Serendipity (Inevitable) (14 page)

“Then explain to me how this could have happened,” he demanded. “If you didn’t know who I was, and you didn’t come here because of me, how and why are you here?”

Aware that her legs were shaking again, she sank back to her chair and took several deep, calming breaths. “I needed a job, and I knew Travis through a mutual acquaintance, “she explained quietly. “We spoke on the phone and arranged for me to interview with him. And here I am. Nothing more sinister or complicated than that.”

Nathan frowned, clearly not satisfied with her explanation. “Why would a native New Yorker just pull up stakes and move clear across the country for a job? I would have imagined there were plenty of design jobs in Manhattan. And why did you need a job in the first place?”

She clasped and unclasped her hands nervously, not really wanting to have this particular conversation with him and knowing she’d need to choose her words carefully. “I’m actually a native Californian. I grew up in Carmel, and my family still lives there. I only lived in New York for a few years after college. And I’d been thinking of moving back to the West Coast for awhile. Things at my job hadn’t been comfortable for months.”

“Go on. Why did you leave your old job?” He sat back down in his chair.

Julia sighed, silently damning his persistence. “My boss hated me. Call it professional jealousy, who really knows, but she never wanted to hire me from the beginning. Her former partner was the one who hired me on, and mentored me. Has Travis ever mentioned someone named Gerard?”

Nathan nodded. “Of course. I’ve actually met Gerard once or twice when he came out here for a visit. He was your boss?”

“Yes. He and my aunt were classmates in college and remained friends. Gerard brought me on as an intern right after I graduated, and then hired me full time. Things were great until he had a bad breakup and decided to leave New York far behind, including his share in the company. Then everything sort of went to hell very quickly.”

“This boss of yours – the one you claimed hated you. Just out of curiosity, how old is she?”

Julia shrugged. “Early to mid forties, I’m not exactly sure. Why?”

He gave a short, humorless laugh. “And you really wonder why she disliked you? I’m sure professional jealousy was a big part of it – Travis told me you’ve already won several design awards. But I’m just guessing she was also wildly jealous of you as a woman. As you so succinctly phrased it, you’re hot. If your former boss was almost twenty years older than you I doubt she enjoyed being reminded of that fact every day.”

She felt her cheeks flush. “I’m not sure her reasons for disliking me really matter. The point is that she basically made working there extremely unpleasant for me and I’d been thinking about finding another job for some time before she -.” Her voice trailed off, unwilling to reveal any more information.

“Before she what?” he persisted. “Did she fire you, Julia? And be honest. You know I can find this out very easily from Travis, and I know you’re smart enough not to have lied to him about something like this.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes downcast, afraid of giving too much away if he saw her face. “Yes, she fired me. And made it very, very difficult for me to find a job anywhere on the East Coast. Vanessa knows a lot of other designers and made sure to spread the word quickly that they shouldn’t even consider hiring me. Moving back to California soon became my best option.”

“You realize you’re avoiding the real question, don’t you? You need to tell me why she fired you, Julia. Again, I can find out the truth from Travis but I’d rather hear it from you.”

She closed her eyes, having been afraid all along that he would insist on knowing this information and not at all eager to re-hash the trauma she’d suffered yet again. “Please, Nathan. It’s not something I really want to talk about, okay?”

“Too bad. If you got fired for the wrong reason, then as the co-owner of this company I damn well need to know about it. And if I’m not satisfied with the reason, I’ll insist that Travis release you.”

Julia gasped, her gaze flying up to his. “You’d really do that? My God, I know you don’t want to work with me, but you have no idea how hard it was for me to find a job, Nathan. I had to move back in with my parents for the past couple of months while I was looking for a new position. Please don’t take this away from me.”

His expression softened at her plea but he was still insistent. “Just tell me, Julia. How bad can it be? I mean, if it was something really bad like embezzlement I’m guessing your ex-boss would have pressed charges.’

