Leah glanced across the hall for what felt like the hundredth time. Justin was still standing there with a gorgeous redheaded beauty at his side. He wasn’t supposed to be here. She knew for a fact that his name wasn’t on the list. Now here he was, and it was distracting. HE was distracting, looking all handsome and kissable.
She hadn’t even seen Justin since her brother’s wedding 4 months ago. He had been affable enough at the wedding. But now it appeared that she no longer existed in his scope of the world, as he easily strode through the elite of the party she had organized for the charity, laughing and joking, never looking her way. Not even once.
Another glance over and her chilled lemonade sloshed as she jerked in surprise. She’d been caught. Even though he was whispering into his date’s ear like they were the only two people in the room, Leah could almost swear that he was looking straight into her soul. She couldn’t break away. With ragged breath she leaned back, positively pinned.
Her heart contracted into a breath-stopping squeeze as his stony face melted slowly into a knowing smile. When he winked at her she was stunned.
A shudder rippled through her and a sudden desperate urge to be standing there, looking like she was waiting for him, took hold. She casually made her way to the outdoor patio when something within her wrenched her gaze back to where she knew he would be. He was still looking her way. Her face heated.
Slipping outside she leaned against the cool stone wall and closed her eyes, focusing solely on steady breathing.
“Hello there beautiful.” His voice was as deep, rich and smooth as ever. Leah opened her eyes and there he was standing right in front of her, hands casually in his pockets and a smile on his face.
Shivers raced up and down her spine as he held her gaze.
“Justin!” she gulped. Leah took in all the changes that couldn’t be seen from across the room, behind his girlfriend. He was built; the obvious evidence of his well-toned muscles pressing firmly against the confines of his formal dinner jacket. Had he always been so tall? His hair definitely had more chocolatey luster. How was anyone she dated supposed to compare to his…appeal?
She almost asked if he had been working out. Thankfully, her self-preservation filter was still intact, if a little shaky. Her voice, she was quite proud of herself to note, was not shaky at all. ”What are you doing here?”
“I was invited.” He answered; calm, unruffled, and utterly charming as his smile quirked to the side. Her heart all but stopped at the memories flooding through her. How many times had he looked at her like that right before he kissed her? It had been so long. Leah gave herself a strong mental slap. She had to keep her head on straight and not make a complete fool of herself. Yet it didn’t work as memories continued to wisp through her mind. It couldn’t be helped really. She had been utterly in love. He had been the one to leave, something about too much too soon, about building his career for her. She hadn’t been enough. No. He hadn’t been able to see that she was enough.
Leah shook her head to clear it, subconsciously smoothing any wrinkles that may have appeared in the last few seconds on her favorite teal wrap dress.
“No, I meant outside. Why are you outside on the balcony when everyone else is inside?” She dared to dash a smile up at him.
He carefully scrutinized her face with the same intensity that was still pinning her to the wall. “You are out here.”
“So?”
“I miss you Leah.” He took a step forward, dropping the distance down to mere inches. She had nowhere to back up to and it appeared as though he was well aware of that fact. “You’ve been running from me ever since I was stupid enough to let you go. Why are you hiding out here? Because of me?”
“I’m not hiding.” She defended, briskly. “I just happened to be out here enjoying the view and air and…” Her excuses trailed off when he shook his head and softly tucked some of her hair behind her ear.
“Save me a dance?” Even as she slowly shook her head she knew that even if she turned him down now she would still find herself dancing with him before the night was over. Every nerve ending in her body was screaming at her to lean into him and let him whisk her back into the room and onto the dance floor.
“Won’t your girlfriend mind?”
He chuckled, giving her a little room to breathe. “Melanie only agreed to be my date so she could have access to all the big names of business who came. I highly doubt that I will be seeing her at all the rest of the evening, unless she needs an introduction.”
Leah found herself nodding. That all made sense. Then it hit her. Here she was casually chatting about the party while she was seconds away from mushing into a pile of melt. No. Melting into mush.
“And you? How did I not know you would be coming? I saw the guest list dozens of times.” Her voice broke as she wavered. Leah found she could hardly think straight, let alone form full sentences.
With a slight smirk he leaned forward until their foreheads touched. Full of cocky self assurance he answered, “I thought it would be obvious why I’m here Leah. I knew you were in charge of getting this whole party together. I came for you.”
“Please tell me you did not crash a charity event.” Leah laughed, feeling herself softening.
“No. I didn’t crash. I am representing my boss who is out of town tonight but didn’t want our firm to miss this. Shaking his head, he held his arms out. “I have missed you.”
