Romancing His Rival

by Jennifer Shirk

  “Honey, that is fantastic. This is exactly what I’ve been talking about.”

  “I…” She shook her head. What had they been talking about?

  Scott grinned, signaling the waiter for another bottle of wine. “See? You do have ambition. And you’ve been hiding it from me all this time. It’s so perfect.”

  “It is? I mean…it is.” Sort of perfect.

  “I’m really proud of you. This is a huge opportunity for you. Plus, that means you’ll be coming up to the city more often. It’s a great company, and who knows where this might lead. You and Lucas working together will be a wonderful thing.”

  She choked on her wine. Lucas and I working together? Oh, hell to the no. Never. Uh-uh. That was a dealbreaker right there.

  She cleared her throat. “Um, Scott, I didn’t accept the offer.”

  “Well, of course. Not yet. You didn’t accept the offer yet. But we all know you will. Wow, I never knew you had this creative side to you. I’d love to see a few of them sometime. It’s like I’m discovering a whole new Elena. This totally changes everything.”

  “It does?” Scott was rambling on so fast she couldn’t keep up. She just wished he’d drop a few breadcrumbs here and there so she could follow along more easily. “What does this change exactly?”

  “Us,” he said simply.

  She blinked, her heart pounding. Could this mean…?

  “Oh, Scott, does this mean…?” She knew it! The little texts here and there over the past few months. The diary. It all made sense. Hopefully, she could get the band that she’d canceled back for their wedding.

  “Well, let’s just take things slow.”

  Taking things slow didn’t sound like a December engagement was in her future.

  “How slow?” she couldn’t help asking.

  “Let’s see where we are in a few weeks. I’m sure you’re going to be busy working two jobs for a while. But maybe you can come up for a holiday party my company is throwing.” He grinned and that adorable dimple she always loved so much slipped out. “I would get to show off my hotshot artist friend.”

  Her heart soared even though she didn’t quite miss the fact that he said friend and not fiancée. But it was a step in the right direction. After all, this was the first time Scott had ever invited her to a company event in the two years they’d known each other. Funny that, until now, she’d never really questioned why that was. This really did change everything.

  “I’d like that,” she said, placing her hand over his. Love it, actually, but she was determined to play it cool and take things slow like he’d said.

  “Great. You know, Lucas will be at the party, too, since his firm did some ad work for us.”

  Lucas.

  Oh, gosh. His name was like a storm cloud rolling in on her perfectly sunny day. She hated to admit it, but she needed Lucas and had to talk to him before he went and found someone else for the ad work. If this was the one way back to Scott, she was going to grab it with both hands.

  Her taking this job was obviously important to Scott, and if it mattered that much to him, then it would to her. She wanted to make him proud. And maybe it was time to step out of her comfort zone a little anyway. Besides, the job was temporary, and it would be only a matter of time before Scott realized how perfect a couple they made just as they were. But it was time she didn’t have, especially if he wanted to take things slow. She wasn’t getting any younger. She’d practically given herself an expiration date. She wanted to be engaged and married in December—just like her parents. Everything had to be perfect like that if she wanted a life like they had with the security of a home and family.

  The thing was that Scott might need a little more persuading than just her doing some freelance art designing. However, if Lucas was as desperate for her work as she hoped he was, then she could pull in some negotiating skills of her own before she signed off on his firm using her drawings. Because there was nothing she wanted more than for her and Scott to get back together.

  Luckily, she had an idea of how Lucas could help her do just that.

  …

  Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose for the fourth time as he tried to come up with the proper email to his boss stating that he would not be acquiring the rights to Elena’s Santa pictures.

  But he just couldn’t do it.

  Giving up on Elena meant giving up on his dreams. Quite possibly, it meant getting him fired, too. Even if Elena wanted nothing to do with him, he had to try one more time.

  A firm rap on the door startled him. The time at the bottom corner of his laptop showed 10:24 p.m. Too late for maid service. Probably a mistake, but he got up to answer the door anyway.

  And there stood the woman of his recent thoughts, anxiety, and misery, bathed in the dim hallway lighting of the hotel like some sort of Christmas angel. “Elena, what a pleasant—”

  She moved past him into his room. “There’s nothing pleasant about this visit,” she spat.

  A prickly Christmas angel, he corrected. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help baiting her. “Well, give me a chance on the pleasantness. The night is still young.”

  She turned to him with a hard frown. “I’m here on business purposes only.”

  “Oh? This late at night? What business is that?” He walked toward her, and he saw her eyes go wide. Then the fire in them returned, and she lifted her chin to let him know she was not a woman to be intimidated. Her feistiness was what he liked best about her.

  “It’s sort of emergency business,” she said.

  He felt a smile threatening, but did his best to stop it from coming out before she saw it. Elena did always have a way of amusing him, especially with her schedules and timing issues. Not that she would appreciate knowing that right now. “What’s the emergency?”

  “I wanted to tell you that I’ve changed my mind. About my drawings. I’ll help you with the ad campaign.”

