KNOT: A Wake Family Novel (7 page)

I made my way around the room, shaking hands and making small talk with people I knew. I exchanged business cards with a handful of men and women who were also using the party as an opportunity to market themselves and their specialties.

What was her specialty?

Eight
.

The drinks went down at a responsible pace, and as the night began to quiet, and the band began to play music targeting couples to dance. I spent most of my time near the bar.

Surprisingly—or not, as it turned out—most everyone was paired off.

Seven.

I thought about loosening my tie as I leaned against the bar waiting for another beer, but didn’t bother.

Does she really know all these people? Why don’t I have a clue who she is?

Six.

“You’ve been staring at me all night,” a woman said from behind me. “So are you going to introduce yourself or not?”

Her voice is better up close.

Five
.

My shoulders shifted back, and I slowly turned to see her. The woman who I
knew
belonged to that timbre.

Collect yourself. Stand up straight.

Four.

Three.

Two.

First impressions are everything. Hers told me, loud and clear, she wasn’t what I was after. Then again, I thrived when challenged.

I took my time looking over my shoulder into her fiery, annoyed eyes and saw a glimpse of more than what she offered others.

I need to know everything about her.

I could have it all.

One.

Challenge accepted. “My name is Reagan Warren.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Nora.” She stood tall and proud, like a statue under my observant eye. She wore a slim, body-hugging skirt and a white, silk top that parted ever so slightly as she leaned against the bar beside me. It was tastefully transparent. Provocative, yet classy.

Every dark brown, precisely shoulder length hair in place. Stormy, grey eyes. Her lipstick applied to perfection. Skin pure like fresh cream.

Nora was pristine.

I wanted to start back at ten, but at that point, I knew there was no going back.

I offered her my hand, and she shook it—professionally. Firm. Deliberate. Intentional.

Immediately, I took stock of how her skin felt against mine. Her temperature just slightly warmer than my own. Her long fingers holding her palm tightly against my introductive grip.

Her presence made me stand straighter, despite the on-setting mild panic I was experiencing.

Hell, maybe it wasn’t her causing it. I’d had a crazy week. Maybe it was all catching up to me. It picked a supremely shitty time to do it though.

Regardless, she made me taller by inches, I’m sure.

She made Reggie into Reagan, so much so, that I’d introduced myself to her that way. To everyone I knew, outside of the formal signature on my email, I was Reggie.

Not to her though. To her, I wanted to
be
Reagan. More than just myself. The official me.

Never had there been a moment where I felt more feeble and dominant at the same time. It took everything in me to steady my breathing and talk to her, learning that I was able to do so fueled me. All the while, my stomach knotted, and I fought the urge to excuse myself.

No. Do this. You can do this.

“What do you do, Nora?” I asked before I took another drink.

It surprised me when she quickly fired back, “Don’t play that shit with me. I’ve seen you staring. What the hell is that all about?”

I’d watched her saccharine smiles all night. Heard her laugh from across the room. We were a group of business people talking shop. Informative? Interesting?
Maybe
. Funny? The odds of
that
many things being funny in that room were slim.

Her tone was completely indifferent with me though, and it took me back. I sat down my drink.

“Whoa, I don’t know what just happened. I was making small talk,” I said defensively before I had a chance to work up an offense instead.

“Small talk? You’ve been watching me like a maniac all night. I’m not interested. I’m here working, and if that’s not good enough. I’m here with friends.”

Working? Friends?
Maybe she was there with someone after all.

“So you’re with
InformaTrade,
then?”

I was eager to garner as much data as I could about the fair Nora, who had been commanding my full attention all night when I should have been concentrating on industry people. I wasn’t a misogynist; I was well aware she might be one of the industry people. Only, I was optimistic she wasn’t.

Business and pleasure mix like instant cocoa and lukewarm water. They’ll eventually go together, but you have to invest a hell of a lot more time, and it’s always a mess you wish you wouldn’t have gotten into.

“I’m the event planner for tonight. I work for Harbor Hotels, but I am not here alone.”

She held my gaze almost like she anticipated my reaction. Her smoky eyes tempted me to make a move more than her words did, but I couldn’t for a variety of reasons.

She was there with someone. Shut it down.

Mixing business with someone else’s pleasure was far worse than shitty hot chocolate.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Nora. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t realize…” I wasn’t about to play this dangerous game.

Then, she tucked a thick lock of hair behind one ear and smiled sheepishly, changing her approach. This time, she grinned with little more than half her mouth. It was friendly and yielding. Her annoyed expression relaxed showing how truly beautiful she was. Even more than she had been all night.

There you are. Hello, Nora.

She shook her head and then spoke. “No. I’m sorry. It’s just, you’ve been watching me. It drove me crazy. I don’t appreciate attention like that. I’m not interested in that.” Though her voice had softened, she was still rejecting some unspoken invitation she thought I’d given her.

She’s not here alone.

I couldn’t stand there making small talk while I was finding—one-by-one—things I liked about her.

She’d said she wasn’t interested, but I only half believed her.

Either way, so be it. There were too many red flags as it was, and I’d made her uncomfortable. I needed to cut my losses. That was the prudent move.

