I smiled at Adam, who offered the seat next to him.
“She’s not normally so bitchy, but, uh, she’s had a thing for Will for years. They dated at university and modelled together over the years.”
I told myself I didn’t care. “It’s okay. We’re only friends.”
Adam and Jack exchanged looks, and then Jack slid into the seat on the other side of me. “In that case, I’m Jack, and I’m quite single.”
“Hold up. You’re not the only one. Did Will mention I’m the most handsome of the lot?” Paul teased.
I thought, nope, but he had mentioned that Paul wasn’t my type. Now I was curious as to why. After laughing off the attention, I learned that all of the guys had met while playing rugby while attending university together and had kept in touch over the years. Since Will had told me he was still taking online classes, I’d assumed he hadn’t graduated yet, but now I wondered if that was true.
When the guys ordered a round of shots, I didn’t bother to consult the ball in my clutch because I knew what I wanted it to say. Why not? Time to let loose and have some fun.
Looking annoyed, Will returned with Bridget beside him.
A straight-up sour expression marred her beautiful face. “I, um, I’m sorry for earlier. It’s nice to meet you.”
Yep, it was official. Will was the woman whisperer if he’d been able to convince her to apologize.
“It’s okay. Happy to start over. Nice to meet you, too, Bridget.”
She glanced at Will as if to say ‘are we done now?’ and gave me a fake smile before returning to her friends sitting at the bar. Oh, well. Catty women in my industry were a dime a dozen and I’d stopped letting them bother me a decade ago.
“Everything okay?” I asked Will.
He blew out a breath. “It’s better now. Thanks for being gracious.”
He took a beer from Paul and sat across from me while he caught up with his friends. I heard them make plans to go surfing tomorrow morning. The image of him in a wetsuit had me momentarily distracted until a couple of tall, handsome guys walked over, one with sandy and the other with dark hair. Their arrival caused another round of exuberant greetings from the group.
Turned out the dark-haired man was Rich, the conveniently-without-his-wedding-ring friend. And the blond-haired guy was introduced to everyone as Liam. He was Rich’s friend and was in town visiting. After another round of beer and more chairs pulled up, I found myself sitting with Liam to my left and Will on the right. Unfortunately, Bridget and her two friends sat on the other side of him, having now joined the group at the tables.
“So, how you going, Catherine?” Liam inquired, flashing his dimples.
“How am I what?” I’d had a couple of drinks and a shot, so it was possible I didn’t understand what he was asking.
“How you going is like how are you doing, but the Aussie way?” he thankfully explained.
Ah. “So do I answer with: I go fine?”
I realized when the entire table started to laugh that everyone was listening and amused by the American girl’s take on Aussie greetings.
“Nah. You say. I’m good. You? Try it as you’ll hear it everywhere.”
“Okay. How you going?” I fell into my own fit of giggles because I sounded more like Joey from Friends with ‘How YOU doing?’ and far from natural. “I think I’ll stick with ‘how’s it going.’”
Liam smiled and then perked up. “Sounds like the DJ started in the other room. Do you care for a dance, Catherine?”
Because I was feeling playful, I pulled out my magic eight ball.
“What’s this?” He flipped it over to reveal a ‘YES’. “Did you lose a bet or something?”
Standing up, a smile stretched across my face. “More like I decided it might be fun for the evening to let the ball decide. Luckily, it worked in your favor. Shall we?”
I took his extended arm and glanced towards Will, who now had Bridget whispering in his ear with her hand on his leg. I tried not to care. I was here tonight to flirt and meet someone new and that involved channeling my inner Kat. Besides, Liam was very handsome.
Turned out he had some serious dance moves. If nothing else, I could say definitively that I was good at dancing. And it wasn’t dull. Matter of fact, given the way he was looking at me move, I was feeling uncharacteristically sexy.
We returned to the table after a couple songs, and he motioned for the waitress, ordering a gin and tonic.
