Page 84 of Angel In Armani

It was nearly ten past seven and she was starting to feel like an idiot. She had a coat flung over her dress, but she was still getting some curious looks from the people going in and out of the building.

She checked her phone again. No message.

Damn it.

The revolving door in the lobby started to move and she looked up. Only to see Malachi walking toward her, looking apologetic.

“Mal,” she said a little warily as he reached her. Mal bent and kissed her cheek. Since Lucas and she had come clean, she seemed to been moved into “approved friend” status with Alex and Mal and, other than in the office, they both had taken to kissing her hello and good-bye.

Which wasn’t so hard to take.

Mal straightened, easing his tuxedo jacket back into place with a shrug. It was unbuttoned and the bow tie around his neck undone. He didn’t wear the suit as naturally as Lucas did, but that didn’t make him any less spectacular in it.

“Hey, Sara. Lucas sent me to pick you up. He’s stuck in surgery but he’ll be done in an hour or so. Doctor’s hours, you know.”

She nodded and pasted on a smile against the sharp snap of disappointment. Lucas was a surgeon. A great one. In demand. That meant a lot of emergency calls from athletes around the country. A heads-up might have been nice, but if he was in surgery and something had gone wrong then maybe there just hadn’t been time.

She lifted her chin, determined to not let Lucas being late ruin her night. “Well, you’re kind of cute in that tuxedo. So I guess you’ll do.”

“Always the bridesmaid,” Mal said. He held out an arm.

Sara tucked her hand through it. “Somehow, I find that hard to believe. Pretty sure there would be potential dates lining up for you if you wanted them.”

“Not much time for socializing right now. And Alex and Lucas keep beating me to the gorgeous women at the Saints.” Mal navigated them through the revolving door and gestured toward the limo parked out front. “Our chariot.”

It took a few minutes to wrangle dress and coat into the limo without ruining either of them or her hair, but she managed with Mal’s help. He offered Bollinger but she took Perrier. She hadn’t eaten since lunchtime, butterflies about the ball killing her appetite. Alcohol and low blood sugar didn’t mix in her experience. Besides, she was flying later, so she’d rationed herself to one drink for the night. She was going to wait until she was with Lucas.

The fizzy water was cool, which was good because the limo was warm, even though she’d shrugged out of her coat once inside.

She watched Central Park, all dark green mystery and pools of light sliding by outside the windows. Limo travel would be easy to get used to. All the space was pretty sweet, and it smelled of clean leather and the deep smoky spice of whatever aftershave Mal had used rather than of sweaty cabdriver and fake air freshener.

All that was missing was Lucas himself. She tried not to think about what he might be doing to her if they were alone in a limo together but heat swept over her anyway. He’d kept teasing her about doing all sorts of things to her in a dark spot at the ball.

Part of her hoped he’d been joking but most of her, right at this moment, fervently hoped he hadn’t.

She swallowed more Perrier, trying to cool herself down. Nothing was going to happen if Lucas didn’t get out of his surgery.

Of course he would. She drank again.

“Nervous about tonight?” Mal asked.

“A little.” Make that a lot. Lucas’s parents were on the guest list, a little bombshell he’d dropped the night before. To be fair, he’d seemed surprised by the information himself, claiming that he hadn’t expected them to accept the invitation. But she’d dropped him in the deep end with her own folks, so she’d just have to woman up and cope with his.

Mal topped up her glass. “It’ll be fine. Just like any other party. Only bigger-scale.”

“You mean kegs and grilled burgers and loud rock ’n’ roll?”

Mal laughed. “I see you went to the same sort of parties in the army as I did. This is the same principle, just fancier booze and food. And then we ask them for money.”

“I see.” He wasn’t really easing her nerves any. Army parties and pilot parties—which tended along the same lines—she could handle. This was a whole other level.

But if she wanted Lucas, this was apparently the life that came with it. Maybe she’d like it. She hadn’t thought she’d like baseball but she was enjoying it now. She still didn’t understand half of what was going on in the games and even less of what all the statistics meant, but she liked the crowd and the silly music and the seventh-inning stretches and the sense of fun. Plus watching guys built like Ollie Shields in tight pants and short-sleeved shirts wasn’t too hard.

She didn’t think tonight was going to have much silliness, though. But probably just as much stuff she didn’t understand. Though Lucas would be there with her, and that was what mattered. Lucas who thought he could fix her dad’s leg. Lucas who was operating on her dad next week. Lucas who had offered to get his lawyer onto the insurance company if they hadn’t assessed the A-Star by the end of the month.

Lucas who made her brain melt every time he touched her.

For him she could do this.

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