Two-Faced (22 page)

‘Can’t you do it?’

‘No, he already knows I’m not you.’

‘Well, tell
her
to do it, then.’

‘Shell left for college hours ago.’

‘
What?
’ Mia jerked upright and brushed her mussed-up hair out of her eyes. ‘What time is it?’

‘Half-eleven.’

‘Shit! Why didn’t you wake me? I’m supposed to be at the G-Mex in half an hour.’

‘Oh, ’cos I’m your personal alarm clock, me,’ Kim grunted, wrapping her dressing gown around herself and waddling towards her own bedroom. ‘Oh, for God’s
sake
!’ she yelled when the bell rang again. ‘Door, Mia! And put the kettle on while you’re down there.’

‘Er, are we still asleep, mother?’ Mia yelled back. ‘’Cos that’s the only reason you could be mistaking me for the slave daughter.’

‘I’ll bloody do it myself, then – as per usual!’

Mia got up, pulled on her dressing gown and padded down the stairs, frowning when she saw the enormous box that the delivery man was holding.

‘What the hell’s that?’

‘Flowers,’ he told her, passing it over.

Dropping it on the floor as if it had contaminated her hands, Mia glared at him. ‘Since when have you had to sign for flowers? I’ve had a really hard night, and you’re telling me you’ve just made me get up for
that
?’

‘The sender requested a signature on delivery,’ he informed her, trying not to stare at her nipples which were jutting sharply through the thin silk material.

Scowling, Mia scribbled something illegible on his electronic gadget and slammed the door in his face. Taking her anger out on the box for being the cause of her rude awakening, she kicked it ahead of her into the living room and tore the lid off. Snatching out the card, sure that it was probably just a ‘congratulations for a great first rehearsal’-type thing from Gloria Ford’s assistant, her eyes widened when she read the typed message.

Looking forward to dinner. See you at 8.30. S xxx

‘
Miaaa!
’ Kim yelled. ‘Your flaming phone’s ringing now. Come and get it before my head explodes!’

Angry with Bruno because, for all his words of warning, he must have told his friend Robbo where she lived and he in turn must have told Steve, Mia was still frowning as she went to answer the call.

‘Morning, gorgeous,’ Steve’s smooth voice crooned down her ear. ‘Did you like them?’

‘They’re lovely,’ Mia said warily, wondering now if he was actually
spying
on her. ‘But how did you know where to send them when I only gave you my number?’

‘You know that saying, where there’s a will there’s a way? Well, I had a will, so I found a way.’ Laughing softly now, he added, ‘So, what . . . you’re going to shoot me for wanting to get to know you better? Most women would be flattered.’

‘I am, and thank you,’ Mia said politely.

‘You’re welcome,’ Steve replied. ‘So, we’re still on for tonight? Eight-thirty?’

‘I kind of remember saying that I’d want to think about it first,’ she reminded him. ‘And I’ve hardly had much chance to do that, have I?’

‘You’ve had all night,’ he came back playfully. ‘Anyway, what’s to think about? We’ve both got to eat, so why not do it together? And you never know, you might find that you actually like me when you give me a chance to show what a gentleman I can be.’

Mia couldn’t help but smile. Steve Dawson was obviously used to getting his own way, but he certainly wasn’t trying to heavy her into anything. And she vaguely remembered that he was really good-looking and sexy. So, again, she had to ask herself would there really be any harm in going for dinner with him? As he’d just said, she might find that she liked him. And, if not, well, she’d just let him down gently.

‘Okay. Eight-thirty. I’ll be ready.’

‘Great.’ Steve sounded genuinely pleased. ‘Oh, and, break a leg at your show thingy today.’

Thanking him, Mia said goodbye and disconnected the call. After checking the time and realising that she was going to be late if she didn’t get a move on, she booked herself a taxi. Washed and dressed by the time it arrived, she ran downstairs, calling back to her mum to find a vase for the flowers.

Mia was ten minutes late, and the rest of the models were already milling about in a state of undress in the warehouse-like space that was being used as a changing area. She pushed her way through to her own team station, grabbed Bruno and hauled him off into a quiet corner.

‘Did you give that idiot Robbo my address?’

‘Did I
fuck
!’ Bruno protested indignantly. ‘I don’t know what you take me for, but I am
not
the sort of gobby poof you obviously think I am.’

‘Yes, you are.’

