“Perfect!” Madison clapped and climbed onto her father’s feet. She looked hopefully between the pair. “Well, come on, dance.”
Vincent naturally drew Lexi closer to him, wrapping his arm around her waist. Lexi put her hand on his shoulder to keep space between their bodies. As soon as they started to sway, Lexi trampled his foot.
“Sorry.” She was too embarrassed to look him in the eye.
“Stand on his feet. He doesn’t mind,” Madison offered when she saw Lexi blushing.
“You don’t have to do this, Vincent. I’m sure there’s someone here you need to talk to. Besides, Jade will have a stroke if she sees us.” Lexi tried to slip out of his grasp, but Vincent tightened his hold on her and smiled.
“Jade is off talking to someone, and after all the help you’ve given to me tonight, I have time for one dance with you … and any bruises I may get as a result.” His warm eyes swept over her face, his features softening. “I’m sorry about earlier, with Jade.”
Lexi shrugged her shoulders, but couldn’t break eye contact, mesmerized by him up close. “I can take care of myself when it comes to Jade.”
Her feisty attitude made Vincent smile. “You certainly can. It’s quite refreshing to see, actually.” Vincent smiled apologetically. “Still, I should have said something to her. What she said to you was completely uncalled for. She didn’t mean any of it.”
Lexi threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, she most definitely meant every word of it, Vincent. I have no doubt of that.”
“She’s very insecure.”
“She’s very rude too.” Lexi sighed. “You’ve had to make quite a few excuses for her tonight. Don’t you ever get tired of it?” She searched his face, trying to get a read on what he could possibly see in Jade.
Vincent closed his eyes and nodded his head.
“Then why on Earth …” Lexi let her voice trail off. It was not her place to launch into this conversation with Vincent. Their relationship could be described as tentative friends at best, and they were currently in the middle of a huge fundraiser where Vincent still had plenty of work left to do.
Definitely not the place to talk about crazy girlfriends.
The two of them danced awkwardly in silence, looking anywhere but at one another. Lexi heard him softly humming the tune that the band was playing, perfectly harmonizing with the instruments. He lightly tapped his fingers on her back to the beat of the music, tickling her and giving her chills.
Needing a distraction, Lexi decided to make small talk on a very safe topic: work. “Have you been able to talk to a lot of people?” Lexi noticed Julian and Christina dancing right behind them.
“Yes, actually. I danced with Mrs. Warner, and she said I’d be hearing from her husband early next week. So when that call comes in, we’ll work
around their schedule to set up a meeting. I apologize, but you might have to do some rearranging of things.”
“No problem, boss.” Lexi gave him a mock salute.
“You’re too far away.” Vincent pulled her closer so that her cheek was nearly against his chest. “Much better. Now we don’t have to yell.” His chin brushed against the top of her head, and Lexi’s heart raced.
He listed off who he had and had not spoken to yet, but Lexi was completely distracted. Dancing with him had nearly given her a heart attack when they were a foot apart, but having her body pressed against his rock hard chest was almost more than she could stand. The earthy smell of his cologne was intoxicating. It took every ounce of her self-control to not wrap her arms around his neck and snuggle close like she had dreamed of doing so many times. His hands felt like blast furnaces on her body, setting on fire everything they touched. A wonderful tingling sensation flowed throughout her body as they danced. She thanked God that her feet were cooperating so that she actually looked like she knew what she was doing on the dance floor.
She pulled her thoughts together and focused on the reason they were there—to work. Christina caught her eye and nodded in her direction. Lexi stood on her tiptoes and put her lips to Vincent’s ear as they approached.
“Julian Stone, to your left. He has a soft spot for music, big Beatles fan. Use it.”
“Got it,” he whispered against her cheek just before he turned her toward the designer. A chill shot down Lexi’s back as his hot breath rolled down her neck.
“Lexi.” Christina and Julian came dancing up beside them, and Vincent stiffened.
“Relax, Vincent,” she purred in his ear, then turned to greet the couple. “Christina, Julian, are you having a nice evening?”
“Absolutely.” Julian grinned at Lexi before turning to her dance partner. “Vincent, right? I’m Julian Stone.”
“Julian, nice to finally meet you. And I assume this beautiful woman is Christina? Lexi has told me so much about you. You look lovely this evening.”
Lexi gave him a subtle pat on the back to let him know he was doing well.
“Thank you, Vincent. The gala is spectacular. Thank you for inviting us. I think Hunter’s raised a fortune tonight.” Christina gushed about how delicious the food was and asked for the name of the party planner for future reference.
“Lexi can get you the names of everyone we used. I’ll have her E-mail them to you, if that’s all right.”
“That would be great. Thanks. After the new line hits the runway, we’re going to throw a big bash,” Julian said. Lexi suspected he was baiting Vincent to see if he’d jump into shop talk or keep it light.
Vincent played it cool. He didn’t launch into a million questions about the line or when it would be hitting the market, just like he hadn’t gotten desperate and offered to bring the phone numbers over to Julian personally. He waited. Like a game of chess, the two men asked cautious questions, Julian trying to get Vincent to work information out of him, and Vincent being interested but not nosy. Lexi and Christina collectively sighed in relief when Vincent eased the conversation toward music and the two men became immersed in their discussion of the classics.
Finally, Julian laughed. “He’s good, Lexi. You’re right!” Julian held out his hand to Vincent. “Have Lexi call Christina next week, and we’ll do lunch.
You know what, screw lunch. Do you play basketball? I think better when I’m playing.”
“Basketball it is. But don’t expect me to let you win because I’m interested in working with you,” Vincent said, earning another booming laugh from Julian.