HDU (42 page)

Amanda laughed as she observed the bustling
scene.
 
Held in a palatial event
hall with 75-foot windows, the luncheon had hosted over five hundred guests and
wasn’t at all the intimate setting she had anticipated.
 
By its end, she had yet to even spot
Dylan.
 
But she didn’t mind.
 
She preferred to stay seated and get to
know her June Magazine coworkers at her table.
 
They were humorous and not too patronizing as they provided Amanda
deliberately lifeless summaries on all the guests, pushing alcohol at her and apologizing
for how boring the luncheon was.
 
For
fear of appearing unsophisticated, Amanda decided not to reveal that she was
thoroughly enjoying herself.
 
She thrilled
in the things that they found standard or mundane – like posing for photo
calls, drinking pear champagne cocktails and listening to socialites talk about
themselves.
 
Her favorite thing of
all was just sitting at a table amongst professional women.
 
Though their occasional condescension showed
that she’d yet to fully prove her worth to them, she still liked kind of feeling
as if she belonged to some glamorous and witty sorority.
 
It was most certainly a different scene,
but she was sure she could get used to it.

“Amanda, dear,” Wendy sang when she returned to the
table.
 
She plopped down in the
French garden chair next to hers.
 
“I found Dylan, but our interview is being momentarily delayed.”

“Oh, okay.
 
Why?”

Wendy laughed.
 
“Because our subject is currently being held hostage by lusty rich women,”
she answered, nodding towards the escalators, where an eclectic mix of middle-aged
socialites and waifish models were cornering someone – Dylan.
 
Amanda burst out laughing, though at
the same time, her stomach did a little flip.
 
Seeing just the top of Dylan’s head through the crowd was
enough to make her heart pound.
 
His hair looked undone, almost messy in the way it had been when she
last saw him – when he had nervously tousled it while confessing his
crush on her.
 
Amanda wet her lips
and blushed at the memory.

“I’d intervene since we have to get going, but the
grand high priestess of socialites is there, so better not,” Wendy said dryly,
holding her hands up in the air.
 
The other girls cringed before craning their necks to look.
 
Though Amanda didn’t ask, Wendy
explained.
 
“That’s what we call Gabrielle
Yorke, as in Yorke Publications.
 
As
in Arthur Yorke was her great grandfather, and her dad is our publishing
director.”

“You piss her off, you piss him off,” Kelly
translated bluntly before heaving a sigh.
 
“So I guess we’re stuck sitting here until the heiress is done
flirting.
 
Unless we can somehow
grab Dylan without her seeing,” she snorted.

“Ugh.
 
If
only.”

Amanda only nodded in response to it all, aloof.
 
She had been half listening while
reliving her last conversation with Dylan – the good parts of it,
anyway.
 
Her coworkers had
distracted her sufficiently throughout the luncheon, but now her mind was back
on him.
 
Her body was reacting too,
her heart still thumping and her limbs feeling restless.
 
But for once, it wasn’t nerves or the
Dylan Hardy Effect – she simply couldn’t wait for
him
to see
her
.
 
Gorgeous dress aside, she had a hunch
that he was anxious to talk to her after the way they’d left off.
 
“Well,” she cleared her throat,
standing up from the table.
 
“I
think I’ll go freshen up while we wait,” she said before heading off.

She had no idea where the bathroom was, but it didn’t
matter.
 
She could hear Wendy
correcting her on which direction to go, but she ignored it, walking towards
the escalators and towards Dylan.
 
She planned on simply strolling into his eye line, catching his
attention, and continuing on her way.
 
He would follow her if he saw her – she was convinced of it.

Her pulse felt like it was thudding in her ears by
the time she was just twenty feet away.
 
When one of the girls shifted to flirtatiously touch Dylan’s shoulder,
Amanda finally caught a clear glimpse of him.
 
He looked strikingly handsome as ever in his slim charcoal
suit, its single button fastened over a crisp white shirt and crimson skinny
tie.
 
She could’ve spent even
longer just staring at him, but one of the girls suddenly turned around and
looked directly at her.

Amanda blinked, snapped out of her trance.
 
Only then did she realize that the girl
was only staring at her because Dylan was.
 
He exhaled when she caught his gaze and his lips moved to say
something, but he quickly grew impatient with his speechlessness and stepped right
between the women, parting them to follow Amanda as if she possessed a
gravitational pull.

“I’m so sorry, excuse me for a moment,” she heard
Dylan’s manners catch up to him as he apologized to his admirers, including
Gabrielle Yorke, whichever one she was.
 
Amanda didn’t turn around to guess, but she did eye the June Magazine
table on her way out the entrance.
 
Wendy laughed and clapped riotously while the rest of them simply
watched with their jaws hung open, positively dumbstruck.
 
Perhaps she hadn’t proven her worth
yet, but she’d certainly impressed everyone with her deft maneuver.
 
Amanda couldn’t help the satisfied grin
spreading her lips as she continued swiftly down the escalator, Dylan’s footsteps
trailing behind her.

~

She heard him gaining on her, but she didn’t turn
around until she reached the lower level.
 

“Hi,” she breathed, reveling in the visible awe
lighting Dylan’s blue eyes.
 
She
tried to keep her cool when he finally reached her and reflexively put his
hands on her waist, as if catching her.
 
It lasted all of a second before he released her in a hurry.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, blinking.
 
He shook his head a bit as if trying to
awaken himself from a fog.
 
His
eyes locked on hers again.
 
“I
didn’t know you’d be here, you look incredible,” he said all in one breath.

“Thank you.”
 
She watched him as he blinked a few more times, seeming to come to.

“That was cruel, what you did over there,” he
laughed.

