Page 18 of A Break in Communications

Seemed right for the kind of harebrained scheme Lucy would cook up.

I could work this to my advantage, though. It wasmyfamily, for better or worse. I could leverage the home field advantage over Lucy.

So I smiled warmly at Matthew, and I said, “Well, it’s certainly lovely to know you on a more personal level, Matthew. You’ve always been a pleasure to work with, and I’m glad to see you get along so well with everyone. You all seemed to be off to a great start when I found you huddled over here…”

He chuckled, putting a hand in his pocket and relaxing his posture. “We have a lot in common. Your mother was just telling me all about your time in the Netherlands.”

Dammit, the Hague again. At this point, I’d have more fondness for the Hague if I were a war criminal. “Oh… do you spend any time in the neighborhood yourself?”

“Not to that area, but we travel to Europe regularly. One of our good clients and friends, the Lawsons, they have an office in Switzerland, and so we go ski there sometimes in the winter…”

Of course he had friends who went skiing in the Swiss Alps with him. “I can’t say I’ve ever been skiing,” I managed.

“They’re big winter sports fans. Their daughter is a competitive figure skater. She brings her girlfriend to go mountain lake skating there.”

Oh—I saw what this was.I’m an ally, by the way, did I mention my daughters are gay, my friend has a gay daughter too.A little tacky, but honestly, kind of sweet. “Well, if you ever find yourself bored of skiing while you’re over there and you want to look at some pretty Dutch buildings instead, we know plenty of people in the area. And maybe the next time I’m there I’ll go mountain skating and break my ankle.”

Lucy squeezed her hand on my side, and I got a shudder down my spine. “I’ll watch after you and make sure you don’t hurt yourself, darling.”

I shot her a look, remembering at the last second to mask it with a smile. “You know how to skate, then?”

She smiled wider. “Of course. I go to the rink in the city center every year when it open.”

Yeah, of course she did… wasn’t she just so perfect? Top performer at the office, charming and beautiful, going ice skating in the winter and going home at the end of it all to look after her grandmother. Cliché protagonist from some sappy feelgood movie. Made me sick.

So I figured the least I could do was make her sick, too, so I broke out into the biggest smile I could, and I turned to face her, and I reached up to flick a loose strand of hair from her face, too. “Lucy.I didn’t know that. Could you be any dreamier?”

She missed just the littlest half a beat, blinking once before she smiled, and it was a little shaky. “If you swoon right off your feet, I’ll catch you.”

“We’ll pick this back up again later, once we’re alone, okay?” I winked, and she did a double take. Masked it well, though, winking back and pretending that was all it was.

When a clatter and bustling sound came from the front of the party, we all turned together, looking back, and Matthew hummed quietly to himself as he took his hand from his pocket, standing up taller.

“Looks like we’d best be moving along for the events. I’ll stick to your table, all of you. Hopefully that will mean nobody else talking to me, I’m very low energy tonight.”

Honestly—I kind of liked the guy’s directness. He wasn’t half-bad. Shame to have to lie to him about a relationship with Lucy. Mostly because it was withLucy.

But whatever. I smiled warmly at him. “I was hoping you would,” I said. “I’d love to hear more about your family and their Christmas traditions, seeing as how, well… you’ve apparently met mine. And I hope you enjoy the event tonight, too.”

“Mm. It is lovely. Very… well, it’s very bright,” he said, looking around at the clusters of lights everywhere, and I withered just a little bit, putting on a smile.

“Merry and bright. Well, let’s be off then,” I said, speaking too quickly, turning and leading them all towards where everyone was gathering.

Chapter 6

Lucy

Matthew Gould was a lovely sort, even if he was a bit brusque and not bothered by formalities. Maybe even better that way—didn’t need to stand on ceremony when Anna’s mother and I up and made friends with him.

The only part thatwasdifficult was how my entire body shut down whenever Anna got cute and coupley with me. I wastryingto keep it together, be a professional, manage the situation, but when she said something like how she wasso looking forward to a cozy date with just the two of us…

It didn’t stop there, either—we sat at a table for some light food with Matthew and Anna’s mother Maria, along with her sister Veronica, and Anna and I sat next to each other, playing chicken. Started off with little things like putting my hand on top of hers on the table, and it quickly escalated to, when she made a comment about her garlic-parmesan breadstick, me goading her by batting my eyelashes and saying, “You’re not going to share some with me, sweetheart?”

She gave me a sidelong look, studying me, and I was quickly learning—my stomach dropped when I saw that glint in her eyes she got right before she decided to call my ante, and she smiled sweetly, picking up the breadstick. “You have only to ask, darling.”

She touched the tip of it to my lips, leaning in closer. My soul left my body, left the building, left the city center, headedout and caught a Greyhound, left town and started a new life. She wasn’t sparing me—touched her thumb and forefinger to my jaw, pushing slightly and parting my lips, and I sat stupefied as she slipped it into my mouth, just a bit but plenty more than enough to end me.

Somehow I found her gaze, making eye contact, which was a terrible idea but at the same time it was a fantastic idea, and it caught her off-guard a little too—she flinched, just a bit, blush creeping into her cheeks, and I let my eyelids get a bit heavier as I took a delicate bite off the end of the bread. Something crept into her eyes, a twitch, looking at me differently, and I wondered what she would do if I just pushed the damn bread out of the way and kissed her right now.

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