‘Oh, well, all right, I
can
be. But not when it comes to you. Anyway, why are you asking? Has something happened?’ Bruno paused as something occurred to him and his eyes widened in horror. ‘Oh, no . . . you haven’t been burgled, have you?’

‘No, I’ve been sent
flowers
,’ Mia told him.

‘
No!
’ he gasped, throwing a hand over his mouth. ‘Not
flowers
?’

‘Stop taking the piss,’ she scolded. ‘I’m being serious.’

‘Come off it,’ Bruno scoffed. ‘Robbo wouldn’t send his own
mother
flowers if she was about to roll over and die.’

‘They’re not from him, they’re from Steve Dawson. But
I
didn’t give him my address, so you must have let it slip to that knob-head mate of yours.’

‘I assure you that I did not.’

‘Well, someone did,’ Mia said, not sure if she believed him. Then, shrugging, she added, ‘Not that it matters, I suppose, ’cos he rang straight after and I’ve agreed to have dinner with him tonight.’

‘Are you sure that’s wise?’ Bruno asked. ‘Given what you’ve just told me, I’d be running for the hills if I was you – ’cos it sounds like you might have landed yourself a stalker.’

Mia rolled her eyes when Fabrizi marched up behind her just then and demanded to know why they were standing around gossiping when they were supposed to be getting ready. Turning, she gave him a toadying smile.

‘I’m
so
, so sorry, Arni . . . we were just talking about those gorgeous shoes you were wearing yesterday and we completely lost track of time.’

Smirking when the vain bastard just told her to hurry up and get dressed, she pushed Steve and the date to the back of her mind and immersed herself in her work for the rest of the day.

Mia borrowed a little of Bruno’s coke when they’d finished that afternoon, just to give herself a boost if dinner turned out to be boring – although she doubted it would. Then she got changed and rushed out to get a cab.

Steve arrived at eight-thirty on the dot, and Mia had been ready for ages. Having already snorted the coke, she was impatient to get going and was agitatedly puffing on a cigarette and pacing the floor when the car pulled up. Glancing out to make sure it was him, her jaw dropped when she saw the gleaming black 7-series BMW. She’d known that he must have
some
money, but that was a seriously expensive set of wheels. And, to cap it all, he wasn’t even driving himself – Vern, the gorgeous doorman, was
chauffeuring
him.

She stubbed out the cigarette, sprayed a thick cloud of Agent Provocateur perfume over herself and glanced nervously into the mirror. She’d thought that she looked fantastic until a few seconds ago. Now she was wondering if she looked classy enough to be seen in such a flash car.

Kim sat forward in her seat and craned her neck to see what kind of Adonis must be out there to have put the usually unflappable Mia in such a tizzy. ‘Bloody hell!’ she muttered when she spotted the car. Then, narrowing her eyes when she saw who was behind the wheel, she murmured, ‘You never said he was black.’

Tutting, Mia gave her mother a frosty look of disapproval. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but that’s not him, so you can stop worrying.’

‘Who said anything about being worried?’ Kim asked, rising to her feet now. ‘I wouldn’t care if he was black, red or yellow so long as he treated you decent. I was just saying, that’s all.’

‘Yeah, well, now you know, you can relax and carry on watching your programme,’ Mia told her, tugging a bolero jacket on over her sleeveless dress.

‘I thought I’d come and say hello,’ Kim said, walking towards the door.

‘
Mother!
’ Mia hissed, pushing her back into the room. ‘It’s the first time I’ve ever been out with him, so you don’t really think he’ll want to meet my flaming family, do you? And what’s with the sudden interest, anyway? You usually can’t stand any of the fellas I bring home.’

‘Yeah, ’cos they’re usually no good, like that rude bugger you had in last night,’ Kim retorted disapprovingly. ‘You’d have thought he could have kept the noise down, considering your mam was in the next room and your sister was right below.’

Reddening at the reminder of her one-night stand, which she’d sincerely have liked to forget about – and
really
didn’t want her stupid mum mentioning in front of Steve – Mia snatched up her bag and headed out into the hall, saying, ‘Don’t wait up.’

‘I won’t,’ Kim said, coming out after her.

Giving her a fierce look, Mia gritted her teeth and hissed, ‘Get back inside, or I swear to God I’ll never talk to you again.’

But it was too late. Steve was already out of the car. Strolling up the path, he extended his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mrs Delaney . . . Steve Dawson.’

