42nd & Lex (20 page)

As soon as the front door closes, I can’t
help but do a little happy dance. The red cashmere dress feels good against my
skin as I put it back on. I find a pair of cute silver heels in my closet and
strap them on before heading to my bathroom to do something with my hair and makeup.
Sarah arrives at exactly seven. She is dressed to the nines in a slinky sliver
dress and sky-high stilettos.

“Hey! Come in. Wow, I feel under dressed.” I
let her into my tiny living room and stick my head out into the hall to see if
Lucan is lurking nearby. If he is, I can’t see him. “I should change into
something dressier.”

“No! You look super cute,” she affirms. “I
just felt like, you know, getting dressed up for some reason.”

“What do you want do tonight? Are you
hungry?” I yell from my bedroom closet, ignoring her suggestion not to change
clothes. The red dress is more work than play next to Sarah’s fiery number. I
nearly scream when I notice a pair of man-sized boots peeking out from under a
row of business suits. Lucan! He pushes the line of muted browns and blues
aside to give me an apologetic smile.

“What the hell!” I hiss. “I thought you
left!” He doesn’t say a word but points to another Lola Bella garment bag hanging
on the rack to his left. Inside is a little black dress that hangs off one shoulder.
“Shh,” I say as I pull the red dress over my head. “Not a word.”

Since my current bra will not work with this
dress, I unhook it and watch Lucan’s face as I slowly slide it down my arms
onto the floor. If he’d been able to blush, I imagine he would have. The dress
fits perfectly. This man knows clothing even better than Max or he has one hell
of a personal shopper. The Jimmy Choos are a must for this dress. Lucan hands
them to me from his hiding place and then quickly pulls the work wear back to its
original position. I am about to ask if he is trying to conceal something but I
am interrupted by Sarah as she flops down on my bed. I’m mortified she’s sitting
on my shabby twin with its faded sheets and comforter but she doesn’t seem to
notice.     

“I’m starving.” She is checking her makeup
in a pocket mirror oblivious to her surroundings. “Chinese is still good with
me. If you’re feeling adventurous afterwards, I saw this new place over in the
Meat Packing District a few weeks ago that looks fun. It looks like the kind of
place celebrity types hang out at.” She stops and stares at my wardrobe
change.” Wow,  Abri. That is hot! Now we have to go to that club for sure.
Those shoes are to die for.”

Hoping she will follow me and get off the
bed, I walk back to the living room. “Sure. We can eat down stairs and then cab
it over there.” I am verbalizing my plans for Lucan’s sake because I can’t just
think them with the walls in the way. “Are you ready?”      

“Yup. Let’s eat!” Sarah is amazingly upbeat
for someone who has just filed for divorce.

We are out the door and heading downstairs
to my favorite Chinese place in the city when I realize Lucan is still in my
closet. I don’t want to know how he will get out and lock my door but I’m sure
he will manage. The hostess puts us near a window covered by an ornate screen
so I can’t see the street outside. Maybe Lucan is lurking out there, or maybe
he’s turned into a bat and is hanging from the ceiling somewhere. Even though
he swears he can’t do that. Once the waitress has our orders, Sarah and I begin
our conversation in earnest.

“So how has your week been?” I ask.

“Good. I’m getting used to living alone
finally. Mark’s been gone a while but I was sort of pretending he was away on
business before, like he might be coming back. I’ve been working some at the
art gallery this week. It’s nice to have my own paycheck again. I’ve actually
considered looking for a teaching job. You know that’s what my degree is in,
early childhood education. It’s the middle of the school year though, so I
doubt I’d find anything. I haven’t really heard anything from Mark yet. It’s
weird. I figured he would have called or something. Someone called and hung up
last night, but when I called the number back no one answered.”

“Really?”
I try to keep my voice even. “What time?”

“Around
seven or eight, I think. I don’t know. I was watching some show on the Food
Network about cookies and falling asleep.”

“Me
too. Double chocolate chip somethingoranothers.” So it was probably Mark
calling after he left Lucan’s apartment. Hopefully Lucan is close enough to
hear this.

“They looked good but I didn’t have the
ingredients to make any. But I don’t want to waste our friend time talking
about Mark and the divorce; we can do that when you’re on the clock. Tell me
about your week, anything exciting happen?”

