Sensational

by Janet Nissenson

  It was only a knock on his office door an hour later that caused him to finally lift his head, and he frowned in mild irritation as Lauren poked her head inside. It had been quite some time since she’d sought him out for any reason, and he could only guess at what might have pissed her off enough to finally approach him.

  “Hey, you got a few minutes?” she asked, her voice sounding a bit too forced, and he could swear she actually looked nervous.

  Ben glanced at all the work he still had to get done before he could get a start on his weekend, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming at his temples. “Not really,” he muttered. “Can it wait until Monday?”

  “I won’t be here on Monday,” she reminded him. “We’re flying out early tomorrow morning, remember? On the first of four flights, I might add. Jesus, Nadine really outdid herself this time, didn’t she? And I know for a fact that we could have made it there with only three flights, looked them all up myself.”

  Ben scrubbed a hand over his face, gazing at Lauren impatiently. “Is that what you wanted to talk about – Nadine’s latest round of travel arrangements? Because I have real work to do, Lauren. I don’t have the time right now to deal with one of your tantrums.”

  She glared at him but surprisingly just shook her head rather than fire back with a scathing retort. “No, that’s not what I came in here for. It’s – something else. And it’s important, Ben.”

  He suddenly thought of what Karl had hinted at earlier – that Lauren, too, might be thinking of leaving the magazine. And he knew he was really not in the mood to deal with that kind of drama right now.

  “I’m sorry,” he told her curtly. “But I really can’t spare the time right now. Maybe you should make an appointment with Kym when you get back from the trip. Or send me an email about it.”

  “An email.” She looked at him strangely before shaking her head. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Sorry for taking you away from your important work.”

  Lauren dashed off even as he thought of calling her back. There had been something in her voice, in the way she had looked at him, that made him think what she had to say wasn’t related to the job in any way.

  Ben slammed a fist on his desk, pissed off at himself for having acted like such an ass, and regretting how impatient he’d just been with her. He half-rose from his chair, intending to go after her, until he decided instead to take Nathan Atwood up on his earlier invitation.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lauren belted down the last tequila shot, closed her eyes for a moment or two, and then immediately raised her arm as she tried to signal their waiter. Ben thought that the poor young man was probably hiding in the kitchen, cowering in fear from the crazy woman at his table.

  She’d been in a lousy mood even before he had tentatively approached their table, and hadn’t bothered to hide her surprise and irritation to learn that Nathan had invited Ben to join them. From that point on her mood had only worsened as the evening went on, arguing with her sister about what dishes to order, hassling the waiter when something wasn’t prepared to her liking, and drinking – a lot. Ben realized that this was the first time he’d actually seen Lauren drunk, and he hoped like hell that he hadn’t been the cause after dismissing her so coolly from his office earlier today.

  Now she was standing, looking around impatiently for their waiter. “Where the hell is that idiot anyway? If he thinks for a minute he’s getting more than a five dollar tip, he’s out of his mind. Nathan, don’t you dare leave him more than that, do you hear me?”

  Nathan looked as though he would love nothing better than to strangle his very difficult sister-in-law at this moment. “For all the shit you’ve given that kid tonight, I ought to leave him a five hundred dollar tip,” he groused.

  Lauren glared at him. “Well, there really is a sucker born every minute, isn’t there? Jules, do you see the guy anywhere? I need refills here. Pronto.”

  As she raised her arm again to flag down a waiter – any waiter – Ben took hold of her wrist and lowered her arm.

  “You don’t need any more booze tonight,” he told her in a quiet but firm voice. “I think we can all agree that you’ve had way too much already. Stop embarrassing your sister and Nathan and behave yourself.”

  Ben wasn’t sure who was more shocked at what he’d just said – any of the three other people at the table or himself. But even as he spied the furious expression on Lauren’s face, he refused to back down and kept her wrist pinned to the table.

