All You Need Is Love (2 page)

As for Lauren herself, she’d been due to arrive in New York for a staff meeting at National Geographic on Monday morning anyway, so it hadn’t taken much convincing for her to fly in a few days early. Convincing her to wear the sort of bridesmaid gown that Julia had in mind, however, was going to be another matter entirely.

They had all agreed to meet up for breakfast at Norma’s, located in the Le Parker Meridien. When Julia had lived and worked in Manhattan, it had been one of her very favorite spots for brunch and she was happy to find that the food was better than ever. It was a busy, bustling place even on a Thursday morning.

The waitress had just refilled everyone’s coffee cups when Julia happened to glance across the crowded room and noticed the man staring over at their table. She might have been a very happily engaged woman, with an insanely handsome fiancée who could get her hot with just a smile, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate an exceptionally fine specimen of pure male from time to time. Like the hottie who continued to gaze over at their table with an expression of mingled curiosity and bewilderment. Though he wasn’t her usual type, Julia could find little to nothing at fault with the man’s ruggedly handsome face covered in dark blond stubble.

Lauren was busily stirring more sugar into her fresh cup of coffee as she glanced over at her sister. “What are you staring at, Jules? Did you see someone you – ah, shit.”

Julia frowned at the unmistakable sound of disgust she heard in Lauren’s voice, and looked away from the handsome stranger. Her sister’s face was set in a tight, angry expression and her green eyes, identical to Julia’s own, were blazing emerald fire.

“What’s wrong now?” asked Julia in exasperation.

Lauren swore softly beneath her breath. “Damn it, I can’t believe he’s actually got the balls to walk over here.”

“Who?” Julia followed her sister’s narrowed gaze and spied the handsome stranger walking towards their table, a rather bemused expression on his face.

“My boss,” muttered Lauren ungraciously. “God, you’d think I could sneak into town a few days early and not run into anyone from the office, wouldn’t you?”

Angela, who’d overhead this last bit, stared at Lauren in surprise. “
That’s
your boss? The one you’re always bitching about?”

“The infamous Ben the Bastard?” chimed in Julia.

Lauren took a gulp of her coffee, swearing when it burned her tongue, and positively glowered. “That’s him. And don’t let his good looks fool you. Beneath all that phony charm, he is
definitely
a bastard.”

“Shh,” urged Julia. “He’ll be here in a second.”

Lauren’s boss sauntered leisurely over to their table, not seeming in a particular hurry. He was wearing a navy wool overcoat over his open-necked white shirt and dark gray slacks. Julia gauged him to be around the same height and build as Nathan, tall and leanly muscled, and he looked to be in his early to mid- thirties. Ben was definitely more on the rugged side than Nathan, his dark blond hair cut close against his head, and his eyes were a much darker shade of blue than Nathan’s. But there was no denying that Lauren’s boss was an extremely compelling man, and, thought Julia with an inward smirk, almost exactly the sort of guy her sister usually went for.

Five pairs of female eyes gazed up at him with interest, while Lauren herself looked like she’d love nothing better than to fling her cup of steaming hot coffee into his arrestingly handsome face.

“Lauren. This is something of a surprise. We weren’t expecting you here until Monday,” drawled Ben, one of his eyebrows arched inquisitively.

Lauren tried unsuccessfully to mask the scowl on her face, and she gave a careless little shrug. “Free country last time I checked. I didn’t realize I needed to check in with you whenever I came to New York. And I’m obviously not here a few days early because of business.”

There was a definite chill in the air between the two of them, and a rather uncomfortable silence. Natalie was the one to break the ice, giving Ben a polite smile and extending her hand in his direction.

“I’m Lauren’s mother – Natalie Benoit,” she offered. “I take it you and Lauren work together at the magazine?”

Ben bestowed a dazzling smile on Natalie and shook her hand. “A pleasure, Ms. Benoit. I confess to knowing very little about art, but I’m a great admirer of the few pieces of yours I’ve been fortunate enough to view. And since Lauren seems reluctant to introduce us, I’ll do the honors. I’m Ben Rafferty, Lauren’s – er, boss.”

Aside from a slight widening of her eyes, Natalie didn’t betray any reaction at this revelation. She, like Julia and Angela, had heard Lauren rant and rave about her bastard of a boss on too many occasions to count.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rafferty,” replied Natalie diplomatically. “Though I’m sure you’ve realized by now that no one really dares to boss Lauren around.”

