Hell, I was too.
I couldn’t help it.
Without actually speaking to her, I was already fascinated.
Ready, I walked directly to her and pulled her attention around with a gentle tap on her bare shoulder. Her skin actually hummed it was so warm.
Like a top released from its launcher’s hold, she spun on the spot and locked her eyes on mine.
Unfortunately, her demeanor didn’t pack nearly the same heat as her shoulder, her smile transitioning to something far more severe as recognition set in.
She didn’t like me. She quite possibly hated my very existence.
“Do you always make snap judgments, or is that something you do special for me?” I asked bluntly.
I didn’t even bother with names or pleasantries. We both knew what this was, and we both knew exactly who the other was.
She narrowed her eyes, but when her jaw finally finished flexing, the rest of her relaxed too. “All the time,” she admitted, surprising me.
I wasn’t used to being surprised by people. They usually gave a first impression and stuck to it with their second. But not Lola Sexton. She seemed to morph before my eyes, from closed off and judgmental to open and honest and self-aware.
All people are more than one thing, not some robotic version of themselves that fits into one tiny box, but by and large, they hide it better. They protect the soft heart under their hard edges and use the lash of their tongue to disguise vulnerability. They trust everyone in the hopes that everyone will trust them, and they wear their heart on their sleeve in an attempt to make others be more open.
Lola didn’t hide her distaste for me under sweet smiles, but she also didn’t dismiss my assertion because of her dislike. She’d approached this moment separately from our early virtual encounters, open to possibility and persuasion, but equally ready to provide her own opinion.
All of that together drew me in like a hug.
“Interesting. Why is that?” I asked, eager to delve deeper into the things that made her tick.
She shrugged as if answering were easy. “Because if I’m judging someone, they’ve given me a reason to come to that conclusion.”
“Things aren’t always what they seem, though, are they?” I pushed.
“Definitely not. And I’m open to changing my mind about those things and facing the consequences of whatever I’ve missed because of my first impression.”
I raised my eyebrows and smirked.
Her eyes narrowed on the minute movement. “But some people are what they seem, and by assessing them from the start, I save myself a whole hell of a lot of trouble.”
She bit her lip and twirled her hair, all while she bounced from one foot to the other, something I couldn’t distinguish tucked safely under her arm. She actually emanated energy like a pint-sized generator—so much so, it seeped into my pores without my permission.
“Want to sit down?” I offered and she smiled.
“I never did like to eat standing up.”
The hostess led us to a table by the window, and I should’ve been giving my stomach a mental pep talk—preparing to eat as much food as Reed’s wallet could buy—but my mind was too preoccupied with cataloguing every detail about him.
I hated that his tousled brown hair appeared thick and lustrous—the kind of hair your fingers wanted to slide through—and I hated his eyes, too. They held some sort of black magic with their hypnotic, deep ocean-blue color. The flecks of silvery light interspersed throughout only intensified their power. And his stupid face was so strong and defined, his features might as well have been molded from granite.
I watched his strong hands, slightly roughened and callused around the edges of his palms, flex as he took the offered menu from the waitress. “Thank you,” he responded and flashed an annoying smirk that somehow made his face appear playful and sexy.
It also highlighted his lips. Stupid lips. They were full and pink and were the exact kind of lips most women prayed would be ripe for kissing.
Obviously, I wasn’t one of those women. At least, I was trying not to be.
I can walk above him as he feeds off the bottom, for God’s sake. I can.
He was handsome all right, but he was also an asshole. I just had to keep reminding myself of that very fact.
I mean, he had pretty much fucked me over.
Bashing my column in a vlog for the entire world to see? Yeah, even if his intentions for that god-awful video had been good in some twisted way, he’d done a shitty job of executing. And if his intentions hadn’t been good… Fuck, don’t hit him, Lola. That’s assault, I reminded myself.
The waitress giggled softly and a hint of blush rosied her cheeks as she handed me a menu, but her gaze never left Reed’s orbit.