Freefall (Santa Cruz Skydivers Book 1) (4 page)

I frowned slightly. Lili was always impressed with expensive labels and, even though it wasn’t direct off the runway couture, her off-the-rack dress was the closest I would ever come to designer clothes.

“So…did you get a dress?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

I didn’t reply, but scrunched up my nose like the fabric in my hand smelled like dog shit, and held up the dress for her.

She mirrored the expression on my face. “I’m sure it’s not that bad on. It looks kinda vintage. Anyway, it’ll have to do. Just make your hair and makeup look hot, and no one will even look at your dress.”

“Good idea.” I nodded in agreement, although I knew I wouldn’t have time to do anything to my flyaway mop. “First, I need to take another quick shower. I’m all sweaty after running around.”

I had the second quickest shower in history, but as predicted, I didn’t have enough time to straighten my hair, so I had to leave it curly. In an attempt to try and look glamorous, I pinned my curls back from my face with some borrowed diamanté clips of Lili’s. My makeup was almost always low key, and true to form, I quickly applied some mineral powder and black eyeliner around my blue eyes, but instead of my usual clear lip-gloss I borrowed Lili’s red lipstick to finish my look. Completing my outfit, Lili lent me a black clutch handbag. Just as I did a final go-over in my mirror, our taxicab arrived to take us to the function.

Considering all that had transpired, we ended up only being an hour late when we opened the door to the Hilton Santa Cruz function room.

“I thought you said this was semi-formal,” I hissed at Lili under my breath as we stood in the doorway. There were easily two hundred people in the room, all dressed immaculately in formal wear.

I looked down at my dress and immediately felt severely outdated and underdressed. The hem on my dress stopped at the knees while all the women inside, like Lili, were dressed head to toe in current season designer floor-length gowns, and the men were all fitted out in tuxes and ties. I stood out like dog’s balls on an uncastrated mutt.

She replied in the same hushed tone. “That’s what Scotty told me. Clearly, these women are professional socialites.”

“Clearly. At least you look like you could belong here. Your dress is gorgeous and mine, uh, not so much.”

“You don’t look that bad. You look very pretty. You never give yourself enough credit.”

“Um, yeah, I do. I give myself plenty of credit. I’m just a realist.” Besides, I didn’t want to look pretty. I wanted to look gorgeous. I took another look down at the lace-frilled dated piece I was wearing and wished the floor would open up and swallow me before anyone noticed me. Perhaps this dress would have looked fashionable in the 80s. Who was I kidding? This would never have been in fashion. I wondered if it was too late to bail?

Scotty rushed up to us before I could make my getaway, and grabbed Lili around the waist, kissing her firmly on the mouth. He broke for air. “Finally you girls made it. Babe, you look so sexy.”

I may have been mistaken, but I’m sure he growled in her ear. Eww. Scotty wasn’t exactly a turn-on for me. Weird Al’s song “White and Nerdy” shamefully started playing in my head. I chastised myself for being so cruel. He was a great guy and treated Lili like a princess, even if she didn’t treat him the same in return.

Unsurprisingly, Lili pushed him away and dabbed at her lipstick. “Sorry we’re late. Andi had a wardrobe malfunction.”

I couldn’t help but notice the way he looked at her. His eyes devoured her. I didn’t blame him. She looked sexy. I, on the other hand, looked as plain as usual next to her. But after years of being her friend, I was used to that.

“Um, hi, Andi.” Scotty finally greeted me after he had finished ogling his girlfriend. “You look, um, great too.”

I looked at Lili and raised my eyebrows in a silent “told you so” at Scotty’s obvious attempt at a compliment to make me feel better.

“Shut up,” I retorted. “I put my heel through the pants I had planned to wear. This is my mother’s. Just point me to the bar so I can get drunk and forget I even agreed to come here.”

“Bar is over that way.” He pointed to the other side of the room then leaned down and gave Lili another quick kiss, but this time, she managed to turn her head so he kissed her cheek instead. “I’ve got to keep on the move, babe. A lot of important people here tonight. I’ll grab you later and introduce you to my editor. Have fun, girls.”

