Page 44 of Miss Christmas

Her boss came from the kitchen then and stood next to her with his arms folded.

“This guy giving you a hard time, Scarlet?”

“No. I’m not. I’m buying everyone lunch and dinner. For the rest of the afternoon.” He flipped out his gold card and slapped it on the counter. She met his eyes. They were defiant. He was making a statement, but for the life of her, she couldn’t compute what he was saying.

“Well?” her boss said.

“I’m taking a break. I’ll be out back.” She came around the counter and motioned for Will to follow her down the back hall.

“What’s this big power move all about?” she said as soon as they were out of earshot of her boss and everyone else. She leaned against the grimy wall and folded her arms across her chest. She knew Will was serious when he didn’t so much as flick a glance down at her cleavage.

“It’s about you. You disappeared last night. Didn’t answer my calls. We’re supposed to be in a committed relationship, Scarlet.”

“That was before I found out you didn’t trust me.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You didn’t mention that you’d had me investigated.” She spoke as formally and coolly as her heart would let her.

“No?” Wariness popped into his eyes as he backed up. “You knew that—”

“How would I know? You never mentioned it.” Her trusty indignation was taking hold, thank God.

“It was in the paperwork. You signed off on it.” His words sounded weak as she saw him remembering that day that she’d signed the papers. Without reading a single word. “I don’t understand why you’re upset, Scarlet. You had nothing to hide.”

“But you didn’t know that and you assumed the worst about me, didn’t you? You assumed I had something shady to hide—like drugs or an illegitimate child or something. Because I’m from the other side of the tracks. My mother a single parent.”

“Hell no.” He closed in and pressed her against the wall and her heart hammered louder and faster. In a low voice, he said, “Why would I have spent that day with you—the most intimate and spectacular day of my life— baring my soul, if I thought badly of you, if I thought you were hiding something from me? I trusted you enough to share things I’ve never shared with anyone else.”

It was true, she realized. They’d trusted each other with their deepest souls that day. And it had been before any investigation had taken place.

But still, she reminded herself, he was the enemy. He was from a family that harbored not even a whiff of blue-collar vibe in their tribe, and that was who she was, through and through. A committed anti-snob. There was built-in distrust between their tribes.

But this is Will, her heart begged. He’s no snob.

“I think we have something, Scarlet.” He bent his head forward and caressed her face. He kissed her, small, feathery coaxing wisps of his mouth against hers. The kind that muddled her mind, like a miscue from left stage, throwing her off, making her forget her lines. Making her forget she ever had any lines, or anything but strong, adoring feelings for this man because he was so good, so exciting. So everything.

Now you’re on the right track. Tiffany’s voice invaded her mind. Scarlet sighed, feeling the comfort.

“Why did you withdraw from the pageant?” He asked the simple question in between small nibbles of her lips, tiny drugging scrapes of his teeth and soothing licks of his tongue across her mouth like he was a kid eating an ice cream cone.

When she didn’t answer, instead letting the sensation of being enjoyed like a special treat take her away, he stopped.

“Scar?”

“I don’t know.” She had no idea at that moment. But he moved his face away from hers, letting the cold air from the back hall seep between them until she remembered. “I think it’s because it feels unethical, like I’d be using you to win. Causing a scandal. Family embarassment. It didn’t feel right. “

“That’s what I thought.” He breathed the words into her ear and his hot breath raised excited little goose bumps all over her, sending a spike of desire through her center. He nibbled on her earlobe, taking the delicate flesh between his teeth and flicking it with his tongue, mimicking what he did to her clit, and it nearly made her drop to the floor. Waves of heat seared and spiraled to that point between her thighs as she hung onto him.

“Margo isn’t accepting your withdrawal.” He spoke matter-of-factly, as if Margo’s decision was final and incontrovertible. Scarlet felt a disturbance in her sensually overloaded cocoon. She knew she should object or say something, but he went on.

“You’re still in the pageant and you better show up for it. It’s at the Gotham and there’s a sold-out crowd.” He backed up from her, pushing against the wall to lever himself away from her, the sudden loss of his body’s heat feeling like a reality-check slap in the face.

“The pageant?”

“Yes. It’s not fair that you should forego winning a ten-thousand-dollar prize because you think it might look bad. I’m kind of surprised, Scarlet. I thought you were the kind of woman who didn’t care what people thought, especially gossips.”

Now he was pushing her buttons. But knowing that and being able to do anything about it were different things. She gathered her wits from all corners of the universe where they’d been banished so easily and quickly by the mere proximity of this man and pushed him further away. He still held her eyes, still had an adoring look on his face, didn’t seem to mind at all.