Chapter 24 – cat
CAT
I’m not as disappointed as I thought I’d be.
When I first walked into Nate’s apartment and saw his guy friends—including my other boss—my heart dropped. I was hoping for a romantic night alone with Nate. Based on the flowers and candles on the table, that’s exactly what he was planning, too.
It seemed rude to send the guys away, though. And now that they’re laying out food and setting the table, I’m even a little excited. You can learn a lot about a person from their friends. I’m going to find out more about Nate than I ever have.
Nate doesn’t leave my side to help set up. Instead, he pulls out a chair for me on one side of the table and makes a point of sitting next to me. He takes my hand and squeezes it.
“The table looks beautiful,” I murmur.
“I went to that florist you like. They recommended everything. It probably would have looked better if they set it up instead of me.”
My heart flutters, imagining Nate carefully placing the candles and flowers for my approval. But that reminds me…
“How did you know about my favorite florist, exactly?”
He shrugs. “A man has to keep some secrets.”
I glance over at him. It’s the first time I’ve seen Nate not wearing some version of a suit.
He still looks more polished than me in his gray wool trousers and a charcoal cashmere sweater that clings to his chest muscles.
He looks absolutely delicious. Whoever his stylist is, she definitely deserves a raise.
While Nate opens a bottle of wine, I peek at my phone.
Pippa
Happy Thanksgiving, kitty Cat! Hope you’re having a meow-velous date.
She follows it up with a gif of a cat with heart eyes.
Cat
Soooooo my date kind of got crashed…by your stepbrother and the whole poker crew.
Pippa’s reply is almost instantaneous.
Pippa
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Don’t they know you’re supposed to get laid tonight??
Cat
Well, they have to leave eventually.
I shove my phone back in my pocket as the guys take their seats and Nate pours red wine for everyone.
“Ladies first,” Luke says, gesturing to me. “Go ahead, serve yourself, Cat.”
“I don’t even know where to start.” I laugh. “Everything looks delicious.”
The guys have produced quite a spread. Beau’s responsible for the buttery mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and homemade rolls, but everybody brought something.
“Here, take some stuffing. I made it myself,” Ryan offers, scooping up a serving of something brown and mushy that looks like no stuffing I’ve ever seen. It lands on my plate in a gelatinous blob.
“Thanks.” I smile brightly at Ryan, even though I have no plans of putting whatever that is in my mouth.
“Don’t eat it,” Luke and James say simultaneously.
“Unless you have a death wish you haven’t mentioned yet,” Beau adds.
“You’re just jealous because I’m the only person who actually cooked the dish they brought, other than Beau,” Ryan says. “I think I get an A for effort.”
“More like an A for asshole,” Nate mutters.
James takes my plate and swaps it with his own empty one without a word. He’s so quiet, he makes Nate look like a chatterbox. If it were anyone else, I’d assume he was shy, but he exudes confidence out of every pore.
When I started at Terrace, I was given a primer on some of the VIPs in the building. I know James is the CEO of Sequel, which means he commands more wealth and power than anyone I’ve ever met, even including Nate.
Money doesn’t impress me, but I have to admit that it intimidates me.
James takes my plate to the kitchen and scrapes the stuffing into the trash while Ryan protests.
Looking at the bounty of food in front of me, I can’t help but feel guilty that I didn’t contribute anything. “Sorry I didn’t bring anything for the potluck.”
“Your presence is more than enough,” Luke says smoothly.
“He’s right,” Ryan adds. “And it’s not even your personality that we appreciate—even though I’m sure that’s great. But with you around, Nate’s like twenty-five percent less grumpy, which is priceless.”
“I even saw him smile a minute ago,” says Beau. “It was weird, but you know, good weird.”
My face heats. I don’t know exactly what’s happening between me and Nate, but it’s nice to hear his friends approve.
Luke clears his throat. “Now, for the real test. You drink, right Cat?” I nod, and he pours me a glass of whiskey from a crystal decanter. “Try this. Tell me what you think.”
“I’ll try it, but I’m not really a whiskey person.” I smile apologetically as I take the glass.
“That’s okay. That’s why I’m here—to convert you. Before you drink it, hold it up to your nose. Smell it with your mouth open, it’ll help you get more of the aroma.”
I follow his instructions. I take a sniff, catching a scent of vanilla and toffee. The first sip cuts those sweet flavors with warm spiciness and a slight burn of alcohol. I close my eyes, savoring the taste.
“Well?” Luke asks.
I hold the glass up to him. “I’m not a whiskey person, but this, I can drink.”
His eyes warm, and he looks genuinely pleased. “Okay. You pass. This is a single barrel, ten-year whiskey. It’s one of our best.”
Nate leans close to me. “Luke’s the distiller at Twisted Devil. You might remember, that’s my favorite.”
My mind fills with a vision of Nate ordering me to drink that night at his desk. I press my thighs together as I remember him laying me out and making me come with his mouth. In just a few hours, he might just do it again.
I can’t let myself get turned on in front of Nate’s friends. I pull out my phone, checking my texts to distract me. Two texts from Pippa pop up immediately.
Pippa
I can’t believe my evil stepbrother crashed your date!!
