Serendipity (Inevitable) (28 page)

“Not at all,” reassured Julia. “I enjoyed meeting both of you. You should probably be off to lunch, though. Nathan seems a bit impatient.”

Alexis wrapped a hand around Nathan’s arms and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Oh, he’s no fun sometimes! Indulge your mother, Nathan, you don’t see me all that often.” Her eyes lit up all of a sudden as she beamed at Julia. “I know. Why don’t you join us for lunch, dear? I’m sure it’s too early for you to have already eaten, and I would love to continue chatting with you.”

Julia was startled at her impromptu invitation and stammered, “Um, I really don’t think –“

Before she could finish her sentence, Nathan interrupted. “She can’t join us for lunch, Mother, because she has a client meeting with Travis in half an hour. Isn’t that right, Julia?”

Julia almost recoiled from the terseness of his tone, not to mention the angry expression on his face. “Y-yes, I do. In fact, I need to get some things ready for it, so if you’ll please excuse me.”

She turned to walk away, but Alexis held her back. “Wait, dear. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed meeting you. Will we see you again during our visit? Maybe we can have coffee together.”

Julia gave her a warm smile, wondering how Nathan could be such an asshole sometimes when his mother was such a sweetheart. “I’ve enjoyed meeting both of you, too. And I’m sure we’ll see each other again here at the office before you leave.” She tactfully didn’t mention having coffee together, knowing that Nathan wouldn’t like that idea. It hurt her to the quick to realize he didn’t want her anywhere near his parents, and was already pissed off that she’d spent time talking with them. The excuse about a nonexistent client meeting that he’d just invented was just a flimsy way of keeping her away from them.

Julia blinked back a tear or two as she started walking away, until Nathan called her name.

“Did you drop this?” he asked, holding out the business card she’d forgotten all about. He glanced at the name, which she hadn’t even bothered to do yet.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to just throw the card away, but she was so hurt and angry at his abrupt dismissal that she reached out a hand for it.

“Yes, I did. Thank you.”

Nathan frowned as he looked at the card again before handing it to her. “A client?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s – personal. Someone I’m meeting for drinks later.”

She was oddly pleased to see the look of displeasure on his face.

“I see,” he replied tightly. “New boyfriend?”

She gave a careless little shrug. “Perhaps. It’s too soon to tell. Thanks for the card.” To Alexis and Michael she said, “Enjoy your lunch. It was lovely to meet you both.”

She walked directly to her office after that, and put her things away, still holding the stranger’s business card. She was almost ready to throw it away before deciding with a sigh that she ought to at least know his name, just in case Nathan asked her about him.

Tall, dark and handsome’s name was Todd Bryant, and he was the Chief Operating Officer of a hedge fund. Julia stared at the card for long seconds, debating whether to throw it out or throw caution to the wind and call him.

In the end, she merely tucked the card into her desk drawer, too timid to actually pick up the phone but oddly reluctant to completely ignore the stranger’s invitation, either.

Nathan glowered when he pulled up Todd Bryant’s detailed profile on Linkedin later than afternoon. He’d committed the fucker’s name to memory after glancing at his business card twice before handing it over reluctantly to Julia.

He had hoped that the guy Julia was meeting for a drink – and most likely a lot more – was a total loser, someone she’d quickly decide wasn’t worth her while. But it seemed that Mr. Bryant was the exact opposite – quite a catch.

At thirty-six years old, Bryant was more than ten years Julia’s senior, but judging from the guy’s admitted good looks Nathan guessed that the age difference wouldn’t bother her in the least. The guy was smart as hell, too – undergrad at Harvard, MBA in Finance from Wharton. He’d lived in San Francisco for about seven years, presumably moving out here from New York where he’d last worked to take the job at the hedge fund. The guy was single, and his hobbies included sailing, tennis and skiing.

‘Great, just fucking great’ thought Nathan sourly. Not only was Todd good looking, smart, and undoubtedly rich, he had the Ivy League education and years of living and working in Manhattan in common with Julia. There was no reason at all why the two of them wouldn’t hit if off big time. Nathan scowled as he pictured them together – Todd with his dark good looks and Julia with her golden brown hair and creamy skin. Todd’s mouth was probably watering right now at the thought of running his hands over all of Julia’s luscious curves – her hips, ass, thighs, those round, perfect breasts.

Nathan groaned when he realized he was getting hard again just thinking about her. She’d looked delicious today in that figure-hugging coral dress. He’d longed to cup that sweet butt in his hands, to bend and press a kiss to the glimpse of cleavage bared by the neckline of the dress. Instead, once again, he’d been a total asshole to her, treating her with the cool standoffishness that he’d had to work so hard on sustaining these past months.

He hadn’t meant to be such a prick to her, but he’d panicked when his well-meaning but interfering mother had invited her to lunch. It just figured, he thought tiredly, that his mother would meet Julia and be so completely enchanted by her. Alexis had continued to ask question after question about Julia during lunch, until Nathan had told her in exasperation that she knew more about the woman than he did. That had finally silenced Alexis, but he knew it hadn’t stopped her fascination with the girl Nathan himself was enthralled with. If he’d allowed Julia to come to lunch with them, he wasn’t at all sure that his wily mother wouldn’t have suspected there was something between them. And that had been his main motivation in ensuring she didn’t join them.

