Serendipity (Inevitable) (19 page)

Cameron smiled to herself as she thought again of what a catch Nathan was. He was by far the handsomest and most charming man she’d ever dated – and she’d dated a lot over the past twenty years. After two broken engagements, she had begun to despair that she’d ever fall in love and get married, and then she’d met Nathan and her hopes had been renewed.

Oh, it had taken a lot of time and work to get him to finally make a commitment to her, but it had all been worth it. As all of her girlfriends told her often, Nathan was a real prize. Cameron had absolutely no intention of letting him slip away, or allowing anything to ruin their weeding next February. She’d waited way too long for happiness, and it was well past time for her to finally get what she deserved.

She smiled back at the attractive older man who gave her an admiring glance as he passed her by. She walked with the confidence of a woman who knew she looked good. At five foot nine, she was taller than average but that only served to call more attention her way. With the help of a stylist, she knew the best way to dress her slim, almost angular figure. Unfortunately, no amount of weight training or exercise had been able to put much muscle or definition on her naturally thin arms and legs, so she seldom wore short skirts or sleeveless tops. And while she loved her slim hips and super flat stomach, her stylist tended to steer her away from anything too form fitting, wanting instead to give the illusion that she had more curves.

Therefore, most of her business outfits were similar to what she wore today – beautifully tailored black pleated trousers, a silky white blouse, and a short, fitted black jacket. The push-up bra helped give an impression of cleavage above the two buttons of her blouse she’d left undone. She gave off an air of both power and control, the modern businesswoman, while still looking sexy and feminine.

She’d just had her hair cut and colored about a week ago, and knew the shiny blonde chin-length bob looked amazing. It still bothered her that she had to keep her hair this short, knowing that Nathan really preferred long hair, but it had been on her hairdressers’ advice. A natural brunette, Cameron had been bleaching her hair to a pale Nordic blonde shade since she was sixteen years old, and all the years of harsh chemicals had begun to take their toll. Her hairdresser – one of the very best in the city – had cautioned that her hair was thinning dramatically and to keep it any longer than its current length would draw attention to that fact. She’d nixed the idea of extensions, knowing that Nathan disliked artifice and had made non-complimentary comments about a couple of her friends who’d had them done.

Cameron strode confidently into the reception area of Nathan’s office, not even bothering to glance over at the little receptionist. As the owner’s fiancée, she felt very at ease walking anywhere in the office, and certainly didn’t need support staff to announce her presence.

She went directly to Nathan’s office, pausing briefly to give Robyn a perfunctory smile. “Hi, Robyn. I assume he’s in? I’ve got something to drop off.”

The older woman gave her a polite smile in return. She was always professional, always pleasant, but Cameron sensed that Robyn didn’t really like her for some reason. A fact that didn’t bother Cameron in the least, because she also considered Robyn to be support staff and not worthy of her attention.

“Actually, he’s in the small conference room right now,” corrected Robyn. “You can leave whatever it is with me if you’d like.”

Cameron waved a hand in dismissal. “No need. I’ll just pop my head in. Is he with clients?”

Robyn shook her head. “No, he’s meeting with Jake and Julia about a project. I’m sure he won’t mind if you stop in for a minute.”

Cameron’s spine stiffened at Robyn’s implied suggestion to keep her visit brief. “Well, of course, he won’t mind. What man wouldn’t want to see his fiancée whenever possible?”

Nathan’s assistant gave her a tight little smile as she returned her attention to whatever mundane task she’d been working on. Cameron frowned as she walked down the hall to the conference room, not really liking the somewhat superior air Robyn tended to adopt at times. She really didn’t understand why Nathan thought Robyn was such a terrific PA, since the older woman seemed just a bit too confident and arrogant given her position in the firm.

The door to the small conference room was closed, but the blinds on the large window facing out to the office floor were raised so that Cameron had a clear view into the room. Nathan and Jake – who Cameron thought was terribly cute with his flirting and continual flow of compliments – were seated at the table with their backs to her and evidently studying some sketches that had been propped up on display stands around the room. Standing next to one of the stands was a young woman that Cameron assumed was the Julia that Robyn had mentioned. Then Julia turned to face the two men so Cameron could get a good look at her.

