From Paradise...to Pregnant!

Author:Kandy Shepherd [Shepherd, Kandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460382868
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

MITCH PREDICTED ALMOST to the minute the time when the guy with the camera phone Zoe had been keeping her eye on would make his way to their table: after he and Zoe had finished their main courses and the waiter had removed their plates.

Mitch knew from the guy’s respectful attitude and the phone held so visibly in his hand that it wouldn’t be a problem. But Zoe’s eyes widened in alarm.

He remembered what she’d said about being a private person. Even a casual friendship with him opened her up to possible confrontations with the paparazzi.

‘Mitch, I’m a huge fan—so is my son,’ the guy with the camera said. ‘Could I have a photo with you, please?’

‘Of course,’ said Mitch, looking around for the waiter.

‘I’ll take the photo,’ said Zoe, jumping up from her seat.

Full marks to Zoe. That was one way of avoiding being in a photo. Maybe he didn’t need to worry too much about her coping with any possible publicity.

She took the guy’s phone and made a fuss of posing Mitch and his fan.

‘Thank you,’ the guy said to Zoe. ‘Can I get one of me and you two together now?’

‘I... I...’ Zoe stuttered.

‘Of course,’ said Mitch.

‘It’s for my wife,’ his fan explained. ‘She didn’t like Lara one little bit and will be happy to see you with such a lovely young lady.’

Again Mitch was struck by how public his life had become. It was highly improbable that this man’s wife had ever actually met Lara. The woman just hadn’t liked the Lara she’d seen in the media.

‘Zoe is an old friend of mine,’ said Mitch, ‘and she is indeed lovely.’

Zoe was obviously too stupefied to object. Mitch called the waiter over to take the photo. That would save both him and Zoe from any unflattering ‘selfie’.

After the fan had gone happily on his way Zoe turned to him. She shuddered. ‘Do you have to put up with that all the time?’

‘I’m never rude to a fan. He was a good guy. We made his evening—his wife and son will be chuffed.’

‘I found it disconcerting, to say the least,’ Zoe said, in a tone so low it was nearly a whisper. ‘Especially what he said about Lara.’

She looked nervously around her, as if there might be a photographer at every table. Fact was: there could be. Everyone with a smartphone was a potential paparazzo these days. But that came with the turf. Mitch had learned to deal with it.

‘C’mon—let’s leave if it’s making you uncomfortable,’ he said. ‘We can grab a coffee somewhere else, if you’d like.’

‘There are a few nice cafés around here,’ she said. ‘We could walk along the boardwalk by the harbour.’

‘Good idea. We can work that dinner off.’

Not that she’d eaten much.

She hesitated. ‘I...I won’t end up on some gossip website, will I? You know—“Mystery brunette on harbourside stroll with visiting soccer star”?’

Mitch thought about her helicopter fears back at the villa in Bali. She was right—they did exist on different planets. Zoe was so unlike Lara, who would have been preening at the thought of being in the spotlight.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.