“What did I do?”

“You caught me completely off guard.
 
I had no fair warning that you’d be
here.”

“Why do you need warning?” Amanda teased.

“Ah…” Dylan rubbed the back of his neck as he tried
to formulate a good answer.
 
He winced
and laughed.
 
“Because I’ve made a
habit of turning into a bumbling idiot when I’m around you, and I need to mentally
prepare myself for our meetings.”
 
He silenced for a moment as a barrage of people began descending from
the escalators.
 
With the lobby swarming
with exiting guests, Amanda took Dylan’s hand and excused herself politely
through the crowd, backing up until she was against the window, where they’d
have at least a sliver of privacy.
 
He looked down at their intertwined fingers for a second.
 
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you since
Los Angeles,” he said quietly.
 
Amanda
tried not to melt at the way he pronounced it.
 
Los An-geh-lees.
 
“I just didn’t know how to handle the
situation once I heard that you and Liam split.
 
I didn’t want to intrude during a difficult time and I was a
little afraid that our situation had something to do with the breakup… as
presumptuous as that sounds.”

Not
presumptuous at all
.
 
Her back
against the window, Amanda looked up at him.
 
She blushed at their sheer proximity to one another.
 
“It wasn’t related,” she lied.
 
“And don’t worry about it.
 
Any of it.
 
We can pretend that night never happened.”

“Believe me, I tried,” Dylan said with a quiet laugh
to himself.
 
“Since you were
attached but I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation.
 
And since it’s useless to fantasize
about somebody else’s girlfriend.”

A wave of heat rushed to Amanda’s cheeks.
 
“Isn’t that the point of a fantasy?”
she asked, trying not to look as giddy as she was over the fact that he’d fantasized
about her at any point.

He opened is mouth to answer, but they both silenced
for a moment to let a cluster of people walk by behind him.
 
They pursed their lips into slightly
awkward smiles as the swelling crowd pushed his body up against hers.
 
He bit back a sheepish grin as he held
her by the waist to keep his torso from pressing flat against hers.

“I’m so sorry,” he breathed.

“That’s okay,” Amanda giggled.

He paused.
 
They were still and silent for a moment before he lowered his voice to a
whisper.
 
“I feel incredibly
awkward right now because I just realized that I admitted to fantasizing about
you.”
 

“You did, yes.”

Dylan exhaled and closed his eyes, a smile of
disbelief spreading his lips.
 
Amanda
tilted her head to savor the expression.
 
“Again, brilliant.”
 
He
opened his eyes only when he heard her giggle again.
 
“I assure you it was nothing improper.”

Kind of wish it
were
.
 
“’Kay,” Amanda replied quickly
to quell her own thoughts.
 
Her brusque
response made his cheeks flush even more.
 
“Stop,” she laughed.
 
“I
believe you,” she insisted, trying to relax him.
 
It seemed to have an opposite effect though, and only when his
mouth dropped open did Amanda suddenly realize that her hands were on his
chest, slipped underneath his suit jacket.
 
She froze as she stared at her flattened palms, which a
second ago had been stroking in gentle circles.
 
Her fingers instinctively curled with embarrassment, her nails
lightly scratching him.
 
Dylan’s
lips parted as he let out an audible breath.

Ho…ly shit
.
 
His chest was a lot more muscular than
she’d anticipated.
 
Wow, okay, stop.
 
Rather than suppress her lustful thoughts, she’d
inadvertently intensified them.
 
“I’m
sorry,” she murmured, dropping her arms from him and holding back her nervous
laughter.

“Really, don’t be.”
 
She could hear the smile in his voice.
 
When she finally looked back up at
Dylan, she caught him briefly biting his knuckle.
 
She considered then that she might have just intensified his
lustful thoughts as well.
 
He dropped
his hand from his mouth when she saw him.
 
“Anyway…” he started with an awkward chuckle, making her giggle.

“Yes, anyway…”

He grimaced a bit.
 
“I have a feeling it would be in poor taste to ask you out
so soon after breakup, but – ”

Amanda interrupted him.
 
“You should be allowed to do something in poor taste for
once.”

Dylan blue eyes glowed at her flirtatious smile.
 
“Thank goodness.
 
Then please allow me to take you to
dinner because I’m truly not going to last two weeks again without seeing you.”

AMANDA
NATHAN WASTES NO TIME GETTING OVER LIAM BRODY

The Durt

February 27

Amanda Nathan may be new to the city, but she’s
getting
pretty
darned familiar
with its pace.
 
Dumped just a few
weeks ago, the latest ex of Liam Brody has already moved on with an amazing new
job and possibly… an amazing new
man
?

At today’s Thierry Marc luncheon, Amanda made her
debut as the newest and youngest contributor to June Magazine.
 
Her first assignment? Oh, just interviewing
former Thierry model and eternal pride of England, Dylan Hardy.
 
According to spectators, Dylan appeared
quite taken when he first spotted Amanda wearing a stunner from Thierry’s Fall
collection which debuted just this month.
 
Not only that, the two were seen flirting it up against a window before
their interview, which they apparently exchanged googly eyes throughout.
 
Said an onlooker, “The flirtation was actually
very sweet.
 
They looked like the
perfect, down-to-earth couple.”

Well, color me jealous! Perfect for a ridiculously
handsome, Oscar-nominated silverscreen prince? Working with June Magazine and
the legendary Yorke Publications? From total nobody to almost A-list? It was
unlikely, but Amanda Nathan has climbed – or really,
scaled
– the ranks of Hollywood in just a
little over a month.
 
In January,
you couldn’t pay us to take a walk in her hand-me-down shoes, but now we want
her freaking
life
.