by Ashley Blake
She got all excited for me and gave me a big hug. “Have a great time and tell me everything tomorrow!”
“Okay, I will. You have fun too.”
I grabbed my purse and hurried out the door.
Chapter 5
When I stepped off of the elevator he was standing in my lobby talking to my doorman¸ Charles. He did a double take when we saw me, and his eyes held mine as I walked toward him.
“You look beautiful, Sophie. Doesn’t she look gorgeous, Charles?”
“Sophie always looks pretty.” Charles winked at me and smiled at him.
“Boy, you guys know how to make a girl blush!” I tried to keep it light but inside my stomach was doing somersaults as I looked at Lucas. He looked gorgeous. He was wearing jeans, a blue shirt to match his sparkling blue eyes and a black leather jacket. He totally could have been in GQ; he was so good-looking.
“Ready to go?” He held the door for me and I said goodbye to Charles who winked at me again.
When we walked outside, a stunning silver Maserati was parked right in front of my building and he walked over to the passenger door and opened it for me.
“Thanks.”
I settled into the gorgeous car and felt like Cinderella with her prince. He got in on the driver’s side and looked over at me before starting the car, his eyes searching mine.
“It’s good to see you, Sophie.”
I suddenly felt very shy and looked down at my lap before glancing back up at him.
“It’s good to see you too.”
He gave me a sexy half smile and started the car. The restaurant was really cute, it wasn’t very big and the lighting was just dim enough to create a perfect intimate atmosphere. We got a private table in the corner and Lucas couldn’t stop looking at me.
“You look really beautiful, Sophie.”
“Thanks.”
“So tell me, how was your week?”
“It was actually a really good week, I got some really good news this week.”
“Do tell.”
“I had a meeting with a jewelry company this week, actually it’s my biggest advertiser on my website, and they want to me to collaborate with them on creating a bracelet line.”
“That’s fantastic, when do you get started?” He seemed genuinely happy for me.
“I have a meeting in a couple of weeks with the design team and they want me to provide some of my ideas by then.”
“So, you are going to be a successful blogger and a jewelry designer all by the ripe old age of, how old are you?”
“I am 22, thank you very much.”
“Well, that’s very impressive, you’re a very ambitious girl. I like that.”
“Thanks you. So, how was your week? Have you been busy at the gallery?”
“It’s been a busy week. I have to go to a curator’s convention in New York next week so I’ve been getting ready for that and I’ve been scouting new artists. I don’t really spend a lot of time in the gallery. I actually find artists for all of our galleries so I’m constantly looking for new artistic geniuses. There is an incredible artist who is getting a lot of buzz in Chelsea who I would love to show here in Chicago, so I was able to get a meeting with him while I’m in New York next week.”
Even though this was our first date, I felt kind of bummed at the thought of him leaving town the following week.
“How long will you be out of town?” I hope my question didn’t sound desperate.
He looked me, his eyes searching mine, a tiny smirk touching the corner of his mouth.
“A couple of days. Why?”
I could feel my cheeks turning bright red and I probably answered too quickly.
“Oh, no reason, just curious.”
We ordered and then Lucas leaned back in his chair getting really comfortable.
“So, Sophie, tell me about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
His eyes glided over my face. “I want to know everything.”
I smiled at him. “Okay, I’m from Neenah, a small town in Wisconsin, I just graduated in June, and I have an older brother, Jeremy, he’s two years older than me.”
“Does your brother still live in Wisconsin?”
“Yes, which is good for my parents. When I moved away I think it broke my mom’s heart at first, but now she’s happy for me.”
“Do you see them often?”
“Yeah, I try to get home every couple of months, I’m really close with my family.”
He smiled when I said that. “That’s good to hear. What about work? How did the blog start?”
"It’s kind of random. I love clothes and in college I always got a lot of questions from people about where I got certain outfits. It started to happen more and more so I decided to start taking snapshots of what I was wearing and then put a description online of where people could buy what I was wearing. My friends started sharing my link with their friends and it just kind of spread from there. Advertisers contacted me and that is when I learned that I could actually make pretty good money doing what I loved to do, which is find cool clothes.”
He looked at me, seeming to study me, and then he asked the question I knew would come eventually.
“So, no boyfriend?”
I held his gaze. “No boyfriend.”
“Tell me about the recent break-up you mentioned the other night.”
“Um, a couple of months ago I broke up with my boyfriend but that was over way before we actually broke up.”
“Do you still talk to him?”