Pursuing her wasn’t fair to myself.

It wasn’t fair to her.

Most of all, it wasn’t fair to the woman in my future who would, in fact, meet everything on my grocery list of fantasies. That was going to be my new approach to dating moving forward. There would be a single woman out there who was both attractive and interested in me. A woman who wouldn’t be
with someone
.

Possession was nine tenths of the law and one hundred percent required in a relationship with me. I want to possess—and be possessed by—a woman who was all mine. I wasn’t ashamed of that.

I allowed myself a few more seconds, which weren’t really enough by a long shot, to appraise her. Nora appeared flawless, and damn if I didn’t want her, but obviously she wasn’t for me.

I was wasting my time, something only fools did.

“Enjoy your night, Nora.” My feet, hesitant as they were, began to leave her there.

“Wait, Reagan. Don’t you want to chat a while after
all
the lurking?” There it was again, that grin. She lowered her voice and continued, “This party is a little lame. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great party—I made sure of that. I just thought we might have a conversation. Pass some time.” As she spoke, her eyes scanned the room like they had before. Like clockwork, they made their rounds.

She’d went from cautious to sociable in seconds.

She’s more manic than I am.

Her wanting to talk to me didn’t change my mind though, I knew better. It wasn’t a good idea. It only solidified my reasons for moving along.

However, inwardly, I checked
asks for what she wants
off some arbitrary checklist.

Yes, I like power, but there was also value in knowing what someone needed from me. It was efficient, and directness was something I valued.

I trouble-shooted the situation.

“I’m sorry. I thought you said you were here with someone.” I pretended there was an opportunity, an opening for just enough reason to ignore she wasn’t alone.

Maybe they were only friends.

Maybe they were related.

Yes. Possibly she was there with a sibling or parent. I hadn’t considered any of that at first. Hope plumed.

“I am, but I’ve been working, and they’re off socializing. To be clear with you; we’re
only
talking.” She blinked and crooked her head showing me something entirely contradictory to what I’d first assessed of her. She was vulnerable, and if she wasn’t, she did a good job of appearing that way as she pinned me with a hint of longing in her eyes. Her finger traced the crystal rim of her wine glass.

“What if he doesn’t like that we’re
only
talking? I’m here for business. I’m sure you understand.”

“I do, and remember I am working, but I don’t think you understand what I said.”

Was it a riddle?

She nodded for me to come back, quickly tipping her chin up as she looked around the room and found what she was looking for. I watched her wink at someone, and I turned to find the recipient.

Just then, I saw a beautiful blond woman, who was on the arm of a man, wink back. She leaned into him and said something, then he raised his glass and winked back at Nora.

“My lovers.”

She was right. I didn’t understand. And
lover
was so ambiguous.

Was she there with the guy?

Was she there with the woman?

Had she said
lovers,
plural?

Fuck. Was she an escort?

So many possibilities ran through my mind. When I faced Nora again, she repeated her come-hither head nod, conspiratorially. She had me at a sure disadvantage, but I was too curious not to bite.

I laughed through my confusion, and in turn, she bit her lip to hide her smile as if she found my expression humorous.

Was she toying with me?

I wouldn’t be the next joke for her to use her phony laugh on.

I could be direct, too. “Okay, you’ve got me.
Who
are you here with?”

It was forward, and there was a very good chance that I’d simply misheard—or misunderstood—everything she’d told me. But there weren’t very many ways what she’d said could have been taken.

She turned back to face the bar and away from the eyes that watched us from across the room. Eyes who belonged to a tall, slender man with blond hair and the pretty woman.

“I’m here with them.”

Them.

I tipped back the fresh Heineken the bartender handed me, thirsty again, and it bought me some time before I had to speak. When you have issues like I do, time buys everything.

Everything
.

I am quick on my toes, but speed and efficiency can easily be confused. Saying the right thing means I seldom backtrack, seldom don’t get my point across accurately. When you speak to as many people on a daily basis as I do, and you manage your anxiety, you learn an extra moment for thought doesn’t really waste anything. It allows you to not only sound thoughtful but
be
thoughtful. As I leisurely took a second drink, I thought to myself about how the term
them
should be interpreted.

It’s possible her lover wasn’t one of them exactly, and that maybe
four
of them were there together? Although, they looked pretty—what’s the word—
familiar
with each other.

Maybe
he
was her lover? But there with a wife? Or possibly another escort?

I was so lost and growing tired of the charade. The chatter in my head started to drown out my thoughts. I sat my bottle on a napkin the bartender placed in front of me, now that I stood back at the bar.

I needed clarification.

“Who is the
lover
you’re here with?”

“Lovers really. I’m here with them both. I’m here with Janel, and we’re here with Ives, who is here for a business function I planned for the hotel.”

That was a lot of information.

“Ives?” I asked. That name wasn’t common and sounded familiar. It wasn’t clicking at that moment why.

She read my confusion. “Ives Bergeron. His company recently transferred him here to Chicago. He’s from the Swiss
InformaTrade
office.”

That’s where I knew it, I’d seen a new contact popup in my email. It must be him. Still, I felt no less confused about who she was here with.

Lovers? Plural?

“Both of them are your lovers?”

What was she into?