Serendipity (Inevitable) (10 page)

Julia shook her head. “I should. I should be screaming names at you right now, throwing things, cursing you. But I’m just – sad, Nathan. Last night was so amazing for me, like a beautiful, living dream. I’ve never, ever considered going off with a man I just met and didn’t know anything about, but I couldn’t help myself. I was so attracted to you, wanted to be with you so badly. And now - God, I don’t even know your last name! I don’t do things like this – one night stands – and now I just feel dirty, like some nasty skank you picked up in a bar.”

He was at her side in an instant, dragging her into his arms and burying his face in her hair. “Jesus, baby, don’t say things like that!” he told her in alarm. “Julia, you are the finest, most precious woman I’ve ever met. Don’t ever think of comparing yourself to some cheap slut. I know you wouldn’t just go off with any man you meet, and I could tell it had been awhile since you’d been with someone. Don’t you dare cheapen what happened last night. It was the best night of my life.”

She raised tear-filled eyes to his. “Then why are you leaving me? If it was so good between us, then why can’t we keep seeing each other?”

He rested his forehead against hers, heaving a sigh. “It’s not that simple. I know I’ve acted like a bastard – cheating on my fiancée and using you. But I’ve been with her for two years, Julia. What kind of an asshole would I be to ditch her just because someone else came along? I should have tried harder to resist you. But now because I was weak I’ve hurt you and betrayed someone else.”

Julia felt lightheaded, and held on to his forearms to stop herself from collapsing. “Are you in love with her?” she whispered faintly.

He groaned. “Don’t, Julia.”

She pushed herself away from him and began to search for her things. “You’re right. Of course you love her. Why else would you be engaged? Where are my clothes?”

“Over there on the desk chair. Julia -“

She ignored him and walked over to where she saw the pink dress. A strange sense of numbness had begun to seep into her bones, an awful feeling of cold and dread, and she couldn’t stop the shivers that rippled through her body. Almost without being aware of her actions, she dropped the robe from her shoulders, barely hearing the indrawn hiss of Nathan’s breath behind her as her nudity was displayed. Like a robot, she pulled her bra on and then frantically searched around for her panties.

“Where are my panties?” she asked, her voice high and panicky. “They aren’t with the rest of my things. I can’t walk out of here without them.”

Nathan’s voice sounded behind her but she didn’t pay him any attention as she searched for her missing underwear. “Julia, take it easy, baby,” he soothed. “It’s okay.”

She sobbed and shook her head. “No, no, it’s not. I can’t find them, Nathan. I can’t leave here without panties on. Only bad girls do things like that and I’m a good girl. I never do naughty things.”

“Jesus, stop it.” He pulled her into his arms, pushing her face into his shoulder. “Calm down and I’ll help you find them.”

She pushed away from him. “No, I need to go. I can’t be here with you.” Resigning herself to walking out of there sans underwear, she pulled her dress on, awkwardly zipping it up behind her while shoving her feet into her shoes. Angrily, she dashed away the tears that blinded her and grabbed her purse, stumbling towards the door.

A door that Nathan was blocking, his back pressed against it so that she couldn’t leave. She refused to look at him, her hair falling forward to shield her flushed, tearstained face.

“Julia, look at me, please.” The commanding tone of his voice had been replaced with an almost desperate plea. “Baby, please.”

Her head shot up angrily. “Don’t call me that,” she hissed. “I’m not your baby. I’m just some stupid, naïve girl you banged last night. You’re flying home today to the woman you really care about, so don’t waste your fake endearments on me.”

His shoulders slumped, and an expression of unbelievable sadness crossed his face. “Julia, I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you like this. I wish there was something I could say or do to make it better.”

She raised huge, tear-filled eyes to his. “Just let me go, Nathan. Please open the door now.”

But he ignored her, instead sliding his hands into her hair. “Let me take you downstairs, get you a cab. I need to know you’re going to be okay.”

Julia placed her hands over his, trying in vain to dislodge them. “No. I want to leave now. Alone. Don’t make this harder.”

He brushed his thumb over her lips. “Then kiss me goodbye. A kiss to remember.”

