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Somebody gasped. I’m not sure who it was.
It could have been me. It could have been the two Japanese families sitting close enough to see it happen. It could have even been Nick, from the utter shock of having a woman he’d never seen before reach out and grab his pants.
Whoever it was, it clearly wasn’t enough to change things. The three of us stayed perfectly frozen. The hand remained.
I looked down at it. Nick looked down at it. Ella looked down at it herself—proudly.
“Um...Ella?” I cleared my throat softly, dying a million deaths. “Do you think you could...” Goodness—how did I even say it? “I mean, maybe it’s time you let go—”
“Nicholas Hunter.”
The introduction was as quick as it was strategic. He held out his hand between them, forcing her to release him in order to do the same. Banking on the fact that she wasn’t left-handed. It also created some well-needed space. In order to have made her little move, she’d had to get right up in front of him—just inches away. A handshake changed all that.
She stepped back a bit to introduce herself more formally.
(By that, I mean...to shake his hand.)
“Ella Campbell.” She smiled widely, seductively. Flashing the entire restaurant a pair of perfect veneers. “Abigail thought the two of us might hit it off.”
At the moment, Abigail was currently thinking of ways to discreetly kill herself.
“Did she now?” Nick’s eyebrows lifted ever so slightly, and he turned his fixed smile from her to me, scorching me with the heat of it. “How very...insightful.”
Insightful, sure. Everything about this just screamed insightful.
I couldn’t even meet his eyes. I literally wanted to crawl inside my brand-new bag in a state of essential hibernation. Wait for this dreadful day to be over. Ella, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more pleased with the way things were going.
“Wasn’t it, though?” She tossed back her hair, ‘casually’ angling herself in such a way as to attract the most possible attention. “From the second she mentioned your name, I knew the two of us would be a natural fit.”
Nick’s smile tightened, and his knuckles tensed white.
“Well, that’s my Abigail.” Only from years of years of knowing him, could I hear the steel beneath the honey. “Always has my best intentions at heart.”
With that barb to my soul, he gestured to the table and the three of us sat down.
I tried not to look up. Tried to keep my eyes fixed on the table. But it was like trying not to watch a car accident from just two feet away. One that you’d manically engineered yourself.
“So Nicky,” Ella lay her large breasts upon the table, resting them comfortably on her place-setting as she leaned seductively forward, “have you ever done anything like this before?”
The cleavage was distracting enough—I’d give him that. If Ella really applied herself, I was sure she could use the things for some kind of demolition. Breaking down doors, and such.
But that wasn’t what had my poor client temporarily tongue-tied. You see, upon sitting down, he’d suddenly realized that the girl he was supposed to be professionally ‘dating,’ bore a freakishly impossible resemblance to a woman his father had married a few years back. A woman who—if memory served—Mitchell had divorced after she’d done to Nick beneath the table at Christmas dinner, exactly what Ms. Campbell had done seconds before shaking his hand.
I kicked him under the table, and he shook himself back to the present—blinking away the horror as he stared back into her cat-like eyes and tried to remember the question.
“I’m sorry,” he tilted his head apologetically to the side, “what was that?”
Ella blushed, as if her irresistible attraction had derailed him. This was going to be even easier than she’d thought.
“I said,” she leaned closer, pushing the breasts right up against his arm, “have you ever done anything like this before?”
He glanced down, hesitated, then forced his eyes back up. Across the table, I hid my face behind a menu, slumping lower and lower in my chair.
“I...uh...I actually haven’t.” He leaned back with a casual smile, creating another well-needed bit of space. “At least not under these kinds of circumstances. I’m sure Abby told you—”
“A company merger, blah-blah, cleaning up your reputation, blah-blah.” She flashed an impish grin, as if she was being fucking adorable. “She told me you need something steady.”
I did no such thing.
Thankfully, a waiter appeared at that very moment, sparing Nick from having to come up with a response. The man looked over our rather odd trio for a moment, before lifting his pad of paper with a pleasant smile.
“Can I get you folks started with some drinks?”
Nick cleared his throat and glanced down at the menu for the first time, still trying to recover himself. “Uh—yes, thank you. I think we’ll start with a round of sake—”
“Oh, didn’t Abigail tell you?” Ella interrupted again. “I don’t drink.”
Nick’s bright eyes glassed over. At this point, he was completely incapable of telling whether or not I was pulling a prank. “You don’t drink...today? Or on weekdays? Or—”
“Ever.” She flashed him another smile. “I’m alcohol-intolerant. It basically means that I can’t process the stuff.”
The waiter piped up excitedly. “Oh—I have that too!”
I glanced between them in disbelief, before discreetly sliding my butter knife off the table and into my lap. At this rate, there was a distinct chance I was going to need to protect myself before the dust settled. Either from my seething client, or my own conscience, evening the score.
Nick looked like he was in his own personal hell as Ella handed up her own menu so the two of them would have to share, then proceeded to order drinks for the entire table.
“We’ll have two sparkling waters, please. And we’ll start with two kelp salads as well.”
Nick was staring at the table with a thoughtful, yet vacant expression. Clearly trying to keep his head down as much as possible and let this she-beast tire herself out. But his attention snapped up when she ordered in quantities of two, not three.
