The Mogul and the Muscle - Claire Kingsley Page 0,40
definitely are; it’s very exciting. What we’re working on will revolutionize air travel.”
“Will it?”
I nodded. “Imagine a cross-Atlantic flight that only takes an hour. The aircraft exits the earth’s atmosphere, making it possible to travel at much higher speeds. It reenters and lands thousands of miles from the origin point in a fraction of the time it takes a current commercial airliner to fly the same distance.”
“That is truly fascinating,” he said, but he was barely making eye contact. He kept watching behind me, like something else was attracting his attention.
I knew exactly what it was. Or who it was. Jude.
I glanced over my shoulder. Jude was doing his best brick wall impression—if a brick wall could look menacing. His eyes were locked on Nigel, his square jaw tight. He was ten feet away and completely unmoving, yet it looked like he could pounce on Nigel in an instant.
Yep, I’d been right. World’s biggest cock blocker.
Nigel cleared his throat again. “Well, Cameron, it was lovely meeting you. There’s a courtyard full of sculpture left to baffle me.”
I smiled. “Have a nice evening.”
Nigel walked away, casting a last nervous glance at my overbearing bodyguard.
I whipped around and marched over to him. “What are you doing?”
“My job.”
“Your job doesn’t include staring down attractive British men who strike up a conversation with me at a social event.”
“I wasn’t staring him down.”
I arched an eyebrow. “No? Then why did he keep looking at you?”
“You’d have to ask him.”
“Do you always have to be so intimidating?”
“Yes.”
I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath, then took a long drink of my martini. “We were just chatting. You didn’t have to scare him off.”
A tiny twitch of his eyebrows betrayed a hint of smugness. “If me standing ten feet behind you scared him, I did you a favor.”
“Why? Because he’d lose to you in a who’s the bigger caveman contest?”
“Yes.”
God, he was infuriating. Even more infuriating was that little voice in my head that said he was right.
“I hired you to keep me safe, not screen my potential dates.”
“Would you actually date that guy?” There was an edge to his voice that stood out in contrast to the stoic brick wall thing he was doing tonight. “And didn’t you say something about not dating again?”
“That’s beside the point. Maybe he would have changed my mind.”
“No, he wouldn’t have.”
I put a hand on my hip. “And how do you know that?”
“Money doesn’t make him man enough for you.”
I had no idea how to reply to that. Especially when Jude’s hazel eyes smoldered with heat.
Was he picturing me naked?
I was picturing him naked.
This was ridiculous.
“I don’t need your opinion on who I date, and I certainly don’t—” I stopped mid-sentence, hoping the man I’d just seen from the corner of my eye was anyone but the man I thought he was.
No, it was him. Aldrich Leighton.
He was impeccably dressed, as always, in a lavender button-down and dark slacks—although the two buttons open at the top was new. The dark-haired beauty on his arm had to be fifteen years younger than him—at least.
I’d known this moment would happen eventually. We traveled in the same social circles. It was inevitable that we’d run into each other.
I glanced down at my dress, suddenly wishing I’d taken Daisy up on her offer to wear one of hers. This one was boring. One of her five-thousand-dollar sequined numbers that barely covered my ass might have been a better choice.
Aldrich’s eyes met mine and a slow smile crossed his face.
“Oh, god,” I mumbled.
Jude took a step closer. “Your ex.”
I noticed he hadn’t phrased it as a question. He already knew.
Keeping my expression smooth, I watched Aldrich and his date make their way across the courtyard. Frantically, my mind raced for the right words.
Now wasn’t the time for a confrontation. Aldrich didn’t know that I knew, and the sex tape hadn’t been made public. As far as I knew, it had only been passed around to a handful of his buddies, and I wanted to make sure it stayed that way. One wrong word in a public place, with the wrong person within earshot, and the gossipmongers would be offering a hefty sum for a copy of that video.
But in the brief moment it took for Aldrich to cross the distance between us, I realized my fear of that tape making it into the media wasn’t the only reason I couldn’t say a word about it now.