Blonde Ambition Read Online Free Page B

from her father. If you ordered everything, you could taste-test each dish and never had to envy what the other person ordered and wish you had ordered it yourself. Of course, half the time Jackson Sharpe ended up not even touching half the dishes since—like his daughter—he was constantly on a diet.
    “Everything, thanks,” Sam said, which translated to:
Go away. Now.
    Adam winced. “I hope we’re planning on taking the leftovers to a homeless shelter or something.”
    “How about we just mail a donation and call it a day?” Sam suggested. She reached across the table and put her hand atop Adam’s. “So, what do you think about Anna?”
    Adam shrugged and took a sip of water. “She’s her own person. She has to follow her own heart.”
    “That’s incredibly mature,” Sam said. “You’re not a bit jealous that she spent the last two nights with Ben Birnbaum—”
    “What?
Since when?
”
    Adam sputtered water, and Sam’s hand flew to her mouth. She realized that her assumption about Anna had been wrong—that Anna hadn’t spoken to Adam yet.
    “Didn’t Anna call you?” Sam asked.
    “Like, three times today,” Adam said. “But I wasn’t near the phone. Voice mail picked up. I know she wants to talk to me. She said she was out of town but now she’s back.”
    Sam backpedaled. She suspected that Anna wouldn’t be pleased if she learned that Sam had spilled her beans. “Well, it doesn’t seem right to be the one to tell—”
    Adam looked steadily at Sam. “Come on. I’m a big boy. Tell me.”
    She told him. Ben and Anna. Anna and Ben. Together. Big time.
    Emotions skittered across Adam’s face. He rubbed the small star tattoo behind his ear. His shoulders slumped. “I just don’t… .” He reached for a fresh-baked roll, then put it down again. “I guess I won’t understand until I talk to her. Man, love sucks.”
    “Hey, I have an idea,” Sam said, sensing that if she was planning to make a big move on Adam, this wasn’t the time. “What are you doing this weekend?”
    “Walking my dog and licking my wounds, most likely.”
    “My dad’s doing a cameo in a TV series,
Hermosa Beach,
this weekend, a favor for a friend. It’s new this season. There’s an after party. Why don’t you come with me?”
    “I don’t think I’ll be up for it, Sam. But thanks.” “Oh, come on. Why should you stop having fun just because Anna and Ben are having lots of it?”
    Adam grimaced. “Way to rub salt in the ol’ wounds.” She touched his hand again. “It’ll take your mind off her. I’d really like you to come.”
    Before Adam could answer, a line of waiters came to the table, carrying their eight first courses: everything from green beans and figs with sliced summer truffles to grilled sweetbreads thinly wrapped in pancetta. Sam looked at the food. None of it appealed to her. Maybe the realization that Adam was nowhere near ready to be thinking of anyone other than Anna Percy had dulled her appetite.
    She touched the sleeve of the last waiter.
    “On second thought, could you just ask the chef to make me a burger? Medium rare, a slice of tomato, a scooped-out baguette instead of a bun. That’d be great.”
    The waiter nodded. “Absolutely, Ms. Sharpe. That’ll be about ten minutes.”
    “Hey, aren’t you the one who did the Fox show? And was in that video? You are so hot, no lie.”
    Cammie barely turned her head toward the guy who had just crept up next to her at the bar. It was so dark that she could barely make out his features. But whatever they were, he was short—no more than an inch or two taller than she was. Cammie Sheppard could afford to be choosy. She didn’t do short. Besides, he was confusing her with Paris Hilton. And that really
was
an insult, and not just because Cammie had the best implants that money could buy.
    That Cammie was an eleven on a looks scale of one to ten was something she took for granted. Her strawberry blond mane and bee-stung lips pretty much