I tried to ignore Will’s frown as I sat back down and continued to chat with Liam. Wasn’t this the whole reason I was out tonight? So why did Will seem unhappy with me?
“Where are you from, Liam?” I questioned, sipping my cocktail and wanting to get to know him a bit more.
“From Brisbane, but in Sydney for business and visiting Rich, who I used to work with.”
“Oh, what is it you do?”
He shrugged, appearing put out that I was engaging him in conversation. Maybe this was the downside of meeting a guy in a bar. That he didn’t want to get to know me better unless it included taking off my clothes later. Yep, this part about my college years was flashing back to me now.
“I do a little of this, little of that. I fancy myself a bit of an entrepreneur.”
I wasn’t a snob by any means. He could’ve told me he worked a farm, did landscaping, or was a painter, but his vague answer grated on my nerves. Yes, I was aware I’d put down having a man who was financially independent on my matchmaker’s criteria, but I was quickly realizing I wanted a man who was passionate about what he did, no matter what it was. I had to remind myself this wasn’t a date, however, and I wasn’t looking for a relationship. So I made myself figuratively shrug it off and continued my mission of flirting.
After a few more minutes of small talk, Liam excused himself to take a phone call. “Sorry about this; it’s work.” He walked down the hall towards the restrooms, where it was probably a lot quieter than the bar, which was getting louder as the hour got later.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Will turned to me. “He’s a class-A douche, Cath,” he whispered.
“He’s not that bad. And…” I pulled out my trusty ‘get out of jail free card’ eight ball. “Do I keep talking to Liam?”
‘It is decidedly so’ flashed up, and I shrugged, trying not to get annoyed that Bridget, on his other side, was now rubbing his arm possessively.
Turning my full attention back onto, uh, uh, Liam, yeah, Liam, when he returned, I had to request him to repeat the question he’d just asked.
“I’d asked you what it is you do?” Liam’s voice was low and throaty, but instead of being turned on, I was distracted by the thought of Will possibly returning to the hotel with Bridget tonight.
“I work in fashion.”
“Yeah, like in retail?”
I gave him a small smile, not bothering to tell him anything about my career. For one, he wasn’t my type, and for two, I was trying to leave the fashion magazine editor persona behind in New York. “Sure. Something like that.”
“Well, you dress nice.”
“Thanks. I like clothes.” I don’t think I’d ever said anything lamer in my life. I was officially a hair twirl away from having to excuse myself to beat my head against a wall. “So, um, tell me more about yourself.”
“Should be his favorite subject,” Will mumbled in my ear, and I tried not to giggle.
Liam didn’t help things when he flipped his hair, Justin Bieber circa 2010 style. Good Lord. Although I could definitely say he was handsome, I was growing less attracted to him by the second. After a couple more minutes of prattling on, he startled me by trailing his fingers down my arm seductively. “Tell me: are all your decisions dictated by the ball tonight?”
Taking it out of my pocket, I shrugged. “I should probably ask it that question.”
He took it out of my hand and showed me the ‘YES’ which floated to the top.
“Guess I am.” I hoped it came out braver than I was actually fe
eling.
He leaned in, whispering. “Then maybe you should ask the ball if you’re going back to my hotel room with me tonight.”
I was a deer in the headlights, but forced myself to lighten up. Shaking the ball, I wondered if I should entertain the idea of a one-night stand with Liam. After all, he was the sort of guy where you knew up front what you were getting, and it had been two very long years. I took a deep breath, flipping the ball over with a shaking hand.
Up came the non-definitive answer of “Reply hazy, try again.”
Nervous laughter erupted from my throat, and I took the temporary reprieve for what it was. “And that’s my cue to use the ladies’ room.”
He looked disappointed but hopeful. “All right, but I expect a second try once you return.”
“Sure.”
