Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
LUCY
Fuck!
I almost kissed Rich, and not only that, but I got the impression he was going to kiss me too. That would make things interesting later when I thought of him as I played with my clit.
Instead, my phone rang. It was Annie.
“Hello, babe.” I grinned down the phone.
“Listen, I thought I was going to get this finished up by now, but they’re talking about us still having another few hours of work ahead. Do you want to hold off on heading over to mine?”
“Sure. If anything changes, will you give me a ring?” I felt like I’d been busted. Nervously, I looked over my shoulder to where Rich was standing with his back to me, finishing off the curry he had started earlier.
“Yeah, sweets. I’ll call if anything changes. Better go. Love you!”
“Love you too!” I replied, and she hung up. I turned to Rich. “Uh, that was Annie.”
He didn’t even look at me. “She’s going to be late?”
“Yeah.” I suddenly felt childlike and awkward.
“You’re welcome to stay and have curry with me if you like. I mean, you don’t have to rush off. Not if you don’t want to.”
I didn’t really want to leave. The opposite was true; I wanted to stay. Ideally, we would get right back to where we had been before Annie called me. Biting my lip, my mind raced with all the ‘could have been’ ideas it was throwing my way.
“I’d like that,” I said softly, and Rich glanced over his shoulder at me. The look he gave me was positively primal, but he looked away again and went back to cooking.
Disappearing into the hall, I headed upstairs to the bathroom. Once behind the closed door, I lost it, whispering to myself in a rant.
“Fuck! What am I thinking? This is Rich, for Christ’s sake. I can’t cross that line. I need to get a grip.” I stared at my reflection. I took a deep breath in and puffed it back out again. “Lucy Park, this is your best friend’s father. You are being insane. You need to calm yourself down and focus. You do not fancy Rich. You do not fancy Rich. You do not fancy Rich...”
“Lucy, curry’s ready.” Rich’s voice echoed up the stairs. I looked in the mirror one last time before flushing the loo and washing my hands to hide the fact that I’d been talking to myself in there. I took a deep breath, repeated my mantra in my head, and headed back downstairs.