Never Say Never (The Ladies Who Brunch 1)

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to draw his attention over here.”

“Who?”

But it’s too late. The deep timbre of his voice sends a chill down my spine, a reaction that is completely unnatural around him. But hell, it’s been twelve years. Perhaps my body forgot that we hate this man. “Charlotte Montgomery. Long time, no see.”

I twist in my chair to find Damien Shaw staring down at me, his hands deep in the pockets of his navy blue slacks, and his matching jacket hanging open revealing a solid white dress shirt with the top two buttons undone. That same cocky grin I remember from growing up is stitched across his lips, and his hair is perfectly styled, making him look sharp and professional.

I hate that he looks like Robbie Amell’s doppelganger with a beard, and my body definitely agrees with enthusiasm.

“Damien Shaw. Wow. God must have known that my day was already shitty, so he decided to rub salt in the wound by making you appear.”

He chuckles and then smiles even harder, revealing perfect white teeth and drawing my attention to his lips. “I knew you were still in L.A., but what a coincidence that I run into you now and here of all places.” He glances around the room and then back down to me. “Although I’m not surprised that the Senior Advertising Executive of Revision Magazine is dining at this establishment.”

“So you’ve been stalking me all of these years? That’s really sad that you felt like you needed to keep tabs on me.”

“Yeah, just wanted to make sure you’re still coming in second place.”

“If memory serves me correctly, you came in second more often than I did.”

“Sorry, Charlotte. The only time I come second is after the woman I’m with comes first.”

Noelle clears her throat, breaking the stare-down I’m having with Damien, drawing my attention back to my friends. “Care to introduce us?”

“I suppose. Girls, this is Damien Shaw, the definition of a narcissistic man-child, and someone I grew up with back home.”

“I can see your ability to throw out insults hasn’t wavered. Good to know,” he replies before moving to shake each one of my friends’ hands as they give him their names in return. “Nice to meet you, ladies.”

Penelope’s eyes dance up and down Damien’s body, and the spike of jealousy that sparks in my chest comes out of left field. What the fuck was that?

“The pleasure is all ours, Damien,” she croons. “So you and Charlotte know each other from South Carolina?”

“Oh yeah. Charlotte and I were thick as thieves, weren’t we, Char?”

“The only thieving going on was me stealing your pride every time I beat you at something.”

Damien tsks. “Now, now, Char. Don’t make me bring up stories and embarrass you in front of your friends.”

Noelle raises her hand like a fucking kindergartner. “I want to hear some stories.”

Penelope joins in with her hand in the air. “Me too! Me too!”

I smack both of their hands down before glaring in their direction. “Perhaps another time.” And then I turn to Damien again. “Well, this has been lovely, but our food will be here soon, and surely you have some other person to terrorize.”

Damien laughs and then tilts his head to the side. “You look good, Charlotte,” he says with sincerity that has me narrowing my eyes at him and my heart rate escalating. “Time has been good to you, indeed.”

“Uh… thank you.” I can feel my cheeks getting hot, but I won’t dare let him see that I’m reacting to him.

“I guess we’ll have more time to catch up in Hawaii next month, won’t we?”

A rock lodges itself in my throat. “Unfortunately, yes.”

He looks around the table, making eye contact with each of my friends. “It was great to meet you, ladies. See you around, Char.” And then he walks away, giving me yet another glimpse of his ass that I appreciated far too much the other day.

A heavy sigh leaves my lips as I pick up my drink and drain the rest of it, practically slamming it on the table before searching the room for our waiter to order another.

“So, uh…are you gonna explain who that was? Or are we just going to ignore the fact that the man that just stood here at our table was hella fine?” Penelope asks as I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

“That was Damien Shaw.”

“Yeah, we got that much information,” Amelia sarcastically replies.

“We were rivals growing up.”

“Like how?”

“Everything with that man was a competition, and he loved beating me almost as much as I loved beating him.”

Noelle’s eyebrows shoot up. “You do have one hell of a competitive side. But why on earth did you never tell us about him?”

“Because when I moved out here for college, I vowed to keep him out of this new chapter of my life. I focused so much of my time and energy competing against him as a child that I feel like my priorities were completely misplaced. And I knew he was coming out here for college too, but I knew the chances of us running into each other were slim. So I hopped on a plane and pretended like he never existed. Until Monday…when I saw him again for the first time.”

“You saw him on Monday?” Amelia asks.

“Yeah, at The Chop Shop. I left before he could see me though. But running into him here tonight is…”

“Coincidental?”

“Yeah, to say the least.”

Penelope goes to speak just as the waiter comes by and drops off our food, so she waits for him to leave. The cuisine here is a mix of Mexican and Asian flavors, and just seeing the food in front of me is making my mouth water. Once he makes sure we have everything we need she starts again. “What was he saying about Hawaii? He’s going to be there?” she asks as she breaks off a piece of her quesadilla and shoves it in her mouth.

And all I can do is sigh while pinching the bridge of my nose. “Unfortunately, yes. His parents are best friends with my parents, so it comes as no surprise that he was invited.”

“Don’t your parents know you two hate each other then?” Noelle asks, chewing a bite of her rice. “Why would they invite him?”

“Ha. No. On the contrary, they thought we were best friends. Damien always acted like the perfect little angel in front of our parents, even though he was nothing but a little twerp when they weren’t around.”

“Twerp. Now there’s a word that doesn’t get used enough,” Penelope laughs. “We need to bring that one back.”

“I’ll do my best to use it as much as possible.”

“Do you think he’s dating someone?” Noelle questions.

“The hell if I know, and the hell if I care. Why do you ask?”

“Because that means he might bring someone to Hawaii. It might make things awkward.”

“Why would it make things awkward?”

“Because the sexual tension between the two of you is so thick, you need an extra-large condom to slide over that dick,” Penelope says without ever looking up from her plate.

And I choke on my saliva. “Jesus, Penelope. And no way. I would never. Besides, that man’s penis has probably been removed due to one too many infections.”

Amelia chooses this time to share her observations. “On the contrary, he actually had quite a nice bulge in his slacks. I’d say he’s a solid seven inches hard.”

“What the fuck, Amelia? You were checking out his dick?”