The Last Boyfriend (Forever Love #1)(2)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“My pleasure.” I smiled and walked back into the kitchen grinning. I would never admit it to Shayla or Maria, but I loved seeing Zane Beaumont every week. In fact, seeing him was the only thing that kept me sane and from dying of loneliness. I had been single for a year now—no dates, no kisses, and certainly no sex, and it was starting to wear on me. I had been asked out by a few guys, but none who I would give the time of day to; and certainly none who I found as attractive as Zane.

Not only were my work friends shocked at my lack of dates, but so were Leeza and Shannon, my two best friends. The three of us had bonded during Freshmen Week at the University of Miami and had been regulars at pretty much every party on campus for our first two years. We had all gone from boyfriend to boyfriend and I thought nothing of our dating habits. That is, until about a year ago, when my boyfriend at the time, a graduating Senior who was also the president of his fraternity, Sigma Chi, broke up with me. It had pretty much devastated me, and it was his closing words to me that had the biggest impact on me: “You didn’t think this was serious, right, Lucky? Everyone knows you’re the girl for a fun time. How many guys have you been with since you started UM? You’re like a hurricane with guys.” And then he had laughed at his joke. “Hurricane—get it?” He had asked, and I had nodded wordlessly. The fact that he had jokingly compared my dating history to the school’s football team was not funny to me. He had made me feel like a slut, like I was one of those girls that just went from guy to guy and bed to bed. I knew that he thought that I was that kind of girl, but I really wasn’t. At least not in the way that he had thought. It was true that I had dated about eight different guys during my three years at UM. But, I had only slept with three of them. Apparently, the five I didn’t sleep with didn’t pass that information on when they talked about me.

It had taken me about a month to get over the hurt and pain, and I had made a decision with myself—that I wasn’t going to date just to date anymore. I wanted to make sure that any guy that I dated had the possibility of being my last boyfriend. That meant, he had to fit a number of criteria:

1. He had to be honest.

2. He had to be good-looking, but not too hot, or he would have too many women after him, something I knew from experience.

3. He had to be looking for a serious relationship, but not be too old or too desperate to settle down.

4. He had to be financially secure, but not too rich, or too many women would be after him, once again, something I knew from experience.

5. He had to be funny, loyal, faithful, and modest.

6. He had to agree to wait for sex until we were married or engaged.

I figured that I had created a pretty thorough list. Shayla, Maria, Shannon, and Leeza all thought I was being ridiculous with my list and destined for a lifetime of singledom. But I explained to them that I wasn’t looking to just date anyone—I was looking for the guy that would be my last boyfriend. This was the only way I can ensure that I didn’t get my heart stomped on again.

So now, here I was, a year later at 22, and just about to graduate from

college with no current boyfriend and none in sight.

Zane Beaumont was the type of guy I would have gone for in a heartbeat before I created the list. But he was also the type of guy that I knew would take my heart and rip it into pieces.

“Hey Lucky, your new table is ready to order.” Shayla came running into the kitchen with a plate in her hands. “And Mike, they asked for white meat, not dark. You need to do the white meat special again please, and quickly. I don’t want to miss out on another tip.”

“Gotcha, Shayla.” Mike grinned and dropped some chicken into the deep fryer. He winked at her and she sighed before turning to me with an exasperated look on her face.

“I tell ya, I don’t think it’s smart to work with your boyfriend.”

“You wouldn’t have it any other way, Shay.” I grinned at her before going back into the dining room. Shayla and Mike had an almost perfect relationship. They had both been working at Lou’s for over five years before Mike decided to ask her out on a date, and they have been together ever since.

“Hi, are you guys ready to order now?”

“We’d like a cheeseburger and fries.” The guy ordered for both of them, and the girl just sat there, grinning. “We’re going to share, so put the pickles on the side, please.”

“And the onions, too.” The girl finally spoke, and they both laughed.

“Okay, so a cheeseburger and fries? Anything else?”

“No, just two waters.” And then they were back to kissing again. I walked to the fountain to get them two glasses of water and sighed. There wasn’t going to be a big tip coming from them, that I was sure of. I tried to calculate how much money I had made for the night and bit my lip. I still hadn’t made enough to take my car to a mechanic. My 1991 Toyota Corolla was on its last legs and I was pretty sure that the head gasket was going to blow again. It was exhibiting the same signs about a year ago when it had blown, and I knew I couldn’t afford to be without my car now. I wouldn’t be able to get to school and work if I didn’t have my car, and I sure couldn’t afford to buy a new one. But the mechanic wanted $800 to fix my car and I only had $500. I had been hoping that tonight I would have seen some spend-happy, hungry customers from South America, but I hadn’t been so lucky. “I guess maybe tomorrow will be my night,” I mumbled to myself as I walked the two waters back to the table.

“Here you go,” I said, to no one in particular and walked back to the kitchen to do some more mental calculations. Maybe if I asked the landlord if I could pay the rent a little late, I thought. Maybe I could borrow my rent money to fix my car. I sighed as I thought about approaching my mean-faced landlord. I had a feeling she wasn’t going to go to be happy if I asked her if I could pay my rent slightly late.

“You okay, Lucky?” Mike peered at me from his station and I nodded quickly. I didn’t want to get Mike and Shayla involved with my problems. I knew they would want to loan me the money, but I also knew that they had two kids to support and they were barely able to do that themselves.

“Yeah. Thanks, Mike.”

“What did Mike do now?” Shayla came back into the kitchen and looked Mike up and down. “You bothering my girl?”

“No Shay. Lucky’s just looking slightly down.”

“Oh, I’m sorry girl, maybe they won’t be as cheap as they look.” Shayla grinned at me as she talked about the new couple that had been seated in my area. Everyone who worked at Lou’s knew from the moment they approached the table what sort of tip was going to be forthcoming. Anytime a young couple came in all lovey dovey usually meant a low tip.