Read 42nd & Lex for Free Online Page B

not have a bruise.
    “Oh God no! I promise I will never do
anything to upset her Abri. Just keep Max!” Brooks clutches his chest in mock
heart attack at the mere thought. It is well known in the office that while Max
is a good assistant, he is prone to moodiness and droning on about celebrity
gossip until you want to punch him. I can tune him out and thus he has been
assigned to me for several years.
    “Speaking of Max, I told him to meet me here
after the partners left. He wants to sneak a peek at my—eh, Mr. O’Reilly.”
    Lindsey raises an eyebrow at me. I feel I
should probably explain before she explodes but I want to wait for Max so he
can corroborate my story. Speaking of the devil, Max is walking towards us and
I waive him down. “Hey! You made it. The partners have been gone about five
minutes. Grab a drink and a chair.”
    Max heads to the bar and returns with a
Coors Light. I am a little jealous. I like beer a lot better than wine,
especially Coors Light. Brooks and Lindsey look surprised that he hasn’t come
back with something sporting an umbrella.
    “What?” Max asks a little defensively,
noticing their surprised looks. “I drink beer. I also grill burgers and watch
football.” It was true. Max did follow football. “I think those tight pants are
awesome,” he adds for effect. I work to change the subject.
    “I was about to tell these two about our
encounter today.” I am eager to get another perspective on the situation and
develop a game plan before nine o’clock arrives. “Remember the guy I stepped on
yesterday?”
    “Uh, yeah, the hot one that was totally
checking you out, why?” Linds asks and then squeezes Brooks’ hand to show him
she isn’t into this guy at all.
    “I ended up in the elevator alone with him
this morning. I didn’t know it was him at first until he spoke.”
    “No!” she gasps. “So you talked to him and
he asked you out? How romantic.”
    “No, well, not in the elevator. I didn’t
even look at him when he thanked me for holding the door for him. He shows up at
the office and this one over here and Stacey let him in.”
    Max cuts me off to confirm that this is
true. Disapproving or not, he is into the story.
    “So I go in my office there is this god of a
man standing in there. Absolutely the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. He tells me
he’s seen me in the building and had to meet me.” I leave out the parts about
me being up all night thinking about Lucan and how my soul feels drawn to him
and how I’ve somehow decided that I like calling him Lucan better than Luke. “Anyways,
he asks me out for tonight and here I am.” I finally take a breath.
    “Oh my God, Abri, that’s the most romantic
thing I’ve ever heard. How did you keep that to yourself all day?”
    “I guess I didn’t want to get all psyched up
and then he not show,” I reply.
    “Whatever,”
Max interjects. “He’s coming.”
    We manage to kill nearly three hours
dissecting my first meeting with Lucan and getting to know Brooks. I envy their
new love glow and secretly hope I’ll be sporting one of my own soon.
    “We should do a trip to the ladies room to freshen up.” Lindsey
interrupts my daydream. “You said he’d be here at nine, right? It’s about
fifteen minutes ‘til.”
    Max hands me a bag with the flat iron and extra hair spray. God
I love Max, he is awesome. Lindsey and I head to the bathroom to do a once
over. 
    “I’m really happy for you and Brooks, Linds. That’s awesome,”
I say when we are alone.  
    “I’m not sure it’s really something, but I’m having fun,” she
answers, noncommittally. I don’t believe her for a second. “He is really nice
and cute.”
    My
hair has held up so I decide against plugging in a flat iron in a bar bathroom.
I don’t quite look like myself but it isn’t bad either. Max is certainly a
miracle worker. I just hope it isn’t so over the top that Lucan thinks I am
trying too hard. After all, most people don’t go home