Before I could recover my wits, Johnny had stepped smoothly out of the car, come around to my door and opened it for me. He even offered me a hand. I took it, gliding out of the low car with his help, in my cute dress. Fitted, pale pink, cut just above the knee. I’d done my hair in pretty waves.
I’d felt pretty, confident, when Johnny picked me up at Shayla’s and walked me to his waiting car in the driveway. But suddenly I felt self-conscious.
Did I look like I was on a date?
Why did I care?
Flynn had seen us, obviously, and put out his cigarette. Johnny shut my door and put his hand lightly on the small of my back to guide me up the driveway, and Flynn wandered over to intercept us. Johnny’s touch sent tingles skittering all over my body, just like it did when he’d put his hand on my back or my arm at Champagne the other night. I had no idea if my ex-boyfriend had noticed Johnny’s hand on me that night, but he was definitely noticing now and it was extra uncomfortable.
“Angie,” Flynn greeted me neutrally. He had the stoic bodyguard routine down, even with me. “I was just dropping Elle off,” he explained. As if I thought he was hanging out in my parents’ driveway hoping to catch a random glimpse of me?
His watchful eyes flicked from me to Johnny and back.
“Hi, Flynn.” I tried to keep my voice unemotional but polite. You know, setting an example for my client. When what I kinda really wanted to do was ask him how glitter-and-perfume girl was doing. “I don’t know if you heard. I have a client.” I gestured at Johnny.
Flynn looked at him again.
“Publicity,” I added, when that didn’t seem to compute. “I’m Johnny’s publicist.”
Understanding seemed to dawn. “Right. Flynn,” he introduced himself, also neutrally, as he offered Johnny his hand. “I’m not sure we’ve officially met.”
Johnny shook his hand, and whatever he was thinking, he behaved himself. “Nice to see you,” he said, whether it was or not. Even I believed him.Well done.
“Well, we should get inside,” I prompted when the two of them just stared each other down. “Mom probably has hors d’oeuvres coming out of the oven. I don’t want to stress her out if they get cold.”
Flynn nodded, moving aside to let us pass, though it wasn’t really necessary. There was plenty of room. “Enjoy your dinner.”
“Thank you. Have a nice evening.”
As Johnny followed me up to the door, Flynn got into his car and reversed out of the driveway. Johnny leaned into me. “If being ‘nice’ means being fake polite to an ex like that, I’ll pass.”
“You were polite to Amber Cope the other night,” I pointed out.
“No, I was honest with Amber. I told her she looked good and she did. You can find something honest to say or don’t bother.”
Hmm. “That’s a solid point. However, I’m afraid me and my ex aren’t quite there yet. It’s been mere days since we had our last tearful, drunken fight. How long has it been since Amber broke your heart?”
He did not look impressed that I’d also made a solid point. “Like a decade,” he muttered. “And I see your point. However, she didn’t break my heart.”
“So then, you broke hers?” I studied him, but he just gave me one of his cool, dark-wall looks. He was being incredibly cool about the fact that I’d sprung dinner with my parents on him, and he wasn’t even complaining that I was wasting his time. I mean, I’d told him we were dining with VIPs tonight; he’d probably expected something a little more… glamorous. My parents were fairly wealthy and they had a beautiful home, but they didn’t have anything to do with the music biz other than having a rock star daughter.
Johnny wasn’t giving me static about it, and I wasn’t even sure why.
Maybe he was just tolerating this whole night to shut me up about his niceness issues.
He reached for the doorbell, but I swatted his hand away. He raised an eyebrow at me when I pulled out my keys and let us in.
“You have a key to your parents’ house?”
“Well, I lived here all my life. I only moved out a year ago to move in with Flynn. And whenever we had a fight… I’d come here.” I felt embarrassed saying that to a grown man and kinda winced. “I probably do that too much. Run to my parents.”
Actually, I was starting to rethink this whole plan. Bringing someone to dinner with my parents was natural for me. Especially anyone new in my life who I wanted to get to know better.
Was that what this really was?
No.Professional relationship.
“You two fight a lot?” Johnny’s dark eyebrows had twisted together over his eyes.
