He could stare into her beautiful eyes in person again.
He shook his head, getting rid of that last thought. And the first one. There was no way his conscience would allow him to ignore a situation his blood had created. No, he had no choice but to fling himself on her mercy.
And then find a way to spend the rest of his time in Hollywoodnotobsessed with her.
Chapter Seven
JIA HADspent the day vacillating between loss and anger, ricocheting so much that she was firmly in numb territory by the time she pulled up to the bar seven minutes late.
Dev had texted her at eight on the dot with anI am seated at a table in the back right corner. So she could add punctuality to his list of sins.
“Thank you,” Jia said to her Ryde driver. Gerald would pick her up at the restaurant in a couple hours. She hadn’t wanted him to chauffeur her all over town.
Her stomach was in a mess from nerves, and deep under that was an unhealthy amount of excitement, the same excitement she’d felt last night at the thought of seeing Dev for the first time. She had to remind herself that this wasn’t the man she’d been speaking to.
Jia glanced around when she entered. She’d been to this bar on Melrose before. The lighting was dim and soft. Gauzy fabric draped over the chandeliers. It was romantic, which wasn’t good, but it was also private, which was. She stopped at the hostess stand and forced a smile. “My—”Companion?Date? Face of my catfisher?She began again. “I’m meeting someone here. He’s already seated.”
“Ms. Ahmed?” The hostess nodded and smiled. “Come with me.”
Jia followed the hostess to the table in the back. Candles flickered everywhere, and the lighting was otherwise dim. She spotted more than a couple of celebrities, on lists from A through F, along the way. It wasn’t too crowded, and the tables were set far apart from one another, the better to gossip and conduct secret assignations.
She would have spotted Dev even if there had been a million people in the room. He had an air of utter stillness about him. It was a calm that was foreign to her and her often frenetic mind.
Their eyes met, and he grew even more still before unfolding himself from the chair he’d been sitting in. Wow, he was... long. Tall. Had he been this tall at the party? Yes, of course, the venue had been bigger, and she’d been too busy drinking him in to notice any particular feature.
Very tall, and lanky. He wore a suit, a well-fitted, expensive one. Black-rimmed glasses sat on his nose, framing his dark eyes. His beard was neat and trimmed.
Dev held out his hand. “Ms. Ahmed.”
Disappointment ran through her. Her last name was fine on his lips, but it was no... “Please, call me Jia.”
“Jia.”
That was better. She hoisted her bag up higher on her shoulder. “Sorry I’m late. I needed to make a detour to grab a shot of espresso before I came here. I didn’t sleep muchlast night.” She’d also bought a new pair of shoes at the mall, but he didn’t need to know how she coped with her stress.
“Not a problem at all. I am accustomed to being too early to things.”
She sat down opposite him. Though the tables were far apart, the one they were sitting at was rather small. Too small.
A cheerful waiter popped over. His eyes widened slightly when he took in Dev, but otherwise he gave no outward sign that he recognized either of them. “Can I get you two anything to drink?”
She nodded. “Iced tea, please, unsweetened.”
“I’ll have a glass of Malbec, thank you.”
“Do you need a minute with the menu?”
“No, thank you.” Ordering food would make this more intimate, and she needed to keep Real Dev and Fantasy Dev separate in her mind.
Dev handed both their menus to the waiter. “How was your day?” he asked politely when the man left.
Utterly unproductive. She’d shot a video for the goody bag unboxing, dodged one of her older sister’s calls because she feared her foolishness would seep through the phone line, lain on the couch for an hour feeling bad for herself, fallen asleep, and then accidentally deleted the goody bag video. “Good. How about yours?” Small talk was fine, if that was where he wanted to start. She could make small talk in her sleep, and it delayed them having to discuss the mortifying events that had led to this evening out.
“Good. It was my first day filming the new show.”
“That’s cool. Did you like it?”
“It’s different from what I’ve done before. But I shouldn’t expect an evening American drama to be like a Hindi serial I suppose.”
