Serendipity (Inevitable) (38 page)

Travis had tears streaming down his cheeks from laughing so hard. “No, he’s straight,” he managed to choke out.

“Ah.” Lauren grinned saucily at Nathan “So if I got Jules drunk enough to agree, would you be interested in having a go at it?’

“Lauren, stop it.” Julia’s voice was firm and she sounded seriously pissed off. “I mean it. Your sense of humor is getting a little too twisted, and you’re embarrassing me.”

Lauren chucked her sister on the chin. “Relax, baby girl. I’m just having a little fun. Besides, it’s not like you can really share a man the way you can clothes or makeup, can you?”

Julia’s undoubtedly taut response was cut off by the ringing of her phone. She snatched it from her cream Gucci tote almost gratefully, as though she was desperate for an interruption.

“It’s the fabric supplier I’ve been trying to reach since Monday,” she told Travis. “Excuse me for a few minutes while I take this.”

Lauren waited until her sister had walked around the side of the outdoor eating space, out of earshot, before turning to Nathan again. “So, maybe you can help a girl out here, handsome.”

Nathan regarded her uncertainly. “I’m not sure I can handle one of you, much less two. And my fiancée really, really wouldn’t understand.”

She pinched his cheek teasingly. “Aren’t you cute? No, it’s not that, hot as it sounds. Before I leave for Nepal for three weeks, I need to let off some steam. My sister is too new to town, my best friend has decided to become a hermit – or a nun, I haven’t figured out which – and Blondie here” indicating Travis “can only vouch for the gay bars. I’m hoping a hottie like you can tell me about a good club or two to hit tomorrow night for some action.”

“Oh.” Nathan seemed relieved that all she wanted were suggestions on where to go clubbing. “Sure. The two places I’d suggest are Level Two and Sapphire Sky. The DJ’s and the drinks are about the best in town.”

“Yeah, but what about the action?” quizzed Lauren. “Is a girl likely to get lucky at one of those places?”

Nathan coughed, clearly more than a little uncomfortable with this line of conversation. “Uh, yes, I would say so. I’d guess you would get very lucky at either place – if that’s what you’re looking for, that is.”

Lauren finished off her wine before replying as nonchalantly as possible. “Oh, I’m not actually looking, no. I was really asking for Julia. She’s been in a crabby mood this week, which means she desperately needs to get laid. Thanks for the suggestions, sweetie. I’m sure we’ll find her a hot guy or two.”

She was half afraid that Nathan was going to have a stroke – or scream – based on the murderous look on his face. Travis, meanwhile, couldn’t stop chuckling, as though he fully shared Lauren’s suspicions that there was something between Nathan and Julia.

Julia returned to the table at that moment, glancing at an amused Travis, a pissed-off Nathan, and a very satisfied Lauren, and frowned. “What’s going on? Lauren, what outrageous thing did you say now?”

“Me?” Lauren asked innocently. “All I did was ask Nathan for a couple of ideas where we can have a fun girls night out tomorrow.”

Nathan glowered at Lauren, getting to his feet. “I’m afraid I need to get back to the office. Enjoy the rest of your lunch.”

Julia stared at his retreating form before turning to Lauren accusingly. “What the hell is going on? What have you done?”

“Just trying to start a little fire, baby sister,” drawled Lauren. “Let’s see if any sparks start to fly.”

Chapter Fifteen

Nathan was not a happy camper as he elbowed his way through the noisy, crowded dance club. He remembered why he so infrequently patronized these places anymore, though as little as three or four years ago he’d spent many wild nights at clubs like this one. He’d grown tired of that scene, no longer interested in picking up different women and having casual, no-strings-attached sex with them. It was one of the reasons that he’d let himself be persuaded into a long-term relationship, and ultimately an engagement, with Cameron.

He continued to weave his way through the sea of bodies, completely ignoring the various women who called out suggestive comments to him, or looked him over seductively before offering up a carnal smile. It was still another reason he was glad his clubbing days were over.

