Unlucky in Love ( Lucky #1) (2 page)

“Honey, you have more than just bad luck with men; you have bad luck period. Or did you forget—”

“Don’t.” She held up her hand and closed her eyes to the truth.

“I’m just saying . . .”

“I know,” she moaned. “But since there is no way to reverse what that witch did . . .”

“There are no such things as witches. Well, except for Wiccans, but they don’t have magical powers.”

“This one did.”

She cringed when she remembered what had happened last year. Then she looked down at her watch and gasped. “I’ve got to go. I’m meeting him in half an hour.”

“Meeting? He’s not picking you up?”

“No. I thought it would be best to not have to explain why I don’t have furniture.” She looked around her still-empty apartment.

“Fine, but call me the second you get home.”

“Yes, Mother.” She smirked. “Wish me luck.”

“You’re going to need more than that.” Amy added, “But good luck and have fun.”

CHAPTER TWO

That night was one of the best nights she could remember. Christian had taken her to Ruth’s Chris Steak House. She’d passed by the place for years but had never stepped inside due to the prices on the menu that hung outside.

The food was fantastic, the atmosphere perfect, and her date had been dashing. As they were walking out, he hinted at going back to her place, but she demurred.

“I’m having the place redecorated.” She silently hoped he’d invite her to his place, but he just smiled and nodded. He walked her back to the light rail stop and waited for the next tram. Then he pulled her into the darkness of the stop and kissed her until she felt her toes curl.

When she walked into her apartment less than half an hour later, she called Amy and told her friend everything.

“That settles it. We need to hit the furniture store this weekend.” Kristen sighed and rested her phone on her shoulder. “Do you think we can borrow your brother’s truck?”

“I’ll message him in the morning. Have you gotten the check from your insurance company yet?” Amy asked.

“No, but they told me it should be coming any day. I just hope it’s enough to get something decent.”

“Anything is a step up from the blue thing you called a sofa last time,” Amy added.

“Betty had character.” Kristen defended the old sofa that she had loved from the moment she’d gotten it.

“And fleas,” Amy added. Her friend sounded like she was holding back her laughter.

“No, she didn’t. You just didn’t like that she was a classic.” Kristen felt like she had to defend the old sofa, which, to be perfectly honest, had been a bad choice.

“Honey, you’re an interior designer. Why you choose the furniture you do for yourself is beyond me. I’ve seen some of the places you’ve designed, all pieces of art. The rooms you did for the old hotel downtown were simply amazing. Why you don’t use that talent for your own place is the real question.”

“Those are clients.” She frowned and tried to get comfortable on the air mattress. “Besides, just because I have unique personal taste doesn’t mean that the pieces I pick out for myself aren’t nice. Do you remember my dining room table?”

“Yes, that’s the only piece I truly miss.” Her friend sighed. “Well, I have an early morning. I’m trying to sell the place up in Breckenridge, which means a long drive tomorrow.”

Amy had been working at Rocky Mountain Real Estate as a realtor for the past few years after interning at the business all throughout college. Amy had told Kristen she’d be made for the job and Kristen believed her. Her friend had never been happier going to work.

“Be safe. I hear we’re in for some more snow.”

“Yeah, I’d heard. It’s a good thing I haven’t had my snow tires switched out yet.”

“Call me when you get home.”

“Yes, Mom.” Amy chuckled.

“Night.”

Kristen lay there in the dark and reviewed the evening in her head. Building up relationships was something she was good at. Turning little glances into steamy looks, small kisses into passionate ones.

Still, as she fell asleep, she dreamed of the perfect man and slept like a baby on the most uncomfortable bed she’d ever had.

The week flew by. Almost every day, she ran into Christian at the coffee shop. Some days he was in a hurry or she was and they only had time to chat for a minute or two.

She had hoped that he’d ask her out again, but he had mentioned that he would be out of town over the weekend for business.

When Saturday came along, she was thrilled when Amy showed up with her brother’s truck.

