Free Rumor Has It (Limelight) by Elisabeth Grace

recognized from the video. Once a person put two-and-two together it was like that’s all they can focus on. Like the rest of you ceases to exist except the fact that “OMG, I can’t believe that’s you .”
    “Well, then, let’s not make it about that,” I said.
    Mason smiled and I felt a twinge of guilt. I’d enjoy the rest of our date. We were here now in the middle of dinner and I’d already seen what could happen when you had a strong emotional reaction in a public place. There’d be no part two to my infamous video.
    I’d enjoy the rest of the evening but after it was all said and done, I knew what I had to do.

 
    CHAPTER NINE
     
    I drove Ellie and I back to the beach house after dinner cursing myself. I knew it’d been a bad idea to go for dinner in public, that there was a chance of me being recognized. But I hadn’t wanted to invite her back to my place again in case she thought my M.O. was to get her naked.
    Her reaction when she’d learned I was famous was another one of the reasons she intrigued me so much. Most girls would’ve been ecstatic and had dollar signs in their eyes. Ellie had been the opposite. She hadn’t said much about it but she’d seemed disconcerted by the whole thing.
    I pulled up the long driveway and turned the vehicle off.
    “Ellie, is everything okay? You’ve been quiet since we left the restaurant.”
    She blew out a breath. “I’ve been running the fact that you’re famous over in my head and thinking about all that means.”
    Which didn’t sound promising. “What does it mean?”
    She looked across the car at me with regret in her eyes. “For one, it means you probably date super models and other celebrity types.”
    I was confused. “I’m not seeing anyone right now if that’s what you’re asking.”
    “I assumed you weren’t although I guess I probably should have asked. What I mean is, you’re probably used to dating beautiful women.”
    “I still am dating a beautiful woman.”
    “You know what I mean.”
    “I’m not gonna lie, I’m no saint, Ellie. My first three years of fame I probably fucked my way through half of Hollywood and the Victoria’s Secret catalogue. But I haven’t been like that in a long time.”
    She flinched at my honesty, but there was no point in lying about it. The gossip rags had documented most of my trysts anyway and she’d only need an internet connection to read about it.
    “I wasn’t implying you’re promiscuous. I don’t understand why you’d want to go out with me when you’re used to dating women like that,” she said in a soft voice.
    Was she for real? I reached out and ran my thumb along her cheek. “You’re one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever met. You’ve got something none of those other women ever had.”
    “An extra twenty pounds?”
    “Don’t even get me started on how bangin’ your body is, or we’re gonna end up in the back seat. You know who you are. You’re your own person.”
    “What does that even mean?”
    “Some of the women you probably consider the most beautiful in the world are so vile in character it would make your head spin. They have no heart. No soul. They think only of themselves and what they can get with no consideration for anyone else. They’d sell their soul in a minute if it meant they’d land the right gig, or get on the right magazine cover. They’ll step on anyone and everyone without a second thought to get where they want to go.”
    “How do you know I’m not the same?”
    “I saw how you reacted back at the restaurant when you realized who and what I was. You weren’t impressed by it, in fact I think it’s the exact opposite. It’s working against me. Isn’t it?”
    She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked down to her hands. I tucked my hand under her chin and brought her eyes back to me. She looked conflicted and tears had formed in the corner of her eyes, ready to fall at any second.
    “Tell me. What is it that’s bothering you so