Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,240

told me it was a secret or anything, I told myself. Besides, I still hadn’t told anyone about the screenplay.

I looked down at my phone, tempted to text Leo right then and prove Kait wrong, that I did have his number, that one thing about him was true. But then I worried about looking foolish to Leo, bothering him during work, and right after we’d spent the whole weekend together. I didn’t want to look desperate.

The week trudged on, and I did hear from Leo again—in the form of messengered versions of Untitled Armstrong. He didn’t want any of it sent through email, too afraid that he’d get hacked and his secret project would be revealed. I’d mark up the pages and send them back to him, then he’d send back notes on my notes. I’d work half the night on rewrites only to have him tell me to consider the character from this angle, to look at the scene from that perspective. It was never good enough.

And then I’d go to Crush and there was Kait, breathing down my neck for more gossip of Leo. She was insatiable, practically foaming at the mouth for any negative word on Leo.

“It’s been days and you haven’t even spoken to him?” she said.

“I don’t want to push him,” I said, which was partly true.

“Don’t you dare let him slip away.”

Which was the last thing I wanted to do. But not for the same reasons as Kait.

A few days later I got an email from Pam, subject line: Story

Need drive-in story for New Girl. When will it be done?

I quickly wrote back that I was working on it and would have it to her in a few days. I sent the email, knowing time was really ticking, and I had to get on it.

Her reply came back swiftly: Make sure it’s a date piece. Take romantic type with you.

She certainly didn’t waste time with her requests, I thought. Her emails read more like text messages.

The writing of the story wasn’t a big deal. I was looking forward to it. But the fact that I needed a date was what gave me pause. In a city full of gorgeous men, finding one to go out with me seemed daunting.

I had the upcoming weekend to get it the article done. I thought about asking one of the other girls in the office to set me up with someone for the drive-in. I couldn’t go back to Ava Marie, that was for sure. To stall, I went to the web site for the drive-in the see what was playing that weekend. When I saw the movie, my stomach dropped.

Dead Poets Society.

Like it was meant to be or something. How could this movie be playing after Leo and I had talked about it so recently? And right when I needed to do the New Girl story for my column? I became excited by this sign from the dating gods, and with little more thought than that, grabbed my phone and texted Leo—or at least the number he’d given me. Finally, I’d find out if it was real or not.

Dead Poets Society playing Friday at drive-in in Silver Lake. Go with me?

I sent the message and held my breath. Nothing came back saying it was a bum number, so it went through to someone. Now I just had to wait until he responded—however long that might be.

Turned out it wasn’t but a couple of (excruciating) minutes.

Sure. Meet at my office.

Okay, so it wasn’t enthusiastic or warm and fuzzy but it was a yes, and that’s all that mattered.

“Who is that?” a voice over my cubicle wall said. I jumped, not expecting someone to be lurking over my phone.

“Oh, hey, Alexa,” I said, turning to look at her. She nodded back to my phone, waiting for an answer—totally annoying, by the way. She was in on the Leo story, and I thought that maybe opening up to her might help us become closer. I still felt like such an outsider at Crush and was eager to connect with some of my co-workers.

“Actually,” I said, lowering my voice, “it’s Leo.”

“No shit?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s my drive-in date this weekend.”

“Your date?” Alexa said. “Uh, you sure about that?”

“What?” I asked, feeling like a bug under her sharp gaze.

“Nothing,” she said, backtracking. “Take Leo Armstrong to the drive-in. Whatever. Just make sure he stays in the car. You don’t want to create a stampede with people spotting him at the