Which, Jules silently admitted to herself, was her being just as bitchy as Alli. The girl was stuck-up and could be a royal witch but she wasn’t the second coming of Lindsay Lohan.
“How have you been, Juli?” Alli reached for one of the kebabs on the plate. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since graduation.”
“I’ve been fine, Allison. And you?”
“Oh, Daddy has me working in his office.” Alli rolled her eyes as if she’d been forced into slave labor. “I’d much rather be in New York using my degree in some big firm but Daddy insisted I give him a year before I say adios to Berks County.”
The other girls laughed and their conversation turned back to a discussion of their “awful” jobs. Alli’s daddy owned the largest law firm in the county. The girl next to her was finishing her marketing degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Another one was working under—can you imagine?—the CEO of her father’s fuel-importing business.
Jules faked another smile and moved on.
But not before she heard Alli say, “Oh, we went to high school together. I think she graduated with my class. Not really sure…”
Blinking away the sting in her eyes that was absolutely not tears, Jules started back on her circuit.
* * * * *
Keegan stood at the door to the ballroom, scanning the occupants for any sign of the woman he ached to see.
Carol had told him Jules was working tonight but he wanted to make sure before he walked into this pit of vipers.
Don’t be such a pussy. Get your ass moving.
The voice in his head was Erik’s. Too bad the guy wouldn’t take his own advice because it was damn good.
So go the hell inside already.
He would, just as soon as he—
There she was.
Across the wide ballroom. Dressed in the white shirt and black skirt the catering company required of their servers. The uniform was supposed to make them fade into the background. On Jules, the shirt hinted at her gorgeous breasts, the skirt hugged a perfect ass and the short-heeled pumps she wore made her legs look amazing.
Jules would never fade. Not even amid the fancy dresses worn by the other women.
Just in the few seconds since he’d caught sight of her, he’d watched two guys check out her ass as she walked by.
He wanted to smash their faces with his fist.
But he couldn’t blame them.
Even with her long, dark hair drawn back in a sleek braid and barely any makeup, she was still the most beautiful woman in the room.
Keegan would punch any man who said she wasn’t.
Of course, Jules would probably like to take a swing at him.
Hell, he’d actually like it if she wanted to take a swing. The alternative—that she wouldn’t want anything to do with him or Erik again—was much worse.
She’d walked out the door of Erik’s house two weeks ago and Keegan had wanted to drag her back to bed before she could make it to her car.
Erik had said wait.
He’d wanted to say fuck waiting. She’d captivated him. It hadn’t just been about the sex. He wanted to get to know her, discover everything about her. That night had been about more than money for him. He’d thought Erik had felt the same.
The next day Keegan had wanted to call her but it’d been Christmas Eve. He’d planned to spend it with Erik but Erik had shocked the hell out of him when he told Keegan he was going home. So Keegan had bowed to the guilt trip laid by his church-every-Sunday mom’s guilt trip and gone home. He’d spent four days eating his mother’s cooking and thinking about Jules.
But when Keegan had returned and said he wanted to call Jules, Erik had said wait, just a little longer, and locked himself in the lab with their new project.
Keegan waited, not wanting to set off Erik, hoping maybe she’d call. Which hadn’t happened.
What did you expect, dickhead? That the woman you paid a half-million dollars to have sex with you and Erik would want to have anything to do with you again?
Fuck.
Exactly.
Damn it, he shouldn’t have come. He’d only embarrass her if he walked in and tried to start a conversation.
True, no one here knew about their deal, about that one sex-filled night they’d spent together. But she might be embarrassed and that was the last thing he wanted.
Then again, he didn’t think Jules embarrassed easy.
Fearless was a good word to describe her. Confident. Sexy as all hell.
He wanted to add “his” to that list. Hell, he wanted to add “theirs.”
Erik wanted the same, even if his best friend refused to admit it. Erik’s scars, physical and emotional, gave some explanation for his behavior.
So what’s your excuse for standing out here like a fucking pussy?
All he had to do was push open the door and walk in, get her alone and tell her—
What?
That the night they’d spent together had been the best fucking night of his life and he wanted to repeat it for the rest of the foreseeable future?
Probably a good place to start.
And the problem is…
All the other people in the room. Those fine, upstanding pillars of society who thought they had a right to comment on others people’s lives.
Erik had been fed up with those kinds of people growing up in Boston, the ones with the kind of wealth that made some people assholes.
Erik hadn’t been an asshole when they’d met at Princeton. He and Keegan had hit it off almost immediately as lab partners in first-year electrical engineering. It’d been a partnership that’d only strengthened when they’d created Tin Man Biometrics.
And now that TinMan was making an obscene amount of money, he and Erik were getting invites to parties like this. Parties Keegan avoided at all costs because they were mostly meat markets and all the small talk and the innuendo and all the bullshit made him want to tear his hair out.