She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t anything like that. It was – oh, God, this is really hard for me. I’ve tried to just forget about it.” To her horror, she felt tears begin to trickle hotly down her cheeks and she brushed them away impatiently.

Nathan’s expression turned to one of concern, almost alarm. “Jesus, what the hell happened? How bad could it have been to make you cry?”

Once again she refused to meet his eyes, staring down at the floor as she haltingly related the story about the night Philip had attacked her in the office. She kept the details to the bare minimum but Nathan heard enough of the sordid tale to push himself away from his desk and surge to his feet in a rage.

“What’s this fucker’s name?” he demanded as he began to pace back and forth behind his desk.

She was sobbing quietly by now, her whole body quivering as she wrapped her arms around her midsection. “Philip. I’m not sure of his last name. It’s Russian or Czech, something long and complicated. What difference does it make?”

“Because I’m about five minutes away from booking a flight to New York, finding this guy, and cutting his balls off,” Nathan said harshly. “How badly did he hurt you, Julia?”

She covered her face with her hands, trying vainly to stem the flow of her tears. “Nathan, please. I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s obviously very upsetting to have to relive that night again.”

He walked around the side of the desk to kneel in front of her, his hand cupping her cheek, his thumb brushing away her tears. “I’m sorry, baby. Sorry that I wasn’t there to prevent something like that from happening, to protect you, to kick that bastard’s ass into the Hudson River. Just answer this one last question, and then I promise we’ll never talk about it again.”

Her bottom lip quivered and he clasped her hands tightly in his as she shook her head. “God, this is hard. I still have nightmares sometimes.”

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “It’s okay, baby. You’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you again. Now just tell me what I want to know and the subject will stay closed after that.”

Julia took a deep breath before murmuring in a barely audible voice. “He – he split my lip. My jaw and cheekbones were bruised. One black eye. Three cracked ribs. Scratches and bruises in too many places to count. That’s about it.”

“So he never actually -“

“No.” She cut him off. “It never got that far. Vanessa interrupted him before anything could happen.”

Nathan made a harsh noise. “You don’t call getting beaten and broken anything? Jesus, I hope like hell the fucker is rotting in some jail cell right now.”

She shook her head. “No. I didn’t press charges. I just wanted to forget it ever happened and leave New York as soon as possible.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me, Julia? You just let him walk away without any consequences? And then let that bitch fire you because her boyfriend’s a rapist?”

Julia shuddered. “It was a living nightmare, Nathan. One I wanted to wake up from and forget as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to deal with police, attorneys, trials. Vanessa has piles of money, she would have hired a top lawyer for him and gotten the charges dismissed, and I would have had to go through all of that trauma for nothing. No, I made the decision to just walk away and I don’t regret it. Now, it’s time to stop talking about this. For good.”

He brushed her hair back behind her ear, gave a brief nod, and then stood. “All right, if that’s what you wish. We won’t discuss it again.” He took a seat behind his desk. “But what we do have to discuss is how in hell you and I are going to be able to work together given the circumstances. After all, I’d be a complete and total bastard at this point to force you out wouldn’t I?”

Her voice choked. “Oh, God. You’d really do that? Please, Nathan. I need this job more than you can even imagine. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep working here.”

“Relax, Julia. I’m not going to fire you. I did have thoughts of trying to find you a job at different firm here in town, but I doubt we could pull that off without having to tell Travis about what happened last September. And, not to borrow that ridiculous Las Vegas cliché, but whatever happened in New York definitely has to stay in New York. Have you discussed it with anyone?”

“Just my sister. But I never mentioned your name. And I didn’t tell her much, though being twins she always knows when something’s upsetting me.”

Nathan’s eyes widened. “You have a twin? Identical?” At her nod he shook his head in disbelief. “Christ, there are actually two women who look like you? That’s unbelievable. But to get back to what I was saying, you never mentioned any of this to Travis, did you?”

