Was this girl paranoid? This wasn’t the first time he’d seen her acting this way. Or was there something going on he should know about? “Cautious about what?”
“Cameras.” She tugged on a strand of hair. “It’s nothing. Are you ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He slipped his wallet into his back pocket. “You?”
Dani adjusted the strap on her tiny purse. It couldn’t hold much more than lipstick. He wondered what she had in it, as she wasn’t wearing any lipstick. “Yep. Let’s go.”
As they walked along the path, Austin’s knee caught and a twinge of pain shot through him. He slowed a bit, allowing his weight to favor his good leg.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t walk so fast.”
“It’s okay.” Embarrassed, he shoved his thumbs into his jeans pockets.
Dani’s gaze fell to his knee. “How did you hurt your leg?”
“Playing football.”
“Oh? You play?”
This was the perfect opportunity to tell her the truth. All he had to do was spill it, right now. But as soon as he decided to, his gaze met hers, and he couldn’t go through with it. She was looking at him with such sincerity. Trusting. He didn’t want to make her feel stupid for the mistake. “Yeah,” was what finally came out of his mouth.
“Did you break it?”
“No. I tore my meniscus.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Wow, I don’t even know what that is, but it sounds painful.”
He chuckled at the understatement. “Yes, ma’am.”
“How long until it heals?”
“A couple more weeks should do it.”
Dani turned the corner and he followed after her, wondering how far the seafood place was. He really shouldn’t be walking on his injured knee for long. But before he could ask, he saw the sign that read, “The Shrimp Next Door.”
Dani looked at him with concern in her eyes. “And you’re still working? Why don’t you rest for a while? Take some time off.”
“Kay’s been saying the same thing,” he said under his breath.
He hadn’t meant for her to hear, but she nodded. “Then you should listen to her.”
He swallowed, the smells from the restaurant hitting him. His stomach growled. “Maybe I will,” he mumbled as he took in the atmosphere. It was a cloth napkin kind of establishment, and he felt a bit underdressed in his jeans. But as the hostess led them to a table, he saw other vacationers in casual clothing.
Dani smiled when he pulled her chair out for her. “Thanks,” she said, sitting.
He took his chair and picked up his menu. “You mentioned you’ve eaten here before. What’s good?”
“The rum-glazed shrimp is to die for. But I also love their crab bisque, and their seafood lasagna sounds gross, but it was delicious.” Her tongue flicked out and licked her lips. “That’s what I’m getting. I don’t even care that it’s a thousand calories.”
She wiggled her feet, like she was anxious for them to come take her order. She must be starving. “You should have eaten breakfast. You do know it’s the most important meal of the day, right?”
“I couldn’t. I didn’t have any money.”
She kept saying that. But he didn’t understand. She was the daughter of one of the richest actors in the United States. “Why?”
Her gaze fell, and she shifted. “I upset my father. He cut me off and told me to get a job.”
Austin’s mouth fell open. He didn’t mean to react in such a way, and he quickly closed it, so Dani couldn’t see him gaping at her. No wonder she was crying this morning. Things were beginning to make a lot more sense. “Wow.”
She stared down at her menu. “Yeah. He’s really mad.”
“What did you do?” The words were out before Austin could sensor them, and he immediately regretted asking, with the way her face flushed at the question. “I’m sorry, ma’am. That’s none of my business.”
Luckily, the server appeared at that moment and the subject was changed to what they wanted to order. After she took the menus and left, Austin picked up his water and swirled the ice. She hadn’t eaten today, because she had no money. How was she going to live before she got her first paycheck? “Do you have any cash on you?”
The question made her flinch. “No.”
“Will you be okay?”
She lifted her chin and pushed her shoulders back. “I got a job. I’ll be fine.”
Tenacity. He liked that. She grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. Heck, she grew up with a million silver spoons. He couldn’t imagine what she might be feeling right now, not having a penny to her name. “How will you pay for your hotel tonight?”
“I was hoping I could pay next week.” She bit her lower lip. “Do you think they would let me?”
He doubted it. Those kinds of places were probably used to getting paid upfront, so they didn’t get stiffed. But he didn’t want to crush her hopes. She didn’t look like she could handle any more bad news. “Maybe.”
“I’m good for it. They’ll know that, right?”
She was gazing at him with such sincerity that he couldn’t do anything but nod. She was so naive, but instead of it making him dislike her, an urge to protect her swelled in him. Strange. He didn’t even know her. But he found himself trying to think of ways he could sneak over to the budget hotel and pay for her first week so she didn’t have to sleep on the streets tonight.
“Thanks for helping me out today. I was sure Kay would find the mess and fire me on the spot.”
“It was nothing.” He watched her fiddle with her fingernails. She’d told him she had to get a whole row of rooms cleaned today. He doubted she made it, and he was insanely curious how the rest of the day had gone for her. But the last thing he wanted to do was make her more embarrassed about how she was performing on the job.
“You completely saved me.” Her eyelashes lowered. “No one has ever done anything like that for me before.”
He suddenly wanted her to succeed. To learn to be independent and not have to take handouts from her father. “Do you feel like everything else went okay?”
“I broke a nail.” She frowned. “And I was late getting all the rooms cleaned. And don’t tell Kay, but I didn’t have time to scrub all the showers. But I got the rest of it done. And I didn’t have any other major fiascos, so I’m calling it a win.”
Relieved for her, he smiled. “That’s great.”
“I hope she gives me something else to do tomorrow, because today’s work was so hard, I don’t know if I can face another day of it.”
Austin cringed. If she thought tomorrow would be any different, she was going to have a rude awakening. Maybe he could prepare her a little for it. “What else do you think Kay would have you do?”
Dani brightened. “I’m good at answering the phone.”
“I think she might have the receptionists do that.”
Her face fell. “Oh.”
How sheltered of a life had Dani lived? She really didn’t know what life was like. Not real life. He’d grown up without a father, his mother working two jobs just to keep a leaky roof over their heads. He knew how harsh life could be. Dani had no clue, and it almost made him sad to think she was soon going to lose that innocence. He decided to change the subject again. “How often have you stayed here?”