Like a Boss - Annabelle Costa Page 0,34

lips, and my mouth tingled as it massaged my own. His breath tasted like rum and cigarettes, which to this day is a combination that never fails to turn me on.

It was my first kiss and it was incredible. It was even more amazing than I imagined when I saw Luke kissing Maddie that day. I melted against him, wanting the kiss to last forever. But knowing in my heart the only reason it was happening was because he was drunk.

I allowed Luke to kiss me for thirty seconds too long before I pushed him away. He grinned at me. “Was that your first kiss?”

“What?” I cried. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” he said. “It was great. You just… I got that feeling.”

I wasn’t about to admit he was right. “Look, Luke, I can’t do this.”

His face fell. “Why not?”

“Because you’re drunk.”

He frowned. “No, I’m not.”

“You obviously are.”

“Just a little.” He holds his thumb and his forefinger a centimeter apart. “Just the right amount.”

“Also.” I squeezed my hands together. “I’m not your type.”

“My type?” Luke shook his head. “What’s my type?”

“You know…” Maddie was his type. Or any of the other identical vacant-eyed Barbie dolls I’d seen him with around campus. I was about as far from that as you could get and still be of the same species. If anything happened with me, he’d regret it in the morning, when he was sober.

“No, I don’t know.”

I sighed. “Also, we have nothing in common.”

“So?”

“So…” I was at a loss. All I knew was being with Luke would compromise everything I believed in. I hated him. Well, I didn’t hate him. But I hated everything about him. He was the absolute worst kind of person. I had already given him my first kiss—I couldn’t give him my first anything else. It would be like compromising my soul. “I just can’t, Luke.”

He looked like he was going to argue with me more, as per usual, but then his shoulders sagged and he seemed resigned to the fact that this wasn’t going to happen.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “We would have made a great team. Twelve Fingers and Thayer House.”

As Luke walked away, I felt a moment of regret. Luke was sexy as all hell and the rum was starting to hit me. But I refused to let myself feel anything for Luke Thayer. It would be a mistake.

But looking back, I wish I had made that mistake.

Chapter 15

From Op-Ed in The New York Times:

Thayer Industries was a failing company for many years, sometimes teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Under the business acumen of Lucas Thayer, the company has been transformed over the last decade into one of the largest companies in Massachusetts. Whatever else has been said about him, there is no doubt that Lucas Thayer is a financial genius.

The next morning, I get woken at seven by the intercom buzzing. I fumble for my phone and hear a crackling voice saying something about a package so I hit nine to let them in. I wrap myself in a housecoat, push my glasses onto my nose, and stumble in the direction of the door.

I see a flash of red in the peephole, and I open the door to the most amazing arrangement of roses I’ve ever seen. I stand there staring at three-dozen red roses, mostly trying to figure out how I’m going to get them all into the apartment. Sadie opens her door and looks like she’s gone to heaven when she sees all the flowers.

“Is that from your suitor?” she asks me excitedly.

I blush. “Um…”

“Well, that one’s a keeper,” she remarks.

That’s kind of… I don’t know, chauvinistic? Just because a guy gets me a… well, really impressive amount of flowers, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a great guy. Now that the alcohol has left my system, I fully remember why I’ve decided Luke and I need to just be friends.

I reach down to pick up the card stuck on the flowers. Sadie is watching me eagerly. “What did he write?”

He wrote: Dear Ellie, Thank you for last night. Three roses for each finger. Best, Luke. But I can’t say that to Sadie. So I mumble, “It says, thank you for a lovely dinner last night.”

“Oh, how sweet,” Sadie sighs. “Do you think my hamantaschen helped?”

“Undoubtedly,” I say.

I nearly throw out my back getting all the roses into the house. I have to admit, I’m the tiniest bit impressed. Men in this day and age don’t usually buy flowers. At