Jingle Balls: A Holiday Romantic Comedy Anthology
Page 46
She looked mega glam with her fancy updo and absolutely sick floor-length emerald gown. If not for her glasses, she’d have been unrecognizable from the mousy computer programmer Gen was used to seeing at work every day.
In comparison, Gen felt a bit second-rate in her blue Mod Cloth dress and simple shoulder-length hairstyle. She’d been feeling fancy because she’d put in her best diamond nose stud and matched her nail polish and the blue streak in her hair to the exact color of her gown, but there’d never been any question about her fitting in with these snooty society people. Not the way Melody fit in. Gen felt a newfound admiration for her because she knew for a fact Melody had grown up poor, and it took a lot of courage for her to move in the same circles as her fiancé’s family with her head held high.
“I’ve never met any venture capitalists,” Gen said, “but from what I’ve heard, they’re all slimy dickheads.”
Melody snagged a glass of champagne off the tray of a passing server. “My personal experience supports that assumption.” She knocked back a healthy swig of bubbly before grinning at Gen. “I did spy you with your date when you first came in. He’s a snack. Does he really have a six-pack like his profile pic?”
“I’ve yet to confirm for myself, but the night is still young.” Although, to be honest, Gen wasn’t sure she’d make it that far, abs or no. Unless being high made him a hell of a lot more interesting, she might pull the cord and bail on this evening early.
“The cleft in his chin is super handsome.”
Gen did a full-body shudder. “I hate the word cleft.”
“Really?”
“You know how most people feel about the word moist? I feel that way about cleft. Blech.”
Melody laughed. “Okay, but whatever you call it, you have to admit it’s sexy.”
Gen scrunched up her nose. “It looks like someone poked a finger in the dough while his face was still rising.”
Melody’s gaze caught on something behind Gen and she frowned. “Who’s he dancing with?”
“What?” Gen said, momentarily distracted by a server passing with a tray of chocolate profiteroles.
Melody gestured with her champagne flute. “Your date’s on the dance floor with another woman.”
“Is he?” Gen swiveled her head and caught sight of Derek spinning a blonde in a red dress. “That’s ballsy of him. One might even say it was cold as balls.”
Melody shook her head. “I’m glad you’re still able to have a sense of humor when your date seems to have abandoned you for another woman.”
Gen shrugged. “Eh.” It was hard to be too broken up about it, considering she’d been thinking of dumping him anyway. “She’s pretty. Do you know her?”
“Never laid eyes on her.”
Melody’s fiancé came up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist and looking even more dashing than usual in what had to be an obscenely expensive bespoke tuxedo. Jeremy kissed Melody’s cheek before turning to Gen with a smile. “Hey, Gen! Having a good time?”
“Her date appears to have picked up another woman,” Melody told him before Gen could answer.
Jeremy’s eyebrows lifted. “Seriously? That sucks.”
Gen shrugged again. “To be honest, I didn’t like him all that much anyway.”
“How long have you known him?” Jeremy asked.
“In person? About forty minutes.”
It served her right for making the shallow choice. She should have asked the boring insurance salesman to the ball instead of letting herself be temporarily dazzled by Derek’s abs. An insurance salesman probably wouldn’t have traded up for another woman in the middle of their first date.
Jeremy looked apologetic. “I hate to pull Melody away under the circumstances, but my mother wants us.”
Melody pursed her lips. “I don’t think I should leave Gen alone right now.”
“I’ll be fine,” Gen assured her. “Go play ball with your mother in law.”
“Very funny. Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’ve got an open bar to keep me company and this place is probably balls-deep in rich, eligible gentlemen.” Of course, most of them appeared to be old enough to draw Social Security, but still.
“I don’t know about eligible or gentlemen,” Jeremy said, smothering a laugh, “but there’s certainly plenty of money in this room.”
“See?” Gen said to Melody, who was still looking conflicted. “The night is young and full of possibilities.”
