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uncomfortable. I promise.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “All at your speed, okay?”
    She nodded.
    “C’mon,” he said offering her his arm. “Let’s go back inside and dance.”
    When they got to the base of the staircase Scott’s cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and grimaced when he saw the ID screen.
    “I have to take this,” he said apologetically.
    “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you on the veranda.”
    Victoria climbed the stairs alone, ducked into the reception and retrieved two glasses of champagne. She then went back out on the veranda which overlooked the atrium and waited for Scott.
    It was nearly ten minutes before he joined her and she’d drank down half her flute of champagne.
    As he walked toward her she noted the perplexed look on his face.
    “Is everything okay?” she asked handing him the other flute.
    “Josh Mason.”
    “The country singer?”
    “Yeah, him.”
    “What about him?”
    “He’s my client. He’s also a womanizing, party boy. Seems as though after a concert in South Carolina, he got a little drunk, took a drive, hit a car, and might have made a few moves on the wrong police woman.”
    “Oh.” She tucked in her lips and studied him a moment longer. “What does this mean for you?”
    “It means I have a flight in three hours.”
    Her eyes shot open. That wasn’t what she was expecting. “You have to leave?”
    He nodded and handed back the flute of champagne. “I have to go. I can take you home or…”
    She looked into the room where music played. She didn’t want to go home yet. “I’ll ask Avery or Clara to drop me off. I’d like to stay if that’s okay.”
    “It’s more than okay.” He pulled her to him and she splayed out her arms to avoid spilling the champagne. “I really had a nice time and I hope when I get back we can pick up where we left off.”
    “I’d like that.”
    Scott tilted his head and kissed her. It wasn’t the calm and soft kisses he’d been giving her all day, this one had meaning and it said he wanted more. His tongue slipped between her lips and she inhaled through her nose sharply, and then relaxed against him, her arms still held out to the side.
    When he pulled away his eyes were darker. “This sucks,” he said with a grin before the chime on his phone directed his attention to a text message. “And here we go.” He looked at his phone quickly. “I’ll call you.”
    Victoria nodded and watched as Scott quickly descended down the stairs. She stood there alone with two flutes of champagne and a party within a few feet of her, but she didn’t move. Instead she stood there looking out over the people that moved about in the atrium.
    “Aren’t you and your date going into the party?” The slurred speech was still too familiar.
    Victoria turned around to see Christian behind her with a bottle of water in his hands. His tux coat had been discarded and his bow tie hung untied around his neck. He must have run his fingers through that dark mass of wavy hair enough times to create tunnels.
    She swallowed the lump in her throat and took a breath to speak. “He had to leave.”
    “Stranded you at the prom?”
    She nodded. “Something like that. But I can get a cab or call Sonia.”
    He took a few crooked steps toward her. “I’ll get you home,” he offered very sincerely.
    She coughed. “You? Please tell me you have a ride home.”
    Christian dropped his shoulders. “Clara has my keys.”
    “Good. She’s brilliant.”
    “She’s a pain in my ass.”
    Victoria had to laugh at that, because she knew the Kellers too well. There wasn’t anything that one wouldn’t do for another.
    He moved toward the railing where she stood. “You gonna drink both of those?”
    She lifted the untouched glass and handed it to him, but he took the glass she’d been drinking from. “I’ll take this one. You’re far behind me on drinks.”
    He tapped the glass to hers and drank down what was left. Victoria took a long