Drawn To You (Taking Chances #3) (14 page)

Halfway through the evening, Sam pulled Lucas onto the dance floor during a slow song and whispered in his ear. “Last dance before we go?”

“You want to leave so soon? You didn’t talk to everyone yet.”

“I’m good. I got to dance with you, so my night’s complete.”

“Sure, if you’re ready to go, there’s somewhere I’d like to take you.”

Sam’s eyes lit up in interest. “Where?”

“You’ll see.”

“You’re keeping me in suspense? Let’s go!” She pulled him off the dance floor, and after saying goodbye to their friends, they left the hotel.

Once in the car, Lucas drove a few miles across town. They pulled into the parking lot of Lincoln High School and parked.

Sam glanced out the window at the buildings before them. “You wanted to come here? Feeling nostalgic, are we?”

Lucas grabbed his jacket and opened the door. “Come on. We’re going back to where it all started.”

They exited the car and held hands as they walked onto the school campus.

“This is bringing back a lot of memories, some of which I’d rather forget.” Pointing to a row of classrooms, she remarked, “Isn’t that where we had detention?”

“You’re asking the wrong person. But I do remember where the chem lab is.”

They arrived at the next row of classrooms, and Lucas unlocked the first door and flipped on the lights. Regular chairs and desks took up one half of the room and lab workstations on the other. A large poster of the periodic table hung on one wall.

“Wow, it’s exactly the same.” Placing a hand on her hip, she asked. “Wait, how’d you get the key?”

“I’ve got connections.”

“Connections?” Sam asked suspiciously. “What are we doing here?”

“It’s time for a little experiment.” At her dubious look, he laughed. “Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Uh, it got squashed when I remembered how much I hated this place. I’m getting flashbacks of all the times Mrs. Martin snuck up on me and confiscated my phone.” She sat down on the metal stool Lucas set before her. “This better be good.”

“It will be. It’s fairly straightforward. Only a few steps.” He sat down next to her and pointed at the objects he had arranged on the table earlier in the day: a large glass beaker, a bottle of water, and a small bag of colored candy. With more ease than he felt, he opened the bottle and poured the water into the beaker. Handing the bag to Sam, he said, “Please pour these in.”

“I can do that.” Sam dumped in the seven pieces of candy and watched them float to the surface. “What now?”

“Now we wait.” Lucas produced a penny from his jacket pocket and placed it on the black tabletop. “Would you care to share your highs and lows for today?”

“Seriously? Well, I definitely know what the low is.” Sam glanced around the room. “Being reminded of all the time I spent suffering in this place. If it wasn’t for you, I would never have passed.”

“You’re saying all the work I made you do paid off?”

“I guess so,” she grudgingly admitted. “Fine, yes.”

“You’re very welcome.”

She groaned. “Thank you for helping me.”

“I love how much we’re agreeing with each other.” He touched the tip of her nose with affection. “How about the high?”

“Oh, that one’s easy.” She ran one finger down his navy blue tie and gave it a playful tug. “All the memories I have of us in this room. Fighting over who would get to pour or mix. Us elbowing each other and getting in each other’s way. That one time we knocked heads trying to look into the beaker at the same time.”

“That was bad. You have one hard head.”

“Ha!” She released his tie. “I need it to knock some sense into your thick skull.”

“I’d have to agree with that.”

“It took a while, but I think it worked.” She nodded to the coin and said, “Your turn. Remember, no copying. Get your own answers.”

“Using my words against me, are you?” The glint in her eyes put a smile on his face. There was so much about this woman that pushed him out of the predictable and comfortable into wanting more. He was ready for more. He hoped Sam felt the same way. He took a deep breath and nodded. “All right. My low is wishing I had taken more chances when I was younger. My high is getting the chance to do it now. Speaking of”—he checked the round clock on the wall—“it’s time to check on our experiment.”

“So, Mr. Choi, what’s the lesson for today?”

“Let’s take a look.” He gestured at the beaker, relieved to see that the water now had streaks of color—red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple—flowing throughout it. “It worked.”

“The candy melted.” She gazed at the round, white pieces at the surface. “That’s got to be the prettiest sciencey thing I’ve ever seen. What are those floating things?”

“They’re letters that peeled off the candy. They don’t melt since they’re made of edible ink.”

“Fancy,” she remarked. “A. M. Y. R. R. E. M. Does it spell a word?”

“Two words, actually. Both starting with M.”

“Do I get a hint?”

“That was it.”

“You’re really making me work for this.” Sam hovered over the beaker as she thought out loud. “M.A.R.Y. Who’s Mary—oh!” Her sentence ended with a loud gasp as she looked up. “Lucas?”

“Down here.” He directed her attention to where he was kneeling on the floor. In his hand he held a black velvet box, which he opened to reveal a square cut yellow diamond engagement ring. The shocked look on her face made him grin. “I take it you figured out the message?”

Sam nodded, her lips trembling with emotion.

“Good. Sammie, this is where I fell for you, years ago,” he began, surprised at the confidence he heard in his voice. “I didn’t understand much about love then, but I do now. I love you. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. You were the first girl I kissed, and God willing, I want you to be the last woman I kiss. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”

She stared at him, then the ring, and back again. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

He waited another minute and began feeling the hard floor warm under his knee. His smile faded and his tone faltered with his next question. “Will you marry me, Sam?”

Tears streaming down her face, she bent down and took Lucas’s face in both hands. “Yes. Yes!”

“Finally! Thank you,” he exclaimed. He placed the ring on her finger and breathed a sigh of relief. “I was starting to wonder if you’d lost your voice.”