Do not overthink this, Catherine. Get out of your own head. I tried to talk myself into it while I walked down the short hallway, but it was no use. If I felt this relieved when the ball hadn’t come up with a definitive yes, then clearly this wasn’t something with which I was comfortable. Unfortunately, there were some things I wasn’t able to leave up to the ball, after all. Even fun, flirty Kat had her limitations. This meant no one-night stands with a handsome Aussie man I’d just met in a bar. Damn.
Taking one last glance in the mirror and freshening my breath with a mint, I figured I’d return to the table and play it cool, maybe lose the ball. But when I walked out the door into the hallway, I ran straight into a brick wall of Will MacPherson.
“Oomph.” The breath came out as I steadied myself against his hard chest. I blushed when I saw his gaze fixed on me and saw my hands remained on his pecs. Dropping my hands quickly, I took a deep breath. “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“Are you seriously thinking about sleeping with that wanker?”
Grasping that he’d followed me in order to ask that question, I didn’t appreciate his judgy tone, so I automatically got defensive. “You’re not exactly one to talk, with Ms. Insincere Apology hanging all over you. I’m assuming you’re taking her back to your room, so what does it matter what I do?”
I realized too late that I’d revealed my true thoughts with my jealous tone and watched his eyes narrow.
“Is that what you want? Me to be with her and you to sleep with Liam?”
What was he asking? We stood there, our gazes locked on one another until Bridget’s voice broke through, along with the sound of her heels as she walked down the corridor.
She looked between us. “There you two are. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take my man out onto the dance floor.”
“We need another minute,” Will said, not even sparing her a glance.
She was instantly put out, murdering me with her eyes before moving to the end of the hall on the edge of the bar where her location meant there would be no way to walk by her without her knowing.
Will ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m trying to look out for you,” he whispered. The intense moment from which we’d been interrupted was now long gone, if ever there’d been such a thing.
Frustrated with myself for reading into things and possibly taking his concern at more than face value, my irritation spilled over. I seemed to have forgotten I’d already talked myself out of a one-night stand. “I’m a big girl, Will. And you’re the one who said I needed to lighten up and have some fun. Maybe this is a way to do that.” I was only thinking out loud, but I could tell by the sour expression on his face he wasn’t happy with my answer.
He threw up his hands, exasperation lacing his words. “You’re right. You are a big girl. Do what you want, then, but just so you know, your prospect is now flirting with those two at the bar.” He pointed at Liam, who was within sight and acting touchy-feely with two young girls who appeared to be all over him.
What the hell? Nice Catherine would’ve let it go. Polite Catherine would’ve walked by without another thought. Kat was neither of those people. Kat was not okay with being dissed like this. I intended to give him a piece of my mind or maybe simply glare at him while I walked by—because, let’s be honest, I wasn’t exactly in a position to go banshee on a guy I’d just met and wasn’t actually going to sleep with. Before I could, I was surprised by Will grabbing my hand.
“No, don’t.”
I raised a brow. “You accuse me of being too nice, too accommodating but now want to stop me from walking by and at the very least give him a dirty look?”
He sighed. “I told him you weren’t coming home with him and to find some other conquest for the evening.”
“Wait. What? Why?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Because it’s not you. Listening to you flirt with him wasn’t even close.”
Oh, my fucking God. Frustration wasn’t a strong enough term for what I was feeling. “Of course it wasn’t me. The whole point in traveling across the globe was to stop being the same old boring me.”
Did he have any idea what it took to get my head wrapped around acting casual and thus shed my Catherine New York persona? But I was more disgusted with myself than with him. Why had I imagined for one moment that coming here to the other side of the world would change things? I grabbed my reprieve when an employee opened up a door at the far end of the hallway, revealing the back of the restaurant. I bolted out the rear door and didn’t stop.
Thankful the hotel was within walking distance, I set out on foot. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember what direction to head. Regardless, I began to walk, hoping for once I’d get lucky with my fifty-fifty choice.
I could hear Will’s voice calling after me a few minutes later. “Cath, hold up. Would you wait?”
