Everything You Need: Everything For You Trilogy Book 1 (37 page)

“And get it. More and more inexplicable people entering the field every year it would appear.”

I know Anderson’s words are a shot across the bows at me. My heart races at a hundred miles an hour but I speak up. “No-one should be afraid of a little healthy competition, Mr Anderson. It keeps us all fresh.” It’s absolutely the wrong thing to say and I know it as soon as all eyes fix on the interloper in their midst. It’s a flashback to Jack’s boardroom.

“Miss Caid.” Anderson’s reluctant tone is cool. Professional. Deadly.

Jack comes to my rescue. “Well said, Tabitha. More business should be good for yours, Anderson.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Anderson positively glares at me.

I draw myself to my full height, refusing to wither.

“Interesting frock to wear to the ball. What a coup.” Amanda looks like she’s pulled herself together. She’s the type who eats female competition for breakfast. “A statement piece. Ignore the brief and show everyone exactly who you really are.”

Oh she’s clever. Her words can’t be faulted. They appear to praise but it’s clear to me she’s pointing out I don’t fit in and telling me I look like a tramp at the same time. Well it takes one to know one. I take an instant dislike to her.

“Jack chose it himself, didn’t you, darling?” I say. We both know I’m mocking her earlier address.

“He always did understand how to compliment a woman’s true talents.”

My cheeks flame as she trills off a pretty little laugh at my expense and turns away from me like she’s already lost interest. She leans in and assaults Jack with her heavy perfume, both purple nail-polished hands lifting to his shoulders.

“Jack, darling. Not pulling any more all-nighters at the club, I hope? At least, not without me to get you safely home to bed.”

She remains close to him for a little too long. It feels uncomfortable watching them together which is, no doubt, her intention. But everyone else is smiling. Is she trying to let me know she’s dated Jack? Been intimate with him? I’m horrified.

Jack nips any attempt I might be formulating to commence another ridiculing mimic job in the bud, with a sharp glance. It makes me even more certain these two have history and he’s defending her. I reclaim Jack’s arm while she shows me she doesn’t care. I’m simply no competition for her superior talents.

Dejected, I believe she might be right. It makes me like her even less. But he was mine before he was ever hers, I pacify myself grudgingly. Yet think again.

He was never mine at all.

Jack introduces us all formally. For once I wish he wouldn’t be the consummate host. “Tabitha, this is Amanda Devereaux. Amanda, you’ve already met Tabitha Caid.”

Although it pains me to do so I hold out my hand to her. Stick to being professionally indifferent. Confound all their expectations. She glances down and trills off a laugh as if I’m the most pathetic little thing she’s ever seen. Then waits a beat too long before she deigns to barely touch my fingertips with her aubergine claws.

“Now we’re good friends,” she says insincerely, dropping my hand instantly. I notice her wipe her fingertips on the side of her tightly fitted black gown and ball her hand into a fist by her side.

Instinctively I know I’d better watch out for this one.

Jack chats calmly with them all. It’s hard to believe he threw them out of his building just a few days ago. It seems business should never become personal but glancing at the animated delight on Amanda’s perfect features as she engages with Jack, I doubt it’s a rule that’s always observed.

I glance at a younger colleague of theirs who wasn’t in the boardroom last time and is staring straight at me. He looks only a few years older than I am. His eyes crawl all over my red dress. And my cleavage. I’m surprised Jack hasn’t noticed but then he can hardly take his eyes off Amanda, while my dress – a major piece of false advertising – continues to beguile the unwary.

The second the young guy catches me toss him a withering look he grins at me. I relent and smile back but really only to give Jack a taste of what he’s giving me. If he even notices, as preoccupied with the delectable Amanda as he appears to be.

Jack ends the conversation abruptly and steers me away. I’m relieved.

“Just how well do you know Amanda Devereaux?” I question him. I really want to know if he’s screwed her but I can’t bring myself to say the words out loud.

