Her cheeks reddened and she shyly studied her cup before glancing around. In a hushed voice she said, “It was with RJ.”
My eyes popped open and my jaw most certainly dropped. “RJ? RJ Malone? The RJ Malone?”
“Shhh!” She hushed me and glanced around the room. No one seemed to be paying us much attention. Why would they? They had no idea one of us just went on a date with RJ Malone.
“Tell me everything.”
“Well, when you were out of town, I took over his makeup. And we just started talking more and he said he felt bad about the blind date going wrong and wanted to make it up to me. I thought he meant setting me up with someone else, but in the end, it was him.”
“Like he just showed up?”
She nodded. “At my apartment. With flowers.”
“Did you go somewhere?”
“After a few awkward moments where I tried to handle the reality of the moment, we decided to order in food from that new Greek place—you know, to keep any attention off of ourselves. I didn’t want to be splashed all over Twitter like those other girls, and he agreed.”
“Holy crap, Lea. RJ Malone.” I took a sip of my drink, thinking it over. “He’s young, but I guess so are you.”
“Young but…uh, experienced.” A wicked smile curved her lips.
No doubt about that—not with his face and body and the time he’d spent in the business. “And you had fun?”
“A lot. He was sweet. Romantic.”
“Not a player?” You never knew.
She rolled her eyes. “What do you know about players?”
“Uh, you met Jackson, right? Biggest player out there.” I thought about that lopsided, sexy grin. “It’s one of the reasons I keep my distance. He definitely knows how to wear me down.”
“I bet. He’s a charmer, that’s for sure.”
“But not the others?”
I laughed. “Oh, they definitely have their strong points. Oliver is sweet—like he’s the one that you want with you when shit hits the fan. He’s strong and focused. He doesn’t panic. And well...” I clamped my mouth shut and blushed.
Lea’s eyes lit up. “What?”
I glanced around but still, no one paid us a bit of attention. “He’s fucking huge.”
Lea coughed in reaction, shocked, but I just nodded.
“And the other two?”
“Hayden Pierce is a force to be reckoned with, but a charmer? Not exactly. I mean, he’s sexy, really sexy, in that totally-out-of-reach kind of way. Kind of like a god.”
“He certainly has made a name for himself in professional soccer. I see his name everywhere. The press loves him.”
“And his girlfriend,” I interjected.
“Eh, I’ve been following it some since you told me you dated him. I’m not convinced on that one.”
Lea was a known celebrity gossip follower. “Why not?”
She shrugged. “Just a feeling. It all comes across as a little too forced. It’s like last night with RJ. If he wanted to be seen with me we would have gone to one of the popular restaurants or been seen over at the Market Street bars. There’s a method to it. Hayden Pierce and his trainer are seen at all the trendy spots. They want to be seen.”
I knew they were seen around—I didn’t live in a cave—but I did keep my snooping to a minimum. I certainly didn’t know the ins and outs of celebrity fame-whoring.