Cameron froze in her tracks, unease bubbling up inside of her at a rapid boil. The young woman inside the conference room was – unfortunately – undeniably beautiful. With an inexplicable anger that simmered beneath the surface, Cameron swiftly took in the girl’s long, nearly waist length hair of a light brown shade, the stunning perfection of her face, and her curvy body. She wore a fitted sheath dress of navy lace that had little flutter sleeves. There was no way – with her own slim, straight frame – that Cameron could ever wear something so form-fitting.

The younger woman was wearing killer shoes, too – nude peep-toe platform pumps – Louboutins by the signature red soles. Cameron’s stylist had advised her away from stilettos, cautioning that they drew attention to her thin legs and skinny calves. Plus, a four-inch heel would have made her slightly taller than Nathan, which didn’t bother him but bugged her.

It shouldn’t have bothered her that this young, very attractive woman was working in her fiancé’s office, for Cameron was extremely confident about her own good looks. But then she caught the way Nathan –
her
Nathan – was gazing discreetly at the other woman’s rounded ass and lush breasts and rage consumed her. Without further ado, she barged into the conference room without as much as a knock.

Three pair of eyes turned her way immediately, but Cameron was only focused on Nathan. He stood abruptly, a surprised look on his face. Quite intentionally, she walked over and placed a welcoming, open-mouthed kiss on his lips.

She smiled at him, her hand caressing his cheek. “Hey, babe. Why so surprised to see me? I told you I was going to drop that ticket off.”

Nathan was unsmiling as he gently removed her hand, giving it a little squeeze. “You did, but I thought you were going to call first. Or leave the ticket with Robyn when you knew I was in a meeting.”

“Oops, sorry!” she giggled. “You know how impulsive I am, babe, always spur of the moment with me. I was right in the area so I just popped in.
Sooo
sorry if I interrupted.” She gave Jake a little wave. “Hey, sweetie. Nice to see you again.”

Jake grinned and walked over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. “You, too, gorgeous. You’re looking spectacular as always.”

Even though she knew Jake was something of a manwhore, and flirted with almost every good looking woman he met, his compliment was still flattering and she smiled at him warmly. “You big flirt,” she scolded. “And in front of my fiancé, too.”

Jake winked at her. “Some men have all the luck, you know. Like the boss man here.”

Cameron finally, reluctantly, turned her attention to the woman – Julia – and offered up a faint smile. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

Julia returned the smile, gazing at her politely with big green eyes, and extending her hand. “No, we haven’t. I’m Julia McKinnon, one of the interior designers here. It’s a pleasure to meet you.

The younger woman’s voice was soft and melodious, and Cameron took an instant and fervent dislike to her. For some peculiar, unknown reason, she felt threatened by this woman, and her hackles rose up defensively. “Cameron Tolliver, Nate’s fiancée. But I’m sure you’ve already figured that out.” She gave Julia’s small hand the barest of shakes before abruptly turning her attention back to Nathan. “Are you finished here, babe? I was hoping to talk to you for a few minutes.”

Nathan hesitated, glancing uncertainly at his two employees. “I suppose we’re just about done. Jake – Julia – anything else to add?”

Jake shook his head. “I’m good. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. Good to see you, Cameron.”

Julia paused, watching Jake leave the room before turning to Nathan. “Um, we still had the design for the wine bar to review, but I can just leave that one here for you to look at. Just let me gather up my things and I’ll be on my way.”

Cameron tried to ignore how gracefully the other woman moved about the room picking up her sketches, especially in those towering heels. Even with the sky-high Louboutins, Julia was still a few inches shorter than she was, making her feel like a clumsy giant. It was not a pleasant feeling, and Cameron glowered at Julia as if to hurry her along.

Before Julia could exit – her arms filled with design boards – Nathan called her back. “Wait. Can you leave the one of the deluxe suite as well? I wanted to look at that one again.”

“Of course.” Julia quickly located it and placed it back on its stand. She gave Cameron a brief smile. “It was nice to meet you, Cameron. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”

Cameron had never felt less like smiling but forced herself to reciprocate. “Yes, I’m sure we will.”

