not to be weird about it, but I’m sure you have no problem getting dates,” she said. “You’re Curt Slade. You’re a lot of women’s dream guy. It’s kind of your job to be.”
“It’s not me those women are interested in,” Curt pointed out. “It’s the characters I’ve played in movies.”
“I get that,” Annalise assured him. “But even so, almost any woman in America would probably say yes to a first date with Curt Slade, just to see where things might go. And also, don’t actors usually date other actors? I read something about you and Jenna Valencia—”
“Oh, no, definitely not.” Curt shook his head. “Jenna and I are colleagues, nothing more. We’re not really even friends. We’re very different people. Honestly, I was surprised we had any on-screen chemistry at all, because offscreen, we rarely speak.”
“Really?” Annalise was surprised. “How come?”
“She’s just difficult to work with,” Curt said. “I don’t want to speak ill of my costar, but… let’s just say she’s finicky. She has a lot of needs, and if things aren’t exactly the way she wants them, it holds up the whole shoot. She’s not very considerate of other people.”
Annalise grinned. She wasn’t above enjoying a little celebrity gossip.
“Okay,” she said. “So that’s why not Jenna. But why did you want to go on a date with me? I’m nothing special.”
“That’s kind of what I wanted,” Curt said. “Not to say that you’re not special. But I wanted to go on a date with someone normal. I mean, when I make my movies, they’re always about a regular guy and a regular girl meeting and falling in love.”
“Or getting shipwrecked on an island,” Annalise pointed out.
Curt laughed. “Touché. But my point is that my typical romantic life isn’t anything like what I portray in movies. There’s never a chance meeting with a cute girl. It’s almost always people who have been in my circle for a long time, and we meet at award shows or glitzy parties. I wanted something normal. I wanted to meet a normal woman.”
“So you’re interested in me because I’m average? That sounds boring.”
“No,” he said. “Not boring at all. And you’re not average at all. But you’re outside the Hollywood sphere, and I need that. You have no idea how exciting it is for me to go on a date with a teacher.”
Annalise’s heart warmed. She had never felt like this before—special, unique, wanted because of who she was and the life she had chosen.
Curt was watching her. “Is that okay?” he asked. “I don’t want it to seem like I’m chasing some fantasy by dating you. Like I see you as an archetype instead of a person.”
“I can’t believe you’re the one asking me that,” Annalise said. “I’d have thought that if anyone would be worried about being seen as a fantasy, it would be you.”
“You don’t seem too starstruck, though,” Curt said.
“I’m not,” Annalise admitted. “You’re much more down-to-earth than I’d have expected. I was a little starry-eyed when I first saw that it was you, but since then, not really. It’s like being on a date with a regular guy.” She grinned. “A really good date with a really hot regular guy, I mean.”
Curt smiled back. “That’s exactly what I was hoping for,” he said.
He paid the bill and took her hand, leading her down to the boardwalk. Annalise tried to keep calm. She was holding hands with Curt Slade.
She was holding hands with the sweetest, most attractive guy she had ever been on a date with in her life.
He bought her an ice cream cone, and one for himself. They wandered off the boardwalk and down onto the beach as they ate them.
“This is my favorite place in the world,” Curt admitted. “Do you think that’s silly?”
“No,” Annalise said. “Why would that be silly?”
“I don’t know. It’s a little touristy. And it’s so close to home. It’s not like I haven’t had the chance to travel.”
“Loving the place you live is no bad thing,” Annalise said. “What makes this your favorite?”
“You’re going to laugh.”
“So?”
“It’s the smell,” he said. “The smell of the ocean, the smell of the fried dough from the donut shop, even the smell of the fish. My parents used to bring me here as a kid, and this place smells like childhood to me.”
“Nostalgia is a powerful thing,” Annalise said.
“How about you?” Curt asked. “What’s your favorite place?”
“I don’t know,” Annalise said. “I’ve honestly never thought about it.”
“Really?”
“Well, I’ve lived in California my whole life,”