What He Wants for Christmas
Автор
Brenda Jackson
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HarlequinOne
Sloan Outlaw whipped his head around. He would recognize that voice anywhere. There were some things he’d never forget, like the sound of the woman who had broken his heart ten years ago.
He couldn’t stop his eyes from scanning the crowd of people, who, like him, were attending the wedding celebration for Tyler and Keosha. Within moments, he had spotted her.
Leslie Cassidy.
There she stood, regal, sophisticated and as beautiful as ever with her bedroom brown eyes, mocha-colored skin, a pair of full lips, high cheekbones and short hair. He blinked. Short hair? What happened to that glorious mass of dark brown curls that used to flow around her shoulders? The same hair he’d loved running his fingers through whenever they made love? Whenever she’d cuddled in his arms, whenever they did just about anything? The curls were gone. However, he would admit the short style looked cute on her. Sassy and chic. It showed a degree of maturity and modishness that defined her strikingly gorgeous features. He couldn’t help but think the short style made her look even sexier.
His gaze raked down the rest of her. She still possessed a body that made men take a second look. Those legs were the most gorgeous pair he’d ever seen on a woman. He could clearly remember how she would wrap them around him tight whenever they made love. The sexiness of her above-the-knee dress not only showcased those legs but also emphasized every single curve she possessed.
Leslie had always been an attention grabber, and from the number of guys he saw checking her out, it seemed nothing had changed. He should have known she would be here. After all, like him, she was friends of both the bride and groom from their college days at the University of Alaska at Anchorage. And yet he honestly hadn’t thought about running into her. He had deliberately blocked her from his mind over the years. He would always have an issue with her believing a lie about him, when she of all people should have trusted him beyond any doubt.
Instead, she hadn’t given him a chance to defend himself. She’d left the university, only sending him an email, the contents of which still burned when he thought about them. The first line had read, I hate you. It hadn’t taken long for him to find out why—she had believed the lies of her roommate. The same woman she’d thought was her best friend. The same woman who’d tried coming on to him behind Leslie’s back. If anything, his mistake had been in thinking he could handle the situation and not involve Leslie by telling her of Sarah Olsen’s behavior. Had he told her, then Leslie would have been prepared for the woman’s lies. But he hadn’t, and in the end, Leslie had believed the worst.
More people had arrived at the wedding celebration. The ballroom of the hotel in Juneau was crowded, and now his view of Leslie was obstructed. Just as well. Still, Tyler should have warned him she was coming. He intended to give his frat brother and good friend a piece of his mind for not doing so.
As Sloan stood there nursing a glass of champagne, he knew he was ill-equipped to deal with seeing the one and only woman he had ever loved.
“Well, have you seen him yet?”
Leslie Cassidy turned and looked into the face of her best friend, Carmen Golan. When Leslie had left the University of Alaska at Anchorage, she had transferred to Howard University in DC to be close to her aunt Ella, her father’s only sister. At least that’s the reason she’d told everyone. Carmen had been her roommate at Howard and was one of the most positive people she knew. Her friend’s optimism had helped Leslie get through some rough times after her breakup with Sloan.
“No, I have not seen him, and I’m not looking for him, Carmen.”
“Well, you should. You owe him an apology.”
There were days Leslie wished Carmen had not been with her that night three years ago when they’d taken a girls’ trip to LA. At a nightclub they had run into Sarah Olsen, of all people, the woman who’d been Leslie’s roommate while at college in Alaska. It was obvious Sarah had had one too many drinks, and in a drunken spiel she had bragged about how her plan to deliberately break up Leslie and Sloan had worked.
She’d even made fun of Leslie in front of everyone for being gullible enough to believe Sarah’s lies. That was when Leslie realized all those things she had believed about Sloan had not been true.
“I will eventually see him, Carmen, but I don’t intend to go looking for him. There’re over a couple hundred guests here.”
What she wouldn’t mention to Carmen was that the phone call she’d gotten from her attorney before leaving the hotel was weighing more heavily on her mind than an apology to Sloan right now.
“I would help find him if I knew what he looked like.”
She was glad Carmen didn’t know, because there was no doubt in Leslie’s mind that Carmen would go looking for Sloan. “He might not have come.”
The disappointment in Carmen’s eyes made Leslie feel bad for even suggesting such a thing. Her friend believed in taking any opportunity to right a wrong. Carmen was also a hopeless romantic. That’s one of the reasons Leslie had asked Carmen to attend the wedding with her as her plus-one. Weddings were right up Carmen’s alley. Carmen had flown to Alaska to spend Thanksgiving with Leslie, and her best friend had then also agreed to attend the wedding because it would be the perfect opportunity for Leslie to apologize to Sloan.
Leslie knew Carmen was also hoping she and Sloan could reconcile a relationship that should not have ended in the first place. Leslie had told Carmen countless times that ten years had passed. These days, saving her company from the clutches of Martin Longshire weighed more heavily on her mind than reuniting with Sloan.
“Didn’t the bride tell you that she’d gotten Sloan’s RSVP saying he would be attending?”