He glanced at her for only a moment, before turning to me with a slight frown.
“Some green tea, right Abby?”
Once again, Malibu Barbie couldn’t help but interject.
“Oh,” she glanced up at the waiter and pretended to look highly embarrassed, “I’m so sorry. I was under the impression that Abigail probably had work to do and wouldn’t be joining us, seeing as these outings are supposed to be for just the two of us.”
My menu came down and I looked at her with cold amusement.
Really? Two hours ago, you were groveling in my office. Now, you’re dismissing me as the help? That’s really the way you want to play it?
No matter how furious he might be with me at the moment, the snide comment was enough to crack even Nick’s charming façade.
“You can’t be serious—”
“I can go,” I volunteered, suddenly hopeful as I half-rose to my feet.
Nick’s hand shot out so fast, it’s like it was super-charged.
The speed with which it happened was quite simply baffling, and the way he clamped down upon my wrist required some sort of explanation. He countered both discrepancies with a dazzling smile, flashing those dimples that never failed to get him out of a pinch.
They certainly didn’t disappoint now.
“Don’t be silly,” he forced me back down with a deceptively iron grip, as both the waiter and Ella swooned in unison, “you and I always take these introductory meetings together.”
This time, I made the mistake of accidentally meeting his smoldering gaze. While his smile remained, his eyes quite simply promised death if I left him alone.
I yanked free my wrist with a smile of my own, and rubbed it discreetly under the table.
“I always have time for you, Nick...”
“How sweet,” he said dryly, before turning back to the waiter. “She’ll have some tea, please.”
As the waiter hurried off, more confused than ever, I made a valiant attempt to pull myself together and take control of things once again.
I’m not going to lie—the crouch-grab threw me for a second. As did the fact that a girl I’d thought was simply ambitious, was actually a certifiable psychopath. But if my time spent working in public relations had taught me anything, it was that everything was a matter of spin.
This may have been my mistake—one derived from an ill-conceived plan based off an even more ill-conceived notion I didn’t fully understand—but I would fix it. I simply had to.
Otherwise, I’d be using that butter knife sooner than I thought.
And since Hurricane Ella was obviously a destructive force that none of us had the means of containing, I would simply have to act like the joke was on me too.
“So, Ella,” I interrupted her mid-rant about the benefits of testing certain kinds of make-up on animals first, “tell Nick a little bit about yourself. The same things you were telling me.”
He shot me another testy look, but she was more than willing to oblige.
“Well, I just got a modeling contract from Ford. The thing lasts for an entire—”
“That’s right!” I interrupted quickly. No need in him finding out that even her new employer had given up on her already. “A prestigious contract. What else?”
Come on—give me anything. Anything I can use.
“I’m allergic to peanuts.”
Nick and I both blanked.
Okay, uh...literally ANYTHING besides that.
“Well to be honest, my life’s pretty much an open book.” She started trailing a sharply manicured fingernail across the tablecloth, inching it closer and closer to Nick’s side. “I just got to New York from a town in Oklahoma—of all places—so I’m brand new. Just looking for someone to show me the city. Someone who won’t be afraid to get their hands a little dirty—”
“That’s right,” I intervened, leaning forward to give the speech myself. “She just got to the city, so she’s brand freaking new. No scandal. No skeletons in the closet. How many models, heiresses, and actresses living in New York can say that with a straight face?”
Granted, Ella looked like she was ready to change that scandal thing in a big hurry...
“I also really like Zumba—” she ventured again.
“She comes from a mid-western Protestant family. No criminal record. No sex tapes that she swore she didn’t have, but a month later, the entire internet is watching her in a bee-keeper uniform, committing every blasphemy under the sun.”
(Texas. Ten months ago. Don’t ask.)
“She doesn’t drink. Doesn’t smoke. And in the last election, she voted the same way as over half of the board.”
“Wait a minute,” Ella set down her sparkling water, “how do you know which way I—”
“Plus—her great aunt is actually Robin Campbell. As in, famed New York Times journalist, Robin Campbell.”
It was a massive point in my favor. Although, to be fair, it was also something I’d found out only after scheduling the meeting.
Ella fiddled with her straw, pouting because I was the one talking. “We don’t really talk to that side of the fam—”
“So you see?” I locked eyes with Nick across the table. “She’s just about perfect.”
On paper. In real life, she was probably classified as some kind of sexual predator.
Ella giggled and blushed, throwing me a ‘thanks for talking me up’ wink, before turning to bat her eyes at Nick some more. “I guess it looks that way, doesn’t it?”
But Nick only had eyes for me. In fact, the longer we stared at each other, the harder we found it to stop. But the longer we stared, the more it looked like he was starting to understand.
A dawning glimmer of realization started dancing in his eyes, and for the first time since he’d been groped in front of those Japanese tourists, his lips curved up in a genuine smile.
“She is perfect, isn’t she?” His sparkling eyes never left my face. “For the company.”
...but not so perfect for me.
My face blanched as every single bone in my body locked into place.
