The younger woman was wearing killer shoes, too – nude peep-toe platform pumps – Louboutins by the signature red soles. Cameron’s stylist had advised her away from stilettos, cautioning that they drew attention to her thin legs and skinny calves. Plus, a four-inch heel would have made her slightly taller than Nathan, which didn’t bother him but bugged her.
It shouldn’t have bothered her that this young, very attractive woman was working in her fiancé’s office, for Cameron was extremely confident about her own good looks. But then she caught the way Nathan – her Nathan – was gazing discreetly at the other woman’s rounded ass and lush breasts and rage consumed her. Without further ado, she barged into the conference room without as much as a knock.
Three pair of eyes turned her way immediately, but Cameron was only focused on Nathan. He stood abruptly, a surprised look on his face. Quite intentionally, she walked over and placed a welcoming, open-mouthed kiss on his lips.
She smiled at him, her hand caressing his cheek. “Hey, babe. Why so surprised to see me? I told you I was going to drop that ticket off.”
Nathan was unsmiling as he gently removed her hand, giving it a little squeeze. “You did, but I thought you were going to call first. Or leave the ticket with Robyn when you knew I was in a meeting.”
“Oops, sorry!” she giggled. “You know how impulsive I am, babe, always spur of the moment with me. I was right in the area so I just popped in. Sooo sorry if I interrupted.” She gave Jake a little wave. “Hey, sweetie. Nice to see you again.”
Jake grinned and walked over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. “You, too, gorgeous. You’re looking spectacular as always.”
Even though she knew Jake was something of a manwhore, and flirted with almost every good looking woman he met, his compliment was still flattering and she smiled at him warmly. “You big flirt,” she scolded. “And in front of my fiancé, too.”
Jake winked at her. “Some men have all the luck, you know. Like the boss man here.”
Cameron finally, reluctantly, turned her attention to the woman – Julia – and offered up a faint smile. “Hello. I don’t believe we’ve met before.”
Julia returned the smile, gazing at her politely with big green eyes, and extending her hand. “No, we haven’t. I’m Julia McKinnon, one of the interior designers here. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
The younger woman’s voice was soft and melodious, and Cameron took an instant and fervent dislike to her. For some peculiar, unknown reason, she felt threatened by this woman, and her hackles rose up defensively. “Cameron Tolliver, Nate’s fiancée. But I’m sure you’ve already figured that out.” She gave Julia’s small hand the barest of shakes before abruptly turning her attention back to Nathan. “Are you finished here, babe? I was hoping to talk to you for a few minutes.”
Nathan hesitated, glancing uncertainly at his two employees. “I suppose we’re just about done. Jake – Julia – anything else to add?”
Jake shook his head. “I’m good. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. Good to see you, Cameron.”
Julia paused, watching Jake leave the room before turning to Nathan. “Um, we still had the design for the wine bar to review, but I can just leave that one here for you to look at. Just let me gather up my things and I’ll be on my way.”
Cameron tried to ignore how gracefully the other woman moved about the room picking up her sketches, especially in those towering heels. Even with the sky-high Louboutins, Julia was still a few inches shorter than she was, making her feel like a clumsy giant. It was not a pleasant feeling, and Cameron glowered at Julia as if to hurry her along.
Before Julia could exit – her arms filled with design boards – Nathan called her back. “Wait. Can you leave the one of the deluxe suite as well? I wanted to look at that one again.”
“Of course.” Julia quickly located it and placed it back on its stand. She gave Cameron a brief smile. “It was nice to meet you, Cameron. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”
Cameron had never felt less like smiling but forced herself to reciprocate. “Yes, I’m sure we will.”
Nathan was frowning at her once Julia left. “Don’t you think you were a little bit rude just now?”
She shrugged. “Not particularly. What did you expect – that I was going to gush about her dress and invite her out for lunch?”
“No,” replied Nathan sternly, “but I think you could have been a bit more pleasant.”
