She settled herself on the plush couch cursing. This dress. Why had she worn this dress? It was deep burgundy in color with spaghetti straps hugging her every curve. She was blessed with a curvy body jutting out femininely in all the right places, but she loathed it. The dress hugged her breasts and fit her waist and hips like a glove. It made it hard to sit down sometimes and that certainly wasn't worth all the male glances she received.
She was from Los Angeles and loved her West coast roots but had been invited to Chicago for New Year's Eve by her good friend, a magazine publisher. Clark and Gretta Mason's house was amazing. Almost like the mansion Twelve Oaks in Gone With The Wind it was two stories and huge even by LA standards. Its gardens were immense and Clark had let his wife hire the best interior designers creating a warm yet decidedly affluent feel.
Zoey's long golden hair fell over her shoulder as she bent to retrieve her small purse. She needed some air. The room had become stifling with the amount of people. The cream colored French doors opened to a large veranda and even larger gardens. It reminded Zoey of the English gardens once so popular in Elizabethan times. Paper lanterns dotted the pebble walk way and she breathed a sigh of relief. She enjoyed these parties but since she was stag and not from the area she knew few people.
She continued to walk through the dimly lit gardens and couldn't help but feel that she was being watched. She turned but only saw couples meandering around as she was. She continued to walk but couldn't shake the feeling.
She turned completely and it was then that she noticed the two gentlemen in a small gazebo talking quietly but staring at her.
One man was of a small stature with blonde hair, glasses and dressed very upscale. The other man was dark haired with smoldering eyes and dressed in such a way that she envied his clothes.
His eyes seemed to undress her and Zoey blushed in the dark.
She quickly moved away from them.
Zoey began moving toward the house and had just stepped into a huge weeping willow tree. It almost completely shielded her from anyone's eyes.
She was about to leave the shelter of the tree when someone took her hand and forced her around.
"You don't remember me?" Those eyes and that mouth so sexy stood before her.
Zoey shook her head. "I'm sorry, no. I'm not even from around here."
He smiled. "I know. It was that summer at USC. Journalism 101, Professor Crane wasn't it, Zoey?"
It all came back to her. Her study partner. Those long hours studying for that awful final and Michael...and those lips. She had liked him so much then.
"Wow, what a great memory, Michael." Zoey replied.
"Yes. And you are not quite the same as I remember. More gawky and geeky back then." He teased.
"Thanks." She smiled.
"Kinda filled out, you have." His voice suddenly so husky.
"You haven't really changed much. Still hot." She blushed again not knowing why she had said that.
"And LA, still the same?"
"Yes. And you? Still writing?"