PART 15

Lucas search the clusters of party-goers and guests for Riley. There were so many people and every time he took a step towards the bar someone stop him in his track. Lucas wondered if Riley perhaps gone home. Then he saw her talking to someone. The man must have said something funny because he saw her laugh.

Lucas' features hardened. His eyes glittered. He inhaled sharply as he saw red. And as Lucas headed closer to Riley he prayed that the man across from her keeps his distance... He shook his head, not even wanting to finish the thought because he knew exactly what he'd do and it wouldn't be pretty.

"There you are," Lucas growled into her ear.

Riley turned toward him. "Here I am, you found me."

His eyes snapped with fire. "Come on, the program is about to start and we need to get to our table."

Lucas took her by the elbow. With his other hand on her lower back, he pressed her through the crowd and down the hallway until they reached their table.

"What were you doing?" Lucas demanded, turning on her. "Who were you talking to?"

Riley shook her head, nonplussed. "Getting a drink. And I was talking to Mr. Miyagi"

"You two look cozy. He even looked like he's ready to bring you home."

She jerked her head back as if slapped. "Well, he's not bringing me anywhere, and we were just exchanging a few words. Pleasantries, that's all."

His face swept her face. "Mr. Miyagi. Fudo Miyagi?"

"Yes. I know you have a word or two that you wanted to say but can it at least wait till we get home?"

Lucas felt her hand in his chest, but he didn't move a muscle. He couldn't. He was wound too tight. He leaned toward her, "Fine, we'll discuss this later."

Another wave of color surge through her cheeks, darker, hotter than before. "I'm sure we will," she said through gritted teeth.

…..

Not long after they settled on their seat that the program started. There were slides and speeches that seemed to have dragged longer than necessary. Riley was closed to collapsing from boredom when Lucas stood up and excuse himself. Before she could say anything, Riley heard the emcee announced Lucas' name and beckoned him to the stage.

Up on the stage and illuminated in a spot light, Lucas can't stop herself from staring at Lucas. He must have said something amusing cause the entire room chuckled. The light dimmed and the music started. She felt nervous as if it were her who was about to perform.

"...She may be the face I can't forget …the trace of pleasure or regret …may be my treasure or the price I have to pay..." the entire room fell silent. Riley couldn't bring herself to look around her. There's something about the song and the way Lucas is singing that seem to be speaking to her. My gosh, isn't there something that this man can't do? There's so much more to him. His voice... "Me , I'll take her laughter and her tears …and make them all my souvenirs …for where she goes I've got to be…the meaning of my life is…She."

"Riles. Riley?"

Riley looked up and smiled wryly. She got so engrossed that she didn't even realized that the song had ended and that Lucas was already back at their table. She said with careful precision, "That was beautiful."

"Thank you," Lucas said quietly. "You ready to go home?"

"Yes."

…..

Their drive home was even quieter than earlier. Riley was walking towards her room when she felt Lucas' hand on her arm.

"We still have to talk."

Riley glanced up, mischief glinting in her brown eyes. "Shoot! You remembered."

He laughed. "Yes I remembered, so talk."

"I met Fudo Miyagi. And before you ask, no I didn't talk to him that long. As I've mentioned before, we only exchanged pleasantries."

"And the card he gave you?"

"You saw that? Anyways, he gave me his card and told me that he's here till Sunday."

His eyes like gimlets, he asked, "Are you going to call him?"

Feeling utterly exhausted, Riley leaned back on the wall, "I'm not sure. I have to run this with Ross and see what the next move will be."

Riley straightened her spine and was about to walk to her room when his arm brushed hers as he strode past.

"You know, we never did get to dance tonight," he said.

Riley grew decidedly uncomfortable. A quick thrill of electricity shot up her arm when his fingers made contact with hers. Okay, comfort zone definitely breached now, she thought. Next stop, Uneasy Street. Because the way Lucas started looking at her just then...

"No, you're right, we didn't get to dance" she agreed. "We were both pre-occupied."

He smiled and then she was astonished when she heard him murmur softly, "We could do it now, here."

Do it? She echoed to herself. Now? Here? Do it? But this was so sudden... Kind of... then she realized he was talking about their dance.

"Dance?" she asked. Just to be clear on the matter.

He nodded. "Sure, why not? Come on Riley, dance with me," he cajoled. And then he smiled again. "I'll go put on some music."

Before she had a chance to say anything, she heard the sound of music. Soft music. The kind of music that made people dance very, very closely together and think about things they probably shouldn't.

Suddenly, Riley realized that they didn't turned all the lights on since the living room area was still pretty dark other than the glimmer of moonlight filtered through the windows. In the moonlight Lucas looked younger, more carefree and more irresistible. She honestly wouldn't have thought it possible for him to be more attractive, but in that moment, he was.

Although Riley had done her best to fight her attraction to Lucas since the beginning of her assignment, she hadn't been able, or even willing, to lie to herself. He was very, very attractive. Handsome, smart, interesting, confident, all the things she liked in a man. But he is part of an assignment and he simply wasn't interested in getting involved in any sort of relationship. Which was fine with Riley-she didn't want to get involved at this point in her life, either. That hadn't stopped her from finding him attractive, however. It had only stopped her from acting on that attraction. Now she wasn't sure she wanted to stop herself from acting.

Lucas grinned and took a step forward.

Time seemed to stand still as he made his way toward her. And even though she told herself she still had time to make some lame excuse and flee to her room, she stood rooted in place, watching him come. The minute he pulled her into his arms, Riley knew, Lucas was no more interested in just dancing than she was.