Nathan was frowning at her once Julia left. “Don’t you think you were a little bit rude just now?”

She shrugged. “Not particularly. What did you expect – that I was going to gush about her dress and invite her out for lunch?”

“No,” replied Nathan sternly, “but I think you could have been a bit more pleasant.”

Cameron made a gesture of dismissal. “Whatever. Look, both of us are busy so let me give you the ticket. I just remembered I’ve got a client due in within the hour.”

Nathan took the ticket she handed him. “How come you never remember appointments? You’ve got two assistants and a Blackberry.”

She laughed. “You know I’m a scatterbrain, babe. It’s one of the things you love about me. Just too many things going on between work and the wedding.” She reached up to press a brief kiss on his mouth. “I’ll see you at the ballet later. Don’t be late. And text me when you’re leaving the office, okay?”

“Sure, no problem. Didn’t you have something to talk to me about? That is why you interrupted my meeting, wasn’t it?” he asked pointedly.

“No, just dropping the ticket off,” she replied breezily. “Nothing else that can’t wait until tonight.”

Nathan sighed, “I really wish you had just left the ticket with Robyn, then. Jake and Julia and I actually did have more to discuss.”

Cameron huffed. “Well, excuse me. I thought you’d welcome the interruption to see your fiancée. But I guess you were too busy staring at Miss Tits and Ass, weren’t you?”

He gaped at her. “What are you talking about? I was
not
staring at Julia. You’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I?” she challenged. “You’re not going to try and bullshit me by denying that she’s pretty, are you?”

He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “Jesus, Cameron. Let’s not do this now, okay?”

She gave a short, humorless laugh. “No, I think this is exactly when we should do this. Are you trying to say you haven’t noticed your little designer is attractive?”

“Of course I’ve noticed,” he replied impatiently. “Julia’s a very pretty girl. She’s also my employee.
Only
my employee.
You’re
my fiancée, Cameron. Now if you’ve finished with whatever you’re accusing me of, I do have other work to do, including looking at these designs.”

“Fine. We’ll pretend that you weren’t staring at her ass in that tight dress. Does she dress like that every day?” she asked cattily.

Nathan made an impatient sound. “Do I look like a fashion consultant? How am I supposed to know? I don’t even see her most days. So stop acting like a jealous shrew.”

“Jealous!” Cameron spat. “Of
that
? Why in the world would I be jealous?”

“Exactly,” he replied calmly. “Why would you? You have zero reason to be jealous of anyone. Now, come on, you don’t want to be late for your meeting.”

He gave her a brief kiss and began escorting her out of the room until she stopped to glance over the two design boards that Julia had left behind. Cameron wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“I don’t like these at all,” she declared. “And I’m sure Ian won’t, either. Your little designer’s going to be doing some major re-working here.”

Nathan looked annoyed at her admittedly petty comments. “For the record, she’s not
my
designer, she works for Travis. And second, Ian happens to love these designs. Julia only made some very minor modifications to them, this will likely be the final product.”

Cameron shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t want her designing anything for me based on these. Just not my taste, I suppose.”

But the air of carelessness she assumed blew away like smoke in the wind as she left Nathan’s office. The feeling of being on top of the world that she’d had when entering the building a short time ago had faded rapidly, and she was now in a vile, vicious mood. She resisted the urge to kick something, to shove a passerby into the side of a building, to scream at the top of her lungs.

Cameron couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something – some niggling little feeling that all was not as it should be – and it had to do with Julia McKinnon. Cameron considered herself a very confident, poised woman but five minutes in the presence of the younger woman had rattled her badly.

‘Just how young is she?’ thought Cameron wildly. Julia’s flawless complexion still bore that dewy youthfulness that Cameron could no longer achieve, even with frequent facials, microdermabrasions, Restalyne injections, and expensive skin care products. And Julia had those incredible cheekbones that no amount of cosmetics could fake. Cameron had resorted to having cheekbone implants done almost ten years ago, but she was reluctantly aware they didn’t look all that natural.