Lush (3 page)

“Kirsten,” he said, far
more collectedly than he felt. “You should be downstairs getting
registered. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Yeah, I know, but
Jules and I wanted to quickly use the restroom to freshen up. You
know, pick the salad greens from our teeth and all that.”

“Jules?” he asked a
little stupidly. Maybe even very stupidly. It was the kind of thing
that happened to a guy when he was completely awestruck.

“Yep, Jules. As in
Julia Kincaid.” She cocked her head towards the statuesque goddess.
“My best friend since forever?”

Oh Christ! That was
Julia? Of course it was Julia. He’d recognise those eyes anywhere.
He’d dreamed of those eyes every night for years after he’d kissed
her. He’d wanted... almost... it didn’t matter. Those dreams
belonged to a boy who no longer existed. Only right now time was
slipping back and he was that same boy again.

Taking a deep breath he
gritted his teeth against those old hopes and dreams. They were
foolish. He was being ridiculous.

Both women stepped
forward, but Julia was the one to speak since Kirsten bypassed him
and headed straight into his restroom with typical breeziness.

“Hi Mike. Sorry to just
barge in like this, but your sister wants to make sure her war
paint is still intact and it seems that all the other ladies you
roped into this dating fiasco had the same idea.”

It took him a second to
see that she was holding out her hand. He shook it by rote then
almost hit the deck when his knees buckled.

Whoa!
Was the
feel of her amazingly smooth, piano player hand really about to
floor him? Was he actually feeling electricity sizzle up his arm
and ignite in his groin?

Yeah. Yeah he was. He
was getting hard.

Forget the passing of
time. He wasn’t being ridiculous. She still held the same power
over him that she’d held more than ten years ago.

It had been perilously
dangerous back then, but now that time was finally on their side he
no longer had to run from her. It was finally acceptable to show
her how much he desired her. All the dreams he’d smothered under
work and an iron-will started taking on new life.

Without releasing her
hand he leaned a hip against his work-cluttered desk and slowly
pulled her towards him. “You look incredible, Julia. My God,
you’re... you’re breathtaking.”

She smiled, but it
didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. “Oh come on, Mike. Sure,
I’m pretty, but not
that
pretty.”

“Excuse me?” he felt
struck stupid for the second time in as many minutes. How could
such a magnificent woman have such a low regard for herself? Where
was the Julia he’d fallen for back when he was seventeen?

“Oh, you’ll figure it
out eventually,” she said, pulling her hand free and strutting into
the bathroom like she owned the place. And who could blame her? She
certainly owned that walk.

Clarity hit him between
the eyes with the slamming of the door.

Damn it! She’d changed
in the worst possible way.

As was often the case
with beautiful women, Julia had developed into a femme fatale. She
was playing him, but he sure as hell was not the kind of guy who’d
sit back and let himself get played. Not anymore. Not since Allison
with her obsessive need to be the centre of attention; her need to
be adored and worshipped no matter who she hurt, what vows she
broke.

He would just have to
show Jules that he was not interested in those games. He was not
some schmuck who’d pander to female vanity.

But the way she’d made
that remark about not being pretty did not match the modus operandi
of a heartless coquette. More importantly, it was a bizarre way to
fish for compliments. It lacked poise and self-confidence. The
Julia he used to know had never been unsure of herself. Never even
pretended to be unsure. He remembered how as a kid she had been
fully confident in every aspect of her life. With her amazing,
loving parents it had been a given that she would grow into a
well-adjusted woman. What had happened to her in the years since
he’d last seen her? She seemed... almost cynical.

According to his sister
she had done very well for herself. After graduating from high
school as valedictorian she had studied marketing at NYU on a full
academic scholarship. Immediately on receiving her degree she’d
landed a job with one of the top branding agencies in the country.
Then two years ago she had opened up her own marketing firm and she
now represented a very select number of highly affluent clients.
That wasn’t the norm for a woman who lacked in self-assurance.
Jules was a hugely successful competitor in the big leagues of
branding and advertising. She had nothing to be bitter about. No
reason to be unconfident. But what then? What was her angle?

