TUESDAY TALES - HIS LEADING LADY

   

Welcome! This week the prompt word is "abrupt". This is the beginning of my new WIP, prequel to the Hollywood Hearts series. Thank you for stopping by. Don't forget to rejoin Tuesday Tales for stories by talented writers. Use the link at the bottom.   

HIS LEADING LADY

 Boom! The beautiful blonde barreled into Mark’s chest right in front of Jean Louis Designs on Rodeo Drive. He grabbed her upper arms to keep her from falling and stared into the biggest, bluest eyes he’d ever seen. 

The flash of a dazzling, white smile, a whiff of lily of the valley perfume, golden hair and perfect features blurred everything else around him.

     “I’m so sorry,” she said. Or did she? He was so mesmerized he heard sound but not words.

     She stood as transfixed as he, focused on his baby blues, until a man abruptly tapped her shoulder.

     “We’ll be late, Penny, come on.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking,” she mumbled.

“No harm, no foul,” Mark muttered, his gaze resting on her generous breasts for a moment before returning to her face.

Toting a shopping bag in each hand, she smiled at him again, and was gone, as quickly as she had arrived. Mark Davis stood in front of the door, transfixed, as if his feet had been embedded in the cement sidewalk.

“Come on, buddy, you’re blocking traffic,” Harley Brennan, his friend and fellow pro football player, said, giving him a nudge.

Mark snapped out of his reverie, and moved away from the tony store.

“Wow.”

“A hottie. Yeah. Geez, they’re all hot here in L.A.” 

“Not like that. Like her. Penny, huh? Wow.” He shook his head and continued down the street, listening to his friend with only half an ear.

Mark returned to the expensive shop several times during his visit to L.A. with Harley, but he never saw Penny again. For two weeks he searched the Internet using her first name, but finally gave up. 

Back in Las Vegas, he buried himself in his workouts and practice with his team, trying to forget her. He went on blind dates fixed up by his teammates, but they never worked out. They weren’t Penny. Even the ones who were guaranteed to sleep with him on the first date held little appeal. He had seen the gold standard and nothing else would do.

     One Saturday night three months after his encounter with the mysterious Penny, he was in the movies with Harley.Then it happened.

     The lights went down and before he knew it, Mark was gazing at a larger-than-life Penny on the silver screen. His mouth got dry, his pulse speeded up. He let go of the girl whose hand he was holding and simply gawked at the screen. 

     “Penny Thatcher,” he mumbled, fumbling in his pockets for pen and paper, after the movie was over. 

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