Before he left, he quickly snapped a photo of us together. I so hoped he didn’t submit that for use in the social pages. Last thing I wanted was everyone in the Santa Cruz area seeing me dressed in my mother’s Sunday best.

“Come on.” I grabbed Lili by her hand and pulled her toward the place Scotty had pointed to. “I need a drink, pronto. I’m thinking tequila will do the trick.”

“Not so fast,” she complained, tugging me back. “These shoes are hideously high, and this dress is not made for running. One false move and this split will reach my belly button.”

We both laughed at her joke. I slowed down nevertheless, which probably wasn’t a totally bad idea considering my clumsy episode earlier. We linked arms and walked side by side. Lili towered over me, despite the fact I too had on high heels. She was lucky Scotty was six-two. Admittedly, he was tall and thin, and had some goofy endearing qualities, but I did question whether she would find another guy that would treat her the way he did. And even though she had never told me, I suspected she only agreed to date him because of his height. At just shy of six-foot, Lili didn’t have a lot of guy choices, unless she chose a shorter guy, and I knew she would never do that. Image was everything.

Speaking of which, she pouted her lips at me for inspection. “Is my lipstick smudged? I love Scotty, but he’s such a messy kisser. And I don’t want my professional makeup ruined.”

I resisted rolling my eyes at her. “You look perfect, as usual.”

As we walked though the room, I spied the bar over by the open bifold doors that opened out onto a balcony. Walking amongst the crowd, I began to relax and take in the faces of some of the people around us. Every female looked exactly the same. Faces frozen in time with Botox and puffed out fish lips full of fillers. I was about to make a joke to Lili when I froze in place, pinching Lili’s arm hard enough for her to flinch in pain.

“Ow,” she cried, and tried to pull her arm away from me, but I only grabbed her harder.

“Ben is here,” I told her in a hushed voice.

Her eyes widened. “You mean the hot guy you have been lusting over for the past six months? Which one is he?” She craned her neck and looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of him.

“Stop it,” I hissed, and pulled her down to my height. “He might see you. He’s the one standing next to the blond with the big boobs in the red sequin dress.”

She lifted her head again, this time a little bit more inconspicuous—and I mean a little—and scanned the crowd. It didn’t take long for her to find him. Boobs-in-the-red-dress definitely hadn’t worn that dress to blend in.

“Oh, he is cute,” she said once she had spotted him. “Don’t look now, but he’s headed our way.”

“No way! Do you think he saw us?” I spun quickly so my back was to him. Why oh why did I have to have this hideous dress on?

Lili snuck a quick peek at him over my shoulder. “Oh my God,” she whispered dramatically.

“What?” I clutched her arm anxiously.

“Boobs-in-the-red-dress, she’s his date. She’s that Australian actress, Taylor Lawson.” Her voice started to elevate in excitement. “And they are definitely coming our way.”

I moaned. “Oh great. He can’t see me, not in this dress, not when he is with a Hollywood actress. I have to get out of here.”

Grabbing her hand, I bent over and kept my head down, trying to weave my way through the throng of party guests unnoticed. My getaway was short-lived. I had run head-first into a firm, wide chest. With my back still hunched over, I looked up and met the most gorgeous pair of green eyes, fringed with black long lashes that I would have killed for. Instantly, things down below my waist stirred. Holy crap. I froze, lost in his eyes. They looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place them, or him. It took a tug on my hand from Lili to bring me back to earth.

“Hurry up, or ‘you know who’ is going to see us.” She spoke just loud enough for me to hear.

Green Eyes just continued to stare at me. His brows furrowed in the middle slightly, and he cocked his head to the side. I could see that he felt the same recognition I did, even though I knew we had never met. I would never forget those eyes. We both just continued to stare at each other, my thoughts of escaping the room forgotten. Then I heard a voice from over my shoulder, loud and familiar.

“LJ! When did you get in?” Ben called out, and pushed past me, embracing the green-eyed stranger in a bro hug.

Green Eyes didn’t even break eye contact with me as he slapped Ben on the back in greeting.

