Lucky Kiss

by Melanie Shawn

  His trainer shook his head as Lucky joined him in the cage. “Damn, the reflexes of a ninja and the game of Napoleon Dynamite.”

  After giving him a one-finger salute, Lucky did his best to put Deanna out of his mind as he sparred with Alder.

  Four hours later, he came to the conclusion that it was impossible. His mind was consumed with the girl whose eyes said she wanted him and whose mouth said she wanted nothing to do with him.

  Now, the question was: what the hell was he going to do about it?

  Chapter 10

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  What was I thinking?

  Deanna tugged on the hem of the snug, black dress that naturally fell to her mid-thigh, but she was determined to pull it down to her knees. She and dresses had never gotten along. Her mother used to force her to wear them, but since she’d graduated from high school eight years ago, she hadn’t put one on.

  Until today.

  “How does it look?” Tessa called out from the other side of the bathroom door.

  “Umm…it’s…” Deanna tried to find the right word that wouldn’t offend the fire chief’s wife. “Fine. It’s fine.”

  When Tessa had called to see if she had something to wear to the Hometown Heroes Ball, she hadn’t yet given any thought whatsoever to what she would be wearing to the black tie event. Which was odd, considering that all she’d been able to think about for the last three days was this event.

  Well, more specifically, a tattooed-MMA fighter who’d invited her to this event. It’d been fifty-six hours since she’d seen the copper-toned eyes that were surrounded by long, luscious lashes—which had been, in her opinion, wasted on a man who was overflowing with sexy attributes. A man whose body, dimples, smile, and voice alone could cause the strongest woman to grow weak. Those eyes were more than just the cherry on top of the sexalicious sundae that was Lucky Dorsey. It was more like God was showing off.

  Those large, honey-brown peepers were more than enough to deal with if they weren’t focused on Deanna. In the gym, while she’d watched Lucky and Jake talk, she narrowly avoided falling under their spell. But when their mocha-colored gaze was directed her way, Deanna was lost in them completely. All rational thought evaporated like dry ice in the air.

  Poof. Gone.

  So the fact that she’d been able to draw on her instinctual self-preservation and turn Lucky down—not once, but twice—was a relief. Or, at least, it should’ve been. Her mind, her heart, and her body were currently engaged in a heated debate over her rejection of such a tempting invitation.

  “Can I see it?” Tessa asked eagerly.

  Tessa had come over to Deanna’s house a half hour ago and brought several dresses with her. On the phone, Deanna had panicked when she’d realized she only had the afternoon to find something to wear, and, although Hope Falls was growing at a rapid pace, it wasn’t exactly a mecca of fashion. When Tessa had offered to come over with some dresses, explaining that there was no way her “whale of a self” could fit into them and that she’d been about Deanna’s size pre-pregnancy, Deanna had accepted the generous offer. As much as she hated the thought of not just wearing a dress, but wearing a dress that wasn’t her own, she really had no choice.

  Since she’d been asleep for the last fourteen hours and at a fire for two days before that, she hadn’t had time to head into Sacramento or Lake Tahoe to shop.

  The call they had received while working out at Lucky’s gym had been a structural fire on the outskirts of town. What had started as structural quickly turned more serious as winds had picked up and spread flames over the dry brush surrounding the abandoned building.

  Between the drought conditions and the high winds, it had been a battle to keep the fire contained. That fight had gone on for forty-two hours. Luckily, no injuries or fatalities had occurred, and the only property damage was the building. The fire was started by some teenagers that used the empty building as a hangout spot. Fortunately, they’d all gotten out of the burning structure without a scratch.

  Containing the fire and her own thoughts, both of which had been all consuming, had taken everything she’d had to give. When she’d gotten home yesterday, she’d taken a hot shower, eaten an entire medium pizza, crawled into her bed, and passed out until her phone buzzed this morning when Tessa had called.

  “The baby is sitting on my bladder, so you need to come out now so I can go in there!” The urgency in Tessa’s voice was unmistakable.