“No, of course not. And I don’t plan on discussing it with anyone else. I’m fully aware that you could get me fired very easily, Nathan, so I will definitely be a model of discretion,” she said quietly. “I pride myself on being a complete professional at work. You don’t have to worry about me ever acting inappropriately. Just please give me a chance to prove myself. I’m actually a very good designer and I’m thrilled to have such a fantastic opportunity like this one.”

“Let’s be perfectly clear here, Julia,” he stated firmly. “No discussion or reference to meeting in New York to anyone. Not even the slightest hint of flirting or impropriety between us. We are to have strictly – very strictly – a business only relationship. If you can agree to that, then I’m willing to give this a try on a trial basis. Otherwise, I’ll make some calls and try to find you another job close by.”

She shook her head.”No, that won’t be necessary, I assure you. I agree completely with everything you just said. It won’t be a problem to work together, I promise.” She glanced down at her clasped hands again. “If I’d had even the slightest suspicion that the Nate Atwood who Travis kept mentioning was actually the Nathan I’d met in New York, there’s no way I would have taken this job or even interviewed for it. I’m not here to make trouble for you, or make working conditions difficult. I’ll do whatever is necessary to be able to keep working here.”

“All right, then. Let’s hope that we can keep things professional.” He paused a moment before continuing on, somewhat awkwardly. “There’s just one more thing. This might be a little touchy but it has to be said. At some point in time – whether it’s here in the office or at an outside function – you’re likely to meet Cameron, my fiancée.”

Julia couldn’t help the little shudder that passed through her body. “Most likely, yes.”

“I’ve got to ask you. Please don’t say anything to her about what happened. I know I treated you badly, Julia, but none of that was her fault. Don’t take it out on her, okay?”

She stared at him in hurt disbelief. “You really think I could be that vindictive? I guess we don’t know each other very well at all, do we? Don’t worry, Nathan. I won’t rat you out to your fiancée. After all, you’re just my boss now, aren’t you?”

He exhaled deeply. “Thank you, Julia. I know I deserve your anger but taking it out on Cameron won’t solve anything.”

She stood, fighting back a fresh onslaught of tears. “I’m not that sort of person, Nathan. Besides, doing something like that would only further ruin the memory of that night for me. And for me, at least, it was the most special night I’ve ever known.”

Nathan groaned. “God, Julia. Don’t -“

She held up a hand. “Don’t say anything more, okay? Right now it’s as though that night happened to two other people a long time ago. Let’s just leave it buried in the past. Now, if that’s all, I’d like to leave now.”

He nodded, unable to meet her gaze. “Yeah, that’s it. You can go.”

Julia felt the hot tears threatening to spill over again so she turned and left without another word, wondering if she was kidding herself that she could actually work with Nathan under these circumstances. She just knew that she didn’t have any other options but to at least give it a try, even if it meant having her heart broken all over again.

Nathan was practically shaking as Julia left his office, and headed immediately for the cabinet where he kept an assortment of liquor and glasses. He pulled out the bottle of twelve-year old Macallan and poured himself a healthy portion, not bothering with either ice or water. He tossed half of it down in one gulp, badly needing the fortification it would hopefully provide him. The last time he’d been this shook up had been on that damned plane ride home after having left a heartbroken Julia behind in New York.

He wanted to fling the heavy crystal tumbler against the wall and watch it shatter into tiny pieces as he tried to imagine how upset and terrified she must have been after almost getting raped in her own office. He slammed the glass down on his credenza, struggling for control as he recalled her tearful sobs and trembling hands while choking out the story of what had happened. And despite his promise to her that they wouldn’t speak of the incident again, all he really wanted was to book a flight back to New York, find this bastard and pummel him into a bleeding, broken mess. All he would need to do was call Travis’ friend Gerard – Julia’s old boss – and find out the last name of the fucker who’d hurt her so badly. It would be just that easy.