“Just this Monday,” LJ—or as I preferred to call him, Green Eyes—replied, his voice heavily accented with an Australian twang.

The boys separated from their embrace, and Ben, whose face was lit up with the excitement from meeting up with an old friend, followed the gaze of Green Eyes until both sets of eyes were focused on me. I didn’t deal well with being the center of anything, so I just remained there like a deer caught in the headlights, my anxiety spiking, and looked nervously back and forth between the two of them. I needed a drink.

“Andi?” Ben sounded dumbfounded. “What are you doing here?”

I hadn’t realized it, but I was still in a hunched over position and must have closely resembled a female Quasimodo. Standing up to my full five-three, and even though I had on high heels, I still only barely reached the shoulders of both boys. With my cheeks burning, I casually tried to smooth down the nonexistent creases in my dress with my right hand.

“Ben. Hi. I didn’t know you were here.” I tried to sound nonchalant, but the expression of suspicion on Green Eyes’ face told me I hadn’t sounded as carefree as I would have liked. My one hope was that I hadn’t come off as a stalker. “I’m here with my friend Lili. Her boyfriend Scotty works for the paper.”

Lili still had a firm grip of my left hand, so I pulled her out from behind me and introduced her to Ben. “Lili, this is Ben. We work together.”

My stomach churned with nerves, and the fact that this friend of Ben’s kept staring at me didn’t make me feel any easier.

“Pleased to meet you, Ben.” Lili extended her hand to shake Ben’s. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Have you?” He looked at me, arching his left eyebrow. I could have killed her.

The stranger finally looked away from me and shook Lili’s hand next. “Levi.”

His accented voice stirred me again, and I felt an empty ache deep inside me. After what seemed like hours, he finally reached out to take my hand in his. “And you are Andi.”

I loved the way he said my name and how it rolled off his tongue naturally. Like I belonged on it. The instant our hands touched, my mind exploded, and I had visions of him, naked, in bed with me, his hands and mouth on my...
Get a grip
, I chided myself. I read way too much fiction. Besides, that little fantasy would never happen. Like every other guy I had crushed on before, he was way out of my league. Besides, he looked like he knew his way around the bedroom. He wouldn’t even consider taking an inexperienced girl like me out on a date.

Regretfully, I pulled my hand out of his, and I might have imagined this, but it felt like his hand gripped mine a little firmer as I let go. I let out a slight cough to cover up my brain explosion, even though I knew there was no way he could possibly know what x-rated thoughts ran through my mind. It was only then that I really took any notice of his appearance, other than his gorgeous green eyes, of course. His skin was lightly tanned, and had a couple of days growth of facial hair. His light brown, sun-kissed hair was cut short at the sides and back, with the front kept long and flicked back. Around his stunning eyes, he had a slight sunglasses tan. He was obviously a guy who lived for the outdoors.

Moving on from his eyes, it was his lips that I was drawn to next. He had a tantalizing full lower lip that I just wanted to take between my teeth and give a good suck. His sexy mouth parted and formed a smile, showing perfectly white, straight teeth.

I’m not sure what gave me away. Perhaps I licked my lips or bit down on my lower lip, but something in his smile told me he knew exactly what I was thinking. My heart thumped loudly away in my chest in double-time. I thought for sure he would hear it. One thing I knew for certain, he couldn’t take his eyes off me.

“LJ, you should have told us you were coming tonight. Ben would have had a car pick you up,” Taylor said as she made her entrance, champagne flute in hand, shoulder barging past me like I was invisible. She rudely positioned herself between Levi and myself, took a firm hold of his bicep, and air kissed his cheek. For no other reason other than the fact she was touching him, I felt like reaching out and bitch-slapping her. I instantly disliked her.

I got the feeling she wasn’t used to not being the center of attention. Her Australian accent wasn’t as strong as Levi’s. In fact, she sounded more American than Australian. I remembered watching an interview with a famous Australian actress who had said that some Australian actors found it hard to switch between the two accents, and because she lived and worked in the US, she thought it more fitting she choose the American side.  I guess I knew which one Taylor chose.