Heading East (Part 2 of 2) (The True North Series) (7 page)

8

LUKE

“You’re a chump,” Decker said as soon as I was done telling him about Kat’s contract. He sat down on the chair in front of my desk. “Completely pussy-whipped.”

“I’m not too worried.”

He leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. “So you’re telling me you’ll be fine if, one day, you come home and find her with another man?”

“No. I’m not a saint,” I said. “But it won’t come to that.”

“Oh?”

I shrugged. “I’m just going to have to win her back.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“It’ll work,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt.

“Hey, invite her out with us tonight,” Decker said, sitting up.

“And how’s that supposed to help?”

“Shower her with attention, show her that you only have eyes for her.” He grinned. “Then you can grind up on her on the dance floor. Women love that.”

“Somehow I don’t think Kat would fall it,” I said, even though the idea had its appeal. If nothing else, the night out might help take her mind off what she’d lost.

“I don’t have anything appropriate to wear,” was the first thing Kat said when I brought up the idea later. “I’ve only bought a few things so far to replace what I lost in the fire.”

“Wear what you have, what you’re comfortable with. It honestly doesn’t matter. It’s just the guys,” I said, loosening my tie. “I’m going to change into something casual myself.”

Kat looked around but, before she could come up with another excuse, I said, “Come on. Surely you don’t want to sit around here on a Friday night?”

“That was my grand plan,” she said, but I could hear the uncertainty in her voice. When I held out my hand, she took it and allowed me to pull her up and out of the armchair.

“Come on. It’s about time you experienced the New York night life.”

I came back to her apartment a few minutes later, dressed in jeans and a v-neck tee shirt. When she came out of the bedroom, the sight of her knocked the breath from my lungs. Kat was decidedly
not
casual in her little black dress with a low scooped neck, a bodice that hugged her curves, and a hem that showed plenty of leg.

“
Uhh…” was all my brain could manage.

She looked down, adjusting the dress. “Is this okay?” she asked, performing a tugging exhibition that kept either showing too much leg or too much cleavage. “I made it last week for an assignment.”

I walked around her, appreciating every angle. “You made this?”

She fiddled with the three-quarter sleeve. “Yeah. But maybe it’s too dressy for a bar.”

I stopped in front of her and took hold of her hands. “You look great,” I said. “Though now I’m a little underdressed.”

“I can change.”

I lifted her hands and kissed her knuckles, wanting to ease the lines of worry on her forehead. “Don’t you dare,” I said. “Just give me a second. I’ll meet you at my front door.”

After I put on a button-down shirt, Kat and I went downstairs. “Is it far?” she asked when we emerged on the sidewalk. “I’m just not used to walking long distances in heels.”

I held out my elbow. “It’s only two blocks from here.” I watched as she wobbled, then latched onto my elbow.

She straightened her back and walked, if a little wobbly at first. “I need to get used to walking in heels sometime, right?” she asked, her voice wavering. “Fake it till I make it.”

I patted her arm. “Relax. We’re just out to have fun.”

Decker and another friend, Lowe, were already sitting at the bar when we arrived.

Kat’s fingers dug into my arm as we walked closer, but once I began the introductions, she loosened her hold.

“You remember Decker,” I said, then motioned to the taller Asian guy. “This is Nathan Lowe, but we like to call him Lowest of the Lowe.”

Lowe grinned, holding out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Kat. Luke has not told me one thing about you.”

“Probably for the best,” she mumbled.

Decker glanced at me before turning to Kat. “And we’ve met before. Unfortunately under terrible circumstances.”

Her jaw muscles worked but she nodded. I could feel her anger simmering under her skin and wondered for a moment if she would unleash the fury. But she only stretched her lips into a smile and walked past him towards the bar. “Glass of merlot please,” she said to the bartender, then turned to me. “What do you want?”

You. I want you.
“Jack and Coke.”

We took our drinks to a rounded booth, Kat taking the edge of the seat farthest from the other two. Though she was trying to be discreet, her constant tugging at her collar revealed the extent of her discomfort.

I stretched my arm on the seat behind her, then leaned over and whispered, “If you’re uncomfortable, just say the word and we’ll leave.”

With her jaw set to the
Stubborn setting, she shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Half an hour later, two other guys arrived—Dustin and Ledford—and joined us at the table. After introductions, Kat asked, “So are you all single?”

Ledford said, “I’m married. But these three losers are.”

“Who’s the loser in this scenario?” Dustin asked with a laugh. “We don’t have to answer to anyone.”

Kat, not looking too impressed with my friends, excused herself to go to the bathroom. All eyes were on her as she walked away. To anyone else she appeared confident and self-assured, but to someone who’d seen her at her best, Kat was unsteady. I suspected that, no matter how much I wanted it, she might never fit in this lifestyle.

“She is sexy as hell,” Dustin said, his eyes still on Kat’s departing form. “So that’s the girl you’ve been mooning over?”

I leaned back. “I wasn’t mooning over her. She was in Alaska until recently.”

“She moved here for you?” Lowe asked.

“No. She’s here for fashion school.”

“Oh, you like ‘
em young!” Dustin said, laughing. “Are you also taking her to prom then popping her cherry after?”

“Shut up. She’s twenty-five,” I said and knocked back half of my drink.

Decker watched me, flashing a look that conveyed he could sense what I was thinking. Out of our group of friends he was the only one who knew the entire story and, thankfully, he knew not to share it with anyone else.

