Chapter I
It was the first time in months since Katherine Petrova-Salvatore wore a sexy dress. No— Scratch that. It was actually the first time since she was able to wear something that hasn't been spilled on with milk or puked on by her ten month old daughter Sophie. Sure, she was already feeling guilty about going to the club instead of staying at home with her wonderful husband and daughter, however, it was actually her best friend's idea to make her take a break from it all and have fun. Her husband egged her on by saying "having a night out doesn't make you a bad mother" so she feigned her excitement by putting on a pair of ridiculously high heels to match her velvet black dress. If she can be honest, she would rather stay in bed and catch up on the latest episode of The Walking Dead. The allure of fancy night clubs doesn't do it for her anymore.
"Here. Drink this," an ecstatic voice loomed over her thoughts as her best friend of twenty-two years handed her a frozen margarita. "For someone who claims to be thrilled, you certainly don't look like it at all."
"It's not that I…" She paused and briefly looked at the cocktails on their table and then back to the blonde who was sitting next to her and exclaimed, "Isn't this the fourth or fifth drink that was sent to you tonight?!"
"Seventh actually," the lady who was being questioned haughtily replied. "Drank the two mai tais and I must say they are amazing!"
"Wow! I'm beyond impressed," she replied while eyeing her companion. Caroline Forbes definitely looks like a Victoria's Secret model in the plum dress she was donned in. Caroline actually had a lot of offers from a variety of modelling agencies since she was sixteen but she never even considered the whole thing telling her friends that she knows people expect her to be into that sort of thing, her being the head cheerleader back in high school and all that, but she just simply did not see herself in that line of work. Defying people's expectations of her was sort of her thing and she did that when she majored in Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics from Columbia and is now getting her Ph.D while working as a consultant for Queen Consolidated.
"The point that I'm trying to make, my dear, is that, it's been almost a year since your break up."
Caroline raised her brow at her friend. "And?"
"Out of all those guys who have sent you all these drinks," Katherine implored gesturing to the drinks on the table. "Tell me, Care, doesn't anyone seem to interest you at all?"
The blonde pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Honey you know you can't trust guys you meet in bars."
Katherine smirked. "Maybe you need to loosen up."
"Funny how you end up being the one telling me to have fun."
"Why do you go here anyway?"
"Maybe I like the attention," Caroline replied all nonchalance. The bartender interrupted their exchange when he handed her another drink, not a fruity cocktail, but this time a glass of amber colored liquid instead, from a man sitting across the bar. He was tall, dark and had a mysterious air around him. Definitely Caroline's type. She smiled in gratitude at the man and the latter winked at her in return.
"A little too much obviously."
Katherine thought her voice was low enough so that her friend couldn't hear her but Caroline shot her an annoyed look. "Hey! It gets us free drinks and I've been waiting all night for a glass of scotch. Who knows? I might even give the guy my number."
The brunette rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Caroline placed the glass back on the table in a loud thud after taking a rather big gulp of scotch. "Fine. If you really wanna know why we're here, you can't laugh okay? But uh, seriously, I guess I just wanted to get the sense of what things used to be before- before you know."
"Before I got married."
Caroline nodded. "I always thought we can do it all together, not with each other obviously, but I wanted us both to be pregnant at the same time so that our kids can grow up together and be the same as us. I thought with Tyler that was possible."
"You're talking as if you'd never be able to do that stuff anymore."
"Maybe I won't."
"O don't say that Care, I mean, sure, most guys here would only hook up with you for sex but I doubt anyone of them would mind being married to you."
Caroline crunches her nose. "That's sweet of you to say but I don't think telling my future children that I met their father when I was drunk on my ass would be appropriate."
"Where, pray, tell, would you meet the future father of your spawn then?"
"At the after party when I win my award for the Nobel Prize in Physics or at the Metropolitan Museum of Art… I don't know but all I know is that he's six feet all, has dark brown hair and blue eyes and volunteers at the animal shelter."
"I think I know the perfect guy for you," Katherine confidently said.
Her best friend immediately recognized that look. That look that Katherine has whenever she's planning something devious but instead of shrugging her off, Caroline gave her her best smile. "Really?"
"Yep," Katherine automatically replied smiling that self-assured smile of hers. "Very handsome. Very rich."
"Is he the guy from across the bar?" Caroline replied, eyeing the stranger. "I'm actually wondering why he still hasn't even approached me yet for the occasional small talk."
Katherine shook her head. "He's actually a doctor – a trauma surgeon at that and though he doesn't volunteer at the animal shelter, he along with his family just donated a huge amount of dough for the new wing of the Children's Hospital."
"Do tell me more," the blonde replied, sounding intrigued.
"He's very single and charming. He's actually my husband's older brother."
