“Would it disappoint you too much if I said no?”
I squeeze her hand. “It wouldn’t disappoint me at all.”
Okay, that borders on untrue, because I had already begun to anticipate swaying to the music while holding her against me.
She shifts sideways, tipping her shoulder into mine. “Honestly, I’m not much of a dancer, but even if I were, these shoes are torturing my feet, even seated.”
“Aw, I’m sorry, Ev.”
Discreetly, she nudges her elbow into me in that way I can’t get enough of. Any time she touches me is magic.
“You should be sorry. We women wear these atrocities to get the attention of you men.”
I barely contain a laugh and speak in a low tone, although the only couple remaining at our table isn’t paying us a lick of attention. “I assure you, Everly, you had my attention long before the shoes—but I greatly appreciate the effort on my behalf.” I flash a lazy, flirt-laden wink.
She blushes, slaps my hand, and tells me not to get a big head.
Laughing, I lace our fingers together.
A minute later, a bubbly, thirty-something redhead comes over and introduces herself as the admin assistant who’s been handling all of Everly’s hiring paperwork. She says she’s glad to put a face to the name. The three of us make small talk for several minutes.
A solid hour past dinner, the strain of socializing shows behind Everly’s eyes, which plead hopefully. “Do you think I’ve stayed long enough?”
I rise above the wallop of attraction that washes over me every time she looks at me and stifle a smile. She’s flowed with grace through introductions and small talk. Now, she’s done.
I stand, push my chair in, and hold out my hand. The festive holiday music tends to drown out words, so I place my lips close to her ear. “Let’s get out of here, sweetheart.”
Electricity buzzes about us. I wasn’t going for sultry, but borderline suggestive is how the prompt came out.
If the suggestion is a kiss by midnight, I’m guilty as charged.
We make a stop by the restrooms in preparation for the hour drive home. She emerges a few minutes later reading on her phone. “Mom says the frozen stuff they’ve been calling for has started early. She says there’s been light sleet at the house for about half an hour.”
“Uh-oh.”
Everly shrugs as I help her on with her wrap. I remove her soft hair from where it gets caught in the collar. “So far, everything’s been melting on the roads, but we better hurry.”
Despite sore feet, this time she rejects my offer to wait while I get the car. She insists on leaving the festivities before she’s forced to speak to another soul. I smile to myself. Yeah, socializing is exhausting for some of us.
The posh hotel is in a mixed use development with condos, retail, and several corporate headquarters. I take Everly’s hand and fast walk along sidewalks winding through a parklike area where the trees glisten and glimmer with professionally wrapped lights. We pass a sleighpulledby reindeer created from white lights glistening on the crunchy winter grass. Cold mist swats our faces.
“Brrr.” Everly, limping ever so slightly, picks up the pace and tugs me along.
“Not a cold-weather girl?”.
“Nope. Not a summer girl, either, at least not around here. Way too hot.”
“Is there no pleasing you, woman?”
Her laughter rings out like Christmas cheer, starkly contrasting with the prim and proper version of socializing I witnessed over the past hours. She pulls harder. “Stop slowpoking. My frostbite is getting frostbite.”
I draw alongside, intending to bundle her up in a side hug because it seems I can’t get enough, but as I do, she gasps and her knees buckle, making my embrace utterly essential. “You okay?”
“My ankle.” Her fingernails gouge my suitcoat.
I look down. The weaponlike spike of her left heel isadios, gobbled into the black hole of a metal drain grate. “Wow. That shoe is done for.”
“Well…phooey. I love these things.” She puffs a tight-lipped breath that floats a white cloud into the air.