“Oh shit.”

I followed Decker’s gaze to the beautiful blonde woman across the room who’d been stopped by a man wearing a tight shirt that revealed how much time he spent at the gym. He was leaning down, saying something close to her ear, and she was smiling and nodding.

And I was out of my seat and across the room in mere seconds.

“Kat, there you are,” I said, approaching casually.

The other guy straightened and gave me the once-over. “Oh, I didn’t know you were here with someone,” he said to Kat.

“We’re not together,” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly in my direction. She turned her attention back to him. “He and I are just friends.”

I rose to the unspoken challenge and took a step closer, slipping a hand around her waist. “Is that what we were last night, when we were naked and coming all over each other?” I asked,
then brushed her hair away from her neck to press a kiss against the soft skin under her jaw.

Her gasp let beefy guy know exactly where he stood with her, which was on the other side of the room.

“Why did you do that?” she asked, coming to her senses as she watched the guy turn his back and walk away.

I straightened, a grin on my face. “When I told you last night that you could do whatever you wanted, I didn’t specify that that also meant I could do the same.”

“So you’re going to hang around, marking me as your territory every time a man comes near me, is that it?” she asked, her eyes flashing in anger.

“Naturally.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re not about to do the whole ‘you’re mine’ spiel, are you? Because that shit is not going to go over well with me.”

“I would never say that. You’re not an object to be claimed—”

I stopped when hands clamped over my eyes and a voice behind me said, “Boo!”

I pulled the hands away from my face and turned to find a beautiful petite woman. “Stella,” I said, bending down to kiss her on the cheek. “How have you been?”

“Been fabulous!” She nudged me out of the way and smiled at Kat. “Hi, how are you?” she asked, holding out a tiny feminine hand.

Kat glanced at me before saying, “Good, thanks.”

“I’m Stella. Luke and I have known each other for years.”

Another glance in my direction.
“Kat.”

“I love your dress!” Stella said. “Is it
Magaschoni?”

Kat frowned. “No. It’s my own design.”

Stella smiled widely. “Oh, you’re a designer? It’s wonderful.” She appraised a bewildered Kat, admiring the dress. “I saw a dress that looked similar at Neiman Marcus last week. I almost bought it in blue.”

I decided to jump in when I noticed Kat’s smile getting thinner and thinner. “Kat is attending the Fashion Institute of New York.”

Stella, who was always so enthusiastic that she often appeared fake to the uninitiated, said, “Congratulations. FINY is a very competitive school.”

“Thanks.”

“How do you two know each other?” Stella, ever inquisitive, asked. “Are you two dating?”

Knowing Kat’s eyes were on me, I shook my head. “Nope,” I said, giving Kat a pointed look. “We’re only friends.”

I swear I felt an icy blast from Kat after hearing my answer. “It was nice meeting you,” she said to Stella. “I’m going home,” she added and left without once looking at me.

Stella turned to me with a knowing look. “She apparently disagrees.”

“Kat is more than a friend.”

“Obviously.”

“It was great to see you, Stel,” I said, bending down to give her a farewell kiss on the cheek. “Tell your husband I said hello.”

I caught up with Kat halfway down the block. She had taken off her shoes and was stomping down the sidewalk in a hurry, no doubt trying to get as far away from me—and this lifestyle I’d introduced her to—as possible.

I caught her by the elbow. “Kat. Just wait.”

“Go back in there.” When she looked up, the expression on her face was not what I expected. Instead of anger, I saw defeat. “I know the way back.”

I held her by the shoulders and peered into her face. “Kat, Stella and I have been friends for several years. She’s married to a college friend of mine.”

“She called my dress a knock-off,” Kat said, pulling at its hem once again.

“That’s not what she said. Believe it or not, she is one of the most genuine, kindest people I know. There aren’t very many people like her in New York.”

“I still don’t like her.”

“Because you thought she and I had slept together,” I said simply.

“No—”

“Face it, Kat, when I told her that you and I were just friends, you were hurt,” I said. “You know how I know?”

She blinked before nodding. “Because you felt the same way when I told that guy.”

I slid my hands up her neck and cupped her jaw, tilting her face up to mine. “Kat,” I whispered, enjoying the simple joy of looking at her face. “Do you really just want to be my friend?”

She blinked up at me for several excruciating seconds before finally saying, “No.”

The tightness in my chest eased. “Then why are we playing these stupid games?” I asked, bending closer until our lips were nearly touching.

“I want to be with West.”

I pulled back, confused. “I
am
West.”

She took advantage of my momentary confusion and stepped away. “No. That back there,” she said, motioning to the direction of the bar, “the guy who hangs out with dickheads and greets women with kisses on the cheek, that guy was Luke.”

“Those are my friends,” I said. “That’s what I do. That’s
not
who I am.”

“I don’t even know what that means,” she said, shaking her head. “But I want no part of it.”

“I love you, Kat,” I said suddenly, taking even myself by surprise. I hadn’t meant to blurt it out right there in the middle of the gum-riddled sidewalk. “You have to know that I still love you. Everything I’ve done since you came back into my life has been out of love.” I bridged the space between us, wanting to grab her and kiss her until she understood. “If you can’t see that, then you’re just being willfully oblivious.”

She let out a long breath, her shoes dangling from the end of her finger as she stared down at the ground. “I know you still love me. And I’d like to go back to the way things were between us,” she said, finally lifting her head to meet my gaze.

“Then what’s the problem?”