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Cade shrugged as if to say better 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.
“It’s fucking indispensable.”
Julien’s mercurial frown vanished and a slow smile spread across his mouth. “Indispensable,” he repeated. “Yes.” Then he touched the screen of his own device. His image popped up. “Use the word indispensable in the marketing materials.”
Julien’s image bowed toward him. “Yes, genius.”
The voice, the tone, was dead on.
Obviously the engineers had heard that term plenty.
Julien brushed the sapphire-glass surface and the hologram vanished. “Where were we? I wanted to congratulate the Colonel.”
Cade pointed out the table.
Before walking away, Julien said, “I’ll upload the latest software update to you next week.”
“You mean I need to download it?”
“No. It will happen automatically.”
“How intrusive is this thing?”
“Check your heart rate when you see a beautiful woman and ask me then.” Julien nodded politely before walking away.
“I think he wants to rule the world,” Sofia said, joining them. “I caught the end bit.”
“Rule it?” Nathan asked. “Dominate it is more like it.”
Cade shrugged.
The band segued into an up-tempo song and announced yet another line dance.
“Show me how it’s done, Mr. Donovan,” Sofia said. “The only reason I accepted this job was to see you line dance. Remember?”
Proving how besotted he was, Cade tipped his hat. “Anything for my lady.”
With that, as if there were no one else on the planet but the two of them, they headed toward the dance floor.
Nathan resumed his favorite position, an arm propped on one of the bar-height conversation tables.
A tall brunette wearing a sequined dress so tight it should have been impossible for her to move sashayed past him. She caught his eye and smiled. Everything about her was perfect—hair, makeup, shape.
She stopped long enough to accept a glass of wine and to look back at him, being sure he noted her interest.
Rather than engage, he checked his watch. And his heart rate.