  He’d never seen her this angry before, her green eyes glittering fiercely, and he was more than a little afraid that she was either going to spit at him or bend over and bite his hand. Instead, she employed a different dirty tactic and kicked him – hard – in the shin with the pointy toe of her ankle boot.

  “Ow. Dammit,” he cursed, releasing her hand to rub his abused shin.

  Lauren wasted no time in springing to her feet, grabbing her clutch bag as she did. “Screw you, Ben Rafferty,” she hissed. “You might be my boss at work but outside of the office I’m the only one who gets to boss me around. And screw that incompetent waiter, too. I’ll get my own drink. Better yet, I’ll get someone to buy me one.”

  She flounced off angrily, not such a easy feat considering how much she’d had to drink. If he hadn’t been so pissed off at her right now, Ben might have actually laughed at the way she swayed a bit unsteadily in those sexy black lace ankle boots with their towering heel.

  Julia sighed. “I’d better go after her. When she’s in a mood like this, there’s no telling what kind of trouble she can get into. I’m sorry, Ben. She’s never this out of control. I have no idea what’s bugging her tonight.”

  “I think I do,” he told Julia. “I upset her earlier in the day, and coming here tonight was probably not the best move under the circumstances. I thought – well, that I would try to apologize, but I can see she’s clearly not in the mood to be reasonable.”

  “I’m glad you came,” Julia told him earnestly. “Nathan and I have both enjoyed getting to know you a little. As for Lauren – well, she’s been off her game for months now, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. Oh, God! I’d better go rescue that guy she’s hitting on over at the bar. Excuse me.”

  He watched with concern as Julia hurried over to the bar, where Lauren was rather drunkenly starting to drape herself around a good looking guy who seemed far too interested in her for Ben’s liking. He took a sip of the red wine Nathan had ordered with dinner, his grip on the fragile glass stem nearly hard enough to snap it in two.

  Nathan was grinning at him, even as he shook his dark head in disbelief. “Dude, you might be the bravest person I’ve ever met,” he said, awestruck. “Nobody, and I mean nobody had ever told that girl she’s had too much to drink. Not even her dad, and believe me, my father-in-law can be a pretty intimidating guy when he wants to be.”

  Ben’s mouth quirked up at one corner. “Yeah, so I’ve noticed. I’ve met him, you know. Last November. He came by the office to thank me for not sending Lauren on a trip to Brazil. He seems like a great guy.”

  Nathan nodded enthusiastically. “The best. So is Natalie. I couldn’t have asked for better in-laws. They are the nicest, most down to earth people you’d ever want to meet.” He gave a little shudder as he reached for his own wine glass. “I was engaged once before, broke things off when I realized what a mistake I was making. Now, her parents would have been the in-laws from hell – the mother was a stuck-up witch while the father was the biggest pompous ass you’ve ever seen.”

  “Hmm, sounds an awful lot like Elle’s parents,” lamented Ben. “I mean, both of them are always polite to me, I think that’s part of being British or something. But I’ve never felt that they approved of me, or think I’m good enough for Elle.”

  “That would suck for sure,” agreed Nathan. “I guess I’m lucky that Julia’s family is so great. Even my pain in the ass sister-in-law isn’t quite as bad as she seems. Julia’s right – things have definitely been w
eird with Lauren these past few months. I know Julia and her parents are all worried about her.”

  Ben frowned, realizing it was the second time today that Nathan had brought this particular subject up. “Any special reason?”

  Nathan shrugged. “I think for Julia it’s more of a gut feeling. A “twin thing”, as she calls it. I mean, those two might seem as different as night and day, but they’re also two halves of the same whole. Julia picks up on vibes from Lauren and vice versa. But from what I hear Lauren has been spending more time than usual on her own. When she’s in California, she holes up in that cabin of hers most of the time, doesn’t even see her folks all that often. And she drives my mother-in-law nuts when she takes off for a day or two at a time on that crotch rocket of hers. Lauren thinks nothing of driving down the coast on her bike, and not saying a word to anyone about where she’s going. I understand Robert really lit into her a couple of weeks ago for worrying Natalie so much.”