I apologize in advance for everything he says.
I quickly type a response under the table.
Cat
Apologies not needed yet. He’s actually been really friendly.
Pippa
Weird. Are you sure he’s Ryan and not some kind of imposter?
Cat
I’ll try and steal his wallet so I can check his ID.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” Nate murmurs to me. “Will you be okay?”
I nod. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
After he’s left the table, Beau turns to me. “So, I heard you survived an encounter with Eleanor Walsh.”
My buzz of happiness thins. Nate’s mom is the last person I want to think about right now, when I’m actually having a nice Thanksgiving. It seems like a bad idea to trash-talk her to Nate’s friends, so I try to spin it in a positive direction.
“I did meet her. She, uh, really cares about Nate.”
Beau nods sympathetically. “Got it. So she verbally eviscerated you. Sorry, there’s nothing you could have done.”
“Ignore anything she said,” Luke says. “She’s basically the Wicked Witch of the UPS Board, and she gets off on making anyone in Nate’s life feel like shit.”
“She even tried to get her darling boy to quit poker night. Said he was wasting his time running around with trash like us.” Ryan gestures to himself, Luke, and Beau. “James got a pass because he went to the ‘right’ school. That, and his parents were zillionaires.”
“You should have heard the things she said to me before I bought Terrace,” Beau says.
He puts his nose in the air, then raises his voice in a spot-on impression of Eleanor.
“‘Nathaniel, you really want to be seen running around with someone who serves burgers out of a filthy truck? If only your father could see you!’”
The other guys laugh, and my anxiety fades away again.
Beau is one of the most impressive people I know.
He runs two wildly successful businesses, and he’s well-liked by all his employees, which is almost unheard of.
If Eleanor could find a problem with him, maybe there really is no winning with her.
She’s still right about you being dangerous for Nate’s reputation, a dark voice inside my head reminds me. You could put his whole business in danger if anyone knew.
Whatever’s happening between Nate and I, it can’t last. I’ve seen the gossip blogs about him.
If we ever came out as a public couple, someone would eventually dig into our history.
They’d figure out when he hired me and when we started sleeping together, and his reputation would be shredded, along with his business.
Nate slides back into the chair next to me and smiles at me. It’s a broad, toothy grin like I’ve never seen on his face before, and I’m momentarily stunned. He’s gorgeous, like a cartoon prince come to life. And he’s looking at me like I’ve never seen him look at anyone.
Under the table, his broad hand spreads on my leg. His thumb draws little circles high on my inner thigh, sending a pulse of heat down my spine. A promise of how he’ll touch me once we’re alone.
One day, we’ll have to end things. But today, I can let myself enjoy this.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I peer down at it.
Pippa
I’ll let you go back to your dinner, but I’m expecting a full recap on Wine Wednesday.
I smile down at my phone. After a few weeks of work conflicts, I’ve finally been able to clear my schedule for Pippa and our usual Wednesday tradition.
There’s a cute little café and bookshop near my apartment, and on Wednesday nights, they stay open late to turn into a secret candlelit wine bar.
They don’t advertise it—it’s if you know, you know.
“Who do you keep texting over there?” Ryan asks. “Do you have a secret boyfriend as backup in case Nate misbehaves?”
“Nope. I’m actually texting your stepsister,” I tell him, an innocent smile plastered on my face. “Nate told you Pippa’s my best friend, didn’t he?”
Ryan’s chiseled jaw drops and the other guys hoot with amusement.
“She’s so freaking annoying,” he groans. “Total stick-in-the-mud. I don’t know how you can stand being around her for a second.”
My vision turns red. Obviously those two don’t have a great relationship, but he does not get to talk about my best friend like that.
“How would you know?” I spit. “You don’t even talk to each other.”
“Trust me, that’s on purpose,” he mutters. “I got tired of her sucking the fun out of everything.”
“Pippa’s hilarious, and the only person who’s ever made me stay out till sunrise. She’s loyal and determined and pretty much the best person ever.”
The room goes quiet, all the banter and jokes dying out. The other guys look from me to Ryan and back, waiting to see how he’ll react. A muscle jumps in Nate’s jaw, and I know he’ll back me up if Ryan wants to pick a fight.
I’m pretty sure Ryan knows that too, because he chooses his words carefully. “I get it. She’s your friend. But you’re not describing the Pippa I know.”
“The Pippa you knew was a kid. Didn’t you change from when you were thirteen and twenty-three? You just never gave her a chance. Grow up. It’s obvious who the real child is.”
His eyes widen, and for the first time since I’ve met him, he has nothing to say.
The silence is broken when James lets out a low chuckle. He takes a bottle of wine from the middle of the table and refills Ryan’s glass. “You need to hydrate after that burn,” he says.
Ryan shoots me a sheepish smile. “Fair enough. Agree to disagree, Cat?”
I raise my brows. “Sure, since everyone else knows I’m right.”
Beau and Luke howl with laughter while Nate puts his arm around the back of my chair.
“Don’t forget, my Kitten has claws,” he says, squeezing my shoulder.
I can’t remember the last time I felt this powerful…this happy.