Impossible Things

by Alexandra McBrayer

  She looked up at his profile, admiring the strong, golden color of his throat and the fine line of stubble that extended down onto it. “What did you do before?”

  He looked at her for a second before looking back at the road. “I raced cars.”

  “You raced cars?”

  He nodded and she made a noise.

  He pulled the car up to the curb in front of her grandmother’s house, and she sat in silence staring at him. He was the most gorgeous man that she had ever seen and the more that she found out about him the more intrigued she became. He was an Italian sex god, race car driver, and businessman all thrown together and it was an exciting combination.

  He grinned and leaned closer and whispered, “Is that a turn-on or a turn-off? I can never tell with you. Does it make you want to sleep with me again?”

  She grinned back and leaned closer until she could feel his breath on her face. “It doesn’t make much difference since I’m always ready for you.”

  With that she pulled back before he could kiss her and got out of the car and walked away. At the front door she turned back and saw that he was still sitting there, the passenger window rolled down and a look of lust on his face.

  She laughed as she realized how much she enjoyed shocking him, and he seemed to enjoy it too. She blew him a kiss before opening the front door and going inside.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  “I need a job,” she said to no one in particular that evening as she ate dinner with her family.

  “Are you staying then?” he grandmother asked and she saw that her mom was obviously curious about that answer as well.

  She nodded and then realized that she hadn’t asked if she could stay yet. “That is if you’ll have me for a little longer.”

  Her grandmother said, “Of course we will,” and Rodrigo nodded his agreement.

  Rosaline asked, “Does this have anything to do with Lucas?”

  She didn’t look at any of them as she answered, “Sort of. I promised him I’d give us a try.”

  She looked up to see that her grandmother was smiling and Lucy lifted her hand and pointed a finger at her. “That doesn’t mean anything, so don’t get your hopes up!”

  Isabella nodded, said, “Of course, of course, whatever you want,” she shrugged as if she was innocent.

  Lucy didn’t buy that for a second. “I mean it! I’m just going to see what happens. I didn’t just get out of one relationship to jump into another and I’m certainly not ready to marry him.”

  Her family froze at that and too late she realized her mistake.

  Rodrigo was the one who asked, “Has marriage been discussed?”

  She looked down at her plate and picked up her fork. “He may have asked me in front of his mother today, but I didn’t say yes and I’m not planning on saying yes anytime in the near future.”

  She put a shrimp into her mouth and looked up to see that Rodrigo was frozen in place, her grandmother was smiling and her mom looked stunned.

  Keeping her mouth closed she smiled at them and winked at Rodrigo. She had a newfound talent for shocking people and she was enjoying the hell out of it.

  After dinner her mom brought up her comment about needing a job again, asking, “What about the job you had?”

  “I only worked two days a week, three hours a day. It hardly paid my bus fair to get there, but they laid me off anyway. I need a real job.”

  Her grandmother spoke up, “I don’t know anyone in architecture but I’m sure someone I know does. I’ll make some calls tomorrow and see if I can find someone.”

  Lucy thought about declining but jobs were hard to come by and she needed to work so she said okay.

  Rodrigo cleared his throat, “Actually I was going to ask you about that…”

  Lucy looked at him. “About what?”

  “My sister is here because we had a board meeting yesterday. We were talking about our plans, and what we need to do. Fashion is a competitive field and we’re always trying to be ahead of everyone else.”

  Lucy nodded but she didn’t know what that had to do with her.

  “We were thinking about starting a jewelry collection, and I thought of you. You’re an architect I know and while that is different, you do know something about design and we all know you love jewels.”

  Isabella and Rosaline nodded and Rodrigo smiled. “So I was telling my sister that maybe we should ask you.”

  Lucy stared at him in shock. “Design jewels?”

  Rodrigo nodded. “If you don’t want to do it I understand. It’s not meant as an insult at all. I just thought I’d ask.”

  He heart was racing and she couldn’t breath as the possibility opened before her. But Rodrigo held up his hand. “Think about it, you don’t have to answer now, but think about it and let me know.”

  She went up to bed shortly after that and was in bed trying to read but too distracted to when her phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was Lucas. “Hello handsome,” she answered it and he laughed.

  “Hello beautiful. How are you?”

  She sighed, put her book down and moved down, deeper into the covers.

  “What’s that for?” he asked.

  Normally she would have lied, or dismissed it but she didn’t feel like doing that anymore so she said, “I realized how much I missed you when I heard your voice.”

