by Ashley Blake
“He’s a trust fund kid. He bought this house for a steal because it was in foreclosure. He didn’t want a condo or townhouse because he didn’t want to deal with neighbors, so when this became available he jumped on it.”
Just then a gorgeous blonde guy came bounding over to us. “There he is! What’s going on, man?” He gave Lucas a quick hug and then looked at me. “And who is this lovely lady?”
Lucas put his arm around my waist. “This is my girlfriend, Sophie. Sophie, this is one of my oldest friends, Matt.”
Girlfriend? I was speechless.
Matt kissed the back of my hand. “It is very nice to meet you, Sophie.”
I smiled at him. “It’s nice to meet you too. This party is amazing.”
He looked around and smiled. “Yeah, it’s going to be an epic night. You guys go and mingle. Dex is here somewhere Lucas and, uh…,” he glanced at me, “a couple of your old friends.”
“Alright dude, later.”
I turned and looked at Lucas. “Old friends, huh?”
He started to answer me when a beautiful brunette came up to us and gave Lucas a big hug and a quick kiss on the lips. I immediately felt pissed. Who is this?
“I thought I’d see you tonight, handsome.”
He seemed genuinely happy to see her. “Hey Chloe. Are you here with Brent?”
She waved her hand around the room. “Yeah, he’s around here somewhere.”
I felt silly because relief washed over me when I heard that she was there with a guy.
“I’d like for you to meet my girlfriend, Sophie. Sophie this is my friend, Chloe.”
Chloe gave me a big smile and a quick hug. “I’m a hugger. It’s nice to meet you, Sophie.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
She looked at Lucas. “Shannon is here too.”
"Oh cool, I haven't seen her in a while. Is Josh here too?"
"Yeah, he's here."
Lucas looked at me. "I don't mean to keep you in the dark, Sophie. They're friends that I haven't seen in a while."
Chloe rolled her eyes and smiled at me. "Lucas will probably see a few of his 'friends' here." She did the air quotes sign. "He's not like most guys. He stays friends with most of his exes, and some of us have actually become good friends with each other.”
“Oh? You guys dated?” I tried to sound casual and hide the fact that I was so shocked.
She waved her hand in the air dismissing it. “Yeah, but that was ages ago.”
Lucas casually put his arm around my waist. “I went to Chloe and Brent’s wedding last summer. Brent is a great guy.”
It was really silly that I felt so relieved again, but I did. Lucas was gorgeous and I was sure that there had to be an old girlfriend somewhere that was pining after him, thinking he was the one that got away. The smile I gave Chloe was super genuine.
“Congratulations on your marriage.”
“Thanks, my hubby’s around here somewhere. I’ll introduce you later when I find him.”
“Great, can’t wait to meet him.”
Thankfully, Gigi and the girls showed up and saved me from having to continue my conversation with Lucas’s ex. I know she was married and she was nice enough, but it was still weird standing there talking to an ex-girlfriend.
“Hey guys. Lucas, your friend’s house is amazing!” Gigi was in total awe as she looked around.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Ladies, this is my friend Chloe.” He introduced her to everyone, and Chloe told us it was nice to meet us and said she would look for me later as she dashed off to find her husband.
Trisha gave me a confused look. “Was it something we said?”
I took a deep breath before I answered her because I was extremely annoyed that she was even there.
“No, we were talking to her for a while before you guys showed up and she went to find her husband.”
Lucas leaned down and whispered in my ear. “I’m going to go find Dex, I’ll find you later.” He looked at everyone and gave them a quick wave before he took off. “See you ladies a little later.”
Carrie practically jumped on me as soon as he left.
“Sophie, he is so gorgeous! How are things going with you two?”
“Things are really good, he’s a very sweet guy.”
“Sexy, tall, gorgeous and sweet on top of it? You definitely hit the jackpot!” Jenn gushed just as much as Carrie.
“Okay you guys, let’s change the subject.” Trisha didn't sound happy and I could have sworn I saw a sneer on her face when she said that, and I could definitely hear the envy in her voice, but I agreed with her. I didn’t want the girls to focus too much on Lucas. I felt myself getting very territorial.
Gigi was looking around at the crowd and I could tell that she was looking for Dex. I caught her eyes as she scanned over us and she stopped and looked at me. I raised my eyebrows at her and asked her to take a bathroom break with me.
“We’ll be back you guys.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me. We stopped right in front of the bathroom.
“Are you scanning the room for Dex, Gigi?”
She looked down at the floor. “How did you know?”
“Because I know you. He’s here, by the way.”
Her eyes got really wide. “He is?”
“Yeah, and judging by the way you just responded when I told you that he was here, you should talk to him. I know he’s been calling you, why are you still avoiding him?”