‘
Ms
,’ Kim corrected him, taking an instant dislike to him. He was way too old for Mia, and there was something really smooth and cocky about him.

Smiling as if he hadn’t noticed the distinct coolness in her eyes, Steve placed a hand on Mia’s waist. ‘Well, it was nice to meet you, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other. But, if you’ll forgive me, we’re on a bit of a tight schedule, so . . .’

‘He means we’ve got to go,’ Mia explained, smiling tightly.

Folding her arms in case he took it into his head to try and hug her, like most of these poncey city types seemed to think they had to do whenever they said hello or goodbye, Kim said, ‘Off you go, then.’ Then, giving Mia a hooded look, she added, ‘Just you be careful, you.’

Ushering Mia onto the car’s spacious back seat, Steve climbed in beside her. He held his smile as he waved to Kim, who was still scowling at them from the step, and said, ‘I don’t think she likes me.’

Laughing, relieved to be getting away from the shame of her humble home, Mia said, ‘However did you guess?’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Steve drawled, turning to her as they pulled out into the road. ‘Something to do with the dirty looks she was giving me, like I’d just crawled out from under a stone?’ Chuckling, he shook his head. ‘Jeezus, I thought I’d left all that having to be nice to my girlfriend’s-parents shit
way
behind.’

‘That’s what you get for asking a younger girl out on a date,’ Mia quipped, glad that she’d decided to come out with him now because he was even more handsome than she’d remembered – and obviously a damn sight richer than she’d thought.

‘Hey, I’m not that old,’ he protested. ‘Anyway, I thought you young girls liked your men older?’

Assuring him that they did, Mia thought it best not to mention that she had always personally preferred the younger fitter model boys.

‘Glad to hear it,’ Steve said, settling back in his seat. ‘Why did she tell you to be careful, by the way? Does she think I’m a serial killer who’s going to kidnap you and chop you into little bits?’

‘
God
only knows what goes through that woman’s mind,’ Mia snorted disloyally. Then, giving him a knowing smile, she said, ‘She’s probably taken one look at your car and at Vern, and decided you must be a major drug dealer. And I didn’t mean that the way it probably sounded, Vern,’ she added quickly. ‘It’s got nothing to do with you being black. It’s just the whole minder thing.’

‘I’ve heard worse,’ Vern replied, flashing a hooded look at Steve in the rear-view mirror.

Catching it, Mia glanced at Steve and felt a flutter of apprehension when she found him peering intensely back at her. She’d thrown the comment in to let him know that she knew about him and didn’t care, but now she was wondering if she might not have been a little hasty. It was only the second time they had met, after all, and dealers were notoriously paranoid about people knowing their business.

Steve’s eyes narrowed when he noticed the tiny trace of white powder below Mia’s nose. He gave a slow smile and, reaching out, wiped it off. ‘I take it that’s why you came to the club last night? And I also take it that Robbo’s been opening his big mouth about me?’

Nervous now, because if Steve went after Robbo for telling her Robbo would go after Bruno, Mia bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘Relax.’ Steve reached for her hand. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong. Robbo should know better, that’s all. Anyway, if we’re going to be seeing as much of each other as I have a feeling we are, you’d have found out sooner or later.’

‘Please don’t tell him I told you,’ she implored. ‘He already tried to strangle my friend.’

‘The queer you were with last night?’

‘Well, he prefers poof, but yeah – him. And I’d hate it if he got hurt because of me.’

Drawing his head back, Steve gave her a mock-wounded look. ‘Come now . . . do I look like the kind of man who gets his kicks out of stirring up shit? Don’t you worry about Robbo, I’ll make sure he leaves your friend alone.’

Mia’s eyebrows knitted together in worry. She hoped for Bruno’s sake that Steve meant what he’d just said.

‘About the coke,’ Steve said quietly. ‘Don’t go to Robbo again. If you want anything in future, come to me – okay?’

Nodding, Mia glanced out of the window as Vern drove into the car park of the Lowry Hotel. As handsome, sexy, and rich as Steve undoubtedly was, just now she’d sensed something dark below the surface which made her nervous. But he must think she was pretty special to bring her to such an expensive place for their first date when he’d already sent those beautiful flowers. And he’d told her to come to him when she wanted coke in the future, which, she presumed, meant that she wouldn’t have to pay for it.