Star:Minnelli’s at 3:45. They’ll do something with your mop and makeup. Monique’s staying late for you so get your ass to La Boutique right after. Don’t fuck this up.
Monique was Star’s dresser. She chose Star’s entire on-air wardrobe.
I didn’t want somebody else to dress me.
The elevator doors opened and still looking at my phone, I crashed into the lobby.
Literally.
The boxes and files shot into the air and then like a fountain, came raining down around me.
I’d slammed into something solid, warm and tall that tickled my senses. Spicy. Woodsy.
Masculine.
My mouth opened but nothing came out when firm hands grasped my arms. “Woah there, Andretti.”
Geee–Haww!
My senses swam as my gaze travelled up, broad chest, chorded masculine throat, chiseled but scruffy jaw but those eyes… Oh Mercy. Those eyes! The color reminded me of a beach in Key West. Blue, with a hint of green, and sparkling. Set in a perfectly tanned face, they laughed down at me.
Not at me, exactly.
In fact, we both kind of paused for a minute while a shock of something familiar bolted between us.
Well for me anyhow. Wishful thinking on my part to imagine he felt the same.
Not that he looked familiar, anyway, but I felt the strangest sensation when he smiled at me. Like he knew everything I’d lost and would somehow help me find it.
I shook my head at my fantastical imagination. This was what happened when you embraced isolation. Contact with one hot guy and I was imagining love at first sight.
I pulled my eyes away from him and gurgled something incoherent at the mess strewn about the marbled floor. The upscale lobby looked like a panty raid gone bad. Tiny slips of lace, satin and silk, in a variety of colors, seemed to have flown in every direction.
“No worries,” I chirped nervously. “These aren’t mine anyway. Well, I’m sending them back. For my boss. They’re too small. For hers. Not mine. I don’t even know if they’d fit me. She’d kill me if I tried any of them on…” My eyes about popped out when I realized one of the pairs of underwear looked to be… crotchless? His gaze landed on the exact same pair. “Not very practical, are they?” Stop talking Holly! Maybe he’d slip away quietly and leave me alone to my mortification.
But when I crouched down, he was right there beside me reaching for the nearest item– a purple bra– with… yes. With cups made up of feathers.
“You don’t have to.” I couldn’t help myself and glanced into his eyes again. When we both reached for a white teddy our hands froze for a second. He was so close his breath warmed my skin. I licked my lips and tried to think of something to say that might convince him I wasn’t a crazy person. “Are those contacts?”
It was just that his eyes…
He laughed and then pulled at one of my curls. “Are these natural?”
I felt my skin grow hot and shook my head. But I was laughing with him now. Crawling around in this sea of lingerie was just… too ridiculous for words. I stretched across the floor to grab a hot pink push up bra. “Really,” I continued snatching up various pieces of underwear. “You don’t have to…”
“Of course, I do.” Gravelly, deep, sexy as hell voice. “We need to clean this up before I can take you for a drink.” And then he winked at me.
He was joking. He had to be joking.
I laughed awkwardly as I scooped up the last bra and put the boxes back together. He’d gathered the files into a tidy little stack. When I went to stand up again, he practically lifted me by the elbow. Something about his touch. It effectively cut off all communication between my mouth and my brain.
“Thank you,” I managed. But instead of letting me go, he’d tucked Star’s files and that envelope under his arm.
“There’s a great pub half a block from here. Do you like micro brews?” Although his eyes sparkled, he almost seemed serious now. When I didn’t answer right away he tilted his head. “If beer’s not your thing, we can go somewhere else… wine? Margaritas? Lemonade?”
I hadn’t felt this drawn to a guy in months. Well, probably not ever. Despite his amazing looks and cocky attitude, I sensed something vulnerable. Except… “I can’t.” I bit my lip and flicked my gaze toward the files. “I’ve got this thing to go to…”
He tipped his head to one side as though trying to read me and then thumped a fist against his heart dramatically. “You’re breaking my heart Andretti.” But he still had Star’s files tucked securely beneath his other arm. “Dinner?”