  A pregnant woman who had to pee trumped Deanna’s embarrassment over how utterly ridiculous she looked. She opened the door and slipped through it as Tessa rushed by. The two women barely fit in the doorway together.

  “Thank you,” Tessa called out as the door shut behind her.

  “No worries,” Deanna assured her.

  She sighed as she pulled the spaghetti strap up on her left shoulder and looked down at herself. Then her feet started towards the full-length mirror in the corner of the room like she was Dorothy about to see the Wizard. Which was very unlike her since her appearance had always been on the bottom of her list of priorities.

  When she’d moved into this fully furnished house—sight unseen—and noticed the antique mirror, she’d figured that all it would be good for was collecting dust. But here she was, filled with curiosity to see what she looked like, head to toe, in this daring dress she never would’ve picked out for herself.

  And what she saw was not what she’d been expecting. If she hadn’t known that it was her, she wouldn’t even have recognized herself.

  The woman in the mirror looked…good. The dress she’d felt was way too short actually fell to the perfect length and accentuated her toned legs, which created the illusion that they were much longer than they actually were. The cut of the bodice pinched in at her waist, giving her an hourglass silhouette. The scoop neckline enhanced her B cup, instantly morphing her cleavage from average to ample. Turning to the side, she saw that the low dip of the backless dress wasn’t a bad look. The slope of her spine and the smooth expanse of skin, led down to the curve of her rump-shaker, which was showcased quite nicely in this dress.

  The bathroom door clicked open, and a rush of self-consciousness flooded Deanna once again. When she turned and saw Tessa standing with her mouth wide open, staring at her in, well…shock, she wanted to crawl under the bed and stay there.

  “Damn, you look so…hawt!” Tessa took a step towards her, her jaw still unhinged as her eyes scanned Deanna. “Even before I looked like I swallowed a watermelon, I never looked that good in that dress.”

  It shouldn’t matter what Tessa or anyone else thought. Still, a disproportionate amount of relief spread through Deanna. “You really think it’s okay?”

  Tessa’s hands animatedly flew up in the air. “Are you kidding me?! It is more than okay. It’s perfect. That dress looks like it was made for you. In fact, you can keep it—”

  “No,” Deanna argued. “I can’t!”

  Shaking her head, Tessa smiled. “Well, there’s no way I’m wearing it again. Not now that I’ve seen how you look in it. No siree Bob. That LBD is all yours, chickadee.”

  Just as Deanna was about to launch into another argument, Tessa’s phone dinged with a text alert. After checking it, the pretty blonde grabbed her purse and the other two options she’d brought over for Deanna to try on.

  “I told Jake to call me when Connor woke up from his nap.”

  “Thank you again,” Deanna said for at least the fifth time as she saw Tessa to the door.

  It was still extremely hard to believe that people, especially women, could be this nice. Maybe it was because growing up, she’d had a total of one friend. The first few days she’d been in Hope Falls, she’d been scared that she’d moved to a Stepford-wife movie come to life. But she’d quickly realized that the people of Hope Falls weren’t perfect. They were just a tight-knit community that welcomed people with open arms.

  Which, in and of itself, was a lot to get used to.

  “My pleasure. See you toni
ght!” Tessa beamed as they reached the front door. Then, stopping just short of leaving, she snapped her fingers and started digging in her large purse. “I almost forgot. Here are a few masks, I didn’t know if you had any.”

  “Masks?” Deanna parroted as Tessa tugged out several ornate and beautiful masks.

  “Yeah.” Tessa handed them to Deanna. “You can’t exactly go to a masquerade ball without a mask.”

  “This is a masquerade ball?” That was the first Deanna was hearing of this. None of the guys, including her cousin, had said anything about it to her.

  Tessa nodded, her short hair bobbing around her shoulders. “Yeah. Every year, the committee picks a theme. This year, it’s masquerade. No one told you?”

  “No.” Deanna shook her head as she held the gorgeous feathered and jeweled pieces, becoming more nervous by the second.

  Black tie was bad enough, but now, there was a theme? This was hitting way too close to home for her comfort zone.