She tried to turn her head to the side, but he held her still as his lips claimed hers one final time. His kiss tasted of hunger, of desperation, but mostly of farewell. Julia refused at first to respond, remaining passive beneath his hungry mouth, but then she gave a little moan and kissed him back, clinging to him as though she never wanted to let go.

He released her then, stepping away from the door, looking as though he were struggling to speak. Not able to bear another apology, Julia yanked open the door and simply walked away before she could run back into his arms and beg him to never leave.

Chapter Six

January

“Julia, how wonderful to see you again. Please, come in and have a seat. Did you want Courtney to get you some coffee or tea?”

Julia shook her head as she walked inside Travis Headley’s office and took a seat at one of the chairs facing his desk. “No, thank you. Courtney was already kind enough to ask but I’m fine. And it’s lovely to see you again, too. It’s been over two years, I think.”

Travis nodded as he sat down next to her rather than behind his desk, taking her hand in his. “Yes. I was in Manhattan for the Thanksgiving weekend two years ago. We had dinner together with Gerard and Maddy before your family flew in for the holiday.”

Travis had been another of Gerard’s protégées, having originally been a student of his at the Design Institute. Gerard had on occasion presented workshops and seminars at his alma mater, and he’d been impressed with Travis’ talent and vision. Like Julia herself, Travis had spent a year interning at Manhattan Interiors after graduating from college but had left New York for the West Coast soon thereafter. He had made it a point over the years, however, to keep in close touch with Gerard via email and phone calls and had made several visits to New York.

Julia had met Travis for the first time about five years ago when she was still in college. She’d traveled down from Cornell to spend a long holiday weekend with Aunt Maddy, and Travis had been in town at the same time to visit Gerard. Travis knew Maddy as well, so it had been only natural for all of them to meet for dinner one evening.

There had been a couple of other meetings since that first one, and Julia had hit it off with him each time. Like Gerard, Travis was openly gay, but in a more discreet, less dramatic manner than the older man. In his early thirties now, Travis favored tailored business suits like the light gray one he wore today, and could just as easily have been a lawyer or executive as the interior designer he was. He was the co-owner of a very successful architectural design firm here in San Francisco, in charge of the interior design division of the company while his partner managed the architectural side. And Julia was keeping her fingers crossed that she would soon be one of their employees.

Travis seemed in little hurry to discuss the business at hand, however. “How is Madelyn these days?” he asked of Julia’s beloved aunt.

“Relieved that the holidays are over, of course. It’s crazier than normal at the store then.” Madelyn Benoit was the head buyer at Bergdorf Goodman, one of Manhattan’s most exclusive, high-end department stores.

Travis nodded, his admiring gaze taking in the beautiful dress of cream cashmere that Julia wore today. With its crisscross neckline and slim pencil skirt, it managed to be both businesslike and ultra-feminine at the same time.

“I see Auntie is still keeping her favorite niece well dressed. Another Donna Karan?” he asked, naming one of Julia’s favorite designers.

She shook her head. “Ralph Lauren. And yes, there are definite and numerous perks to having Maddy for my aunt.”

Madelyn had never married, and had no children of her own, so she had always showered her adored nieces with affection and gifts. She had worked in the fashion industry for three decades, and as a buyer for about half of that time. In her current high profile job, she frequently received samples and overstock from all manner of designers, especially when she attended the twice-yearly Fashion Weeks in cities like New York, Paris, Milan and Hong Kong. It was always far too much stuff for her to use personally, and even after distributing goods to her staff there was plenty to ship to her sister and nieces. And since Lauren favored a much more casual wardrobe, the bulk of the dresses, skirts, shoes, and bags went to Julia. It was a very fortunate thing, too, because there was no way Julia could have ever afforded to buy such high end pieces on her own salary. She made good money as an interior designer – or had, at least – but it still wasn’t nearly enough to afford the outfit she had on today. And she had a real weakness for designer goods, so she was eternally grateful she had Aunt Maddy to make frequent contributions to her clothing addiction and therefore avoid having sky-high credit card bills.

