Since lunch had passed, I took Colin an apple. He had an iPad in one hand, the other held the front door open so workers had the freedom to come and go.
“Hey, thanks.” Colin’s smile swept my heart up and around. I smiled. Hands occupied, he grinned. I lifted the apple to his mouth and his teeth sunk in. We shared a laugh. Then, his gaze lit on something behind me. He stopped chewing.
I glanced over my shoulder. Daddy stood under the archway, his eyes latched on us. Darkness shadowed his face, and panic lanced through me.
“Daddy.” I crossed to him. His hard gaze remained fixed on Colin.
I lifted to my toes and kissed his cheek. His sharp focus on Colin broke, like he finally realized I was there, and he looked at me.
“Princess.”
“The house is almost done.”
“That will make your mother happy,” he murmured.
“It looks fantastic,” I said. He kept glancing at Colin, who remained posted at the door.
Finally, he nodded, turned and disappeared into his office. I followed him, closing the doors with a soft clip.
“Something wrong?” I crossed to him at his desk where he stood reaching for a cigar.
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“You look… troubled. Is it Colin?”
His gaze pierced me. “You two seem to be getting along better.”
He didn’t move a muscle, waiting for my response. Still unsure about his motives where Colin was concerned, I shrugged indifferently.
“Have your feelings for him changed?” His eyes brightened, irises opening wide, exposing mysterious black depths.
“I’ve gotten over it, just like you’ve asked me to.”
His lawyer-sharp gaze quartered me: heart, head, body, and soul, searching each part for discrepancies. He drew in a deep breath.
“He’s your employee, Daddy.”
His shoulders relaxed when I called Colin an employee. He crossed to me. “I don’t want Stuart happening again.”
I shuddered for his benefit. “Me either. May I invite Felicity to the party?”
“I guess it’s only right that you have a chum.”
I threw my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
His finger brushed my cheek. “Warn your mother.”
I nodded.
“I suppose you’ll need your cell phone to call her.”
“It wasn’t Felicity who invited me to Ninety-Nine, Daddy. It was Danicka Fiore.”
“Yes, well, stay away from Miss Fiore.” Daddy rounded the corner of his desk and unlocked one of the drawers. I glanced at the roaring lion head carved into the wood at the top of one of the legs. I’d often wondered why Daddy surrounded himself with frightening images. Like the paintings of lions on the African plains, tearing into prey.
He produced my cell phone and extended it to me. “That’s mostly for my piece of mind. And so Colin can be in constant communication with you, if necessary.”
Constant communication with Colin? An absolute necessity.
Mother allowed Felicity to attend as my guest on one condition: that Mother pick what Felicity wore. Felicity was a good sport about Mother’s snobbery, and she didn’t have a problem with Mother borrowing a dress from a designer friend.
“I think I like your mom.” Felicity examined herself in my bathroom mirror. For the party, I slicked her short brown hair back and fastened the unruly ends in a blingy hair lock. The hairstyle worked well with the strapless black gown Mother had found for her. I was amazed how well the dress fit, seeing that Felicity hadn’t gone in for any adjustments. Mother really did know bodies and clothes.
She’d chosen a retro-looking strapless, ivory dress for me, the bodice overlaid in delicate lace and beads. A transparent sun-bleached, shell-colored shrug draped over my shoulders. The hanging edges of the shrug looked like they’d been dripped in delicate beads that flashed and fired with each movement.
“You look like an angel.” Mother had said during my first fitting.
“Isn’t this the wrong color for a Christmas party?”
“It’s perfect.”
“Do I look okay?” Felicity asked now, brushing more blush on her cheeks. She had enough color to make her look like she’d spent the day at the circus, so I covertly took the container from her before any more damage was done, and set it aside.
“You look gorgeous.”
“I’m so excited.” Felicity bounced like a toddler on a trampoline.
“I get to dress up and eat something other than Chinese food.”
I hadn’t seen Colin yet, but I’d imagined him in a tailored tuxedo.
Prada had designed their latest look in the cleaner cut, tapered design of the sixties. Colin would look hot in that style. He’d look hot in any style.
The string quartet mother had hired for the party played, and their classical renditions of Christmas carols started wafting through the house like holiday perfume on the air.
The party had been in swing for about an hour and the temptation to make an entrance was strong—only to see how Colin reacted to seeing me dressed up. Mother and Daddy were far too busy entertaining their guests to notice where Felicity and I spent our time.
I counted on that.
I took one last look in the mirror. My blonde hair hung in loose ribbons to my shoulders, a hint of sparkles randomly glittering from the pale vanilla depths. Around my neck was a black ribbon choker with a single stone in the center.