“Come find me if you get bored or lonely,” Melody insisted. “Promise?”
“Promise.” Gen waved her hand to shoo them away, and Jeremy threw her a grateful smile.
As she watched them disappear into the crowd, she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for them. Obviously being rich had its advantages, but it also seemed like an awful lot of work. For the moment, Gen was grateful to be footloose and fancy-free, able to enjoy her free champagne and hors d’oeuvres unencumbered by social obligations.
“Did I overhear correctly that your date has abandoned you for another woman?”
With a tight smile, Gen turned to the man behind her who’d spoken. “Why?”
To her surprise, he was well below the median age in the room and rather good looking in his glasses and slim-fitting suit. If he hadn’t been creeping on her conversation with her friends, she might even be inclined to think he was hot in a sexy male librarian sort of way.
“Sorry to eavesdrop. It’s just…I’m pretty sure that’s my date that your date is dancing with.” He gestured toward the dance floor with his glass.
Gen followed his gesture to Derek and his partner, who were going at it like they were auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance. “You came here with the blonde in the red dress?” she asked the stranger.
“Unfortunately,” he replied with a wry expression.
He was definitely hot, Gen decided, looking at him with new eyes. The sexy librarian thing wasn’t usually her bag, but she might be inspired to make an exception in this case. For one thing, he was at least a foot taller than her, and she was a sucker for tall men. Furthermore, his thick brown hair was attractively tousled, and he’d been blessed with the sort of slim physique that looked like it had been made to wear a suit, like he’d come sliding out of the birth canal wearing a miniature Hugo Boss. Very yummy.
She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “I feel like I should apologize or something.”
When his eyes locked on hers, she felt something flare in her chest, like a spark landing in a pile of dry tinder. “It’s certainly not your fault.”
“I hope it wasn’t serious between you two.”
“Clearly not. You?”
“I just met him for the first time tonight.”
“Well, that’s good. At least your heart’s not broken.”
Gen snorted. “Yeah, no.”
His mouth curled in faint amusement, and it made her wonder what a full-on smile would look like on his face. Breathtaking, she guessed.
He held out his hand. “I’m Chris, by the way.”
“Gen. With a G.” She beamed up at him as they shook. His grip was warm and firm, and it sent an electric tingle up her arm to her chest.
Chris beamed back at her with just his eyes, and Gen’s ovaries did a little happy dance in response. “Nice to meet you, Gen-with-a-G. Can I get you another drink?”
She drained the last of her champagne flute and held it out to him. “Hit me.”
While Chris was procuring them new drinks, Gen’s gaze returned to the dance floor, where Derek and Chris’s date seemed to be jitterbugging? Or something. She didn’t actually know what a jitterbug looked like. Whatever they were doing, it was annoyingly acrobatic.
“It’s ridiculous how good they are at that.” Chris slipped a fresh champagne flute into Gen’s hand as he returned to her side.
“Yeah, they’re really going balls out.”
Chris’s lips pressed together like he was suppressing a smile. “Did you jus
t—”
“Make a ball joke at a charity ball for ball cancer? Yes, I did.”
His smile came out finally, wide and unrestrained, and it was just as breathtaking as she’d imagined. “And I thought tonight was going to suck balls.”
3
Their dates did eventually come back to them, looking sheepish and slightly embarrassed.
“Gen, there you are!” Derek said, as if he’d been looking for her all this time instead of spinning another woman across the dance floor for the last twenty minutes.
“Here I am!” Gen raised her champagne flute in a display of good cheer. She couldn’t even care enough to be mad at him.
Chris’s date had dragged him off a ways and the two of them were huddled close, speaking in low voices. Gen could only imagine how the conversation must be going.
“Listen, I’m really sorry,” Derek said. “I bumped into Crystal on my way back inside—we went to college together if you can believe it.”
“What are the odds?” Gen muttered.
