Page 50 of Santa Baby Maybe
“I did,” Wes agreed. “And I don’t want my wife knowing I appreciate my head designer’s beautiful…taste in clothing. That can’t get me in trouble with HR can it?”
I scowled. “I think you’re safe.”
“Okay, well, I’ve got to go make the rounds. Do yourself a favor W.B. and lighten up. It’s a party after all.”
This was not a party for me. This was an event where I was expected to make an appearance and I had. I watched as Wes engaged with Joy. She seemed nervous about something, given the way she was holding herself, not at all ready to embrace the party atmosphere either.
I needed to talk to her. It was, in truth, the only reason I’d come tonight. I didn’t want to wear fake smiles and make small talk with the employees and their spouses. I wanted to fix what I’d broken with Joy.
I’d wanted to fix it for four weeks, but every time I’d approached her in the office, she’d given me that look that reminded me there were rules. We were colleagues only. We weren’t supposed to speak about anything other than business.
But that was in the office and we weren’t in the office tonight.
She looked in my direction and our eyes locked. Again there was an odd sense of fear in her expression. That didn’t make sense. Disgust, loathing, disdain. All of those expressions I’d seen over these last few weeks. Now she looked like a deer in the headlights who was about to sprint.
I needed to get to her. I needed to tell her that I had fucked up. I needed to fix what I’d broken and beg for permission to start over. Setting my glass aside, I moved in her direction with a purpose.
Only she immediately turned in the other direction and bolted. Pressing through the crush of people, I followed her path through the lobby to the elevators. The doors opened and I could see a group of people get out while she stepped into the empty elevator. I only had a few seconds, and barely made it by shoving my arm in between the doors to stop them from shutting.
Stepping inside as the doors closed behind me, I looked down at her incredibly beautiful face.
“Joy, please, we need to talk,” I said softly.
She lifted her chin. “Do you have ideas for a new ornament?”
“This isn’t about Christmas ornaments.” I sighed.
“Or issues with my next quarterly budget?”
I scowled at her.
“Because I said…”
“I know what you said,” I clipped. “I know whatIsaid. I just think…maybe I was wrong to agree to your terms.”
She pressed the L button for the downstairs lobby, only the elevator wasn’t moving yet.
Then she glanced over her shoulder. “Wait. Are you admitting to me you were wrong about something? Who are you? And what have you done with W.B.?”
I scowled again. “Look, I think we should talk.”
“How about tomorrow?” she suggested. Only I didn’t believe her. She was putting me off and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
“I don’t want to let this linger,” I said, stuffing my hands into my pockets. I wanted, I needed, to fix us now.
“I can’t,” she said.
She was still fussing with the buttons, not looking at me. I was desperate to say something, anything that would take away that defeated tone she had. Like all hope was lost. But I was stopped when I heard a collective groan.
“Hold on,” I said. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Then a voice cut over the groaning.
“Don’t worry, everyone it’s probably just a temporary outage because of the snow. We should have the power back on shortly.”
No power, I thought. We were stuck. The idea thrilled me. Joy wasn’t going anywhere. We were going to be stuck in this elevator for a finite amount of time and she was going to damn well listen to what I had to say.
