“It’s the heat from stares from every man in this room, who are all probably wondering how a shmuck like me has managed to kiss the two most beautiful women in the city today,” he said, still grinning.

“And, instead of getting a slap on the cheek, sitting down for a meal with them!”

But he smiled gratefully at Bette, picked up the glass and took a nervous sip.  He cleared his throat.

Bette and Tina looked at each other, smiled, and shook their heads as they looked back at Mike.  They didn’t say what they were thinking, as they exchanged glances, then looked back at him, smiling in order to avoid making him even more uncomfortable.

Mike saw the knowing albeit quick exchange of looks between the women, though, and knew instinctively what men everywhere eventually realized about beautiful women:  that, at some level, they knew when they were being looked or stared at, and they accepted it as par for the course.  He blew a breath out: thank goodness Bette and Tina carried themselves in such an unassuming fashion, though, and were clearly laid-back about this aspect of their personalities.  They continued to smile back at him warmly, as if trying to make him more comfortable about being with them, trying to help him deal with something they dealt with all the time.  The maître d had seated them in a table beside other glamorous-looking types, and they clearly outclassed everyone else there.   Maybe they didn’t realize that, he thought to himself.

As they settled into a casual conversation – he was explaining his argument with a “jackass” who tried to sneak into a parking spot he was waiting for, while he allowed an elderly couple to ease out of it – he remembered that at times, as he and Bette became more comfortable with each other, he had nearly come close to asking the brunette how it felt like, to be stared or ogled at all the time.   For his part, he thought he was getting better at handling his nervousness when looking at her, or talking to her.  From the start, upon meeting Bette several months ago, he was glad he had a great marriage, and that his wife was extremely supportive, to the point of teasing him endlessly about the “supermodel girlfriend.”  He hadn’t shared any details of his work on the case with her, but he had said that he was going to be working closely with “a beautiful woman,” and made sure to indicate, in some way, whenever he was going to meet her.