Her Secret Life
They always did when she was in town. They’d just never actually made an appointment to make it happen before. Never set it in stone.
“I’ll be here all weekend,” he said.
A knock and then her door flung open. Her time was up.
She finished the call, way too aware that he still hadn’t been willing to set their meeting in stone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“HE DIDN’T BREAK up with me.”
Mike wanted to be happy when Kacey phoned late that night.
And he was. Happy for her. Sitting at his desk at home, he’d been working, not waiting for her call. She’d said she’d call later, but he didn’t hold her to anything.
The fact that she was calling him must mean that Neanderthal had gone home, and he was happy about that.
For her sake.
She’d said she wanted his opinion on things.
He’d love to tell her why he didn’t like a guy he’d never met. And maybe he would. If he knew.
Problem was, he couldn’t put his finger on anything really wrong with the man, other than he wasn’t working. Mike got that he was auditioning—that an actor’s life wasn’t run-of-the-mill and ran by different codes. Clearly the man had money put aside—his last stint had been hugely successful.
But still, a guy should have a worthwhile endeavor to get up for every day.
Mike was being punitive. Small-minded.
Judgmental.
He knew it. Didn’t like it. Vowed to stop. Immediately.
“He said that he was willing to wait until I was ready,” she was saying. “That he doesn’t want to pressure me.”
Love shouldn’t be about feeling pressure.
He kept his mouth shut.
“He brought fish tacos for dinner.”
Mike didn’t know she liked them. They weren’t his favorite.
“I don’t like fish tacos, but didn’t have the heart to tell him. He bought them at a food truck down the street and they’re famous for fresh and healthy food. He knows I’m always watching what I eat.”
She liked French fries. That was what he knew. The Kacey who visited Santa Raquel liked French fries.
He didn’t pretend to know the side of her that she took to Beverly Hills every week.
“You’re awfully quiet.”
No more than usual. “I like listening to you.” Truth. The kind of thing that made her feel good and go on talking.
“I like listening to you, too, and right now that’s what I’d like to do,” she said, throwing a wrench in his gears. That seemed to be happening more and more lately.
He’d never known anyone like Kacey. Not the actress part. But also not the part where she stuck in his mind. Where his life was brighter with her in it.
The part where he questioned himself. Before Kacey he’d pretty much had himself, his life, his family, all figured out.