Catching Lucas Riley (8 page)

“Still, to be a business owner at twenty-eight? That’s pretty cool,” Meredith insisted. “If Sealey weren’t so rude and sarcastic and all-around terrifying, he’d be a pretty good catch. He’s almost as good-looking as Lucas. He’s tall, even taller than Lucas is. And he’s smart and successful. I wonder if he’ll ever get married.”

“You interested?” Alex said. She tried to keep her voice teasing, but she couldn’t keep out the note of incredulity. Meredith was sweet and good and funny, and she seemed exactly like the kind of girl that Sealey would eat alive.

“No, not me,” Meredith said. “But if you found the right kind of girl . . . ,” she trailed off.

“Kacey?” Alex asked, voicing her thoughts from a couple of days earlier.

Meredith’s eyes lit up. “They would be perfect together! They even kind of look alike. Tall, blonde, athletic . . . they would have the cutest kids! You should suggest it to her. You know she gets any guy she wants.”

“Maybe,” Alex said noncommittally, searching through the piles of clothes on her bed for her purse. “Although Kacey doesn’t usually take suggestions like that very well. She’s too independent to go after a guy herself. She’s used to them coming to her.”

“Maybe I’ll suggest it to Sealey then,” Meredith considered.

“Be my guest,” Alex said, pulling her purse from underneath a white corduroy blazer. “Better you than me.”

As if on cue, Kacey’s voice rang from the living room. “Alex! Sealey’s here!”

Alex looked at Meredith, and Meredith stared back, wide-eyed. “Did you know he was coming?” Alex asked, her voice in a loud stage whisper.

“No,
of course not,” Meredith said, her face twisting into a look of confusion. “Why would I know a thing like that?”

Alex wasn’t listening. “What is he doing here? You don’t think he’s
coming with me
, do you? How on earth am I going to play it cool with Sealey breathing down my neck?”

“He can’t come,” Meredith reminded Alex. “Lucas knows him, remember? It would ruin everything if he saw you sitting with Sealey.”

“Oh, right.” Alex breathed in relief. “He must just be here to check in before I go.”

“Regardless, you’d better get out there,” Meredith prodded. “Sealey Witchburn is not a patient man.”

Alex groaned and opened the bedroom door. “See you later. My lord and master awaits.”

“Lord and master . . . ,” Sealey mused as he drove. “I like the sound of that.”

Alex ground her teeth from the passenger seat. She had emerged from the hallway to see Sealey standing in the living room of the apartment, looking very fetching in a lightweight blue sweater that matched his eyes and dark, low-waisted jeans, his hands in his pockets. He had informed her that he was going to drive her to the restaurant so he could brief her on the way and see how things progressed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not coming in with you,” he said at her look of horror. “But judging from our last experience, you are unlikely to give me a timely and accurate report when this is all over, so I’m going to make sure I’m on-hand for a well-timed delivery.”

“Lucky me,” Alex had muttered as she’d followed him out to his black Lexus (if Sealey’s car were any indication, his business was doing better than he’d suggested). Now, sitting on the plush leather seat, she was imagining all sorts of horrible happenings, ranging from Sealey pressing his nose to the window of the restaurant to keep an eye on her, to Lucas seeing her drive up with him and assuming they were dating. Nightmare.

“Okay, so recite the plan to me,” Sealey prompted, poking her in the thigh.

“Smile and wave,” she said dully, staring out the window with her arms folded.

“Short
and sweet,” Sealey replied, nodding. “The essence of a flawless plan.”

“Mmm,” Alex murmured. With Sealey here watching her every move, what had before seemed like an easy assignment was suddenly looking very daunting. She had no doubt that he would park in front of the restaurant in such a way that he would be able to see through the front windows. Swallowing her sigh and concentrating instead on getting her head in the game, Alex pulled down the visor to check her makeup in the mirror. She was determined to be a vision of feminine beauty when Lucas caught sight of her.

“You look fine,” Sealey said, glancing at her. “Better than I expected, actually.”

“Gee, thanks,” she muttered as she attempted to separate her eyelashes with her fingernail.

“No, I really mean it,” Sealey insisted, as though “better than I expected” was a legitimate compliment. “In line with your aforementioned lack of subtlety, I was expecting, when I told you to dress up a bit more for this one, that you would go to town on the makeup and wardrobe.” He gestured to her green skirt appreciatively. “But this mermaid glamour look you have going . . . it’s a good mix of eye-catching and classy. Nicely done.”

Alex glanced at him in surprise. A real compliment? How unexpected.

They pulled into the restaurant parking lot a few minutes later in complete silence. Alex was starting to hyperventilate now that the moment of her performance was drawing near. The restaurant was very elegant looking, and she knew the food was good. She’d been there on a date before. In fact, she almost wished she was staying to eat. Almost.

As expected, Sealey parked directly in front of the windows of the rounded entrance, but a few rows back to make sure Lucas couldn’t spot him. The waiting area was right inside the door, so he would have a nearly unobstructed view of whatever happened to occur.

“Perfect,” he murmured as he shoved his car into park. “Now, Luke should be here around six fifteen. You’d better get inside.”

Alex took a deep breath, glanced at Sealey, and nodded. She climbed from the car and began her walk toward the restaurant. It had been a long time since she had worn high heels, and she had forgotten the
sense of confidence it gave her to be four inches taller. She felt very elegant and polished, walking toward the restaurant in her mermaid skirt and nude pumps. She straightened her shoulders, shook her hair out a little, and fearlessly entered the restaurant.