  A cry of relief almost broke from his lips. “That’s fantastic.” He took a step closer, about to reach out and hug her, but he pulled back just in time. Whoa. What the hell was that all about? It was like his arms had a mind of their own and obviously had just returned from an all-night bender. He had no business reaching for or touching Elena at all. She’d appreciate expired graham crackers a hell of a lot more than that.

  He extended his hand instead. “Welcome to the team.”

  Elena kept her arms at her sides and glanced at his hand with disdain. “Not so fast. I have one condition.”

  And here come the add-ons. If she thought she could squeeze more money out of him, she was going to be—

  “I need you to help me get Scott back,” she finished.

  He flinched. That kind of condition he was not expecting.

  And it was also the kind of condition he had no intention of agreeing to.

  “Elena, maybe you better sit down. Have a soda or something.” She did look a little pale. Maybe her blood sugar was low.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t need anything like that. All I need is Scott.” She turned away and began pacing the suite. “I had dinner with him tonight.”

  “Scott’s in town?”

  “Yes. He wanted to talk to me about our breakup.” Brown eyes met his blue ones. “He wants to take things slow but I think he’d eventually like to get back together. You can make sure that happens. He trusts your opinion.”

  Lucas sat on the edge of his bed and digested what she was telling him. Scott had made no mention to him about wanting Elena back, but then again, Lucas had never asked him, either. It wasn’t like he and Scott poured out their feelings to each other. But still, the idea of Elena and Scott becoming a couple again didn’t sit well with him. Not that he ever thought they’d made a perfect couple. But now that Lucas had gotten to know Elena a little better, he was starting to feel…protective toward her. Yeah, that’s what it was. Protective. Which was normal. Wasn’t it? After all, she was overly romantic and impressionable. Lucas was the logical one. The emotionally det
ached one. He could step back and give her an unbiased opinion on their relationship.

  For the most part.

  “How do you propose I do that?” he asked with some wariness. “Tell him to just forget everything I said about marriage?”

  “Well, yes. Scott really likes the idea of me working with you. He feels we’ll fit better as a couple with me taking on a job with your firm. Even wants me to come up for his company’s Christmas party.” She gave him a small smile. “Scott said he wants to show me off to his coworkers, which I think is sweet.”

  Lucas realized he was clenching his teeth and stood. Funny, how his protective feelings were suddenly making him want to punch the wall. “Yeah, he’s a sweetheart all right. So everything is going great then. Sounds as if you don’t need my help at all.”

  “Oh, but I do. I need things to move a little faster if I plan to be engaged this month.”

  He blinked. “Why do you need to be engaged in December?”

  Her pert little nose rose in the air, but she looked away. “Because I just do, that’s why.”

  “I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “If we’re going to become partners—professionally—then I need to know everything. What’s going on? Are you pregnant?”

  She huffed out a breath. “Of course I’m not pregnant!”

  Lucas relaxed a little, not wanting to think about why he was so relieved to hear that. “Then what’s the rush?”

  “My dad proposed to my mom in December. Scott had proposed to me then, too.” She shot him a dirty look. “The first time, that is. Dates are very important to me.”

  Lucas remembered her issue with the expired graham crackers and let out a sigh. “Yeah, your issues with dates has been well established. So what?”

  “So what? It’s obviously important to me. I need everything to go exactly according to schedule. It’s part of my life’s plan I’ve had ever since my parents passed away.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” he told her.

  She waved away his sympathy and continued on. “My parents had the best relationship. I want to mimic that, the kind of love they had.”

  “You don’t need to be engaged in December to have that.” Or be engaged to Scott, he wanted to add.

  “Oh, no. I do. It has to be this month.”

  Lucas threw his hands up in the air. “Why? I can see you having a problem with the graham crackers. Sort of. But what, are you now telling me you’re going to expire?”

  She sighed then reached into the handbag she had slung over her shoulder. “Here,” she said, pulling out a thin book. “Maybe this will convince you. It’s my mom’s diary. Read what it says on this date.”

  He took the book from her hand and read the section aloud. “Finally went to the doctor today for that bunion. It looks like—”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Not that.” She glanced at the page and pointed. “Read this.”

  Lucas read the entry with a sinking feeling. It was a very sweet sentiment for a mother to have, but he knew Elena had taken the words written too much to heart because of her obsession with timing and dates combined with her loneliness. It concerned him. “Elena—”

  “My mom said I would find someone just like my dad, and she was right. Did you know that when Scott proposed last year, he did it on top of the Empire State Building? Same as my parents. I never even told him that. It was magical. Like it was truly meant to be.”

  Lucas wanted to remind her that lots of people got engaged up there and it wasn’t such a farfetched coincidence, but before he could come up with a diplomatic response, she continued on. “I know it might sound silly to you, but in some ways I feel as if my parents might have sent Scott for me so I wouldn’t be alone. I would feel safe and secure. Scott also has a romantic side to him, which I think is so sweet and so like my father. Scott used to send me flowers every Friday.” She sighed and peered up at him through her sooty eyelashes. “Just like my dad used to do for my mom.”