  He was quiet for a minute and his voice, when it came, was thick as he said, “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that. I missed you too.”

  They talked for almost two hours, he told her about his day with his mom and she told him about Rodrigo’s job offer.

  “So you’re really staying?” he asked and she told him yes.

  “What do you think I should do about the job?” she asked.

  “No, don’t ask me. You have to decide for yourself and I don’t want to influence you or talk you in to something that you don’t really want.”

  “I love jewels.”

  “Yes you do,” he said.

  “I know nothing about designing them.”

  “No.”

  “But I could learn right?”

  “Lucy I’m sure that you can do anything that you put your mind to.”

  She changed the subject and they spent the rest of the call giggling like teenagers. She was smiling when she got off the phone. The last thing he said to her was that he wanted to come over and climb in her bedroom window but he couldn’t because his mom was sleeping two doors down from him, and her mom was sleeping next to her room.

  She needed a job and an apartment and she needed them fast she thought.

  She was smiling when she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  She wasn’t smiling the next morning when her mom woke her up to tell her that Sam was downstairs, and he wanted to see her. She groaned, put on a robe and made her way down with her mom just in time to hear Sam insult Rodrigo by saying, “I’m not leaving. It’s not your house. You’re just some gigolo living off Lucy’s grandma.”

  Lucy and her mom both gasped and Rodrigo took a step towards Sam.

  Sam looked up and saw her, “Lucy there you are, this stupid Italian thug was trying to kick me out before I saw you.”

  Lucy was going to do some kicking of her own, she thought. She was going to kick his ass all the way back to America. How dare he talk to Rodrigo that way!

  “Sam I told you we were done. How dare you come here and insult my family that way.”

  He pushed past Rodrigo and came over to her. “Please Lucy, I love you. Please give me another chance.”

  Her mouth was open and she was about to tell him what she thought of him when she heard, “I take it this is Sam?”

  She looked up and met Lucas’ beautiful green eyes.

  He stepped in through the open front door and he and Rodrigo nodded at each other. Lucy saw that Lucas’ mom was right behind him and she groaned inwardly. Was she doomed to embarrass herself in front of his mom every
time they met?

  She looked back at Lucas and unable to help herself she smiled at him. She was so happy to see him that she had to fight the urge to run over to him, throw her arms around him and push him to the ground.

  He came over to her and put his hand on her elbow. It was a possessive gesture and she wasn’t sure if she should be mad, but she wasn’t. He was striking his claim and surprisingly to her, she didn’t mind.

  Sam stepped towards them, “What’s going on here Lucy? Who’s this?”

  She wasn’t sure what to say. How did you introduce the man that you’d cheated with to your ex-fiancé? But Lucas didn’t give her a chance. He said, “I’m the new boyfriend.”

  Sam’s face flushed at least five shades of red and then she saw that he was sizing up the situation. He obviously wanted to do something but Lucas was bigger than he was and she saw him glance towards Rodrigo standing behind him.

  “We’re supposed to get married in four days Lucy!”

  She pulled her arm away from Lucas and stepped towards Sam. “No. We were supposed to get married in four days but we’re not anymore Sam. It’s over between us. You know that.”

  He shook his head. “No I don’t. My parents are flying over here tomorrow. What am I supposed to tell them?”

  She was shocked. “Sam why didn’t you tell them sooner? Call them now and tell them!”

  “Come home with me Lucy. Please. We’ll forget all about this, about him,” he said and gestured to Lucas. “Come home.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to forget about him.”

  She didn’t know what Lucas’ reaction was because she was looking at Sam when she said it.

  Sam flinched as if he had been hit before he turned to walk away. He was at the door when he turned back and said, “You’re dad was right. Your whore of a grandmother is a bad influence. We never should have moved here.”

  Rodrigo took two steps towards him and Sam flew out the door. Rodrigo went after him, cursing in Italian but Sam ran. In all the years that she had known him Lucy had never seen him move that fast.

  She didn’t turn to Lucas, instead she waited for Rodrigo to come back in. “I’m sorry,” she said and Rodrigo came up and kissed her cheek. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  He looked up over Lucy’s shoulder and said, “Rosaline, my favorite and only daughter, would you like to go to lunch with your step-father?”

  She heard her mom laugh and when Rosaline walked past her she reached out to give Lucy’s arm a squeeze.

  Rodrigo turned to Lucas’ mom, “Claire would you like to go out to lunch with an old man and his daughter?”