There were chuckles all around, including Ben’s but excluding Lauren who continued to look sulky and pissed off. And the expression on her face turned downright murderous when Ben answered in a clearly amused voice, “Oh, trust me. I realized that from the very first time I met her.”

Impulsively, Julia extended her hand to the very compelling Ben. “Since Lauren is once again exhibiting atrocious manners, I’ll do the honors. I’m Julia, her twin sister.” Swiftly, she introduced Angela, Maddy, and Alexis.

Ben nodded in sudden understanding as Alexis was introduced as Julia’s future mother-in-law. “So when is the big day?”

“June twenty-eighth, God willing,” Julia told him. “We just got engaged on New Year’s Eve, so we’re trying to throw everything together in only six months. The girls’ getaway this weekend is so we can pick out our dresses. Except that Lauren has presented me with her list of demands, and made things very difficult.”

Ben smirked. “That’s hardly a surprise. What shocks me more is the thought of Lauren actually wearing a dress. Now
that
I’d pay good money to see.”

Julia sensed something of a kindred spirit in Lauren’s boss, at least in terms of his exasperation with her sister, and gave him a conspiratorial wink. “Give me your email address and I’ll make sure I send you a photo or two.”

He laughed while Lauren shot her sister an evil look. “You wouldn’t dare, Jules. And I’m not sure why you’re so shocked,” she told Ben irritably. “I’ve been known to wear a dress or a skirt on occasion.”

Ben shook his head. “Guess I missed those rare occurrences.” Tactfully, he steered the subject in a slightly different direction by asking Julia, “The wedding’s in Carmel, I assume?”

“Pebble Beach, actually. But most of our coastal communities all tend to share borders and sort of flow from one to another,” admitted Julia.

Natalie regarded Ben curiously at his mention of Carmel. “Have you ever visited the area, Mr. Rafferty?”

Once again, Ben turned the full wattage of his rather dazzling smile on Natalie. “It’s Ben, Ms. Benoit. And yes – I was fortunate enough to spend some time in the area a number of years ago. You’re very lucky to live in what I personally consider the most beautiful region in the entire world. The time I spent there was easily the most memorable of my life.”

He was looking very pointedly at Lauren when he said the last part and Julia frowned, sensing that there was definitely
something
there that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Lauren stubbornly refused to look at her boss, only muttering something under her breath that sounded an awful lot to Julia like “lying sonofabitch”.

There was another awkward pause until Ben excused himself with another of those mesmerizing smiles. “Well, I’ll let you ladies get back to your meal. It was a pleasure to meet all of you. Lauren – bright and early Monday morning, hmm?”

Lauren gave a flippant shrug. “Maybe not so early. Or bright. I’ve got a hot date Sunday night.”

Ben’s sinfully full mouth tightened in rather obvious disapproval. “I see. Well, then, I suppose we’ll just see you whenever you decide to honor us with your presence. And tell your date to watch out for those sharp elbows of yours, unless he wants a broken nose like the last one.”

As Ben walked toward the exit, Lauren made a horrible face and beckoned their waitress over. “I need a drink,” she told the rather harried-looking young woman, the one Lauren had already intimidated upon arrival earlier this morning. “Tequila sunrise – emphasis on the tequila.
Pronto
.”

Natalie gave her daughter a stern look as the terrified waitress scurried off to get the drink. “Lauren, honestly. Was that really necessary? That poor girl looked absolutely petrified. Why do you insist on bullying people that way?”

Lauren waved a hand in dismissal. “Nothing I’m sure she hasn’t had to deal with dozens of time before. This is New York City, after all. Better have a thick skin if you want to survive here.”

Madelyn rolled her eyes. “And Lauren acts like she was a native New Yorker. I’ve yet to find anyone or anything that intimidates her.”

Angela smirked. “Yes, but I think we have found someone who at least gets a reaction out of her. Exactly what has Ben the Bastard done anyway to get you this ticked off, Lauren?”

The waitress returned with Lauren’s drink, and she wasted no time in bolting down half the contents in one long swallow. “Long story, Angie,” Lauren grumbled. “And one I really don’t want to discuss any further.”