Once I realized he was catching up, I slipped off my heels and took off in a run, tears streaming down my face. The very last thing I wanted was for anyone to see me this way, especially when I didn’t even have the words to describe what I was feeling. When the lights of the hotel came into view, I threw up a little note of thanks to the universe and decided to take a shortcut across an empty grassy lot next to the hotel hoping it might keep Will from catching up with me. Regrettably, my appreciation of fate had been given too soon. My bare feet sank into six inches of mud.
“Shit.”
Will stopped short, evidently recognizing the lawn I’d thought to run across was nothing but a mucky mess. “At least you had your shoes off.” He stood with his hands on his hips at the edge, hardly out of breath despite having run after me.
“Can you please take them?” I held my shoes high, hoping at least I could avoid ruining my designer heels.
He sighed and stepped forward. “Are you really that much of a princess? A little dirt never hurt anything.”
I fumed at the name, feeling like he was adding insult to injury tonight. “I’m not a princess, but when my shoes are worth over three thousand dollars and my clutch another two, the last thing I want to do is take a chance on ruining them.”
He cursed under his breath and grabbed the shoes, along with my purse. “That’s more than my first car was worth and only re-emphasizes the princess comment. Your phone is ringing, by the way.”
He helped himself, taking the device out of my clutch and then flashed me the screen with a smile. “Who is Why the hell is he calling me now?”
“I’ll give you one guess.” It was my ex-husband, and his newly dubbed contact name said it all. “Are you going to help me out of this or what?”
He put my phone away, chuckling, and then reached his hands out to grip mine. “Sure thing, princess.”
His newfound nickname snapped something inside of me. I made the mistake of letting go, which flung me back on my ass into the mud where I didn’t bother to get up. That was it. I was about to lose my shit in the muck of a vacant lot on a starry night in Sydney, Australia.
“I’m not a fucking princess. I appreciate nice things, and I run one of the best fashion magazines in the world. Half these things were given to me by the designers; I didn’t buy them. And I would t
hink that being in the same industry, you’d have an appreciation for the fact the editor of Cosmo Life cannot go around in clothes from Target, although I think that might be nice for a change. Furthermore, I work hard for a living; I always have. I didn’t grow up poor, but I certainly didn’t enjoy some lavish childhood which afforded me a silver spoon. I always worked: in my father’s office, volunteering at the hospital, babysitting. So don’t you dare call me a princess as if I’ve led some sort of pampered lifestyle that I don’t deserve. I’ve earned every penny and every stitch of clothing, whether it be expensive or not.”
He regarded me a moment before smiling. “Exactly. So don’t ever diminish yourself again in front of anyone, especially that wanker in there. You work hard, and you’re damn good at your job. Be proud of that fact.”
I huffed out a breath, getting whiplash from his unexpected response. “Was this some sort of test?”
The smug bastard shrugged. “Listening to you tell that asshole you work in retail like you fold clothes at the Gap was not the Catherine I know. You have a career which means something to you, that you worked hard for, and that you should be proud of.”
Exasperation flowed through me. “You convinced me to come here and leave my New York image behind. You told me I was intimidating in my regular clothes and had me change tonight. You encouraged me to be fun and flirty, which obviously isn’t me. And then you proceeded to sabotage it once I’m finally doing a decent job of it. Was I really supposed to invest time in telling Liam what I do for a living when we both know he didn’t care? He only wanted to get laid.”
His jaw flexed. “Yeah, well, I changed my mind. You should be yourself from now on.”
I stood up slowly, flexing my hands in the wet earth, and then did what any thirty-something-year-old woman at her wit’s end would’ve done. I threw mud at him. The look of shock when my pitch hit him square in his pretty-boy face was definitely worth the momentary loss of maturity.
“Did you really just do that?” He grinned like he couldn’t believe it, either, wiping it off with his hand.
Teach Me Something (Something Series Book 4) Page 12