by Eve Langlais
Doug looked between them. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“N-no, of course not,” Val stammered and Nate looked at her again, his eyes narrowing as he took in the heightened color on her cheeks. What was going on?
“Good. Then I’ll see you both there. Now, since we’ve already been dragged down here, let’s work on some of this other stuff.”
Nate nodded and Val picked up her notebook to go back over the various action items. As she spoke, Nate continued to watch her. Picturing her in a slinky, clingy evening gown was making his suit pants uncomfortably tight.
They talked about several other projects they had in the works to combat Dr. Godlowski’s disappearance and then Nate and Val got up to leave Doug’s office. Walking back in silence, Nate waited until they’d reached Val’s office and followed her inside, closing the door behind him. She regarded him with narrowed eyes, but he ignored her. Propping his hands on her desk, he leaned over her. “So who are you bringing as your date to this gala?”
Val blinked at him. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Good. Then we’ll go together.”
“Excuse me?”
Nate gave his best casual shrug, hoping like hell he was pulling it off. “It’ll be perfect this way. We’ll be together already if Doug needs something and neither one of us needs to scrounge up a date at the last minute, which is especially good for me since I don’t know anyone in the area but you and Doug.”
Val sputtered for a moment and Nate waited her out. He figured if she thought about it a little she’d see the logic to his plan. Finally, she seemed to come to some decision. “Fine.” She looked up at him and arched an eyebrow. “But it’s not a date.”
Backing away from the desk, Nate fought to keep his expression under control. “Whatever you say. We’ll talk more later about specifics. For now I think I’ll head back to my room to get some work done if you don’t mind. Do you need me for anything?”
“No,” she blurted out. Clearing her throat, she turned her attention to her computer and he could no longer school his expression as his lips fought to form a smile. She ignored him and he walked out, whistling.
Back in his room, he called Lesli.
“Hey hon, how’s everything going?”
Lesli made a noncommittal sound. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
“Bad news, always.”
“Not many celebs are screwing up their lives.”
Nate laughed. “Okay, the good news.”
“Not many celebs are screwing up their lives.”
“So you’re getting bored?”
Lesli snorted. “Hardly. Even the small screw-ups are keeping us in business.”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything, boss,” Lesli answered with a chuckle. “Well, almost anything.”
“This is easy. Can you arrange for a tux to be delivered to my hotel?” He paused for a second. “By six tonight.”
“You need a tux to work at that place? Wow, fancy hospital.”
Nate rolled his eyes. “There’s a gala tonight and Doug wants me to go.”
“So I guess that means you won’t be home anytime this weekend, huh?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Probably not for several more days, actually.”
“Things going badly?”
“Yeah, you could say that. This guy really did a number on the hospital’s reputation. On Doug’s reputation, too. He’s taking a lot of heat for this.”
“That’s too bad. None of this is his fault. He wasn’t the one who made off with millions.”
“No, but the public needs someone to blame, as you well know.”
“The public sucks.”
Laughing, Nate replied, “That they do. But their often irrational reactions keep my Porsche running, so I’m good with them sucking.”
“Yeah, well, not all of us drive Porsches.”
“Oh, please. With your salary you could afford a Porsche.”
“Sure, but then I’d have to stop buying shoes. Speaking of shoes, do you need all the accoutrements sent with the tux?”
Nate considered. “I think you’d better. I’m not sure where I’d find stuff like that if I needed to. I’ve got dress shoes but most tuxes come with those shiny shoes.”
“You got it. So are you going to this shindig stag? I don’t think I’ve seen you at an event without arm candy since, well, ever.”
“No, actually I’m going with the director of PR for the hospital.”
“The one who hates you and thinks you’re a moron?”
“The very one.”
“How’d you get roped into that?”
“I asked her to go with me.”
“Why?” Lesli voiced the question like she was asking why he’d agreed to a bloodletting.
“Because I like her.”
“Seriously? You like a woman who thinks your ideas about PR are completely wrong and seems offended by your very being?”
Nate found himself wanting to defend Val. “We just have differing opinions on crisis response. I can’t expect her to have the same philosophy as me. This is the first time she’s been faced with something like this. She also has a personal stake in the hospital, which colors her perceptions.”
“I’ll be damned.”
“What?”
“You like her.”
“I just told you that.”
“No, I mean, you like her. I never thought I’d see the day-”
“Yeah, yeah.” Nate was growing increasingly uncomfortable. He didn’t like Val in some weird, gooey way, he wanted her. Big difference. You keep telling yourself that, big guy. He ignored his brain’s taunting. “Anyway, I’ll be in my room catching up on email, so call me if you need anything. I’m sure I’ll be filling your inbox momentarily.”
“Nice segue, Dodger.”
Nate couldn’t help but laugh. “Get back to work.”
“It’s the weekend. I’m going shopping and then to dinner with my girlfriends.”
“Should I send out the Bat Signal to warn the men of the Greater New York City?”
“Smart ass.”
