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couldn’t just let this man walk away. Something intense and deep told her she had to hang on to him, even for just a moment.
    “Wait!”
    He spun back to face her, his eyebrows cocked in surprise and question.
    “Would you like to go get a drink with me?”

Chapter Five
    C harlie blinked. Had Ava Wells just asked him to go get a drink? He had to have heard wrong, but he was damned if he was going to ruin his fantasy and ask her to repeat herself.
    “I—Yes, sure I would love to get a drink with you.”
    She smiled, confirming he must have heard her correctly. Her expression was lovely, although he noticed a strain around her mouth. A tightness that made the curve of her lips appear almost brittle.
    She joined him, starting down the sidewalk. He fell into step beside her.
    After a moment, Ava glanced at him. “Do you know a bar we can go to?”
    Charlie couldn’t stop the smile that curled his lips. She’d asked him out, but didn’t have a bar in mind. She shot him a sidelong glance when he didn’t answer, and he realized her eyes looked different in person than they did in photos. They were wider now, rather than almond-shaped and sultry. And at this moment, she looked almost innocent, like a wide-eyed babe rather than an exotic, sexy supermodel. Not that she wasn’t still stunningly beautiful. More so, if you asked him.
    “I know a place on 8th Street, but I’m sure it’s not your usual type of hangout. It’s just kind of a local dive bar.”
    Her chin bobbed up and down even before he finished. “That sounds perfect.”
     
    She can’t possibly think this is perfect, he thought as they stepped into the narrow, dim bar. The old, uneven wood floor shifted slightly under their feet, and they could probably hear it creaking if Patsy Cline wasn’t crooning from an ancient jukebox in the corner.
    Charlie came to Dino’s maybe once a week—more lately—since the bar was just a block from his apartment. Joey, Dino’s son and the bar’s nighttime bartender, nodded to him as Charlie ushered Ava toward the back where there were more private booths. He suspected Ava wouldn’t want to be recognized here. And while Charlie wasn’t sure whether Joey knew he had a celebrity in his bar, the appreciation in his dark eyes definitely said he noticed her all right.
    As they sat down, Ava confirmed his decision about going with privacy. She pulled a hair band out of her small shoulder bag and caught up her thick mahogany hair, tugging it back into a ponytail. Hardly a whopping disguise, but the casual hairstyle did enhance the softer, younger quality he’d noticed as they were walking.
    He frowned, again struck that her face seemed altogether different than in her photos. Her cheeks seemed fuller, not as if she’d gained weight, but as if she had a healthy, feminine softness that wasn’t normally caught in her photos. Her shots always flaunted angular cheekbones and a cut jawline. Both of which were her signature style.
    Of course, he certainly knew better than anyone the tricks of the photography world. Makeup, lighting, lense effects, airbrushing.
    But sitting across the table, Ava looked almost like a totally different person from the famed supermodel. Not that Charlie found that a bad thing. The Ava sitting across the crumby table from him was real. Not some image on a magazine page. He found her gorgeous.
    Joey joined them, tearing Charlie away from his speculations. The bartender placed two laminated, single-page menus in front of them.
    “The usual?” he asked Charlie. Charlie nodded and thanked him. “And for you, lovely lady?”
    Ava didn’t react to Joey’s easy compliment—no smile, no batting her eyes. Instead she looked at Charlie as if that was easier somehow.
    “A double shot of whiskey. Straight up.”
    Charlie supposed he shouldn’t be shocked by her drink request, since he didn’t know her, but he was. Even more surprised than by the binge-eating episode.
    Joey gave a low whistle. “I like