What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 3)

by Lauren Hawkeye

  “Are you seeing anyone?” he asked. It was the first time he had asked me anything about my love life, and my heart raced as those eyes pinned me to my chair. His hair was perfectly mussed in all sorts of crazy directions, and I wanted to run my fingers through it for about the millionth time since I had first met him.

  I shook my head, and he smiled. “Good,” he said simply. He reached for my hand and squeezed it.

  What did that mean? Was I reading into it? Or did he want me the same way I wanted him?

  I never did figure it out, but I saved every text conversation we had, and I often looked back at that one in wonder. But how did I make a move?

  The second “big event,” as I liked to call it, happened about two weeks before the Christmas party.

  Nick invited me to lunch, which wasn’t necessarily a rare event or out of the ordinary. It was just the two of us, and we walked down to a local deli and ordered sandwiches. Nick treated, which was a little more unusual, and he picked out a quiet table in the corner for us to talk. It was almost romantic as the lunch crowd rushed by us, and we were lost in our own little world for two. Our lunch conversation mostly consisted of work talk, but then Nick brought up the Christmas party.

  “So, do you have a date?” he asked, and my heart leapt as I thought that this was it! He was going to ask me out, finally, and it was to the office Christmas party!

  “Not yet,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant even though inside I was quaking with excitement.

  “Are you planning to go?”

  I nodded.

  “I heard the deejay is epic.”

  “He is. The parties are always a blast.”

  He gazed into my eyes, looking like he was wrestling with a thought, and then he said softly, “Save me a dance.”

  I gazed back, and it was suddenly like we were the only two people on earth. The sounds of the deli faded into the background as I was lost in his eyes, and I had the distinct inclination that he was about to lean forward and kiss me.

  And then, suddenly, he broke his gaze from me as he looked at someone who had just entered the deli, and the moment was gone. I turned to see his boss, Tom Davidson, Tom’s secretary, Josie, and a few other people. He brought the conversation back to work, but my mind was still lost in the conversation we had just been having with our eyes, and I wished that Davidson hadn’t walked in so that I could see where Nick had planned on going with that.

  And that was it. Those were the two biggest events in our non-romantic history that led me to believe that someday something could happen. Ever the eternal optimist, I felt certain that someday we would be together.

  Chapter Two

  Nearly a year after Nick had started working for McMillan, I was at the Christmas party, obsessing over Nick again… or, still. He seemed to get hotter and hotter every single day, and he looked particularly ravishing that evening.

  I was disappointed with his choice of Christmas party date – Dana, one of the most obnoxious people in my office. She worked in a different department than me, but she came over to my cubicle all the time to chat. Her catchphrase was, “Do you have any gossip?” I liked hearing the office gossip, but I couldn’t deal with how cruel she could be about our coworkers. One time she made a comment about Lucy’s weight to me, and that was crossing the line. Lucy was one of my best friends, and she was not overweight. After that, I wanted nothing to do with Dana. And now that she was at the party as Nick’s date, I felt even more disgusted with her.

  I couldn’t believe that he actually took Dana to the party. She was pretty enough with her glossy dark hair cut in a sharp A-line and her big, brown doe eyes, and she had a nice enough figure with her athletic legs and toned arms. But she was just so insufferably obnoxious. It made me wonder why he selected Dana as his date when he could’ve gone with anybody. Including me. Especially me.

  So maybe I was a little jealous.

  Alright. I was incredibly jealous.

  I got to wondering what Nick’s type was. This was the first time ever that I had seen him with a date. Did he like short girls with dark hair and dark eyes? Because she was my opposite in that respect; I was tall (5’9”) with long, naturally streaky blond hair and blue eyes. If he liked girls like Dana, did I even stand a chance?

  I couldn’t get over his choice of date. Dana? Seriously? I watched as he danced with her, and my jealousy ebbed a bit as I noticed that although she was clinging to him, he wasn’t holding her like he would hold someone he was interested in. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, or maybe it was the hope I held in my heart, but I could swear that he glanced in my direction more than once.

