Date Shark (7 page)

Leila stepped back into a massive cloud of hairspray and choked on the fumes. Molly mumbled a quick sorry before taking her flawless hair over to the clothes rack to yank out an equally flawless pair of jeans and baggy beaded tee that left one shoulder exposed and hung in a way that managed to accentuate her thin frame rather than hide it. Leila’s own hair and clothes were a disaster. Her hair started out in a bun, but has since fallen out into a sloppy ponytail. The jeans and button down plaid shirt her sister gave her for her birthday looked halfway decent when she arrived that morning. Leila was now missing a button that popped off when Gloria tripped on her heels and grabbed her in an effort to steady herself. Her jeans had a smear of mascara on the hip and foundation spilled down the side. Fashion poster child Leila was not.

When the last model finally exited the stage Leila was spent. It was after midnight, but she was the only one who dropped. Her butt landed on the steps leading to the runway with a thud. She watched in disbelief as the models pulled on new clothes fit for clubs and bounced out the door like they had all the energy in the world. They were insane. All Leila wanted to do right then was go to bed.

Knowing she should get up, Leila tried, but the farthest she got was looking up in time to be blinded by a flash of light. Blinking rapidly cleared the spots to reveal a grinning man with a camera staring at her.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I couldn’t resist.”

“Who are you? And what are you doing back here?”

“I’m Luke Deveron.” When Leila stared at him, unsure of whether that should mean something to her, he continued. “The photographer from the Tribune. I called you … told you I’d be here to cover the show. You are Leila Sparro, aren’t you? Ana told me you were back here.”

“Oh! Luke, I’m sorry. It’s been a crazy night and I’ve talked to so many people this week. Forgive me for not being able to keep everything straight.”

“No problem. By the looks of it, you were lucky to survive back here.” His eyes took her in with a smile, reminding Leila of her disheveled appearance. Her hands flew up to try and tackle the worst of it, but Luke said, “Wait, wait. Don’t touch anything. Let me take one more.”

“What? No way. I’m a mess.”

He grinned and snapped a picture. “Exactly. I’ll title my article, ‘The Cost of High Fashion,’ and put your picture in the header, eyeliner streaked across your cheek and all. You look like you’re about to wage a fashion war.”

“Don’t you dare!” Leila exclaimed. She marched toward him, fully intent on grabbing his camera and deleting every picture of herself.

“Stay back,” he said, waving his hand at her frantically and drawing a momentary smile from her lips before she could resume her march. The flash startled Leila into stopping. Blinded, she paused. Luke’s laughter bubbled around her. She was probably too exhausted to be irritated like she should have been. When Leila could see again, she planted her hands firmly on her hips and demanded he erase the pictures.

“You should see them first,” he said. Leila scowled at him, making him grin even harder. “I’m serious. Let me show you. You’ll love them, I promise.”

Doubtful, but drawn in by his promise, Leila softened her stance and looked over at the LCD screen when he reached her. The first photo of her sitting on the steps surprised Leila. Tones of grey pulled out the details of the leftover chaos. Heels dotted the stairs, a scarf trailed down them amid the mess, and a dress draped over the back of a chair behind her, its pearlescent beads a sparkling halo to her frazzled hair. If there were one picture in the entire world that could have summed up what she just went through, that one would be it.

Without comment, Luke switched to the next picture, a full body shot of Leila glaring at him. Her hand covered her mouth as she chuckled. She really did look like she was about to go to war. He changed the image again. A close up of just Leila’s face, caught in the one moment Luke had managed to make her smile. Strands of hair fell around her face in loose waves thanks to the bun she had started out with. There really was eyeliner streaked across her cheek, but otherwise her face didn’t look nearly as bad as she expected.

“This one’s my favorite,” Luke said. His voice next to her ear made Leila realize how close they were standing to each other. She took a step back and bumped into a chair.

“So, can I keep them?” Luke asked. His scruffy blond beard did nothing to detract from his big blue eyes staring at Leila with a look not even the cutest puppy dog in the world could have managed.

