Christmas at Holiday House - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,94
helping with the wedding this week, right? The one with the Russian woman whose family speaks no English?”
“Da.” She answered in Russian. It wasn’t among the strongest of the languages she knew but was one of her favorites.
“The wedding is Tuesday evening, but the bride and her family are all arriving first thing tomorrow.”
“Yes. I’m going to the airport with the limousine to pick them up.”
“That’s perfect. Thank you.”
Lancaster Hotels was all about service. She would have been happy to help anyway since Katya Morozov was marrying a good friend of hers from high school, Daniel Fox.
“I have a dossier on the Morozov family in the office that might be helpful, if you have time to pick it up now so you can look it over before you go to the airport.”
Of course he did. The Lancaster staff was nothing if not thorough. “That would be great.”
She followed José out of the ballroom and out to the elevators that led to the administrative offices.
Was he enjoying his job? she wondered. She knew José had pulled back from his responsibilities as Ethan’s second in command so that he could focus more on helping his family.
He could have any job he wanted, at Lancaster or anywhere else.
“Quinn seems very nice. What is this? Your fourth date? Fifth? You must be getting serious.”
The only sign he gave that he was annoyed was a slight tension in his long hands as he pulled out an ID card and used it to swipe into his office.
“Today wasn’t a date,” he said as he opened the door for her. “We were both working. She was at the gingerbread competition because her job includes event planning. If it had been a date, don’t you think I would have taken her home?”
To her house or yours?
Lucy bit her tongue to keep from asking the question or from pointing out that his non-date had managed to somehow still touch him frequently every time they were together. A tap on his shoulder to direct his attention somewhere, a hand on his arm when she was making a point.
Not that Lucy was noticing or anything.
She couldn’t say that either without revealing she had been watching them together most of the afternoon.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything. I guess I just...wanted to say that I’m glad you two seem to be hitting it off.”
“Are you?”
She blinked at his harsh tone, so unlike his usual easygoing nature. “What do you want me to say? I want you to be happy, José. She seems very nice. That’s all I meant.”
“She is very nice. But she’s not you.”
She gazed at him, struck speechless by the raw emotion in his voice. His words seemed to twist through her, leaving her breathless, achy.
“José.”
That was all she said. Only his name. But in a moment, he was kissing her again, with all the heat and emotion she had remembered from their kiss in Thailand.
His mouth was sweet, like raspberry candy. She couldn’t get enough. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with the hunger that had been growing inside her since that first kiss between them.
This was José. Her friend.
And the man she cared about more than anyone else she had ever known.
She wanted the kiss to go on forever. Here, in his arms, she could forget all the reasons they could never have more than this.
He was the one to break the kiss. He dropped his arms to his sides and backed away from her, swearing in Spanish.
She couldn’t seem to catch her breath, and her thoughts flew in a thousand directions. Why couldn’t this be enough? They would be amazing together. She knew they would. Every time they kissed, she thought she would implode.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he finally said hoarsely. His beautiful mouth was now set in a harsh line. The eyes that could look at her with such warmth and humor and joy were so dark she couldn’t read his expression.
She missed him so damn much. Her friend.
“Why did you have to change everything?” she asked before she could stop herself.
His mouth thinned even more, if possible. “It was time to stop pretending these feelings haven’t been growing between us for a long time, Lucy. Maybe forever. We can’t go back now.”
She had known it, but hearing his words made her ache even more.
“Fine. Let’s go forward. Let’s sleep together and see what happens.”
For just a moment, she thought she might have pierced through. Heat flared in his