Before Lucky (Forever Love #2.5)(20)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“Oh, I intend to.” I stared at her one more time before I left, trying to memorize her face, in case I never saw her again.

***

I stood in the corner of the room and watched the front door. The party was full of life, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I wasn’t having fun. My heart was in my mouth the whole time as I waited to see if Lucky would show up. I’d already experienced one heartache that night when Leeza had arrived by herself. I’d gone to talk to Evan, and he had assured me that Lucky would make it, but she was coming by herself. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was happy to hear that she was coming, but another part of me, the overprotective part, was mad. Didn’t she have a faulty car? Why would she drive her piece-of-crap car to a party late at night? What if something happened? What would she do? Who would she call? I got mad just thinking about it.

I was talking to Joseph Cruisey, one of the actors I knew from Los Angeles, when my heart starting racing. I looked towards the door quickly, and a huge grin spread across my face. Lucky was finally here. I devoured her with my eyes as she came in: she looked beautiful in the emerald green dress she was wearing, and her hair flowed down her back. She looked back at me with a timid smile, and I felt angry at her and myself. She shouldn’t be here. Not at this party. She was too good a girl for a party like this. I had made a mistake. I didn’t trust that one of the vultures in the room wouldn’t try to make a run for her, as if she were some new desirable prey. I was about to wave to her to come over to me when I saw her turn around and grab a flute of champagne.

“Lucky?” I walked towards her quickly, not wanting to lose her in the crowd, and touched her lightly on the shoulder.

“Hi.” She turned around slowly and tried to avoid eye contact with me as I smiled at her slowly.

“I thought that was you.” I frowned as I looked over her body. The dress was more revealing than I thought. Her body looked amazing, and I was having a hard time keeping my hands off of her. “You look different.”

“Yeah. I’m in a dress,” she quipped back with a small smile, and a twirl of her hair. “And I have on makeup that hasn’t melted off yet.”

“And your hair is down.” I reached over and touched it, allowing my fingers to feel the strands that beckoned to me so wildly. “It’s so soft and silky.” I bet it would feel wonderful against my face.

“Thanks to Chi,” She laughed, and I nodded not wanting her to know I had no idea who Chi was. “I have naturally curly hair, so I use it to calm down the frizz and straighten it,” She continued, and I smiled at her nervous banter. It somehow made me feel better to know that she was nervous as well.

“I see.” I nodded, wanting to tease her, but thinking better of it.

“You should see it when it’s curly. It’s crazy.” She played with her hair and continued talking.

“Well, I can’t tell.” I shrugged as I looked at her straight tresses. They didn’t look very curly to me, but what did I know about girls and their hair?

“I’m like the frizz monster.” She giggled again nervously. I wanted to tell her that it was okay, I felt out of my comfort zone as well. “You’re lucky your hair is always so straight and silky naturally.” She glanced at my head and pointed. “I mean, that’s how it looks now, not in the past. I never noticed in the past.”

“Thanks.” I ran my hand through my hair, glad that she liked it.

“Do you use any special products?”

“No. I use Head and Shoulders shampoo and conditioner, and that’s about it.” I paused feeling like an idiot. Why had I said Head and Shoulders? Wasn’t that the dandruff stuff from TV? To be honest, I had no clue what I used. I bought the first thing I picked up in the aisle.

“Aw.” She looked around the room with a red face and waved her hands. “This is a really cool party, huh?”

“It’s okay.” I shrugged, debating whether I should tell her about my involvement in getting her to the party. I wasn’t sure if it was romantic or stalkerish. I had a feeling that it may seem a bit creepy, so I decided to throw her off of the trail, just in case she had a feeling that I was involved in getting her there. “I didn’t know you knew Mike.”

“Who?” She looked at me in confusion.

“Mike Vegara. The guy throwing this party.” I groaned to myself. I was sounding like an idiot.

“Oh, I don’t.” She bit my lip, and gave me a small secret smile. “My friend invited me. Don’t tell anyone, but I wasn’t really invited. I’m not really part of this crowd.”

“What crowd?” I stifled a laugh.

“The rich and famous crowd.” She smiled and then made a face, as she realized that I was likely a part of the same crowd she was talking about.

“Well, you know that already,” she continued quickly with a weak laugh, “I wouldn’t be working at Lou’s if I was rich and made of money.”

“Then I’m glad you’re not rich.” I beamed at her and moved closer to her. “I feel sorry for anyone who is a part of this crowd.” I spoke honestly, wanting her to know that it didn’t matter to me that she wasn’t rich. That I was interested in her, or getting to know her because of who she was inside.

“Oh?”

“It’s a long story.” I sighed. I didn’t want to get into a long conversation about the evils of having endless amounts of money. “I don’t want to bore you.”

“I don’t think you have a boring bone in your body.” She blushed and looked down, and I felt a warmness fill me.

“There are many girls who would beg to differ with you there.” I laughed.

“So who’s your date tonight?” She changed the subject and looked around the room.

“No date tonight.” I laughed, wanting to tell her that I considered this our first date. But I didn’t want her to run away from me.

She wiggled her eyebrows at me, and I wanted to pull her towards me and kiss her. “That’s got to be a first.”

“I usually reserve Fridays for my dates.” I stared deeply into her eyes, wondering what she would do if I pulled her towards me. “I think you’ve met every woman I’ve taken out in the last few months.” I said honestly.

“A different one every week.” She laughed and shook her head in amazement.