JT slipped out of bed and went to the living room to answer the call from his father on his BlackBerry. “Hey, Dad. What’s wrong?”
“Your stepmother said you aren’t coming to the Christmas Eve event.”
“You called at six a.m. for that?”
“You can’t skip the event, and you know it. You’re Santa. It’s tradition.”
And that’s why I canceled, Dad. “Lee can play Santa.”
“Where are we going to get a Santa costume to fit a six-foot-five-inch man?”
Damn Lee and his extra inches.
“Sorry, Dad. I’ve got a date that night.”
“You’re seeing someone? Bring her along. She can be an elf.”
“She’s too tall to be an elf.”
“Then she can be Mrs. Claus.”
“You’re assuming she celebrates Christmas.”
“Does she?”
“I have no idea.”
“Ask her, then. And bring her. You know how important these events are for our PR. If you want to get into politics, you need to start building your following now.”
He wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t enough to be Joseph Talon’s son, and he couldn’t get by on his business dealings alone. But he was uncomfortable around children. Always had been. Even when he was one. Hell, especially when he was one. Lee had been the only kid younger than him that he’d tolerated, but that probably had more to do with the five-year-old worshipping ten-year-old JT from the first moment they met.
“Who is this woman, anyway? Why am I first hearing about her now?”
JT smiled as he said, “It’s new. Too new to want to talk about. Certainly too new to put her on display at a political event.”
“It’s our annual Christmas Eve fundraiser. It’s a dinner party.”
“At a community center with wealthy donors and a few dozen families in transitional housing. It’s a photo op.”
“It’s a photo op that happens to be one of my favorite projects—helping homeless families transition to permanent housing. And I know what the gift-giving part means to you, or you wouldn’t donate so much every Christmas. Not to mention, Talon & Drake built that community center, and having the CEO show up and be Santa is a win all around.”
His father was right. It was a damn good program and a lot to be proud of. He huffed out a breath. “Fine. I’ll do the Santa thing. But this is the last time. And I can’t promise to stay for dinner this year.”
He was really hoping to convince Lex to spend Christmas Eve with him. She hadn’t mentioned anything about having family in the area, and if her roommate was still dating Brent Forbes, he doubted she’d be spending the holiday with them.
“Bring her. I want to meet her.”
That was the last thing he could do. I know you don’t want to know my name, but please meet my father, who I happen to be named after.
“We’ll see.”
His father hung up, and JT sat in the quiet living room, thinking about the woman sleeping in the bed twenty feet away. Would his father approve?
And why did Joe’s approval matter?
Ever since JT entered politics, Joe was hard to please when it came to the women JT dated, more concerned with whether she would be an asset or detriment to his—and JT’s—ambition.
Joe was the only person who knew JT intended to follow in all of his father’s footsteps. Joe was, on the surface, happily married, but he’d chosen his third wife with an eye to the political role she’d play. This Christmas Eve gathering was the perfect example. Lisa Talon knew how to raise money for charities and network for her husband.
She was beautiful and kind and had her own ambition: to be First Lady.
JT had no intention of consigning himself—or anyone else—to a marriage built on ambition, which was another reason he kept his political aspirations a secret. It was also a reason he was glad Lex had no idea who he was.
She wanted him for his body. Not his money or potential political power.
Alexandra was in a happy haze as she stepped into the Metro car for the ride home. Jay had been gone when she woke in his hotel suite, and that was fine with her.
She wasn’t ready to have a morning-after discussion with him when she’d yet to decide if she would see him again at all, but there was no denying the more time she spent with him, the more likely she was to want more than this wild, anonymous fling.
She disembarked the train in Bethesda and walked the five blocks in the biting December wind to the apartment she shared with Kendall. Today was the first day in forever that she didn’t have anything planned.
No school. No work. Today or tomorrow, Kendall would head north to spend the holiday with her sister and wouldn’t be back until Sunday.
Knowing Alexandra’s newly retired parents were on a monthlong cruise for the holiday, Kendall had invited her to join her at her sister’s. She’d initially said yes. But after Friday, she figured she needed some time alone.
She could dance in her underwear in the living room if she wanted. She smiled, thinking of Jay and his rusty ballroom that turned out not to be rusty at all. Dancing with him in the hotel had been unimaginably sexy.
Did he have plans for the holiday?
He must. That was why he was in DC until the New Year. To spend time with family. She felt a ripple of disappointment that he’d be too busy to spend those days with her, but she was the one who’d made the rules.
A Christmas alone would be good for her. She would go to Blockbuster and load up on DVDs. Maybe she’d finally start watching Sex and the City and find out what the fuss was about.
She was making a mental list of movies to rent when she slipped her key into the dead bolt on her apartment door and pushed it open.
She paused by the entryway closet and pulled off her long wool coat, revealing the cocktail dress she’d donned yesterday evening. Another day, another walk of shame.
She smiled, feeling absolutely zero shame.
She was definitely going to see him again. No way would this end without getting him naked and inside her.
It was with this dreamy thought that she left the front hall and came face-to-face with the man who’d intended to rape her three nights ago.