The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

Chapter 2

Of course, nothing ever worked out that simply. She knew she was supposed to be working right now, but when she looked up and saw the man nervously making eye contact with her, she couldn’t help but study him a little bit more. She stared at him and studied his features, taking him in for what he was and trying her hardest not to get herself into trouble.

Lucy was no stranger to boys. In fact, most of her life had been dedicated to figuring out what it was to have boys in her life. She needed to figure out what she was going to do when boys showed up and started flirting with her. Beautiful girls knew how to work with the organic dance of coming to terms with the reality that boys wanted to get to know you very well and that they had intentions. If there was one thing she was guilty of, it was the fact that she was very interested in those intentions.

It wasn’t that Lucy was a sl*t, but she wasn’t afraid of s*x. Sure, at one point in her life, when she had been a virgin, she was scared of having s*x for the first time, but since the moment she thought that s*x was something she wanted to be good at she realized it was something she wanted a lot of in her life. Though she’d only had a handful of boyfriends, she picked them specifically for the hope that they wouldn’t betray her trust and that they would be worth the effort and work that a relationship required. She didn’t want a douche to think of her as a conquest. Since college, however, she hadn’t really invested the time in anyone because she wasn’t ready for it. She wasn’t eager for another heartbreak and the last one had been a doozy.

But this guy, there was something special about him. He was a classic sort of handsome she had never really thought about, but she’d always been attracted to. There was maturity to the look he had which made her want to know more about him. He wore gray pants and a gray vest over a soft blue button up shirt he’d rolled the sleeves up on and was making quite the statement with. He was striking, handsome, and fashionable. She looked at his cheeks, jawline, and chin; all of them covered with a thin brown stubble that was both well cared for and actually rugged looking. She hated whenever she saw men that didn’t know how to care for a short beard or just couldn’t grow stubble if they wanted to. This man, however, had the good, solid look of an even stubble that she truly admired.

His long hair was combed back and maintained well, keeping it out of his face and he wore a pair of glasses that weren’t necessarily vogue, but they weren’t ugly either. They were the kind of glasses that drew her attention only when she really noticed them and really gave him the chance to be admired. They sat on his gentle slope of a nose and his high cheekbones looked like they were about to support them. He had blue eyes that reminded her of the distant sky on a spring day. She felt overly romantic about the look of him.

Of course, his appearance was made possible by the fact that he was strong looking, the kind of build that came from the blessings of the Lord Above and the hard work of a gym to keep it just so. She looked at it and she saw him as a person who really knew how to make sure that he was taken care of and that he was healthy. She liked that about him. She’d dated too many men who had just left college and were lost as to what they were doing with themselves and the first victim of that chaotic time was their body. But this man had a look that might suggest that he was a few years older than her. She looked down, realizing that they’d locked their eyes for far too long.

It had been almost a year and she was more than eager to have s*x with a handsome guy that she’d just met. What was wrong with her?

“Hi,” a voice said to her.

It was the kind of deep, smoky voice that came from a man who knew how to use his voice, not a smoker. She looked up and stared into the eyes of the handsome man from the bar and he extended his hand to her in a formal introduction that made her wonder what was happening right now.

“James,” he said softly.

She reached out and shook his hand, grinning like a mad fool as she stared at him in a baffled and strangely humbled sensation that made her feel like she was drowning.

“Lucy,” she answered and he grinned at her.

“That’s a fantastic name, Lucy,” he said to her as he sat down.

She thought it was bold of him to just sit down across from her, but there was something exciting about that. She liked that he wasn’t waiting for her permission and that she wasn’t going to have to give it to him. They were the last people in the lounge and it looked like the bartender was about to call it quits as well. The lounge was open twenty four hours a day, but they were going to run out of drinks very soon and that slightly worried her.

“Are you with the tour?” he asked her after a second of silence where she felt like she was drowning in an eternity of thoughts and second guessings that were flooding into her mind. She knew she needed to get a grip on herself, but how was she supposed to get a grip when he was so cute.

“Yeah,” she said with a little shrug. “I’m new though. I just got called in today. I’m a replacement for Ben Calivan.”