He was still mulling it
over when Julia and his sister returned.

“Okay, big brother,”
Kirsten said with an impish grin. “Lead the way. We’re ready to
dazzle the sixteen suitors you’ve lined up for us and report back
on the experience.”

His gaze was
immediately pulled back to Julia, who let out a rather unladylike
snort and eye roll.

Again, not the right MO
for a vamp.

“What is it, Jules?” He
gave her the most casual smirk he could muster. “You don’t like
male attention?”

“Oh I like the
attention just fine, Mike,” she retorted with an acid glare. “What
I don’t like is the idea of pretty much having to compete for it
along with fifteen other women. No offence, Kirst.”

“None taken,
Julie-bean.”

“I somehow don’t think
you’ll have to do much competing,” he said honestly. Then
remembering who he was dealing with he added, “Though you might
want to smile a little. You look like you’re sucking on a
lemon.”

Kirsten gasped and
slapped his arm. “Hey, bro.
You
might want to ease up on the
flattery. Jules and I are doing you a big favour here.”

Julia rolled her eyes
again, crossing her toned arms in a devil-may-care show of audacity
that only served to accentuate her fantastic cleavage. “Oh please.
I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart; I’m doing this
for the All-Star tickets. You’d better not be lying about those,
Mike.”

“Got them right here,
Jules.” He tapped the breast pocket of his suit jacket. “Now come
along, ladies. Let’s get this show started.”

*

The second that Julia
marched out of earshot to collect her assessment forms in the VIP
lounge Michael pulled his terror of a sibling aside. “What the hell
are you up to, little sister? When I asked you to bring a suitable
critique partner I meant someone who actually wanted to try speed
dating and submit a candid report on the experience. Julia looks
like she’d rather face a firing squad.” Yes, he was probably
exaggerating slightly, but it was better than broaching the fact
that she’d behaved like a total harpy.

“Well then you should
have been more specific,” Kirsten muttered with way too much
attitude. “For crying out loud you offered tickets to a softball
game as incentive. She’s the only woman I know who’d want to watch
a bunch of guys throw and smack a ball around.”

“It’s not softball,
it’s baseball,” he corrected.

“My point exactly.”

“Kirst, the baseball
tickets were intended as something that your partner could use if
she met someone she liked tonight. It would have scored serious
points with any guy. Besides, I also offered free drinks and a very
substantial dinner voucher to one of the best steak houses in New
York.”

“Well shoot, how was I
supposed to know? And that reminds me, why didn’t you offer me a
dinner voucher?”

What the hell?
Was she deliberately being obtuse? Rather than insult her
intelligence he countered with, “Because I gave you my credit card
and you went nuts with it.”

“Look, Mike,” she
stated with brittle coolness. “If you don’t want her here, just say
so. I’ll get her and we’ll leave right now. I’ll drop off a check
for the stuff you paid for tomorrow.”

Oh hell, he’d gone too
far. Poor thing looked close to tears. Never a good sign. Kirst was
the kind of girl who would rather die than show weakness.

Scrubbing his hands
over his face in equal measures of shame and frustration he
softened the tone of his voice. “Don’t do that. I’m sorry. I told
you to buy anything you wanted and I’m glad you did. I should not
have thrown it in your face.”

“But you don’t want
Jules here,” she argued, pure misery etched all over her angelic
face.

How could she think
that for even a second? He might never have told her in so many
words, but Kirst had to know how he felt about Jules. Letting down
his guard he smiled glumly and confessed, “I do want her here, sis.
I’ve missed her more than you know.”

Typical of the fairer
sex she pulled a one-eighty and knocked him off kilter yet again.
Levelling him with a downright offended scowl, she demanded, “Then
why are you being such a jerk to her?”

“Because she’s being a
jerk to me. Call it self-defence.”

