Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis Read Free Book Online Page B

empty chair. To her left was a man, sitting still in the shadows, his face turned to the slide show. She was squinting, trying to figure out why he seemed so vaguely familiar when someone came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Mallory, there you are.”
    Her boss. Crap . She craned her neck and smiled. “Hello, Jane.”
    “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You’re late.” Jane Miller was the director of nurses, and probably in her previous life she’d been queen of her very own planet. She had a way of moving and speaking that demanded attention and subtly promised a beheading if she was disappointed in the slightest.
    “Oh, I’m not just getting here,” Mallory assured her. “I’ve been behind the scenes all night.”
    “Hmm,” Jane said. “And…?”
    “And everything’s running smoothly,” Mallory quickly assured her. “We have a full house. We’re doing good.”
    “Okay, then.” Rare approval entered Jane’s voice. “That’s terrific.” She eyed the chair to the right of Mallory. The empty spot. “Your date didn’t show up?”
    And here’s where Mallory made her mistake. She honestly had no idea what came over her: simple exhaustion from a very long week, or it might have been that her heels were already pinching her feet. But most likely it was sheer, stubborn pride—which her grandmother had always told her would be the death of her. “My date is right here,” she whispered. As discreetly as she could, she gestured with her chin to the man to her left, praying that his date didn’t take that moment to come back from the restroom.
    “Lovely.” Jane smiled politely at the back of his head. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
    Oh for God’s sake. Mallory glanced over at the man, grateful he was paying them no attention whatsoever. “He’s very busy watching the slide show.”
    Jane’s smile didn’t falter. She also didn’t budge. It was her patent alpha dog stance, the one that hospital administrators, politicians, and God himself bent over backward for.
    Mallory gritted her teeth and again glanced at her “date,” expecting him to still be watching the slide show.
    He wasn’t.
    He was looking right at her, and naturally the slide show ended at that very moment and the lights went up.
    He had a bandage above his eye, which she knew covered stitches, and there was a small bruise on his cheek, where she’d nailed him with Grace’s cell phone.
    Mysterious Cute Guy.

Chapter 5

    Do Not Disturb: Chocolate fantasy in progress.
      
    M allory’s first thought at the sight of Mysterious Cute Guy: Holy smokes. The night of the storm she hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but she was getting one now. Edgy expression, dangerous eyes, long, hard physique clothed in the elegant, sophisticated packaging of a dark suit. He’d managed to pack a wallop while prone and bleeding but that had been nothing compared to what happened to her now when he was upright and conscious. Before she could speak, a spotlight hit the stage, revealing a microphone.
    “That’s you,” Jane said, pulling Mallory out of the chair. “You’re introducing the auction, yes?”
    Saved by the bell. Or by the end of the slide show. “Yes, that’s me.”
    “Well?” Jane said to Cute Guy. “You’re her date, aren’t you? Escort her up there.”
    The expression on his face never changed from that cool, assessing calm. And even though Mallory had no idea what he did for a living, or even his name, she’d bet the last three dollars in her wallet that few people, if anyone, ever barked an order at him. “Oh,” she said in a rush to Jane. “It’s okay, he doesn’t have to—”
    But he was already on his feet, setting his hand at the small of her back, gesturing for her to go ahead of him.
    Craning her neck, she stared up at him.
    He stared back, brow arched, mouth only very slightly curved.
    Hot , he’d called her. Sure, he’d also called her “bossy,” and he hadn’t been in