Page 24 of The Fool
“Because she’s my PA, for Christ’s sake! I don’t want to see her mixing with my family on a personal night out. It’s inappropriate.”
“For God’s sake, Nate, don’t be such a fucking buzz kill!” Callie pipes in. If I’m not mistaken, she looks genuinely angry with him, a look I’ve never seen on her before. Though, from the way she’s trying to stare him down, I’m glad she’s on my side.
“Buzz kill? What about my fucking buzz kill right here?” he says, pointing at me without even having the decency to face me.
“It’s fine, Callie,” I finally speak up. “I’ll leave, he’s right, this is a family affair and if my being here is making things uncomfortable, then I’ll go.”
I begin to turn around, getting ready to run far away from this humiliating scene, but James grabs my hand and pulls me into him, his own anger now coming to the surface for all to see.
“No fucking way!” James says eerily quietly, looking at Nate the whole time. “You were invited, Bea, he wasn’t. In fact, I would say you are the one being inappropriate, wouldn’t you?”
“Stay out of it, James, this is none of your business,” Nate grits through his clenched teeth.Oh, God, this is getting way out of hand; I almost wish Ben was here.
“Yeah, well, I’m making it my business,” James retorts, stepping toward him.
They have some sort of alpha male stare down, all while we watch on, wondering what the hell is going to happen next. Callie is slurping her drink, looking a little amused by all the testosterone floating around. Helena has sunk down, as if trying to avoid the whole confrontation, whereas I’m just glad the bride-to-be isn’t here to see this all going down at her bachelorette party. I take a quick glance toward the bar, only to find Lily and Cameron practically dry-humping on the dancefloor.
Feeling relieved, I turn to see Nate and James still having a glare-off, so tug on James’ arm to try and break it up.
“Come on, James, let’s go dance,” I practically beg him, then look up to see Nate staring down at me. His eyes remain on mine for an uncomfortable amount of time, to the point whereby it looks like his anger is turning into something else, something arrogant, something wanting. Eventually, he steps back and gestures to the dance floor, effectively letting us go.
“That’s what I thought,” James says to him before taking my hand again. “Come on, beautiful, let’s go and dance.”
Monday me is definitely going to be bricking it when she goes into work!
_____
Bea
Half an hour later, and the glare off incident is firmly behind me. The music is pumping, James is swinging me about the floor, and every now and then, I catch Lily having a good time, even if it is on her future husband’s lap. At first, I felt a pang of jealousy when I saw how besotted they were together, but now I am beginning to realize that if what they have is something I want, then maybe I should take a chance on someone and begin to trust again. I’ve just got to be more careful about who I trust my heart with this time.
As if the universe is listening into my private thoughts, the music slows and I notice Thor sauntering my way, and with a wicked grin plastered all over his handsome face. A mixture of nervous anticipation and nausea runs through me, and my wiggling slows down into virtually nothing the closer he gets to me.
“I think I’m going to go and get another drink,” James whispers inside of my ear, with the sound of a smug smile in his voice. He kisses my cheek, so I turn to try and grab his hand, but he slips away before I can even touch him.
“James!” I whisper shout with urgency, but his back continues walking away toward the bar, purposefully ignoring my desperate pleas to not leave me here alone.
With no other option to hand, I turn away from Thor and begin swaying my hips to the music. I try to lose myself to the beat and ignore the fact that a Nordic god is marching this way, as well as the sad realization that I haven’t been close to a man since Dean. It doesn’t stop me from jumping when I suddenly feel warm hands beginning to snake around my hips, and it certainly doesn’t stop me from gasping when he begins swaying with me from behind. Intimacy like this, with anyone, feels a little weird after all this time, but I let it happen because it also feels nice, like I’m finally beginning to move on.
“I was hoping you would still be here,” he whispers inside my ear, “I’ve been watching you all night. Do you know how hard it is trying to hide an erection when you’re serving drinks?”
I emit a burst of laughter at the same time as he takes hold of my hand and spins me around to face him. I’m then pulled in close so he can prove that what he just said about his ‘problem’ is true. I think I had forgotten what one of these felt like, but now that I’m here, I may as well throw caution to the wind and enjoy myself. Throwing my hands around his neck and moving in close, I expose my neck and indulge in the sensation of him delivering little kisses over my skin. My eyes fall closed when his kisses become a little less chaste, and a little more hot and passionate.
As he moves up toward my jaw, getting closer to my own lips, I open my eyes, only to discover Nathaniel Carter slow dancing with a woman only a few feet away from us. The two of them are dancing close, looking almost identical to Thor and me. Nathaniel’s dark green eyes look straight into mine as we continue dancing with our partners. He maintains his eye contact even when he moves his hand down her back to caress and cup one of her ass cheeks. I try to look away, but for reasons unknown to me, I can’t. In fact, I don’t even feel Thor’s hands on me anymore, just Nathaniel’s intense stare. He smiles at me before moving down to kiss his partner’s neck with his open mouth, the whole time looking at me, taunting me with his brand of arrogance.
I begin to feel prickly heat spreading out over my neck, my hands are clammy, and my pulse is speeding up, along with my breathing. My discomfort only intensifies when I watch him tongue-kissing her, but still with his devious eyes on mine. The corner of his lips kicks up as my mouth drops open in shock when he suddenly lifts her leg up to wrap around his thigh. His hand caresses her exposed flesh as he moves up closer toward her ass. Why is he still watching me when he’s giving this woman foreplay in the middle of the dancefloor? What is he trying to achieve? Intimidation, lust, humiliation? Whatever it is, it’s making me feel all kinds of messed up; I don’t know whether to feel turned on or just scared, but I think I feel both.
Without warning, Thor turns us round so I am facing in the other direction, and no longer able to see Nathaniel. The sudden change has me feeling faint, so much so, I break away from his embrace.
“I’m really sorry…I’ve got to go,” I blurt out and begin to move away from him, but he catches hold of my hand before I can escape.
“Where are you going? What’s wrong?” Poor Thor seems genuinely concerned and I begin to curse myself for letting Nathaniel Carter get the better of me.
“Nothing, you’re amazing, but I…I’ve just got to go,” I fluster, this time managing to pull away from his grip. Trying not to see his disappointment, I walk off the dance floor as quickly as I can without looking like some sort of messed up Cinderella.
“Hey, babe, what’s wrong?” James asks when he catches hold of me at the edge of the dance floor. I hardly know how to answer him; I feel so ridiculous over what just happened between my bully of a boss and me, not to mention the insanely attractive guy who I just left hanging on the dance floor.
“I need to go, James, I’m not feeling…but I’ll see you at Lily’s wedding, thanks for everything…I’ve just got to…get out of here!”