Alexis, who seemed blissfully, almost naively unaware of Lauren’s simmering anger, commented, “He seems like such a nice young man, Lauren. And very, very handsome, too. Don’t you all agree?”

Lauren glared at the five other women as they all seemed to chime in at once about Ben’s rather obvious manly attributes. “First of all – Mom, Aunt Maddy and Alexis. No offense, but all three of you are way too old to be admiring a man Ben’s age. That’s just – two steps away from taking a trip to Cougar Town. Jules – for a newly engaged woman who’s supposedly a love-crazed fool over her man – tsk, tsk, baby sister. You’re being a very bad girl to be checking out another man’s goods. And Angie – I thought you’d turned all that stuff off. And all of you – don’t let a pretty face, a hot body and all that charm fool you. Deep down he’s an asshole.”

Julia wisely didn’t quiz her sister any further on the matter of the unexpectedly hot Ben Rafferty, but knew with the instinct only twins shared that there was far more to the story than Lauren was willing to let on. But because she needed Lauren to be in something resembling a good mood when they tried on dresses in a short while, she kept her mouth firmly shut.

***

As it turned out, however, keeping silent didn’t help in the least because Lauren was in a foul mood for the rest of the day. And night. Julia felt like screaming each time her sister turned her nose up at the sight of a particular dress, or made some scathing comment about it. After several hours and dozens of dresses, Lauren grudgingly agreed to narrow the selection down to three that she
might
find acceptable. However, by that point everyone was exhausted and agreed to reconvene in the morning to make the final selection.

And tomorrow would also be when Julia would finally get to try on her own wedding gowns.

‘And,’ she thought sourly, ‘
I
won’t be anywhere near as hard to please as Miss Fussypants!’

Julia had selected the Le Parker Meridien for its relatively close proximity to Bergdorf’s. She, Lauren, and Angela were sharing a two-bedroom suite at the hotel, while Natalie and Alexis were bunking with Maddy at her midtown Manhattan apartment.

All six of them had an early dinner, and then the three older women took off to see a new Broadway play that had just opened. And while Julia would have loved to join them, she knew her sister and Angela weren’t real theater buffs and so she felt obliged to accompany them on a round of bar hopping instead.

Lauren eyed Julia’s violet-colored martini dubiously. “What the hell sort of girly drink is that? It’s the same color as one of those frilly-assed dresses you oohed and ahhed over today.”

Julia stuck out her tongue just before taking a dainty sip of the grape flavored cocktail. “I remember that dress very well and there wasn’t anything the least bit frilly about it.”

Angela nodded as she took a healthy swallow of Absolut citron on the rocks – her preferred evening beverage. “I do remember that one, Lauren, and to me it seemed perfectly fine. Not a bow or ruffle or tiny floral print to be found.”

Lauren shrugged as she bolted down one of the half-dozen tequila shots lined up in front of her. Their server had been a little taken aback when she’d ordered six at a time, but the look on Lauren’s face had clearly warned the rather prissy waitress to not even think of questioning her. And Julia knew from experience that this was merely the warm-up act. Her sister could drink most grown men under the table, including their own father and uncle.

And Lauren could also flirt somewhat outrageously when she was in the mood, though tonight she seemed content to merely wink or give a teasing smile or two whenever she caught some hot guy’s gaze upon her. When one especially persistent – and incredibly good looking – would-be suitor kept staring in Lauren’s direction, Julia gave her sister a nudge.

“Hey, hottie over there in the black shirt has really been giving you the onceover, you know,” pointed out Julia. “If you, ah, wanted to get some action, Angie and I can, um -”

Lauren smiled knowingly. “Baby sis, if I needed action that bad, trust me I’d already be there. And that guy isn’t my type, you know that. Too suave, too sharply dressed. I’d be bored with him before he got his clothes off.”

Angela gave her best friend a sly look. “Betcha old Ben the Bastard wouldn’t be boring. He, ah, looks like he could keep a girl interested all night long and well into the next day.”

Lauren arched a brow. “Want me to fix you up, Angie? Ah, but then he’s already taken, live-in girlfriend and all that sappy stuff. Besides, I thought that part of you died inside a few years back. After the Asshole with No Name did a number on you.”

Angela instantly sobered, her expression almost stricken. “It did die. And for a long time I thought it would never come back to life again. But recently – well, this seems like as good a time as any to tell you guys this. I’m seeing someone.”