It's Not Christmas Without You (The Holloway Series) by Dimon HelenKay

Author:Dimon, HelenKay [Dimon, HelenKay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2011-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

The next day at the conference Carrie rounded the corner with her head down and mind lost in an article about Interpol’s Stolen Artwork Database and smacked right into something. Papers flew and her ankle turned. Swearing before she could control it, she put her hands out and hit biceps.

When her eyes focused again, she saw an aqua tie. Following it up, she met Shawn’s shocked gaze. “Uh, hi?”

“Are you okay?” Concern showed on every inch of his face right before he bent down to pick up her scattered papers.

In his mid-thirties, he was smart and charming and objectively good-looking for a guy with hair resembling a sponge. But he barely registered on her hot-o-meter. In fact, she wasn’t attracted to him at all and worried Austin’s scheme would backfire by making Shawn think there could be something between them. She didn’t want to hurt Shawn, though the idea of injuring Austin sounded good right about now.

“Carrie, did I do something to you when we hit? Can you talk?”

Where Austin knew she could split and stack wood with no trouble, Shawn acted as if she were made of glass.

His response made her want to poke fun at the situation. “The headache will pass in a month or so.”

All of the color left his face. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was a joke.” One Austin would have gotten but flew right over Shawn’s head.

“What?”

Time for a change in topic. “You didn’t tell me you were signed up for today’s conference.”

“I’m here to see you.”

That got her to let go of him and take a good step back. “Why?”

“Yesterday.”

She let out a long groan but only inside her head. “Yeah, about that.”

“I wasn’t expecting that sort of greeting.”

Probably because he wasn’t a crazy person. “Not surprising.”

“It was, well, weird.”

Poor guy sounded traumatized from Austin’s bizarre behavior. She sure was. “Austin has a strange sense of humor.”

“Was his display supposed to be funny?”

“Good question. I think he was trying to prove a point.”

“You’re dating him.”

This was where the definitions got tricky. Present tense. Past tense. She could be clearer if there was a tense that stood for sometimes.

She shifted from one foot to the other as she weighed her words. “We’ve gone out over the years. He still lives in West Virginia.”

Shawn lowered his voice as a group of conference attendees, all with shiny name badges, walked down the other side of the hall. “But he’s in D.C. now.”

“Confusing, isn’t it?” From the way Shawn’s eyebrows snapped together she could tell it was. “Look, forget about tonight.”

“We should go to dinner.”

She was going to strangle Austin. Might even use her favorite scarf to do it. “You’re a very nice man, but—”

“Not that. I mean all of us.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your boyfriend—”

“Ex.”

“—wants you to go. He clearly wants to make a point.” Shawn shrugged. “My suggestion is that we play this out to see what he really has in mind.”

Well, well, well. Look at Shawn being all conniving. She liked it. “You’d be willing to go through heaven knows what for me?”

Shawn laughed.

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