If Leila couldn’t resist the miniature schnauzer, Snap, she had adored as a child, there was no hope of her resisting Luke. “Fine, but I’m serious about using them. My face does not belong in a newspaper.”

“Hmm, I might disagree with you on that.” Luke walked over to her and stopped. When he leaned forward she immediately tried to move back. She kept her distance when he reached behind Leila for something. But not too much distance. The buzz of energy running over her body right then made it hard to want to be too far away from him. She barely remembered speaking to Luke on the phone earlier that week, but she was not going to forget this encounter any time soon. He pulled back with a tissue in hand and gently started wiping away the eyeliner. Every stroke of his fingers stole a little of her breath.

Standing this close to him, Leila couldn’t help noticing the details of his smile and body. He was taller than Eli, slightly more broad shouldered, and a dusty blonde—that amazingly enough looked like his natural color—instead of Eli’s darker hair. His smile was more playful than Eli’s, too. It promised fun, the kind that made you laugh so hard you couldn’t catch your breath. The more Leila saw of him, the less she minded how close they were. It took Leila a moment to realize he had stopped wiping her cheek and was simply watching her. Blood rushed to her cheeks, but stuck between him and the chair, she had nowhere to go.

“Did you know you’re missing a button?” Luke asked.

Leila’s hand clutched at her shirt, praying she wasn’t letting too much cleavage show. She had completely forgotten about the button. “One of the models tore it off … she tripped and … oh, never mind.” She sucked in a lungful of air and braved looking up at Luke again. “Did you need something? You said you came back here to find me.”

Leila’s change in topics prompted Luke to take a step back and let her start breathing normally again. “I wanted to talk to you about doing some shoots for Ana’s website. She said you were looking for a new photographer.”

“Yeah, our old one moved to L.A. a few weeks ago. Don’t you already have a job, though?”

Luke shrugged. “Newspapers are a dying breed. They don’t pay as great as people think. I’m always looking for some side work.”

“Great,” Leila said, glad this wouldn’t be the last time she saw Luke. “Why don’t you call me this week and we can set up a time for you to bring your portfolio by. Ana will want to see it as well. Do you still have my work number?”

“I do.”

“Good. This week should be a lot calmer now that the show is over. Give me a call when you have some time off from the paper.” He may be looking for side work, but Leila did remember briefly checking out his credentials after they spoke. Bachelor’s in photography, working on a Master’s, he had been at the Tribune since his freshman year in college and had gotten considerable acclaim in his nine years with them. It would be fantastic to have someone with so much experience shooting for them.

Leila moved away, her brain already jumping ahead to everything she already had scheduled for the coming week. Mentally she was already halfway through her appointments when Luke grabbed her arm gently and prevented her from getting any farther away from him. Leila looked at him expectantly.

“Is that the only reason I can call you, to set up an appointment?”

A dozen different thoughts ran through Leila’s head in that moment. Eli’s advice was by far the most dominant. Luke passed his checklist, and she did want to see him again, but should she say yes if he asked her out? What about hard to get? Leila decided to save that decision for later, maybe after she had been able to talk to Eli about it. First he just wanted to know if he could call her.

“If you think of another reason to call me besides your portfolio, I don’t think I’d be against that,” she said.

Luke grinned. His hold on her arm turned even softer, more seductive as he trailed his hand up to her cheek. “Do I have to call? Can I ask you right now if you want to ditch this mess and go get a drink with me?”

“Now?” Leila’s brain stumbled before righting itself. This was too quick. She needed to talk to Eli first. She tried to come up with an excuse and realized she already had one. “I can’t tonight. Ana and I go out for an early breakfast after every show. But maybe later this week we can do something.”

Stepping back slowly, Luke smiled. “I’ll see you later this week then.”

Leila nodded, not verbally agreeing to anything yet. Did telling him “no” tonight count as not accepting a first date? Leila pulled out her cell phone to call Eli, but Ana poking her head into the dressing room put that thought on hold.

“Ready?”

“Hold on, let me fix my hair before we go.” Leila tiptoed over discarded clothes to get to the mirrors.

“What were you doing back here this whole time? I thought you’d be ready by now. Blueberry drenched waffles with a gallon of whipped cream on them are calling my name.”

