Page 58 of Almost Perfect
“Yes. I’d assumed it’d be almost empty. Obviously, I was wrong.”
I continued to watch him. He had to feel my eyes burning into his face, but he refused to look up until Josh returned. I ordered one of the specials, a mixed grill thing that would give me some lean protein I didn’t have to make for myself, and Wyatt ordered something I missed while admiring the way his beard perfectly framed his lips.
They were really nice lips.
Finally, Josh left us, and I sipped my wine and waited.I will not mention the dress. I will not mention the dress.
The whole tenor between us had shifted when he’d taken off my coat. And it hadn’t been for the better, which was bad news considering we’d gotten off to an odd start tonight. Between my twenty questions in the car fueled by nerves and feeling incredibly bare as he outlined what he wanted yet again and it looked not at all like me. So the dress wouldneedto be addressed to break this added layer of tension.
But not by me.
And definitely not now, when I’d look needy for compliments.
Having been a professional model and international popstar for much of my life, I had a fair amount of confidence about my appearance. Granted, Miss Mayhem got a little wacky with wigs and makeup at times, but generally, it was all still me. My face. My body. And both were symmetrical and pleasing, plus I knew how to wield them.
But I didn’t know what Wyatt thought. On some level, yes, I knew he thought I was attractive. But I wanted him to… I chuckled silently down at my hands in my lap. What did I want?
Inevitably, my desire to provoke him had landed me here in the awkward quiet.
“What’s funny?” he asked, breaking what had to be a solid two minutes of silence between us.
“Nothing. I’m just an idiot.”
“I doubt that.” His forehead furrowed.
“Never mind. I’ve been meaning to ask you how many from that table of friends you’ve been out on dates with.”
Ugh, nice. Hadn’t planned that one, but now that it was out there, might as well get there.
He coughed, then reached for his water. “Uh, just Samantha. Well, and Sarah, but you know that story.”
I nodded. “I like Sarah. She’s sweet.”
“She is.”
“And the others?”
“Quinn Darling is a couple years younger. She’s one of Jamie Morris’s best friends, which is probably why she wasn’t as ridiculous as the others. At this point, she’s probably met a bunch of your type.”
I blinked at that. “My type?”
“I just mean famous people. She’s not impressed by fame or any of that.”
Weirdly, this made me both like and loathe Quinn, plus it explained why she’d been so down to earth around me. And speaking of… “I met her when I went in to Pluck. She was great. Is Quinn Darling her real name?”
One side of his mouth kicked up. “It is. Too perfect, right? She’s actually really talented. She and Jamie, and actually Chase too, were all in a band before he got his recording contract. Everyone always thought she’d follow him out there and make it big too.”
I braced for it. This was normally when someone would say how I should help her. How I should listen to her demo or talk to my people about her or at least just go hear her sing and see for myself. Like I had all this power to make someone’s lifelong dream come true, and by not doing it, I was hoarding fame, money, and fulfilled dreams to myself. In reality, it just wasn’t that simple.
But of course, that didn’t come. Wyatt simply waited for my response. Because he was a good man, and not trying to use his connection with me to gain a favor. I knew this, but something about being out and seeing other people—stepping out of the bubble, maybe—had me waiting for the other side of him to emerge.
But if Quinn was close with Jamie, then he’d probably already done what he could for her. She certainly knew her instruments and obviously loved music. I hoped I’d get to talk to her again. But ultimately, nothing Wyatt could ask me for would change things for Quinn. Maybe he knew that. Or maybe he wasn’t seeing me as a means to an end for himself or anyone else.
Call me pathetic, but that made me like him a little bit more. Low standard, sure, but it still made my throat dry up.
“I’m surprised Jamie hasn’t tried to hook her up with something.”
Josh arrived with a basket of bread and little round bowls for olive oil. Then, bless him, he also delivered a small dish of butter, and I decided I liked this place. I never did like having to dip bread in olive oil. I wanted butter or nothing at all.