She pulled him up and wrapped her arms around him. “That’ll never happen. You just surprised the heck out of me.” She held up her hand to gaze at the ring. “I love this ring almost as much as I love you.”

“You can thank Lucy for that. I was looking at the white diamonds when she pulled me over to the yellow ones. It’s definitely more you, bright and bold.”

“She knew you were going to propose? What did she say?”

“I told her I was going to ask if you wanted to be part of our family and live with us. She was all for that idea. You can help me go over the details with her later. I’ll admit, you do explain things a little better than me.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “A little?”

“Okay, a lot.”

The ringing of a cell phone interrupted them. Lucas reached into his pocket and answered the call. “Hello?” he responded in Cantonese, earning another shocked stare from Sam. “Okay, see you soon.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s time to celebrate.” Lucas began cleaning up the experiment. He dumped the contents of the beaker into a sink, wiped the table, and placed the stools back where he found them. “We have a party to go to at Koo’s Kitchen.”

“My parents’ restaurant? Was that my mother on the phone?”

“You catch on fast,” he winked. “I wanted their approval before proposing. Melanie helped me get in touch with them.”

“You got the key to this room from Ben, didn’t you?”

“Right again. Are you surprised I passed his inquisition?”

“Ben’s not the scary one; it’s my mother you have to win over. But you must’ve earned her approval if you proposed.”

“I got on her good side fairly quickly. She said I saved her from having to place an ad for you in the paper. And that I’ll be helping to save our Chinese people.” He cocked his head to one side. “I wasn’t sure what she meant by that comment.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Believe me, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.”

“I know.” Laughing, she reached for Lucas’s hand and pulled him close. “What I can’t believe is that I get to spend the rest of my life with you and Lucy. This marriage proposal’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me from getting pulled over.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m glad you broke the law that day.”

“Really?” she asked, her tone revealing a little too much glee.

“Sammie Koo, don’t go getting any ideas. Let’s at least try to stay on the same side of the law from now on.”

She pretended to think for a moment, then released an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, fine. But only if we kiss on it.”

Lucas grinned. “Deal.”

And kiss, they did.

Afterword

When I decided to write a series, I figured three books would be a good number to aim for. I had no idea when I wrote book #2 who I would be focusing on for book #3, but Melanie’s sister Sam jumped off the pages, waving her arms and yelling, “Me!” Or maybe “Moi!” would have been more her style. ☺ Either way, I was intrigued by her feisty, “rock the boat” ways and said, “Why not?”

Little did I know how difficult her story would be to write! I wanted to play off on the whole “opposites attract” theme (which I love), so I needed to find a love interest who was as interesting as Sam and could hold his own. That’s how Lucas came about. He and Sam had me working overtime to create a story with fun dialogue, realistic character development and most of all—sparks! It was fun, but for a non-confrontational, anti-conflict introvert, it was not always easy. Good thing I have a hubby who is my alter ego. He, along with my spunky daughter, were the inspirations behind Sammie Koo. If you haven’t guessed, Lucas got some of his quirks from me. ☺

I wanted to show through this story that opposites can work well together and that different (and often times, opposing) views help balance us out. I’ve experienced this in my own marriage and seen how both hubby and I have grown to appreciate each other’s personalities. We are better people because of how much we rub each other the wrong way (haha!). Even though we can drive each other crazy, we try to be kind and extend grace to one another as God has done for us. (And I remind myself to be thankful when hubby helps load the dishwasher—yes, that scene from the book may have been based on real life). ☺

Oh, I can’t forget to mention Lucy! I hadn’t expected to include a child in this story, but she seemed to fit right in and played a big role in bringing Sam and Lucas together. I couldn’t imagine this story without her.

This novella concludes the
Taking Chances
series, but I have more stories in store for you, so stay tuned. ☺

Thank you for spending time with Sam and Lucas! I hope you enjoyed their story!

Acknowledgements

Special thanks goes out to these individuals who have blessed my life and the making of this book:

My online writer’s squad, Clean Indie Reads, that has been a huge source of encouragement and support to me.

Deborah Bradseth of Tugboat Design for all her time spent on the cover to get Sam’s shoes “just right” and for her great work on the interior formatting.

Christy Chu for being my logical and reliable critique partner.

Michele Chung for our late night chats and giving me insight into the characters I made up, but didn’t quite understand.

Janine Acevedo for her gracious help and encouragement in making this manuscript way more than “alright”.

Audrey Rich for offering to beta read for me and being a “better reader” than I could be.

Liane Reed, my lil sis, for being my ever faithful and detailed proofreader, time and time again.

My two munchkins who provide me with first hand experience of how two very different people who drive each other crazy can still be the best of friends.

My hubby for listening to me during all the moments I stressed out over this story and for being everything I’m not—because that’s exactly what I need.

If you enjoyed spending time with these characters, be sure to read about Ashlynn’s story in
Straight to You
, the first book in the
Taking Chances
series (available on
Amazon.com
):

Wanted: A modern knight in shining armor
(white horse optional)

Young, sweet and naive, Ashlynn Peters is ever the optimist when it comes to love, but even she is surprised when she crosses paths with a real life Prince Charming. Jeremy Adams, her childhood crush, is back in town. He is even more sweet and handsome than she remembers, and also much more intriguing than any man she’s dated before.

Ashlynn finds herself falling hard for Jeremy, only to discover that he may not be the perfect guy she thinks he is. Will she make the choice to look past Jeremy’s tarnished armor or will she give up her chances of ever reaching happily ever after?