“I have never gone to just one store to shop for furniture before,” she warned as Amy parked the truck in front of the large warehouse building.

“Home Time Furniture is an okay place to buy standard stuff. I figured we’d start here first, since they have, like, a zillion sofas.”

Amy pocketed her brother’s keys and took Kristen’s arm as they walked into the store together. “If we don’t find something here, we can move on. So, I’m thinking you should go with leather.”

Kristen’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m not sure. I don’t like to feel sticky during the summer and cold in the winter.”

“Some of the new leather is so soft, you’ll overlook the temperature issue.”

“I’m open-minded.” She was telling the truth. She really was trying to keep an open mind. After all, this is what she did for a living. She’d picked out leather for multiple clients before, and every one of them had been completely happy with her choices.

“I had forgotten how huge this place is. How are we ever going to find just one sofa I like?” She looked around. “I think it’s easier to pick things out for my clients.”

“There’s even a second floor.” Her friend pointed toward the large stairs that sat in the middle of the room. “I bought my dresser here last year. It took me almost three hours to find the one I wanted. This place is amazing.” Amy was looking around like she had plenty of energy to spare.

Kristen knew that they would be there for hours and glanced down at her feet. “I wish I had my old UGGs.” She frowned at her new pair and wiggled her toes. They weren’t as comfortable as her old ones, even though she had to silently admit they looked a whole lot nicer.

“Let’s start down here and make our way across the room.” Amy tugged on her hand until she followed her.

An hour later, she plopped down on a sofa that looked like the one, but it was hard as stone and so uncomfortable, she immediately jumped up.

She’d lost Amy almost five minutes earlier. One minute her friend had been standing beside her, the next she’d been gone. So, Kristen had walked around calling out her name like a lost child until she’d gotten distracted by the sofa. The most perfect sofa she’d ever seen.

She glared down at the thing in disgust. How could something so good-looking be so uncomfortable? When she started to back away from the hardest sofa she’d ever sat on, she bumped solidly into someone and almost fell over.

Strong hands went up to her shoulders as she turned around and gasped.

Christian stood there looking at her like she’d just punched him in the gut.

“Oh.” She smiled and reached out to put her arms around him, but he quickly dropped his hands and took a huge step backward. “Fancy running into you.”

He nodded and looked around quickly.

Instantly Kristen could tell that something was wrong. “I thought you were . . .”

“Christian, what do you think about this one?” asked a tall, slender blonde woman, who was holding a little blond boy in her arms as a little girl about three years old followed her. The woman walked over and looked down at the sofa Kristen had just vacated.

Kristen’s heart bumped in her chest as Christian watched the woman sit down on the hard sofa. The little girl climbed up beside her.

“That one’s nice,” he mumbled, then looked at Kristen.

She took a giant step back and almost knocked over a lamp on an end table. The woman’s gaze locked on her and she smiled slightly. Then Kristen looked, really looked, from the three people sitting on the sofa to Christian and knew.

“There you are,” Amy said behind her.

Kristen turned quickly and grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her away.

“What?” Amy glanced over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Kristen shook her head and continued to tug on her friend, knowing the tears would be falling soon. She didn’t look back; she couldn’t.

Finally, after getting lost in the huge place, she pulled to a stop in a small alcove area and sat down on a large bed and closed her eyes.

“That was Mr. Wonderful, wasn’t it?” Amy said, sitting next to her and putting her arm around Kristen’s shoulders.

Kristen nodded and felt the tears sting her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Amy said quietly.

She shook her head quickly from side to side. “I should have guessed.”

“How? How could you have known that he had a family?”

She shrugged and looked at her friend. “The curse.”

Amy tilted her head. “Let’s get out of here and grab some lunch. I no longer feel like shopping here.”

Kristen stood quickly and prayed that they would make it out of the store without bumping into Mr. and Mrs. Christian Bower II and family.

“What do you mean you bought a new car?” Amy sounded anxious over the phone.

Kristen smiled at herself in her new rearview mirror. “I bought a car. My insurance check came, and since I wasn’t in the mood to go furniture shopping again”—she frowned, remembering the shock of three weeks ago—“I decided to treat myself instead.”

