“Well, there’ll be other trips. Like Hawaii in a couple of months, for example. Look, I don’t mean to rush you, Cam, but I’m supposed to leave for dinner in a minute with a group.” Nathan in fact could see Rick motioning to him that they were ready to leave and he mouthed “I’ll meet you guys there in a few minutes.”
“Okay, babe, I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to let you know there are still seats available on the 7:30am flight out of JFK tomorrow morning. You could be here by noon and still have plenty of time to attend the hospital benefit with me. I know you’re headed out but I’d be happy to change your flight for you if you just give me your info.”
Nathan was dumbfounded. After all of the conversations and arguments they’d had on this particular subject, here was Cameron still on it less than twenty-four hours before his flight left.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and replied as calmly as possible. “Thanks for checking, but I’m not going to fly out that early. We’ve discussed this like – a dozen times at least. I’m flying out at 2:00pm tomorrow and that’s it.”
There was silence at the other end for long seconds before she finally answered. “You seriously wouldn’t suck it up and give up a few hours sleep to catch that earlier flight? Babe, you know how much I want to attend this event.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “There’s no reason at all you can’t attend alone. Your parents will be there, your sister, a bunch of your friends.”
“Yes, and everyone will have their spouse or a date. Think how I’m going to feel being the only one there alone.”
“I’m sorry, Cam, but this isn’t anything new. I arranged to attend this convention a long time before you ever mentioned this ball.”
“But it’s important, Nathan,” she whined. “This is one of the top social events of the year. I’ll look pathetic if I show up alone.”
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. “You won’t look pathetic, for Christ’s sake. And frankly, every damned event you want to attend is one of the top ones of the year. You’re going to have to start resigning yourself to the fact that you aren’t going to be able to attend them all.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded. The mounting anger in her voice was evident. “You think that once we’re married we should sit home every weekend like a couple of old people and rent movies and eat popcorn? How boring does that sound?”
In actuality, it sounded great to Nathan, vastly preferable to getting dragged to another black-tie event where the only purpose in attending seemed to be impressing Cameron’s friends with her latest gown and flaunting her handsome boyfriend.
“Cam, this really isn’t the time to have this discussion, okay? I’m going to be late for dinner if I don’t leave now. I’ll call you from JFK tomorrow before my flight leaves, all right?”
He was again met with a stony silence for long seconds until she finally replied in a brittle tone. “So that’s your final answer, huh? You’re still going to take the afternoon flight?”
“Yes,” he answered in a tired voice. “I’m probably going to be up late tonight and no way can I get up early enough to make a 7:30am flight.”
“Fine,” she snarled. “Thanks for nothing. Good night.”
Nathan cursed vividly beneath his breath as Cameron abruptly disconnected the call. Angrily, he shoved his phone into his jacket pocket, still in disbelief that she had called him on this matter yet again. He knew she was royally pissed off, and would be sure to let him know about it when he got home. At the moment, though, he really didn’t give a shit. Cameron had pissed him off, too, and he was getting damned tired of always being the one to concede and compromise in this relationship.
He was angry enough to order yet another drink before the bartender could close things up for the reception, and bolted it down in three quick gulps. Rick and the others had left over five minutes ago so he headed for the hotel exit as swiftly as possible, his quick pace fueled by the simmering anger he still felt at the call from Cameron. He really, really disliked being manipulated or controlled, and he had begun to notice more and more as of late that Cameron was trying very hard – in her own subtle ways – to do both of those things. He was starting to re-think this whole idea of the engagement, wondering not for the first time if it had come about for all the wrong reasons. Probably because he hadn’t had a lot of experienced in this whole long-term relationship thing, he’d allowed her to take the lead on far too many things and he was starting to feel hemmed in and resentful. When he got home it was going to be way past time to iron out some important details and assert himself more forcefully in this relationship.
Nathan was still extremely pissed off, the anger making him want to lash out at something, to take his aggression out somehow, as he reached the revolving front doors of the hotel that left him standing on Park Avenue. He wondered briefly as he stood there if he ought to skip dinner and go swim a bunch of laps in the hotel pool to take the edge off. Deciding against that idea, he turned and began walking down the street when he saw her again.
She was walking at a leisurely pace in his direction and hadn’t seen him yet so he had a few seconds to admire how exquisitely beautiful she looked this evening. Her dress tonight was a sleeveless, form-fitting sheath with a bow embellishment on the square-cut neckline. It was a luscious shade of pale pink that reminded him of whipped strawberry mousse. She wore those sexy stilettos again, these in a pale gray with a little space cut out for her toes, and she carried a large gray leather bag. As she drew closer, he noted that her glorious hair fell in long, loose waves down her back – no ponytail today – and that her kissable, lushly fuckable mouth was glossed over in bubblegum pink. She was classy and seductive at the same time, the perfect combination of lady and siren. She was doing another excellent job of ignoring all the admiring stares being sent her way, and he was half afraid she’d walk right by without noticing him.
