Little Fish Read Free Page A

replied, still staring out at the view and all the palm trees swaying beneath me. "I just can't believe this. It's so surreal."
    "Welcome to LA. It's all surreal out here, kiddo."
    I turned my head towards him, a smile creeping up on my lips. He was looking at he with a smirk, like he was laughing at my disbelief. His eyes met mine, and I shied away, feeling as if I would fall into them completely if I looked any deeper. "Well," he said, obviously his favorite segway, "Let's get going to dinner before Senator Greyleck arrives home."
    I felt my eyebrows shoot up into my skull. "This isn't your place?" I laughed out my words, and Alex put his arm around my waist as he led me to the door. As we walked past the solid oak end table by the door, I glanced down and saw Alex's face on a business car tucked beneath a glass bowl of almonds. Of course.
    "Nah, the view is much better here than my place."
    "So, you're what, twenty?" Alex twirled his fork around his fettuccine and eyed me as I did the same across the small table. I nodded as I took a bite, not wanting to look like a total goober and speak while I was eating. I was a sophisticated adult, at least for tonight. My phone kept vibrating in the pocket of my skirt, and I knew it was Calder still trying to check up on me. I had texted him when we were leaving Agacelli's jokingly letting him know that if they didn't find my body to check the trunk of a limo, and now I was beginning to think that maybe he hadn't found it quite as funny as I had.
    "Well, not to seem like a dirty old man or anything, but I'm old enough to be your dad if I had knocked someone up in high school." Alex said with a quirk of his brow, and I swallowed my food as I smiled.
    "Oh no, how old?" I asked lightly.
    "Thirty-four." Alex almost winced when he spoke the words, like it was something that tasted awful in his mouth. I just nodded at him; The age difference didn't phase me as much as it probably should have. My mother had married a man twelve years her senior, her twenty-three at the time, and they had a pretty decent marriage, as much as I could have remembered in my toddlerhood. Alex took a bite off his fork, waiting for my reaction. My hip continued to vibrate endlessly.
    "That's not horrible. You look younger than that, if it's any consolation." I offered up a little smile, feeling my body grow warm as the compliment left my lips. Alex smirked, the corner of his lips pulling up on the cheek opposite of his scar, much like he had smiled all evening.
    "Well, thanks. I try." He caught the glance of our waiter and waved a few fingers, and the scrawny blonde kid nodded his head and rushed off to get our bill. I scooted my now empty plate aside, and Alex pulled a brown leather wallet from his back pocket. "So, Winnie, is there absolutely anything else you'd like to do tonight before I take you home?"
    I felt a knot tie up in my lower stomach, uncomfortably resting on me and making my thigh give a small inward twitch. I knew what else I wanted to do, but I didn't want to seem like that kind of girl. The type who wanted to bag the rich guy as soon as possible, like I needed a sugar daddy. I wasn't like that, and I knew that. I also knew that Alex's charm was getting to me a lot quicker than I had expected it would, and how curious I was to know what his body looked like underneath that Armani suit after I had felt the strength of his lean arm around me earlier. Irritatingly, my phone kept vibrating, leaving a warm spot on my hip where my phone was heating up from the continued texts and calls. "Um... my phone is vibrating. Excuse me for a minute."
    I looked down at the screen as I rose from my seat, sighed irritation as I saw Calder's name and picture. "What?" I snapped into my receiver once out of Alex's earshot, heading towards the ladies room.
    "What the fuck is your problem, Win? I've been calling you for a fucking hour! I was about to call the cops!" I hadn't heard Calder sound so angry in a long time,