Page 86 of Take Me Home for Christmas

It was the same smile he’d given Elle when they first met during pre-service training for their Peace Corps assignments. The one that made her weak at the knees. The one that made her fall in love with him a little more every time he wielded it at her.

Too bad she hadn’t known he was using that very same smile to lure other women into his bed. She knew it now, though. And she needed to let Livi in on the secret.

She glanced over at Livi. If the other woman was falling under Jeremy’s spell, she hid it well. Livi was made of sterner stuff than anyone thought. Elle felt a lick of pride for the other woman’s composure.

“Nice to meet you as well, Jeremy,” Livi said. “Will you be joining us here at the inn?”

And just like that, Elle felt something else for the woman.

“I am as a matter of fact,” he replied.

Elle felt the room start to spin. “What?” She was going to kill her mom for not giving her a heads-up.

“Like I said,” Jeremy continued, “I wanted to surprise you. I had my secretary make the reservation under her name.”

Behind her, Hayden made a little growling sound. Before he could act on it, however, the speaker microphone clipped to his shoulder chirped with an incoming radio call. The sound made Elle jump.

Hayden cleared his throat. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.” He nodded to Livi, then turned toward the door without meeting Elle’s eyes. Or saying goodbye to Jeremy, she noticed.

“I’ll walk out with you,” Livi called after him. “I’m on my way to the bookstore to pick up a Christmas present. I look forward to seeing you around the inn, Jeremy. Elle, I’ll save you a seat at the show tonight.”

“There’s a show tonight?” Jeremy asked when the door closed behind them.

Elle heaved a sigh. “Not one you’d be interested in seeing. What exactly are you doing here, Jeremy? And cut the bullshit.”

He had the audacity to look taken aback by her tone. “We were part of each other’s lives for years. Is it so strange that maybe I’d want to see you?”

Her immediate laughter surprised them both. “Oh, Jeremy, it’s more than strange. Especially since you came all this way to my ‘provincial’ hometown to do it when we’ve both been living in the same cityfor the past year.”

Elle hadn’t realized she’d raised her voice until one of the guests popped their head out from the music room. She reached for Jeremy’s hand, then thought better of it.

“Come with me,” she commanded, turning and marching toward the study. It took everything she had not to slam the door when they were both inside.

Jeremy dragged his fingers along the desk, stopping to touch the papers West had left behind. “Is this the room West is using to finish his book?”

“He works in a variety of places.” She snatched the papers off the desk and shoved them in a drawer. “But we are not discussing Mr. West. We are talking about you. And why you are here. Carrying a dozen roses, no less. Surely you didn’t think you’d give those to me and all would be forgiven?”

One corner of his mouth kicked up. She used to think it was sexy when he did that. Not anymore.

“You mean flowers won’t work?”

“Your dry sense of humor won’t work on me, either.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited him out.

With a frustrated sounding sigh, he laid the bundle of roses on the desk. “Look, Elle. You have every right to be angry with me. I know it sounds cliché, but I never meant to hurt you. I loved you. Still do.”

Those were not the words she expected him to say. Too bad for him, his confession only stoked her ire. Because he was lying. If he was honest about loving her, he wouldn’t have cheated.

“What kind of fool do you take me for, Jeremy? Are you forgetting I caught you banging Cassie? In. Our. Bed.” She scoffed. “I should have wondered why you always chose that one bar for drinks. It was a dive that wasn’t even close to our place. What I didn’t know was that you were enjoying your own private happy hours with the perky blond bartender.”

“Elle, honey, I told you it was just one?—”

She held up a hand, ashamed to see it was shaking. “Don’t you dare lie to me by telling me it was ‘one time’ because I know for a fact it wasn’t. Cassie confessed everything to me when she realized you weren’t going to replace me with her after I left.”

That little tidbit left him speechless.

“Now that we’ve got that cleared up, why are you really here?”

One thing she’d learned about her ex—he would never come crawling back to Elle unless he needed something. And that something had to be big.

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