Serendipity (Inevitable) (2 page)

“Sounds good to me. Actually, one of those frappuccinos they make sounds even better. I’ll go with you,” offered Rick.

The hot, humid weather enveloped them like a wet blanket when they exited the hotel. It was a mercifully short walk to the Starbucks, and the air conditioning inside was a welcome relief. There was a short line at the counter, but Nathan got his iced coffee fairly quickly. Rick’s specially concocted caramel vanilla frappuccino took longer to prepare, so Nathan pulled out a chair at a table near the counter and sat down to wait. And saw his beautiful stranger sitting at the next table.

Her attire today was more casual than the classy white linen dress she’d worn the other day. This morning she wore a fitted white T-shirt that clung lovingly to those lushly full breasts he’d been fantasizing about for two days. The rest of her outfit consisted of a slim fitting navy skirt, a wide brown leather belt with a gold filigree buckle, and brown leather stiletto sandals with a sexy ankle strap. Her abundant fall of hair had been pulled back into a sleek ponytail, which emphasized those glorious cheekbones and huge green eyes. Her full, luscious mouth was glossed over in a shiny nude color this morning and he wanted to claim it in a deep, searching kiss so badly he couldn’t think of anything else.

She looked cool and chic but incredibly hot at this same time. He wanted to lick her all over, starting with that deliciously fuckable mouth, and then traveling down that slender throat to those perfect tits. And that was just for a warm-up. Jesus, the things he wanted to do to her – spread her out on his bed, loosen that beautiful hair and run his fingers through it, then undress her slowly and savor her for hours, maybe even days. She was the sort of ultimate fantasy woman that most men never even got to see up close, much less do all of the dirty things on his sexual wish list to.

She was working on her tablet, and sipping what looked like her own iced coffee, and hadn’t noticed him yet. Nathan was sure that someone as beautiful and sexy as she was had long ago perfected the knack of ignoring unwelcome attention; otherwise she’d have men hitting on her around the clock. But at that particular moment she happened to glance up and see him, and when she smiled in recognition, a warm glow spread over him.

“How are you this morning?” he asked, his voice huskier than normal as he smiled back at her.

Her green eyes sparkled in amusement, almost as if she sensed his uncertainty. “Pretty good, thanks. How about yourself?”

Her voice was soft and sweet and the sound made him hard. He wondered wildly if she would still sound that way when he made her pant and moan with arousal.

“Trying to stay cool in this heat,” he replied, grateful that his voice now sounded normal. He raised his own plastic cup of iced coffee. “Looks like we had the same idea.”

She didn’t reply, merely gave him another of those sexy little smiles, and took a sip of her drink before returning her attention to her tablet. He shifted uncomfortably as he grew even harder, imagining those full, pillowy lips sucking his cock instead of the straw. He hadn’t worn his suit jacket in deference to the heat, and hoped that his erection would subside enough to be able to walk out of here in a couple of minutes.

As if on cue, Rick appeared by his side, holding an oversized concoction swirled with caramel syrup and topped with a mound of whipped cream. It was more ice cream fountain treat than coffee drink, and Nathan had to suppress a shudder at the thought of how sweet it must taste.

“Ready to go?” asked Rick cheerily. “Almost time for the next session to start. We’ll make it back just in time.”

Nathan stood slowly, grateful to note that his erection had deflated just enough so that it wasn’t tenting his trousers. “Sure, let’s go.” He hesitated for long seconds, willing his beautiful stranger to glance up again. When she didn’t, he impulsively called out to her, “Have a good day.”

She looked up then, her gaze locking with his, and smiled. “Yes, you, too.”

Aware that Rick was staring at her, and then back at him, Nathan gave her a returning smile before ushering Rick out of the store. He wanted nothing more than to send Rick on his way and then go back inside, this time to find out her name and ask her to have dinner with him, not giving a shit if he was late for the convention or if he ever made it back at all. But then he thought again of Cameron and started walking back to the Plaza at a brisk pace, before he could change his mind and retrace his footsteps.