But he’d brave this one for a chance to talk to Jules.
Still, he wished Erik was here with him. A united front always worked better than a divided attack.
It’s how they managed their business, particularly after the lab explosion that had left Erik disfigured. And a hermit.
Keegan had thought, maybe, after that night with Jules, maybe Erik would return to the land of the living. But even though Jules had drawn Erik out into the light that one night, Erik had managed to entrench himself even further in the shadows by the time Keegan had returned from the holiday.
So that left Keegan to stalk Jules.
And maybe he wouldn’t use the word “stalk,” at least not out loud.
Fuck it. He was going in.
He’d dressed for the occasion in a suit and tie, hoping he wouldn’t stick out and could move around without attracting attention.
Which would be almost impossible, he realized. He knew a lot of people in the room because when TinMan had hit the Fortune 500 list, the doors into the inner sanctum of Pennsylvania’s elite had opened to them.
Invitations to events like this, which weren’t much more than an excuse for people with a certain amount of money to get shit-faced, talk about politics and bitch about how the government was raping them over taxes.
Before the explosion, Erik had handled this crap. Keegan had been more than happy to be miles away in the lab.
After the fire, Erik had guilted Keegan into stepping in. Even though he totally sucked at small talk, did not want to bitch about taxes, and was in no way looking to hook up with a junior exec whose daddy had the last name of someone who’d signed the Constitution.
Jesus H. Christ. He had become a fucking pussy.
With a disgusted breath, he started working his way around the room again.
Jules hadn’t seen him yet and she appeared to be heading back to the kitchen. Good, that would give him enough time to grab a drink at the bar and scope out a place for them to have a few minutes alone to talk.
�
��Whiskey. Neat.”
In seconds, the bartender slid his drink across the polished mahogany bar. Keegan took a long swallow, hoping like hell the alcohol took the jagged edge off his nerves. He felt ready to bust out of his skin.
“Hello, Keegan. I was hoping I’d see you tonight.”
Fuck.
Showtime. Plastering on what he hoped was a pleasant smile, Keegan turned. “Allison, Katherine. Nice to see you.”
The women exchanged a look then turned brilliant smiles on him that made him want to run the other way.
They were pretty enough, both blond and blue-eyed. Everything about them screamed privileged, from their perfect hair to their expensive dresses and shoes. They looked exactly like the women Erik’s parents had tried to set them up with when the business had started to take off.
“We’re so glad you were able to make it. We’ve been wanting to invite you…”
And that was about all Keegan heard because Jules walked out of the kitchen with a loaded tray and began her circuit around the room.
As the women continued to talk, Keegan made sure he kept his eyes focused on whichever woman was talking at the moment, smiling when it seemed appropriate, nodding occasionally, but always aware of where Jules was in the room.
Her tray emptied before she got close enough to notice him and he was forced to endure more torture from two of the most eligible women in the state. They wanted him to join some board they were involved in. Something about theater or the arts. Something he’d probably think was deadly boring if he was really listening.
Not that he had anything against the arts in general but right now he had other things on his mind.
Namely, the beautiful woman who’d rocked his world to its foundation.
And even if Erik wouldn’t admit it, she’d done the same for him.
Keegan would get her back, no matter what he had to do or promise her.
With one eye on the door to the kitchen, he bided his time.
* * * * *
Jules’ heart threatened to pound out of her chest.
Keegan was here. Holding up the bar with Alli and one of her cronies on either side of him.
Luckily for Alli, he looked bored out of his skull. If he’d shown any kind of interest, she might’ve found herself yanking Alli out of the room by her hair then indulging in a good old-fashioned cat fight.
Which was stupid.
They hadn’t called.
And she was so totally pissed about that.
Seeing Keegan just made it worse.
He must have just arrived. She knew she hadn’t seen him before.
But now that she had, she didn’t know if she could go out there and pretend not to know him. Couldn’t act like he was a stranger when she’d shared one of the most amazing experiences of her life with him. And with Erik.
Was Erik here too?
No. He wouldn’t come out of hiding for something like this. Too many people staring at him.
She would’ve scratched out anyone’s eyes who dared look at him sideways.
And…she was being crazy. Absolutely nuts.
Obviously they hadn’t wanted anything more to do with her or they would’ve contacted her.
It’d been sex. Damn good sex, but still…just sex.
“Hey, Juli, everything okay?”
Two other servers stood behind her, trays loaded, frowning at her.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. Just…” She shook her head then pushed through the door.
She told herself she wasn’t going to pay him any attention.
It was total bullshit.
At least she could try not to cross his path. With this many people, no one would ever realize she was avoiding one man.
Drawing in a deep breath, she deliberately didn’t look in the direction of the bar and headed for the opposite side of the room. After making sure he was nowhere in sight.
She focused on not tipping her tray and not tripping over her feet but nothing seemed to be working right.
