shrugged and poured another glass of wine. She’d still not made much of a dent in her green curry, which wasn’t like her. They both loved Thai food – in fact most food, really.
‘Is there something else going on I don’t know about? For someone who’s just gotten engaged, you seem … I don’t know, down?’ But she hadn’t been that way around Tom, which maybe meant Natalie was the problem
‘There are other things you don’t know,’ Rose said, staring down into her glass. ‘I’m not a nice person. At least I didn’t used to be. I don’t want to hurt Tom. I don’t want to hurt anyone ever again.’
Natalie shifted closer on the sofa and grabbed Rose’s hand, giving it a squeeze. ‘What are you talking about? You’re the best person I know, and that’s just for putting up with my drama alone.’
Rose’s eyes were wide and shiny as she looked up. ‘I love you, Nat. I don’t put up with you, I need you.’
‘I need you too. Talk to me, tell me what has you believing you’re anything other than lovely.’
But Rose hid her eyes and then pulled her hand free. ‘I can’t, I don’t even want to think about what I did … what I could do again. I’m going to go to bed now.’
‘Rose?’ she asked, but Rose just shook her head, leaving a pang in Natalie’s heart.
Natalie tried to tell herself that Rose’s idea of doing something terrible would be standing on a puppy’s tail by accident, and not getting it to a vet for a full check-up quickly enough, but the heavy feeling in her gut told her this was worse. All she could do was wait until Rose was ready to talk, and comfort her any way she could.
And to think, that wasn’t even the weirdest part of the evening. She was actually beginning to feel sorry for Tom, and even understand why he acted the way he did, in front of Natalie anyway.
It seemed like this was a week for firsts, and she couldn’t wait to get it over with.
***
Monday rolled around far too soon, as always, and Mick the Dick was spending a rare day in the office. Unfortunately, that meant he had just taken on a new client, which in turn meant dumping more work on her already packed desk.
After work, her day didn’t get much better. Tom had decided he wanted to get married at Christmas this year (which would mean he and Rose would be completely occupied with planning for the next few weeks), which would force Natalie to celebrate the day in a way other than staying in bed watching horror movies on DVDs with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. Oddly, Rose’s spirits seemed at an all-time low, and though she didn’t want to leave her friend, she’d never get to talk to her properly with Tom there in full wedding planner mode.
At least he was attentive to Rose’s gloominess and seemed to be making an effort to cheer her up, which made Natalie dislike him a little less. Still, she just wanted to get away from them this evening – and luckily for her, she knew a party that needed crashing.
When she arrived at the hotel overlooking Hyde Park, she was glad she came. The party was in one of their lounges with a balcony and the view of the Winter Wonderland bustling through the park was breath-taking. Swiping a glass of mulled wine, she wrapped her poncho round her shoulders and went to get a better look.
She turned her head to the sound of footsteps on the balcony next to her and quickly wished she hadn’t. Mr Smug was there, looking none too pleased to see her but there was the edge of something else sparkling in his chocolatey eyes.
‘I suppose you’ve urinated on the boundaries here, too?’ she asked, lacing the question with as much sarcasm as she could muster.
‘I thought you might try being nice this time, Nicole. Or is that name just a cover?’
Her breath caught, and without thinking she asked, ‘How did you find that out?’
The smug smile was back and she wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
‘I just checked to see whose name kept popping up and there you were. Or there was Nicole Porter anyway. I doubt that’s the name on your birth certificate though.’ He folded his arms and waited.
But if he thought she was going to deny it, or give him the pleasure of asking how he managed to get into any of the systems, he was wrong. Instead she shrugged. ‘That’s none of your business, is it?’
‘I disagree. Like I said before, too many unfamiliar faces and people are going to start asking questions. I quite like this set up, so I’m asking you one more time to reconsider.’
She wasn’t just hearing this guy though. Mick the Dick’s demands to get one pitch after another to his desk had been driving her mad all day. What was it with pushy men thinking women were only there to do what they wanted?
Well this woman wasn’t about to bow down, especially not to someone who didn’t pay her salary – even a pathetically low one. ‘I’m not leaving any time soon so you’d better get used to it.’
She polished off the last of the mulled wine, then turned to leave but he caught her arm and dragged her around to face him again. ‘Let. Me. Go.’
He did, but didn’t back away. ‘Maybe I could let them know all about your little stunt, Nicole.’
‘You wouldn’t! I could just do the same to you.’
‘You’d never get the chance. Then again, maybe it doesn’t have to end like this with us.’ Something flickered in his eyes and her mouth dried up. ‘Maybe we could take advantage of this situation and work off the tension between us a different way.’
He pointed above her head to a bunch of mistletoe dangling from the roof of the balcony. Her heart started to hammer and she stopped breathing altogether. He couldn’t possibly be suggesting that if she didn’t snog him, or go further, then he’d have her chucked out, was he?
Rage burned away the surprise and her heart slowed to a steadier beat. ‘Not if you were the last man alive. No scrap that, the last person alive. I’d rather change my sexuality than be with a creep like you.’
He didn’t look offended, just gave her a hot look that suggested she didn’t know what she was missing and even though her stomach clenched, she refused to feel anything other than dislike for this idiot.
‘Your choice,’ he said, as she turned and stomped back into the party.
Let him try and get her chucked her out. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.
***
Dean blew out a huge breath and ran a hand down his face. What had he been thinking? He’d never tried to blackmail a woman before – he’d never had to.
After he’d looked into the previous parties, found out the name she used to get in and noticed she’d be here tonight, he’d printed out a list of restaurants and bars having added her name to the guest list of them all. That way, she could go to those instead of risking them both being caught.
It wasn’t even about having two unfamiliar faces there. He and his brother used to come to these things together all the time. But they hung out at the bar, separated themselves from most
