Page 88 of Angel In Armani

There was a word for that, but she wasn’t ready to even think it. She pulled the shreds of her self-control back around her and stepped back from him.

“Thanks, you look pretty good yourself,” she managed with just the right tone of casual delight.

“Turn around,” Lucas said. “I want to see the rest of that dress.”

She spun obediently, feeling the layers of skirt waft against her skin with a delicious rustle. Only she didn’t want silk and tulle touching her. She wanted Lucas. “Do you like it? Shelly and Maggie helped me find it.”

“They did good work,” he said fervently. “But I really need you to tell me how to get you out of it.”

She laughed. “Patience is a virtue, Dr. Gorgeous. You just got here.”

His eyes were still that hot midnight shade. “That’s long enough. I can get a room in the hotel in about ten seconds flat.”

She desperately wanted to say yes. But he was here to work. His partners were here. His parents were here. She couldn’t let him drag her off and do wonderful things to her, no matter how much she wanted to.

“Down, boy,” she said softly. “You haven’t even said hello to your mother.”

That seemed to do the trick. His eyes lifted from hers, narrowed, started scanning the room. “You met my mother?”

She nodded.

He winced. “You did. Christ. Sorry. I told Maggie to keep an eye on her. I wanted to introduce you myself. Was she nice to you?”

“Well, she didn’t seem overly impressed that I worked for the Saints. But I didn’t tell her we were seeing each other.”

“No, you didn’t, did you?” Flavia’s voice came from Sara’s left and her stomach nose-dived.

Holy buckets of crap. That was definitely not how she wanted Lucas’s mom to find out the news.

She turned, Lucas moving as she did, and tried to smile at Flavia. “Mrs. Angelo?—”

“Mother,” Lucas said, and he bent to kiss his mother’s cheek. “Be polite.”

Flavia’s eyes were hot as they looked up at him. “I’m not the one forgetting my manners. Or did I miss the part where you told me about your new … friend?”

The ice was back in her voice. Only this time it was cold enough to seed a glacier.

“I was waiting to introduce you tonight,” Lucas said. “There hasn’t been time.”

“I see,” Flavia said. Her eyes flicked to Sara. “I guess this explains why your little venture suddenly has a new helicopter pilot.”

The words helicopter pilot had never sounded so much like gold-digging floozy. Sara bristled, every muscle in her body tightening in denial.

“Sara is an excellent pilot and she was hired for that reason, not any other.”

Lucas’s voice was almost as icy as his mother’s. There wasn’t a single drop of heat left in his eyes. No, they’d gone cool and distant.

Crap. She’d known this was going to happen. There were reasons why she didn’t date guys like Lucas. Jamie had snuck around with Callie and she’d strung him along, promising that he’d meet her family “soon.” Jamie had told Sara that one night, not long before the accident. He hadn’t told her whom he was seeing, just that they were serious and he was going to meet her parents.

Who knew, maybe it was true. But Sara didn’t think so. Jamie had been Callie’s little slumming-it fling. And Flavia Angelo was looking at her as though that was exactly what Sara was to Lucas.

“Whatever you say, Lucas,” Flavia said. “We can discuss this another time.”

Lucas reached down and took Sara’s hand. “There’s nothing to discuss. Sara and I are involved. The end.”

His words lifted Sara’s mood a bit but the fury in Flavia’s eyes—clear despite the carefully pasted-on social smile—made it plain that this wasn’t the end of the discussion. Not by a long shot.

Sara’s mouth was bone-dry and the room was suddenly far too hot. “I think I need a drink,” she said and turned away from both of them, pushing away through the crowd.

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