16 Lucas And Imani

Lucas watched Imani, who was on the floor and staring at him, blink once. Twice.

Her mouth made an 'o' shape as she quickly got up but suddenly gasped in pain when she was on her feet. Lucas stood up and furrowed his brows in confusion when she hobbled backward on one foot before losing her balance.

In that split second, Imani accepted the fact that she was about to fall right on her ass. She just wished it didn't have to happen in front of someone she didn't know. Pain had shot up her left leg the moment she got to her feet and she realized she had twisted her ankle. She had quickly lifted her left leg in reflex as she hobbled back on the other foot but she had forgotten that she was wearing heels and her right leg gave out.

However, instead of feeling her ass hit the floor, she felt Lucas' arms wrapping around her and pulling her flush against his solid body. Her left leg hit the floor again, instantly buckling as she yelped but he hooked a hand under her left knee and pulled it up to his side.

For a moment – for a very long moment – both of them stood still and stared at each other.

Lucas inhaled deeply as he unconsciously catalogued every curve and dip of her body and her scent, an exotic fusion of lavender, lemon and tangerine, slammed into his system, making his wolf growl in excitement. Their current position also wasn't helping at all.

Imani opened her mouth to say something and Lucas' gaze momentarily dropped to her lips. "I twisted my ankle," she said. It was more of a whisper and he wouldn't have heard her if he didn't have wolf hearing.

She was practically glued to him with her hands on his arms and she could feel his body heat as he held her firm against him. She was more than aware of his hand that was on the exposed skin of her thigh, sending electric currents travelling through her whenever his fingers moved slightly. His scent – spring rain, cedar wood and fresh pine – made her heady and his eyes had taken on a glazed and hungry look that made shivers run down her spine.

"I figured," he said, his voice all rumbly, before he cleared his throat and remembered what just happened. "I'm so sorry about the phone. I didn't throw it at you on purpose."

Imani blinked repeatedly at his words before she snapped back to her senses. 'He's a werewolf. He's the werewolf.'

She swallowed and instantly leaned back when the thought popped up in her mind. "It's fine Mr. Harrison. Can you um... let me go?"

"You can't stand on your own."

The baritone of his voice which had a rich, silky tone reverberated through Imani's bones. He spoke like authority was his second skin and his hard penetrating stare made her wiggle in his arms as she swallowed again.

"I'll sit in my car," she said in a squeaky voice and he glanced at her car.

The door wasn't completely shut since she was in the process of shutting it when Lucas' phone hit her forehead. He removed one hand from her waist and opened the door wider before returning his hand to where it was.

'Isn't he going to let me go?' Imani thought when he kept staring at her.

"Mr. Harrison, could you um... " she glanced at the car and back at him.

Lucas raised his brows, waiting for her to finish her statement when she suddenly hobbled back and he immediately followed her movement while still holding her.

'For the love of God,' she thought and hobbled back again. And again. And again. Till she got to the car and he finally let her go after helping her sit in the car.

"Ah, your phone," Lucas said and walked to where their phones lay on the ground, grabbing them before he walked back to the car.

Imani avoided looking at him as she collected the phone he stretched out to her. "Thank you, Mr. Harrison."

"It's Lucas," he stated and she glanced up at him before her gaze fell to the phone with the cracked screen on her laps as she processed what he said.

"Oh, I um..." she was cut off by the ringing of the phone and she immediately picked the call when she saw 'Parisa Barnes' flash across the phone's screen. "Good evening Parisa."

"Imani?" came the woman's shocked voice over the phone just as Lucas turned on the phone in his hand, to check if the woman Imani was talking to over the phone had called him, and a message popped out. "You're with Lucas Harrison?"

Imani furrowed her brows in confusion as she wondered how the woman knew and she looked up at the man standing in front of her. Her eyes widened when she saw the message that was hovering above the phone and she hung up the call she was on before immediately reaching up and snatching the phone from his hands.

She'd texted Lola, asking if she knew Lucas Harrison personally, before she got down from her car and received a phone to the forehead. And from what she just saw, Lola had replied with the shirtless picture of Lucas she'd shown Imani in the morning and a message that read 'This Lucas Harrison? Well, I'd definitely want to know him... personally ;)'

'Shit. Fucking pop-up feature,' she thought when she saw the surprised look on Lucas' face and she remembered why she was currently here. The e-mails.

She slightly opened her mouth as everything she'd read in the e-mails came rushing back into her head and she handed Lucas his phone.

"I uh... I should go," Imani stated as she moved her legs into the car.

"No, no, wait." Lucas quickly caught the door before she closed it. "Didn't you come here to meet me?"

"Yes," she blurted out. "I mean no... I don't know. Sorry, I have to go."

Lucas opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off when his phone rang and he saw that it was Parisa calling. He immediately picked the call, letting go of the car door which Imani promptly closed.

"Imani!" he called out but the car was already pulling out of the parking space.