Serendipity (Inevitable) (32 page)

“Awesome to see you, buddy,” greeted Ryan. “I figured you’d be here seeing as you and your group are up for three awards tonight. Again.”

Nathan smirked. “What can I say? It’s been another good year. But great to see both of you, too. Baby’s due when – two months?”

Sophie, a pretty brunette of medium height, nodded. “Ten weeks, to be exact. If I last that long. It’s getting a little uncomfortable to waddle around these days.”

Ryan grinned and pressed a kiss to his wife’s head. “Don’t listen to her. She’s doing great. But let’s have a look at this gorgeous thing next to you.” He let out a low wolf whistle as he regarded Cameron. “Almost didn’t recognize you, Cam. You’re looking hot, girl.”

Cameron visibly preened at the compliment, the kind that Nathan hadn’t been able to bring himself to give her. “Thanks, hon. Thought I’d try a new look. Spice things up a bit, you know?”

As the Latimers continued to compliment Cameron on her new look, Nathan wondered if they were being sincere or just polite. He’d seen the startled look on both of their faces when they’d first seen Cameron, especially Sophie’s. In fact, Cameron seemed to be getting quite a few looks, from both men and women, and Nathan was starting to feel a little self-conscious with her hanging all over him. She was by far the most scantily clad woman here so far, her attire much more suited for a dance club than a semi-formal dinner.

They walked around the room, greeting several of his co-workers including Eric, Jake, and Brent, all of whom exhibited equal surprise at the sight of the new Cameron. From across the room he caught Travis’ eye, and his partner was staring at Cameron in frank disbelief. Travis bent to whisper something in Anton’s ear, and the shorter man looked over at Nathan and Cameron, only to gape at them slack jawed. Nathan quickly hustled Cameron out of their range of vision, not wanting any sort of confrontation tonight.

With that goal in mind, he’d given Travis very strict instructions not to sit at the same table with him and Cameron. Travis had assured him that he had requested a separate table just for his staff, which had silently answered another of Nathan’s requests – to keep Cameron and Julia far apart.

He assumed she was here tonight, though in this crowded, tightly packed room it was difficult to find anyone, and he certainly wasn’t going out of his way to locate her. The further apart he could keep the two women the better. So far Cameron seemed to be having a great time tonight, chatting and laughing with everyone they came in contact with. It was a major change from the tense, uncomfortable atmosphere at the Taverna Francesca fiasco a couple of months ago.

He’d just handed Cameron a second martini and was about to take a sip from his re-filled glass of scotch when yet another old friend approached to shake his hand. He and Travis had worked with Will Dunleavy at their former firm. Will had moved on to a smaller firm, but he kept in regular contact with Nathan. The last time he’d actually seen Will, though, had been last year at this very same function.

“How the hell are you, man?” greeted Will. “Can’t believe we haven’t seen each other in a whole fucking year. Where does the time go?”

Nathan shook his head. “Tell me about it. I never seem to have a free minute these days.”

“I haven’t even congratulated you on your engagement,” bemoaned Will. “Saw the news on your Facebook page. Cameron’s a great girl. I hope the two of you will be real happy. Where is the beautiful bride-to-be anyway?”

Nathan spied her a short distance away chatting up the wife of yet another Berkeley classmate of his, and pointed her out to Will. “What about you, William?” he asked, jokingly using his full name. “Surely you’re not here solo tonight?”

Will shrugged. “’Fraid so, my man. I was seeing someone for a few months but we just split up a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t been in the mood to start trolling around for a replacement. You know, it gets kind of old after awhile.”

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,” agreed Nathan with a grimace. “That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to get married. Playing the field is great for about ten years, and then it all gets to be a big game you grow tired of.”

“I hear you.” Will glanced across the room, his smile deepening. “Oh, hey, there’s old Travis. I see he and his little dude are still together. What’s his name again?”

“Anton. And yes, they just celebrated their fourth anniversary. It’s kind of sad that Travis has been in a longer-term relationship that either of us.”