The look of surprise on Caroline's face registered as a look of excitement for Katherine. "Stefan has an older brother?"
"Yes."
"Then why wasn't he at the wedding?"
"Well, he was in Germany the whole time, taking some course or training in Surgery. Whatever." Katherine shrugged her shoulders for measure. "He's going to be staying in New York now though. Their father, Giuseppe... he's ill and he has requested him to return."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Kat." Caroline replied sadly. If she hadn't been so busy with her work and the university, she would have been able to spend more time with her family and friends. She promised herself that she'd be making some changes. Maybe she'll even agree to go on a date with Katherine's brother in law. "What's his name anyway?"
"Damon." Katherine said.
For a moment, Caroline had looked confused but she replaced it with an interested look. "You know it's funny. Someone crashed my car today but it wasn't my fault-"
"OMG Care! And you're only telling me this now?"
"Obviously I'm fine but the car isn't." Caroline showed her some pictures of the back of her silver Ford Fiesta which was wrecked.
"Tell me what happened."
"Traffic light turned red so I hit the brakes and this black BMW following me didn't. The guy approached me, told me he could write me a check to cover the expenses of the repair but that would be just too easy so he went ahead and grabbed my phone from my hands- I was about to call Matt for help because the traffic enforcers were of no help, they were letting the two of us talk it out– anyway, he saved his number on my phone, called his phone with my number, returned my phone all the while taking my picture on his phone and then saving my number on his contact list. He was such an ass about it too, like, he didn't even apologize. Just told me his name was Damon and he was in a rush like I wasn't! I was already ten minutes late from a meeting and he was going at it as if he didn't do anything wrong!"
"Wait! Slow down there, Care!" Katherine said, placing her hand on Caroline's elbow. "Did you say his name was Damon?"
Caroline nodded her head. "But maybe another Damon. Not Stefan's older brother Damon. From the way you described him, he sounds like a good guy."
"Tell me what he looked like."
Caroline thought carefully. "He was tall, has jet black hair and blue eyes, lean. He was wearing a black leather jacket and –"
"No need to say more, Care, because that definitely sounds like Damon." Katherine said amused. She has only met the eldest Salvatore twice – the first time was for a family dinner when they were first introduced to each other and the second time was when she bumped into him at the hospital when she brought Sophie in to get her immunizations. She thought he was sarcastic and ill-tempered but he was actually nice and charming when he wants to be. Besides, anyone who adores her daughter is a good guy in her books.
To say that Caroline was shocked was an understatement. "I would rather get married to the guy across the bar and get divorced than go on a date with that jerk!"
"Hey! You said you can't trust guys you meet in bars."
Her next move surprised Katherine. "What are you doing?"
Caroline Forbes was already walking away from her when she glanced back to her best friend. "I'm going to propose to that guy and we're heading to Vegas tomorrow for our wedding."
She slid into the empty chair next to the guy and smiled. "Hey there stranger," she greeted in a smooth voice giving him a seductive look.
"Hi. I'm Oliver." Even his voice sounds fantastic to her ears. "Oliver Queen. Care for another drink, uhm?"
A firm handshake. Such a man. OMG! I think I'm definitely getting turned on now, she thought to herself while still smiling at her new found acquantaince. "Wait! Did you just say you're Oliver Queen? As in The Oliver Queen?"
She stood and the sudden change in movement must have brought all the alcohol she has consumed earlier to her head making her feel dizzy all of a sudden. She lost her balance and thankfully, Oliver caught her in his arms just in time before she slipped. "Uhm, wow! I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz. Thank you, though, for helping me, Oli- I mean, sir."
Oliver looked confused for a second but he gestured for her to take a seat and asked the bartender for a glass of water instead. "You still haven't told me your name."
She continued to drink her glass of water, stalling, because she's still thinking of a way to get herself out of this. She noticed that Katherine was no longer at their table, probably outside calling Stefan to pick them up already. "I'm Caroline Forbes and I work for your company actually. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you earlier. You looked familiar but I just didn't think-"
Oliver cut her off, "No need to apologize, Caroline? Would it be okay if I call you that? You may call me Oliver or Ollie," he paused looking at her bite her lower lip in embarrassment. How he wanted to ravage her in that instant but he opted to tease her about her outburst earlier. She captured his attention with her beauty but there's something about her that caught his interest. "Whichever name you want, actually. Ollie actually sounds better coming from your lips than my brat sister." He flirted but noticed that she was now looking at him weirdly for saying that so he simply stated, "And please forgive me for not knowing your name if we've already met before. Do you work in PR?"
"No, actually we've never crossed paths before because I'm assigned in the Engineering Department here in New York and I believe you're more involved in the corporate affairs of the company."
