“What?Bonds was there?”
Cade nodded.“They stayed on the patio.Only a handful of people saw them.I wasn’t one of them, either.I heard about it from Sofia.”
“Sneaky bastard.”
Erin, a determined frown buried between her eyebrows, descended on their small group.“Dance with me.”Erin grabbed Nathan’s wrist and dragged him toward the front of the tent.
“I was just going to say hello to Julien and Meredith.Go with me?It’s been a long time since you’ve seen him, hasn’t it?Not since that night in—”
“Nathan, please,” she said.
“Can’t it wait?”He scowled.
Generally Erin was a great hostess, and he’d bet she’d chatted with everyone in attendance.But the way she pleaded and looked at him, eyes beseeching, he had no choice.She’d always been a pest, the little sister who could get her big brothers to do almost anything she wanted.After the death of their father, something that had devastated her and sent her to her room for weeks, she’d become even more indulged.
Cade shrugged as if to saybetter you than me.
“Now.Excuse us,” she said to Stormy and Cade.
Nathan put down his wine, and she was already tugging on him.“Stop dragging me,” he told her.
Her grip was desperate and her nails were digging into him.Despite the fact that he hated to dance, he went with her.
“Lead on,” he said.
On the floor, to the beat of the music, he led her into a two-step.“What’s the panic?”
“No panic.”She gave him a huge, sunny smile.
If he hadn’t noticed the way she glanced to the back of the room, at Julien and Meredith and their sudden mob of people, he might have believed she just wanted to dance.After all, she’d put her four-inch heels back on.
She lapsed into silence, and he let her, since that suited him, as well.
At the end of the number, she thanked him then excused herself before heading toward their mother, who was seated at a table with a few of her friends and his aunt, Kathryn…as far away from Stormy as possible.
When he reached Julien and Meredith, the enthusiastic greeting party had thinned, and they were standing with Cade.
Cade introduced Nathan to Meredith, an attorney he’d hired from a prestigious firm in Northern California.Julien’s hand rested on the small of her back, which Nathan recognized as a move of easy intimacy.To his eye, they were much more than professional associates.And since he suspected Bonds at least dabbled in BDSM, there might be some possessiveness there too.
They made a striking couple—Bonds with his tight, slim-fitting jeans, dress shirt, leather jacket, narrow tie and trademark hideous tennis shoes, and Meredith with her open-back black gown.As dark-haired as he was, she was his blonde counterpart.A recent celebrity magazine had called them the newest power couple.
“What do you think of my masterpiece?”Julien asked as they shook hands.
“It’s…” How did he tell the creator what he thought of the watch?
“You love it, don’t you?I still have a few things to work out with the hologram.”
“About that—”
“The tone of my voice isn’t quite right when I give the daily update.”He shook his head.“My engineers haven’t done the synthesizing correctly.”
“It’s supposed to do that?”he asked incredulously.“Tell me I need more sleep?”
Julien scowled.“Of course it is.That’s why people will buy it.”
“I see.”He actually thought some people wanted him to boss them around?Nathan wondered whether the man was certifiable or a genius.
“Overall?”Julien persisted.
