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Chapter Four
Two years later
“Well, this is a surprise,” my younger and only brother said, nudging me in my side.
“It is? Good!” I eyed him sideward with a smug grin on my face.
“You looked pleased with yourself… as you should. The boy did good, James. She really suits you,” he added, grinning, his eyes widening excitedly as he stood beside me and turned to follow my gaze.
Nodding slowly with a small smile, I considered his assessment of me while I watched, Juliette, my first real girlfriend since high school, weave her way through the guests gathered to celebrate Hammer moving into his first purchased home.
“You’re a dark horse, we had no idea you were bringing someone.”
“Nice to know some of us still have a modicum of privacy in this family,” I remarked dryly. It was hard to do anything without my family knowing. We were close, or we had been until my fucked-up sabbatical due to Sawyer’s ex, but fortunately we had put that behind us and my brother and I were closer for the incident.
Since then they had all wanted to know my business, so I hadn’t disclosed I was seeing someone, until I sprang my girl on them that day. I knew I’d surprise them, but no one more than I’d astonished myself with my fast-moving relationship with my new live-in girlfriend.
I’d be a liar if I’d said I had fallen hard for Juliette. The fourteen year difference between us was sometimes very apparent, more notable than my brother’s relationship with his wife, yet Sawyer was the around the same age as her.
However, most of the time her younger outlook on life felt like a breath of fresh air in my otherwise sober existence in my new serious business position within my father’s firm. Therefore, what had begun as a casual arrangement between Juliette and I amazed me when it developed into more.
Tired of the commute, the easy companionship and laid-back dates I’d shared with Juliette became more frequent since I’d sold my New Jersey beach house and moved to the city. Within weeks we had been spending most nights together, until one day I had shocked myself when I had suggested she move in.
Our chance meeting happened when I’d gone along to a charity fundraiser held by a well-known wealth management corporation, which was one of the firms my father did business with. I’d been volunteered to go and as such had reluctantly attended, not expecting for a minute to find and fall in love with someone like Juliette. She was vastly different from many of the women I’d briefly dated in my life, and probably the opposite of controlling Charlotte in nature.
Juliette was uncomplicated and carefree, and I had been enthralled by the way she wasn’t impressed or intimidated by the collective of rich men and women; those cutthroat brutal power drivers of the city, all gathered together at that same event.
From the moment I’d laid eyes on her she’d held my attention, and with my curiosity piqued, my beady gaze had followed her as she had flitted breezily from person-to-person around the room like she owned it.
Completely distracted from the conversation taking place around me, I continued to watch with interest from across the crowded room as she conversed easily between all of those present.
Confidence oozed from her as she used her pleasant charm and ready chatter when she’d flashed engaging smiles toward the normal sober patrons, and I’d noted them smiling back. I found my lips curve upward right along with her, even though at that point she never knew I existed. I had no idea what she was saying to them, but could hardly wait to find out because I had found her that enthralling.
After several minutes of observation, I finally caught her eye and she wandered toward me. “Can I interest you in one of these exclusive pieces of high-fashion corporate neckwear, sir?” she asked in a patronizing but playful tone that told me she found the whole idea of handing out a cheap piece of nylon, with a plastic hook on the end to the attending clientele, absurd.
I glanced around the room again and noted almost every man present, despite their handmade tailored suits, which had likely cost more than a year’s mortgage for the average American household, had been wearing one. I snickered, immediately acknowledging her worth as a persuasive events girl.
“Can I be frank with you, Miss…”
“Juliette, my name’s Juliette,” she beamed. Her brown eyes held my gaze and I found myself swallow as my attraction toward her grew.
“Of course, it is,” I remarked through a chuckle, sweeping my hand under hers and bringing her knuckles to my lips. She smiled and there wasn’t a hint of resistance to my gesture. “Excuse me, but,” I pointed to myself, “as you can see, I’m not Romeo.” I flashed her a helpless smile. “Although my mother would probably contest my denial, vigorously.” Her smile widened, showing perfect pearly white teeth, but she stayed silent and attentive. “James… Wild, pleasure to meet you, Juliette,” I added playfully, introducing myself.
“And are you?” she asked, biting back a grin as her gorgeous brown eyes narrowed in mock concentration as she prepared and lifted the thin, cheap length of swag over my head.
“Am I what?”
“Wild? You look pretty smooth to me,” she added, taking her bottom lip into her mouth, and made like she was still focused on the task in hand. The gesture of placing the cheap lanyard over my neck which brought her face closer to me. Inhaling, I smelled a hint of cherries; a liqueur I presumed, and a sweet but not sickly floral perfume. My eyes briefly fell to her cherry red lips, and I realized what I had thought was alcohol was in fact the lip gloss she wore. A desire flashed within me to lean in and taste it.
Searching for a distraction from that, I formed a flirty reply, “I suppose I can be—rough—but at other times I guess smooth might also be a fair assessment. It all depends on what the occasion calls for … what the situation calls for, I mean.”
“Interesting,” she remarked, an eyebrow raised in reply when she finally let go of the lanyard, then surprised me by sliding her hands around my shirt collar. A shiver ran down my spine when she trailed her long fingertips down my jacket lapels and skimmed the edge of each side of my suit jacket, fleetingly catching the top of my abs as her hands fell away.
“I beg to differ. You’re the only interesting thing in this room as far as I can see.”
I saw my words had amused her when I caught her bite back a grin as she spun away from me on her heel. As she did this, my gaze dropped to her feet and that was when her fishnets registered with me. I’d always had a thing for those sexy as sin nylons with the solid black seam that began as a visible line and ended in the imagination of every man as they thought where the trail led in their minds. I wondered if she wore black lingerie to match. Lingerie was definitely a thing with me. My dick immediately stirred and concurred with interest in the lovely Juliette.
As she wandered away from me, she glanced back over her shoulder with another barely visible smile teasing at her lips. “Smooth, Mr. Wild,” she said, quietly. “In this circumstance, with the encounter we just had, I’d say today you are smooth.”
It wasn’t usual for me to get hung up on merchandise girls, other than that they were usually a pleasant eye candy distraction, which normally broke up the duller moments of those kinds of get-togethers. Standing, listening to someone, who liked the sound of their own voice and talked statistics about stocks and bonds in stiff and boasting conversations, was not my bag at all.