“No, it was a clean break.”
“Good.” His gaze was unyielding and I began to squirm in my chair.
Thankfully our food arrived and it broke the tension. I decided to ask him the same questions because I wanted to know everything about him.
“So, where are you from Lucas?”
“I’m from here. I grew up Winnetka, and my parents still live there.”
I knew enough about Chicago to know that Winnetka was a wealthy suburb.
“And any brothers or sisters?”
“I have one brother and two sisters.”
“Where are you in the line?”
“I am the oldest.”
“Are any of them in Chicago?”
“My brother Jax lives in Bucktown, my sister Ariana lives in Lincoln Park and my sister Leah lives in New York.”
“Oh, cool. And what do they do?”
“Ariana is a model, Jax just graduated from law school and Leah is a fashion designer.”
“Oh cool, has she had a showing anywhere?”
“She actually has a show coming up in a few months, it’s her first one. We’re all flying out for it so she’s getting really nervous. But she doesn’t have any reason to be nervous, she is extremely talented.”
I instantly thought of featuring her on my blog but I didn’t want say anything since I had never met her. It would have been weird for me to ask him to do a work favor for me. I put that idea on that back burner, but I was definitely planning to ask him about that at a later time.
“Sounds cool.” I wanted to ask him if he had a girlfriend but I was afraid to hear the answer.
I must have looked like I was thinking because he caught me off guard with his question.
“What’s on your mind?”
I quickly looked away and tried to think of something to say. He made me more nervous than any other guy ever had.
“Nothing really.”
A sexy smirk turned up the corner of his mouth. “Are you sure about that? I think there is a question brewing inside of you that you are not sure how to ask me.”
Okay, I am totally embarrassed now.
“Do you have ESP or something?” I tried to sound light and playful but I think it came off sounding accusatory.
“No, but for some reason I think I can read you pretty well. So why don’t I guess the question and you tell me if I’m right. Okay?”
I hesitated but then answered him. “Okay.”
>
“I think that you are curious if I have a girlfriend.” His eyes sparkled as he watched my reaction.
I was sure that my cheeks were bright red. “You do have ESP.”
He put down his fork, wiped his mouth with his napkin and held my gaze.
“I do not have a girlfriend, Sophie. You might not believe me, but I am not in the habit of dating more than one person at a time.”
“Oh, are we dating?” The words slipped out and I wished I could take them back.
His gaze was unwavering. “I would like to be. I have not been able to stop thinking about you since the night I met you at Urban.”
That sounded like a line to me and I really despised lines. “Really, because you said goodbye that night and didn’t have a way to contact me. What if we hadn’t run into each other at the gallery?”
“I knew that Dex had Gigi’s number, so I knew that I had a way to contact you.”
“How could you possibly have known that, you didn’t have time to talk to him before you said goodbye to me.”
"If Dex talks to a girl one on one for more than five minutes, I know that he is really interested and he got her phone number. That has always been his M.O. for as long as I have known him. So I knew that I could contact you. Dex set up the meeting at the gallery, so I knew you would be there. Sophie, when I want something, I get it.”
“Oh really? Always?”
His beautiful blue eyes twinkled. “Always.”
“So, no girlfriend.”
“Nope.”
“What about an ex? They can be very problematic.”
I was kind of teasing but he hesitated so I knew I had hit a nerve.
“I am cool with all of my exes. In fact, I still talk to them a lot of them.”
What? Oh no, I am not okay with this!
“Really? That doesn’t create any kind of issue for the person you’re dating?”
“It never has because all of my exes are exes for a reason. Once that door is closed, there is no opening it again for me.”
“Okay, tell me about your most recent ex-girlfriend. How long ago did you break up?”
“Ellie and I broke up for good about a year ago. We dated off and on for about five years. She lives in New York now but we still talk every couple of weeks.”
Every couple of weeks? “Did you break up before she moved to New York?”
“We broke up because she moved to New York. Our lives went in opposite directions.”
To me, breaking up with someone because they move away is entirely different from breaking up with someone because it's time to break up with someone. Was he still into her?
“Hey, I can see the wheels spinning. There’s nothing to worry about there, it’s been over for a while, we're just friends. I want you to know that I am totally focused on you Sophie, I want to get to know everything about you.”
“I’d like that, and I feel the same about you.”
He winked at me. “Good, well this night is going perfectly so far.”
I smiled at him. “You told me the night of the gallery that art was your first love. What did you mean?”
