Preseason Love Read Online Free Page A

“industry executives.” They talked fast and played the part but could offer nothing of real substance. Either way, the excitement of it all had me at hello as I made my way through the crowd. The DJ had the party rocking, so I chatted it up with what could one day prove to be a few promising business connections. Eventually, I made my way back to where I left my crew. They were living it up. Mel, in his usual style, ordered bottle service.
    I slid into the booth, intentionally not sitting next to Que since he would not stop giving me the eye. I tried to ignore him, but honestly he was starting to annoy me even more than before. Dev and Mel were in each other’s space like teenagers on a first date, completely oblivious to their surroundings, but she looked happy and I was happy for her. Dev could be hard to crack for men and even harder to entertain, so Mel seemed to be doing something right.
    â€œAre you comfortable?” Mel asked Dev.
    Dev replied with a simple, “Yes.”
    â€œDo you want me to mix you a drink?” Mel asked Dev.
    With a coy smile, she nodded yes. I sat back and watched this little love fest unfold. He sure didn’t ask if I was comfortable or parched.
    In an effort to avoid any potential awkward advances from Que, I politely excused myself from the booth and headed to the second level. I caught a glimpse of what looked like a cutie making his way up the stairs. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to do what I did best: investigate.
    He had a deep, flawless, black-onyx complexion, pearly whites, heart-melting smile, and the body of a lean, chiseled gladiator. I thought to myself, now what the hell do you do? He had to be a model. I’d never been the forward type—only when intoxicated—so to think that I would saunter up to a man and strike up a conversation was unlikely. I needed hints, cues of interest, a hand gesture telling me to come hither, something. So I decide to play it cool and scope him out from afar. After two whole minutes of that game, I was bored. I took a long sip of my drink and forced myself to walk into his line of sight. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I quickly snapped my neck to the right expecting to see Que the bug-a-boo, but it wasn’t him.
    â€œHe’s calling you,” said a man wearing a hunter-green lumber-jack-esque shirt and matching hat. He informed me of something that I had clearly missed.
    I gave him a puzzled look, then he pointed in the direction of my new crush. He appeared to be signaling me to come over to him. Get it, girl! This was not the normal way that I liked to be engaged by a man but what the hell, a brand-new city, a brand-new me. With the speed of light, I straightened up my posture,flipped my hair over my shoulder and put a swift strut in my peep-toe pumps. I made my way toward the bar where he was standing.
    Anxiety filled my body at the unknown, but there was no time for fear or doubt. I was less than three feet away from saying hello to my future love, but for some reason his eyes were not exactly meeting mine as I thought they would be, or imagined they had been. I continued toward him and as I said hello and extended my hand, he reached past me. He fell into a sensuous embrace with an extremely tall brunette who had a true model figure. After their long hello, he turned to me with a puzzled look on his face and asked, “Do we know each other?” I guess he noticed me staring. The woman was standing there waiting to hear my answer as well. Hell, I was standing there waiting to hear my answer too. In a split-second decision, I determined that I would not make an even bigger ass out of myself by trying to explain this natural disaster caused by a lumberjack. I simply flashed a polite smile and made a swift exit toward the stairway.
    I was humiliated. I felt like I was just written into an old episode of Ugly Betty as her uglier twin. The night could only get better, but I did not want to