  I sat in my corner table with Travis ever by my side as I pined away for a man that I couldn’t have. Nick was my boss, as Travis so kindly reminded me over and over. And over. And over. Travis didn’t appear to like the fact that I was checking out Nick the entire evening. He tended to be a little overprotective of me. In fact, he told me that Nick seemed like a “douche-waffle” (his phrase), and that I could do better.

  Travis and I went way back. Way, way back, all the way to when Travis moved into the house next door to mine just before kindergarten. Our parents became friends, and Travis had an older sister who was the same age as my sister, so we were forced into playing together. We literally grew up together, and while Lucy and Holly were my best work friends, Travis really was my best friend in the whole world.

  We had tried a relationship once in high school. He had admitted that he had feelings for me, and I suddenly saw him as more than a friend. We had even lost our virginity to each other in the biggest prom night cliché ever. But even though we were together for nearly a year, we both knew that we were better off as friends. It wasn’t a difficult decision to end things “that way,” but I had never regretted that Travis was my first. I had heard so many stories of friends who had horrible first times, but I knew that the first guy I had ever slept with was a solid, good person, not to mention a sensitive and generous lover. And we were proof that people could stay friends even after sleeping together and breaking up. Our breakup had been mutual around the end of the summer before we went off to college, and even so, we had slept together a few times during different drunken college escapades. Nothing serious ever came of it, but I knew that Travis would be in my life forever. We hadn’t slept together since our junior year of college nearly five years earlier, so I knew that that part of our relationship was over and done.

  Okay, I admit it. I was a little tipsy at the Christmas party. Four eggnogs with brandy will do that to a girl. I was in that perfect position where I didn’t drink myself sick and I wasn’t so drunk I was making a fool out of myself, but my inhibitions were severely lowered. So after Travis invited me to the dance floor and we ended up next to Dana and Nick during a slow song, I knew that the moment had been presented to me on a silver platter.

  “Switch partners!” I shouted gleefully, and I pulled out of Travis’s arms and pushed Dana away from Nick and into Travis. Nick smiled down at me, and I looked up into those intense hazel eyes, wanting to tear the Armani suit he wore off of his gorgeous body. His eyes were mesmerizing, and I walked into his open arms willingly.

  He pulled me closely into his arms, much closer than he had danced with Dana. It was the first time I had ever been this close to him, and my body responded to his in ways I had never felt before. I felt waves of electricity travel between us, and the length of his body crushed against mine was literally the best feeling I had ever experienced in my life. I was euphoric. This was my every dream come true. His masculine scent overtook my senses and I was totally captivated by him. Suddenly no one else was in the room but us. I didn’t care about Dana, or Travis, or Davidson, or Josie, or anyone else. I savored the feeling of Nick’s arms around me, my heart racing as I dared to glance up into his eyes, hoping that he would see the lust that had to be radiating from my eyes.

  “Julianne, you look lovely tonight,” Nick murmured, gazing down at me.

  �
�You look pretty hot yourself,” I said, finally admitting what I had wanted to say since nearly a year earlier, the alcohol loosening my inhibitions enough to be honest.

  Nick smiled. God, his teeth were perfect. I could feel his breath on my cheek, and I swear I felt him tighten his hold on me. I leaned into him, as close as I could get, my nose next to his neck as I breathed him in. He smelled delicious and woodsy and manly and totally intoxicating, and the racing of my heart was a complete contrast to our slow, sensual dance.

  I felt him inhale deeply, and I wondered if he was smelling my hair, taking in my scent like I was taking in his. “Are you having a nice time?” he asked.

  I reluctantly pulled back so we could talk. “A great time. McMillan knows how to throw a Christmas bash,” I said.

  He moved with grace and ease as we glided on the dance floor. “They certainly do. How does this compare to previous years?”

  “This is way better than last year.” Probably because Nick wasn’t there last year.