  Tessa clicked her tongue. “You need to stop hanging out with so many guys. They might gossip like girls, but they have no idea what information needs to be relayed. Why don’t you come to Book Club with me? It’s a great group of girls, and believe me, you will never feel out of the Hope Falls loop again.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” Deanna wasn’t a huge reader, but she really wanted to fit in, so sacrifices would have to be made.

  Tessa turned to leave but pivoted back before she’d even made it one step. “Before I leave, I know it’s none of my business, but why in the name of all that is holy did you turn down Lucky Dorsey?”

  “How did you—”

  Tessa grinned and took a deep breath. “Like I said, the guys gossip like schoolgirls. I guess Chris and Casey were talking about it when they stopped by Brewed Awakenings last night. Nikki, my sister-in-law, happened to be there, and she stopped by this morning and told me. When I asked Jake, he confirmed it.”

  Deanna’s head was spinning like a dryer full of towels on the high-heat setting. The guys had been giving her a hard time about what they’d overheard at the gym, but never in her wildest dreams had she thought the entire town would be talking about it.

  As if reading her mind, Tessa lifted her hands and shrugged. “Welcome to small-town living at its finest.”

  Feeling less uncomfortable than she’d thought she’d be at the personal question, Deanna explained, “I don’t date athletes.”

  She waited for Tessa to question her about why she didn’t date athletes, but she just nodded. “Got it. Oh, and fair warning: at Book Club, you may be bombarded with questions like that and more. It’s not quite the Spanish inquisition, but it’s close.” Then she waved before disappearing down the walkway.

  Deanna slowly closed the door. This was what she’d wanted all her life—to belong. The only time she’d experienced that was during the summers when she had stayed at her aunt and uncle’s.

  She’d never fit into Victoria Lane’s world. It was filled with cocktail parties, photo shoots, elegant dinners, and charity events.

  Actually, the Hometown Heroes Ball would be right in her mother’s wheelhouse. Which was most likely the exact reason that all Deanna wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide. That and because a too-sexy-for-his-own-good fighter—who she didn’t want to face because, every time she did, it made it harder to deny her growing feelings for him—would be there, most likely with the flavor of the day on his arm.

  Deanna knew men like Lucky, and just because she’d turned him down, she had no illusions that he’d be rolling on the solo tip tonight. He would move on to bachelorette number two.

  That knowledge should’ve made her happy. He would be distracted with whatever arm candy he brought and Deanna could fulfill her obligation to the station without the distraction that was Lucky Dorsey.

  Who was she kidding? Date or no date, if Lucky Dorsey showed up, he would be all kinds of distracting, and that scared her more than any fire or any black tie masquerade ball ever could.

  *

  “I think I’m probably the hottest date you’ve ever had.”

  “Keep telling yourself that,” Lucky said flatly.

  “Oh, I will. I always knew that one day I would be your plus one, and now, the day has finally come.”

  Alder was getting way too much enjoyment over the fact that Deanna had shot him down cold. Of course, he could’ve avoided his trainer’s shit-talking if he’d asked someone else to be his date, but just like he’d had no desire to continue his Skyxting session with Gigi, he had zero interest in taking some girl he’d have to pretend to listen to all night, end up having meaningless sex with, and then have to figure out how to keep her from getting attached. He’d done that song and dance more times than he could count, and he was all song-and-danced out.

  The only woman he was interested in spending time with was the woman who wanted nothing to do with him. Lucky had never believed in luck and he also didn’t believe in Karma, but if he did, he would have to call it a bitch right now. Because never in his wildest dreams had he thought he’d be taking Alder as his plus one to an event.

  “Just so you know, I don’t put out on the first date.” Alder comically batted his eyes.

  Normally Lucky would have a witty comeback. Tonight, he wasn’t in the mood. “Let’s go.”

  In fact, his mood hadn’t been so great since he’d seen Deanna riding in the fire engine. Two days. That’s how long it had been before she’d come back. Two days that he’d felt like he’d needed to do something but couldn’t. Two days that he’d been listening to every piece of gossip he could pick up at Sue Ann’s, JT’s Roadhouse, or Brewed Awakenings, hoping to find out if she was okay. Two days, that every time he heard a sound outside the window of the gym, he looked to see if she was back.

