Page 83 of Once Upon A Player
None. Although I don’t know about thelosing your heartbit.
This is awful. I don’t want to hear Lucas’s celebrity sound bite response. Sneaking in here was the worst idea I’ve ever had.
But I’m rooted to the spot, needing to see this unravel until the bitter end.
“I can tell you one thing, Stella.” Lucas sounds his usual flirty self, the way he’s sounded on countless TV interviews over the years. I steel my nerves, waiting for him to deny the fact he’s ever had a serious romance, let alone with me. “That wasn’t a rumor.”
Oh, my God.He just said that on live cable TV.
There’s an animated stir among everyone in the room, and hands shoot up, vying for the next question. Bec picks the lucky winner. “Is this mystery lady going with you to Spain?”
I’m gripping my phone like it’s a good luck charm, and without quite meaning to, I edge my way around the couple of guys in front of me, so I have a better view of Lucas.
He’s dressed in a casual shirt with the sleeves rolled up, displaying his famousVIIItattoo on the underside of his left forearm, and I can’t tear my mesmerized gaze away. Lucas, luckily, is focused on the guy who asked the question.
“I want her to come with me. But I was a right prat to her.” He gives a small smile, nothing like his ever-ready camera beam, and his glance slides around the room.
And slams to a halt as he sees me. Shock streaks across his face, gone in an instance, but it’s enough. He didn’t know I was here. He didn’t say that for my benefit. For endless seconds it’s like the rest of the room fades away, and it’s only me and him. And then intrigued murmurs around us get louder, but it’s like he doesn’t notice.
Still holding my gaze, he says, “I don’t know if she can ever forgive me.”
She’s forgiven you already.
“Okay, then,” Bec says, “That just about wraps things up. Thank you for—”
Before I can stop myself, I step forward, and Bec cuts off in midsentence. I’m right at the front of the room, where everyone can see me. Nerves churn through me, I desperately need the bathroom, and my fingers are scarily numb.What the hell are you doing, Violet?But it doesn’t matter how much I hate being the center of attention. This is something I have to do.Just say it.“Why don’t you ask her, Lucas?”
From the corner of my eye, I see the guys next to me do a double take, as though they’re connecting the red hair and mystery lady comments. I don’t care. None of that matters. All that matters is what Lucas says next.
He lifts his hand as though he’s about to twist his earring but stops and drags his palm over his jaw instead. “I know I don’t deserve it. I really screwed up and want to say how sorry I am. But do I get a second chance to make things right?”
“I think so.” My voice is croaky, and I’ve no idea how he could hear me. But he pushes back his chair and strides around the table toward me. The journalists part before him, then form a semicircle behind him, obviously not wanting to miss a single word of the unfolding drama.
Oh fuck, I’m on cable TV, too.My panic dies as Lucas stands in front of me, close enough that his seductive cologne sends my hormones into overdrive. But even so…not close enough.
Not nearly close enough.
…
Lucas
I can’t believe Violet came to see me after I was such a prick. I’d planned on going to see her at work tomorrow, waiting until her lunch break and then trying like hell to win her back.
Not that I had a clue how to do it.I still don’t have a bloody clue.
We need to get out of here and find somewhere private, but I’ve the gut-wrenching fear that if I don’t tell her right now how I feel about her, things will be screwed up for good.
Where the hell do I start?
Grovel, you fucking wanker.
The silver-tongued Lucas Carter, who can always shoot his mouth off when it doesn’t matter, can’t find the words to tell his girl how much she means to him.
I drag in a fractured breath.Pretend it’s just Violet and me here.
“What I said the other night about”—I hesitate, not wanting the press to know just how much of a clueless bastard I am—“the work situation. Violet, I know it sounded bad. I’m sorry I assumed you’d leave your family and everything behind just because I wanted you to come with me.”
She bites her lip, but even when the journalists crowd closer, her gorgeous green eyes don’t flicker from mine. “It was just so unexpected. I didn’t handle it as well as I should’ve.”
