Chapter 2: A Chance Encounter

Lucas Bennet

"Lucas, could you please for one second pretend that you are enjoying the gala for my sake? Because everyone is noticing that you are bored which is not good for me and your father's reputation?" my mom asked, dressed up in a beautiful black silk designer full-length dress. Her pepper hair was tied up in a messy bun while my father stood beside her dressed up in a tuxedo with an arrogant and proud expression on his face like always.

"Stop asking me to pretend for what I can't, Mom. Enough is enough; besides, I am getting bored of these shits every day. I want change in my life. For once, I want to live life my way. I am not even allowed to do that? Am I asking for too much?" I asked my mother in a low whispered voice as I glanced around the grand ballroom decorated with opulent decoration.

"Stop embarrassing us, Lucas, Instead go and try to mingle with the crowd. Talk to the daughters of businessmen who can meet our standards. You need to get married and produce an heir or our bloodline is going to end up with you since you are the last Bennet in the line." my father ordered me in a stern tone. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and walked away without saying a word. If I had, Father and I might have been arguing in front of the crowd because we tend to do this a lot as we don't get along very well.

I moved around the crowd, nodded at everyone in acknowledgment as politely as I could, and watched the woman vying for my attention, desperate to become Mrs. Bennet and bear the Bennet baby in their belly, and most of all greed for my family fortune was clearly visible in their eyes. Freaking gold-diggers. I don't want this, I want someone to love me, not my fortune.

" Hello, handsome! Would you mind having a drink with me by the bar? We can talk, drink, and see where things go." That was a sex invitation that I wasn't interested in at all. It's not like I don't like sex. I do, and honestly, these one-night stands are getting boring for me. The woman was beautiful but not my type. To be honest, no one was my type over here.

I was just opening my mouth to decline her invitation as politely as I could when my eyes landed on the pure beauty passing or more like running beside me, chasing for a five-year-old baby girl dressed up in a pink maxi. I instantly turned around to look in the direction of the woman and found her laughing with the baby girl after she caught her.

The woman was dressed up in a beautiful chiffon full-length dress with a slit on the front and a deep neckline, giving a perfect view of her round cleavage. She had the body of a sex goddess I must say, but that isn't the only thing that caught my attention, it was her striking beauty, long chestnut hair, milky white skin, and hazel eyes.

She looked like she was in her late twenties, perfect in every sense. Her beauty almost made me skip my heartbeat. For the first time ever I felt something like this in my life for a woman and this is totally unknown and a new feeling for me. A feeling I am willing to explore.

"Beautiful," I found myself mumbling under my breath.

"Seriously?! I am inviting you to my bed, giving you an open invitation and you are standing over here calling another woman, beautiful? Why?" the woman from earlier asked with a disappointed tone.

"Maybe, because you are not his type, walk away with dignity when you still can, and besides how can you be disappointed in him when he didn't even give you a single sign to be interested in you?" came the familiar voice of my friend and daughter of my father's friend. As much as I didn't want to look away from the beauty, I did to give attention to my savior.

"Isabella," I nod, with a smile on my face.

"Lucas," she nods back and leans closer to kiss on my cheek then pulls away " So, who is the woman you were calling beautiful?" Isabella asked looking beautiful in her evening gown but not as beautiful as the woman I just saw.

" No one," I lied, pretending to be cool "You look beautiful like always, Isa."

"Thank you." She thanked me and looked over my shoulder " So, are you going to answer me or not? Or, are you going to lie to me too?" I looked over my shoulder too and felt disappointed to see that the woman with the girl wasn't present over there anymore. I took a deep breath and turned back my focus on Isabella. We both got engaged in the conversation until she was called by her father. For the whole time, I kept on gazing around, searching for the same woman but to my luck, I didn't find her.

The ballroom began to suffocate me, I needed fresh air so I headed towards the terrace to feel a little better and damn, I must say that I made the right choice because there stood the same woman in red by the terrace railing, enjoying the cold breeze while looking towards the stars.

Looking so radiant, making me feel alive from inside and not to forget, between my legs too. The woman was turning me on, just by her simple action of looking toward the star. This was my chance to make a move on her so I opened my mouth and spoke from behind her.

"Hello, I hope I am not interrupting," I spoke in a gentle tone, The woman flinched with shock and turned around to look at me with a nervous and embarrassed facial expression "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I apologize. Trust me, that wasn't my intention at all." I apologized in a hurry when I felt bad for scaring her. The woman looked at me from head to toe and for a moment I saw interest in her eyes, which made me smile and hope to ignite that maybe, there could be a chance between me and her.

"It's okay, sorry. Do you need to use the terrace? I will be out right away," she spoke, in a nervous tone and began to leave when I stopped her by grabbing her arm gently. All of a sudden I felt an electric spark running down my spine with just one touch. The woman felt that too because she looked at me with the same expression as mine.

Her hazel eyes were to look for, I could get lost in them for hours. They were too captivating, her beauty was too captivating and don't get me asking about her full hourglass body that every man out there desires. I bet just like me, the other man must have been checking her out too for sure and I don't know why but that thought made me furious and jealous of this woman at the same time.

"Please, stay Besides I can tell that you were feeling uncomfortable in there, that is why you are alone on the terrace trying to get the fresh air." I tell her " I am Lucas. Lucas Bennet." I introduced myself after letting of her and held my hand in front of her for a shake. She looked at me hesitantly at first but shook my hand.

"I am Emily. Emily Foster." She introduced herself back " And, how do you know that I am here because I feel uncomfortable in there? Unless you were keeping an eye on me or followed me here?"

"I know because I am here for the same reason, I was feeling uncomfortable too in there and to answer your next question, I wasn't keeping an eye on you, Yeah, I won't lie that I didn't see you in there with the beautiful baby girl and tried to search for you, and no, I didn't follow you over here. It is a pure chance encounter." I answered her with a smile while bringing her hand to my lips, and kissed on her knuckles. A blush took over her face which was kind of cute as you don't get to see it on every other woman out there.

"Oh," was all she said, lost with the words as she looked into my eyes. Great! It feels so good to know that this attraction I am feeling is not one way only.

"So, who was that beautiful little girl that was with you earlier?" I asked, trying to make a conversation. She was just opening her mouth to speak when I heard the voice of the little girl.

"Hey, stay away from my mommy!" the girl shouts making my eyes go wide in pure shock after I heard her referring to Emily as her mommy.

"Mommy?" I asked Emily, louder than I expected out of shock " You have a daughter?!"