Speaking to her camera while applying eyeliner, Lucy finished the movie-star look she’d been meaning to do for months. She was streaming live to her followers. With the look complete, she thanked her Lucky Ducks, but before she could turn off the camera, a man whistled behind her.
She spun on her vanity chair. Conor stood in her bedroom doorway, the duck purse held on one palm. Maeve must have left the door unlocked.
Suddenly her phone began to ping wildly.
“Uh, Conor…” She turned back to the camera and saw he was captured in frame from shoulders to waist. “Hey, Lucky Ducks, gotta go!”
She quickly turned off the camera, knowing she’d have to come up with an explanation for her ducks, and soon.
“I was live,” she declared, and got up. “I don’t think your face was in the shot, though.” He exhaled with relief as she splayed her hands. “I’m glad you came.”
“I, uh…am, too?” His arm dropped, the purse dangling by his side, as he inspected her face curiously.
And then she remembered. “Oh. It’s for a tutorial.”
“Audrey Hepburn. Wow. It’s so convincing. You really have a talent, Lucy.”
“Thank you. You inspired me to give this look a try. But who cares about makeup? You said we needed to talk, and I agree. Give me five minutes. I’d prefer you talk to me and not Audrey.”
“Sounds good.” Conor sat on the end of her bed.
Removing the makeup in record time and spritzing her face with rose water, she returned and sat beside him. He set the duck between them.
“Lucy, I get this weird sense that you don’t think you measure up to some strange standards you think I have for you.”
Nailed it! “Well, you are the richest guy in the world. And look at me. I’m just…Lucy Ellis. Struggling to make a liv—”
He kissed her, and she was glad for the interruption before she put herself down for anything her mind tricked her into believing.
“Lucy, you are smart, beautiful and a successful businesswoman. Do you actually believe that I judge people by the size of their wallets?”
“In truth? No. But you’re always buying me things and—”
Another kiss.
With a gasp and an elated sigh, she said, “Give me a fighting chance? And hear me out. Our argument made me take a look at my life. Look at you. You’ve got your hands in all the things. Running a trillion-dollar corporation. Navigating the bottom of the ocean to save the planet. And you even visit the elderly in hospital, for heaven’s sake. Yet still you find time to romance me. To make me feel special. Why should it be so difficult for me to occasionally set down my phone and pay attention to life before it literally runs me over?”
She clasped his hand. “I’m no longer that little girl who felt overlooked by working parents. The one who was so desperate for attention. I can take care of myself. And…I can fall in love, too. Can we work?” she asked.
“You’ve fallen in love?”
Lucy swallowed. She had said that, hadn’t she?
“Me too,” he blurted out. “I think I’ve loved you since that first moment our eyes met in the gallery and you shyly looked away. And you’ve shown me that I don’t need to rely on my wallet to make a true connection or to feel approval. Love is as easy as holding hands with someone you trust.” He tapped the diamond bracelet on her wrist. “But you’ll have to allow me to indulge you on occasion. You look so pretty in diamonds.”
Their kiss made a promise to one another. Trust, honesty and admiration had been gained between them. Together they could be themselves and know the dream would never end.
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