“What did you do?” She heard Amy sigh.

“I used my insurance check as a down payment on a brand-new cherry-red Ford Mustang convertible.” She felt the machine purr underneath her. “We’re on our way to you now so you can drool over her and I can take you for a spin.”

“Kristen.” She heard the warning in her friend’s voice. “Are you sure . . .”

“Never been surer.” She relaxed back and felt the rich leather of the steering wheel in her hands. “Leather interior. You did say I needed leather, didn’t you?” She giggled.

“I’m happy for you, if this is really what you want.”

“It is. Just think of it. This way, I can drive out to see you and my folks more often. I have always hated riding the bus from Denver to Golden,” she said as she stopped at a red light. She wished it weren’t drizzling so she could put the top down. Maybe the sun would come out tomorrow and she could go for a long ride.

She heard a knock on the window and jumped a little. Then her door was yanked open and a gun was pointed directly in her face.

“Out! Now!” the man screamed at her.

Her eyes locked on the end of the gun. If he hadn’t reached in and yanked her out of the car, she would have sat there frozen with fear.

When her hands and knees hit the cement, she jolted free from the frozen shock she’d been in. She turned and watched her new red Mustang peel out as she sat on the side of the road.

“Kristen!” she heard in the earbud in her ear.

She jolted and fumbled for her cell phone in her jacket pocket.

“I . . . I just got carjacked,” she said, feeling her head spin.

“Are you okay? Where are you? I’m calling the police.”

Fifteen minutes later, Kristen sat in the back of a police car and relayed the entire story. She felt like a fool that she couldn’t remember even one detail about the man who had stolen her car, her purse, and her dignity.

Amy showed up with her brother, who asked more questions than the police had.

They drove her out to Amy’s place in Golden and sat with her while she called her insurance company and explained how the car they had just started insuring that morning had been stolen.

Since she had been talked into starting the dealer’s antitheft protection plan, the police had assured her that it wouldn’t take long to track the car down. Ten minutes after the police had called, the dealer activated the GPS. They hadn’t given her any more information but had assured her that they would call her once they recovered her new ride.

She hated to admit it, but just like shopping for furniture, buying a car was tainted now for her as well, and she thought about selling the flashy car as soon as she got it back.

What had she been thinking? Buying a car? She hated driving. Hated car payments. Hated that she’d been so stupid as to not think about her curse.

She rested her head on Amy’s table, feeling completely and utterly defeated.

“Honey, it’s not your fault.” Amy rubbed a hand over her back.

“Yeah, it is. I should have known.”

“I’m just thankful that you’re okay. Last month a man was shot downtown in a carjacking.”

She felt her skin grow cold as she glanced up at Amy. “I’m never driving again.”

“Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

“You’re smart,” she said as her friend helped her walk outside with a hand in hers. “You drive that.” She nodded at Amy’s sensible car, which was parked in front of her condo. “You’d never do anything as dumb as buy a flashy sports car. Though, it did feel wonderful to drive.”

“The police will recover it. I bet they already have it. It was smart to get the protection.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she croaked as she sank into her friend’s worn seats. “It’s ruined like everything else.”

“Don’t say that.” Amy glanced at her as she pulled out of the parking spot.

“Why? Do you honestly think that I would feel safe driving that thing again? Every time I’m stopped at a stop sign I’ll have a panic attack.” She tried not to hyperventilate now just thinking about it.

When her cell phone rang, she answered it quickly.

“Miss Collins? This is Detective Hopkins with the Lakewood police.”

“Yes?” She held her breath.

“We’ve located your vehicle.” She could hear the pause and knew it was bad. “Unfortunately, it appears that the thief lost control of the vehicle. The car was found upside down in Bear Creek just outside of Morrison. We’re having the car towed and should have a final report sent over to your insurance company in the next few weeks.”

She felt frustration consume her and closed her eyes. At least she wouldn’t have to try and sell the car now.