Cameron made a gesture of dismissal. “Whatever. Look, both of us are busy so let me give you the ticket. I just remembered I’ve got a client due in within the hour.”
Nathan took the ticket she handed him. “How come you never remember appointments? You’ve got two assistants and a Blackberry.”
She laughed. “You know I’m a scatterbrain, babe. It’s one of the things you love about me. Just too many things going on between work and the wedding.” She reached up to press a brief kiss on his mouth. “I’ll see you at the ballet later. Don’t be late. And text me when you’re leaving the office, okay?”
“Sure, no problem. Didn’t you have something to talk to me about? That is why you interrupted my meeting, wasn’t it?” he asked pointedly.
“No, just dropping the ticket off,” she replied breezily. “Nothing else that can’t wait until tonight.”
Nathan sighed, “I really wish you had just left the ticket with Robyn, then. Jake and Julia and I actually did have more to discuss.”
Cameron huffed. “Well, excuse me. I thought you’d welcome the interruption to see your fiancée. But I guess you were too busy staring at Miss Tits and Ass, weren’t you?”
He gaped at her. “What are you talking about? I was not staring at Julia. You’re being ridiculous.”
“Am I?” she challenged. “You’re not going to try and bullshit me by denying that she’s pretty, are you?”
He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “Jesus, Cameron. Let’s not do this now, okay?”
She gave a short, humorless laugh. “No, I think this is exactly when we should do this. Are you trying to say you haven’t noticed your little designer is attractive?”
“Of course I’ve noticed,” he replied impatiently. “Julia’s a very pretty girl. She’s also my employee. Only my employee. You’re my fiancée, Cameron. Now if you’ve finished with whatever you’re accusing me of, I do have other work to do, including looking at these designs.”
“Fine. We’ll pretend that you weren’t staring at her ass in that tight dress. Does she dress like that every day?” she asked cattily.
Nathan made an impatient sound. “Do I look like a fashion consultant? How am I supposed to know? I don’t even see her most days. So stop acting like a jealous shrew.”
“Jealous!” Cameron spat. “Of that? Why in the world would I be jealous?”
“Exactly,” he replied calmly. “Why would you? You have zero reason to be jealous of anyone. Now, come on, you don’t want to be late for your meeting.”
He gave her a brief kiss and began escorting her out of the room until she stopped to glance over the two design boards that Julia had left behind. Cameron wrinkled her nose in distaste.
“I don’t like these at all,” she declared. “And I’m sure Ian won’t, either. Your little designer’s going to be doing some major re-working here.”
Nathan looked annoyed at her admittedly petty comments. “For the record, she’s not my designer, she works for Travis. And second, Ian happens to love these designs. Julia only made some very minor modifications to them, this will likely be the final product.”
Cameron shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t want her designing anything for me based on these. Just not my taste, I suppose.”
But the air of carelessness she assumed blew away like smoke in the wind as she left Nathan’s office. The feeling of being on top of the world that she’d had when entering the building a short time ago had faded rapidly, and she was now in a vile, vicious mood. She resisted the urge to kic
k something, to shove a passerby into the side of a building, to scream at the top of her lungs.
Cameron couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something – some niggling little feeling that all was not as it should be – and it had to do with Julia McKinnon. Cameron considered herself a very confident, poised woman but five minutes in the presence of the younger woman had rattled her badly.
‘Just how young is she?’ thought Cameron wildly. Julia’s flawless complexion still bore that dewy youthfulness that Cameron could no longer achieve, even with frequent facials, microdermabrasions, Restalyne injections, and expensive skin care products. And Julia had those incredible cheekbones that no amount of cosmetics could fake. Cameron had resorted to having cheekbone implants done almost ten years ago, but she was reluctantly aware they didn’t look all that natural.
And of course the little bitch would just have to have all that long, thick hair when Cameron was having to contend with her own thinning locks. She did much prefer her own pale blonde shade to whatever color one could call Julia’s hair. It was a well known fact that men always preferred blondes.