  Two days that he’d been seriously slipping in the cage because his mind hadn’t been on moves, holds, or training. It had been on one thing and one thing only—the green-eyed, brown-haired girl who didn’t want anything to do with him.

  Once the two men had climbed into Lucky’s SUV, Alder asked, “Are you okay, man? Seriously. I’m not giving you shit, but you’re not here. You haven’t been here for a while. Jerry keeps calling, and honestly, I have no idea what to tell him.”

  Looking over his shoulder, Lucky pulled out of the small parking lot adjacent to his gym. His first instinct was to tell his friend that he was fine and leave it at that. But what was the point? They would both know he was lying. Since he didn’t know what to say, he said nothing at all.

  Frustration rolled off of Alder in waves. “Talk to me. Is this about her? Is that why your head’s been up your ass the last few months? Is that why you’ve been so restless? Is that why we had to move to Mountain Mayberry?”

  Lucky answered only one of Alder’s rapid-fire questions. “I only met her a week ago.”

  A week. Replaying his response felt like a punch in the gut.

  How was it that a girl he’d barely spoken to, who wanted nothing to with him, and who he had only known a week, had somehow inserted herself so firmly in his life? Thinking about her consumed so much of his time that he had no idea what he’d done before he’d met her.

  “So, then what is going on? Jerry says you haven’t signed any of the contracts for the Moyer fight. He said that you haven’t even been returning his calls. And I don’t think you’ve sucked ass this hard in the ring since you had food poisoning, and even then, at least your head was in the game.”

  Lucky still had nothing to say, so they rode the rest of the way to the community center in silence. Alder knew him well enough not to push him. And the truth was, if Lucky had known what was going on, he would’ve gladly told his trainer. He wasn’t trying to be an asshole, he just hadn’t figured out what in the hell was wrong with him.

  Every time he thought about the Moyer fight, he felt…nothing. No drive. No passion. No thrill. So naturally, his next thought was that it was time to tap out. At thirty, he definitely wouldn’t be the youngest fight
er to retire. Of course, most of them did it because of injury, whereas his reasoning would be indifference. But every time he started to think about life after MMA, his mind went blank.

  His talk with Levi had exposed more than Lucky wanted to admit to himself. Who was he if he wasn’t Lucas “Lucky” Dorsey? This was more than just his career. It was his identity. His life. The guys he trained with, had come up with, were like his family.

  Then why did you move to Hope Falls?

  The question kept coming back to him. He’d moved across the country to be close to his brothers, his dad, and his cousin. They were his family, yet he’d barely spent any time with them since he’d gotten here.

  As they pulled up to the event, Alder whistled. “Damn. I thought you were kidding about black tie.”

  “Why in the hell would I do that?” Lucky snapped. He’d wanted to wear his Armani suit as much as he wanted a root canal. Why would he put himself through that for no reason?

  Alder’s head tilted slightly to the side and his brow furrowed. “Did you need me to go to the store and buy you some tampons? Midol, maybe?”

  Lucky ignored his friend as he opened the door and walked towards the entrance of the hall.

  His attitude had been piss-poor, at best, which also wasn’t like him. Lucky might’ve gotten his name because he’d gotten laid before his friends, but he just as easily could’ve gotten it for his demeanor. As far back as he could remember, he’d been carefree and upbeat. He never took things seriously. Never stressed about the small stuff. Or the big stuff, for that matter. He figured everything would work out, and it usually did.

  This was the first time in his life that his smile wasn’t coming easily. That he’d woken up and wanted to go back to bed. That he was questioning what his purpose was.

  As they entered the venue, Sue Ann greeted them with an open smile. “So happy you boys could make it. Tickets?”

  Lucky took the tickets Jake had given him out of his pocket and handed them to the woman who, in his opinion, was the quintessential grandma. Not that he would know from experience what that meant. He’d never met any of his grandparents. Ever.