“Wow, Ash,” Felicity whispered. “He’s not going to be able to help himself.”
I turned in the mirror, making sure every angle was perfect. “Let’s hope, right?”
We hooked arms and took the stairs down. The entry was packed with black tuxes and a tapestry of glittering designer gowns.
An overload of colognes and perfumes, mixing with hundreds of evergreen scented candles around the house, wafted upward, scenting the thickening air.
Colin had hired three extra security guys for the night. All of them looked to be older than him, one even had gray temples. The gray-templed man stood at the front door checking off guests from a roster on Colin’s iPad. I’d seen the other guys posted at exits: one in the kitchen, at the back door. Another was on the upstairs patio—
which made me laugh because who would come or go from three floors up in a tuxedo or pricey designer gown?
Colin was nowhere to be found.
“I was hoping Colin would see my grand entrance,” I whispered with a laugh to Felicity as our heels hit the main floor.
“Men are never where you need them when you need them.”
She craned her head for a look around. “Except for my dad on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Chinese food takes precedence over everything else. Then, he’s reliable.”
I squeezed against her, giggling. I was so glad she was with me.
These yearly parties usually meant I wandered alone, like a perfectly manicured pet. Sometimes I got the feeling Mother wanted me there to show me off, and not much more.
And Daddy always insisted that I play the piano.
I cringed. That moment would come soon enough, I didn’t need to ruin the party by dwelling on the performance and making myself unduly nervous.
The air swelled with music from the string quartet. I wanted to lay eyes on Colin.
The high pitch of gossip and laughter pierced the air with the sharpness of arrows, shot from socially tight bows. Eyes watched me with fascinated interest. Mother and Daddy may think no one wondered why their only child was so elusive, but I saw curiosity and criticism in their friends’ eyes.
Year after year.
Arm-in-arm, Felicity and I made a sweep of the main floor like curious kittens. We found Daddy in his office. The hazy scent of cologne and men filled the walnut paneled room. Soft plumes of cigar and cigarette smoke twirled into the atmosphere like wispy ghosts.
The moment I stepped into the room, Daddy looked at me. His grin widened. Conversation and laughter stop
ped. Every head in the room turned my direction.
“Awkward,” Felicity whispered under her breath.
“I know, right?” I whispered back.
Daddy waved me over. “There’s my beautiful girl.” He reached out and lightly embraced me, careful of the delicate dress. “Princess, you look breathtaking.”
I introduced Felicity who garnered a smile and nod from Daddy and a round of obligatory, semi-bored greetings from Daddy’s associates.
“Ashlyn’s going to play one of her pieces for us later, aren’t you, Princess?”
“Of course.” I clasped my hands and nodded, like the perfect Princess I’d been taught to be: accommodating, cordial, interested, and refined.
“You two have fun, now.” Daddy’s tone spoke of dismissal for business reasons, so I took the hint and linked arms in Felicity’s and we continued our search for Colin.
Mother had hired a DJ to play age-appropriate music for those guests who cared to dance off some of the liquor served at the bar in Daddy’s office. I planned to dance with Colin if I could sneak it in without Mother or Daddy seeing us.
Mother’s laughter fluttered on the air upstairs like falling flakes of snow. We dodged a server dressed in white uniform, and headed to the music room where Michael Buble’s voice floated from the speakers. In one corner, the DJ had set up his tables and accoutrements. In the center of the room, surrounded by a pack of women, Mother had her arm in Colin’s.
I stopped inside the door.
“What the?” Felicity’s tone echoed my shock.
Mother’s hand wandered Colin’s arm like a boa constrictor.
Colin’s back was toward me, but the two of them stood in a small gathering of other women—Mother’s friends—each one lit up like a red light district.
Mother’s cougar display with Colin proved to be more exciting than my entrance. Within seconds, heads turned back to Mother.
A smoldering flame of anger stoked beneath my skin. I broke free of Felicity and crossed to Mother.
Her ruby dress was beaded and sequined from head to toe, firing her eyes to electric emeralds. She kept one hand possessively on Colin’s arm while the other reached out to her lady friends.
“Ashlyn, darling.”
Colin’s eyes flashed to mine with the hope of rescue.
Mother’s friends cooed their plastic hellos, but clearly they were more interested in drooling over Mother’s arm candy than me. I didn’t care what they thought of me, I cared about the fool Mother was making of herself showing off Colin like he was her latest purchase.
“You’re needed on the roof,” I said to Colin.
He immediately slipped his arm from Mother’s and touched his earpiece, ready to check with the man posted up on the patio.
I tilted my head in the direction of the music room doors.
“Big trouble on the roof,” Felicity added, nodding.
