Get Lucky by Lorie O'Clare

sidestepped into the employees’ break room and glanced at the clock. She never kept an eye on the time while at work. There wasn’t reason to, especially when she never had anything planned after work. Today she watched that damn clock as if it might suddenly do tricks.
    It was 3:00 P.M., two hours away until she would see Marc. London reached for her coat that hung on the hook on the wall and patted it. The package Meryl gave her this morning was still in her inside pocket. She might be waiting anxiously to see Marc again, but it wasn’t as if she could talk to him about the pictures and the note. Showing him the pictures would require way too much backstory. There was no way she would tell him her life story. No one knew anything about her past.
    Which meant there was no one she could talk to about this. She dragged her fingers through her hair, combing out the strands as she blew out a frustrated sigh. She didn’t have a clue what to do.
    Suddenly she was mad. Fuck whoever it was who had sent her these pictures. They had a lot of nerve messing with her life. She was happy, content, and not guilty of a goddamn thing. If her parents had fucked up, that was their problem. Hell, she didn’t even know how to reach them and couldn’t remember when she’d last talked to either of them. For all she knew, her parents might not even know where she was. London doubted they cared.
    She stalked out of the employees’ break room, deciding that the best thing to do was burn the pictures and pretend they were never sent. Some stranger with an agenda wouldn’t ruin her life. She marched right into Marc, bouncing off his steel chest and shrieking in surprise.
    “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, grabbing her arms to stabilize her when she would have stumbled backward. “You look frustrated. Having a bad day?”
    London didn’t want Marc seeing her frustrated. She didn’t want him seeing her as anything other than happy, relaxed, and pretty. His comment pissed her off further and she jerked out of his grasp, then rubbed her arms, willing herself to calm down before she said something stupid and gave herself away.
    “Wow, you got back a lot sooner than I thought you would.” She fought for a cheerful smile and willed those pictures out of her head permanently. If only Meryl hadn’t stopped by her house. Maybe then the pictures would have been ruined by drifting snow and she never would have seen them or the morbid message.
    “The roads were clear today.” He searched her face as if seeing that something was distracting her. Marc seemed able to see past her mask she wore so well for the entire world. “I got a new phone.”
    He held it up for her to see, grinning easily. His eyes were the color of the sky. His short brown hair looked like it would be curly if he let it grow out. As it was, it bordered his broad cheekbones. She dropped her attention to a hairline scar on his jawbone. It wasn’t that noticeable. Yet somehow since she could see it, the small wound that had never healed right gave him more of a roguish appearance. He was so tall, so incredibly muscular, and better looking than any other man she’d ever met.
    There’s no such thing as perfect, she reminded herself.
    “Have you shopped for a phone recently?” he continued, his gaze drifting over her face as he spoke. “I actually had fun. I didn’t expect replacing my right arm to be such a pleasant experience.”
    “I’m glad,” she said, forcing her attention to the phone in his hand, and knowing he was joking. His fingers were long and strong looking. Remembering him tangling them in her hair seemed to make the hallway get warmer.
    “This one is already loaded with a couple of games. I decided on one that takes quality pictures over the MP three player.” He held it up before she could say anything and pushed a button on it. The phone flashed in her face. “Gotcha,” he said, his grin broadening.
    She blinked, shocked he just took her