Diamonds Are Forever - Brooke St. James Page 0,41

hello, is this Mister Klein?"

There was a pause.

"This is Alex, here at the Four Seasons front desk. I have a young lady here who would like to speak to you. A Lady… Lollipop."

He stared blankly at the counter while he waited for Drew to speak. Then I saw him glance up at me.

"Yes sir, she's right here."

Alex blinked at me.

"Yes, sir, the young lady indeed has brown eyes."

Sometimes you could hear people's voices coming over the phone, but I could not hear anything Drew was saying at all. There was soft instrumental music playing in the lobby, and the phone's volume must have been low. I was straining to hear but I couldn't.

"Is your name Lucy King?" Alex asked, looking at me.

"Yes," I answered, saying it loud enough that I hoped Drew could hear.

Alex's face changed instantly. He had been stoic before, but he widened his eyes and made a face when Drew hung up on him. He hung the phone up stiffly, staring at me like he didn’t know quite what to say. I could tell Alex had no idea whether Drew had hung up out of excitement or out of anger. Honestly, I wasn't exactly sure of myself. My heart told me it was out of excitement, though so I went with it, acting confident.

"I'm going to sit down there on one of those couches to see if he comes down," I said. "Thanks for calling him."

I gave Alex a wave and walked off, heading down the steps and toward one of the couches in the sprawling entryway. Had I not been so nervous, I would have gone to the elevator to stand there, expecting him to come down. But as it stood, it felt like all I could do to sit on the couch.

It wasn't packed in there by any means, but there were a few people spread out in the lobby area, and that was more than I expected for this late on a weeknight.

Minutes felt like hours.

I could hear my heart beating in my ears.

I thought of random things like shoes and pencils to try to calm myself down. I even tried to think of a song to sing in my mind. But any thought besides the ones about Drew seemed forced.

I kept imagining where he was at that very second and wondering if he was on his way down to me. I was sitting up straight on the edge of the couch, waiting, watching, trying and failing to distract myself.

And then I saw him come around the corner.

He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and I watched as he looked around, searching the sprawling lobby intensely. He said something to Alex at the counter, and I held my breath as Alex pointed my way.

I was already standing when Drew turned and saw me. Our eyes locked, and he instantly came toward me. I walked toward him, and we closed the gap in a short amount of time. We were staring at each other as we came closer. Our expressions were searching, urgent.

He held out his arms, and I walked into them. He embraced me, wrapping his arms tightly around me, holding me. I tucked my head and rested my cheek against his chest, holding him back.

"What are you doing?" he asked. His chest moved as he tried to catch his breath.

"I just got the video yesterday," I said, feeling like I couldn't get the words out fast enough.

Drew pulled back, staring at me, focusing on me. "What?"

"Your video tape," I said. "It got held up in the mail. I just got it yesterday." My words were coming out urgent sounding because I was urgent. I was desperate. I needed him to know I would have been there. "I would have come here on the day that you said. I would have met you anywhere. If I would have known in time, I would have been there."

He pulled back, looking down at me. I was so caught up in the moment that it took me a second to realize he was still catching his breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "The elevator was taking forever, so I took the stairs. Twenty-six flights, but don't worry about it."

He was being nonchalant and joking with me, and I smiled as I reached up to touch the side of his face. His cheek was warm and big, and touching it made me feel like I might melt. I was nervous doing it, and I barely touched him,