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We walk back to the table.
This time not touching, not speaking.
“Lucas.” Graham extends his hand to shake, and Lucas, far from looking aggrieved, stands up and shakes his hand vigorously.
“Graham,” Lucas says with a big conspiratorial grin as if it’s some sort of inside joke that they call each other by their first names.
“Nice to meet you. You’ll have to get used to me occupying Apollo’s time. I haven’t seen her in a long time. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Oh hell, no problem. Hell, the picture I posted of y’all on IG already has three thousand likes. That’s just in the last five minutes. I’m about to be the most popular guy at the office.” He laughs his horrible laugh and Graham’s eyes narrow. He doesn’t say anything but turns to face the rest of the table.
“All right, folks, nice to see you,” he says, and with a two-finger salute he turns back to face me.
“See you soon?” he whispers. His eyes are serious. I can see his heart in them, and that is something I’ve never been able to say no to.
“Yes.”
I’m in so much trouble.
“Okay. ‘Night Sunshine.” He nods in relief and leans forward and presses a soft kiss on my cheek.
I watch him stride out of the room like he owns it while the adoring crowd just stares.
I don’t blame them.
He’s glorious.
I watch him until he steps out of the room. The noise level in the room erupts as conversation picks up again.
A lot of people are looking at me, and I know there’ll be a lot of speculation after the display Graham and I just put on.
“Holy shit, Lo.” Lucas puts a hand on my shoulder, and I turn around to face, fully prepared to apologize.
“Lucas, I’m sorry … I know that looked …”
“Oh, come on. I mean, yeah, y’all were standing kind of close. But I mean, he dates beauty queens and actresses and isn’t he with that smoking hot gossip columnist? No one would think he’s interested in dating you,” he says.
“Gee, thanks.”
“No problem,” he says glibly completely missing my sarcasm.
“We need to figure out how to use this connection. Everyone knows my girlfriend is friends with Graham S. Davis. This could be my big break.”
I raise my eyebrows and peer at him.
“What in the world are you talking about, Lucas?”
“He’s about to sign a huge deal, Apollo. If I can reel this in, we’ll be gold. You’ve got to make this happen for me.”
“Lucas, I haven’t seen Graham in five years. I’m not asking him to invest money with you.”
“Why not?” he asks. His shoulders droop, and I feel guilty for saying no.
“Listen, he said he was here for pleasure. I just—”
“It’s cool, Lo.” I cringe at the nickname he’s given me. I hate it. With a passion. My name is only six letters. It’s not hard to pronounce. That he shortens it always felt like everything else with him. Minimum effort.
“I think I’m going to call it a night. I have an early start tomorrow morning.”
