Serendipity (Inevitable) (26 page)

She cried out as his hand slid all the way up her leg to the crotch of her lacy little panties. He cupped her through the silk, finding the fabric soaking wet. Pushing the crotch aside, he swiftly thrust two fingers up inside her wet, tight cunt.

“God, look at how juicy you are,” he whispered, his tongue tracing around her ear. “So tight and hot. Do you know what it does to me to know I can get you this wet so quickly?”

“Ohhh.” She released a long, low moan as he fucked her with his fingers, first with slow, deep thrusts, then with faster, shallower ones. When his thumb moved to circle her swollen clit, she shoved her fist into her mouth, stifling the erotic whimpers coming from the back of her throat.

He was so hard he feared he’d come in his pants just from watching the glorious spectacle that was Julia as she climaxed against his fingers, her head falling back against the wall, her mouth opened in a silent moan. He pulled her mouth to his, kissing her savagely as he continued to stimulate her ultra-sensitive cunt.

“This is mine,” he muttered hoarsely, cupping her vulva possessively. “I don’t want anyone else touching you here. Or anywhere else for that matter.”

Julia gasped and stiffened in his arms before unexpectedly gripping his rock hard erection through his pants. He was startled at her sudden move but couldn’t help the groan that escaped his lips at the feel of her small hand on his immensely swollen prick.

“Really, Nathan?” she asked angrily. “Does that go both ways?” She stroked along his length and he shuddered in reaction. “Does this only belong to me? You aren’t going to fuck your fiancée with it anymore?”

Stricken by the hurt and anger in her voice, he grasped her wrist and reluctantly pulled her hand from him, even though his body was screaming for release. Shamed, he turned from her and took several long, deep breaths.

“That’s what I thought,” replied Julia quietly. “You might want to fuck me but she’s still the one you’re with, the one you’re going to marry. Don’t touch me again, Nathan. You don’t have the right anymore.”

He nodded, willing his erection to subside enough for him to walk to his office. “I’m sorry, Julia. I was way out of line. It won’t happen again, okay?”

From somewhere behind him he could hear the sound of her weeping, and it broke his heart. It was an unpleasant reminder of how upset, almost incoherent she’d been that morning in New York when he’d told her he was engaged. He turned back, reaching for her as she sobbed into her hands.

“Don’t cry, baby. I’m such an asshole. I’m not worth your tears,” he pleaded.

Julia shoved him away, grabbing a wad of tissues from the decorative box on her credenza, and wiping her eyes and nose delicately. “Please just go, okay? I have work to do. And this is
not
going to happen again, understand? I’m tired of being used. You
are
an asshole – I should have remembered that before I let you touch me.”

Her words stung like little pieces of broken glass, but he couldn’t fault her for saying them. “I’ll leave you alone, Julia,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

He walked out of her office without a backward glance and kept on going, like a robot, until he reached his own office. He slammed the door shut, not really caring if anyone else in earshot had arrived yet, and emitted several vicious curses. There was a neat stack of file folders on the corner of his desk and he knocked them all to the floor in one fell swoop. He took his suit jacket off with sharp, jerky motions and flung it onto the sofa, before pacing angrily around the room over and over again.

Finally he plopped down in his desk chair, banging his head against the surface of his desk several times. “Goddammit!” he swore in a low voice. “Fuck, fuck fuck! How the hell did I just manage to make an already shitty situation into a complete and total clusterfuck?”

He’d started out the conversation with Julia intending only to find out what had gone down last night between her and Cameron. He hadn’t expected anything more serious than some catty sniping on Cameron’s part, enough to upset Julia but nothing over the top. The last thing he’d anticipated was that Cameron had physically harmed Julia, and shook her up so badly.

And when he’d seen the tears trickling down her cheek, his only intent in embracing Julia had been to comfort and console her. He sure as hell hadn’t planned to kiss her as though he wanted to eat her alive, and most definitely hadn’t figured on touching her body, much less fingering her to an orgasm right there against her office wall. And then he’d had to go ahead and make that domineering, possessive statement about how she belonged to him and no one else. He didn’t blame her in the least for being pissed off, for he’d acted like a total dick to her once again.

