Yes, Drew knew about the shoulders. And the butt. “It’s only our first date,” he protested.
“Ha! Oh, darling. You set the bar high, didn’t you?” She took a sip of her champagne. “What are you going to do for the next one? Fly him to Fiji?”
Drew could think of worse ideas, though that was getting ahead of himself. “We haven’t decided there’s going tobea next one yet. I don’t….” He sighed.I don’t trust my judgment anymorewas a lot to lay on someone at a party. “You know how it is.”
“I do know,” Lorna said sympathetically. “But be nice to him. Something tells me he’s a keeper.”
Drew was starting to suspect the same thing.
And it scared the crap out of him.
Chapter Ten
DINNERon the front lawn of the Aquarium of the Pacific was an experience Steve wouldn’t soon forget.
A slight breeze blew off the water, ruffling the canopies of the tents overhead. Every so often Steve caught a whiff of whatever course was coming next: pear and chèvre salad, and center-cut beef filet, and crab cakes with fruit salsa, and potato gratin. The champagne kept flowing, and people kepttalkingto Drew, and asking about Steve and their movie, and being famous and fabulous and extremely well-dressed.
Drew had to drive them home. Steve took advantage and had a few more glasses of champagne in order to relax.
“I need to walk around a little before dessert,” Drew bemoaned, pushing back in his chair.
“There’s more?” Steve stared at the half-eaten remains of his meal. He’d eaten too many little crackers with unidentifiable delicacies on them. He had Hollywood experience, but this chef was next-level.
“Some kind of s’more thing with chocolate ganache,” Drew said mournfully. He hadn’t cleaned his plate either.
Steve mentally added another mile to the route for his morning run. “I—”
“Drew! Buddy!”
He and Drew turned at the interruption. Steve recognized the man from a movie he’d done with Drew a few years back, an ensemble thing with a complicated con plot.
“Jason!” Drew pushed back from the table and stood to shake his hand. “Long time no see. I didn’t know you were here.”
“I just got back from Korea yesterday. I still don’t know what time it is.” He shook his head. “Hey, you got a minute? You have to meet my wife, man. She’s a riot. You’re gonna love her.”
For the first time that night, Drew looked like he might actually want to catch up with someone. Steve waved him off. “Go on. I will wait for dessert and death.”
“You should come.” Drew looked from Jason to Steve. “I’m reasonably sure his wife doesn’t bite. At least not people she’s just met. And Jason’s had his shots.”
Truth told, Steve wasn’t ready to go with him and start meeting people as Drew’s… whatever. Random famous acquaintances were one thing. People he was actually friends with were another. That felt like too much pressure. “No, you go ahead and catch up. I’m too full to move.”
Drew furrowed his brow, obviously torn. “I don’t want to leave you alone….”
“There are like eight hundred people here.” Worst-case scenario, he could track down Lorna and ply her with alcohol for more dog stories. “I will be fine, I promise.”
Drew looked at Jason, then back at Steve, and finally huffed in resignation. “All right, if you say so. Don’t eat my dessert!”
“No promises.” Honestly Steve wasn’t sure he was even going to be able to eat hisowndessert. But if it was anything like the rest of the food he’d eaten tonight, he should probably try to find a takeout box.
Drew and Jason left, and a waiter came by to bus away their entrée plates. Steve leaned back in his chair and looked up. The lights of the aquarium and Long Beach made it impossible to see the stars, but he knew they were there.Look at me now, Dad, he thought. A writer with a script optioned and being shot, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous on a Saturday night. Who’d have thought?
“This seat taken?” someone asked, startling Steve back to earth. He turned to find Cooper Miles standing behind Drew’s empty chair, smiling at Steve.
“It is, yeah,” Steve told him a little warily. He wasn’t going to be the gateway to gossip about Drew’s personal life. Not even for Cooper Miles, whose music he adored. But he didn’t want to be rude either. “I’m sure he won’t mind if you keep me company for a few minutes, though.”
Cooper pulled out the chair. “Hi.”
Oh boy.Had Steve unknowingly cast some kind of spell? Were handsome eligible famous men going to hit on him for the rest of his life? All of a sudden there was a windfall. “Hi.” Steve wasn’t a seasoned actor—some of the skepticism he felt escaped in the word.