“Well maybe if you try
to be pleasant she’ll stop being a jerk.”

“Are you kidding me? In
case you failed to notice, she hates my guts.”

“Actually I did notice
and I don’t get it. What did you do to her, Mike?”

“Nothing.” He muttered
this under his breath because one of the waitresses was walking by.
The last thing he needed was to give those gossips a tasty morsel
to chew on.

“You must’ve done
something,” Kirsten pressed. “Jules isn’t the kind of person who
holds a grudge for no good reason.”

“I haven’t seen her in
a goddamned decade,” he countered, taking more than a little
umbrage at what his sister was implying. Why did women always
assume that the nearest man was at fault when one of their cronies
was in a shitty mood?

“Well you must have
done something.”

And off she went again.
It had be a serious design flaw in the female genome that made them
blind to reason. Digging deep for patience he reiterated, “I
haven’t had a chance to do anything since, as you well know, I have
not seen her in Ten. Whole. Years. Look, we don’t have time to
discuss this now. Go get your nametag and evaluation forms. We’ll
talk later.”

“You bet your ass we
will. I’m coming up to your office during the interval and I’m
bringing Jules with me. This avoidance shit ends tonight. You guys
really need to stop dodging each other. She’s my best friend and
you’re my only brother. I need you guys to get along.”

Whoa
. Talk about
an earful. “Why is it such a big deal to you if we get along or
not?”

“It just is,” she
muttered stubbornly.

“Fine. I’ll wear body
armour.”

“Why don’t you try some
charm and good manners instead, big brother,” she offered sweetly.
“No one can resist you when you unleash that gazillion megawatt
smile and dish out a compliment or two.”

All he could do in
response to that was give the imp a kiss on the cheek and his
promise that he would try.

***

On collecting her
assessment forms and registering herself under the name B. Breaker,
because damned if she’d use her real name, Julia took her allotted
seat at table number seven. It was just a few feet from the centre
of the long and well-stocked bar. A fortunate placement. She
couldn’t get much closer than she was and she wanted to be near to
the alcohol. After seeing Michael it was a given that she was
sooo
going to need it.

Giving Kirsten a
half-hearted thumbs up as she passed en route to her own table,
Julia placed her name sticker on the centre of her chest, right
over her exposed cleavage. At least that way she might be able to
convince herself that the men were reading her name rather than her
bust size.

Signalling one of the
waitresses over she ordered a Martini, taking a few soothing sips
once it arrived. Seeing Michael had shaken her. She’d known that it
would but she had severely underestimated just how unnerving it
would be. He still sparked butterflies and electricity with just
one look. Still had the ability to make her heart skip a few beats.
It was crazy that after all these years he could still make her
feel like a schoolgirl who was way out of her league. There was no
fairness in life when it came to attraction. After how he’d treated
her when she was just a girl in love, and mocked her now that she
was a woman doing him a favour, she should feel nothing but
disgust. Only that was the last thing she felt. What she really
felt was raging attraction and no idea how to handle it.

All too soon the group
of potential suitors walked in and she grudgingly accepted that the
time to back out of the fiasco had come and gone. Not that she’d
planned to. No way. Even though Michael was a jerk, even though she
hated speed dating, she would absolutely not run home with her tail
between her legs when there were game tickets to be had. With that
in mind she turned her attention to the job at hand. Sixteen
potentially sex-starved men.

They were quite smartly
dressed and she noticed that they wore numbers rather than
nametags. And oh great, there among them was one of her mid-level
graphic designers. His name was Finch Gallagher and he was both
highly talented and highly conceited. His arrogance was the only
thing keeping him from a promotion to Head Designer.

As a rule she did not
socialise with anyone in her employ but tonight she would have to
make an exception. Perhaps she would take the opportunity to give
him some pointers on how to make allies, rather than enemies, at
the workplace.

Then another thought
hit her. He would be dating Kirsten at some point during the
proceedings, the reason behind her rule.