Conversely, Alexis had never seemed to warm up much to Cameron, at least not like she’d appeared to do so quickly with Julia. His mother was always charming and kind to Cameron, but he’d never sensed even the slightest sort of bonding or friendship between the two women. Of course, a lot of that was Cameron’s fault, for she saw any woman as a threat to her relationship with him – even his own mother. And Cameron was very close to her own mother, and didn’t seem at all inclined to forge a similar sort of bond with Alexis. Cameron always hedged about going back to Michigan to see his family, or to Colorado to see Jared and Brooke. She’d reluctantly conceded to paying a visit with him for a week last summer, but had refused to do the same at Christmas, preferring to remain in San Francisco with her family. It had given him cause for concern for the future, hoping that Cameron would be agreeable to splitting the holidays between their respective families. They definitely needed to get those sort of details ironed out, and sooner than later, before they became an issue in their marriage.

Nathan and his parents were having dinner this evening with Cameron and her mother and father. Cameron’s father had insisted on dining at the private yacht club he belonged to, and of course Graham Tolliver always got his way. Nathan didn’t have a problem per se with the club, though he didn’t think the food was particularly good and the atmosphere was a little too stuffy for his taste. He couldn’t imagine, for example, his rowdy group of former water polo teammates in such a formal setting. The guys tended to get a bit raucous when they had a few, behavior that would surely be frowned upon here.

As he pulled the Lexus SUV into the parking lot, he remembered to caution his parents. “By the way, don’t say a word to Cameron about meeting Julia today. She, er, doesn’t care for her.”

Alexis gave a little gasp. “Now how can that be? Julia is the sweetest girl. Why doesn’t Cameron like her?”

“I’d be willing to bet she’s jealous of her,” observed Michael. “But we’ll do as you ask, son. Alexis, keep that mouth of yours closed, understand? We don’t want to cause any trouble for Nathan.”

“Fine.” She sighed in resignation. “And I still don’t understand why you rushed her off today, Nathan. I don’t believe that nonsense about a meeting. You just didn’t want her to go with us.”

“Mom, it’s not that simple, okay? She’s an employee and it’s really not a good idea for her to be socializing with her boss and his parents.”

Alexis frowned. “I thought Travis was her boss. And it was just a casual lunch, Nathan. I think you’re overreacting, dear.”

“And I think you’re butting into things that don’t concern you,” retorted Nathan. “Now, come on. Let’s go inside, shall we?”

It wasn’t the first time that Michael and Alexis had met Cameron’s parents so everyone was relatively at ease during dinner. As usual, Graham dominated the conversation with his deep, booming voice and know-it-all attitude. Nathan didn’t like his future father-in-law very much, especially the way he needed control over everything and everyone in his life. He’d ordered the wine tonight, for example, without asking anyone else’s opinion, and had proceeded to tell everyone at the table what the best entrees to order were. When Alexis had tentatively mentioned ordering the shrimp scampi, Graham had made a loud noise of disapproval, telling her the cook did a terrible job with them here. Intimidated, Alexis had rather meekly relented and ordered the salmon instead.

Nathan was largely silent throughout the meal, for when Graham didn’t have the floor it belonged to Cameron or her mother Elaine, who talked incessantly about wedding plans. Nathan watched his mother struggle to maintain a polite expression on her face throughout the evening, knowing how much she loved to talk herself. His father, on the other hand, wasn’t doing such a good job of hiding the irritation he felt as the Tollivers controlled the conversation. Nathan felt badly for his parents, knowing they were both too well mannered to interrupt, and wished the rather uncomfortable evening would come to a blissfully quick end.

As dessert and coffee were eventually brought out, he couldn’t help but wonder if Julia’s parents were much different than Cameron’s. He remembered Julia’s comment that they disliked going to the city and preferred to remain close to their home in Carmel. And then he wondered why in hell he was even giving a second thought to two people he’d never met, and likely never would.

His mother didn’t hold anything back during the drive back to his condo, going on and on about what a pompous ass Graham was, and how rude Elaine was and how Cameron hadn’t even asked her opinion about any of the wedding plans. His father, well used to Alexis’ little emotional outbursts, kept mostly quiet except to tell Nathan, “You need to be careful of that man, son. He’s the sort that likes to walk all over people and always get his own way. And I’m sorry to say this but I think Cameron takes after him in certain ways. Don’t let yourself be controlled that way, Nathan. I didn’t raise my boys to take orders from other men, or women for that matter.”

Nathan sighed. “I know, Dad. It’s a tricky situation is all. Cam and I need to hash a few things out sooner than later. Her overbearing father is only one of them.”

In the backseat, his mother was muttering under her breath, but Nathan didn’t miss part of what she was saying. “Don’t know what he sees in that girl. He’s too good for her in my opinion.”

He knew better than to argue with his mother when she started talking to herself so he tactfully said nothing.

His brother Jared had flown into town with the rest of his team the night before, and they had a full day off before starting a four-game series with the Giants. It was a welcome opportunity for the two of them to enjoy a leisurely lunch with their parents at a tapas restaurant near Nathan’s office.

The balmy late April weather was continuing so Alexis had begged to sit at an outdoor table on the expansive front patio. Back home in Michigan the weather was still too chilly to even think of eating outdoors, so she was enjoying this rare opportunity while in San Francisco. Over a multitude of shared small plates and a pitcher of Sangria, the pleasant conversation and relaxed atmosphere was a welcome relief from the stilted, uncomfortable dinner with Cameron and her parents last night.