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Katie was gorgeous, her deeply tanned skin perfectly off-set her blood-red dress and dark wavy hair and she had more curves than most people knew what to do with. Her piercing crystal-blue eyes shone brilliantly and crinkled at the corners when she laughed, which was often, and Rose was usually one of the people laughing with her. “No! Has it really been that long? Why don’t you come and join me? We can catch up.”
“I’d love to!” Freezing, she realized she’d forgotten about Tim. “I’m sorry, Tim, but this wasn’t working out. Your drink is on me – feel free to have the red too.”
Tim spluttered, and Cal coughed to hide a laugh when her date’s face turned an unpleasant shade of purple synonymous with the plush velvet stool tops. “I-What? You’re leaving? I thought…”
“Mmm… enjoy your night though.” Maybe next time he was on a date he wouldn’t act like a condescending prick. Life was too short to sit through miserable dates.
Katie gave a low whistle as Rose followed her back to her table, struggling to keep up with Katie’s pace in the three-inch silver strappy heels she’d worn. At five-eight, Rose was already relatively tall, but with the heels on she felt downright leggy.
“I see you’re still breaking hearts then.”
Rose snorted delicately. “He was an ass, and it was only a first date. If he was in-love with anything, it was my name.” Katie winced sympathetically but Rose’s heart started to thud a little quicker as she realized exactly which table Katie was seated at. No. Surely not. “Besides, you can talk. You look absolutely amazing, I bet every girl in here is dying for your number.”
Katie had spent a long time trying to make it in the fashion industry before giving up and moving onto interior design. The fashion industry was not so quick to change – especially when it came to being plus sized. They actually used to see each other a lot at various fashion events before Katie changed careers, and Rose knew Katie still had a big platform in the body positivity community on social media. Whenever they’d done posts together in the past they’d blown up a ridiculous amount – though admittedly not all of the attention had been so good. Despite Katie’s undeniable gorgeousness and style, being fat still came with a lot of stigma in the fashion world.
“Rose, this is David Blake, Meredith, and Cara, David’s younger sister andmy date. Though, I believe you guys are already acquainted?” Katie smiled and extended a perfectly manicured hand to the dark, leather-backed chair she’d seemingly pulled from nowhere. Rose knew Katie wouldn’t be smiling if she knew the strange and dramatic history between her and Blake, but there was a time and a place and Rosedefinitelydidn’t want to go back and sit with Tim again.
Cara slowly stood and looked at Rose from head to toe. She knew exactly what Cara must be seeing, slightly too-flushed cheeks, brown doe eyes that had been coated in a generous layer of mascara, and the blonde hair that had been painstakingly coaxed into heavy, full curls to fall against her cheek. Cara’s hair was darker than her brother’s, sitting on the edge of brunette, and Rose knew instantly that she and Katie were probably stunning when they entered a room together.
“Delighted tofinallymeet you, my brother’s told me so much about you… and Katie has too, of course!” Cara said, pulling her in for an unexpected hug. “Please let me borrow those shoes!” she whispered into her ear and Rose laughed, the friendly welcome not entirely unexpected because of their family’s connection. Cara had traveled almost as much as Rose, even attending school abroad, so they hadn’t really met at any functions, though she felt almost like she knew her already from all the stories she’d heard.
“The elusive youngest Blake,” Rose teased. “I already like you more than your brother.” The redheaded woman sitting next to Blake seemed to choke on her drink, but Cara just grinned.
Rose’s eyes drifted to Blake as she took in his reaction to her words and fought off a wave of nervousness. A lot had changed in five years. His familiar baby blues were already on her, a slight smile of amusement curving his full mouth as he dragged his eyes up over her legs. His eyes were where Rose’s familiarity ended. Sure, she’d seen press photos, but they hadn’t really done him justice. David Blake had always been heartbreakingly, annoyingly, gorgeous, but somehow he had become even more so since she’d last seen him – more man than boy and more rugged than beautiful. Blake and his best friend Christopher were just a couple of years older than her at twenty-eight and tended to run in the same social circles. Old money had a way of sticking together. Christopher had always been the nice one. Blake had always been an ass.
Blake brushed dark blonde hair from his eyes and gently reached out and grasped her hand, brushing his lips against it and sending an unexpected and unwanted tingle through her whole body.No, she sternly told herself. She wouldnotbe attracted to David Blake. She knew better. Blake didn’t do relationships andshedidn’t find egotistical asshats hot.
