Page 24 of Miles & Mistletoe

I squeezed her hand before reluctantly letting it go. I swear the sentimentality of the holidays must’ve been wearing on me because as she walked away, pulling the navy blue, waist-length coat she wore tightly around her body, the urge to skip all work meetings and join her for a day of sightseeing was nearly overwhelming. Never, had a day of visiting a city’s most popular tourist attractions sounded appealing. And yet, there I was semi resentful at the fact that I had to work.

“It’ll pass,” I mumbled to myself as I turned in the opposite direction as Stacia, toward one of the hotel’s boardrooms where my first meeting was to occur.

****

Stacia

“Are you lost?”

My head jerked back and I instantly frowned at the nasty tone that had obviously been directed at me. Turning, I came face-to-face with Ian’s head of public relations. Save for the deep scowl that was aimed solely on me, Jamie looked beautiful in a dark blue gown that looked radiant against her long, thick hair. She actually reminded me a lot of Kate Middleton with her brown eyes and thick, lustrous brown locks that rested on her shoulders.

Despite her attitude, I decided to return her dour mood with kindness. Hell, Ian had basically told me I was good at faking it, but he had no idea. I had been raised to smile and put on a good front even when I wanted to cry.

“I was just looking for Ian.”

“He’s busy,” she replied shortly.

I lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, well then, I’ll busy myself by looking at some of the art—”

“You know, you aren’t needed here. This isn’t a work event for Ian, and he isn’t expected to have a date on his arm on all occasions. It’s probably best that you—”

“There you are.” Ian’s deep voice flowed like water over my skin, completely submerging me in a blanket of his warmth. Funny thing is I hadn’t even felt cold until he arrived at that moment. Now that he was there, wrapping his arm around my waist, I realized I had been freezing, not due to the actual temperature, but just lack of the specific warmth that he brought to me.

“Hey,” I responded, staring up at him.

“Thanks for keeping Stacia company, Jamie,” Ian stated, nodding in her direction before steering us away from her.

“I’m not so sure her plan was to keep me company,” I mumbled.

“What was that?” Ian lowered his head to ask.

“Nothing. Where had you gotten off to?”

“Making my donation to the museum and speaking privately with the director.”

I turned to stare at Ian as he stopped us in the middle of the museum, taking two flutes of champagne and passing one of them to me. I took a sip of the bubbly drink.

“It’s not the spiked eggnog you adore but it’ll do for now.”

I smirked. “I have some stashed back at the hotel room.”

Ian’s grin was a welcomed sight.

“Your company donated to tonight’s event?” I asked.

Ian shook his head. “Not my company. Me. I donated out of my personal account. As I explained, tonight’s exhibit is mainly comprised of new artists. Many of which are still in school or just finishing and unable to garner access to wider audiences. The event here tonight goes to help those artists either continue to fund their education or showcase their work to get their name out to the public.”

I smiled widely. Ian might not have been aware of it, but the passion he felt for the arts was evident in the way he spoke about it. Also the fact that he backed his words up with real action in the form of donating.

“How long have you been interested in art?”

His gaze raised as he glanced around, pondering the question. “Since I was young, I guess. Let me show you around.”

He took me by the hand, leading me to the far wall. Ian stopped us a few feet from a painting, while moving around me to cover the stand that gave a description of the painting along with the artist’s name. “Tell me what you see here,” he ordered.

I lifted my brows, confused. I looked from Ian’s serious face back to the painting. “Uh, I see a man and a woman who appear to be moving apart from one another as it rains in the background.”

“Keep going,” he encouraged.

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