thing around this woman. I scrape up what’s left of my bruised confidence and try again. “I found your social media accounts. You’ve worked on a lot of different sets and jobs. The costume makeup is especially impressive.” I might have watched all her YouTube videos last night. Okay, I did, but that’s something I won’t admit.
“Oh, yeah.” She shrugs, but her cheeks redden with my compliments. “It’s fun. I’ve always been into that.”
“Do you work on a lot of movie sets?”
She shrugs. “Some.”
She’s closed off, her focus elsewhere, and I don’t know how to get her back.
“Mind if I—” She leans forward to mess with the radio controls.
Once the volume goes up, I’ll have missed my window. But I can’t very well demand we not listen to music. “Sure. Hey, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Burgers and fries again? Or something else?”
She bites her lower lip and her gaze darts to mine with an apologetic shrug. “I better not.”
That wave of opportunity approaches. Crashes. Tosses me head first into a mouthful of kelp. “Right.”
She turns up the music and drowns out any further chance at conversation. My hopes for this evening die a slow and painful death to the tunes of ‘90s top hits. I’ve reached a new low. Yet I spend the rest of the drive concocting some way to salvage this.
13
Rachel
My hand reaches for the door handle the second Jude shifts into park outside my apartment. The ride was almost painful, my silence and music selection warding off any friendly conversation. I almost broke on more than one occasion. But then I remembered Ethan’s voicemail and my resolve to keep things one hundred percent platonic between myself and Jude cemented with each mile. As much as I enjoy Jude’s company, I can’t fall into old habits. I won’t lose myself in another man.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”
“Oh, no. I don’t need a ride.”
He sighs. “I thought we’ve been through this. I’m driving you.”
“No, it’s not that.” I fiddle with the strap on my handbag. I hate having to explain myself to anyone, not because I’m embarrassed, but because I don’t want to think about my future. Even though Jude’s been so helpful, basically the nicest person I’ve met since moving here, he deserves to know. Besides, I wouldn’t put it past him to show up to my apartment every morning if I didn’t give him a reasonable explanation. “My contract for the job is up. I don’t have anything on the books, just a modeling shoot over the weekend, and for that I’m driving down with one of the models.”
“Model?” His harsh tone catches me by surprise.
Is he jealous? I don’t know why he would be, but I sort of like the idea. Which is bad, bad, bad. Get it together, Rae. No leading him on. No thrill at the glimpse of his alpha protectiveness.
“Also one of my roommates. She got me the job.”