“How well can a man know any woman?” Another cryptic reply. He’s deliberately avoiding answering my question so I drop it. I have no right to know and, suspect, the answer might hurt too much anyway. She’s had what I haven’t. I’m certain of it.

“You appeared to be getting a little over familiar yourself back there,” Jack accuses.

I’m astonished. “I smiled at the one person who bothered to smile at me.” Amanda was all over Jack, however, and I’m supposed to accept that. He’s so annoying. I don’t deny it though. I like to think he might be a little bit jealous too. “Double standards, Jack? Allow me.” I stretch up and pretend to smooth Amanda’s non-existent lipstick stains from his cheek with my thumb.

He wheels me round to face him. “When I’m with a woman, she’s with me. Only me.”

He’s being completely unreasonable and I should be annoyed but my heart soars. He is jealous. “Sorry,” I whisper, smirking.

He takes my mouth in a brief, hard kiss. “Watch your step, if you want me to keep my promise,” he warns me.

He withholds sex as punishment? I turn liquid, right to my core. I want to jump him right here and live majestically up to my scarlet reputation.

His stern glare fixes me for a minute but I give him my sweetest apologetic expression willing him to forgive my inadvertent transgression. I don’t even care that he’s completely in the wrong as I watch him yield before my eyes.

“No joke, I really do need a stiff drink,” he says, grabbing my wrist and back to towing again.

“Good idea. Wash your mouth out.” I sense him smile as he puts his hand on my hip and hauls me closer to his side.

Jack fetches us both another glass of Champagne. “Don’t drink too much.”

“I know my limits.”

“Do you? Would you really know when you’re getting out of your depth?”

What does he mean by that? “I think so,” I claim rashly. I take another tiny sip, holding his gaze with mine, to prove my self-control. He looks thoughtful.

He removes the glass from my hand and replaces it on the bar. “I want you sober tonight. I want you to remember everything I do to you.”

God, I just want to haul him out of here. I hate the Commerce Ball even more for getting in my way. I suspect we’ll be here for hours yet as I can’t imagine Jack shirking his duty, even for sex. “I need the bathroom.”

Jack scowls down at me.

“What? It’s not allowed?” I shrug. “It had to happen sometime. Nature will find a way.”

He looks over all the talking heads until he spots the most efficient escape route and escorts me to the Ladies’ facilities where he stands near enough to be decently acceptable. It makes me smile.

“I’m waiting right here for you.”

“I won’t be long.” I’m not sure if he’s guarding me for my sake or his but either works for me.

A middle-aged couple call to him and saunter across to speak. I slip away at the distraction and find it’s a relief to be inside, away from the noise, for a moment. Everything out there is so intense; so frantically friendly. I pause to catch my breath.

Washing my hands at the sink, something catches my eye. Amanda is standing behind me glaring at my reflection in the mirror. It’s a bit of a shock to find her here and so close. She radiates hostility. Did she manage to slip past Jack without him seeing? I wouldn’t put anything past her. This is far too much of a co-incidence. She squints her eyes at me as her lips compress and I try not to be the first to look away. I’m sure she knows her reflection isn’t any less intimidating than the real thing. An eerie silence encompasses us.

I can’t help it, I have to speak. “Do you want something, Amanda?”

She scoffs as if to let me know hell will freeze over before she wants anything from me, although it’s clearly not true. She wants something or she wouldn’t be here.

“That’s Ms Devereaux to you.” Not a social call then. “He’s only using you.”

Her words are too close to my deepest held fears to be of no consequence.

“Does Jack know you’ve followed me?” I want to bite my tongue. A woman like Ms Devereaux needs an equally acid-tongued retort to put her in her place but such words evade me. If she knew how much she was getting to me she’d be clapping her hands with glee. Yet her superciliousness is rather too sparkling to be real. If she didn’t see me as some sort of threat she wouldn’t be here.

She goes straight for the jugular. “Has he fucked you?”

I blush furiously. “That’s none of your business.”

