Page 10 of Mistletoe Mistake
Turning back to the room, we shimmied past the other people queuing for the bar and had just made our way through the crowd when a deep voice called out my name.
“Gemma?”
The sound sent a shiver through me, but I refused to believe my ears. It couldn't be him, could it? Why on earth would he be here? I must be imagining things.
Yet, when I turned around, Cole stood there, staring at me in surprise. He had his friend, Jackson, on one side, and a very elegant brunette on his other arm. He wore a different suit from the night before, but it fit him just as well and looked just as expensive.
To my frustration, he looked just as sexy as I remembered. I had almost hoped that the alcohol had clouded my judgement the night before and made him better-looking in my mind than he had been in real life, but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.
All the resolutions I'd made the night before about not regretting the quick way things had ended between us flew right out the window, and I wanted nothing more than to feel his lips on me again and to hear him whispering dirty things in my ear.
“Hello, Cole,” I said politely, trying to keep my voice steady and cover for the way my heart pounded in my chest. “Nice to see you again. And Jackson, right?” I addressed myself to the other man so that I wouldn't have to look directly at Cole's intense gaze. I had no idea why they would be here, but I needed to remain professional. We had too much riding on the party to let my hormones take over.
Jackson gave me the same warm, genuine smile he had the night before. “What a lovely surprise. Gemma, is it?”
I nodded in confirmation, remembering that we hadn’t been properly introduced the night before. “That's right, and this is my friend and colleague, Holly.”
Jackson’s eyes widened for a second as he looked over at my companion and held his hand out to her. "A pleasure. I have to admit, I thought Gemma was kidding about having a friend named Holly, but I've never been more happy to be wrong."
His smooth flirting made me smile as I turned to the woman next to Cole, waiting for him to introduce her next. However, he said nothing, continuing to stare at me, looking almost as stunned as I felt.
“And you are?” I finally asked her directly, when the silence grew slightly too long.
“Vanessa,” she introduced herself, shaking my hand confidently. “Lovely to meet you.”
“And you.” As I turned back to Cole, waiting for him to say something that might explain his presence, I remembered he had been attending the Lytton Hotel staff party the night before. At the time, I thought he might be a manager there or something, and Signor Morelli had just told us he'd invited some of his competitors. That might explain the connection, but before I could ask, he finally spoke again.
“Who are you here with?” he asked, looking around as if there must be a man somewhere nearby, and I had to refrain from rolling my eyes.
“I'm here with Holly.” As I glanced over at her, I could see the questions in her eyes, wanting to know exactly who these men were, but those answers would have to wait, mostly because I still didn’t really know.
However, this would be a good opportunity to get some unbiased feedback on our work, since they didn’t seem to have any idea who Holly and I were either.
“What do you think of the hotel redesign?” I asked, taking a sip from my martini. The tart sweetness of the lychee and the warmth of the vodka helped me to focus on something other than the disorientation brought on by Cole’s reappearance. Although I addressed the question to both of them, I kept my eyes on Jackson. I could feel Cole watching me, but if I made eye contact, it would be too easy to forget everything else in the heat that seemed to pass between us.
“It's exceptional,” Jackson replied sincerely, and I had to fight to keep from smiling. “We were just saying we'd love to work with the designers.”
“For the Lytton?” That surprised me. Although the decoration hadn’t been to my taste, it all looked quite new and in good shape. I hadn't noticed anything there in need of renovation.
He gave me a slightly funny look in reply. “No, for a new project we're working on.”
That piqued my interest, and I shifted slightly closer to him. “Forgive me. Because you were at the Lytton party last night, I thought you must work for the hotel, but I suppose I should know better than to make any assumptions about a person's line of work without asking.”
My eyes flicked over to Cole and his lips tightened, letting me know he definitely caught my double meaning.
Jackson brushed off my apology. “No, that's our fault, we should have introduced ourselves properly. We're with Stamer Hotels.”
Before I could stop them, my eyes widened in surprise. Of course I knew the name, since Stamer Hotels was a massive international hotel chain. If they really did have a new project they were working on, that could be a huge opportunity for us.
"I'm Jackson Hanmer," he continued. "And this is Cole Stamer."
Wait... did he just say Cole was ColeStamer? From the Stamer family who owned the whole chain? No wonder he dressed so well. His bank account probably rivalled Signor Morelli's billions.
I had a whole host of new questions, but I tried my best to smile as though none of that surprised me. “It’s lovely to meet you both. What brings you gentlemen to London?"
Jackson returned my smile easily, just as comfortable with business discussions as with small talk. “A new hotel, which is what we're hoping to discuss with the firm that designed this place. What about you? What brings you here tonight?”
Holly and I exchanged glances again, and she nodded to tell me to reply, that she’d follow my lead. I decided to keep things vague a little longer. “Actually, we know the design firm. Quite well. I imagine they're going to have a lot of offers after tonight.”