To say that Oliver Quinn was impressed would be an understatement. He had been looking at her since she arrived at his bar with his friend and was scandalized by the number of drinks being sent on her way since they got there. Oliver told her this.
"I told myself earlier that I'd only talk to the man who'd buy me scotch." He threw her a puzzled look. "Well, most people would assume that a sweet looking girl like me would likely go for a fruity cocktail and for some reason, I like defying people's expectations of me."
"Really? I don't think I've ever met anyone sweet looking as you put it, drink scotch without even wincing." Caroline chuckled at his observation of her. "But even though you don't seem like a lightweight when it comes to alcoholic beverages, I suggest that you should stick with water for now."
She acquiesced as she look at her best friend approaching their spot by the bar with her husband in tow. "Caroline, I see you've already acquainted yourself with yourself with your first husband," Katherine said in an amused voice throwing Oliver a devious smirk. Caroline gasped at her words and just when she was about to make a retort, Oliver already stepped in politely introducing himself to Katherine and greeting Stefan since they already know each other by running business deals together mostly.
"Isn't he your boss?" Katherine shrieked earning her a look of amusement from both Stefan and Oliver.
"Yes, we've got that covered," Caroline calmly replied but she did not know what else to say so Oliver took it as his cue to talk.
"The company has more than a thousand employees and I couldn't possibly know all their names," he cockily said, adding, "having said that, I suppose I should interact with my employees more if they're as bright as Caroline here."
Katherine wanted to snap a picture of that moment where Caroline was blushing like a little girl being complimented about her cute top. She casually told Oliver about Caroline telling her earlier that she was going to propose to him.
"I wouldn't mind being married to her," Oliver replied in a tone that seemed sincere to Caroline's ears. "It would be like hitting the jackpot."
Katherine gave Caroline a look that says I-told-you-so while the latter nudged her to keep quiet.
Oliver continued, "She's the total package. I mean, just look at her."
"And who would have thought she also has the brains to overthrow the whole dumb blonde stereotype," Stefan added earning a challenging look from his wife. "It goes without being said."
"Big brains, actually. Did you know that she graduated magna cum laude from Columbia with a degree in… what was it again, Care?"
"Double major in Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics," the blonde said in a casual manner. "I'm taking my Ph.D. now and I still don't know what topic to write about. I'm thinking about Polynomial-time Algorithms for prime factorization and discrete logarithms—"
Oliver looked at her in fascination when Katherine rudely interrupted her. "Woah! Hey! Slow it down there girl! You're gonna drive away your date."
Stefan agreed, "Yeah. Can't you dumb it down a notch for common folks like us?" By, at which, Caroline rolled her eyes at the antics of her friends.
"I find that incredibly sexy actually," the CEO of Queen Consolidated remarked earning him a look of surprise from his three peers.
"Seriously?" Caroline threw him a look of pure wonder.
"Yeah. Haven't you heard? Geek is the new sexy."
"So you're calling me a geek."
"A very sexy geek."
"I think this is now our time to go. As much as we'd love to stay and hang out. We can't bear the two of you eye-fucking each other all night if that's what you're both planning to do," Katherine said as she threw a hundred dollar on the table to cover their drinks. Stefan agreed informing them that he has an early business meeting tomorrow but inviting Oliver for dinner over their house.
"Getting rid of me so soon?" Caroline said, taunting Katherine. "I should have known you were calling Saint Stefan to intrude girl's night."
The brunette smirked. "I knew this would happen by the end of the night so it doesn't hurt to call back-up."
"I'll take you home," Oliver interjected. "Let the Mister take care of his Missus."
"How kind of you to offer, Mr. Queen," Caroline flirted liking the turn of events. If she were only 100% sober, she would never have thought that she'd be hooking up with his boss.
"Yes, how gentlemanly of you, Mr. Queen," said Katherine mocking Caroline's flirtatious advances. "I think congratulations are in order, Care!"
Stefan laughed at their exchange. His wife added, "They're going to Vegas to have a quick wedding because Caroline here would rather be a divorcee than date your dearest brother." That revelation earned her a glare from Caroline.
Oliver only joined Stefan's laughter but regained his serious composure when he saw Caroline's pained look. "What is it about his brother that throws you off?"
"You shouldn't be thinking about that now," Caroline quickly said trying to change the topic of their conversation.
"I think I should be offended that you'd think we'd quickly get a divorce," he countered.
But before anything else can happen, Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore took their exit after saying their goodbyes to each other. Oliver told Katherine to retrieve her money from the table since he won't take money from his 'fiance's' friends. Katherine just smirked and suggested that they both have her blessing on consummating their marriage before the wedding even takes place, earning her a laugh from her husband.