“I guess I’m being stupid.”
“I love you, but yes you are. Let’s go find Lucas and Dex after we freshen up.”
“Okay, sounds like a plan.”
A few minutes later as we meandered our way through the crowd, I saw Lucas and Dex talking to two really pretty girls. Gigi saw them at the same time and instantly got pissed. She pointed to them in frustration.
"See, this is what I'm talking about. Guys that look like Dex and Lucas are always going to have girls falling all over them, and how do we know that they’re really going to be able to resist something like that?”
"Gigi, we're just going to have to trust them."
The words sounded good coming from my mouth, but it was not what I was feeling. Jealousy started to consume me as I watched Lucas thoroughly enjoying talking to the really pretty blonde.
Gigi flipped her hair over her shoulder and straightened her dress before linking her arm through mine. "Come on, let's go say hi.”
As we got closer the nervous butterflies got worse and I was mad at myself for letting seeing him talking to another girl affect me so much.
Lucas glanced over at us as we approached them and his eyes completely lit up when he saw me. That was all I needed and the butterflies floated away. He reached out, grabbed my hand, pulled me toward him, put his arm around me and planted a quick kiss on the side of my forehead.
“Hi, baby.”
His words were simple but meant so much.
I noticed that the girl he was talking to did not look pleased to see me. Gigi gave me a soft nudge when she noticed the girl shooting her a nasty look too. Gigi was standing right by my side and whispered so that no one else would hear her.
“What’s with this girl?”
I glanced at her and shrugged my shoulders.
“You look beautiful, Gigi.” Dex could not take his eyes off of her.
I glanced over at Gigi and even though she tried to hide it, she was totally smitten. “Thanks.”
The girls standing with Lucas and Dex cleared their throats at the same time which I found to be very funny, and I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.
Lucas looked down at the blonde standing next to him and I could see that he had forgotten she was standing there with her friend.
“Oh, sorry! Rachel, Emily, this is my girlfriend, Sophie and her friend Gigi.”
I gave them my most genuine smile and extended my hand. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”
Rachel, the blonde standing right next to Lucas, looked at
my hand and then just mumbled ‘nice to meet you’. I stood there, surprised, and raised my eyebrows as my hand was still extended, and I could feel Gigi seething next to me. Emily quickly made up for her friend and shook my hand.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Sophie.”
Gigi, never one to hold back, jumped right in.
“So how do you guys know each other?” She motioned to the four of them and crossed her arms as she looked Rachel dead in her eye.
Rachel seemed a bit taken aback by Gigi’s aggressiveness.
Gigi rarely bit her tongue and she couldn’t stand girls like Rachel. To be honest, I was surprised she didn’t let her have it when she didn’t shake my hand.
“We dated a couple of years ago.” Emily was definitely the more friendly of the two.
Gigi and I were both surprised and I looked at Lucas who was chatting with Dex, completely oblivious to our conversation.
“Who dated?” I tried to catch Rachel’s eye but she wouldn’t look at me.
Emily was a bit hesitant. “Well, we all did. I dated Dex and Rachel dated Lucas for a short time.”
Rachel suddenly decided to make a quick departure. “I think I see Cheryl, talk to you later!”
Emily seemed unfazed by her friend’s rude display, but it wasn’t lost on me. That girl must still like Lucas.
Lucas and Dex were deep in discussion about business and they had stepped to the side a few feet, so they had no idea what was happening between us.
“What’s up with your friend?” Gigi was visibly annoyed.
Emily leaned in toward us. “Sorry about her, she’s normally very friendly but I think she was caught off guard by you, Sophie. Lucas hasn’t introduced someone as his girlfriend since Ellie.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, Rachel was pretty broken up when things ended with Lucas.”
“Wasn’t that a couple of years ago?” The look of disbelief on Gigi’s face was priceless.
“Yes, but she really liked him and he wasn’t all that into her. They started dating shortly after Ellie broke up with him the first time and I don’t think he was over her.”
“You seem to know him pretty well.” I tried to sound nice when I said it.
“Dex and I dated for a couple of years before Rachel and Lucas dated, so I saw him with Ellie a lot. She's a good friend of mine now. I don’t think he was ready to date when he met Rachel, but she was really into him.”
I had to say something about Ellie. "Lucas told me that he still talks to Ellie, and I met his ex Chloe tonight and she said he keeps in touch with a lot of his exes." I wanted to get some info out of her but I didn't want to appear jealous. "Is it just me or is it weird that a guy still talks to his ex-girlfriends?"
She let out a soft laugh and shook her head. "It’s not just you, it's really rare. When Ellie told me that she talks to Lucas almost every other week I was really confused and I thought they both still liked each other. But, they have only been friends for the last year, nothing more. It took a long time for him to get over her but he did and she moved on a while ago."
