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She sat down next to him and Walker didn’t bother to introduce her. I would have felt sorry for her if she hadn’t pulled out her phone and started making duck faces at herself while she snapped selfies.
Ari lifted an eyebrow at Walker and nodded his head at the woman in a clear “what the fuck are you doing” gesture.
Walker just gave him a miserable look in return.
* * *
The evening passed quickly, even with the woman—Iris—giving us her best Marilyn Monroe impressions. Dinner tasted amazing and the alcohol was flowing. Evidently he had not been kidding when he said he got everyone drunk so they would open up their wallets.
The guest list at the event was impressive. There were more Hollywood stars here than in most events in L.A., and all of them wanted to talk to Ari and Lincoln. They would give me appraising looks, but it was hard to be self-conscious with Ari’s hands all over me and the way he proudly introduced me as “the love of his life” to every person that came by. I met a lot of his old teammates too, and it was obvious they were still big fans of his, even with his abrupt departure.
Finally, it was time for the guests to hear from Ari.
As he took the stage, the room fell silent, all eyes fixed on my man. He cleared his throat, and a warm smile graced his lips as he began his speech. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for being here tonight. It's truly an honor to stand before you and represent the Lost Children's Organization—a cause that means everything to me."
"You know, when I was a kid, I was one of those lost children. I would have given anything to have someone who cared about finding me. I got lucky, and I survived those years. But there are lots of children that don’t."
“Our goal here,” Ari continued, "is to give those kids hope, to give them a family…give them a chance. You can help me do that." He stared around the room, silently challenging each one of them.
“May you all get drunk enough to give us the amount of money we need,” he said, lifting up his glass and toasting them all.
There was a brief pause while everyone lifted up their champagne flutes…confused, and then the room filled with laughter. Ari bowed and stepped off the stage while the whole room applauded.
He made his way through the room, getting stopped every couple of steps by someone else who wanted to talk. His gaze went to me every few seconds though, the look in them…
“Ari’s so in love with you,” murmured Monroe from next to me.
I blushed and nodded. “I’m definitely in love with him too.”
“Good,” she said, softly patting my hand. “I have a great feeling about the two of you.”
I smiled gratefully at her and turned to watch him again. Ari Lancaster was a light that shined so bright, you couldn’t help but want him.
I only hoped I could hold on to him without getting burned.
* * *
“You know what I could really use?” Ari mused later as the evening wound down.
“I’m not sure how I could ever guess,” Lincoln responded sarcastically. Ari gave him a wink and patted his cheek, completely unaffected.
“Tacos, baby. I could use some tacos.”
Lincoln glanced at Monroe. “I could actually use some tacos, too.”
She grinned.”Let’s do it.”
I stared at them all like they’d gone mad since we’d just gotten done with dinner a little while ago, but I quickly changed my tune when the four of us—plus Walker, who had managed to ditch his date—found ourselves at Maria’s.
It was obvious with one bite why Ari was obsessed with this place. It was the best thing I’d ever eaten. He munched on his five tacos happily as Maria herself continued to bring things to the table for the entire meal.
I would normally never eat like this, but I did my best to stay in the moment. I would worry about the scale’s retribution when I got back.
For now…I was having the perfect taco.
With the perfect man.
And our perfect friends.