Nathan gave himself a few minutes to calm down before picking up his discarded files and restoring order to them. He hung his suit jacket up in its usual place before opening his office door.

Robyn was just arriving, and took one look at his face before shaking her head. “So it’s going to be one of
those
mornings, is it? I should go get myself a double espresso right now. Or maybe a tequila shot.”

He smiled faintly, rarely able to resist her perennial good humor. “Sorry. I just had a rather upsetting conversation a little while ago. Give me some time to get over it, okay?”

She shrugged. “Sure, whatever. So how was the dinner last night?”

His smile faded abruptly. “Don’t ask.” He checked his watch. “Speaking of which, I’m going to see if my dear partner has dragged his ass in yet. He has a few things to answer for.”

Robyn called after him as he stalked away. “Should I call Courtney and warn her to duck for cover?”

Travis had been expecting Nathan to drop in sometime this morning, and to also be in a foul temper. So when his partner strode purposefully into his office unannounced, slamming the door behind him, he didn’t even glance up from the designs he was studying.

“What the hell kind of juvenile little game were you and Anton playing last night?”

Travis calmly set the design boards aside, and glanced up at a very pissed-off Nathan, smiling broadly. “Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine. A bit hungover, are we? No, wait, that would be your oh so charming fiancée who fits that bill.”

Nathan pounded a fist on Travis’ desk. “What were you two thinking anyway? Why did you deliberately antagonize Cameron that way?”

Travis raised a pale blond brow. “Who says we were trying to do that? All I intended was to have some pleasant dinner conversation, that’s all. It’s hardly my fault if your fiancée couldn’t handle not being the center of attention for once.”

Nathan plopped down in a guest chair, glaring at his partner. “It wasn’t bad enough to keep praising Julia all night – she went to Cornell, she speaks fluent French, she was a yoga teacher during college, she’s such a great cook. But the kicker was when you told Cam the artist that she’d admired and raved about for years was Julia’s mother – that kind of put her over the edge.”

Travis’ eyes blazed angrily, a rare emotion for him. “Yes, and I saw the aftermath of that edge Cameron fell over. You weren’t in that cab last night when poor Julia was shaking like a leaf. Your girl really walloped her, it wasn’t just some little smack on the cheek. And don’t blame me. Cameron’s a grown woman, after all, and ought to have better control over her emotions. And the fact that Natalie Benoit is Julia’s mother is public knowledge and would have come up eventually.”

Nathan sighed, rubbing a hand over his weary face. “I know it would, bizarre coincidence that it is. There’re an awful lot of coincidences involving Julia, matter of fact.”

“Like what?’ asked Travis curiously.

Nathan shrugged. “I don’t know. Like the fact she did design work for the Gregson Group in New York. Or that the two of you shared a mentor.”

“That’s not a coincidence That’s merely a situation that brought her out here in the first place. If I hadn’t already known her via Gerard it’s highly unlikely she’d be working here now. So what else is a coincidence?”

Nathan waved a hand in dismissal. “Nothing, I guess. Forget I said anything.”

“All right.” Travis returned his attention to the stack of design boards. “Well, if you’ve finished scolding me for being a naughty boy, I’d like to get back to work now.”

“Why did you do it?”

Travis frowned in annoyance. “Because I damned well felt like it, that’s why. Your charming fiancée hasn’t been quite so charming to Anton and me. You know darned well she can’t stand us, that she despises gays in general. Which considering she lives in one of the gayest cities in the world, and works in the art world, is sort of mind blowing. And I won’t even discuss her prick of a father.”

“Yes, please, let’s not. I have to see the old bastard at some fucking boring party tomorrow night, and that will be soon enough.”

“Well you might want to keep the Princess away from those dirty martinis,” drawled Travis. “Evidently someone can’t hold her liquor as well as she thinks she can.”

