3. Lucas

3

LUCAS

I think I felt it the moment she walked into the arena; it's like a chill went down my back. My arms were covered in goosebumps, and I lifted my head, searching around, trying to figure out what the cause was. As soon as I laid eyes on her, I knew it was her. I've never seen anyone as beautiful as her. Even from a distance, I can appreciate her curves. I need to get closer to her. I watch the whole time as she sits with her friends, and when she gets up, I can't stop myself from walking around the fenced-in area to go and find her. I should be doing all of my pre-event rituals, but I'm skipping that today. I'd skip the whole event if it meant that I would get an opportunity to talk to her.

I walk around and notice that she's still not in her seat, but all of her friends are still sitting in the same spot. I go by the concession stand, and she's nowhere to be found. Deciding that she must be in the ladies' room, I stand across the hall from it and lean my back against the wall, waiting for her to come out so I can see her again.

Only seconds go by, and when she walks out of the door, she lifts her head, and her gaze lands on me. Her eyes widen as if she recognizes me. She stumbles, and it catches her off-guard as someone walks by and knocks into her. She falls down before I can even get to her. It must be between events because the hallway has filled up, and people are moving all around, stepping over and around her.

I squat down next to her. "Are you okay?"

She nods, keeping her head down, and tries to get up. "Yeah, maybe just a little embarrassed, though."

I shake my head. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Thank you," she says, then tries to walk away. As I notice her hobbling, I do the only thing that I think of: I put one hand behind her back and the other behind her knees and lift her up into my arms.

Her hands go to my chest, and her eyes widen. I don’t move. I don’t even breathe. Being this close to her, inhaling her sweet, sugary scent has my nostrils flaring and my arms tightening around her. Her soft body feels perfect against mine.

She struggles against me in surprise. "What are you doing? Put me down."

I don’t let her go, though. "I think that you may have twisted your ankle. I was going to carry you to your seat."

"Put me down," she says, more firmly this time, and I do as she asks. I set her down gently on her feet.

She starts to walk away from me, and I can tell that she's trying to hide the fact that her ankle is hurting her. I easily catch up to her. "It would probably be less painful if you just let me carry you."

She stops and stares up at me. "I'm too big for you to carry."

I laugh. "Have you looked at me, honey? I can carry you easily."

She leans her head back to look at me, and finally her eyes connect with mine. Her soft blue ones darken as she stares up at me. "I don't need your help." She holds her hand up as if by doing so, she's going to make me stay where I'm at, but what she doesn't understand is that there's no way I'm going to let her get away that easily.

She walks back to the stands where her friends are, and I follow behind her.

I wait for her to sit down between her friends, and then I take my hat off and hold it to my chest. I stare at her, wanting her eyes on me before I ask her, "You okay now?"

She juts her chin out. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just embarrassed. You didn't have to carry me."

Her friend sitting next to her gasps loudly, looking back and forth between us. "Becca! Are you okay? What happened?"

Becca. Her name is Becca.

She shakes her head with a blush on her cheeks. "I tripped coming from the bathroom, and then there was a stampede of people that tried to get by me. This guy," she says, pointing at me, "decided the best course of action was to pick me up and try to carry me back to my seat."

I smile at her description of what happened. "It was my pleasure. Becca," I say, drawing out her name, pleased that I now have it.

Becca's forehead creases. "I wasn't thanking you."

The dirty look that she's giving me doesn't even faze me. I shrug my shoulders. "It was still my pleasure."

At that moment, the announcers come over the speaker. "Up next is a fan favorite. We're going to take a little break, and then Lucas Granger will be riding Rampage. Hold on to your hats. It's going to be a hell of a ride."

All at once, Becca's friend points up at the big Jumbo-tron. "That's you," she says, pointing at it and looking at me.

I turn and look, and sure enough, my face is up on the big screen. "Yep. It is."

I turn back to Becca and tilt my head at her. "You going to wish me luck?"

She rolls her eyes. "Sure. Good luck."

I just laugh. She’s going to make me work for it. I put one foot on the higher step and lean over toward her. I can feel all of her friends’ eyes on me. The two guys in her group of friends are big guys, and I guess I’m lucky they seem to be more interested in the women next to them than Becca, not that I’d give up if they were. I wait until Becca’s eyes meet mine again. "So how about a wager?"

She crosses her arms over her chest. "I'm not making a bet with you."

"I'm not saying a bet, but how about if I stay on Rampage the eight seconds, you'll give me your number?"

She seems surprised by that, but she recovers quickly. "Sorry, but I'm not interested."

She's lying. I may have just met her, but I can read people. I know that what she just said is not the full truth. She has a tinge to her cheeks, and the way her voice has dropped a little tells me that she’s interested. She may not want to be, but she is.

I take a long look at her and stand up to my full height. "Well, at least stick around and watch. I have a feeling that you're going to be my good luck charm."

She shrugs as if she doesn't care one way or another.

I put my hat back on my head. "I'll see you later, Becca. It was nice seeing you all. Thanks for coming out," I tell the rest of them. I walk down the steps, and I can feel Becca's eyes on me.

I walk across the arena knowing that I need to get her out of my head because I need to concentrate on the event that is about to take place. Rampage is a mean son of a bitch, and if I'm not ready for him or if I’m distracted, he could hurt me badly.

I try to clear my head as I walk over to the chute and climb in. I shouldn't, but I can't resist looking across the arena at where Becca is sitting. She's sitting on the edge of her seat, hands in her lap, leaning forward, and I can feel her eyes on me.

She may have acted like she's not interested, but I know she is. The stadium is quiet. I take deep breaths waiting for the announcer to start. When he does the countdown and the chute opens, I hold on, gripping my legs around the beast underneath me. I listen to the crowd count, and once I hit eight seconds and the buzzer sounds, I jump off the back of the bull, landing on my feet, and run to the fence.

I did it, I made it the whole eight seconds. It's probably the best ride that I've had in a very long time, and I know exactly why that was. As I stand up on the second rung of the railing, I look over to where Becca and her friends are. I point at her, letting her know that she really is my good luck charm. I climb over the fence, and when I jump down on the other side, I'm surrounded by people congratulating me and slapping me on the back.

Probably a minute, maybe two go by, and when I look back up in the stands, Becca is gone. Her friends are still there, but she's left. My good luck charm has walked away, and I don't know how to get a hold of her. That's not going to work for me. I fight my way through the crowd, determined to talk to one of her friends and find out how I can talk to Becca again. Because forgetting about her is not an option.