  Lucas’ mom laughed as well. It was impossible not to be charmed by him.

  They left, shutting the door behind them and it was only then that Lucy turned to look at Lucas.

  His face was serious, too serious, and that made her stomach clench.

  “We seem to announce important things in front of others don’t we?” she asked and he nodded.

  She walked up to him and reached down to grab his hand.

  “Do you really want me to stay around or were you just saying that to him?”

  She smiled, and said, “I really want you to stay around. We’re working on something here aren’t we?”

  He nodded and she said, “Now why don’t you come upstairs and take your clothes off so I can show you how much I want you around.”

  He let her lead him by the hand up the stairs and into her bedroom. She turned off the overhead light and draped a purple silk nightgown over the bedside lamp, and it bathed the room in soft lavender light. Lucas was still standing by the door and she undressed slowly as she walked towards him.

  “I’m beginning to think you only want me for sex,” he whispered as she reached down and un-hooked her bra and peeled it off.

  Standing in front of him she pushed her panties down and stepped out of them. She reached up and unbuttoned his gray shirt and pushed it from his shoulders. His skin was golden and she leaned down and kissed his chest as she said, “Well I do enjoy the sex. Very much. But that’s not the only reason I want you around.”

  “Why else?” he asked.

  She smiled and kissed his shoulder, she loved it when he did that to her and it felt good to turn the tables on him.

  “Why else do you want me around?” he asked again.

  She pulled back and met his eyes. “I find you fascinating,” she said.

  “You do?”

  She nodded. “The more I find out about you the more I like you.”

  His eyes narrowed and he said, “I guess that will have to do for now,” and picked her up, surprising a shriek out of her. She laughed as he carried her over to the bed and threw her down.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  She woke later that afternoon when he got out of bed. “What time is it and where are you going?” she asked and he leaned down and kissed her before putting on his pants.

  “It’s three-thirty and I have to go to work for a little while.”

  She groaned and rolled over and was dozing off again when he slapped her ass. She sat up with a shriek to find that he was smiling at her.

  “You promise that you won’t leave the country or anything without telling me first?” He asked and she smiled at him.

  “I promise,” she said.

  He leaned down again and kissed her and she let go of the sheet and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you Lucy,” he said and she pulled back.

  She didn’t know how to respond, she wanted to say something, so finally she settled on, “I like you a lot Lucas.”

  She didn’t know what his reaction would be but she was glad when he laughed, pulled away and said, “You’re so stubborn.”

  She shrugged and smiled at him.

  He left a few minutes later, promising to call and she tried to go back to sleep but she couldn’t so she got up, took a shower and got dressed in another outfit that Rodrigo had bought her. It made her think about him and about his offer the day before.

  She didn’t know anything about designing jewelry but she did know about design. She loved the feeling of creating something on paper and planning and building it in real life. While architecture and jewelry design were on two different levels she did like the idea of designing jewelry. She loved jewelry, and had as long as she could remember.

  She thought about the fact that she would be designing something not for herself but for others. In a way it would be sharing with the world something that she loved, and something that she was passionate about but she worried about being around jewels day-in and day-out. Would it bother her? Would her urges get the best of her?

  She didn’t know the answer to that question so she went downstairs and found that Rodrigo was in the dining room eating an early dinner.

  They exchanged small talk but for the most part they were quiet. One of the maids brought her food and she looked up while eating to see that Rodrigo was staring at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  He shook his head as if to clear it and said, “I shouldn’t be surprised that he fell for you. You do look very much like your grandmother and since I fell so hard for her, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

  Lucy felt herself blush. “Did you see him?” she asked.

  Rodrigo smiled and nodded. “We met at the top of the stairs as he was coming out of your room.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He looked confused. “For what?”

  “For having a man in my room, it’s not my house and I should have thought.”

  Rodrigo put his head back and laughed at that before looking at her. “Lucy you’re a grown woman. You can have as many men as you want in your room. I wasn’t saying that at all.”

  Not understanding she shook her head. “Then what were you saying?”

  He sat his napkin down on the table and pushed his chair back but he didn’t stand. “He was grinning from ear to ear. He was happy and I don’t remember ever seeing him that ha
ppy. You’re good for him and I think he could be good for you too.”

  “Do you really?”

  He nodded. “You need to build up your confidence and I think he can help you do that. Since you’ve been in London you’ve already grown so much. Your grandmother thought it was her, but now we know that it was Lucas all along.”