The tray felt unbalanced, her feet felt unattached. Her heart wouldn’t stop racing and her throat felt like she’d swallowed sawdust.
And her brain wouldn’t stop either.
Had he come here to see her? Had he known she’d be here?
No, that was stupid. Why would he come here to talk to her? Why not call?
Stop. Just stop.
With only a half hour to go until the mixer ended, people were drinking more and eating less. She couldn’t hide in the kitchen like she wanted to.
And she couldn’t stop looking toward the bar. She tried not to but it was impossible.
She caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye several times.
Then he wasn’t there.
Blinking, she took another, closer look.
Still not there.
A prickle of awareness made the hairs on her neck stand on end.
He was watching her. She could feel his gaze.
She refused to give him the satisfaction of showing she was rattled. Bothered.
Dying to talk to him. Touch him. Tear his clothes off.
She was pissed at herself for wanting more, for thinking there should be more.
They hadn’t called.
So why was he here?
Probably had nothing to do with her.
Put him out of your mind. Do your job. Go home and figure out why you haven’t decided what you’re going to do with the rest of the money.
Her smile had faded so she plastered it on again as she finished her circuit. Her tray was still half full by the time she got to the hallway that led back to the bathroom. Her hands trembled and she set the tray on the nearest table.
There was an alcove at the end of the hall just before the bathrooms that offered some privacy.
She needed a few minutes. To pull herself together. Get her game face back. No way did she want Keegan to know how he affected her.
They hadn’t called.
She blinked hard and fast at the burn in her eyes, glanced quickly over her shoulder to make sure no one was paying any attention to her then slipped down the dimly lit hall and into the alcove.
The alcove was darker than the hall and much quieter than the main room. She took a deep breath, trying to get her heart back to a normal rhythm. Force her brain away from thinking about that night.
Damn Keegan for showing up and ruining the tiny bit of calm she’d managed to hold on to.
She’d left that night without a single regret. Still didn’t have any.
Except that they hadn’t called.
She sighed. “Well, what did you expect? Total devotion in exchange for good sex?”
“I thought it was pretty damn good sex but I might be biased.”
Jules gasped and spun around to find a silhouette in the doorway.
She knew who it was right away. Even though she couldn’t see that his hair was dark brown with red highlights and just a little too long or that his eyes were a clear, almost navy blue. But she knew it was Keegan.
That voice held a slight Irish accent from his childhood. His family had moved to the States when he was twelve.
She’d looked up him and Erik online. Sue her.
They’d earned their first million by age twenty-six. Their company, TinMan Biometrics, made high-end security equipment for billion-dollar companies that wanted to keep their secrets secret.
They’d come up with some revolutionary development that had been way too technical for her to understand. But she understood how smart they were, how brilliant they had to be.
That night she hadn’t known much more than their first names and the fact that her friend Carol had told her she could trust them. And since she trusted Carol…
Her chin tilted up. “What are you doing here?”
Damn it. She wanted a do-over immediately. Her voice had sounded timid, shy. Almost hurt. And that’s not how she wanted him to see her.
Stiffening her back, she stared straight at him, although it was so
dark in the little room, she couldn’t make out his eyes. Or his beautiful mouth. Or the cheeks that were covered with freckles.
Damn it, the man was gorgeous. And not as old as she’d thought. He and Erik were only nine years old than her, which made them both thirty.
“I was invited,” Keegan said, reminding her that she’d asked him a question. “And I knew you’d be here.”
Her racing heart kicked into another gear, and she swore her stomach flipped. That had almost sounded like he came to see her specifically.
She wanted to ask if he had but maybe she didn’t want to know. If he hadn’t then she’d make a fool of herself. But if he had…
What then?
He took another step into the room, letting the drape covering the entrance fall behind him, making it even darker than before. Suddenly the room felt about as big as a broom closet. With a lot less air than it’d had a second ago.
And that was so totally not how she wanted him to see her, panting because he was in the room.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she tilted back her chin, trying to see him through the shadows.
“Which doesn’t explain what you’re doing here. Right now.”
He took another step and another, until he was only inches away from her. This close, she had to tilt her head back to continue to hold his gaze, which she could barely see in this light.
Which didn’t stop her from trying to see his mouth.
She so wanted to kiss him. Wanted him to kiss her. Wanted to torment and tease the hell out of him before she let him kiss her because she was still pissed at him for not calling.
For making her want him to call her.
“I wanted to see you again.”
She bit back the words that immediately leaped to her tongue, knowing they’d come out wrong. She couldn’t ask him if the only reason he wanted to see her again was because he wanted to have sex. Because he’d turn the question around and ask her the same.
And in the mood she was in, she was afraid she’d say something really stupid, like ask how much he was going to pay her this time.
And what would you do if he quoted you a figure?
An Indecent Proposition Page 7