“I had a major thing for her back then, but she always had a boyfriend. Anyway, we fell out of touch and I hadn’t thought of her in years until tonight. And there she was!” His eyes were bright, and not just from the weed he’d smoked outside. He looked positively elated, like a kid who’d found a ten-dollar bill in the street. “It feels like fate or something.”
“Serendipity,” Gen murmured. She was honestly a little charmed by the whole situation.
“Right. Yeah.” Derek stared down at his shoes and shuffled his feet. “So listen, I know you brought me to be your date tonight—”
“But you want to blow me off for Crystal?” Gen guessed.
“Well, kinda.” His cheeks pinked as he dragged a hand through his hair. “Yeah.”
“It’s fine,” she said, taking pity on him. “Go ahead.”
“Really?”
Gen shrugged. “The two of us weren’t exactly a match made in heaven, were we?” And it wasn’t as if she’d paid for his ticket with her own money. If she had, she might be more upset. Throwing a glance at Chris, she saw him give Crystal what looked very much like a goodbye hug.
Derek sagged in relief. “I didn’t want to say anything, but yeah. No sparks, right?”
“None at all.” Gen waved her hand. “Go. Have fun. Sweep Crystal off her feet.”
Derek practically scampered off, giving Chris an embarrassed nod as he led a delighted-looking Crystal away.
“Well, that’s that.” Chris took a long swig of whiskey as he rejoined Gen. “Good riddance.”
Gen cast him a sympathetic look. “You okay?”
“My ego’s a little bruised, but otherwise I’m fine.” He shrugged. “It was our first date. I really didn’t know her that well.”
Feeling emboldened by his newly single status, Gen let her eyes skate over his tall frame in his exquisitely fitted suit. “It never would have worked out between you two anyway. Chris and Crystal? It’s practically a tongue twister. And your couple portmanteau is just her name.” She stuck out her tongue. “Awful all around. Sorry, man, but you two were doomed from the start.”
Chris’s gaze met hers and Gen was rewarded with another one of his breathtaking smiles. “Honestly, it’s a relief. She actually says the word ‘achoo’ when she sneezes.” He demonstrated by dramatically fake sneezing in an ear-splitting falsetto. “ACHOO!” His face pulled into an expression of distaste as several people nearby threw them puzzled glances. “Who does that? And why?”
Gen shook her head, laughing. “Based on that one piece of information, I can’t believe you even made it this far into the date. I would have called her an Uber after the first sneeze.”
His grin was wry but amused. “I should have.”
“Ah, but then you wouldn’t be getting drunk with me,” she pointed out.
“Touché.” He lifted his glass and clinked it against hers, his gaze lingering on her with enough intensity to make her ovaries do cartwheels. “So what is it you do, Gen-with-a-G?”
“I write computer code.”
“What sort of code?” The way he was looking at her made her skin prickle all over. Like his gaze was a physical touch. She wasn’t used to having so much attention paid to her.
She spun the stem of her glass between her fingers. “The sort that keeps airplanes in the sky.”
His eyebrows lifted in admiration. “Impressive.”
She shrugged, trying not to let on how pleased she was by the compliment. “I’m a pretty impressive person.”
“Clearly.”
A waitress appeared beside them with a tray of nibbles, and Gen turned to contemplate the selection of hors d’oeuvres before choosing a tiny samosa. Chris smiled charmingly at the server as he politely declined.
“What do you do for a living?” Gen asked him after she’d devoured her samosa in one bite.
His mouth pulled down at the corners. “Me? I’m not very impressive at all. I work for my father’s company.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. What sort of company?”
“Boring financial stuff. It’d put you to sleep if I explained it in detail. What brings you to the Jingle Balls ball?” he asked, changing the subject. “Is it a cause near and dear to your heart?”
Gen arched an eyebrow as she lifted her glass to her lips. “Testicles? Not particularly, no.”