  Empire State Building. December engagements. Flowers. Bah. Lucas thought he was about to hurl. Her reasoning for wanting to get back together with Scott sounded more than a little silly and even a bit naïve. Then again, Lucas wasn’t the one to talk. Marriage wasn’t exactly something he’d bet money on. He was simply no good at it. Then again, he didn’t have the best role models, either. He’d tried his hand at it but he couldn’t help holding a small piece of himself back in all his relationships just as a precaution. He’d been hurt too deeply when his mom had left. As a result, he’d been branded as emotionless by his ex-wife—someone who functioned better by himself. She was absolutely right.

  But Scott and Elena just didn’t fit together in his mind—with or without her romantic reasoning. Could he really go against his beliefs and encourage them to get back together? He thought about the ad campaign he’d been assigned to and how his boss was counting on him and also how his job depended on it. To make matters worse, Elena then turned those big watery brown eyes up at him, and that was the final nail in the coffin. Resistance to her ridiculous plight was futile.

  Still, he waited a few beats before answering. “Okay.”

  Her face brightened. “Okay, you’ll help me?”

  “Okay, we’ll help each other. We need you to sketch another one of your Santa pictures, one with the sleigh, as soon as possible so we can start the campaign during the Christmas season, and then we need two more to have it carry forth the rest of the year. Do you think you can handle that?”

  She shrugged. “Sure. In fact, I already have one finished. The sleigh is a little unconventional, but I’m sure I can make some quick adjustments if you don’t like it.”

  Hallelujah. Things could not be working out more perfectly for him. He couldn’t wait to tell his boss. “You are a goddess,” he breathed. Practically looked like one, too. He’d always thought she was the prettiest of Scott’s girlfriends.

  She chuckled. “You haven’t even seen the drawing yet.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I have full confidence in your talent.” Which he realized was completely true. Lucas had seen and worked with quite a few artists in his career and even tried his hand at it himself when in a pinch. But his work couldn’t even compare. Elena didn’t know it, but with some time and experience, she really could make a name for herself as an illustrator.

  “Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I just want to make sure that before I give it to you, you’ll talk to Scott for me.”

  Lucas studied her earnest expression, but still had to ask to be sure. “Is that what you really want?”

  “Yes. Please. More than anything.”

  Although he didn’t like her answer, he knew how she felt. Because right at that moment, he’d sell his soul to make sure this ad campaign went off without a hitch.

  He stuck out his hand again, knowing this time around she would take it. “Then you’ve got yourself a deal.”

  Smiling, she extended her hand and palm met palm. He closed his grip over her fingers then felt his blood course through his veins like an awakened river. What the? He stared at their joined hands as if waiting for a fireworks finale and wondered if someone had put something in those sugar cookies he’d eaten at Trivia Night tonight.

  “Problem?” she asked, trying to tug her hand free.

  He blinked up at her. “No. Of course not.”

  “Then maybe you should let go so nobody gets hurt.”

  “Huh?” He glanced down at the death grip he still had on her hand and quickly pulled back. He chuckled. “Sorry about that. I guess I’m a little eager to start work.”

  “It’s okay.” But he noticed she gave him a wide berth as she made her way to the door. “Um, stop by my office tomorrow morning and we can go over the details.”

  She hesitated in the doorway a moment.

  “You won’t be lying,” she told him. “Scott and I do belong together.”

  He slowly nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

  She smiled a full-wat
tage smile then was gone, leaving behind a trail of her sweet honeysuckle scent and the torn realization that Lucas just had, in fact, already lied.

  Chapter Seven

  The next morning, after Lucas had taken care of a few outstanding emails from the previous day, he went in search of food. The hotel agenda that was slid under his door that morning stated there was a continental breakfast available until ten a.m. every day. He figured he’d grab something quick, then see if Elena was in her office to hash out the details from yesterday.

  He’d spent the better part of his night thinking about her request—and her reasoning for wanting to get back together with Scott. The logistics of it seemed precarious. But he supposed if he had had a hand in breaking them up the first time, chances were that he would have a certain amount of influence to get them back together. At least, that’s what Elena seemed to be counting on.

  Could he do it? Lucas wasn’t so sure.

  But their agreement wasn’t based on his success, just on the promise of conveying to Scott that he and Elena should have never called off their engagement. And that thought eased Lucas’s conscience somewhat. Because as much as Elena was convinced she and Scott belonged together, Lucas had yet to be in agreement. Especially after that odd zing of attraction between them yesterday.

  The funny part was, he was sure Elena had felt it, too.

  However, attraction didn’t necessarily translate to commitment or marriage. And where Lucas was concerned, it definitely didn’t translate to that. So, there was no point in even testing the waters with her. As tempted as he was. Marriage was not something he planned on delving into again, and Elena was marriage-minded for sure. Besides, she made it perfectly clear she wanted Scott.

  Lucas found the breakfast on the second floor in a small, brightly lit room that had a wall of large windows and overlooked the ocean. Helping himself to coffee first, he eyed a tray of danishes.