[EVA'S POV]
"Hello, Eva. Hello, Marie." Mrs. Sanchez greets, hugging our bodies together with a big smile plastered on her slightly wrinkled face. "Thanks for coming."
"It's our pleasure." I smile back at her.
"Hello, gentleman." she turns her attention to Baxter. "You are...?"
"Baxter Steele. I'm a friend of theirs." Baxter replies politely.
"Nice to see you. I'm glad you all came. Come on, let me show you to some people." Mrs. Sanchez offers. Ah, the language of rich people. "It's been a long time since I came around. You girls look beautiful." she adds leading us towards a group of people gathered around and talking quietly.
"Um, girls, meet the Lockmores." she grins, gaining their attention. The infamous Lockmores are a family of...two? There's a very beautiful woman of Mrs. Sanchez's age, with straight blond hair, dull blue eyes, expensive looking pearls and a very beautiful marigold fishtail gown. Next to her is a young lady of my age with features just like the older woman.
Marie was right. They reek of billions of dollars. But then isn't there a father or a son or something? Is the family just these two?
"Ladies, meet Elinor and Britney Lockmore. One of the famous billionaires in the city. " Mrs. Sanchez says to us and we shake hands.
"Oh stop it, Emilia." the older woman giggles, shaking her head.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Marie says, and she's totally blushing. "I'm Marie. Marie Blitz."
"Eva Cardale." I say with a small smile.
"Nice to see you too." the older woman, Elinor says.
"Elinor, Eva and Marie work at my diner. They're like daughters to me." Mrs. Sanchez says proudly.
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes. And where's Hudson, I've not really seen him around."
"Um, my son is actually here except he went to the... oh there he is! Hudson!" Elinor whisper shouts, beckoning over my shoulder. The four of us turn around to look, and just then I stop breathing. Someone better hand me a tissue before I drool all over the floor.
Hudson Lockmore, who happens to be the famous Lockmore Marie was gushing about is about six feet tall, very muscular and well built, his biceps could crash my skull. He had curly brown hair with faded sides, hypnotizing deep green eyes and full lips. His face is flawless, spotless, impeccable. Tanned skin, neat beard, sharp jawline and pearl white teeth when he smiled.
"Oh, this is Hudson Lockmore. The very affluent son." Mrs. Sanchez says.
Baxter has to jab me to snap me out of my reverie before I realize Hudson's super large hand is outstretched for a hand shake.
"Oh uh... hi. I'm Eva. Nice to officially meet you." I say softly, breaking eye contact quickly afterwards. I'm going to die from staring.
"Eva and Marie work with Mrs. Sanchez, Hudson." says Elinor.
"Nice to meet you too, Eva and Marie and..."
"Baxter." Baxter puts in. From his facial expression, he seems intimidated. This Hudson guy is not just very good looking, he exudes prominence.
The music changes suddenly and I see people moving to the middle of the big hall to waltz to it. It reminded me of how I'd step on my father's toes and waltz around the room.
"Would you like to dance?" I hear Hudson ask. I look up to meet green eyes looking down at me questioningly. He's talking to me? What? He wants to dance with me? Why not Marie or Britney? Am I dreaming or something?
"Um," I look between Mrs. Sanchez and Marie who both smile encouragingly at me.
Oh God, I've not really danced in a while. What if I embarrass myself? "Yes." I reply without thinking. He then takes my hand in his and leads me to the dancefloor.
I dance quite stiffly to the music, with one hand on his shoulder, his around my waist, causing me to panic. His suit feels expensive. I can even feel his muscles. They're massive.
Why do I even deserve a dance with this man? He's way up there and I'm way down. An average young adult with an average salary and an average apartment is now in the arms of Hudson Lockmore, CEO of Apexi Industries. An incredibly handsome billionaire, without an attitude, unlike Mr. Sanchez who acts like he's constantly on his period. I always felt like the whole world was against me, but now I felt like I was in heaven.
I abruptly feel my body twirl around. Right, we're dancing. Where was my mind wandering? I look up at him and give a cringey smile to hide my nervousness. But he stares back at me looking tremendously awestruck.
"You...you are..."
"Eva?" I remind him, confused. Did he just forget who I am in a minute?
"No you are...I can't believe it." he says with a little amused laugh, like he just met a celebrity. How ironic.
"Believe what?" I ask, confused.
"Oh my God! I cannot believe there's one more of you."
"One of who?" Okay, this hotty must have a serious problem.
"Come with me." he pulls me away from the dance floor. I look over at Baxter who has the where-are-you-going look. I follow Hudson up the long flight of stairs, everyone seems to be staring.
Okay, what's going on? Does he know me anywhere? I thought we just met today and...did I lose my memory or something?
"Eva..." Hudson cups my cheeks in his large hands, sending shivers down my spine. We're in a large bedroom, door locked. Is he going to kiss me?
"Eva, I'm sorry for everything we might've caused to you and your people. But believe me, it was out of my control. You must really hate me."
"I...I don't hate you." Is this man crazy? "I don't even know you except from the magazines."
"Wait" he squints stepping back. "You're not pretending, are you?"
"What? No? I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't hate you. As a matter of fact, I find you really attractive. Maybe I'm a look alike of someone you know, but she's definitely not me. You're mistaken."
"You don't remember?"
Lord, don't tell me these are one of the cases where I realise I hit my head and had amnesia for 11 years and Hudson is my husband. "Remember what?"
"That mark on your neck... where did you get it?"
I reach to my nape and stroke it shyly. How do I answer this? "Um, I think I might've had it tattooed there when I was younger, I don't really remember how it got there. I usually forget things." I say with a nervous laugh. I must look like an idiot.
"But this design... no one knows it. It's very confidential."
"I guess the tattooist was uh.... very creative and..."
"...forget it." he plants his hands on both my shoulders and gives a shaky laugh. "I'm sorry for asking a lot of questions. It's your private issue."
"Yeah, kinda..." I trail off, laughing nervously.
"I don't know what came over me. You're right. You might just be a look alike."
I have a look alike? With the same tattoo as mine? What is all this about? Do I have a sibling somewhere? I'd really like to meet her. "Does someone else have this tattoo?" I ask very hopefully.
"Um... yes. But you're not her. Her name is not even Eva. I'm sorry, I got carried away." he pinches his nose in frustration and looks down.
"It's okay... Is she your wife?" I ask out of curiosity. Maybe I went too far.
"What? No. Just an old friend. We've not seen each other in years. She's uh, she's Russian."
I sigh internally. There goes my hope of meeting a relative. My parents had no Russian rootes as far as I know. But all this is still creepy. "Okay." I say simply, hiding my disappointment.
"That was very embarrassing for me to do. How can I make it up to you?" he asks.
Oh. My. God. A trillion thoughts ran in my mind. What do you say when a celebrity as handsome and rich as Hudson Lockmore asks you this question?
1. Kiss me and post it on Instagram.
2. Let me run my hands through your hair.
3. Let me hug your perfect body for thirty minutes.
4. Dance with me. Again.
5. Let me live with you alone for three days....
He seems to notice my indecisiveness and chuckles a little. "Okay. I'll decide. Put in your number here, on my phone. I'll take you out on a date tomorrow. What do you say?"
Oh. My. God. I think my body is going to connect to the floor in five...four... three... two...
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Hey loves! You know what to do. Votes and comments will be deeply appreciated.
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Song recommendation: Perm by Bruno Mars 👌