But then, as though she felt his intense gaze upon her, she looked up and saw him and took his breath away once again with her otherworldly beauty. He couldn’t recall a time in his life when he’d ever wanted something as much as he wanted her at this moment. He forgot everything else that had happened earlier – the nasty argument with Cameron, the fact that he was supposed to be joining a group of friends for dinner, that his flight back home was leaving in less than twenty-four hours. All he saw was her, and all he wanted was to talk to her, touch her, be near her somehow. If he didn’t do it now, she would slip away forever, and he knew he would always regret it.
Nathan walked towards her slowly, and she stood rooted in place, watching him. Then he was standing right in front of her, close enough to smell the light fragrance of her perfume, to see the tiny flecks of gold in her big green eyes, to realize that even with her sky-high heels the top of her shining head barely came to his shoulder.
He had trouble finding his voice, much less think of something clever to say, so he merely smiled and said, “Hello, again.”
She returned his smile, giving him a glimpse of her perfectly straight white teeth. “Good evening.”
They stood in silence for several seconds, blue eyes locked with green, sharing a knowing smile, until Nathan said half-jokingly, “We’ve got to stop meeting this way.”
That evoked a soft laugh from her. “Except that we haven’t actually met, have we?” she asked pointedly.
He grinned. “You’re absolutely right, but that’s a situation very easily remedied. I’m Nathan.”
That he chose not to offer up his last name was not a conscious decision on his part – it simply didn’t seem necessary at the moment. He did, however, offer her his hand which she took carefully. Her hand was small and dainty, the skin warm and smooth, and he closed his own hand over it firmly.
“Julia”, was all she said in response.
He drew her hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her palm, pleased to hear the little indrawn his
s of breath she took. “Hello, Julia. So we finally meet. I was afraid I wouldn’t see you again.”
“Me, too,” she confessed in a shy, sweet voice. “I’ve looked for you running the past few mornings. We must have kept missing each other.”
Nathan was startled by her admission, and greatly exultant that she had evidently been thinking of him, too. “Well, I suppose it’s fate that we happened upon each other again tonight, isn’t it?”
She squeezed his hand gently. “Or simply good luck. Whatever the cause, I’m glad it happened.”
He turned his cheek into her palm, enjoying the feel of her hand against his skin. “So am I. Would you like to get a drink?”
“Yes.” It thrilled him that she agreed without the slightest hesitation. “I’d love to have a drink with you, Nathan.”
The sound of his name on her lips enthralled him, not that he could be anymore spellbound than he already was. He couldn’t tear his eyes from her, gazing back at her with an odd sense of wonder, almost as if this wasn’t really happening. It seemed very important to him somehow to maintain physical contact with her, almost as though he was afraid she’d slip away as suddenly as she’d appeared, that all of this was just a wonderful dream, so he slid a hand to the small of her back as he guided her inside the hotel.
“Are you staying here?” she asked as they walked inside the lobby.
He nodded. “Is this all right? I thought about getting a drink in the Champagne Bar.”
Julia looked pleased at his suggestion. “That sounds lovely. The Plaza is one of my very favorite places. I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl. You know - tea at the Plaza and all. I used to love reading the Eloise books when I was a child.”
He slid his arm around her waist, holding her firmly against his side. “Then I’m glad I brought you someplace with happy memories. Because I intend to give you more of them tonight.”
She gasped softly at the unmistakable meaning of his words, and her big eyes went even wider. He was afraid for a moment that he’d scared her off, had moved a little too fast. But then she simply smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, leaning into him, and he automatically tightened his arm around her waist.
Nathan stifled a groan at the feel of her soft, curvy body pressed to his, his hand splayed against her hip, and her full, round breast rubbing against his arm. He was incredibly aroused, and he hadn’t even begun to do all the sexy, dirty things that he’d daydreamed about the past few days. Just being next to her, holding her close against his side, was more than enough to make him hard as stone.
As they were waiting to be seated, Nathan heard his phone ping, signaling an incoming text. Julia smiled at him.
“It’s okay if you need to answer that.”
He hesitated, then belatedly remembered that he was supposed to be meeting Rick and the others for dinner.
“I’m sorry, this will just take a minute.” He withdrew his phone from his jacket.
The text was from Rick, short and to the point. Where r u?
Smiling, Nathan quickly typed in a reply. Got a better offer. Sorry to miss dinner.
As expected, there was a reply mere seconds later. The hot babe from Starbucks?
He kept his answer short and sweet. Yup.
The waiter arrived to show them to their table, so Nathan wasn’t able to look at Rick’s response until they were seated at a small, intimate corner table. He had to suppress a chuckle when he read You lucky SOB. Go for it, buddy. I’ll want details.
He’d be damned if he would give Rick or anyone else the tiniest detail about anything that might happen with Julia tonight. He’d known from the first minute of seeing her that she was not a casual fuck, not by a long shot. She was a rare and precious prize, a woman that every other man in this hotel – hell, in this entire city – would give his eye tooth to have. Whatever might happen between them tonight would be kept entirely private, the memories his alone to cherish. Julia might be hot as hell but she was also very much a lady, and worthy of being treated as such.