“A pleasure as always, princess.” His eyes said they knew exactly the sort of reaction he usually elicited, and his smirk said he liked it. Or, more likely, that he liked annoying her. If not for the annoying childhood nickname, she might have even been charmed. Rose couldn’t remember if he’d always had this raw magnetism surrounding him, but she was certain she wanted nothing to do with it. Or him. As usual, the only thing David Blake did to her was piss her off. Meredith, presumably Blake’s date, was unsurprisingly a little frostier having just watched her date coaxingly accost another woman’s hand.
“Yes. A pleasure.” Her green eyes said she found Rose anything but, and her thin red lips curled as if she smelt something unpleasant. Rose pulled her hand out of Blake’s with a sharp tug. “Well, do sit down, Rose. Tell us, how exactly do you know Katie?”
She ignored the hostile undercurrent to Meredith’s words and gave her a warm smile. “We went to college together, didn’t we, Kate? God, I can’t believe how long it’s been. I actually just got back from an event in New York, so I spent some time with Sam.” Katie winced sympathetically and Rose smiled slightly. Katie and Samantha had never really got on. They had very different ideas about what ‘made’ a woman –plus, Katie was veryverygay and had no interest in Sam’s lectures on how to properly please a man. “How did you and Cara meet?” Fully determined to ignore Blake completely, she was surprised when he chipped in, drawing her gaze back to him.
“Oh, I introduced them, of course. Katie works with me over atHorizonsnow. They met at the staff Christmas party.” There was absolutely nothing sexual about his words, and yet he made it seem like they were the only two at the table. His voice dripped honey as his eyes focused absolutely and intensely on her. A bead of sweat slid down her spine at the heat in his gaze and it suddenly became clear to her how this infuriating man had seemingly bedded half the women in Cincinnati.
“Ofcourse,” Rose said, flustered, reduced to childish taunts in an effort to ignore the way his eyes felt as he watched her.
Katie nodded, clearly not sensing the tension. “Yes, we hit it off straight away! I mean, how could we not? We’re ridiculously alike.” Katie smiled, clearly infatuated, and by the look in Cara’s faded-denim eyes, she was just as in love.
Rose smiled back at her. “I’m glad you’re doing well. It’s such a small world.”
“Well,” Katie said, slyly smiling, “not that small. Ihadheard this place was owned by the DuLoes and I hoped I might run into you here. I’ve been out of the country for a few months on a job for David, but I wanted to catch up now that I’m back.”
“I’m flattered.” Rose grinned, but her smile dropped as Blake’s gaze continued to burn into her and she shot him a glare. “Is there something on my face?”
Blake leaned forward in his chair, a grin edging around his mouth as he brushed his thumb over her lips. “There. Much better.”
“I didn’t see any–” Meredith frowned, and her words cut-off as Cara pulled her into a conversation with Katie.
Rose’s skin tingled where Blake had touched her, and she let all pretenses drop as she glared at him flatly before dismissing him entirely and looking back towards Katie beside her. “Well, we should definitely meet up again. Maybe we could go shopping or something. Cara could join us?”
“Oh! That’d be wonderful,” Katie said as Cara squealed her delight. “Do you have to be somewhere right now though? Ididrescue you from your date after all,” she teased, sensing Rose’s unspoken hint of immediate absence.
She gave Katie an apologetic smile and nodded towards the bar. “I want to get out of here before my date finds the courage to come over and attempt to retrieve me.” Katie laughed as the table all looked to Tim. His eyes were darting between her and Blake, his face pale and his hand clenched around his red wine. “Your tab is on me though. Let me know when’s good for you guys to go out.” Rose stood and smiled, deliberately not looking Blake’s way even as she felt those stupidly-blue eyes on her face.
Katie waved her off, hands flapping in a gracefully theatrical movement that only she could pull off. “Gah, say no more, darling, you’d better run. Lovely seeing you again. I’ll be in touch.”
Air kisses dotted the air as Cara and Katie said their goodbyes. Meredith remained noticeably frosty and acted as if she were oblivious to the whole fanfare. Rose stood, her chair scraping against the wooden floor, but what made her wince was Blake’s words and not the shrill noise. “I’ll walk you out.”