Will chuckled. “How about that.” Then his jaw dropped and he let out a long, low whistle. “But who the hell is that standing next to the happy couple? Goddamn, that is the hottest babe I’ve ever seen in my life. How the fuck does Travis know someone like that?”

Nathan knew who Will was drooling over even before he turned and saw Julia for the first time that evening. “Fuck me,” he muttered under his breath, his heart pounding furiously as he saw how gorgeous she looked tonight. Gorgeous, and sinfully, erotically sexy.

He’d never seen her looking quite like this – in full-out femme fatale mode. And while Cameron’s own attempts to look like a sultry siren had failed rather miserably, Julia had no such problem. She looked like – sex.

She wore a black dress with a ruffled hem and a V-neckline trimmed in black lace that showcased her spectacular tits. Nathan quickly bolted down the last of his scotch as his gaze remained fixed on the generous amount of cleavage she was displaying tonight, and the erection that he hadn’t been able to summon up earlier was at instant and full attention now. She’d left all that glorious hair loose, except for a few curls she’d piled messily on top of her head. She was wearing more makeup than usual - her eyes darkly shadowed and lined, her pillowy lips shiny with dark red gloss. She was wearing those sheer black stockings that were the bane of his existence, and the sexiest shoes he’d ever seen – high, high heels, ankle straps, and a bow on the forefoot.

She was so delicious, so arousing, that he wanted to fling himself at her feet and beg for whatever small attention she might be generous enough to bestow upon him. He saw now how many other covetous male glances were being directed her way, staring at her face, her mouth, her breasts, her legs. And Nathan longed to yell out to all of them to stop looking at her because she was his. He wanted to stride over and cover her up with his black suit jacket so that no one else could admire and lust after her gorgeous tits.

Will was nudging him frantically. “So spill the beans. Who is that beautiful creature? And how can I get an introduction?”

Nathan motioned a passing waiter to bring him another scotch before answering Will. “Her name is Julia McKinnon and she’s one of Travis’ designers. As for an intro, buddy, you’ll have to finagle that yourself. I, um, stay out of my employees’ personal lives.”

“Well, probably doesn’t matter anyway. That guy she’s with sure as hell doesn’t seem like he wants to share. And as much of a stud as I am, I’ve got to admit I’m not in his league.”

Nathan felt the rage begin to build rapidly, like water about to boil over, as he belatedly noticed the man glued to Julia’s side. She’d brought a date – a fucking
date
– and what made matters so much worse was that the man with her tonight was Todd Bryant. Nathan had to acknowledge – reluctantly – that the fucker was even better looking than his Linkedin photo and about two inches taller than himself. They did look awfully good together – Todd tall and darkly handsome, Julia petite and fair and lovely.

Nathan snatched his third glass of Macallan from the waiter and downed half of it at once, his gut clenching unpleasantly as he watched Todd slide an arm around Julia’s waist, hugging her close to his side. She looked relaxed and happy, daintily sipping on a flute of champagne.

‘Motherfucker!’ he cursed under his breath. ‘Champagne.’ Julia was drinking champagne. What was it she’d said at the Taverna dinner – ‘I only drink champagne when I want to be seduced.’ She was planning on letting this suave, smooth talker with the gel-spiked black hair seduce her tonight. Shit, for all he knew they’d already fucked, multiple times. He watched the way Todd’s gaze dropped to Julia’s cleavage, and he wanted to run over and slam his fist in the prick’s gut.

The call to dinner came then, but his relief was short-lived for the table that Julia and her overly-amorous escort sat at was across from his own, giving him a direct line of view.

Despite the lively conversation at his table – where three of the other architects and their guests sat along with him and Cameron – Nathan grew increasingly silent and terse as the evening wore on. He polished off his fourth glass of scotch before starting on the Cabernet Sauvignon. He knew he was getting quietly, steadily drunk, barely touching his food, but it was the only way he knew how to cope with seeing the woman he so desperately desired being continually pawed by another man.