I am sure she means in a professional sense,
but my professional week’s highlight was signing Sarah up as a client. I decide
to leave that tidbit to myself. “Well,” I hesitate weighing how much of this I
am willing to share. “I met a guy.” Talking about Lucan to someone else makes
me a little nervous, especially since he is most likely listening. Sadly, this
restaurant is not crowded; our voices are undoubtedly coming in loud and clear
to even the humans in the room. Nevertheless, I want to share my recent
excitement with someone, even if I have to limit it to human-acceptable new
relationship topics.

“A guy? Tell, tell.” She is eager and
excited which only ups my excitement factor even more. “Is he hot? What does he
do?”

“He’s hot alright.” I decide that if Lucan is
going to listen in, I might as well give him something to chew on until I get
home tonight. “I’m not exactly sure what he does, a little of this and that. Philanthropy
stuff mostly, I think. He’s a bit older than me, tall, black hair, blue eyes.”

Sarah
is on the edge of her seat. “What’s his name?”

My
bravery wavers. It is conceivable that Sarah knows Lucan, or at least knows of him
and his foundation given her own philanthropic endeavors. Even so, I am
confident she doesn’t know more about him than what I was able to find online.

“Lucan
O’Reilly.”

“Oh
my, Abri! He
is
a catch! He does all the important benefits in town. There
isn’t a girl in the city that wouldn’t bang him if they had the chance. How did
you meet him?” Sarah is practically salivating. A slight crackle of energy runs
up my spine giving me the distinct impression that Lucan is laughing as I
squirm under Sarah’s questioning. I am going to have to punch him in the arm for
that later.

“In the elevator at work.” That sounds
normal enough, a public place. “We met and then he asked me out on Tuesday
night for dinner.”

“Wow. I’ve heard he’s one of the richest men
in the city, if not the whole East Coast. I’ve never heard of him having a
date, he’s always alone at benefits. Have you been to his apartment yet? I bet
it’s amazing.”

“I have and it is.” I shop short of
divulging the fact that my meeting her at my apartment this evening is one of
the few times I have been there this week. “He is amazing,” I add.

Our conversation carries on easily and
endlessly as we eat our dim sum. I am really glad to rekindle my relationship
with Sarah after all these years. I worry about her and the Mark situation, but
there isn’t really anything I can say to her about it without outing both Lucan
and Mark, not to mention risking my job. All I need is my bosses finding out I
told a client her husband is a bloodsucking maniac. I am glad she doesn’t bring
him up again. 

We catch a cab outside the restaurant and it
drops us off in front of the club. Sarah is so excited that she doesn’t seem to
notice the cold as we head for the longish line. I am happy to have my new coat.
The club is in an old building that looks to have been a bank in a past life,
appropriate since the place is named Vault. The blue neon sign flickers a bit
giving the entrance an eerie glow. Sarah walks past the roped off line and
approaches a rather surly looking doorman. Surely, we weren’t on the list, she
hadn’t even known if we would come. 

“Hello,” she says, batting her eyes at him.
“I think we are on the list. Ainsworth. Sarah Ainsworth.”

“Nope. Get at the end of the line, please,”
he barks back, looking rather annoyed at her assumption.

“Are you sure?” Sarah asks, a little
agitated. She apparently isn’t used to waiting in club lines. I’m not either,
but mainly because I never go to clubs—mostly because of the lines.

“Yes ma’am, I’m sure. Now please get in line
or I will have to ask you to leave.” He is obviously an old hand at this and not
in the mood for socialite drama. 

“Sarah, it’s cool. We can wait. The line’s
not that long. Probably twenty minutes tops, right?” I direct my last question
at the bouncer. He shrugs noncommittally. Sarah relents and joins me at the end
of the line. 

“I bet that guy’s on the list. Too bad we
don’t know him.” She nods at a flashy sports car, my sports car, that is idling
at the curb. Way to be incognito Lucan.

“Wait here,” I tell Sarah. “I have an idea.”
Sarah might not be on the list, but I can almost bet I am. 

The bouncer does nothing to hide his
annoyance as I walk back to this post. “Can you check my name, please, sir?” I lay
it on thick and sweet for him. “Abri Cole.”

