Of all the people in the entire fucking building, it had to be red-haired girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should’ve known when I first set eyes on her that she was trouble. I should’ve walked away, gone home, and forgotten that she even existed.
Testosterone. It has a lot to answer for.
Now that I’m invested, I can’t walk away and leave her to dig herself a hole she won’t be able to climb out of. They know what she saw. Without me, they’d have shut her up using their own methods, and I can’t have that on my conscience.
The best thing I can do for her is to take her home, transfer enough money into her bank account for her to start over somewhere new, and wish her a merry Christmas. Job done.
I set her down on the ground gently, the smell of her perfume clinging to my skin. I don’t recognize it. Probably some cheap brand I’ve never even heard of.
“Right, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to keep that smile on your face and walk back inside with me. We’re going straight to the elevator, and then I’m going to take you home, and we’ll say no more about it, okay? I’ll personally see to it that you’re compensated for your inconvenience.”
“My inconvenience?” Her eyebrows disappear behind the red curls. “A man was fucking killed tonight, and you call it an inconvenience?”
I grip her arm and pull her towards me, trying to ignore her erect nipples pressed up against my chest. I don’t understand why she’s trying to make this way more difficult than it needs to be. I’m done here. Time for me to go home and prepare for my family Christmas. If only Mary Chrysler had worn her dancing shoes and gotten drunk along with every other fecker at the party.
“Walk. Smile. Act like you’re a woman in love.” She doesn’t move. “Look, I don’t want to see your face plastered all over the news tomorrow for all the wrong reasons, okay? I’m trying to help you here, so stop treating me like I’m the bad guy.”
My words must get through to her because she wrenches her arm free from my grip. “Fine.”
“Fine.” I smile at her, the smile I normally save for the tabloids when I’m out on a date. She smiles back at me, and her green eyes light up like someone just switched on flood lights above our heads. I swallow.
She takes over. “Come on, Emmett. I want to show everyone my ring.”
She takes my hand and leads me back inside, and I wish that it had been anyone else but Mary Chrysler I was dealing with right now. Before I can get her into an elevator, she drags me in the direction of the party, the floor thumping with the footsteps of people dancing along to ‘Step into Christmas’.
“Mary, we’re leaving.” I stand my ground.
“Oh no.” She shakes her head. “You don’t get to propose to me, Emmett O’Hara, and then whisk me away without celebrating the good news.”
“Mary!” I grip her hand tightly as she reaches the open doorway.
“Smile, Emmett. They’re still watching, remember?”
She disappears through the doorway, and I have no choice but to follow her. Damage limitation. The fewer people who know about the fake proposal the better—less questions to deal with in the New Year when I announce that I’m single again.
I catch Dave’s eye on my way in and give a brief shake of my head. No one else notices. Mary is heading towards the dance floor, and my stomach sinks when I realize that she is going to dance.
I dash after her, wrap my arms around her from behind, and gesture to the DJ to slow it down a bit. A ripple of disappointment follows when Joni Mitchell’s voice fills the room. “It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees…” I turn Mary around, slide one arm around her waist, and start moving slowly.
I don’t dance. Much to my mom’s chagrin, I’ve never had the natural rhythm of the Irish, and this is all Mary’s going to get. One slow dance, and then we’re leaving.
“Don’t you think it will look odd if we leave without telling anyone that we’re going to be married?” Mary’s hushed voice penetrates my thoughts, jerks me away from the sensation of her body so close to mine.
“I’m a very private person.”
“Emmett!” Sonia is on the dance floor too in the arms of the Head of HR. “I thought you’d gone home without saying goodbye.” Her gaze slides across to Mary, faint lines appearing between her eyebrows and quickly disappearing, and I pray that Mary will keep her mouth shut.
“We’re getting married.” Mary flashes the ring in front of Sonia’s face.
I obviously didn’t pray hard enough.
“Married?” Sonia stops dancing and collides with her partner’s chest. She extricates herself from his arms distractedly, her eyes fixated on the ring. “Who to?”
Mary laughs, the kind of laugh that could be infectious when you’re not trying to stay alive. “Emmett. He proposed to me on the roof. Isn’t it exciting?”
Sonia licks her lips, trying to process the news, probably wishing she hadn’t drunk the last cocktail someone offered her. Finally, she gathers her senses enough to say, “Yes. Oh, my goodness. That is exciting. Emmett, you kept this quiet.”
“Spur of the moment.” I shrug. “When you know, you know.”
“Come here.” She pulls me into a hug, rubbing my back like she’s trying to keep me warm. Then it’s Mary’s turn. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Mary.”
“Mary.” Sonia holds her hand and studies the diamond. The crease lines between her eyebrows are back. She’s no doubt already on Mary’s side, thinking what a cheapskate her boss has turned out to be. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you. I literally had no idea that tonight would be the night.” Mary is enjoying her role a little too much for my liking.
“I think champagne is in order.” I pull her away from Sonia and I don’t let her go until we reach the bar. “What are you doing?”
