Lara flashed him a smile and tried to run out but Lucas caught her by the arm and drew her into his arms, embracing her.
Being a foot shorter than him, Lara found her head on his chest and this was so because he leaned down and she was wearing heels.
Subconsciously Lara wanted to push him away but held herself back at the last minute and wrapped her arms around his broad back instead.
Lucas felt her stiffened body and a dark look crossed his eyes, but he immediately fixed his expression.
He inhaled the scent of her hair, and the sweet smell of chocolate invaded his nostrils.
"What is it with the woman and chocolate?" He thought to himself.
A few moments later he released her and pressed a kiss on her forehead.
"We should get ba…" Lara was caught off by an enlarged face before her.
Lucas closed his face on her and touched her nose with his. Her breath hitched and she looked forward and locked with a pair of hazel eyes looking intently at her's. A second or so later, their foreheads touched, and Lucas' arms tightened around her, holding her closer and their lips a breath away. Lara took a deep breath and avoided his eyes by lowering her eyes. She had been floored by his eyes enough and knew the look in his eyes, being an 'experienced' woman in her past life, but at this moment, she didn't know what to do or how to react.
Seeing her not exactly willing to get closer to him, he placed kisses on both edges of her lips buried his head in her neck for a few moments, and whispered for them to go back down.
Unwillingly, Lucas intertwined their hands and led her out of the room.
Once out of the room they walked side by side and went back down to the living room.
Alima, who had been paying attention to the stairs since the pair went up, immediately saw them; at first, she was relieved to see them come out just a few minutes later, but seeing their intertwined hands and Lucas' full attention on Lara made her clench her skirt. Reigning her emotions in, she walked to them when they reached the bottom of the stairs and 'sincerely' apologized to Lara.
Lara felt that those petty tricks were beneath her and forgave her.
At 10, the members started to leave one by one, as much as they would love to stay there, only the eldest son's family was allowed to stay there after starting their own family.
Soon, the living room was almost empty, and the Brown, too, told the old man good night and left.
Lara, finally relieved, relaxed her nerves, walked behind her father, and headed toward their car.
Lucas easily caught up to her and whispered to her, "Dinner tomorrow!" He said it like a question but Lara knew that he wasn't asking.
"Sure," she whispered back and smiled at him. He waited until their car was driven out, opened the door for Lara, and kissed her cheeks. He carefully closed the door when he saw that she was seated properly.
He said a few words to Mr Brown and they drove off.
Lara spent a long time that night playing around with what happened between Lucas and her and was conflicted by her reaction.
Why was she so opposed to a mere kiss from Lucas? Perhaps she was still adapting to her new life and needed time.
She knows within herself that she did not have a deep love for Lucas, but at least there was something, right?
Was she making a wrong decision, and the best way to make it up to Lucas was not to be with him and be devoted but rather to leave him and let him get together with someone who truly loves him?
Someone like Alima. She didn't know what to do but one thing she knew was that she didn't deserve him.
Lara was focused on her thoughts and didn't know when she fell asleep.
The next day, Lara woke up early, and again, Kiera and Lucas came back from their morning jog. This time around, they weren't as surprised to see her early but were still a bit unsettled by her being nice to Kiera.
After breakfast, Lara checked her diary and saw that she had brunch with some socialite that morning; not having anything else to do, she decided to show up early.
In her past life, she still did not have her bank cards back yet, and Amira accidentally used this to embarrass her in this meeting; Lara, being hot-tempered, then made a scene that made her a laughingstock.
This time around she was gonna change things and serve those little green teas some bitter lemons.
Still unsettbyfrom her accident the previous day, she called for a chauffeur, and her car was still at the repair shop, so she had to take another car.
When she entered the garage, she was welcomed by the sight of an array of Jeeps.
Her father was in the construction business, and most times, he would need to go back to one of the sites without prior knowledge and would go there in whatever car he was driving at that moment.
After spoiling two cars Carlos gave up and decided to just buy jeeps or similar cars that were very high off the ground.
Because of this, Lara was now left with a choice of very manly cars, some she suspected would pass as military ones.
She went back and forth and finally decided on a car that she was a bit satisfied with, she traced the trademark on the front.
"FJ cruiser, huh?" she smiled.
"This one," she motioned to the Chauffeur, and he took the keys from the shelf, and soon they were off to brunch.
Lara sat in the backseat and started to like the feeling of this car.
All of a sudden, the driver took an emergency brake, and Lara, who was in her imagination, was thrust forward and almost hit her face against the chair before her.
She rubbed her forehead and the memory of the previous day came back to her.
"Oh no!!"