She busied herself with rummaging in her purse for nothing to avoid how she felt about the way he saidbad. “I’ve been known to rebel a time or two.” She zipped her purse closed and glanced at him. “Ready?”
Dev nodded, and gentleman that he was, he didn’t point out that he’d been waiting for her to be ready as they walked out. “What kind of rebellion?”
She locked the door behind her and fell into step next to him. “It was honestly only a rebellion by my parents’ standards. I think anyone else would have been fine with it.”
“What did you do?”
“The big thing? Moved out here to do this gig.”
“You seem quite successful at this gig.”
Not successful enough.“I do okay.”
“You’re famous.”
She shot him a sideways glance as they got in the elevator. “Internet famous is... bizarre. I mean a lot to a smaller, passionate group of people.”
“Millions of people.”
“It’s not like your kind of famous, though.”
“Apples and oranges.” His mouth twisted. “I am known for a name.”
She raised an eyebrow. It was rare to hear someone famous sound so resigned to yet bitter about the name that made them famous. “I can assure you, starting off from scratch, without any help, isn’t fun.”
“But you know you’ve earned it.”
But what happens if I fail?She gave a slight shiver.
“Are you cold?” He held the elevator door open for her as they left.
Observant man. “No, I’m fine. You’re pretty popular for your own career. What made you settle on soaps instead of big-budget films?”
“It was fun. And I knew it would piss my grandfather off.”
She gave him a sideways glance. “So you’re rebellious too.”
Dev gave a half laugh. “I suppose so.”
They exited into the parking garage. Their footfalls echoed. Jia fiddled with her purse strap. “Do you want to take your car or mine?”
“I got car service here. I wasn’t sure about parking.”
“You’re learning about this city. Excellent, we can take mine.”
He slowed when she pressed the key fob for her car and it chirped. “That’syour vehicle?”
She smiled proudly at the yellow Beetle. “Yup.”
“Ah, what are the things on its headlights?”
“Eyelashes!” She patted the hood fondly. “Isn’t it cute? Ialways wanted one of these, but when I lived at home, my parents insisted I drive a sensible car. I love Buggy.”
“Interesting.” Jia was confused for a second when Dev slipped in front of her, but then she realized he was getting her door for her. Gosh. It had been a long time since she’d met a man who opened a door for her.
Charmed, she slipped inside the car and waited for him to round the hood. When he tried to get inside, she understood why he’d sounded hesitant about her car. He shoved his seat back all the way, then folded his body in. His legs were still crammed uncomfortably, and his head was suspiciously close to the roof.
She bit her cheek to control her laugh. It wasn’t nice to laugh at him. But he did look funny. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of how small this might be for you.”
