Surely she could do this.
When he smiled back at her, a sexy, crooked, mischievous grin, Sierra knew she’d need more than courage to get through the next few minutes.
“I hear you need a date for Vegas.” Luke stated as he took the seat that Sam had been sitting in, motioning to the chair across from him. The man clearly didn’t have a problem with getting to the point.
“Depends on who you ask.” Sierra stated, returning his playful grin and easing into the chair.
“Not that I have any doubt you could find one on your own.”
Was he flirting with her?
Sierra took in Luke’s rugged features, his midnight black hair and hazel eyes that were more green than brown, thanks to the forest green polo shirt he wore. His thick, well groomed eyebrows were halfcocked while his sexy lips were tilted into a smirk as he waited for her response.
“I won’t dispute that, but being I’m new in town, and definitely not looking to find anything more than someone to accompany me to the conference, I decided to take my chances.”
“Ever been to one of XTX’s vendor conferences?”
Luke’s penetrating gaze was directed at her, and Sierra felt the warmth of those radiant green-brown eyes all the way to her toes. She was grateful she was sitting down because she wasn’t sure she would be able to hold herself up thanks to the way her knees had turned to jelly.
“No, I haven’t. My mother has been to a few, but I didn’t get many details from her.”
Veronica hadn’t been forthcoming with any information; other than that Sierra would want to take someone with her because there were numerous afterhours’ events that would be mostly couples. No matter how much Sierra protested Veronica hadn’t let up.
Sierra was a little shocked at how adamant her mother had been since Veronica was single as well, and wasn’t likely to be taking a date. Though she knew Veronica and Xavier usually attended events together, as far as she knew, they weren’t actually a couple. Being that Xavier was widowed, and Veronica had been divorced from Sierra’s absent father for nearly two decades, Sierra figured they could do whatever they wanted.
“I’m amazed that Logan thought to invite me.” Luke said, but Sierra got the impression he didn’t mean to say the words out loud.
“Why is that?” Unexplainably intrigued by the man, Sierra wanted to know more about him.
“Tell me a little about you, Sierra.” Luke obviously wasn’t interested in talking about himself if his deflection of the subject was anything to go by.
“What do you want to know, Luke?” Sierra addressed him, using his name the way he had used hers.
She was all for getting to know this man, but based on the vibe she felt coming off of him in waves he was used to things going his way. The slight tilt of his lips into a barely there smile told her that he realized she would be a challenge.
“Kane, bring Sierra another drink.” Luke instructed the bartender, but he never took his eyes off of her.
She liked the way he looked at her; the dark passion that swirled just beneath the surface was there for the world to see, but Sierra knew he held something back. Probably a lot of somethings if she had to guess.
“You’re from Nashville?”
“Born and raised. My mother moved to Dallas right after I graduated from high school. I stayed to go to the University of Tennessee. Until recently, I’ve been working for a design firm in Nashville. I started there after I graduated, but I’ve always intended to start my own business.”
“Other than your mother, what made you want to come to Texas?” Luke asked as Kane sat her drink on the table, removing the empty glass.
“Nothing, honestly. I love Nashville, and if she hadn’t been so far away, I probably would’ve never left. But, design firms are a dime a dozen here, the clientele desirable, so I figured I could kill two birds, so to speak. Being close to my mother is important to me, more so than where I start my business.”
“Do you live with your mother?”
Sierra laughed, trying to imagine how that would even be possible. “Hardly. I think we’d kill each other if we were under the same roof.”
Growing up in a house, just her and her mother, had been a challenge. Two of them, both self-sufficient, exceedingly independent, and more than a little bit princesses in their own right meant that neither of them could be under the same roof for long without trying to see who the bigger diva was. They had barely managed to survive Sierra’s teenage years.
No, she certainly hadn’t moved in with her mother.
“What about you, Luke?” Sierra asked, trying to turn the tables. If she wasn’t careful, she got the impression Luke would know everything there was to know about her while she would walk away knowing nothing.