Addison Fox - The Professional

Something fierce and needy that gripped a man in a hard fever and refused to let go.

Despite knowing her for well over a year, since they were first introduced at their local business owners’ meetings, and then getting to know her far better after the break-in at her shop, he still found the woman to be a mystery.

Her business partners were easygoing and friendly, and both had welcomed him into their social circle with open arms. Violet, on the other hand, had railroaded him at every opportunity. Her green eyes tempted, even as the cool set of her shoulders and that pure-as-vodka voice shut him down at every turn.

“You ever think about it?” he asked.

“About what?”

The change of topic added a hint of confusion to her question, but it also went a long way toward cooling the ire sparking at the suggestion she was naive.

He waved a hand toward the ballroom, filled to the brim with laughing people, drinking people, dancing people, many doing all three. “This. Getting hitched. Doing forever with someone.”

“No.”

“Because you don’t want to?”

“Because I’ve never even come close.”

He had figured her for having a swath of old boyfriends, several of whom had made it close to the fiancé stage, so the acknowledgment that she’d been no closer than he to taking a walk toward the altar was a surprise.

He brushed a finger down her cheek, the soft skin more tempting than anything he could have imagined, and he fought to keep his hand steady through the trembling that suddenly gripped him. “That’s a surprise.”

Her breath caught as she stared up at him, and he took it as the smallest sign of victory that she was affected. But when she spoke, it was pure Violet.

Brisk and practical.

“It shouldn’t be. I’m difficult on the best of days. Something you remind me of on a regular basis.”

“I’ve never said that.”

“You don’t have to.”

She stepped back, her eyes wide with awareness and the wariness of cornered prey. “I need to see to a few things.”

He moved into her space again, deliberately blocking her view of the ballroom. “It won’t stop running without you.”

“Let’s not wait to find out.”

He stood still for one moment longer, not sure why he was baiting her and even less sure why he’d chosen this moment. She did have a job to do and was smack in the middle of a major event.

Still, he pressed on.

“I’d like an answer to my question.”

“What question is that? Why I’m so naive or why I keep ignoring you?”

“Neither. I’d like to know what you have against this.” He flung a hand out in the direction of the merry revelers. “Forever.”

The green eyes that usually glittered at him like hard emeralds softened for the briefest moment as she shifted her gaze toward the ballroom. But it was the light, wistful whisper that gripped him by the throat and hung on. Hard.

“You know, Max, I try to be hopeful. But most days I just think happy-ever-afters are for suckers.”

* * *

Violet fought the shaking of her limbs as she strode across the ballroom. Damn Max Baldwin and his all-seeing blue eyes and his freaking questions that cut far too close.

Damn him.

A hard knot of tears thickened her throat, and she swallowed around it. She would not cry here. Goodness, what had happened to her? She was a professional. She owned a business and she was responsible for the event going on around her.

She could cry later.

On a hard breath, she gave herself a moment to collect her thoughts. She’d been doing it for years. Pressing down on the hurt and pain to ensure no one saw the wreck that lived inside. And she’d be damned if she showed that sorry face to the assembled crowd at the Kelley-Gardner nuptials. Over four hundred of Dallas’s elite and she was considering a breakdown.

No freaking way.

Instead, she’d use the anger and the frustration and just work that much harder. Max Baldwin didn’t know anything, and his leading questions were designed to throw her off guard.

“Violet!”

Kimberly Kelley, now Kimberly Gardner, bounced over to her on light feet. The silk creation that wrapped her tall, slender body was as traditional as it was modern. Another Cassidy Tate creation.

Her friend had managed to capture all the gravitas and elegance of a wedding while ensuring the bride still looked fully twenty-first century. Violet made a mental note to have the photographer snap some extra photos for their portfolio with the bride in motion.

“Kimberly. It’s a beautiful day.”

“It’s wonderful and amazing, just like you promised. Jordan and I truly can’t thank you and Cassidy and Lilah enough. It’s the perfect day.” Kimberly smiled as she took in the assembled crowd. “Perfect.”

Although she only had a few years in age on the bride, Violet couldn’t help thinking that bright-eyed, wondrous smile had never been hers. She’d never looked that young. And she’d certainly never been that carefree.

But she’d given that gift to another, and that had to be enough. It had to mean something. Didn’t it?

“I’m so glad you’re enjoying the day. You look amazing.”

“I did want to thank you, and we will be going out to lunch, my treat, after Jordan and I are back from Aruba. But I also stopped you for another reason. The security team wanted to talk to you.”

“Of course.” Violet had already begun moving when a slender hand gripped her wrist. “They can wait a minute. Come here.”

Before she could take another step, Violet was wrapped in a tight hug. “Thank you.”

Those damnable tears threatened again, and Violet held them back. Instead, she hung on an extra moment before stepping away. “Go enjoy the day. Find Jordan and dance until dawn. That’s all the thanks I need.”

Kimberly nodded before rushing toward her new husband. Violet watched for a moment before she turned on her heel and headed for the lobby area outside the ballroom.

What could security possibly need?

* * *

The chaos that greeted her had Violet reconsidering a four-hundred-person guest list.

Individuals in various states of drunken enjoyment littered the reception area outside the ballroom. Two men—obviously some of the more heavily intoxicated of the bunch—had stripped out of their tuxedo jackets and bow ties and were circling each other like prize fighters.

“What is this?” Violet deliberately kept her voice calm, pushing as much authority as she could into her words, and used their quiet force to gain everyone’s attention.

She should have used a roar.

The two men leaped on each other. She barely missed being a part of the fray as the hard smack of fists on flesh echoed off the two men, who grunted and groaned as they locked into battle.

“Stop it!” The words were as ineffective as she knew they’d be, but it was the cheering of the crowd that had her seeing red. “Stop it now !”

The Kelley and Gardner families came from money, including a political dynasty on the groom’s side. The added security was meant to ensure the family was safe. Instead, they were out here dealing with a group of guests acting like ill-behaved gorillas.

On a hard exhalation, Violet had to admit that was an insult to gorillas.

Two of the security team members she’d met earlier were on opposite sides of the brawl, trying to find ways to pull the two grappling guests apart, but neither seemed to get a good grip on the duo. If she was honest, she suspected they were ill prepared for dealing with a scuffle between two wealthy guests.

Which was still no excuse for inaction.

“Gentlemen!” She pushed another layer of authority into her tone and added a nice veneer of bitchiness as she eyed where she could get a good foot into the middle, toppling the two men. Before she could strike a handy shin, the two men were suddenly pushed apart.