  To my extreme disappointment, the song ended and a faster one came on. Nick held me for a moment longer than completely necessary, his eyes locked on mine, and I suddenly had the inclination that he wanted to kiss me, the same feeling I had that day in the deli. His eyes were clear, and I could see lust in them, as much lust as my own eyes had to be reflecting back to him. I wanted him to kiss me, so, so badly, but then the fleeting moment passed. His eyes clouded over, and he hugged me quickly before letting me go.

  But the one dance had been enough. I was on a Nick-induced high, and I didn’t want to come down. I spent the remainder of the party in a much better mood, wondering if there was something there between us, wondering if maybe next year would be our year, and finally deciding to make my New Year’s Resolution early: He would be mine. We belonged together; I just knew it.

  And then for some God-awful reason, I thought it would be a great idea to sing Karaoke. My contribution was “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and just thinking about it still makes me turn red. What the hell was I thinking? Okay, maybe I was drunk enough to make a fool out of myself that night.

  McMillan always closed the offices during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. The office Christmas party was the Friday before Christmas that year, and I was a few days into my break. I hadn’t seen Nick since the party, although it wasn’t like I hadn’t had any communication from him; he had texted me on Christmas Eve to wish me a Merry Christmas, and again on Christmas day to say that he had hoped Santa was good to me. It warmed my heart to know that he was thinking about me during these important times. I texted back both times, but I figured he was as busy with his family as I was with mine. My sister always hosted Christmas Eve, and we always spent almost the whole day of Christmas at my parents’ house. I wished that he was there by my side, and I hoped with everything I had inside that it wasn’t just a dream that would never come true.

  I didn’t hear from him for a few days, but he was in every thought I had, and then on December 28, he texted me again: Got any New Year’s plans?

  Was he inviting me? I mulled over the best response; I didn’t want him to think that I was a loser who had no plans for the big night, but I wanted to be flexible in case he wanted to ask me out. But who was I kidding? He wasn’t going to ask me out. And besides, I was actually excited about my New Year’s plans.

  Finally, I texted back, trying my best to sound casual but still send across the message that I wanted to see him: Just a group of friends hitting up Mahogany. Meet us there if you can! :)

  Mahogany was the hottest bar in Scottsdale, and we had planned to go for awhile. I was super excited about it; Lucy and Holly were going, as were Holly’s boyfriend (Andrew), Jake, who was now officially dating Lucy, and Travis and a few of his friends. I didn’t have anyone special to kiss at midnight like Lucy and Holly did, and Travis had invited a new girl he had been started dating named Brooke, so even my backup was taken.

  Nick’s answer came quickly: I’m heading out with some buddies to bar hop. Mahogany is on our list, so maybe I will see you there.

  God, I hoped so.

  I didn’t hear from him the next day or the day after, and then suddenly it was New Year’s Eve. Lucy and Holly came over to my apartment so we could get ready together, and Travis and Brooke showed up a little early so that we could pre-party. I sat in a chair, obsessing over Nick (as usual), nursing a glass of wine while Lucy curled my hair for me.

  “So let’s talk resolutions,” Lucy said, combing out a section of hair to curl as Holly stood next to us, putting the finishing touches on her make-up.

  “I have to drop these ten pounds I’ve gained eating Christmas cookies,” Holly said, and we both laughed. Holly was the thinnest out of all of us.

  “I’ve resolved to find a way to get Nick to notice me. I just have a feeling that this is going to be our year,” I said.

  “Won’t it be weird dating our boss?” Lucy asked.

  I shrugged. “He’s fucking hot, so I don’t care.”

  Both of my friends laughed. “Yeah, he is pretty hot,” Holly said.

  “Thanks,” Andrew, Holly’s boyfriend, said from the doorway.

  “You’re welcome,” Holly said, glancing at him in the mirror with a wide smile.

  “Are you ladies almost ready?” Andrew asked.

