Unlucky in Love ( Lucky #1) (6 page)

He crossed his arms over his chest, showing her that he wasn’t going anywhere.

She croaked, “I’d like something warm to drink first.” She nodded toward the microwave, which had just beeped.

He busied himself with mixing the drink, then carried it over to the small conference room and set it down on the table. She sat down and took a tentative sip. It wasn’t too hot, so she took another sip. The warm liquid felt like heaven.

“Go on.” He sat next to her and she could tell that he wasn’t going to leave her alone until he’d heard every detail.

CHAPTER SIX

He listened as she told her story of how her ex-boyfriend had wiped her out. He was taken aback by how trusting and naive she’d been. To date, he’d never allowed someone to sleep over, let alone trusted another person with a key to his place.

“You’re lucky he didn’t murder you in your sleep.”

She finished the mug of hot cocoa, and he noticed that her normal coloring had returned to her hands and face.

“I’ve learned my lesson.” She frowned and looked down at the empty mug. He could tell she was hiding something.

“What?” He leaned forward and waited.

“What?” She glanced up at him through her eyelashes.

He arched his eyebrows. “There’s something else.”

“Actually, I’ve written off all men for a while. Especially after Christian.” She waved her hand like she was shooing away a fly.

“Christian was the thief?” he asked.

She shook her head, so he waited. She sighed.

“Rod was the thief. Christian came after.”

“What happened with him? Was he an abuser, a murderer?”

She groaned. “Oh no, he was a complete gentlemen.” She rolled her eyes. “That was until I bumped into him and his wife and two kids.”

He watched her face closely for hurt, but all he saw was frustration.

“Men are scum,” she said, looking down at her hands.

He chuckled a little. “Sounds like you have a knack for catching the bottom dwellers.” She glanced up and looked at him. “Not all men are thieves or adulterers,” he assured her.

“I’m sure there are some decent ones out there, I’ve just sworn off trying to find them for a while.” She stood up and picked up the mug. “Thanks. For everything.” She turned to go.

He rushed over and took her shoulders in his hands. “What about dinner?” he blurted out.

Her dark eyebrows arched.

“I mean . . .” He was usually smoother than this. “Since it’s late, why don’t we grab some food, that way I can make sure you’re fully recovered.”

She sighed. “Thanks, but I’ve got—”

“It’s just food. We can eat downstairs, if you want.” When she looked like she was going to refuse him again, he added, “Listen, I don’t usually admit this, but I hate eating alone. Since my last meeting ran long and it’s too late for me to make something at home—I’m past starving at this point—I thought we could just grab something together. I’ll buy.”

She bit her bottom lip. “What about that kiss?” she said softly.

He shrugged. “It did the job of warming you up.” He smiled and she smiled back.

Then she nodded. “Fine, but I have to finish printing the changes for our meeting first.”

He agreed. “Fair enough. I need to grab some stuff too.”

Less than half an hour later, they walked into the restaurant downstairs. Her clothes and hair had dried a little. Her hair hung down past her shoulders in a curly mass. He was happy to see that she’d pulled on a large coat over her dress shirt and slacks and had changed into heavy black boots.

“Do you walk to work every day?” he asked after they’d been seated near the windows that overlooked the Sixteenth Street Mall.

She shook her head quickly. “I ride the rail.” She glanced at him over her menu. “You?”

“The bus drops me off in front of my condo. The train? You must live a little south of here?”

“Lincoln Park area.”

He smiled. He had really liked the area and had thought about getting a place near there himself. “I looked at a condo there but chose one just a few blocks from here instead. When the weather is bad, I hop on the Sixteenth Street bus. But in the summer I can walk everywhere.”

She set her menu down. “That’s the nice thing about living downtown.” She glanced up at him and he watched her cheeks turn a little pink. “Do you live alone?”

He tried to hide the smile. “Yes, you?” he asked.

She picked up her menu again and nodded.