“Party of two?”

“Yes sir.”

The bouncer, even more annoyed than before,
motions for Sarah to join me. She sprints up the sidewalk as fast as her four-inch
heels will carry her. His face reads confusion as he removes the rope and lets
us pass.  

“How did you do that?” Sarah gapes at me as
we head up the narrow steps.

“Let’s just say it’s all in who you know.” I
wink at her.

The thumping bass of the music vibrates the
walls and floors as we walk down a narrow entranceway to the coat-check room. At
the end of the hall is another door that actually looks like the door to a bank
vault. A leggy blond in black leather opens it and ushers us to our table. The
club is mostly dance floor with high-backed banquettes lining each side. Our
table is a large, velvet-covered booth near the middle of the room that could
easily seat ten people. 

I am impressed at Lucan’s quick planning. A
table like this for two people would take some serious cash or influence on
such short notice as all of the other booths are filled to capacity.

A cute, dark haired waiter lopes over and Sarah
is all smiles and batting eyelashes as he takes our orders. I silently scan the
room for Lucan while Sarah vacillates between a Cosmo and an Appletini with the
waiter. I can only imagine how loud this place sounds to his sensitive ears
since mine are already ringing. 

“This
place is awesome!” Sarah shouts when the waiter is gone.

“Yeah,”
I agree. “How did you find it again?”

“My
friend at the gallery mentioned it once and I saw it the other day when I was
over here running an errand for her.”

After we’ve finished our second round of drinks,
Sarah is ready for the dance floor. The DJ has switched from techno trance to
rap and the floor is crowded with people shakin’ what their mommas gave ‘em. Dancing
my ass off is the perfect end to this crazy week so I’m right behind her. It’s
been a few years since my last club run but I find my groove before long. Luckily,
no one comes up to bother us and we are able to enjoy ourselves.

Sarah and I have been dancing for an hour or
so when I finally spot Lucan tucked into a booth in a far, dark corner. He has
a drink in his hand and looks to be enjoying the view. I wink at him when Sarah
isn’t looking and he smiles back. Now that I have an audience I throw
everything I’ve got into the Flo Rida remix pulsing over the speakers. When
song is over the DJ takes a break with some slow R&B and I scan the room
for the bathrooms.

“Hey, I’m going to the ladies’ room, you need
to go?” I lean over to Sarah and shout

“No, you go. I’m going to go find our
waiter,” she giggles. “You want another drink?”

“Just one more.” My finger looks a little
blurry when I hold it up several inches from Sarah’s face.

It’s been a long time since I had this much
hard alcohol and I’m a little giddy. The bathrooms are off a short hallway
opposite Lucan's booth. “Where is Lucan?” I wonder aloud. Before I can take a
second look he is there, pressing me against the wall. The amps and alcohol
make a heady, sexy mix in my system.

“You scared the crap out of me!” I gasp in
mock protest and pretend to struggle against his grasp. He says nothing but leans
in to capture my mouth with his. I immediately surrender. He picks me up and holds
me against the rough brick wall. A rather unladylike moan escapes my lips as he
nips at my neck again and I am digging my nails into his shoulders. Satisfied I
am done protesting, he lets me down and steps back. I guess he figured out I
was okay with the fangs.

“I’m
sorry, love, did you say something?” He adjusts the sleeve of my dress that has
slipped down in our haste.

“Yes, but I can’t quite remember what it was
now,” I pout. “Having fun watching me, are you?”

“Aye, very much so. I envy your friend Sarah
for getting to dance with you.” His sly, half smile sets me on fire. “You
better get back to her before she drags that poor waiter off somewhere and has
her way with him.”

 “But first…” I say, pointing in the
direction of the bathrooms. Lucan gives me a quick kiss on the cheek before
heading back to his table. I stumble into the tiny bathroom and check my face
in the mirror. My cheeks are flush and my lipstick is smeared. I look
positively ravaged.   

When I return, the waiter is perched on the
edge of our table watching Sarah sip her drink. He leans down to whisper
something in her ear and she giggles wildly. 

“I’m
back.”

“Hello,
beautiful.” Waiter boy is trying to do a sexy purr and failing miserably. “Can
I get you another drink?”