He muscled his way over to the crowded bar, and was somehow able to order a Corona over the deafening noise of the music. Carefully avoiding eye contact with any of the women hanging around the bar, he began to scan the packed dance floor and surrounding tables for the person he’d come here specifically to see. He wasn’t even sure if this was the club she would have wound up choosing. For all he knew, Julia and her troublesome twin were at Sapphire Sky instead. Or at a completely different club they had heard about. Or maybe Lauren had just been fucking with his head, and was lying about the whole girls’ night out thing and finding a man for her sister to screw, and the twins were at home having pizza and watching chick flicks. No, there was no way Lauren would ever watch something as prissy as a chick flick, and he couldn’t see Julia agreeing to the action or horror movie that would be more Lauren’s style. So maybe they actually were out on the dance floor at this very moment, trolling for men, and that idea really, really pissed him off.

Nathan grimaced when he recalled Lauren’s deliberately saucy words and impish smile yesterday. Somehow she knew about him and Julia, or at the very least suspected that there was something going on between them. He didn’t think that Julia had told her sister that the man she’d been with in New York was actually her current employer, especially after having met Lauren for himself and seeing just how fearless she was about saying whatever came to her mind. But Lauren had definitely sniffed out something, and he was convinced that her comments about getting Julia laid had been very intentional, intended to piss him off and make him jealous.

And they had worked all too well, dammit. That he was here now in this noisy den of bedlam, and most likely on a wild goose chase, spoke volumes about his obsession with Julia. He’d been furious at the image Lauren had intentionally conjured up in his mind – that of Julia dancing with other guys until she found the one she wanted to go home with. Or even worse – letting Lauren get her tipsy enough to agree to the so-called “twin sandwich” with both gorgeous sisters heading out with one extremely lucky man.

He shuddered at that image, unable to picture sweet, refined Julia actively doing something that kinky. Lauren, on the other hand, he could definitely see in some type of three-way arrangement, though it was far more likely to be her and two men. And, he thought darkly, with both men tied up and blindfolded while Lauren brought out the whips and chains.

What his purpose in being here tonight wasn’t precisely clear to Nathan. On a typical Friday night he’d be out somewhere with Cameron, but she happened to be away this particular weekend at her annual getaway with her college girlfriends. She’d flown out to Las Vegas this morning and wouldn’t be back until Sunday night, so he was pretty much on his own right now. He’d started the evening by getting Chinese takeout and settling in to watch a baseball game. But, as the evening had worn on, he’d kept replaying that little scene with that vixen Lauren from yesterday, and all he could think about was Julia dirty dancing with some sleazeball, someone who’d be all too happy to take her home and fuck her senseless. Before he knew it, he was in the garage of his condo building and getting behind the wheel of his BMW Roadster.

He’d guessed that Lauren would choose Level Two since it was overall a classier, more upscale place than Sapphire Sky. Not that the tough-talking Lauren would have minded the latter’s slightly earthier atmosphere, but Julia would have been more at ease with Level Two’s environment.

But now, after searching the dance floor and the surrounding tables for close to a half hour, Nathan was ready to give up and move on to the next place. He had just set his empty beer bottle on the bar when he happened to glance up and recognize the tall, uber-slender woman ordering a drink to his left.

Angela. Julia’s neighbor and evidently close friend to both of the sisters. The raven-haired girl looked less than happy to be here, and Nathan watched as the bartended poured her a hefty portion of Absolut Citron over ice.

“That stuff isn’t exactly lemonade, you know,” he drawled as he stepped closer to her.

Angela glanced up at him in surprise, and then smirked as she took a healthy swallow of her vodka. “Yeah, that’s sort of the idea.” She set her drink down on the bar, eyeing him suspiciously. “What are you doing here anyway? No fiancée tonight?”

He shrugged. “Free country. Why shouldn’t I be here having a drink?”

“Alone? And very coincidentally in the same club that Lauren, Julia and I are at?’ asked Angela sarcastically. “Seems to me like you’re stalking one of us.”

“Where is she?” His question was brusque, almost angry.

“Why do you want to know? I warned you last time not to fuck with her, and ever since that day she’s been in the lousiest mood I’ve ever seen her in. And I’ve known her since we were eight years old.”

Nathan was a bit taken aback by the steely glint in Angela’s dark eyes, and the threatening tone of her voice, but he wasn’t ready to back down. “This is between Julia and me. Stay out of it, okay? And just tell me where she is.”