After hanging up with Lesli, he booted up his laptop and grabbed a beer from the minibar. He wasn’t on the clock, technically. Hell, he wasn’t on the clock at all. He’d told Doug privately he didn’t want to be paid for his time. Predictably, Doug had protested, but Nate had stood his ground. If it hadn’t been for Doug, Nate would’ve dropped out of college after his sophomore year when everything in his life had come crashing down. Hell, Doug’s parents had put him up for almost four months without asking for a thing in return. He couldn’t repay that kind of generosity, but he would damn sure do what he could, and profiting monetarily from Doug’s misfortunes didn’t sit well with him.
*****
Val called Stacy for reinforcements. After explaining the situation to her, Val was able to convince Stacy to meet her at the mall. Normally, Val didn’t go to the yearly gala since employees didn’t get a discount on tickets and, even though she was well-compensated, dropping almost five hundred dollars just on tickets, not to mention the dress, hair and makeup, would put a dent in her bank account. Then there was the problem of finding a date. Took care of that one–against my will. But it didn’t look like she was getting out of attending the soiree this time.
After a quick bite in the food court, they headed to the department stores to look for a dress. As they perused the racks, Val started thinking about what it would be like to attend the gala with Nate. Would he expect her to dance with him? Did he dance? Was dancing with him a good idea if he asked? Stacy startled her out of her reverie.
“Hello? Earth to Val!”
“What?” Seeing the exasperated look on her friend’s face, Val’s face flamed. “Sorry.”
Stacy smirked. “Thinking about Nate again?”
“I just–”
“You like him. Hey, it’s okay to like him.”
Val groaned.
“Sometimes I like him. Sometimes I want to slap him.”
“So a typical reaction for a woman to have to a guy?”
“That’s typical? God help us.”
“Anyway, do you like this one?”
Val wrinkled her nose. “I hate one-shoulder dresses. I always feel lopsided.”
“Okay then,” Stacy answered with a snicker, as she put the dress back.
They continued to flip through the racks. Val bit her lip. Should she tell Stacy about kissing Nate again? Finally, she decided she needed someone to talk to and Stacy was likeliest the least judgmental of anyone she knew.
“Hey.” Stacy looked up from where she was admiring the beaded bodice of a dress that would look great on her but not on Val, who’d fall out of the thing. “Did I tell you Nate kissed me again?”
“No. And I can’t believe you didn’t say something earlier. We’ve been together for almost two hours now. When were you planning to slip this little piece of information in?”
“Apparently right now,” Val answered, rolling her eyes.
“Oh. Yeah. Well, why did you wait so long?” Stacy tugged Val to a pair of chairs outside the dressing room. She waved toward the dresses when Val protested. “We’ll get back to that in a minute. Right now you need to tell me what happened. Don’t leave any details out.”
Val recounted the tale of Nate kissing her in her office and then that little brush of a kiss later. Stacy stayed silent throughout, and when Val finished, she said, “Let me ask you a question.” At Val’s nod, she continued. “Would it be that bad to give in to the attraction? I mean, he’s not staying, right? So where’s the harm in having a little fun?”
“I don’t do that. I don’t have casual sex,” Val protested.
“You say that like I just told you to go hump a football team. Sex for sex’s sake doesn’t have to be dirty.”
“I know. I just…” She wasn’t sure how to explain her feelings. “I haven’t had sex since Brian and I broke up and I’m afraid that once I start my judgment will be clouded.”
“In what way?”
“Like I won’t be able to tell if he really likes me or if he’s just using me for sex.”
“So what? Do you want him to like you?”
“I don’t know. Yes. No. This is all becoming so complicated. I think the whole problem is that I don’t want to like him, but I do. I can’t help it. Even when he’s driving me crazy and we’re arguing about how to handle stuff I still want to climb over the table, grab the lapels of his perfectly-tailored suit and kiss the daylights out of him.”
“Wow. You should do it, then.”
“Right. Not that easy, by far. Let’s get back to dress shopping, shall we?”
“So are we looking for something that’ll make Nate sit up and take notice?”
“God, no, I don’t want him to be any more aggressive than he already is.”
Stacy laughed and Val shook her head at her friend. It was easy for Stacy to be so carefree about all this stuff. She didn’t have a hotter-than-sin, overly confident, all-male specimen to contend with for hours every day.
Together they picked out several dresses and Val headed to the fitting room to try them on. The first, a sleeveless white silk gown with a gathered bodice, was nice but too clingy. Stacy remarked, “That thing looks like it was painted on.”
That was all Val needed to hear. She peeled the dress off, handed it to Stacy to put back on the hanger, and went to the next, a long black dress with an open back. That one was discarded as soon as Val turned around to look at herself in the mirror. “Way too sexy.”
“What do you mean? Except for the back it’s pretty staid.”
“Yeah, and the back’s the problem. It goes down almost to my butt!”
“It does not,” Stacy argued.
“I’m not wearing it. Next.” They went through a bunch more dresses until Val slipped one over her head, turned toward the mirror, and gasped. The gown was satin with a chiffon overlay. It looked silver, but as she moved the satin shimmered in greens and pinks. The little chiffon wrap with the dress made her feel more covered up, even if it was only an illusion. She checked out the price tag. “And I can afford it. Even better.”
