Freefall (Santa Cruz Skydivers Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

probably wasn’t a totally bad idea considering my clumsy episode earlier. We linked arms and walked side by side. Lili towered over me, despite the fact I too had on high heels. She was lucky Scotty was six-two. Admittedly, he was tall and thin, and had some goofy endearing qualities, but I did question whether she would find another guy that would treat her the way he did. And even though she had never told me, I suspected she only agreed to date him because of his height. At just shy of six-foot, Lili didn’t have a lot of guy choices, unless she chose a shorter guy, and I knew she would never do that. Image was everything.
    Speaking of which, she pouted her lips at me for inspection. “Is my lipstick smudged? I love Scotty, but he’s such a messy kisser. And I don’t want my professional makeup ruined.”
    I resisted rolling my eyes at her. “You look perfect, as usual.”
    As we walked though the room, I spied the bar over by the open bifold doors that opened out onto a balcony. Walking amongst the crowd, I began to relax and take in the faces of some of the people around us. Every female looked exactly the same. Faces frozen in time with Botox and puffed out fish lips full of fillers. I was about to make a joke to Lili when I froze in place, pinching Lili’s arm hard enough for her to flinch in pain.
    “Ow,” she cried, and tried to pull her arm away from me, but I only grabbed her harder.
    “Ben is here,” I told her in a hushed voice.
    Her eyes widened. “You mean the hot guy you have been lusting over for the past six months? Which one is he?” She craned her neck and looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of him.
    “Stop it,” I hissed, and pulled her down to my height. “He might see you. He’s the one standing next to the blond with the big boobs in the red sequin dress.”
    She lifted her head again, this time a little bit more inconspicuous—and I mean a little—and scanned the crowd. It didn’t take long for her to find him. Boobs-in-the-red-dress definitely hadn’t worn that dress to blend in.
    “Oh, he is cute,” she said once she had spotted him. “Don’t look now, but he’s headed our way.”
    “No way! Do you think he saw us?” I spun quickly so my back was to him. Why oh why did I have to have this hideous dress on?
    Lili snuck a quick peek at him over my shoulder. “Oh my God,” she whispered dramatically.
    “What?” I clutched her arm anxiously.
    “Boobs-in-the-red-dress, she’s his date. She’s that Australian actress, Taylor Lawson.” Her voice started to elevate in excitement. “And they are definitely coming our way.”
    I moaned. “Oh great. He can’t see me, not in this dress, not when he is with a Hollywood actress. I have to get out of here.”
    Grabbing her hand, I bent over and kept my head down, trying to weave my way through the throng of party guests unnoticed. My getaway was short-lived. I had run head-first into a firm, wide chest. With my back still hunched over, I looked up and met the most gorgeous pair of green eyes, fringed with black long lashes that I would have killed for. Instantly, things down below my waist stirred. Holy crap. I froze, lost in his eyes. They looked so familiar, but I couldn’t place them, or him. It took a tug on my hand from Lili to bring me back to earth.
    “Hurry up, or ‘you know who’ is going to see us.” She spoke just loud enough for me to hear.
    Green Eyes just continued to stare at me. His brows furrowed in the middle slightly, and he cocked his head to the side. I could see that he felt the same recognition I did, even though I knew we had never met. I would never forget those eyes. We both just continued to stare at each other, my thoughts of escaping the room forgotten. Then I heard a voice from over my shoulder, loud and familiar.
    “LJ! When did you get in?” Ben called out, and pushed past me, embracing the green-eyed stranger in a bro hug.
    Green Eyes didn’t even break eye contact with me as he