Yep—he’d come to the exact same conclusion I’d come to myself, plotting on my bed just a night before. The burning question of why, was still completely beyond me. Why the hell I’d want to create the distinction. But at this point, it hardly mattered.
I’d been found out. Outed. Finished. All my scheming and trickery exposed for all the world to see. Nick knew the truth. It was written all over his face. There was no way in hell I would have actually selected this kind of girl for him. This kind of girl wasn’t fit for anybody.
But maybe...just maybe I could somehow manage to deflect some of the blame.
“It’s always such a...a treat when you read about someone on paper, but then get to know the real thing.” I laughed lightly. “Ella’s so...vivacious in person. I really had no idea—”
“Oh, don’t be so modest. You must have had some idea.” Nick leaned forward, suddenly enjoying himself. Without missing a beat, he reached over and took Ella’s hand. “Otherwise, I can’t think of a single reason why you would have pulled dear Ella’s name out of the hat.”
Those eyes of his held me hostage. Like a mouse staring up at a cat. Unable to move.
“Tell me, Abby,” he demanded with a wicked grin, “is she everything you hoped for?”
I winced apologetically and struggled to find something to say. He was just toying with me now. Letting me stew in whatever catastrophes had yet to come.
“She’s...certainly something.”
“You know, that’s always been Abby’s problem.” He raised up Ella’s fingers and kissed her across the knuckles, grinning at me over the top of her hand. “So secretive. So guarded. You never know what’s going on inside that demented little head.”
All my red flags shot up at once, waving around frantically to get my attention.
Something terrible was about to happen. I just didn’t know exactly what...
Nick, please. I’m sorry, okay. Let’s just go. Leave the crazy behind, and go.
I sent the message telepathically with my eyes, but even though he knew exactly what I was thinking, he wasn’t letting me off the hook so easily. Instead, he straightened up with an anticipatory smile—still holding onto Ella’s clawed hand.
As for Ella herself, she seemed completely unaware of the fact that the two of us had been having a completely different conversation this entire time. The entire time we’d been talking, her head had bounced back and forth like a tennis match—latching onto random words and out of context phrases. Mostly, she was just thrilled that Nick was holding her hand.
“Well—aren’t the two of you just so sweet,” she drawled, clearly thrilled that we’d all gotten on the same page. “Who’s up for some squid?!”
And...that’s my limit.
“Actually, Ms. Campbell, these meetings are usually a bit more formal than that,” I said quickly, making a grand show of bustling around to gather up my purse. If Nick wasn’t going to end this train wreck, I’d have to do it myself. “Just drinks and chit-chat—you know the drill.”
Ella stood up quickly.
“Oh...of course.”
I pushed to my feet—yanking Nick up along with me—and extended my hand to shake.
“Thank you so much for taking the time. We’ll definitely put you on the short list—”
“What’s the point?” Nick interjected.
I froze momentarily, then shot him a look.
No need to say it in front of her. I know she’s deranged, but have a heart.
“The point is, we want to explore all our options, but Ella’s been so sweet.” My smile tightened dangerously. “We most definitely want to keep her in mind—”
“No, I mean, what’s the point of having a short list?” With an ease and charm that took my breath away, he slipped an arm around her waist. “I think we’ve found our girl.”
“You’re kidding!” Ella squealed, jumping up and down.
“You’re kidding,” I repeated, feeling like the walls were closing in.
Nick flashed me a devilish grin, ignoring the bimbo beside him—leaping for the sky.
“Not at all. When you bring me such a qualified candidate, how can I possibly say no?”
By shaking your head? By sending her away? By showing an ounce of mercy and sparing me from the horrors I’d so foolishly set upon you?
“Well, that’s...” I swallowed back the taste of bile, and started again, “that’s wonderful.”
“Isn’t it though?” Nick flashed me another grin, before turning to Ella. “You’re going to love Abby—she’s simply the best. In fact,” he grabbed a pen off the receptionist’s counter, “I’m going to give you her private cell—just to make sure you can get a hold of her. Day and night.”
My world got a little darker with every number he scribbled. Where was Oklahoma from here anyway? Maybe they had room for one more...?
“Well, thank you both so much for meeting me.” Ella actually leaned in and gave me a tight hug—leaving what was sure to be two silicone-shaped bruises on my collarbone. “I’ll be sure to give you a call—I know I’m going to have a lot of questions.”
Kill me now.
“No problem, Ella. Thanks for coming in.”
“And you.” She turned to Nick with a chilling smile. “I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun together.” She stretched up on her toes and whispered in his ear. “A lot of fun.”
When she pulled away, she left a ring of bright pink lip gloss on his skin. He seemed determined not to think about it. He just focused on me instead.
“I can’t wait.”
She left without another word. Left us standing—ironically—in front of a tank where the sushi bar kept its lobster. The same lobster that had gotten us into this mess in the first place.
“Well this has to be a first,” Nick murmured, watching as her cab shot away into traffic.
I followed his gaze for a moment, before turning back—suddenly remembering that I had left my butter knife back on the table. “What’s a first?”
He folded his arms across his chest with a dangerous smile.
“It looks like you’ve got some explaining to do...”