Page 3 of It Had to be You

"Alexander?"

The voice sounded… familiar. And he turned slowly on his heel.

"Alexander Wen! I would know you anywhere."

And he knew her too.

"Blair?" It wasn’t really a question.

Blair Sexton had been a colleague for years. The lead editor at a competing publishing house, they’d had a friendly rivalry over acquisitions and sales, but they’d never ‘quite’ crossed the line into low blows like some other competitors had. "What are you doing here?"

She struck a pose that made her look like she was standing on the red carpet of the Academy Awards in a couture gown. "I’m here to see you, of course."

He saw the gleam in her eyes and narrowed his gaze at her. "To see me."

Blair walked toward him, her legs on magnificent display between the mid-thigh hem of her dress and her sparkling shoes. "That’s right, Mister Wen. I’m your match!"

Well, that was unexpected.

Looking over his shoulder, he gestured in that direction. "I was heading to the room for the introductions… but you’re telling me-"

"You’re mine, Alex." She laid her hand on his shoulder and her chin on her hand so she could look into his eyes with a coquettish lift of her brow. "So we can bypass this little… production, don’t you think?"

He smiled at her brash announcement, but he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. "How do you know?"

She gave him a look that said he wasn’t keeping up. "It’s the same way I got Andrew Karstairs to publish his book with us last year. I did my research."

Alexander opened his mouth to ask a question, but she rolled right over him.

"You’d be surprised the things I know… and the people who get me that information." She leaned back and kept her eyes fixed on him as she slid her hand from his shoulder and trailed her fingertips over his bicep and down to the bend of his arm. "I’m not a woman who likes to walk blindly into any situation, Alex. You should know that by now.

"Before I even agreed to go on this cruise, I made sure to take a good look at the options in their databases. And as soon as they matched us up in their computer, I knew about it." She tugged on his arm, and he moved along with her down the hall. "You really should get better people, Alex."

He didn’t say much for a few moments, letting all of the pieces fall into place before he spoke. "You’re telling me that you hacked their computers?"

She tilted her head back and laughed.

The slight toss of her head brought his attention to the diamond earrings dangling from her earlobes and against the warm tan she always seemed to have regardless of the season. When she turned her head to meet his eyes again, he could see the flint-like gleam. "Oh, please!" She gave him a little wink. "I have people for that. You won’t find me squinting at a computer screen."

There was a surety in her voice and certainty in her eyes. Alexander knew from experience that she was not a woman who liked being questioned.

Tilting his head to the side he gave her a long, considering look. "So, what are we to do now if you’ve… bypassed the ‘blind date’ part of this evening?"

Sliding her arm through his, she cuddled up to his side with an elegant sigh that was just short of ennui. "I suggest we go to the dining room where the women were told to gather. I know the chef. He’ll make sure we’re fed."

But of course she knew the chef. Was there someone Blair didn’t know on this ship?

"Why do I have the feeling that you’re trying to get me into trouble?"

"Moi?" Her laughter was a little more like a bark than he’d remembered and the sound pinched at the base of his neck. "You darling man! I’m trying to get usbothin trouble."

He heard the meaning in her tone and understood exactly what Blair was trying to tell him, but while they knew each other for years, a relationship, emotional or physical was not something he was going to rush into. He wanted real. He wanted heartfelt. And he certainly wanted the kind of long term love that people jokingly referred to as ‘Happily Ever After.’ His parents had stumbled into it in their time, he was determined to find it… somehow.

As they began to walk, Alexander turned to look at her and while she was extraordinarily beautiful, there was something that was bothering him. "Blair?"

"Hmm?" She almost purred the sound.

"If you had someone sneak a look into the computer, what chance is there that you made sure we were matched together?"

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