Page 20 of His Perfect Woman

A few hours later, I was covered in crumbs and my stomach was in knots with worry. I finally decided there was nothing I was doing at the office that couldn’t be done from home, so I packed up my bag and left. I was relieved to avoid Lucas, Camille, and Trent on my way out. I’d had enough of them for one day.

Walking through the front door of my apartment, I sighed and slumped my shoulders—letting everything slide off of me into a pile on the floor. I couldn’t remember the last time I was so eager to change into some comfy sweats, throw my hair up in a bun, and veg out in front of the TV. But no sooner had I sat down than a knock came at my door.

I shuffled over to answer and was promptly met with a big, beautiful arrangement of blue roses. I knew who they were from without even reading the card. Lucas knew blue was my favorite color.

I thanked the delivery man and placed the vase on the table so I could pluck out the notecard and see if my guess was accurate.

Sorry this morning was so rough. Let me make it up to you…

—Lucas

Thinking back to Lucas’s determination to flirt around what happened the night before, I had a strong inkling as to what he had in mind as far as ‘making it up’ to me. I bit my lip and smiled, reminding myself to stay strong.

It troubled me to think of him seeing someone who would want to come between our friendship. But I guessed that kind of thing happened all the time. I had lost a number of guy friends from college or past jobs over the years because they got married and settled down, and their wives didn’t think it was appropriate for them to have a close female friend. I got it. They had a right to be cautious. But Lucas? I never imagined him letting a woman boss him around like that.

It stirred up all kinds of confusing, jealous feelings, and before I knew it...I caught my hand lunging for the phone against my will. Barely giving it a thought, I fired off a text to Lucas—inviting him over.

But this time, I wasn’t going to let things unravel as quickly as they had before. I ordered us a pizza and scanned the TV for movies we might watch. That’s what we needed. An old-fashioned movie and pizza friendly hangout with a few beers to clear the air. Lucas kept insisting we were good enough friends to pull this off, but all the drama had me thinking otherwise. Maybe if I could be reminded of how effortlessly our friendship flowed, I would feel more at ease with this whole thing.

Lucas showed up just moments before the pizza did. He looked me up and down in my sweats with the big greasy box in my hands and laughed to himself.

“What? What’s your problem?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t realize this was such a formal evening,” he quipped, still in his suit from the office.

“You’re just jealous that you don’t have something more comfortable to change into.”

“You are one hundred percent right about that,” he replied, sliding off his jacket and loosening his tie.

I tossed several slices of pizza onto paper plates and plopped down on the couch with Lucas following suit. He watched me as I snatched up the remote and continued scanning through the options.

“So...did you want to talk?” he asked, seeming confused.

“Not really.” I sighed. “But we can if you insist.”

“We probably should, right? You were so upset this morning...and you left saying you had a lot to think about it. Sorry if me mentioning seeing someone was weird…”

“Of course it’s not weird.” I scrunched up my face. “Why would it be weird?”

He held his hands up in the air. “No reason.”

I flipped off the TV for a moment and leaned forward. “The thing is...I wouldn’t want someone I was dating to cause tension between my friends and me. That sounds super stressful and frustrating. And I just wonder if you throwing us into this whole arrangement isn’t reactionary for you. Like you were scared of losing me as your friend, and now that your ex is out of the picture...you’re overcompensating. Maybe this is all just because you’re afraid of losing me.”

His face twitched, but his expression remained unreadable. Lucas was the king of not wearing his emotions on his sleeve, even if recent days hadn’t been such a shining example of that. It was what made him such a great businessman.

“So what if that was part of the reason?” he offered. “Would that be so bad?”

“Just seems like a drastic move for something that doesn’t have to be so complicated. Just don’t date jealous women and stop avoiding me. The end.”

“But those aren’t exactly the only circumstances we’re dealing with here,” he reminded me. “Anyway...mind if I use your bathroom real quick?”

“Go right ahead.” I waved him off.

I returned to my pizza, but could tell by the sounds from the hallway that Lucas had opened the wrong door. I cringed and jumped up, running over to stop him. But it was too late. He was standing in the doorway of what was intended to be a guest room...now mostly empty, aside from a big chest that sat in the middle.

“Wrong door,” I scolded him.

“What is this?” He stepped inside, getting close enough to see the contents of the trunk.

---