Yes, Keosha had said that. “Yes, however, something could have come up.”
A part of Leslie knew that no matter what she’d just said to Carmen, somewhere in this crowd of attendees was Sloan Outlaw. He was here. She could feel his presence.
Sloan knew it would be close to impossible to grab even a minute of Tyler’s time since he was the groom and taking wedding pictures. That sent Sloan in search of Redford St. James.
Sloan could forgive Tyler for not mentioning Leslie’s attendance to him, since he’d probably had a lot on his mind in preparing for the wedding, but there was no excuse for Redford. If Tyler knew, then so had Redford. During their college days, the three of them had been thick as thieves, and although they now lived in different cities in Alaska, they still found time to get together twice a year.
Moving in and around several people—some he knew, others he did not—Sloan figured that even in this crowd he would have no problem finding Redford. All he needed to do was figure out the best place an amorous couple could engage in a quickie. That sort of thing was what Redford had always been good at, even when they were in college. Storage closets, empty classrooms, underneath the stairs—those were just a few places that easily came to mind.
Sloan left the ballroom and headed down a side corridor toward the back. When a woman rounded the corner and quickly walked past him while trying to straighten her outfit and hair, Sloan knew Redford St. James had struck again. His friend had a problem with keeping his pants zipped.
When Sloan reached a cracked door, he slowly opened it and entered a small meeting room. Redford had his back to him, putting on his jacket.
“I thought I’d find you in here, Redford.”
Redford jerked around and then glared at him. “Damn, Sloan, you almost gave me heart failure. I thought you were that woman’s boyfriend.”
Sloan lifted an eyebrow and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Boyfriend? When did you start trespassing on another man’s territory?”
Redford gave him a smooth grin. “When she looked my way a few times and deliberately licked her lips. I figured someone wasn’t taking care of her properly, and I got the message. The opportunity was too good to pass up.”
“Whatever,” Sloan said, closing the door behind him. “So why didn’t you tell me Leslie would be coming to the wedding?”
Redford rolled his eyes. “Did you honestly think she wouldn’t be invited? Leslie and Keosha were good friends in college.”
“I didn’t know they’d stayed in touch over the years.”
“No reason they wouldn’t, Sloan. You’re the only one who considered Leslie an enemy. In fact, if you recall, you forbade me and Tyler to even mention her name around you, so we didn’t. Hell, man, we told you what you should have done after that time Sarah came on to you. She was just trouble waiting to happen.”
“Okay, maybe I should have said something about it to Leslie, but regardless, Leslie should have trusted me and not believed Sarah.”
“Well, that was a pretty convincing lie, and Sarah had proof to back it up, Sloan.”
“Regardless, Leslie should have known I was not texting or calling Sarah behind her back, no matter what Sarah’s phone records showed.”
“I still say you should have warned her about Sarah, so you share the blame as well.”
Sloan didn’t like it that Redford’s thought mirrored his brothers’. They had liked Leslie and felt he should have told Leslie about Sarah, even though Sarah had promised it wouldn’t happen again.
“I guess you heard about her father,” Redford said, breaking into his thoughts.
Sloan lifted a brow. “No, what about her old man?”
“He died three months ago.”
Sloan hadn’t known. “I’m sorry to hear that. Was he ill?”
“It was a sudden heart attack.”
He could just imagine how hard that must have been on Leslie. She and her father had been close. Her mother had died years ago when Leslie had been in her teens. “Who’s running the company?” Leslie’s father had been founder and CEO of Cassidy Cosmetics, an Alaska-based company whose products were sold directly to stores in the state.
“Leslie’s in charge of things now, but I don’t know how long that will last.”
Sloan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’d rather not say, because you have no reason to care. Look, Sloan, we need to go back or Tyler will wonder where we are.”
“So now you’re worried about being absent from the wedding celebration? Tyler won’t care where we are since he’s all wrapped up in Keosha, so what’s happening with Leslie that I have no reason to care about, Redford? What aren’t you telling me?”
Redford sighed, giving in. “Martin Longshire plans to take over her company. He and Leslie’s father were longtime enemies, and since her father is dead, he plans to make Leslie pay. Two weeks ago, I slept with a woman who works for Longshire, and she told me. Apparently, the people who work for him can’t keep a secret—or the man doesn’t give a damn who knows what he plans to do to Leslie.”
“Did you tell her?” Sloan asked.
“No, not yet. But I did tell Tyler and Keosha. Keosha said she would warn Leslie about it, but I doubt it will do any good. Everybody knows Martin Longshire is a bastard. If he did have a beef with Leslie’s father, then he has no problem making her suffer because of it.”
Sloan didn’t say anything as he and Redford returned to the ballroom. He silently told himself anything dealing with Leslie was not his business.
“I’ll be back, man,” Redford said. “Telling you what Longshire plans to do to Leslie has left a bad taste in my mouth. I need a stiff drink.” He then quickly walked toward the bar.
As Sloan watched his friend leave, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He immediately knew who was standing behind him even before she spoke.
“Hello, Sloan.”
He turned to stare right into Leslie’s face.
