Silently Falling in Love: Lucky Charm THIS IS THE EDITED VERSION

Chapter 20 - Shades of Gray

It was chilly outside, and I returned to the hotel.

I reached the room and fumbled around and dug through my pockets to find the room key when I heard noises down the hall. I looked in the direction and noticed a couple kissing, all over each other outside of their room. The guy was trying to get the key into the slot while his wife or girlfriend distracted him with kisses. As I stared, I noticed this was the couple from the beach. Thankfully, they were too busy to notice they had an audience.

I sighed and opened the door to the room. It was dark and quiet. Anjali hadn't returned.

I plopped back down in the chair. Having watched how the woman seduced her partner made me think about the days when Anjali and I couldn't keep our hands off of each other.

The first time Anjali sexually pushed the envelope was at one of my work events. It was an annual gala to honor trail blazers in financial services, retirees, celebrate the year, and make predictions for the coming year. Basically, an excuse to party and either celebrate bonuses or lament the lack of bonuses if the economy wasn't performing. Everyone complained about going, but no one missed it.

I didn't want to go, but you go to scope out the competition, who's jumping ship and moving to another firm, who's starting their own firm, etc. Unfortunately, I knew I had to put in an appearance, so I asked Anjali to come with me as my plus one.

She agreed to come but would be late and she'd meet me at the gala since she had a rehearsal. I mingled during the cocktail hour as I waited for Anjali to arrive. I shook hands with the powers that be, smiled and acted like they enthralled me. Because I wasn't in Investment Banking anymore, I didn't have to kiss ass as much, but I still had to do the rounds. I kept looking at my watch, wondering when Anjali would show up.

I was actually enjoying myself talking to an elderly bald gentleman and his wife about Enron when I noticed Anjali enter the ballroom. Enron was the hot energy company that Wall Street was salivating over, but this man insisted that the company was bogus. The numbers made little sense; their PE ratio didn't make sense. He had retired last year, but he followed the market and his prediction was that Enron was one of the biggest Ponzi schemes around and Wall Street had truly lost its mind inflating companies like Enron and taking companies like Pets.com public.

Little did he know how right he was. A year and a half later the market would fall apart, and next year's party would be more like a funeral. I wished I'd paid more attention because in my gut I knew he was right, and he had a lifetime of experience to back it up. I could have made the right bets on his information and made money by shorting all the stocks. But my attention was on Anjali. She moved towards me in a light blue evening gown that kissed the floor and a shawl over her hand. Her hair was styled partially up, and her face was made up, something she rarely did. She looked heavenly. I excused myself from the couple when I saw her walking towards me.

"Hi," she smiled as she reached up to kiss me on the cheek.

"Hi, I'm glad you finally made it. I was worried that you changed your mind about spending the evening with a bunch of people talking about money, ratios and stock performance."

"I wouldn't do that to you. I promised you I'd come and here I am." She smiled like she was up to something. Her eyes twinkled, and she seemed guilty of something.

"Good, now you can keep me company while I get bored out of my mind."

"I have a favor. Can you keep my lipstick in your pocket?"

"Sure."

She gave me a sexy smile and slipped her hand from under the shawl and into my pant pocket and patted down her lipstick.