Seeing Stars (The Celebrity 1)

I narrowed my gaze at him. “I know that. But why? What did I possibly do to intrigue you this much?”

“You ask a lot of questions.” He licked his lips before taking a sip of his beer. After placing it back on the table he leaned toward me, his eyes locked onto mine. “Why don’t you just try to enjoy yourself instead of trying to figure me out?”

A ragged heartbeat or two crept by before I shrugged my shoulders, clearly admitting defeat. He wasn’t going to let me out of this easily. “Fine.” My tone came out sounding bored and uninterested.

“Fine,” he mimicked with a good-natured grin as the waitress placed my drink in front of me and I hastily reached for it.

Taking a sip, I closed my eyes briefly as the liquid coated my insides in warmth. “Mmm. I needed that.”

Glancing over at Walker’s ridiculously handsome face, I placed the glass against my lips and tilted my head all the way back, draining the contents as the ice in the glass splashed against my upper lip. Grabbing the cloth napkin in my lap, I dabbed it against the wet parts of my face.

“Whoa. Slow down, Sparkles.”

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” I shot him a look of irritation and he laughed.

“What? The nickname? I like

it. Plus it’s a hell of a lot funnier when you look like molten lava could shoot from your ears at any moment. Definitely no sparkle there.”

A million comebacks fired into my brain at once, but I chose not to engage the beast and instead lifted my empty glass meaningfully toward the oncoming waitress. She nodded before turning around to return to the bar.

Not a fan of drunk driving, I immediately started second-guessing my additional drink request. Sucking my bottom lip between my teeth, I bit down nervously as I weighed my options in my head. I could always take a cab home if I needed to. It would be a colossal pain in the ass, especially since most places didn’t allow you to leave your car parked in their lot overnight, but it was a much safer option than the alternative. I’d also bet that Walker would be all too willing to give me a ride home. Biting down a bit too hard at that thought, I gasped before releasing my lip and noticed that his eyes were trained directly on my mouth.

Our waitress appeared again, breaking his laser-beam focus, and I smiled before stirring the amber-colored liquid instead of drinking it. My head already felt heavy and the last thing I needed was to start seeing two Walkers instead of one. One was already more than I could handle.

“Do you two know what you’d like to order, or do you still need a few minutes?”

I remained silent, refusing to admit that I’d studied the menu before I came, and waited for Walker to answer first.

He shook his head. “I still need a couple minutes.”

“No problem,” she said with a kind smile before heading away with an extra swish in her backside.

“Do you know what you’re getting?” he asked.

I reached for my menu, which had remained unopened since I arrived. “Uh, nope. I’d better figure it out.”

“Pretty much everything they serve here is amazing, so you can’t go wrong with whatever you order.”

“Good to know.” I pretended to study the menu, taking my time reading each item slowly in order to avoid Walker’s mesmerizing eyes. I berated myself for acting like an idiot, making this situation far more complicated than it needed to be. Slamming my menu shut, I leaned back into the booth and looked right through him. Or at least I attempted to.

“You know what you’re getting?”

“Yep,” I answered confidently. “You?”

“I always get the same thing,” he confessed with a slight shrug.

“Shut up! You do not. Then how do you know if everything’s good or not?” I teased, my head swimming from a toxic mixture of alcohol and charm.

“Everything here is good. Trust me.”

“Trust you? Not a chance.” I gaped, shocked that I’d actually voiced those thoughts out loud, and slapped a hand across my mouth after the words escaped.

Walker didn’t even flinch. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and asked sarcastically, “Let me guess? You believe everything you read in the tabloids?”

Embarrassed, I glanced around the room, determined to look everywhere except his eyes. “Do I look like someone who believes everything she reads in the tabloids?”

“Five minutes ago I wouldn’t have thought so. But now, I’m not so sure.” He took a swig of his beer and swallowed deeply.