Angela sighed. “Fine. She’s out there dancing. Good luck finding her. Asshole.”

Without a backwards glance, she took her drink and walked off before he could stop her, and he cursed viciously. With no other options remaining, he braced himself and made his way to the dance floor, impatiently brushing off the assorted female – and male – hands that reached out as he pushed himself through the frantic throng. He felt more than a little claustrophobic at the sheer number of dancing, writhing bodies crammed onto the floor, and his head started to pound from the rhythmic bass beating through the speakers. He was close to screaming in frustration when all of a sudden he saw her. Or rather, them.

The twins were putting on quite a show as they danced together, shimmying and shaking, and drawing all sorts of attention. Lauren wore skintight, low-rise jeans, baring a shooting star tattoo at the small of her back, and a jeweled bra top that bared an awful lot of her tits. From first glance, she was every bit as well endowed as her sister and didn’t seem in the least bit shy about flaunting her assets. She’d traded her flat sandals for sky high black stilettos, had curled her hair, and was even wearing makeup. The saucy comment she’d made yesterday about “cleaning up nice” had definitely been spot on.

But it was Julia whose appearance caused him to gape and stare in disbelief. Whereas at the design awards dinner she’d gone all femme fatale, tonight she was hot chick. She wore a cream lace bustier top that exposed half her breasts, and a very short, black flared skirt that bared a lot of leg. Somehow she was able to dance wearing a pair of gold strappy sandals with a towering heel.

And dance she did. Nathan’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as he watched her bump and grind against Lauren, before spinning away to shake her pert little ass while raising her arms above her head. A dozen or more pair of male eyes were glued to the round, half-bare globes of her tits as they jiggled and bounced before traveling down the length of her slim, toned legs.

A tall, leanly built guy with shaggy dark blond hair and stubble danced over to Julia, sliding a hand to her hip and grinding himself against her. She laughed at something he said, and rested her palms on his shoulders as they danced together – if one could call the suggestive movements of their bodies dancing.

Nathan saw red as he continued to watch Julia dance in a deliberately provocative manner, and started moving towards her, like he was stalking his prey. When he reached her, he grabbed her from behind by the hips, jerking her back against him, which elicited a squeal of surprise that he could still hear above the din of the music. She turned her head and gazed at him over her shoulder, her eyes going wide with surprise to realize he was somehow here.

He growled at the grungy-looking guy she’d been dancing with. “Get lost. She’s already spoken for.”

The blond guy looked more than a little wasted, and in no shape to argue, so he merely grinned and ambled over to try his luck with Lauren instead. She gave him a ‘don’t fuck with me’ glare, and he sheepishly slinked away to find a more agreeable partner.

Nathan wrapped his arms around Julia’s waist, holding her tight against his chest, and murmured in her ear, “If you needed to get fucked that badly, all you had to do was give me a call.”

She gasped. “As if! And what are you doing here anyway? I know Angela didn’t rat me out this time.”

He began to roll his hips against her ass, bending slightly at the knees and moving her with him to the beat of the music. One hand splayed over her belly while he moved the other hand up and down the side of her hip. “Making sure nobody else gets any of this prime little ass,” he breathed into her ear. He licked a hot trail from her earlobe down the side of her neck, smiling with satisfaction when he heard her gasp.

Julia leaned back into his chest, her arms sliding behind his head to clap at the back of his neck. She gave a little “mmm” of pleasure as he ground his rock hard erection against her butt. “How are you going to make sure of that?” she asked in a husky voice. “I wasn’t aware you’d put a claim on me.”

Nathan worked his hand beneath her short skirt, his actions hidden by the darkly lit room and the way their bodies were plastered against each other. He groaned as he encountered the bare cheeks of her ass, realizing she wore only a tiny thong beneath that almost indecently short skirt. He gave her a playful pinch on one bare cheek. “I’m claiming you now,” he hissed. “You’re mine, Julia. You have been since New York and you and I both know it. No one else gets to touch you or kiss you. And they sure as hell don’t get to take you home and fuck you. This belongs to me.”

Her body bucked against his as he parted the crotch of her thong and slid two fingers deep inside her wet slit. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he slowly withdrew his fingers, only to inch them back inside of her.