Page 103 of Lucas & Melissa Falling in Love
He looks at me and reads me right, choosing not to say another word. Shit. I really should call Margo back. I hate being rude to her just to defy Lucas. I’m acting like a child.
When we get in his Uber car I tap out a text to let her know we’re on our way.
“What’s our ETA?” I ask.
“You know it depends on traffic. Tell her twenty.”
I hear the annoyance in his tone and I can’t blame him.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I’m hyper sensitive about being told what to do, about being controlled. And you have a tendency to do that all the time.”
There. I said it. I look him in the eye, expecting that disappointed look, but that’s not what I see.
Before he looks at the road as he pulls into traffic, Lucas looks approving, admiring almost.
“Was that so hard, Melissa?” he speaks softly, but I hear him. He continues.
“No one can control you if you don’t let them. Even if they’re only making well-meaning suggestions. It’s up to you whether you’re being controlled. Solely up to you.”
I chew on that thought the whole way to Margo’s, which only takes ten minutes thanks to the fickle fate of traffic.
* * *
Bert isat the party when we get there, but I don’t see him talking with anyone I don’t know.
“There’s good old Bert. I don’t see any high-value strangers lurking near him.” Lucas says what I’m thinking. I look at him and shake my head.
“You’re uncanny, you know that? How do you do it?”
“What’s that?”
“Why bother asking? You know the answer. You always seem to know what’s in my head.”
“No. It’s more like I see what’s written on your face.” He leans down as we walk forward into the crowd and kisses me on the lips.
There doesn’t seem to be a self-conscious bone in his body about our public display of affection. He must know it’s the opposite for me. I don’t have time to dwell on whether I should be embarrassed or adopt a when-dating-a-Roman attitude before Margo sees us and sweeps us up into her social hurricane.
After meeting and greeting and giving mostly sincere hugs to half the party, I look around for Bert but don’t find him.
“Have you seen Bert?” I half-whisper to Lucas, who holds me close, partly because it’s his way and partly because the party is pressing in around us. He guides me to an unoccupied corner so we have some space to talk.
“No, but I haven’t been looking for him. I suppose I must, since I find myself in that awkward position of having to thank the man for helping you in spite of the fact that I despise him.”
“Despiseis such a strong word.” I’m half joking, distracted as I look around. “I’m excited to meet the high-value client he has lined up for me.”
My eyes settle on a profile that looks familiar, but it can’t be. My body stills and I feel like I’m looking through a fog of unreality.It can’t be.Hecan’t be here at this party.
“Melissa?” Lucas turns my face toward him and gives me a worried look with his gorgeous eyes. Taking a deep breath, I don’t know what to say. He looks over my head in the direction of the specter I thought I saw.
“Who is it?” His voice his low and has a hard quality I don’t ever remember hearing.
I turn back, using up every scrap of courage I can gather as my heart accelerates.
Itishim. And he’s talking to Bert.
“It’s Alden Jones,” I say. “He’s the lawyer who swindled me.”
I feel far away, like I was in a dream state, because it couldn’t be real. He couldn’t really be here.