“How long have you been in Denver?” he asked, enjoying the way she nibbled on her bottom lip when he asked her a question.

“Almost two years. After I finished school, I moved downtown.” She rested back in her chair and set down her menu.

“Where from?” He leaned a little closer to her, wishing he could feel the softness of her skin again.

“Golden. You?”

“Originally, Littleton. I’ve been downtown for almost five years.” Just then the waiter walked up and saved him from answering any more questions about himself.

After ordering, he asked her where she’d gone to school and how she’d gotten the job at R&S. He hung on to every word and had more questions he was dying to ask her.

He couldn’t explain it, but he wanted to know everything about her. Maybe to help him figure out what was drawing him to her so much.

By the time their dinner arrived, he knew more about her than he’d known about his last five ex-girlfriends combined. He didn’t understand why it still wasn’t enough.

He tried to ask as many questions about her during their meal, without sounding desperate. She had answered every one and had even asked him a few herself. He did notice she had stuck to asking him about work, instead of personal topics.

By the time their meal was over, he still felt like he wanted to know more and didn’t want to let her go just yet.

“The least I can do is walk you to the train station,” he said as they stepped out into the night. The snow had yet to let up and he was thinking they’d have around a foot of fresh stuff by morning.

“Really, I’m all right now.” She tucked her hair into her coat hood.

When she shoved her hands into her pockets, he frowned down at her.

“You should have gloves,” he said as he put his own winter gloves on.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I have a nice new pair that Amy bought me just last week, but I couldn’t find the left one.” She shrugged. “I think I might have left it on the train.”

“With your winning ticket?” he teased. He watched her lips turn downward and noticed the sad look in her eyes.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“No, it’s okay. I’m over it.” She shook her head slowly, but he could still see the sadness in her eyes.

“You’re not a very good liar.” He chuckled.

Her smile fell away. “Lately, I’m not very good at a lot of things.”

Reaching down, he pulled his gloves off and handed them to her.

“What?” She tucked her hands deeper into her pockets. “I can’t take your gloves.”

“Listen, I have a short bus ride, since I’m only a few blocks down. You have a wait at the train station, and then who knows how long of a walk it is to your place. Take them. Return them if you want. I have a few other pairs at home.”

He nudged the gloves closer to her and she looked down at his hands. Then she sighed and reached out to take them.

“I’ll return them tomorrow. I can stop by the store on the way to work and buy another pair. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” She turned to go.

“I wanted to meet with you a few minutes before we head out to the Market Place site,” he said, feeling the need to say more, to keep her talking until the train came.

She nodded as she slipped his large gloves over her small hands. “I’ll be at the office about an hour ahead of the meeting.” She glanced up at him. “We can head out to the site together from there.”

He turned and stopped walking. “Here comes your train now.”

“Thanks.” She looked back toward him. “For saving me from freezing, for dinner, for the gloves.”

He smiled. “Anytime.”

He watched her rush toward the train and hop on.

It was funny how a day could start out completely terribly and end on a high note. She remembered the kiss and felt her face heat, then looked down at the soft leather gloves. Her fingers felt like heaven in the warmth of them. Even though they were too big for her, she couldn’t get over how nice it had been of Aiden to lend them to her. And to buy her dinner, for that matter.

She’d enjoyed talking to him and had felt like she’d gotten to know a little more about him. At least she was starting to believe he wasn’t a psychopath or, worse, married.

Still, she couldn’t quite call what she felt for him attraction. At least, not the kind that she’d experienced before.

Sure, he was handsome. But she’d never really fallen for the tall, dark, and in charge kind before. No, what usually got her heart skipping was the blond beach bum.

She frowned as she looked down at the gloves. Maybe that had been her problem all along. What she wanted wasn’t necessarily what she needed.

She thought about the dinner and about Aiden the entire trip home. By the time she walked into her apartment, with two new gloves, she had decided to keep an open mind about Aiden.

Of course, she needed her best friend’s opinion on the matter. So she picked up her phone and dialed her.

