Echoes of Scotland Street (On Dublin Street #5)(22)
Author: Samantha Young

“Why am I here again?” I said to Rae.

Somehow despite protesting against it for days, I was standing next to Rae and Mike in the entrance to the basement bar that was part of a split-level nightclub called Fire. The basement had been turned into a private function suite for Cole’s party, organized by his friend Hannah, and hosted by the owner of the club, Braden Carmichael. And yup, Rae told me that Braden was J. B. Carmichael’s husband.

“Because you look hot and it’ll annoy the fuck out of Cole and greatly entertain me,” Rae said, leaning into Mike’s side.

I pulled a face at her, but secretly I was pleased by her compliment. It made no sense, but I wanted to look my best tonight.

As always my hair was down, but I’d taken special care to make sure it was soft and not wild. I was wearing a black figure-hugging short dress, black stockings, and black suede ankle boots with a thin silver heel. No accessories. My makeup was fresh and light—my lipstick, eye shadow, and nail polish peach because it was a color that worked nicely against my skin tone and hair.

Since the dress was short and the heels were high, my legs looked longer. Wearing no jewelry and no color meant that the dress and my hair were doing all the work tonight.

Tony waved from across the room, just this mere action drawing gazes my way. He strolled toward us in another beautifully fit suit, his hand clasped in Simon’s. Simon wore dark jeans and a white T-shirt with a Banksy print on it. As soon as Tony reached me I received a kiss on either cheek. When he stepped back his eyes raked over me with a thoroughness you’d expect from a straight guy. “You look bellissima,” he murmured throatily.

Seriously, the guy oozed sexual charisma.

The strangers beyond him were looking at us again, and as I scanned the group I halted on a familiar face. Cole. I flushed and turned my attention back to Tony, murmuring my thanks.

Tony turned to greet Rae and Mike, and Simon took his place beside me. “You do look sexy as hell, Shannon.”

I smiled gratefully. I felt completely out of place and out of my depth, but looking good and being appreciated, especially by Tony and Simon (whom I’d come to adore) made me feel a little better. “You look sexy too. But you always do.” It was true. He could wear a bin bag and look hot.

“Simon,” a low, pleasant voice said, and I turned to my left to see it belonged to a stunning and very pregnant blond woman. She held her arms out and Simon stepped into her, enfolding her in a gentle embrace.

“Hannah, you look great, sweetheart.”

Oh. So this was Hannah. I studied her while she smiled at Simon. This was Cole’s best friend.

Her gaze moved to me and I could see her brown eyes were brimming with curiosity. “Introduce me, Sy.”

He did so and then promptly left me alone with her.

Hannah held her hand out to me with a friendly smile and I took it with my own. I nodded at her small baby bump. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” She patted her stomach and then gave a nod to the left. “It’s our second.”

I followed her gaze to an exceptionally tall, broad-shouldered too-good-looking-to-be-true guy with fantastic caramel skin. He was talking to a dark-haired man I didn’t recognize, holding a little girl with dark curly hair in his right arm, while a little boy, the spitting image of him, gripped his left hand.

“My husband, Marco,” Hannah said. “And our daughter, Sophia, and my stepson, Dylan.”

“You have a beautiful family,” I said with genuine feeling.

Wistfulness caused a light ache in my chest.

She smiled. “They keep me busy.” Just like that, her gaze turned questioning. “So, you’re the new receptionist at INKarnate?”

It occurred to me I had absolutely no idea what Cole had said to her about me. My answering “yes” was cautious.

“Hmm.”

I waited, but that was all I was going to get out of her on the subject apparently, because the next words out of her mouth were “You have the best hair ever.”

I laughed and some of the tension between us broke. “Thank you.”

“How do you get it to do the ringlet thing? With straighteners or a curling iron?”

“The ringlets are natural,” Rae butted in. “The bitch’s hair looks like this naturally, all the fucking time.”

Clearly used to Rae, Hannah didn’t even blink at her calling me a bitch. She just laughed, told us to help ourselves to the free bar and buffet, and wandered off to mingle with other people.

I looked around at the gathering, at the faces I didn’t recognize, at the small children laughing and running in among the adults. I wouldn’t have expected there to be kids, but it suddenly made sense why the party had started so early on a Sunday evening. Stu had even closed the studio early for it. I saw our behemoth of a boss over by the dip, talking to a curly-haired blond girl who was staring up at him in awe.

This was a family party, completely at odds in my mind with the man it was being thrown for.

“Cole knows a lot of people.”

“Yeah,” Rae said, and grabbed my hand. “And I know which one you want to meet.”

Without mercy Rae began to drag me through the room. Struggling against her would only draw more attention to us, so I just went with it, even though I was sure I was about to be mortified.

When I stumbled to a stop at Rae’s abrupt halt in front of an attractive blonde I recognized from her author photo, I knew I was right.

I froze as I took her in. She leaned into a tall, rugged older guy. His dark hair had some gray in it at the sides, but this only made him more distinguished looking than he already was. His amazing pale blue eyes seared right through me.

Rae and I had interrupted the couple’s conversation.

Floor, swallow me. Please.

“Joss, Braden,” Rae said in an almost militant manner. “This is Shannon.” She gently nudged me forward and I gave Joss a strained smile. “She’s my new flatmate and our receptionist at INKarnate. She’s a fan of your books, Joss.”

Joss gave me a kind smile, as though she sensed my discomfort. Admittedly it wouldn’t have taken a writing genius to sense that. I shook her hand, surprised by how nervous I was to meet her. That was probably why the next words that spilled out of my mouth were unfiltered and revealed way more than I’d meant to. “I just want you to know that your books are important. They’ve helped me through the worst months of my life this last year.”

I tensed as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and my three companions noticed. Rae noticed. She put her arm around me and pulled me close so she could press a kiss to my hair. She gently released me and walked away, leaving me staring after her.