“She was just pissed off and jealous,” Nathan replied dismissively. “She hardly ever drinks like that, and especially not when her parents are around.”

“If you say so. I’m not really sure why she’d be jealous, though. Cameron seems like the most confident woman I’ve ever met.”

Nathan hesitated. “She is, but I think she feels threatened by Julia somehow.”

“Really? Can’t imagine why. Unless it’s because Julia is younger, hotter, and is actually nice to people. Or maybe it’s just because Cameron sees the way you stare at Julia’s tits, like you know what they look like naked.”

Nathan flushed a bright red and looked shocked, his mouth gaping open. “I don’t do any such thing.”

Travis laughed heartily. “Oh, you sure as hell do. I may be gay and don’t look at women the same way, but lust is lust, buddy. And you’ve got it in spades for my girl. You’ve got to do a much better job at hiding that from your fiancée, though. Discretion, Nathan, discretion.”

Nathan had the good grace to appear disgruntled. “Well, how the hell do you expect me – or any red-blooded hetero man – to keep from staring at her when she dresses that way?”

Travis frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with the way Julia dresses. She’s classy all the time, no cleavage or see-through fabrics, nothing too short or clingy.”

“None of that matters. She just wears all of these form fitting dresses and skirts, and those fucking high heels. I’m only human, you know. Can’t you get her to wear baggy clothes and flats?” he pleaded.

Travis looked alarmed. “Oh, hell no am I having
that
conversation with her! She may be a friend of a friend but that doesn’t mean she can’t claim sexual harassment . Besides, “ he added with a wicked grin, “her amazing good looks and that smokin’ little bod have helped us get an awful lot of business lately. Including a very promising lead with Jackson West just last night.”

“That fucker,” cursed Nathan, not looking at all pleased. “Rumor has it that he likes pretty girls less than half his age, and that he’s got the money to buy whatever sweet young ass he wants.” He pointed a warning finger at Travis. “You’d better keep him the hell away from Julia. Get his business but put another designer on the job. I don’t want her anywhere near that bastard.”

Travis guffawed. “
You
don’t want her near him? Last time I checked Ms. McKinnon worked for
me
. Why do you give a shit who she works with anyway?”

“I own half this business, remember?” challenged Nathan. “If one of our employees gets harassed by a client it affects me, too. Just do us all a favor and assign someone else to work with that douchebag West.”

“You’ve got the hots for her yourself, don’t you?” challenged Travis.

“No, that’s not it,” Nathan insisted. “Just because she’s attractive doesn’t mean I want to fuck her. And – hello – have you forgotten? Engaged man here.”

“Oh, right. I did forget, excuse me,” replied Travis sarcastically. “You’re so blissfully in love with Cameron that you couldn’t possibly be attracted to someone else? Sorry, my mistake. Now look, as fun as this conversation has been, I really do need to work. Close the door on your way out, will you?”

Nathan glared at him for long seconds, as though he wanted to say something else, but finally threw up his hands in frustration and stormed out just as he’d stormed in, slamming the door behind him.

Travis chuckled with unmitigated glee. ‘Engaged my ass. He could be engaged to a dozen different woman and he’d still want Julia,’ he thought to himself. ‘Well, he certainly has something to think about, doesn’t he?’

And with that very pleasant thought in mind, Travis got back to work.

Chapter Eleven

Late April

Julia ignored the good looking man who turned and gave her a wolf whistle as she passed him on the street. After the upsetting encounter with Nathan in her office several weeks ago, she’d sworn off men yet again, and just wasn’t in the mood to deal with what Travis jokingly referred to as her cheering section.

She had thrown herself into her work even more than usual this past month, spending insanely long hours at the office. When she wasn’t working she was at yoga, often taking two classes a day to work off the stress, and spent the remainder of her time cooking, shopping, or rearranging her closet – again. She’d made two trips to Carmel and Big Sur to see her parents and sister, desperate to keep busy and not allow herself even a moment to think about Nathan.