Mother’s gleaming smile waned into a flash of panic. “Should I be worried?”
“No,” I said, escorting Colin away, “Colin knows what he’s doing.
Enjoy your guests, Mother.”
“Hurry back, Colin,” Mother gushed.
“He’s working,” I reminded her. Her laughing cadence vanished, as if I’d pinched her in front of her friends. She flashed narrowed eyes at me, and opened her mouth to speak but I turned my back on her, and guided Colin through curious guests to the door.
He glanced at me. “I didn’t get a report of any problem on—”
“There isn’t any,” I said, halting once we were in the hallway. “I’m sorry about Mother. That was… embarrassing in there.”
His cheeks flushed a little. He took in a deep breath and blew it out. “Thanks. I owe you again. You look… amazing,” he murmured. I tingled under his sweeping appraisal.
“So do you.” Just as my fertile imagination had conjured, the fitted black tuxedo enhanced perfection to the point of jaw-dropping. My tingling blood danced through my veins searching for a way to burst from the confines of my body.
“Just to be safe, you oughta take a look upstairs,” Felicity suggested good-naturedly.
I nodded. “Good idea.”
Colin smirked.
Gentleman that he was, Colin allowed Felicity and I to climb the stairs first. Up on the roof the wintry air blew with more force than the breeze off the street. The suit in the corner stood alone, looking out over the sparkling city view of encroaching steel buildings left and right.
Mother had adorned the roof with twinkle lights and trees. Music piped in from the music room played through speakers strategically hidden behind the evergreens decorating the area.
“Hey.” Colin nodded at the security guy.
The man gave a nod back. “I doubt anyone will spend too much time out here. It’s pretty nippy.”
“Take five. I’ll keep an eye out until you get back.”
The man nodded, passed us, and the door shut behind him.
Felicity went to the iron railing and gazed over. “There’s like paparazzi outside,” she swooned.
Colin crossed to the edge, so I did too, and we shared a moment looking down at the busy sidewalk below. The street was lined with dozens of black limos and idling cars, waiting for their owners to return. “This is insane,” Colin said. “I had no idea it’d be this… epic.”
“It’s epic all right.” I laughed at his amazement at what I found commonplace. A cold breeze ruffled his hair. The tingling in my body swam now—with want. His lips looked soft—a nicely etched extension of his carved jaw and cheekbones. A fantasy danced in my head of my exploration of his hair. Then more discovery: his mouth.
“Um. I’m gonna visit the ladies,” Felicity said. A few seconds later the door to the roof shut.
An awkward silence was filled by an occasion horn, honking.
“It’s not Christmas in Palos Verdes, that’s for sure,” I said. “You miss home?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Sure I miss it.”
“Remember that year we strung real popcorn?”
“Yeah.” He smiled, shook his head. “Mom kept that for years.”
“My mom threw it out, it got so smelly.”
He laughed. “I remember that it did. Mom couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it—she’s kind of like that.”
“That’s sweet,” I said. “Better than having everything new every year. Nothing means anything because you don’t have it long enough for it to be a part of you.”
Was that admiration I saw as he studied me? His gaze swept me.
“You’re going to freeze out here in that.”
“You don’t like my dress?”
“It’s stunning.” He slipped off his jacket and placed it over my shoulders. His heat. His scent. I took in a deep breath then realized how ridiculous I must look. Colin’s eyes simmered with interest.
Music piped up to the patio through speakers slowed to a romantic ballad. We were alone. I extended my hand. “Would you dance with me?”
Hesitation was obvious on his face, causing the corners of his mouth to inch downward. “Ash, I’m working.”
The moon’s winter white light cast him in an irresistible, angelic hue. I stepped closer, and the white plume of his breath fanned my face. The erratic rhythm taunted. I slowly placed my hands on the front of his shirt, my fingers spreading out to feel as much of him as I could.
“You’ll be cold without your jacket,” I said.
“Ash…” His voice was hoarse.
I peered up at him through lowered lashes. “One dance.”
He seemed to struggle with words. Whatever he was feeling inside kept him from moving even an inch. He remained close—did he like to tempt himself too?
I’d read in my romance novels that women’s hands often traveled up their hero’s chest. Would he like that? I allowed my hands to inch upward. Beneath my palms, the silky fabric of the white shirt was slick over his warm skin.
He snatched my wrists. “We can’t,” he said.
<
br /> Smiles we’d shared suddenly froze in the icy air, leaving me to wonder if they’d ever happened. Where had he stowed our moments?
The pressure of his fingers hurt, but alongside the pain searing through my arms a delectable enjoyment wound my blood tight. We stood silent. Seconds turned to minutes.
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