  Ben silently applauded Lauren’s father for his actions, and did his best to keep his own anger under control. As tough as Lauren might act, she’d only been driving that damned Ducati for a few years, and he could only imagine how recklessly she drove the powerful motorcycle.

  “Do you think something at work is bothering her?” asked Ben, discreetly trying to discover if Lauren had dropped any hints to her family about possibly quitting her job.

  “Probably not,” acknowledged Nathan. “I mean, she does love her job, is always talking about her most recent trip and showing us photos. Julia’s more or less convinced that Lauren’s got man problems, and that’s what set her off recently.”

  “Is she seeing someone?” asked Ben casually, determined not to betray his interest in the subject.

  “Nah. I mean, at least not that anyone knows about. Julia swears that Lauren has never brought a guy home even once to meet their parents. And that she never, ever, brings anyone to the cabin. That place is like her sacred space, you know? I’ve only been invited there twice, and both visits were brief ones. So who knows if Julia’s right or not. All I can say is that if Lauren does have a man in her life, the dude must either be a little crazy or else he’s some kind of superhero. He’d have to be one or the other – maybe a little of both – to have the guts to take her on.”

  Ben fell silent after that as he mulled over everything he’d just learned. The facts that Lauren never introduced her men to her parents – while Ben had met both of them separately, though admittedly not as her boyfriend, and that she never invited anyone to the cabin – a place he’d spent the happiest ten days of his life – were both extremely interesting. But that knowledge wasn’t any help in figuring out what was bothering Lauren right now. Karl had seemed positive that Lauren wasn’t seeing anyone right now, and yet her twin sister – arguably the person closest to her – seemed to believe otherwise. As for himself, he didn’t know what to believe these days – about a whole lot of things, it seemed.

  Nathan was reaching for the wine bottle when he uttered a low curse instead. “Aw, hell. Now she’s dragging Julia out to the dance floor. And that’s never a good thing.”

  The trendy Peruvian restaurant in Greenwich Village also featured live music and dancing in the evenings, and it hadn’t taken long at all for the action to get started tonight. The smallish dance floor was packed with bodies writhing to the salsa band who was featured tonight. But all eyes seemed to be glued on the gorgeous, sexy twins who were putting on quite a show smack in the middle of the floor.

  Julia seemed less than thrilled to be out there, her dance moves – not to mention her clothing – much more subdued than her sister’s. Lauren, on the other hand, was shimmying and shaking to the tropical beat with wild, uninhibited abandon, as if deliberately calling attention to herself.

  Ben’s jaw clenched angrily as he watched her smile flirtatiously in response to the numerous cat calls and whistles she received. She might as well, he thought furiously, have the words “do me” stamped on her forehead, given the way she was dancing and what she had chosen to wear tonight.

  She’d “cleaned up nicely”, as she had put it once, abandoning her usual jeans and T-shirts for a much more provocative outfit. She wore a black dress that seemed to expose more skin than it covered with its deeply slashed halter neckline, cut out side panels, and short, flared skirt. And with those damned lace ankle boots, Ben wondered how in the world she could dance so exuberantly without falling flat on her face – especially given the amount of alcohol she’d consumed tonight.

  Nathan had a worried look on his face. “Lauren’s not a good influence on Julia,” he told Ben. “The few times they’ve gone out partying together Julia usually winds up with a hellish hangover the next day. And of course Lauren can never let me forget the time she tried to entice me into having a twin sandwich.”

  Ben choked and sputtered on the sip of wine he’d just swallowed, reaching for his water glass. His eyes were watering as he croaked out, “A – what? That’s not really what it sounds like, is it?”

  “’Fraid so,” Nathan muttered. “Though Julia swears up and down she never even considered doing something like that – whether with me or some other guy. Lauren was just trying to stir things up when she said that. But, damn her, she likes to forget that Julia is married now and shouldn’t be out there shaking all of her worldly goods in front of a bunch of horny guys. I’d better go and rescue my bride.”