Chris’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Five hundred dollars a head seems like a big outlay for a blind date.”
She choked on her champagne. “Tickets to this thing are five hundred dollars?”
He nodded. “All this fake glitter snow doesn’t come cheap, you know.”
“A friend gave me the tickets. I had no idea they cost so much.” For that price, she would have expected the samosas to be sprinkled with pure gold flakes.
“Nice friend,” Chris said, swirling the ice in his glass.
“Frankly, I’m a little disappointed they didn’t go with a Nutcracker theme for the evening. Talk about low-hanging fruit.”
Chris let out a snort of laughter, which he attempted to smother by bringing a hand to his mouth.
“What about you?” Gen asked him, feeling pleased with herself. “Is it a favorite charitable cause of yours?”
He smirked. “I am quite attached to my balls. But also, my uncle had testicular cancer.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry.” Here she was making ball jokes when he had a personal reason to be invested in the charity. He must think she was a total jerkweed.
Chris touched her arm, his expression softening. “He’s fine. It was years ago. He got involved in a testicular cancer awareness nonprofit and now every holiday get-together he nags us all about doing our self-exams.”
“Ah.” Her skin felt hot and tingly where his fingers had touched her, and she lifted her champagne glass to hide her discomposure. “Well, I’m glad he’s okay.”
“Do you like balls?” Chris asked, and Gen choked again. This time she actually spit champagne out of her mouth, dripping some onto her chest—of course. He laughed, his eyes sparking with mischief. “I meant fancy dances, obviously. Do you enjoy them?”
Smiling, she pressed her fingers to her lips. “This is my first, actually. I feel a bit like Cinderella.”
“Does that make me Prince Charming?”
“I don’t know.” She gazed up at him and arched an eyebrow. “Are you a prince?”
His eyes met hers, startling her with their intensity. “’Fraid not.” His voice was light and jokey but his expression definitely was not, and it ignited something inside her.
Gen swallowed, trying to match the lightness of his tone despite the flurry of butterflies in her stomach. “Just as well. I’m anti-monarchist.”
“Lucky for me.” His smile grew wider as he continued to gaze at her. “Would you like to dance, Gen-with-a-G?”
She felt like she might float right off the floor. “I’d love to.”
Gen was starting to think serendipity was real.
They’d danced three dances before hitting up the bar for more drinks. Now he was talking about zodiac signs, a subject that would normally make her roll her eyes, but was somehow more interesting coming from him.
“The fact that you were born under Taurus explains why you were able to take tonight in stride,” he was saying. “The earth signs tend to be practical and stoic, but Taureans are also calm and easygoing. I’m an earth sign too—a Virgo—but we lean toward perfectionism and can be our own worst enemy. Incidentally, that makes Virgos and Taureans ideally suited for one another.” His eyes danced meaningfully behind his glasses.
God, he was sexy as fuck. Perfectly symmetrical face. Long, straight nose. Solid, square jaw. Lips that were just the right amount of full and perfectly shaped. She was obsessed with the way his mouth moved when he talked.
Chris arched an eyebrow at her, and she realized she was staring at him like some sort of horny weirdo. “I’m boring you, aren’t I?”
Gen drew a shaky breath and tore her eyes away. “No. I’m the opposite of bored.” Infatuated would be a better word for it. Enraptured even. Lust-addled. She didn’t know what to do with her hands now that she wasn’t holding a champagne glass, and they plucked at her skirt nervously.
“Is that so?” His voice had dropped into a tone soft as velvet, a low murmur spiked with promise.
Gen lifted her eyes to his again and wondered when they’d gotten so close. Had he moved, or had she? Or had they moved together like bits of magnetized metal inexorably drawn by the electrical charge between them?
Heat stirred in his gaze and she blinked up at him. Chris lowered his head, his eyes still dark and locked on hers, but now there was a question in them.
Gen’s breath shuddered through her lips as her nipples tightened.