Chapter 2 Glass

It was as though the entire building had gone silent the moment she stepped out of her limo - an extremely expensive Rolls Royce Phantom. The swarm of press suddenly rushed at her, microphones and cameras attacking her like swords and shields. Bruce and Buck, her security guards did a good job of keeping them away.

"You look stunning Miss Valentine."

"How long have you been out of house arrest, Miss Valentine?"

"Who are you wearing tonight Miss Valentine?"

"Miss Valentine, what do you have to say about the charges against you last year?"

Tamara did her best to ignore the questions, handling the press was something she was very good at but not when she had been arrested for over a year.

That evening, she wore a floor length off shoulder blood red gown with a slit. On her neck was a necklace embellished with rubies which she had bought in an auction three years ago. Light kept flashing at her face, they kept taking pictures of her, throwing questions at her and telling her what to pose. She replied with a smile at each of their statements; the fakest yet prettiest smile she could come up with.

She walked the red carpet into the building where most of the guests were talking and drinking. He was certainly going to be there, she was sure of it.

As she stepped into the beautiful hall, she could see the surprised look on the faces of the people in the hall. Most of which she recognised and some she didn't at all.

"Oh, surprisingly we have a guest here." Curtis Williams, the host of the show and also a man who had asked her out on so many occasions spoke from the stand, "She's one of our major sponsors and one of the reasons we were able to hold this gala event. Ladies and Gentlemen, CEO of Valentines Makeup brand, Tamara Valentine." People cheered and clapped their hands, Tamara smiled and did a little nervous wave before she dived into the flood of people to hid.

Fuck, I need a drink. She thought to herself. She walked to the barside, keeping her head up high to avoid looking intimidated.

"Wine." she told the bartender, "red, blood orange spritzer."

"Got it." he replied. Tamara felt a bit of pain in her foot so she adjusted her toes in her red glass heels, squirming in the process. Raising her head, her eyes caught a familiar face. 'The' familiar face.

Randal Meyers was thirteen feet away from her, sitting on a sofa with Paige Nicholson, her once trusted friend. At that moment, the rush of anger came pumping through her veins, filling every vessel in her body. She clenched her fists and bit her lip. "Ma'am?"

The bartender's voice brought her back to the present, "Uhm yes?"

"Your drink?"

"Oh thank you." She took the glass of wine handed to her.

"Is everything okay ma'am?"

Tamara rolled her eyes, "Trust me, the last thing I want right now is narrating my problems to a bartender." She got up and as she turned around to leave, her hands struck on the fabric of a white suit, spilling her red drink all over it.

She looked up to see the striking man she had spilled her drink on, "Oh my God, I am so sorry." she placed her palms on her mouth running out of ideas of what to do or say "I am so so sorry. I wasn't looking."

"Well that's okay. It's alright." The man replied, he had a strong English accent.

"No it's not okay, look at your blazer. I've totally ruined it."

"It's nothing, I promise. Here, I'll just..." he then proceeded to take off his blazer.

"Oh." Tamara gave him a confused look, "Oh" she repeated when she understood what he was doing. She realised that she was staring at his arms, so she blinked and gave him an anxious smile. "Well that works."

He smiled and handed his blazer to one of the chauffeurs. "It does work, yes."

Tamara squinted her eyes as she stared at the man, "I've seen you before haven't I?" She pointed a finger at him. "I'm sorry, but you just look way familiar."

"Oh well I own the company that made the wine you just spilled on me."

She stared at him for a second and facepalmed "Yes, yes. It's you." realising how ironic the situation was she covered her face with her hands "This makes it so much worse, why did you have to say it like that."

The handsome man giggled, "It is a very ironic situation isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is." She laughed a bit, "I just spilled your own wine on you."

He laughed with her, "Crazy innit?"

"And how do you know it's your wine anyways, you didn't see what bottle I got it from."

"I can tell my wine from the scent."

"Interesting."

"I assume it is. Well I'm sorry for making you spill your wine, maybe I could get you another one?"

"I think the wine is free." Tamara shyly replied

"I said get, not buy" he smiled widely at her and took a sit by the barside. "From its scent I can tell you enjoy red wine with blood orange spritzer."

Tamara smiled back then returned to her sit "It's a style my father thought me."

"You haven't tried other mixtures with your wine?"

She giggled a bit, "Well if I knew other mixtures, I guess I would have."

He signaled the bartender to pour him a glass of thesame wine. "In that case, let me tell you about other mixtures."

"I'm listening." she smiled dreamingly.

"The special thing about Leront," he raised the wine glass at her "our wine, is that it's very reactive to different ingredients."

"Oh I see."

"Can I get soda water and raspberry juice." he asked the bartender.

"Raspberry juice?" Tamara smiled at him trying to understand what he was about to do.

"Wait for it." he smiled back cockily. "Alright," he took the soda water from the bartender and poured a bit of it into the glass of wine. "So you add the soda water, just a fair bit, not too much."

"Okay..."

"And then raspberry juice." he added a considerate amount of that too. Raising the glass, he smiled again "The color doesn't change but tell me what you think about the taste." He then handed the glass to her.

