Chapter Wilderness Outreach Gala
Daphne checked her appearance once again. She wore a sleek black dress that was geared more toward business neutral than flirty. She still filled it out in all the right places.
She grabbed her coat and checked her clutch. Her eyes caught herself in the mirror. Her nerves turned over in her stomach. Seeing James, finding out who he really was, being hired on for their high-profile case…
She didn’t know whether he had hired her because it was her, or whether it was because he wanted her skills.
Even so, she didn’t know what was between them or what he was thinking. Obviously he couldn’t have had a talk with her when they were in a meeting.
She just didn’t know what to expect.
Her phone beeped at her, telling her that her ride was there.
She quickly left her apartment and walked down to meet the cab. She jumped in and let it take her through the city. The glow of lights filled her vision: red brake lights, the whites that lit up the skyscrapers, and the green and yellows of the stoplights.
She looked at Toronto, but she didn’t see it, her mind filled with other things.
It wasn’t long until they arrived at Casa Loma. She was caught in the traffic of fancy cars as they waited for dressed-up people in their formal suits and dresses who had come out for the late winter gala.
A man opened the door of her car and she stepped out, catching eyes as she walked up the main entrance and into Casa Loma. A wave of heat rushed over her. She was greeted by a coat check; she left her coat behind and walked into the party.
She saw Reggie was already mingling and waved to him. He waved back but he was having a deep conversation with a gentleman, playing with a toothpick.
She smiled. It was clear Reggie was otherwise engaged. She entered the venue, getting a glass of prosecco. Here was the wealth of Toronto: millionaires dotted the floor, with people talking to a few start-ups that were looking promising or talking about different deals they had made.
“Daphne,” Lucy called out, tapping her arm from the side.
“Sorry, I missed you.” Daphne leaned forward for a brief hug.
“No worries. This place is packed and my heels aren’t tall enough to see over all of this.” Lucy smiled and grabbed a glass of prosecco from a wandering waiter, as well as a few snacks. “Can’t go wrong—it’s all empty carbs when you drink, right?” Lucy smiled.
Daphne laughed lightly. She found Lucy to be a nice woman to be around and although she was a bit of a terrier when it came to James’s schedule, she had a heart of gold.
Daphne looked around and saw James talking to a group of other people in suits and dresses. His easy smile and his manners seemed to turn him into a magnet as he controlled the room.
“Lucy, who is this fine creature beside you?” A man moved to hug Lucy from the side.
“Easy, Dave. This is Daphne,” Lucy admonished as she smiled playfully at Dave.
Dave let out a laugh. He had blond hair and blue eyes and wore a deep-blue suit that contrasted against him well.
“My apologies, Daphne.” Dave held Daphne’s hand and kissed it.
Daphne smiled. “It’s no worry at all, Dave.”
“So what are you doing here?” Dave asked.
“I work for the Wilderness Outreach Incubator. I’m part of their legal team,” Daphne said.
“Where have they been hiding you? My dear Lucy, is this any way to treat an old friend?” Dave asked.
“Dave,” Lucy said with a note of warning.
“It’s all okay.” Dave waved his hands to the side. One of them rested on Daphne’s back.
She smiled, feeling slightly awkward. But she had been in these situations all too often; she knew how to rescue herself if she needed to. Though, this time she felt that something was wrong. Unconsciously, she turned her head. There didn’t seem to be anyone in her vision’s way as her eyes found James’s.
Her heart dropped as her temperature soared.
James seemed to look through her, Dave’s hand clearly on her back. He turned away from Daphne, his eyes cold and empty. He returned to his conversation with the group he had been talking to.
They laughed at his words as he toasted them with his glass. He left the conversation and then downed the glass in one shot, putting it down and grabbing another as he left the room.
“Shit.” Lucy looked to Dave and then Daphne before she looked to leave.
“Excuse me, I need to see a friend,” Daphne said, with a smile to Dave before she turned out of his hand and moved to follow James. She needed to clear this up.
She had come to know more about him from the people around him.
She had been over at the Wilderness Outreach offices so many times, seeing him as he worked tirelessly or rushed out to go and see his daughter. She didn’t know what was between them anymore, but she knew that she didn’t want whatever they had to be stained by this.
She found him as he moved to a closed-off door. She followed right after him.
He looked back and saw her there. “What do you want?” he asked, his voice containing some heat.
“James, I…” She didn’t know what to say.
“I didn’t know that you and Dave were that close, Miss Thomas.”
Hearing Miss Thomas from his lips was like a stab in the heart. “James, I didn’t mean for things to happen this way.”
“For you to be working for me, or for you to run off?” James laughed but it had no humor to it. “Did you know that Lucy invited you and Reggie here, because she thought it would give us the opportunity to talk, to clear the air? My idiot ass even had the hope that we might still have something.”
