Caring for her? Since when had he become someone who talked to himself in euphemisms? His entire life he’d never let anything stand in the way of what he wanted.
Glancing across the table at Jen, seeing the way the sun brought out some blonde highlights in her dark hair, reminded him of how she’d looked out on his yacht.
He wanted to see her there again. He didn’t want to back off because Cam had made him think that Jen wanted more from life than he could give. He wasn’t the kind of man who gave up what he wanted and he wasn’t going to give up Jen.
No way.
“Nate?”
“Yes?”
“Emma asked who we have booked on the main stage,” Cam said.
“Hutch Damien. He will be doing his rap show and I think he’ll want to coordinate with Jen and her dancers to use them on the stage as well. Jen and I can meet later to discuss that.”
Hutch would be a big draw. He had been compared to Will Smith, and for the anniversary bash, Nate had asked him to include some Latin beats in the background.
“Good,” Cam said. “Who else?”
“Ty Bolson and his wife, Janna McGree, will come and do a concert as well. They have a huge country music fan base. I’m not sure how you want to coordinate that. I’ve also asked my former teammates from the Yankees to come and hold a pitch competition.”
“Sounds great,” Emma said. “I think since the focus is on Luna Azul we should have the concerts in the club. But maybe have them do one or two songs outside. I can set up a stage on the street if you think we can get the community to agree to letting us have the block party.”
“Justin was working on that,” Cam said.
“I attended a meeting last night of comunity leaders and I have another meeting set up today to try to talk to them. Right now they are reluctant to agree to anything. They have filed an injunction to keep the marketplace we’ve acquired from being rebuilt. I’ll be meeting with their lawyer to discuss the details.”
“Thank you, Justin,” Cam said. “Billy, as far as security goes, what do you recommend? We want this to be a free event but not a free-for-all.”
“I have my guys set up a perimeter so that we cover the entire area outside the club. Inside, I’ll have our usual coverage and a few extra teams.”
Cam nodded. “Emma, will you need to meet with Billy to discuss this?”
“I will need to meet with everyone one-on-one to discuss the details. We have a lot to do,” Emma said.
The meeting started to wind down and Nate saw Jen gathering all of her notes. He had a feeling she was going to make a fast break for it.
“Jen, do you have time to stay and meet with me about the show?” Nate asked. “My office is just down the hall.”
She looked up at him and then she nodded.
“Sounds good,” Cam said. “I want everyone back here this time next week. We will be meeting weekly until the party. Thank you.”
Everyone left and Jen stood there in the boardroom waiting for him. “I don’t know where your office is.”
“I know. I will show you the way.”
He led her to his office at the end of the hall. His secretary offered them drinks but Jen declined, and then they entered his office and he closed the door behind them.
“You are very good at that.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“That you know how to show a girl a good time, and that’s all.”
Nine
Jen should have known that she’d run into Nate. Should have figured that just because she’d decided to avoid him that it wouldn’t happen. Should have known that she’d still want him as soon as she saw him.
It didn’t help matters that he looked so good today. His shirt was left open at the collar revealing his tanned neck. His pants were fashionable and fit him perfectly. The fact that he kept looking at her wasn’t helping either. Because in his eyes she saw things she thought she wanted to see. She thought she saw regret and a desire to give things a try.
But she knew she was fooling herself. That was just her imagination going crazy. Hadn’t she already learned her lesson when her relationship with Carlos had taken dance away from her?
Was she going to be one of those women who never made smart choices when it came to men?
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me now,” he said.
“Did I have a choice?” she asked.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, you did.”
“I know. I’m just out of sorts today. Tell me what kind of dancing you think we’ll need for Hutch’s set. I’ve only heard a couple of his songs on the radio so I’m not as familiar with him as I should be. Do you think we can get him to come down and rehearse with us?”