Accepting the drink, she looked up at him, unable to stop herself from smiling, "I don't even know what your name is."

"I don't know what your name is either." he shrugged comically. Tamara laughed a bit, before she stopped to study the man who had just handed her a drink.

"Okay." she smiled in agreement and took a sip of the drink. "Mhm." she exclaimed

"Mhm." he mimicked her. She then took a much bigger sip. "You're supposed to savour it. Oh okay." The man started to laugh.

"Mhm, it's actually so good." she cleaned her mouth.

"I can tell."

She gulped what was left in the glass "Well I guess I know another wine mixture then."

"You were supposed to savour it." He teased her.

"Oh I did a lot of savouring, don't worry." They both laughed.

"What is your name?" she asked

"My name is Nathaniel Benett, Call me Nathan."

"Yes, now I remember. Your dad was Fitzgerald Benett."

"Yes he was."

"I'm sorry about him by the way."

"Oh, that's alright. You don't have to pretend that you liked him any way."

She smiled, "I want to say that's a relief but I think that would be extremely inappropriate."

"I wouldn't take offense." Nathan replied laughing. "And what is your name?"

Tamara gave him a look that was meant to say 'youre definitely kidding'

"What?"

"I assumed you were joking the first time. You're saying you do not know who I am."

"No I do not"

"Even after the nice welcome speech the four-foot handsome host gave for me?"

Nathan held back a laugh, "No, I don't think I was here for that part."

"You just got here now?"

"Yes, and I wanted to get a drink."

"And then I spill my drink on you, I'm so sorry."

"We've got past that already, it's all okay on my end."

"So this is your first conversation since you got here?"

"It very well is."

"Mine too. Mine too." She asked for another drink. "You haven't heard about a Tamara Valentine who was arrested for using her company to sponsor a terrorist group?"

"Wow. No, I haven't but she must be a terrible person."

Tamara nodded her head and smiled, "I'm Tamara Valentine."

"Oh," Nathan sat up straight. "Bullocks, why would you do something like that."

"Well, I wouldn't do something like that." She sipped from the glass, "I didn't do it."

Nathan gave her a confused look. "Oh."

Tamara frowned, "If you look directly behind me, you'll see a man, with brown hair, a grey suit with a woman in a purple dress."

"Affirmative."

"Well, that is my ex." She sipped from her glass again.

"The man or the woman?"

"The man," she replied smiling.

"Oh. I see. Well, whatever would make you break up with him?"

"He is the reason I was arrested." She did a fake smile, tapping her fingers on the table. "He's a con man, or he was. I don't know at this point."

"He conned you? Got you arrested for something you didn't do?"

"You know at this point I still don't know how he did it. Well, I do know he made me fall in love and trust him, but I still don't know how he linked my company with some terrorist group." Her tapping on the table became louder, "He took all my money first, and to stop me from trying to get it back, he got me arrested for what I didn't do. Stayed in a cell for four days and got house arrest for a year. I almost got ten years in prison you know." She turned to face Nathan. "Good lawyers, I guess."

Nathan did a deep breath, "I'm sorry about that. People... people can be selfish."

"Yeah," Tamara nodded, "I guess they can." She dried a small tear and then smiled at him. "Well tell me, how have you been in California and you don't know about the infamous Tamara Valentine?"

"Well, that's the thing innit? I haven't been in California."

"Oh."

"Yes, I lived in England. Manchester to be exact. When my father passed away I had to come to take up my birthright and the family name and stuff like that, whatever."

"Was that like difficult?"

"I wouldn't say difficult, but I had other things I wanted to do. So although I was reluctant at first, I knew I had a responsibility to my father's name, even though it was a very stained one."

"Maybe you can help clean it up."

"Yes, maybe I can." He took a sip from his glass before taking a peek at the man Tamara had shown him earlier. "This is why you're here tonight isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"This man, he's the reason you have decided to show up at this gala event."

"How would you know that?"

Nathan looked at her, then drank from his glass. "It is what I would do." He stared into the wine in his glass, "It would keep him uneasy to know that the person he tried to destroy is back. To know that you could come for him at any moment, that you didn't stay down."

Tamara gazed passionately at Nathan, the way he spoke what he spoke touched her. He understood what she wanted without even understanding how she felt. She looked at his face and his perfectly groomed beard then at his red steaming lips. This man oozed confidence and a sexual aura that Tamara wanted but she didn't want to run into things, no not again. She didn't want to -

"Do you want to dance?" she heard herself say.

"Do I want to dance?"

"Yes, would you like to?"

"I'd really like that, yes." He smiled gracefully.

"Okay then." She smiled back, taking his hand as they both joined the slow dance. Her head on his shoulder, his hands on her waist as they both moved to the rhythm of each other's bodies.

Tamara raised her head from his shoulder and rested her jaw instead, she almost jolted at the sight of Randal Meyers glaring down at her from the sofa he was sitting on. He looked furious like he was about to break the wine cup he had in his hand. Tamara glared back, she was going to show him that she wasn't going to back down, she was coming for him and she was going to win.

She raised her left hand behind Nathan's back, her middle finger pointing at him. She mouthed the words, "Fuck you."