Daphne’s heart jumped and then plummeted even farther. Still have something?
“I like you, James, all right? I did when we were at the camp and I do now!” Daphne’s words were cut off as they heard people talking outside of the room.
Daphne moved past James, grabbing his hand and dragging him to a close bathroom. She stood next to the counter as he locked the door so they wouldn’t be interrupted.
“I like you. I still do. I just don’t know what we are. I can’t sleep right at night because of that!” she said, finally revealing everything. She held her arm, feeling vulnerable.
“Then why did you run away?” James yelled, unable to hold it back.
Seeing that look of pain, that loss in his eyes, hurt more than any words. “Because I was scared!” she yelled, confused by her own emotions, knowing the other side of him, the business leader who raised his daughter by himself. It was too much. The pit in her stomach deepened and she couldn’t look at his face.
He didn’t say anything, waiting for her to speak.
She gritted her teeth, wanting nothing more than to run into his embrace, to cry and let everything go back to that time in the camper, that escape on the paddleboards. “I was scared I might fall for you.” She looked up at him with watery eyes.
She could see that James was fighting himself, thinking about walking over, but holding back.
“You’re…” She waved her hand and let it drop to the side as she leaned against the counter. She didn’t know what to say, how to say it.
They stood just a few feet from each other, but it felt as though they were worlds apart.
James took a deep breath and looked at Daphne. “So what do you want to do?”
Daphne’s heart begged her to run to him, but her mind kept her back. She didn’t know what to say.
“If you want, we can just think of it as some fling, or…” James took a breath, bracing himself. “Or, we can see where this goes.”
Daphne opened her mouth but James held up a finger. Few people could stop her from speaking but she immediately closed her mouth.
“If you want to make this a thing, you’re going to have to regain my trust. I’m not going to lie—seeing you run tore me up on the inside. Not only for me. I thought that Julia scared you. I would give anything for Julia. While I didn’t tell her anything about you, intending for it to be a surprise, it tore me up seeing you run. I thought you ran because you were scared of her, that you thought less of her.” James’s eyes weren’t soft but hard now.
Daphne could see the protective side of James. A touch of hardness that entered his body made her look away as she closed her eyes.
“It’s not just me—there’s Julia as well. I need to know that you’re not just going to run away. That takes time, and I don’t want you to betray Julia’s emotions.”
Daphne gathered herself and looked at James. He seemed like a stone block, his face steeled, ready for whatever was to come.
“I have a few things to say, so listen,” Daphne said, seeing James grit his teeth, and let out a breath. “I want to date you, if you’ll let me, and meet Julia,” Daphne said in a rush. “But”— James winced at that simple word—“right now, if I represent you on this high-profile case, if I become involved with you—then what will other people think?”
Daphne was a powerful female lawyer in a predominantly male-dominated field. She had to think about the ramifications of her relationships. It was a harsh and stupid reality.
James relaxed slightly. “What do you propose?” he asked, hope in his voice.
Daphne bit her lip. It was hard for her to say these words but she knew that he had bucked up to it; she could too.
“We date in secret. We see where this goes. I wasn’t afraid of Julia. I was afraid of getting so attached that I couldn’t leave. Setting up everything—the company, the different clients—I didn’t know that I could do it and I didn’t want to ruin any relationship we had. It was better to leave with the good memories we had instead of destroying it. Every day or every other day, I think of the what-ifs. I’ve tried saying that it would be impossible, even more so with a kid in the mix. Seeing you…” Daphne looked up at James, a sad smile on her face. “I don’t want to let you go.”
It was a rare sight as her bottom lip curled and the tears she had been holding back fell down.
James moved forward and pulled her into a hug. That familiar smell, that body… She held onto him, realizing how much she had missed him. Her heart ached and her nerves were a wreck. It took her a few minutes before she was able to get control of herself.
James kept one arm around her, using the handkerchief in his suit to wipe away her tears.
“Who knows, dating in secret might be even more fun,” James said with that familiar smile.
Daphne laughed and let out some more tears, stepping back and wiping her eyes.
“We’re both busy, but we’ll make it work,” James said.
Daphne nodded. Being around him made it feel as if every moment was better.
James gave her a quick kiss, stunning her.
“I have mascara everywhere!” she complained, looking in the mirror.
“One sexy raccoon,” James teased.
Daphne let out a laugh and started to fix herself up. “Go back out there or else people are going to start asking questions.”
James pulled her to him and kissed her one more time.
Daphne couldn’t figure out the emotions in his eyes as he smiled and turned for the door, unlocking it.
“See you later, secret lover.” James winked.
Daphne’s heart jumped as she gave him a smile.
He left, closing the door behind him. Daphne felt emotionally exhausted but her heart was soaring.