Cameron continued to fume during the cab ride back to her gallery as she recalled – reluctantly – how the form fitting navy lace dress had clung to Julia’s shapely hips and ass. She thought snidely that the girl’s big tits had to be fake. There was no way they could be that perfect and still be natural. One of Cameron’s great disappointments was that own boobs were so small. She always wore padded push-up bras to give the illusion of cleavage but there was no way to disguise the fact that she was flat-chested when her clothes came off. She had first considered getting implants when she was barely in her twenties, but her mother had gotten wind of the idea and had been horrified that she would even consider doing something so crude and trashy. And when she’d mentioned the idea to Nathan in recent times he had made his distaste for anything fake well known. Conversely, Cameron was well aware that Nathan – like most men – loved big boobs, based on comments he’d made to his friends when he didn’t think she was listening.
It was little wonder, then, that all of her old insecurities came rushing to the surface at the thought of this young, beautiful and tempting girl working in such close proximity to Nathan. Cameron had worked very hard to look like she did, having procedures done that most people didn’t know about, especially not Nathan. Her appearance now was a source of pride for her, and she knew she’d never looked better. But it had only taken a very short while in the presence of that little bitch to feel like the awkward, unattractive girl she’d once been and had vowed never to be again. Cameron did not like revisiting those feelings and swore that little Julia would never be allowed to make her feel that way again.
Julia was struggling to hold it together as she walked back to her office after being hustled out of the conference room. It was very obvious that Nathan’s fiancée was a supremely confident woman used to getting her way in all things. Even if it meant putting a premature end to what had actually been a pretty important meeting. But what enraged Julia even more than Cameron’s lofty attitude was the fact that Nathan had allowed her to get away with it.
‘He was probably afraid I’d start tattling on him,’ she thought angrily. ‘and wanted to hustle me out of there before I could say anything.’ It hurt that he could think so little of her, especially when she’d vowed not to betray him.
Unless, of course, he was afraid that he’d be the one to give something away. But no, Julia dismissed that rather wild idea quickly. Nathan had given her zero indication over the past couple of months that he ever gave her a second thought, and treated her more distantly than ever.
As she put away the design boards in their designated files, she thought absently that Cameron Tolliver wasn’t what she’d expected. For one thing, Nathan’s fiancée was several years older than expected, mid-thirties instead of the late twenties Julia would have assumed. And she was much taller and slimmer than Julia would have guessed, her hair a lot shorter, too. But there was no denying that Cameron was a very lovely woman who certainly knew how to dress. Julia recognized the cut of her pants and jacket as Armani, had noticed her dramatic makeup, perfect manicure and expensive jewelry.
Of all days, thought Julia glumly, not to be wearing one of the many designer dresses or skirts in her wardrobe. Not all of her clothes were courtesy of Aunt Madelyn. Her aunt, in fact, had taught her years ago to mix high end pieces like the Louboutin pumps with less expensive items, such as the pretty navy lace dress she’d bought online from a women’s apparel website for less than seventy dollars.
“It’s all about accessorizing, darling,” was one of Aunt Maddy’s favorite sayings. “That and having the figure to look good in anything, which you and your sister were fortunately blessed with.”
Being both petite and busty, however, didn’t always make it easy for things to fit properly, and Julia was extremely grateful that she’d learned how to sew when she was still a girl. Her Grandmere Vivienne had been a seamstress, a very talented one at that, and she’d taught Julia and Lauren how to do hems and seams. Well, she’d at least taught Julia since Lauren had been more interested in her camera or sports or getting into trouble to bother learning the finer parts of operating a sewing machine.
Julia gave a little shrug, not really sure why she gave a damn about how she looked today. She certainly didn’t care about impressing Nathan’s fiancée, and Nathan himself seemed completely oblivious to whatever she wore. Julia wondered peevishly if he’d even notice if she strutted through the office wearing just her underwear and high heels. Not that it should matter any longer, she thought with a sigh. It was very obvious that he only thought of her as an employee, and that Cameron was the woman in his life. She needed to stop being such a silly, sentimental goose, forget all about that night in New York, and find someone new.