Settling for a cleaner version of her ponytail, Leila got her hair back in order and sighed at her clothes. It would have to do. “Sorry,” she said to Ana, “I got distracted.”

“By what? The interns will clean all this up tomorrow.”

“It wasn’t the mess. It was the photographer you sent back here.”

Ana scrunched her face, trying to remember. “The blond one? Yeah, he was distracting.”

“He asked about a job, and a date.”

“What did you say?”

“No. He wanted to go out tonight.”

Ana frowned at her. “Leila, you could have ditched me for a date! I wouldn’t have minded.”

“I know, but I wasn’t sure about saying yes. Eli told me I shouldn’t go out with someone just because they ask me because it makes guys think of me as a fallback option.”

“When did he say that?”

“Last night. We ran into each other after I had dinner with Conrad and we talked for a while.” A while. They stayed at the café until midnight when it closed and the staff finally told them to leave.

“Don’t rely on Eli too much, Leila. He’s good at what he does, but he isn’t God.” Her suddenly dour attitude reinforced Leila’s idea that Eli being banned from the fashion show had something to do with her and not him saying something about Ana’s designs. It annoyed Leila that Ana wouldn’t just tell her why she was upset, but she was not about to ask her.

“Eli’s right, though, isn’t he?”

Grimacing, Ana nodded. “Just don’t let Eli influence who you date too much.”

“Why not? He’s trying to help me,” Leila argued.

“Uh-huh,” Ana said. From the way she said it, though, Leila got the impression she didn’t believe it. Her lack of faith in Eli shocked her. If he wasn’t trying to help her, why was he hanging around?

Chapter 7

Vanished

Eli’s phone started buzzing as he rounded the last corner back to his apartment. He slowed his jog back to a walk and tugged his phone out of the pocket of his running shorts. He didn’t usually answer his phone when he was running because he hated sounding like a creepy B-movie caller breathing heavy into the receiver when he picked up. When he saw Leila’s name flash on the screen he answered it right away.

“Sorry, did I catch you at a bad time? It sounds like you just finished running a marathon.”

“No, just a couple of miles.” Eli took in a deep breath and tried to calm his breathing. “How did the show go last night?”

“Oh, it was fine. A little crazy, but it was good other than that.”

“Good, I’m glad everything worked out.”

Leila tried to stifle it, but Eli could hear her smothered yawn through the phone. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t get to bed until almost three last night. I just woke up.”

“Go back to bed then,” Eli said, trying not to think about Leila in bed too much. “Sounds like you had a long night. It’s Sunday. Stay in bed and relax.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

Eli was glad Leila couldn’t see the grin that broke out on his face. Unfortunately it only lasted until her next sentence hit him.

“I need your advice, Eli.”

Of course. Why else would she be calling him? Eli closed his eyes for a moment and dug up his professionalism. “Sure, Leila, what did you need advice about?”

“I … met someone. A guy at the show last night. He’s a photographer and he asked me out.”

Eli was starting to wish he hadn’t eaten that morning. She met a guy already? How was he ever going to get the chance to befriend her if she started dating someone right away?

“I told him no,” Leila said, giving him hope, “because I already had plans with Ana, but I told him he could call me this week. I didn’t say for sure I’d go out with him, though. I was trying to follow your advice, but I don’t know if I’m doing it right. I don’t know what to say when he calls.”

Tell him no, Eli wanted to shout at her. He didn’t. “Well, have you thought about whether his career and position in life is something that matches with yours? He’s not another college student, is he?”

“Well, he’s working on his master’s degree, but he already has a career as a photographer for the Tribune. He’s a couple of years older than me, and he seemed genuinely nice and funny. And attractive.”

Eli didn’t like the wistful way she said
attractive
.

“Anyway, he just wanted to get a drink last night. I know I’m not very good at seeing people’s real intentions, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to ask me out for any reason other than just to get to know me. I don’t know, what do you think, Eli?”

Eli couldn’t prove Conrad right. He couldn’t prove Ana right. “You were really interested in this guy?”