lips.
I quickly realized that these two were cut from the same cloth.
"I'll take that as a compliment…only if you tell me you're hungry," she responded with a wink.
As I shook my head, giggling, I noticed he was looking straight at me. When our eyes met, my smile widened. I tried to shift my eyes to the side to contain my smile, but I couldn't look away. I'd never smiled like that, and it was making it very hard to feign indifference. What are the chances that I'd run into him here? Suddenly, all the sounds around me became quiet, and it seemed like no one else existed.
I didn't want to make a fool of myself. I needed to keep my feet on the ground and my head out of the clouds. Play it cool. He just kept looking at me with a sexy grin. Play it cool! He wouldn't take his eyes off of me.
I was about to go book-boyfriend crazy here, but I couldn't do that. It had a long time since I'd allowed myself to be attracted to a man that wasn't the figment of some amazing author's imagination. I needed to pace myself before I gave humiliation a new name.
"Um, excuse me, do you two know each other?" Chris asked, his eyes shifting between us.
"As a matter of fact, I met this beautiful lady this afternoon." Liam smiled. "It's great to see you again, Ms. Ruiz." Looking straight into my eyes, he extended his hand to me.
I was a goner. It would take everything in me to keep it together. I wasn't sure I had it in me. Damn Macy for not coming to my rescue! Although I didn't really want her to, she should have tried. I was flustered. He called me beautiful . I had to remind myself yet again to be cool. What is it about this man?
I needed to find my calm, cool, and collected voice. I reached out my hand to his. "Hello, Lieutenant Lucas, it's so nice to see you again."
When our hands touched, a tingle traveled up my arm. He held my hand a little longer than necessary. Never breaking eye contact, he raised it as he leaned his head down just a bit. He softly kissed the back of my hand with his eyes still fixed on mine. I was sure he heard my breath hitch, but at least he didn't know about the heat pooling between my legs.
As he straightened up, he let go of my hand. "The pleasure is all mine. Make sure to save a dance for me." He smiled and winked.
I'd been holding my breath. When he let go, I let out a small moan. I tried to play it off by making it sound as though I had something in my throat, but the only thing in my throat was my pounding heart. Of course, his smile got even bigger. Ugh! I stroked his ego. I needed to pace myself and be careful with this man.
As Liam leaned in, his hand came around my waist. He whispered, "I'm not letting you get away this time." His hand slid across my lower back before he walked away with Chris.
"Oh my god, Dani. What the hell was that?" Macy asked.
"Give me a minute. I think I'm about to pass out," I said, standing there in a daze.
"You know, he's seriously hot, and he's definitely into you. What do you think about Chris?"
"Chris? I didn't notice."
Grabbing my arm, Macy led me back to the VIP section. "Next time, I'm bringing Candace. You suck."
Pouting, I found myself disappointed that he wasn't staying. On the bright side, drinks were on the house, thanks to Macy's hopeful hook up with Chris. Next time, I'd thank him for the drinks and maybe do some recon work for Macy.
We met up with Candace and then ordered our traditional Cosmos. We had a ritual of ordering Cosmos, a la Sex in the City , and toasting to new beginnings and happy endings.
Without even trying or knowing, Chris came through for me tonight. I wanted to high five him. I would even go so far as to say I wanted to hug him. As we were walking toward the bar, I smacked him on the back. Yes, this is good. This cleaned Chris's shit slate. Although he was always inviting me to these openings, I hardly came, but he was insistent on this one. Since I kept blowing him off, I figured that I owed him. At first, my plan was to
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