My ears perked up. "Oh?"
"Oh yeah, she's been dating the same guy for a few months now. I know I just met you Sophie, but I haven't seen Lucas this happy in a very long time.
I can't even describe how happy her words made me feel.
Gigi had been waiting patiently to grill her about Dex and I could see that she was chomping at the bit, dying to get her question out.
“So, you and Dex dated for a long time, huh?” Gigi was not normally the jealous type but I could see that she was bothered.
Emily was a little bit cautious and was quick to smooth things over.
“Yeah, we dated for about three years, but we both knew it wasn’t going anywhere so we split up on really good terms. In fact, he introduced me to my fiancé, Mark.”
“Really?” Gigi and I said it at the same time and we all erupted into giggles.
I could see that Gigi was relieved that Emily was off the market.
I couldn’t help but think about what she had said about Lucas taking a long time to get over Ellie. Did it really take him a long time to get over her? And was he even over her? I mean, he talked to the girl all the time! Insecurity set in and I was starting to doubt what I had with Lucas. It was so frustrating because with work I was so confident and with guys I was usually confident, but Lucas had this indescribable hold on my heart and I had never felt so drawn to a guy in my life.
“Yeah, don’t get me wrong, Dex is an awesome guy…for someone else. Mark is everything Dex isn’t, and Dex made a perfect match when he set us up.”
“Wow, Dex and Lucas seem to have really good relationships with their exes. I’ve never seen anything like it!” Gigi looked at me and I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, it's definitely not the norm, especially because guys who look like Lucas and Dex can sometimes be real jerks, but those two really are good guys. Hey, I see Mark over there so I’m going to go. It was nice meeting you girls, I’m sure I’ll see you again.”
As she walked away I thought about what she said. Lucas and Dex did seem to be good guys, at least so far. I really hoped that Gigi and I would not ever see their bad side, if they had one.
I looked at Gigi. “She seems nice. That friend of hers is a different story.”
“Yeah, her friend is a jealous bitch. Interesting that she feels threatened by you, Sophie. If Lucas hasn’t had a girlfriend in a year, you must really mean a lot to him.”
“I hope so.”
“Let’s go interrupt their work talk.”
We walked over to the guys and they gave us their full attention as soon as we walked up.
“Do you ladies need a drink?” Dex could not take his eyes off of Gigi.
Gigi and I looked at each other. “I think we’re okay.”
Just then my favorite Rhianna song came on and I wanted to dance.
“I love this song!”
I grabbed Lucas’ hand and headed to the dance floor area. A ton of other people had the same idea so Lucas and I were literally smashed against each other as we moved to the music. I turned around so that he was behind me and his hand snaked its way across my stomach, holding me close to him. His lips were in my hair and I could barely catch my breath as I felt his hard length pressed against me.
We danced close like that for the next couple of songs and then we went outside on the deck to cool off. I leaned against the railing facing Lucas as the wind picked up my hair and gently blew it across my shoulders. He stood in front of me, his hands on either side of the railing. I looked up at him and he leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips.
“You look so beautiful tonight, Sophie. I wish I didn’t have to go to New York tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to spend the night with you and I can’t. I have a really early flight tomorrow morning.”
His eyes searched mine and he brushed my hair away from my face. “I know I asked you out for Thursday to go see my buddy at Double Door, but I have a different idea. Come away with me next weekend, my family has a cabin in Door County and it’s beautiful up there.”
I tried to look calm on the outside but inside I was freaking out with excitement. I couldn’t wait to be alone with him for an entire weekend. “I would love to, it sounds fun.”
He smiled at me as his eyes searched mine. “How did I get so lucky?”
“There you guys are! Gosh it gets hot in there on the dance floor!” Trisha interrupted us as she stumbled onto the deck with some poor unsuspecting guy. Ugh. She was hammered.
“Yeah, it does. And we’re going right back in there.” I could have kissed Lucas for saying that, he must have been reading my mind about her.
I gave her a huge fake smile as he pulled me inside. “See ya!”
I didn’t even have time to see her expression, we were back inside so fast.
“I know you don’t care for her and I didn’t really feel like chatting w
ith a sloppy drunk girl. I hope you don’t mind.” He was a bit apprehensive as he looked at me.
“Mind?” I reached up and pulled him down to me for a kiss. “Thank you for doing that.”
He pulled me into a corner and pressed me against the wall, his hands gently holding my face as he kissed me. His kiss nearly melted my clothes right off of me and I was really grateful to have the wall supporting me because I could have easily slid right down to the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my body to his, not wanting the kiss to end. His strong hands slid down my body around to my ass pulling me closer to him, his erection pressing against me.