Predictably, Rick was full of questions. “Who the hell was that babe you were talking to? Damn, but she was fucking hot, Nathan. With a capital H-O-T.”

He shrugged, not liking the way Rick was almost salivating. “Don’t know. I passed her by on the street a couple of days ago and here she is again today. She must work in the area.”

Rick shook his round, balding head in disbelief. “And you didn’t get her name or number? With the way she was looking at you?”

Nathan tried mightily to seem nonchalant. “She wasn’t looking at me in any special way, Rick. Women that look like her can pretty much have any guy they want.”

Rick snickered. “Yeah, and she wanted
you
, dumbass. Only you were too dumb to do anything about it. You could be having the primest piece of ass I’ve ever seen sharing your bed tonight and you just walk away. If she’d been looking at me that way, we’d be halfway to my hotel room now.”

Even though he had no right whatsoever to feel proprietary about his beautiful stranger, Nathan was still angered at the rather crude manner in which Rick was talking about her. Anxious to drop the subject, he waved a hand in dismissal. “Moot point anyway. I’m engaged, remember? No harm in looking but I’m not in any position to go farther than that.”

“Never would have taken you for such a pussy, Atwood, especially after seeing you in action back in college” said Rick in disgust. “Hell, if I was married with three wives I’d still fuck that gorgeous babe if she gave me the come-hither sign. Don’t be such a sap. You’re a long way from home, buddy, and your fiancée would never know. Think of it as one final fling before settling down. And what a fling it would be. Damn, I’d cut off a couple of fingers just to get an up close look at those tits. They’ve got to be double D’s.”

“Stop it.” Nathan was seething, and getting increasingly pissed off with every word Rick uttered. He didn’t want his friend to cheapen anything about the beautiful girl he was becoming increasingly obsessed with. “Just drop it, okay? Yes, she’s a fucking wet dream, and if I wasn’t already spoken for I’d be back at that table trying to talk her out of her panties. But I’m not free to do that so let’s forget it.”

Rick shook his head. “Fine. But you’re an idiot. Every other guy I know – single, engaged, or married – wouldn’t hesitate to fuck her brains out, even if it was just once. Woman like that only comes along once in a lifetime, you know.”

As the afternoon wore on, those words of Rick’s continued to nag Nathan. Would he always regret passing up the opportunity to spend a night with his beautiful stranger? Because despite his denials to Rick, he had definitely felt a strong connection, a mutual attraction to the green-eyed beauty, and was very sure he would have succeeded in seducing her. There had definitely been something there, and she had felt it, too, he was sure of it. She had been every bit as aware of him as he was of her, and he wished like hell he’d had the nerve to linger at Starbucks awhile longer and talk to her at greater length.

But it was too late now, for he’d walked away from his only opportunity, and it was extremely unlikely he’d ever see her again. Or that she would even give him a second thought. She probably had guys calling her and asking her out all the time, and she sure as hell wasn’t likely to dwell on a stranger who’d fumbled his best chance to approach her.

Chapter Two

Julia McKinnon gave herself yet another mental kick in the ass at how idiotically she’d behaved not once but twice now. Quite possibly the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen before had made it rather obvious that he found her equally as attractive, but what had she chose to do about it? Oh, yes, walk away the first time and then give him the cold shoulder the second by turning her attention back to her iPad. And now the odds of seeing him for a third time weren’t good. She’d overheard his short, pudgy friend – the one who’d frankly creeped her out with his lascivious grin – mention something about getting back to a session, so she assumed they were only in town for a meeting or conference of some sort. He was likely leaving town the next day or so, and she’d never seen him again.

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid, Julia!’ she chastised herself. ‘One of the very few times a man has actually interested you, and you basically freeze him out just like you always do.”

Her well-honed knack for ignoring men and their largely unwanted advances had developed at an early age. Julia had known that she was attractive from the time she was a small child, largely because everyone had told her so repeatedly. She could vividly recall any number of occasions when she’d been out with one or both parents – and her identical twin Lauren – and people had stopped them in the streets to comment “What beautiful children you have” or “Such gorgeous little girls”. As she and her twin had grown older and started to mature, the attention had come from boys. She and Lauren had both developed boobs and hips by the tender age of thirteen, and their mother – Natalie – had made very sure that her daughters never took advantage of their beauty.