Nathan had to temper down his rage as he watched Todd touch Julia on the arm, the shoulder, the nape of her neck. He wanted to throw wine in the asshole’s face when Todd ran his fingers through a lock of Julia’s silky hair. Todd’s gaze seemed frozen on her breasts, and to Nathan it appeared that her neckline revealed more and more full, creamy flesh as the evening wore on. He was hard and aching, his balls throbbing with the need for release, but he only wanted Julia and it seemed like she was now completely off limits to him.

She looked up once and caught his burning gaze upon her, giving a little gasp. She worried her bottom lip uncertainly before looking away. Fortunately, Cameron was too busy being in her element as the center of attention and didn’t notice his preoccupation with the next table over. It would have only taken one time for her to notice the way he was staring at Julia, most certainly with a combination of undisguised lust and barely controlled rage, and she would have gone crazy. When the awards ceremony started while dessert was still being served, he kept his fingers crossed that that he wouldn’t win any awards that would require him to walk up to the stage and make an acceptance speech. At this point he wasn’t sure his legs would be steady enough, and he was damned certain his brain was far too addled with booze to utter a coherent sentence.

He wasn’t nominated for any individual awards this year but the firm as a group was. In addition, both Travis and Eric were up for individual honors. The firm wound up losing to another group, but Travis and Eric did win, and Nathan joined in the rowdy applause coming from the tables occupied by the staff.

The evening continued after the awards presentation with dancing. The bar also remained open, and Nathan watched grimly as Todd escorted Julia there, walking right past his table without glancing at him or saying a word.

Cameron noticed them as they passed and frowned. “I didn’t realize she was here tonight.” She sniffed. “At least she brought a man of her own so she doesn’t have to pant after mine.”

He finished off his wine, having lost count of how many glasses he’d consumed. “Don’t start, okay? It’s been a nice evening so far, don’t ruin it.”

“Yeah, a nice evening where you haven’t said a word, and you’ve been pounding back the drinks all night. What has you so pissed off anyway?” she hissed.

“I’m not pissed off.”

“Fine,” she challenged. “Then dance with me. Come on.”

Nathan gave a slight groan but allowed Cameron to pull him to his feet – a bit shakily – and propel him to the dance floor. Fortunately, it was a slow dance so he didn’t have to do much more than guide her around in circles. The feel of her body pressed up closely to his wasn’t the least bit arousing, and in fact he found her clinginess tonight annoying. He was relieved when the song ended, to be replaced by a fast song currently popular on the charts.

“I’m going to sit this one out, okay?” he told her. “Maybe get some coffee.”

She looked annoyed but merely gave a shrug as she sauntered off to join in the dance with a group of other wives and girlfriends. Soon there were nearly a dozen women all gathered in a tight group shaking and shimmying to the music. Grateful to escape, Nathan started making his way to the bar, hoping they had a hot pot of coffee ready. He was really starting to feel the effects of too much alcohol, his head beginning to pound and his gait unsteady.

But then he saw Julia leaving the banquet room alone, and he changed his mind about the coffee.

Julia escaped into the quiet sanctuary of the ladies room gratefully. She really needed to get away from Todd and his overly eager hands for a few minutes. It had been a huge mistake to invite him along as her date tonight. She’d known that the minute he had picked her up at her flat, sweeping her into an amorous embrace and a demanding kiss. He’d suggested having a quickie before going to the dinner, and even blowing the dinner off altogether. He had been a bit pissy when she had gently but firmly refused both ideas and she wasn’t looking forward to the end of the evening when she was going to refuse him again. In fact, she already knew she wouldn’t be seeing him again after tonight.

Oh, he’d been charming enough, maybe a little too much considering how touchy-feely the guy was. It seemed that his overeager hands were everywhere, and not just on places like her arm or shoulder. Three times now his hand had been sliding up her thigh, even under her dress, and she’d had to remove it a little more firmly each time. And she was cursing herself for wearing the Dolce & Gabbana, given the way Todd kept staring at the lavish display of her breasts in the low-cut dress. She swore she could practically feel his hot breath on her bare skin, and had felt his hand “accidentally” brush up against the side of her boob a couple of times.