“I used to doodle when I was little and then I started drawing and painting in my spare time. Art was my favorite subject.”
“Wait, you’re an artist?”
“Not according to my father, but I like to think so.”
“Has he ever seen your drawings or paintings?”
“He never has time, which I get because he’s very busy.”
I felt bad for him because I could see that it bothered him.
“What about your mom? Does she know how much you enjoy drawing and painting?”
A warm smile spread across his face.
“Yeah, my mom has been encouraging me to share my work with my dad so that I can show my work in one of our galleries but, like I said, he’s very busy.”
“Maybe one day he’ll sit down and take a look at your stuff.”
He seemed unaffected. “Maybe.”
The waiter came and cleared our plates away and gave us dessert menus.
“Perfect timing. Are you a dessert person Sophie?”
“I am a small portion dessert person, but I love them. You?”
He gave me a wicked grin. “I don’t know if there is anything better.”
"Oh I can think of something much better." I was immediately mortified that the suggestive words came out of my mouth.
You don't want to give him the wrong idea Sophie.
He was instantly intrigued. “Oh, really? Tell me more.”
I stumbled over my words. “I, um, I, oh, forget that I said that, I don’t know what I was talking about.”
His eyes smoldered as they held mine. "On the contrary Sophie, I think that you knew exactly what you were talking about but I will let you off the hook. We will pick up that topic where we left off at another time.”
I would have paid any amount of money for the floor to open up and swallow me, to save me from the embarrassment I was feeling. Thankfully the waiter appeared and we were distracted as we ordered dessert.
“So, what do you have going on this week?” He leaned back in his chair.
“Working on my blog and the bracelet line. I also have a meeting with a couple of agents this week. It’s weird because I didn’t even realize that I needed an agent but a few have contacted me so I’ll see what they have to say.”
“I’m not going to tell you what to do, but with your growing success I do think it’s important that you have someone looking out for your best interests. The meetings are probably a good idea and hopefully you’ll find someone you click with. Let me know if the meetings do not go well and I can put you in touch with a couple of people.”
I thought it was really generous of him to offer. "Thank you Lucas, that's really nice. What about you? What do you have going on this week?”
“I have quite a few meetings this week and there is an art convention in town this week at McCormick Place so I have to go check that out.”
Our dessert arrived and it was so cute how excited Lucas was about his piece of chocolate caramel cake, he looked like a little boy.
He smiled at me before he took a bite of his cake. “Dessert is my favorite part of dinner.”
We finished our dessert and our waiter came over and asked if we needed anything else before they closed the kitchen.
“What time is it?” I couldn’t believe that we had been there long enough for the kitchen to be closing already.
Lucas looked at his watch and raised his eyebrows. “It is almost midnight.”
I was totally shocked. “Oh my goodness! We have been here for almost five hours!”
Lucas told the waiter that we would take the check and then he looked at me, his eyes searching mine.
“I guess what they say is true. Time flies when you’re having fun. I have had a wonderful time with you tonight, Sophie.”
I suddenly felt very shy as I smiled at him. “That goes for me too.”
A few minutes later we pulled up to my building and Lucas turned off the ignition and turned to look at me.
“I had a really great time tonight and I would love to see you again.”
“I'd love to see you again too. I had a great time also Lucas, thank you for dinner. The restaurant was wonderful.”
“You’re welcome. Are you free Wednesday night?”
I cocked my head to the side and gave him a flirty smile. “That depends, what did you have in mind?”
“I would love to cook for you.”
“Oh wow, you cook too, huh? Are you any good?”
He laughed at my teasing. “I am an excellent cook, but I will let you be the judge.”
“Well, this I’ve got to see. I guess I am free on Wednesday night, what time were you thinking?”
“I can pick you up around 6:00 if that’s okay with you.”
“Yeah, that works, 6:00 is perfect.”
“Do you like fish?”
“I do, I l
ove salmon.”
“Okay, salmon it is.” His eyes slowly scanned my face down to my lips, down to my cleavage and then slowly back up to my eyes. Without a word he leaned in toward me and my heart was banging against my chest as his eyes focused on my lips. His hands slid into my hair and pulled me toward him, his lips touching mine. His tongue probed my mouth, gently at first and then with much more passion. His grip on my hair became tighter as his tongue explored every inch of my mouth. He gently nibbled my lips and then sucked on my bottom lip causing a soft moan to escape my mouth. I had never been kissed like that in my life. I could feel my panties getting wet as I kissed him long and deep.