Even though the fiasco at the mall had been her fault, that didn’t mean she wanted to sit across the table from him. Besides, she was still embarrassed about the whole thing. Anyway, he worked for her. Eating dinner with her wasn’t a perk he’d earned. Not yet, anyway. “I’m gonna have to take a hard pass on that one.”
Beth pursed her lips to show she thought Chloe was being stubborn, but Chloe didn’t care. Well, maybe a little. Still, she wouldn’t change her mind. Jake had just started working for her. Working for her. She had to make sure he knew his place. Eating dinner with her was definitely not part of his job description.
“He probably wouldn’t want to eat with you anyway,” Beth said breezily.
What? Suddenly offended at the idea, Chloe asked, “Why not?”
Beth’s shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I don’t think he likes you.”
Didn’t like her? Why wouldn’t he like her? She was likable. Right? Her fans liked her. Well, they liked her music. The idea that someone who had gotten as close to her as Jake had but didn’t like her was something that had never occurred to her. Wait a minute. Who cared if he liked her? He worked for her. This wasn’t a popularity contest. Still, the thought that he disliked her bothered her more than she thought it would. “What makes you think he doesn’t like me? Did he say that?”
“No. It’s just the vibe I’ve gotten from him.” She paused. “Look, I don’t care if you have dinner with him or not. I just thought it would be a nice gesture after what happened today. That’s all.” She smiled. “I’ll let you get back to work. Let me know if you need me.”
Chloe nodded, then watched Beth glide out of the room. But now her thoughts were in turmoil. Did Jake really not like her? If so, why not? What had she done to make him not like her. Well, besides slam the door in his face when he first showed up that morning, which he deserved, by the way. And maybe the way she’d treated him when she’d called him into her office and announced she was going to take a trip to the mall despite it being a bad idea. And, okay, maybe the whole mall incident.
She chewed on her lower lip.
All right, so maybe he had good reason to not like her. But why should she care what he thought about her? Like she’d thought earlier, this wasn’t a popularity contest, although she admitted that it was important to her that people like her—a flaw she’d struggled with her whole life.
Maybe she should invite him to eat with her. Just to show him that she was a nice person. After all, if he was going to be her bodyguard—potentially put himself in harm’s way to protect her—shouldn’t he at least think she was worth protecting?
Chapter Nine
“She wants me to have dinner with her?” Jake asked to make sure he’d heard Beth correctly. It was the next afternoon and he’d hardly seen the pop princess at all, so he’d spent the day working on a plan to increase security on the property. Not to mention having to defend himself to Tyler about the debacle that was the pop princess’s visit to the mall. Yeah, that conversation had been fun.
Tyler had seen the video that someone had helpfully uploaded to the web and which had gone viral, then had blasted Jake for failing so abysmally to keep the event from happening in the first place. Although Jake had wanted to defend himself, he’d known every word Tyler had uttered had been correct, so he’d just taken it, vowing to never let the pop princess dictate to him how he should do his job.
Now, as Jake worked at a desk in a small study not far from the music room, making notes on the changes he wanted to have done and trying not to hate the pop princess, he squinted at Beth in confusion.
Beth nodded. “Yes. Dinner tonight.”
Jake tilted his head. “Why?”
Beth smiled. “Ms. Ross is actually a nice person.” She paused. “Meet her in the dining room at seven.” Without another word, she turned and strode away.
Wondering if it was normal for a client to ask her protector to have a meal with her, Jake watched Beth walk away, then he glanced at his phone to check the time. Three hours until dinner. Did he want to sit across the table from the pop princess? Nope. But he figured the request was more of a command than an invitation.
With a shake of his head, he turned his attention back to the task he’d been working on.
At the appointed time, and after changing out of his jeans and t-shirt into dress slacks and a button down shirt, Jake made his way to the dining room, a spacious area that held a table that could easily seat a dozen people. The table was set for two, but the pop princess wasn’t there yet. Trying not to feel too awkward—or annoyed—he stood just inside the opening to the dining room and casually leaned against the wall. The smell of something wonderful wafted out of the nearby kitchen. Did the pop princess have a personal chef, or had she had something delivered? Must be nice to not have to cook your own meals. His musings were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. He straightened and turned to see if the pop princess was finally showing up. Okay, maybe he’d been a little early.
A moment later she came into view, throwing him a smile when their eyes met. His gaze swept over her. Despite being deeply irritated with her for getting him reamed by Tyler, he couldn’t help but notice her beauty. And with the dress she wore that hit a few inches above her knees and accentuated her curves? Yeah, the purely male part of him struggled not to stare. The five-inch heels were pretty sexy too. She walked like they were made for her, which they probably were.
She was nearly to him, her gaze fixed on him, but then one of those heels must have caught on something, because she wobbled like she was going down. Jake leapt toward her to break her fall, but she righted herself before losing her balance completely.
Wait. Had that been for show? To make him sympathetic toward her? About to frown, when Jake saw redness race up her cheeks, he knew the near-tumble had been for real.
She chuckled. “Well, that wasn’t embarrassing at all.”
Despite the fact that since the moment he’d met her he’d found her pretentious and obnoxious, he found her almost-trip kind of endearing. Like she wasn’t as perfect as she tried to pretend she was. Then again, he already knew she was flawed as demonstrated by her bad judgement the day before.
Doing his best to conceal the smirk that wanted to blossom on his lips, he asked, “You sure you’re okay?”
Barely meeting his gaze now, she nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. The shoes are, uh, new. I guess I’m not used to them yet.”
Or, he thought with a renewed sense that she was pretentious, you were trying to make an entrance and failed miserably. “Whatever you say.”
She turned to him, a glare beginning to form, which only solidified his impression of her. But then the glare vanished and a smile took its place. She swept a hand toward the dining table. “Please. Join me.”
Remembering his manners, he nodded once. “Ladies first.”
She smiled and led the way to the other end of the table where the places were set. Stopping beside the chair at the head of the table, she lifted her eyes to his. Jake pulled the chair out for her and she gracefully slid into it.
Once she was settled, he took his own seat, which was to her right. “Smells delicious,” he said.