She’d been quite strict with regards to their clothing and makeup, nixing some of their choices as inappropriate, and making sure her girls always looked ladylike. That had been much tougher with Lauren, who to this day vastly preferred T-shirts, jeans, and hiking boots to the sheath dresses and high heels that Julia favored. But during their high school years Julia could quite clearly recall a number of occasions when her mother had forbidden her to wear a particular top that was too low-cut or clingy, or a skirt that was too short, or a shade of lipstick deemed too flashy.

And as far as boys were concerned, Natalie had been adamant that neither of her daughters gained a “reputation” as being easy or promiscuous. “Because both of you are so pretty, you’re always going to have boys – and later on men – approaching you. You need to learn to be discriminating and careful, and not go off with every cute boy who smiles at you,” she’d cautioned them more than once.

As it turned out, their mother had had very little cause for concern. Lauren had much preferred soccer, swimming, and her martial arts classes to dating, though she had somewhat reluctantly attended both of her proms at Julia’s urging. Julia had been with Sam for all four years of high school, and even part of college, and had only had one other serious relationship since then – one that had not ended on an amicable note like it had with Sam. It had ended so badly, in fact, that she hadn’t had a serious relationship since – and that had been over two years ago. There had been a couple of very brief flings with men she didn’t care to think about anymore, and no one at all for almost a year now.

Her absence of a love life was certainly not for lack of opportunity. Everywhere she went men looked at her – and often tried to approach her – but she almost always ignored them, pretending they didn’t even exist. Until two days ago when she’d spied the gorgeous man walking towards her on Park Avenue.

He’d obviously been out for a run, for his hair and face were damp with perspiration, his gray cotton T-shirt stained dark with sweat. But all she’d really noticed were those piercing light blue eyes, classically handsome features, and that beautiful head of thick, dark brown hair. The body hadn’t been any hardship to look at either – tall and leanly muscled, well-defined biceps and slim hips. He looked like an athlete without having an overly-muscled body, or being too big and intimidating. His beautiful face and sculpted body had imprinted themselves into her memory banks immediately, even though she’d only seen him for less than a minute. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d even given a man a second thought, much less daydreamed about him at inopportune moments.

When she’d seem him again earlier today, she had definitely noticed how hot he looked with the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt precisely rolled back, and the way his dark gray suit trousers hung on his body. His clothes looked expensive, and Julia – who knew clothing and designers very well – guessed his suit to be Gucci or maybe Dior. She’d recognized the classic Piaget watch on his left wrist, noticing discreetly at the same time the absence of a wedding ring. His black oxford shoes had been buffed to a subtle shine, and he had looked every bit the suave, polished businessman he most likely was. Julia had a real weakness for a guy who could wear a suit really well, and Mr. Gorgeous – as she’d nicknamed him – certainly fit that bill. It was too bad that the weather had been so hot and he’d left his suit jacket off. She could just imagine how the undoubtedly well tailored garment would show off the breadth of his shoulders, and the dark gray color would compliment his blue eyes.

That she was seriously attracted to this man was without debate. The reason for it was something she couldn’t explain as easily. Oh, he was undoubtedly gorgeous and sexy, and his smile could melt the panties off a nun. But Julia saw attractive men almost every day in Manhattan – and most of them tried to get her attention. There was something else about this one particular man that made him special, made her want to see him again, have dinner with him, kiss him, go to bed with him for hours, days, weeks. There had just been –
something
that had passed between them, not just an awareness but almost as though she recognized him, knew him in some inexplicable way, had been waiting for him for a very long time.

‘Too late, stupid,’ she told herself angrily. ‘When are you ever going to learn it’s okay to act on your instincts once in awhile?’

It was nearly time to leave work for the day, and she wondered hopefully if she might possibly run into him again. She began to tidy up her desk and workspace, though unfortunately there wasn’t all that much to organize these days.