  “Like ten more minutes, babe,” Holly said. Ten was a bit of a stretch as I hadn’t even started my make-up and Lucy hadn’t gotten to her own hair, but time in girl-getting-ready time usually translated to about three times whatever we quoted. A glance at the clock on my cell phone told me that we had plenty of time. I was disappointed when I glanced at my phone to see that I didn’t have any new texts from Nick. I wondered for about the millionth time in the past year what he was doing and whether he ever thought about me. Certainly not as much as I thought about him, but the random texts I received from him told me that he thought about me at least once in awhile.

  We emerged from the bathroom thirty minutes on the dot later, all three of us feeling gorgeous and sexy. Holly was wearing a hot pink dress that had feathers on the shoulder, and she wore matching feathers in her long, brown hair. Her sparkly purple eye shadow brought out her big brown eyes. Lucy looked adorable in a hunter green dress that matched her eyes. She had straightened her normally wavy, dark hair, and the effect of her A-line cut was sharp against her face. I donned a red sequined dress and matching heels, and my hair flowed past my shoulders in pretty, thick curls thanks to Lucy’s work.

  “All three of you look amazing,” Brooke said, smiling. She was beautiful, too, with black leggings, black boots with killer heels, and a sparkly silver top.

  “Yeah,” Travis said. “Jules, is there someone special you’re trying to impress tonight?”

  “Nick,” Lucy, Holly, and Jake, all said in unison.

  I giggled. “Jake, even you know now?”

  He nodded. “You can’t expect me to date your best friend and not find out the office gossip.”

  “True. Keep your mouth shut though.”

  Jake and I walked into the kitchen together to pour one more round of drinks before we left.

  “Jules, everyone knows,” he said.

  I stared at him in horror. “Does Nick know?”

  Jake shrugged. “I don’t know if he does. But everyone on our team knows, for sure.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Great.”

  “Is he coming to Mahogany tonight?” Jake asked.

  “Maybe. He texted me a few days ago and asked what I was doing for New Year’s. He said he and some buddies are bar-hopping and maybe he would see me.”

  “He texted you?”

  I nodded. “Why?”

  “He doesn’t text me.”

  I looked up at him. “He doesn’t?”

  He shook his head. “Maybe he likes you.”

  “A girl can dream.”

  “Want me to find out?”

  I contemplated this. Could Jake be a great ally for me? Perhaps, but I
didn’t want anyone to interfere, and especially not someone involved in our work team. I didn’t want things to get awkward. “Kind of. But I think I’ll just keep playing it cool.”

  “Jules, if you want something to happen, one of you has got to make a move.”

  “I know. I’m working on it.” I smiled at him, and we took the drinks out to my living room.

  We all piled into Andrew’s Tahoe after draining the last drops of our beverages. Andrew had generously volunteered to be the designated driver, and we were all appreciative. I planned on getting smashed, so it was nice to know I had someone responsible to drive me home.

  It was 10:00 when we pulled up to Mahogany. Lucy had made a reservation for our party two months before New Year’s Eve. She reserved a table for twenty, and some of Jake’s friends met us there along with two of Travis’s close friends from work. One of them – Danny – was kind of hot, and I had met him a few times before. He didn’t turn my insides to melty caramel like Nick did, but he was cute. He’d be a good candidate for my midnight kiss.

  The hostess led us through the crowded bar to rectangular table that was made for ten but somehow had twenty chairs around it. I searched the entire bar for Nick, but, to my disappointment, I didn’t see him anywhere. I was hopeful that he would show up.

  We placed our drink orders, shouting to the waitress over the pumping music. She came back awhile later with our drinks and some party favors. I put on a princess tiara with red sparkles as I drank my delicious champagne punch. We chatted and laughed at our table; soon we ordered a second round, and my group of friends started talking louder and laughing more heartily. The ladies all wanted to dance, so we hit the floor as the guys sat at the table drinking (and, presumably, watching us shaking our booties on the dance floor). I kept my eyes trained on the door just in case Nick walked in. I turned and saw Danny dancing next to us with some random girl from the bar, so there went my last hope for someone to kiss at midnight. I was depressed by the thought, but I was having a good time with my girlfriends, so I decided not to dwell on it.