“I’m keeping up the pretense like you told me to. What are you doing?”
More hair has escaped from her ponytail, and I get a glimpse of how she would look in bed with her hair all messed up. My cock immediately twitches at the mental image, and I take a deep breath.
“Look, I just want to get you home safely, then we say goodbye, go our separate ways, and enjoy the holidays knowing that we’re still in one piece. I don’t want anyone else involved.”
The smile fades and her eyes grow large with tears. “Are you… Are you calling the wedding off, Emmett? We only just got engaged.”
The girl can act, I’ll give her that. Maybe she missed her calling, working in IT or whichever department it is that she sits in.
“We’re leaving.”
“I’m not ready to leave. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been engaged before, and I want to enjoy it while I can.”
I inhale deeply, puffing up my cheeks and holding the air in my lungs.
But before I can think of a comeback, we’re surrounded by women all cooing over Mary’s ring as if they’ve never seen a diamond before.
I smile in the background, order champagne all round, and break my promise to myself by downing my first glass in one go. When the women finally move on to spread the word around the room like a wildfire, I slide a glass in Mary’s direction.
Her face is flushed, lips moist and parted. She clinks her glass against mine and sips the champagne tentatively. “It’s going to be a big wedding. I think I accidentally invited everyone here.”
I lean closer and graze her lips with mine. “There isn’t going to be a fecking wedding, so don’t go getting any ideas.”
“Am I or am I not wearing your ring?” She waves her hand in front of my face and swallows another mouthful of wine. It’s thirsty work scamming the boss.
And just when I think the evening could not slide any further downhill, Hazel appears in the doorway wailing like a banshee, Max close behind.
“Fuck!”
Mary follows my gaze. “Someone else you had to let down gently, huh?”
I don’t give her the satisfaction of a response. There’s no way Hazel is getting sucked into Mary’s little game, not while she’s wearing the woman’s engagement ring. “Drink up.” I tilt the glass towards her mouth, and for once, she complies.
Dave is waiting for us at the elevator. He doesn’t say a word on the ride down to the lobby, doesn’t even acknowledge the ring on Mary’s finger or the way she keeps staring at it. This is what I pay him for: his discretion.
We’re greeted by flashing blue lights and a crowd outside the building, which is fortunately locked up for the night. Dave escorts us out via the back exit and into the underground parking lot. Mary doesn’t even notice the car with the blacked-out windows idling near the barriers or Declan, the guy from the roof, flicking a cigarette across the ground.
The police presence has kept Mary quiet where I failed. She sits beside me on the back seat, forehead pressed up against the glass, as we emerge into the night, following the revolving blue lights with her eyes until they’re out of sight. The adrenaline rush is fading fast.
“Wait.” She slides to the edge of the seat. “Where are we going?”
“Home.”
“We’re going the wrong way. Tell the driver to turn the car around.”
“Change of plan, Mary. You’re coming home with me.”
“Like fuck am I.” She unfastens her seatbelt and bangs on the window separating us from Dave. “Stop the car! I want to get out.”
“Mary, look out the back window and tell me what you see.”
She turns around and does as she’s told, her eyes narrowing when she spots the black car following us. “Are-are we being followed?”
“They’ll leave us alone when they realize that you’re coming home with me.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, right? I mean, can’t they just get me to sign a document swearing me to secrecy?”
“It isn’t how they work.”
She slumps back on the seat and fastens her seatbelt. “How would you know?”
“Long story.”
The glow of the street lamps lights up her face intermittently as we drive, and I can’t help noticing the curve of her lips, the shadow of her thick reddish-black eyelashes, the high cheekbones. “I’m not staying the night.” She turns to glare at me, a flush spreading across her face when she realizes that I’ve been staring at her.
I don’t answer.
“Here.” She slides the ring from her finger and hands it back to me. “Might as well take your ring back.”
“Not my ring.”
“I-what? Whose ring is it?”
“I found it.”
Her mouth opens into a round ‘O’. “You gave me someone else’s ring?”
I can’t help but chuckle. “You witnessed a murder, and you’re worried about wearing another woman’s ring?”
“Ugh! It’s just … wrong. This diamond was given to a woman by the person in love with her. It’s a symbol of … love. It’s… It’s someone else’s love story, and now I feel like shit for encroaching on it.”
“It wasn’t your fault. I gave it to you. You can blame me for encroaching on someone else’s love story.”
She closes her eyes briefly and leans her head back against the seat. “How can you be so blasé about all this?”
“All this?”
She rolls her head across the seat to look at me. “A guy got thrown off a roof. The roof of your building.” Pause. “Shit! Won’t the police need to question everyone who was there? Won’t you need an alibi or something?” Tears well in her eyes. “That man won’t be going home for Christmas. Don’t you even feel bad for his family?”
“Sure, I do.” Jesus, say it like you mean it, asshole. “But the truth is…”
Mary’s eyes are closed, lips parted into a perfect Cupid’s bow, her breathing shallow.