Travis’ gaze dropped to her feet, shod in cream suede Giuseppe Zanotti peep-toe stilettos. “Love the shoes, too. But you always were a very stylish young lady. Even when you were in college I don’t recall you ever wearing jeans and flats.”

She gave a mock shudder. “Jeans are for tomboys and flats for old ladies. Besides, both of them make my legs look too short.”

He grinned, looking very boyish with his well-styled wheat blond hair, fair skin, and trim build. “Well, you look sensational, honey. You must have to beat men off with a stick.”

Julia sobered and made a dismissive movement with her hand. “Actually, I’m kind of off men at the moment. You know the old saying ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’. Or the other old saying – ‘men are assholes’.”

Travis lifted a brow. “Well, I can see we’ll have to have a
loong
talk one of these days. Sounds like you’ve got some interesting tales to tell. But in the meanwhile let’s talk about the possibility of you working here.” His expression turned serious. “Gerard told me a little about what happened with that witch Vanessa but I’d like to hear your side.”

Julia sighed. “You mean why she fired me and then proceeded to call every design firm she could think of to blacklist me?”

Travis listened intently – and with empathy – as she related the story that had filled him with outrage when Gerard had first filled him in. One evening last October Julia had been in the office working late when Vanessa’s slimy boyfriend Philip had accosted her. The office had been deserted and no one had heard her scream when Philip had torn her blouse, slapped her across the mouth hard enough to draw blood, bruised her hip, and cracked three of her ribs as she’d fought him off.

It had been a mixed blessing when Vanessa – who had arranged to meet Philip at the office – had arrived and heard the commotion, rushing into Julia’s office in time to stop Philip from hurting her further. He of course had tried to blame the whole thing on Julia, claiming she’d been flirting with him and leading him on for months. And, despite the fact that Julia was curled up in a ball, bleeding, bruised and sobbing, Vanessa had chosen to believe Philip and had fired Julia on the spot.

Vanessa’s anger and jealousy had gone far beyond merely firing her, however, and she’d done her damndest to prevent Julia from getting another job. That was when Julia had called Gerard, hoping to move to New Orleans and work with him again. But his new firm was still getting off the ground, and there was barely enough work to keep him afloat, much less to bring on another designer. Gerard had, however, contacted Travis who coincidentally was looking for a new designer and here Julia was.

Travis’s mouth had tightened into a grim line as she had related her story. “I always knew Vanessa was a royal bitch – that’s one of the reasons I never took a permanent job with Gerard. But I never imagined she could be quite that mercenary. I hope you pressed charges against her slimebag boyfriend.”

Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maddy was very upset with me when I refused. She came to pick me up that night after I called her but I just didn’t see much point in pressing charges. Vanessa’s family has piles of money and she would have probably hired some shark of a lawyer to get Loverboy off. I just wanted to forget the whole nightmare.”

“Is that why you left New York?”

“One of them,” she admitted. “But to be honest, I’d been thinking of moving anyway. New York is wonderful but I’ve left some other bad memories back there, too. It’s been nice to be back in California and especially to be spending time with my parents and sister.”

She’d been staying at her parents’ home in Carmel since just after Thanksgiving, having given up her apartment in Manhattan and shipped all of her belongings out here. Everything she owned was currently in storage inside her father’s workshop.

“Did you tell your family about what happened?”

Julia nodded. “Only because Aunt Maddy threatened to do so if I didn’t. My dad was furious, he still wants to press charges, but I’ve convinced him not to. And Lauren swears she’s going to beat the crap out of both Vanessa and her boyfriend the next time she’s in New York. Considering that she still takes kung fu classes on a regular basis, I’m a little worried about that.”

Travis grinned, having heard multiple stories about Julia’s fierce twin sister. “And what did your mother do?”

She sighed. “Mom didn’t say anything, just held me and let me cry things out. It was a rotten few months for me, Travis, going back to something that happened in September.”

“Ahh. Does that have anything to do with the ‘men are assholes’ quote?”

She laughed. “It has everything to do with it. But I’ve tried really hard to move past it, so can we not discuss it right now?”