They gathered all the rejected dresses, leaving them on the rack outside the dressing room. After paying for her purchase, she and Stacy stopped by the makeup counter and Val bought a few special colors to do her eyes for the party. With their shopping done, they strolled back down the main aisle of the mall, talking, until they came to the entrance by the food court.
Val hugged Stacy. “Thank you so much for putting up with my craziness.”
“Anytime, girl. You know that.” Stacy pulled away and waggled her finger. “But I want at least one picture, even if it’s from your cell phone.”
Val laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter Nine
Nate called and told her he’d come pick her up. She protested, as the gala was only a few blocks from the hospital, whereas her little house was almost a half-hour outside the city, but Nate wouldn’t hear of her meeting him there. Finally Val relented, figuring she had bigger fish to fry with him than where they’d meet that night.
Through some stroke of magic, Val was able to get into her favorite salon for a manicure and pedicure before Michelle, her stylist, put her hair up in an elegant twist. Driving home, she was careful to keep her nails and her hair from getting messed up. But when she stepped out into the typical Buffalo wind, one strand of long, black hair flew across her face and she shrieked, running into the house as best she could in her flip-flops. Slamming the door behind her, she put a tentative hand up to assess the damage. Not too bad—nothing she couldn’t repair with a few strategically-placed bobby pins and a metric ton of hairspray.
By the time she’d shimmied into her dress, fixed her hair, and applied her makeup, Nate was due to arrive. She didn’t even have time to be nervous, but when the doorbell rang her heart jumped in her chest anyway. Forcing herself to move slowly, she went to the door and opened it, then had to concentrate on keeping her tongue in her mouth as she looked at Nate.
He was attired in a navy-blue tuxedo that looked like it had been made specifically for him, but unless he typically traveled with a tux she doubted that was true. The man certainly knew how to wear clothes. The wide shoulders tapered down to a three-button waist, and his powerful thighs were lovingly encased in the pants. The look was topped off by a traditional white tuxedo shirt and a navy-blue satin tie that matched the crisp lapels. Overall, an entirely delectable package. Too delectable.
They both stood there, admiring each other, until Nate cleared his throat. Val was brought back to reality in force then. “I’m sorry, come in. I just need to gather a few things and I’ll be ready to go.”
“Take your time.” Nate sat on her overstuffed cotton couch and leaned back, casual as can be, while she scurried around the house looking for all the things she needed to tuck into her small evening bag. He appeared to be watching her with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. She’d expected him to demand a tour and was surprised when he just sat quietly. Finally she was ready to depart. Nate helped her into his Porsche and then started the engine.
Val couldn’t help but reach her hand out to stroke along the dashboard. “Purrs like a kitten.”
“Doesn’t she?” Nate grinned at her, and then pulled out of her driveway with the flawless efficiency she’d seen him display in so many situations. She’d be jealous if it didn’t make her want him so badly.
Nate valeted his car and they walked into the hotel where the gala was being held. Already a crowd was assembling and Val was happy to see attendance didn’t seem to be down. They found Doug to let him know they’d arrived.
He shook Nate’s hand and told her she looked beautiful. Nate snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed one to her. She drank gratefully, glad to have something to wet her mouth, which had been parched since the moment she’d laid eyes
on Nate.
“I’ve saved places for you both at my table,” Doug told them, pointing out the table immediately in front of the podium. She and Nate nodded and Doug continued, sighing. “I want you to be close at hand in case there are any problems.”
He looked so worn out Val couldn’t help but place her hand on his shoulder. Squeezing gently, she said, “There aren’t going to be any problems. It certainly doesn’t look like attendance is suffering.”
Doug looked around. “Thankfully, no, according to the gala committee. Hopefully the guests will still be generous with the raffle and auction items, like they have been in prior years.”
“I’m sure they will. These people know CCC is a good cause to support, no matter what one doctor did.”
“God, I hope so. We’re going to need this money if more donors pull out and NIH doesn’t lift their ban on funding us.”
Nate turned to her. “Would you like to go check out the items up for bid?”
“The things they offer at these galas are usually too rich for my blood,” she answered, trying to suppress a sigh. She had a great life and felt kind of ridiculous lamenting the fact she couldn’t put a five-figure bid on a fabulous vacation.
Nate insisted they go over anyway and, sure enough, a weeks’ stay at a private villa in the US Virgin Islands was one of the live auction items. Val ran the tips of her fingers over the brochure on display. She hadn’t been anywhere for vacation in almost three years and was dying to go somewhere she could just hang out by the ocean and have someone bring her endless margaritas. Moving down the line she spied spa packages, autographed sports memorabilia, gorgeous diamond jewelry, and more. The lights flickered and she turned to Nate. “We should go sit.”
“Why don’t you go ahead? Grab us some seats and I’ll join you in a minute.” Val briefly narrowed her eyes, but gave her assent, following the rest of the assemblage back into the ballroom. A few moments later Nate sat down next to her. “So what’s for dinner?”
That look on his face was far too innocent and she had a feeling he’d just bid on something for her. Val read from the card in front of her. “Mixed grill, it looks like. Why would anyone bother with chicken when steak is available?”