Alex sat calmly in the rounded entrance of the restaurant, feeling Sealey’s ice blue eyes fixed on her back through the window behind her. She casually crossed her long legs and maintained the look of complete unconcern on her face. She pulled out her smartphone and began scrolling through her Twitter feed, looking as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Inside, she was in turmoil. Lucas would be there with his client in tow at any moment. And then her show would begin.

Despite the fact that all she had to do was smile in a friendly way and wave vaguely in Lucas’s direction, she felt like every detail, from the brilliance of the smile to the angle of the wave would be criticized in full by Sealey. And she couldn’t help feeling that something was going to go wrong. In cases like this, where everything was supposed to be scripted and simple, unfortunate and unforeseen events had a way of cropping up.

She felt Lucas’s presence before she saw him. It was as though her heart was aware that its perfect match was near and thumped away in furious joy. She forced herself to keep her head down and her eyes focused on her phone. After about thirty seconds of staring fixedly at the same word in her Twitter feed, she casually let her eyes drift up from the screen.

They immediately met Lucas’s. He was talking to an older gentleman in a khaki-colored blazer, but his gaze kept drifting to her. When their eyes met, she smiled in cheery recognition, trying for all the world to look like seeing him was a complete surprise. She held up a hand in a discreet wave, and then pushed her eyes reluctantly back down to her phone. She felt her body relax. It was over. She had played her part, and now she just had to wait for his party to be seated, and she could leave.

Within five seconds, though, she knew something was wrong. A pair of black dress shoes approached from roughly ten feet away and stopped directly in front of her. She stared at them for a second before allowing
her eyes to travel up the legs encased in dark gray slacks, the muscular torso sporting a dark plum-colored button-up, and finally to a pair of sea-green eyes. What was he doing here standing in front of her? Sealey had assured her he wouldn’t approach her. She looked around frantically for his client, but the older gentleman had disappeared.

“Alex,” Lucas’s voice was warm and enthusiastic. “It’s great to see you! You look fantastic.”

“Ah, thanks, Lucas,” she said, clearing her throat to try to clear away the dismay as she reluctantly stood up. “As do you. You always look fantastic.”

Lucas smiled warmly at her. “So what brings you here?”

Crap. How had Sealey not instructed her to at least have a plausible backstory? It seemed very sloppy of him. “Um, I’m supposed to be meeting some family members here,” she said quickly. It was the first thing she could think of, but it was just about the worst possible story she could have dreamed up. Alex had only one family member living in Logan. He was a second cousin from a small town in Iowa, and she barely knew him. They hadn’t really said a word to each other since he’d moved out there a year earlier.

“Oh, really?” Lucas said, cheerfully. “A little family get-together, huh? Siblings, parents, cousins . . . ?” he prompted.

“Oh, um . . . ,” she began, trying not to panic. “I’m from California, so I don’t have any siblings or anything around here.”

“Ooh, California,” Lucas said, his smile widening. “Winters here in Logan must be difficult for you.”

“That’s an understatement,” she said, managing to smile a little. She began twirling a chunk of dark red hair around her finger, a nervous habit she had never been able to break.

“So . . . cousin, then?” Lucas pressed again.

Alex suppressed a groan. It was as though he suspected her subterfuge and was determined to entrap her in her own lies. “Well . . . um . . . I—” she began, but she was cut off by the sound of her name spoken in a hysterical British accent.

“Alex!”

She spun around to face the door, already suspecting what she would see. Sure enough, Eric Swithin stood there, looking frazzled, with a
bemused Martin in his arms, wrapped in a blanket, despite the warm August temperatures.

“Alex, I can’t do it!” Eric moaned in distress. He approached Alex, holding his little son out toward her. “He needs his mother! I am not cut out for this fatherhood business! He keeps saying your name! I’ve never heard him say anything even close to ‘daddy.’ It’s as though he knows that he needs a woman to care for him! I’m rubbish at this. Please, help me!”

Eric stood there, his small boy extended toward her as though he expected Alex to take him and raise him as her own. She stood bewildered, her eyes flicking between Lucas and Eric, taking in both expressions. Lucas looked stunned at the exchange but quickly hid his reaction.

“Hey, little guy!” he said cheerfully to Martin. He reached out a hand to the little boy as though to stroke his head, but Martin grabbed his arm and began attempting to climb it. Lucas laughed and pulled the toddler from his father’s arms. He began talking quietly to Martin, as though trying to distract him from Alex and Eric, to allow them to talk.

“What’s going on
now
?” Alex hissed at Eric. She couldn’t believe he had actually shown up at the restaurant, especially when Martin didn’t appear to be in any kind of distress or danger.

“He’s not getting hungry!” Eric protested. “You said eventually he would get hungry!”

“Eric,” Alex replied, rubbing a hand across her face. “You have to give it more than four hours. It might take
twenty
-four before he becomes hungry enough to give in. You need to exhibit a little
patience
.”

She was about to scold further when she happened to catch what Lucas was softly saying to Martin, who appeared to have become mesmerized by one of Alex’s earrings. He was reaching for it, and Lucas was trying to keep him out of range of her ears.

“Oh, you see your mama, don’t you?” Lucas said in the little boy’s ear. “She’s pretty, isn’t she? I know those things hanging from her ears are tempting, but I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t like it if you got a hold of them. Why don’t you just stay with me till she’s done talking to your daddy?”