She shrieks with laughter. “He hasn’t, has he?”

What a total bitch. Ask me again tomorrow.

“Oh darling, you want him don’t you? But he’ll never be yours. A man like Jack needs a real woman, not a child.”

She’s good: instinctively toying with all my insecurities at once. I walk over to dry my hands trying to appear indifferent. I do my level best to prevent myself shallow breathing and the whole vicious cycle of an attack arising. I wouldn’t rely on Amanda to save me. I want to escape back to Jack but I’m not giving this woman the satisfaction despite feeling like some timid furry creature she’s prodding through the bars of a cage.

“He’s playing with you. He always did have a wicked sense of humour.”

“It’s not like that.” She doesn’t know about our deal. Does she? Is Jack playing with me? I’ve thought so myself often enough but tonight I dared hope otherwise.

“Powerful men like Jack need their fun. You challenged him. I was there, remember? He’s not going to let an insignificant child get away with that.” Her words are designed to irritate and they’re working.

“If I’m insignificant, why are you so concerned about it?” And I wish she would stop calling me a child.

Spite mars her perfect features. “I’m saving you the inevitable pain that will follow, you foolish girl.” She knows just where to stick the knife.

“You’re warning me off and I have to ask myself why.”

“His business is his life. Nothing and no-one gets in the way of that.”

“Again. Why is that your concern?”

“Can’t you work it out?” Her whole stance adopts a pose of triumph. Her body tells me what she refuses to.

I won’t let myself go there. “You’re just upset your company’s dirty little under-the-table deal didn’t go down,” I counter.

Her face hardens. She must be botoxed to the max because despite her best efforts to grimace at me, I can’t see a wrinkle. “And you’re trying to change his mind the only way your type knows how.” She looks me up and down like I’m some sweaty, second-hand cover-all. “It would be sad if it wasn’t so pathetic. And cheap.”

I want to slap her face for making everything sound so sordid. I’ve wanted Jack my whole adult life. I want the Zee-Com contract back too. Am I only pursuing one to get the other? It’s all too awful and messy to contemplate.

“Does that make you feel better about me and him being together?” I ask her.

“Watching you make a complete fool of yourself over a man who is toying with you, delights me no end.” She stalks past me on her way to the door, stopping to hiss in my ear. “He’ll never want you. He’ll have fun at your expense and move on. You’re not the first.”

I hear the door open and close behind me. I don’t turn round but know she’s gone. The room feels instantly ten degrees warmer. I don’t even want to think about all the other women Jack has slept with. Worst of all, she’s definitely one of them. She’s jealous that I might be next. Is this how Jack leaves all women feeling?

My only consolation is she feels abandoned too. That whole act confirms it. If she hadn’t been so mean I might have pitied her. It’s a cold winter when Jack’s warmth no longer falls on you. I’ve been there before and know I’ll be in that place again soon enough.

Am I walking blindly into disaster? Will I mutate into another Amanda eventually, trapping other women in bathrooms to size them up and damage their fragile egos in my pain, unable to accept I’ve been used and dumped? Will that next woman almost pity me for my loss too?

Jack’s earlier warning returns to haunt me. Would you know if you’re getting out of your depth? I’m not sure I can do this anymore. My head spins as I contemplate the awful possibilities.

I have to go back outside sometime. Jack has his back turned to me when I emerge. Amanda is standing in front of him and I watch them together dumbfounded. She glances over his shoulder at me and suddenly kisses him. Full on the lips. Her eyes stare at mine as she does it. She’s marking her territory and proving her words to me.

Jack’s hands rise to her forearms. I can’t see his face, only hers but she smiles at him devotedly and lifts her hand to smudge her lipstick from his lips. I’m frozen to the spot. In agony. He leans in and whispers something in her ear which I can’t hear over the music or the distance. She blows him a kiss, turns and sashays off into the crowd turning once to glance back, first at him adoringly, then at me in a totally opposite manner.