Page 30 of Miss Christmas

“Oh, there you are, sweetheart,” George said as Margo joined their circle of awkwardness. The only one not feeling the least bit awkward was Scarlet. Margo looked directly at Scarlet and her possessive arm in his, blissfully unaware of Will’s attentions to Emily, and gave her a big grin.

“I see we all know each other,” Margo said. Will heard the satisfaction in her voice and elbowed George to do something about it. He didn’t want Emily to be made any more uncomfortable than she already was by having Margo’s presumption of his relationship with Scarlet piling onto the misimpression.

Or was it a misimpression? He chanced a look at Scarlet. She gave a microscopic lift of one brow and a smirky tilt to her smile to let him know what she was about. She was jealous of Emily. It smacked him in the gut in a way that almost made his dick jump in his pants.

Seemed there was no end to the ways Scarlet could turn him on and no limit to the inappropriateness.

“Emily,” he said abruptly, not knowing what he would say to her, but feeling compelled to say something, do something to not allow her to be frightened away. “Did you enjoy meeting the press? I bet you had them all charmed.”

Scarlet pinched his forearm through the fabric of his suit jacket. There was no bite to it, except for the message it sent and it took every bit of his lately unreliable self-control to not laugh.

Emily smiled and blushed. Where he’d found that habit of hers pleasant before, under the influence of Scarlet’s steamy presence, he couldn’t raise a hair of reaction now.

She said, “I have an advantage since I work in promotions at the publishing house, so I interact with media types all the time. Today was fun, if unnerving having all that attention focused on me—us.” She darted a look at Scarlet, her smile fading.

“Based on early feedback, I know you all made great impressions,” Margo said. “I hope you enjoy tomorrow’s activities—I think you will.”

“What would that be?” Will said. “Refresh my memory.”

Margo laughed. “Tomorrow there are morning workshops—and Will, you will be presenting one of them, so you’d better refresh your memory fast. Then we have a Christmas fashion show.”

“I’ll be ready,” Will said.

“You were born ready.” Margo, George, and Scarlet all said at the same time. He couldn’t help joining in their laughter at the coincidence of them sharing in the obvious response, even as he watched Emily’s hesitant smile betray her discomfort. It was clear she felt like an outsider and that was his fault. He’d need to make amends for that—and fast.

“I can’t believe we all said that,” Margo said. “You must know Will fairly well already, Scarlet, to get him.”

It was his turn to pinch her, but since she didn’t have any sleeve to dull the nip, she flinched.

“Oh, lucky coincidence. I happen to be a wiseass. Things blurt from my mouth unfiltered all the time when I’m in the company of people I like and feel comfortable with.”

He noticed a number of women coming into the room then, with bags and smiles.

Margo said, “Your assistants are here, ladies. Why don’t you join them, enjoy some refreshments, then get ready for tomorrow?”

“A true pleasure meeting you, Emily and Scarlet,” George said as he left with Margo on his arm. He looked thoroughly amused when he gave a last smirk in Will’s direction.

“I guess I’ll leave you two ladies to your—”

“I’ll call you later, Will,” Scarlet said. Then she leaned in and gave him a kiss. On the lips. The air went out of him. The air went out of the entire room as all who noticed the kiss sucked in their collective breaths.

He said with meaning in his voice, “I’ll call you, Scarlet.” Then he turned to Emily and said, “I’ll call you too.” Glancing around the room, he thought it best to leave right away and walked straight for the door without looking back.

Hell of a mess, but he should have known. Having two women he was interested in in the room at the same time would be the epitome of a scene likely to blow up. In fact, he’d been lucky it wasn’t worse. And yet, he’d walked into it. Why?

Damn. He’d needed to see Scarlet. That’s why.

He needed to straighten things out between them, but he had no idea what that meant now. Did it mean ending their affair for good? Or did it mean picking up where they left off and forgetting about Emily—forgetting about settling down with someone he could be serious about and forgetting about bringing a dinner guest for Christmas Eve to meet Grandma?

* * *

Dee rushed over to Scarlet as Will walked away. She stared at his back the whole way because she couldn’t take looking at Emily. She had no idea what the young woman’s expectations were with Will—whether she’d been seeing him, or sleeping with him. The question sliced through her like a knife.

“Scar, how did it go?” Dee said, arriving at her side and speaking in a rush. “I see you’re still on very friendly terms with Will.”

Scarlet cringed, but it was time to stop being a coward and face Emily. She turned. Emily’s smile was gone, but she looked more curious than angry or hurt.

“Yes, I am. You know the other night when I told you I’d gone over to Jason’s to spend the night? Well I didn’t. I spent the night with Will.”