They had been seated in old-fashioned high-backed chairs that provided them with privacy from the other patrons, virtually closing them off into their own secluded corner. At Julia’s request, Nathan ordered for them – two glasses of Perrier-Jouet and a small plate of fruit and cheese. They sipped champagne and nibbled on the food in silence, content to simply gaze at each other across the space of the small round table that separated them. He watched her take a small, ladylike sip of her drink, imagining those same plush lips wrapped around his cock instead of drinking from the flute. He desperately wanted those slim, graceful hands touching him everywhere, wanted to slowly peel that delectable pink dress from her body and see what awaited him beneath. He longed to yank her onto his lap right here in the bar and kiss her senseless.
But he also wanted to take this slowly, to savor every minute he could have with her, to make this evening that he hoped liked hell he’d be spending with her something very, very special. So he tampered down his raging erection, forced himself not to wonder if she wore panties or a thong, and merely took her hand in his.
He used his thumb to trace over her slender fingers, noticing that she kept her nails neatly tapered and covered in a clear polish. He liked that look, never having been a fan of long, pointed nails covered in bright red gloss. He noted that she wore no rings, her only jewelry a pearl bracelet and a matching pair of dainty drop earrings. God, she was gorgeous, her skin dewy smooth and glowing with youth. He longed to press a kiss to one of her cheeks, and especially to that tempting mouth, but settled instead for her hand.
“Your skin is so soft,” he murmured.
“Mmm, it’s all the hand cream I use,” she admitted. “It’s become sort of an addiction.”
He grinned. “Better hand cream that a more serious vice.” He brought her hand to his face again. “You’re exquisite, but I’m sure men tell you that all the time.”
Julia’s cheeks grew charmingly pink. “Not quite as often as you might think. And not always as suavely as you just did.”
Nathan raised a brow. “Suave? I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of myself that way.”
“Hmm, maybe suave isn’t the best choice of words. Smooth, perhaps? Definitely charming, “ she added with a smile.
He smiled back at her. “And you are utterly delightful. You remind me of the fairytale princesses in a storybook my mother used to read to my brothers and me when we were very young. I don’t remember the name of the book, I’m certain she must have given it away a long time ago. But I remember it had the most incredible illustrations – the colors and details were really special. And I remember thinking that the princesses couldn’t possibly be real people because they were too beautiful for that. You look just like one of those storybook princesses, Julia.”
She stared at him with wonder in her eyes, bringing their clasped hands to her cheek and turning her face into his palm, pressing a soft kiss there. “What a lovely thing to say,” she whispered. “I think that’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“It’s true. You’re almost too beautiful to be real.” He brushed his thumb over her mouth until her lips parted. He slid the pad of his thumb inside her warm, lush mouth and hissed sharply when she sucked it deeper, her tongue wrapping around it. The sensation it evoked went straight to his groin, and he was instantly hard. He couldn’t ever remember being this hot, this aroused before, and he hadn’t even kissed or touched her yet.
The unspoken attraction between them was unmistakable. He had never come close to feeling this sort of instant bond with a woman, as though he’d known her for years instead of mere minutes. They stared at each other across the small expanse of the table, their fingers entwined. No words passed between them for long seconds, but speaking wasn’t really necessary at this point. He knew from the look in her big eyes that she was every bit as aware of him as he was of her, and that she felt the same sort of irresistible physical connection. Her plush, glossy
lips trembled slightly, and all he could think about was kissing her senseless, just before running his hands over the seductive curves of her lush breasts and that perfect little ass.
“Are you finished with your drink?” he asked hoarsely, painfully aware that his erection was straining against the fly of his trousers.
Julia picked up the flute and drank down the rest of the champagne smoothly. “I am now.”
“Do you want another glass?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you.”
“Dinner?”
Another shake of her head. “I’m not the least bit hungry. Not for dinner, anyway.”
Nathan closed his eyes briefly, the husky, suggestive tone of her voice unbearably arousing, and the meaning behind her words unmistakable. “Then let’s get out of here. I don’t want to waste even one minute of this night.”
He left several bills on the table, pushed back his chair, and helped her to her feet. He was tempted – oh, so tempted – to haul her into his arms and kiss her hard, but instead merely slid an arm around her waist and guided her out of the bar.
He whispered in her ear, “I hope you know I plan on ravishing you. For hours and hours. If that’s not what you want, say so right now.”
Julia reached up, giving the side of his neck an erotic little lick that made him gasp, before whispering back, “That’s what I’ve been wanting since I saw you on the sidewalk four days ago.”
Nathan groaned, burying his face in her glorious hair. “Come on then, baby. We’ve already wasted too much time.”
Julia was almost breathless with anticipation as Nathan escorted her out of the Champagne Bar and across the crowded hotel lobby. She’d been almost giddy with excitement ever since they had had yet another chance encounter out on the sidewalk a short time ago, grateful that her silent prayers had been answered and that they had seen each other again. She had been so afraid that she’d blown two such opportunities, and would never have the chance to see the breathtakingly handsome man again. As if to make sure he couldn’t slip away from her, she laid a palm on his chest as he kept her close to his side. She could feel his body heat through the fine cotton of his shirt, as well as the steady beating of his heart. She knew her own heart was racing overtime in anticipation of what was yet to come tonight.
Serendipity (Inevitable) Page 3
