Page 37 of Full Court Love
“Come on in, young man.”
Her voice has dropped twenty octaves as I realize she’s pretending to be the dad of the house. Britt jumps in with her high-pitched old lady voice. “Well, aren’t you two just the cutest thing west of the Appalachian Mountains.”
I finally catch a glimpse of Jordan’s ridiculously chiseled face, and he appears to be very entertained by the whole bit. We all turn expectantly to Kya, who has her hands over her eyes. She peeks one out.
“I think I was supposed to bark or something and pretend to be a guard dog, but I really didn’t want to participate. Still don’t.”
Man, I love my roommates.
Still laughing, I pull Jordan out the door, and right before it closes, Britt shouts after us. “Don’t mess this up, Mr. Mitchell! Your girl is a dime piece!”
CHAPTER 16
JORDAN
Ilike hearing Lucy be called “my girl.” I also can’t take my eyes off her. As we walk hand in hand toward the restaurant, I trip on a groove in the sidewalk and almost take her down with me. But I can’t help it.
She looks like an angel, which sounds like a compliment from a five-year-old. It’s a true statement, though. With the white dress, her gorgeous hair, and that smile, I’m half expecting her to sprout wings and fly away from me.
My eyes haven’t left her, and finally she stops and looks up at me.
“I can feel you looking.”
She’s smirking ’cause she knows exactly why I’m staring.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She puts her hands on her hips, emphasizing her incredible figure even more. I desperately want my hands to replace hers right now. My eyes travel from the curve of her hips, up her body, and finally settling on her gorgeous lips. When I find her eyes, they look amused.
She laughs and I realize I’m caught red-handed, blatantly checking her out once again.
“All right, fine, you got me. But like, can you blame me? Seriously, Lucy, have you seen yourself?”
Her gaze immediately turns toward the ground. She’s noticeably embarrassed at the compliment and doesn’t know what to say. Her quiet humility, even in this little moment, is so endearing. I close the space between us and pull her into my chest. Then I whisper as I kiss the top of her head, “You really are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I just feel really lucky.”
Her mumbled response is once again an attempt to deflect. “Well, you picked out the dress, so this is actually all your doing.”
I take a step back, hands intertwined with hers, and meet her eyes with a genuinely concerned look on my face.
“Wow. I thought you were one of the smartest people at this school, but that argument was just straight trash. If you’re going to give a rebuttal, at least make it a legitimate point. Man, I’m disappointed.”
Her eyes flash with the thrill of competition, and the shy, humble Lucy is replaced by the cutthroat version.
“So, just because you’re a pre-law major, you think you are the arbiter of truth when it comes to evaluating the validity of an argument? I would beg to differ, sir.”
I try to fight the grin spreading on my face, but it’s no use. Everything that comes out of her mouth is either a huge turn-on, adorable, sassy, insightful, or some combination of all of those. I could talk to her for hours.
Wrapping my arm around her shoulders once again, I usher her toward downtown Maverick City.
“Come on—we don’t want to be late. I have a reservation.”
“Wow, really?”
She actually sounds impressed, and it makes me so glad I did it. Not because anyone has ever needed a reservation in the history of Maverick City dining, but because I wanted herto know this wasn’t just an off-the-cuff date. I put thought into it. If anyone deserves that, it’s Lucy.
As we stop in front of the Parlor, the fanciest restaurant in this little town by a factor of about three hundred, I pull open the door. As she brushes past me, I utter in a low tone, “And so we’re clear, it’s definitely not just the dress. You could be wearing a potato sack and still be the most beautiful person here.”
We walk into the dimly lit room, and I’m reminded just how grateful I am for the few small sponsorship deals I’ve been able to accept over the last couple weeks. I’m not making crazy money, but it’s enough that I can bring Lucy to a fancy restaurant and not be concerned that I can’t afford it.