The thought of trolling singles bars or clubs made her feel queasy, though, so there was no way she was going to find a guy that way. Maybe she’d call Sam and ask if he had a friend he could fix her up with. Even though he lived in Arizona now, he was sure to know a lot of guys in the NFL. There were also a couple of guys in her yoga classes who seemed nice enough, though the one with the long hair and tattoos was more Lauren’s type than hers. Maybe all she really needed was a few dates with a hot guy to get Nathan out of her system and clear her head. She made a mental note to give Sam a call tonight. Even though he was currently dating some Australian supermodel, they were still friendly and kept in regular touch.
“Why so serious, hunny bunny?” teased a familiar voice.
Julia glanced up and smiled at her boss as he hovered in the doorway. “Just thinking about the best way to snag a new boyfriend.”
Travis looked very interested in this topic and took a seat in front of her desk. “Ooh, men, my favorite topic. And sweetie pie – I wouldn’t think you’d have to worry about that ever. It’s like buying shoes at DSW – just find something you like among thousands of pairs on the shelves and take them.”
She laughed, grateful for his perpetual cheeriness. “Not quite that simple. I’m picky, after all. I mean, I’m not desperate enough to go out with Jake, for example.”
He shuddered. “Thank God. You can do sooo much better than that idiot, sweetie. I’m sure we can find a nice guy for you. In fact, I might have someone in mind.”
Julia regarded him warily. “No offense, but I only date straight guys. Bi-sexuals are off the table, too.”
Travis looked offended. “Not all of my friends are gay, you know. I mean, Nate’s one of my closest friends and he’s the straightest guy I know.”
At the mention of Nathan’s name, Julia instantly tensed up. “That’s true. Look, let’s table this discussion for now, okay? I’m not sure I ought to be talking to my boss about looking for a new boyfriend.”
He grinned. “Oh, but it’s such a fun topic. However, I’ll put it on the back burner, sweetie. Speaking of Nate, did he like the re-designs?”
She nodd
ed. “Just fine, I think. Except we got interrupted before he could look at a couple of them. His, um, fiancée showed up.”
Travis grimaced. “Ah, so you’ve met the she-devil, have you? I don’t see any claw marks on you so I trust everything went well?”
Julia gave a small shrug. “She wasn’t brimming over with friendliness, if that’s what you mean. She was rather distant actually.”
He hooted. “You’re being polite, hunny bunny. Cameron Tolliver is a raging bitch, and I’m guessing she wasn’t happy at all to meet you. Or realize how closely you work with Nate. When the she-devil feels threatened, her hackles really rise up.”
“Oh, please. I have no idea why she’d be threatened by me. She’s a beautiful woman. And she’s the one wearing his engagement ring, not me. I just work with him, that’s all.”
“Hmm, that doesn’t mean Nate isn’t checking out all of your – er – assets as often as possible. Being engaged doesn’t automatically turn off a guy’s radar, you know. And I’ve always said that he was making a huge mistake in marrying Cameron.”
Julia’s curiosity was not piqued. “Why do you say that?”
Travis grinned. “Interested, are we? Well, that’s a discussion that might take awhile. Maybe like this weekend. Anton and I should take you to dinner.”
Anton was Travis’ partner, whom Julia had met a couple of times already. He was a slight, dark-haired, half-Asian man who worked as a personal shopper at Neiman Marcus, and absolutely adored Julia. They had talked fashion for hours the last time they had met.
“Actually, I owe you guys a dinner,” admitted Julia. “Why don’t you come over Saturday night and I’ll cook for you? And by cook, I mean preparing the meal from scratch, not ordering takeout.”
“So you’re gorgeous, artistic, fashionable and you cook? Hmm, maybe being gay isn’t what it’s cracked up to me. I might give Anton the boot and date you myself,” he teased.
She giggled, her good mood restored with his rather outrageous humor. “Oh, but you’d break poor Anton’s heart. And lose that great discount he gets you at Neiman Marcus.”
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