“You did what?” Amy sounded like she was running through a tunnel.

“I decided to keep an open mind about Aiden.”

“Who’s Aiden?” She heard Amy ask.

“He’s new at R&S.”

“And? What does he do there?” Her friend’s tone told her she was expecting another bomb to go off.

“Um, well, I don’t actually know. No one does. Only that he’s here on a temporary basis until he’s not.” She realized that he’d been too busy asking her questions during dinner to answer any of the ones she’d directed at him.

“O-kay.” Amy drew out the word. “What does that mean exactly?”

She sighed, feeling like a fool. Nothing like your best friend to make you realize you’d jumped the gun. “It just means that I’ve never gone for a dark-haired, brown-eyed guy before. You know, clean cut, wears a suit.”

“He wears a suit?” Amy sounded interested for the first time.

“Yeah.” Kristen frowned, thinking that she’d just walked into another trap. After all, all she knew about him was that his name sounded familiar and he was not her type.

“What’s his name?”

“Aiden.” She rested back against the wall as she sat on her air mattress.

“Aiden what?” She could hear the question in her friend’s voice.

“Aiden Scott.” Just saying the name out loud made her heart skip for some reason.

“And?”

“And what?” She rubbed her forehead.

“Kristen, don’t make me come over there. I have an early meeting.”

She giggled. “He’s tall, has dark hair with a little curl to it, chocolate eyes that are hard to read, and totally not my type.”

Amy was silent for a while. “I like him.”

“What?” She sat up and blinked a few times.

“Oh, come on. He breaks the mold. He’s nothing like the last three guys you’ve dated.”

“I don’t count Tyler.” She closed her eyes, remembering how the first real man of her dreams had run off with his best friend, Jake.

“Honey, Tyler got to second base, he counts.”

“No. He only dated me to confirm that he was gay. That doesn’t count.”

“Okay, but you have to admit, the beach-bum guys just don’t work for you.”

She sighed. “Yeah, somewhere out there is my perfect man.”

“Just be careful with this one, okay?” Amy begged.

“Right.” She felt like a fool. She didn’t know Aiden’s intentions, but she had a feeling she was being played again. Her history made her cautious.

When she finally hung up with Amy, she decided a long, hot bath was in order. By the time she pulled herself out of the water, her entire body was aching and she knew she was paying for the short time she’d been locked out on the balcony.

She swallowed two aspirin and drank another mug of hot cocoa before bed.

When the alarm went off early the next day, she groaned and pulled her sore body off the air mattress. Today was going to be worse than yesterday because she couldn’t stop shaking. Calling in sick was not even possible, not when she was the one calling the shots at the meeting.

At least the meeting was early. After she was done, she could head straight home and take the rest of the day off to recuperate.

It took a lot of energy to pull on her clothes. She didn’t even really think about what she was wearing; she just picked the warmest clothes she had. When she stepped outside, she shivered and felt like crying. It was still snowing. How could it still be snowing?

The short hike to the station usually didn’t bother her, but today every bone in her body ached and every step felt like it could be her last. She even stopped in the little store on the corner to purchase a new pair of gloves and a hot cup of tea to help soothe her sore throat. But, as she stepped out again, even her new gloves did little to warm her from the cold wind. She tucked her free hand deep into her jacket’s pockets, but still felt like the chill was pushing through her and nothing would stop it. Even her eyelashes seemed frozen. When she walked into the office, Carla stopped her in the hallway just as the feeling was coming back to her face.

“Oh my goodness. Are you sick?” She rushed over to Kristen and took her arm. “Why on earth did you come in today?” She reached up and felt her forehead. “You’re burning up.”

“I have a meeting with Bob and Mark this morning. Then I’m heading home and going to bed right after.”

Carla shook her head. “You could have let someone else handle that.”

She leaned a little on the countertop, feeling like she’d just run a marathon. “No, it’s my baby.” She silently wished for the day to be over.