  “I’ll do it.” Ben stood and placed a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “After all, you and Julia are here to celebrate, not play nursemaid to the Dancing Queen out there. Besides, considering the fact that she has a pre-dawn flight out of JFK in the morning, she might even thank me for dragging her out of here. I’ll grab a taxi, make sure she gets home okay.”

  Nathan grinned. “Hey, now you’re really the bravest guy I’ve ever met. And it was good to meet you, Ben. I’m glad you decided to join us for dinner after all. I’m just sorry that Lauren seemed to go out of her way to ruin everything.”

  “Forget it. Like I said, my presence here probably made it all ten times worse. She’s pissed off at me – for a lot of reasons – and when Lauren gets angry she usually winds up acting out like a naughty child. Nothing I can’t handle. And here.” He took out his wallet, extracted several bills, and placed them on the table. “I know you kept insisting that dinner was on you, but this is for the tip. God knows that poor waiter deserves it tonight.”

  Nathan was chuckling as he rose to shake Ben’s hand. “Thanks, man. And I hope to see you again sometime. I’m not sure when we’ll be in New York again, though. Do you ever make it out to the West coast?”

  It was on the tip of Ben’s tongue to confess that he had avoided traveling to California very intentionally since that fateful summer six years ago. “Not for a long time,” was all he said. “But it’s one of my favorite places in the whole world, so maybe one of these days.”

  Ben cursed beneath his breath as he gingerly maneuvered his way through the crush of people on the dance floor until he reached his target. Lauren’s back was to him, her lithe body moving to the rhythm of the music, and she was more or less oblivious to everyone else around her. Ben caught Julia’s eye and jerked his head in the direction of their table. Wide-eyed, she merely nodded and began to walk away.

  He placed both of his hands on Lauren’s bare shoulders, bending down to murmur in her ear, “Time to put away your dancing shoes for the night, Cinderella. You’ve got a very early day tomorrow, after all. And I doubt you want to get on the first of four flights with a nasty hangover.”

  Lauren’s leanly muscled shoulders stiffened beneath his grip, and then she spun around to face him, her eyes spitting angrily. “Get lost,” she hissed. “Who the hell do you think you are anyway, Ben Rafferty? Nobody tells me when I’ve had too much to drink, or when it’s time to call it a night. Especially you!”

  “Really?” He arched a brow at her in amusement as he took hold of her arm. “Because the way I see it, I’ve done both tonigh
t. Come on, sweetheart, time to find your carriage and get you home.”

  She tried in vain to wrest her arm out of his grasp, and swore in frustration when he continued to dodge her somewhat unsteady attempts to kick him. “Leave me alone,” she muttered sullenly. “How come you’re too goddamned busy to talk to me earlier today, and now all of a sudden you seem to have all this time on your hands?”

  “Ah. So that’s what this little hissy fit you’ve been having all evening is about,” he observed. “Tell you what. If you want to talk to me now, I’m all ears. Except not here. Somewhere a little less noisy and way more private.”

  “Forget it,” she spat. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to talk to you anymore. Maybe not ever again. So, go on – leave me alone. And why are you here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at home with your precious Elle?”

  “Elle’s out of town right now. And to answer your first question, I have no idea why I’m here,” he replied wearily. “In fact, I’ve been asking myself that same question all night. Now, come on. Time for you to leave, Lauren. You can either walk out of here on your own, or I swear I’ll throw you over my shoulder again.”

  She gasped and gave him a little shove. “There is no way you’d dare to try that little stunt again,” she declared. “And no way I’d let you get away with it.”

  Ben struggled valiantly to keep his slowly simmering temper under control. He had never known anyone – male or female – as infuriating as Lauren, and he half-seriously wished he had some rope on him at the moment so he could show her just how much he was willing to dare.