Page 42 of Santa Daddies

“You okay?” Emily whispered as we crossed paths. “You look like you’re ready to strangle someone. It’s not a wedding issue, is it?” She suddenly looked worried.

“I’m fine,” I replied, and forced myself to relax and give her a smile. “Just have to check something. I’ll be right back. Then we need to talk, okay. Promise we’ll talk after breakfast.”

“Yeah, okay, I actually wanted to talk to you as well.”

I nodded, giving her arm a squeeze and watched her walk to our table, growling under my breath as Lucas’s eyes roamed over her. I suddenly couldn’t walk away and leave her alone with him, so I aborted my fake mission and walked back to the table.

“Lucas, this is my baby sister, Emily! Memmy, let me introduce you to your surprise!” David threw an arm around Lucas’s shoulder. “Your date, and my close friend, Lucas Wise.”

Lucas’s eyes found mine and his grin widened. My gut churned. It was a disgusting leer disguised as a smile and I knew it.

Little Red searched the table as if trying to assess if the turn of events was a prank. When her eyes landed on mine, I noted they seemed to question if this was what I’d wanted to talk to her about, but before I could give her any indication, she turned to look at her brother and the attractive man under his arm.

The chatter around the table that was going strong only moments ago all but died in an instant. Madeline’s head snapped toward her brother and her eyes shuttered. When they opened again, the shock they held turned to annoyance. Maybe she’d be an ally, I thought, as if this were a war.

“Excuse me?” Little Red, squeaked. “My what?”

“Yeah, David, her what?” Madeline demanded.

He looked between his two sisters, and his expression was clueless. The dumbass had no idea why this was a bad idea. I groaned inwardly. How could a man be so clueless?

“This was the surprise?” Charlotte whispered. “Oh, David, you should have checked with me.”

“What?” he asked, still looking confused.

But Lucas didn’t read the room and closed the gap between him and Emily and tugged her into a tight hug.

“Oh. Uh. Hi.” Her face reddened and my jaw shifted.

“I’m a lucky guy if you’re my date.”

“Uh, I… had no idea.”

Tell him, Little Red, tell him you’re already with me,I prompted with only my eyes. She did look at me again, but not long enough to get my message apparently, because when Lucas pulled out one of the two free chairs next to each other, she sat. I growled under my breath.

“Excuse me, Kristoff,” Lucas said, using the name of that dude from the cartoon movie he loved to annoy me with. I never used to take the bait, but now it made me irate and if I knew the name of the asshole in the story, I’d call him that. That’s how fucking petty I was feeling.

“Kristoff?” Emily asked. “As in the guy from Frozen?” She glanced at me, then bit her bottom lip and I scowled.

“Lucas, meet my bride.”

“David, how come none of your friends have ever met Charlotte?” someone asked.

“Must not have wanted them to steal her away,” Lucas answered, and laughter rang out from around the table. I wasn’t laughing though. Neither was Madeline, Charlotte, or Emily.

“Real friends wouldn’t do that,” I said and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I actually do have to check on a few things after all.”

Emily stood then too. “I need to send a few emails myself.”

“Emily, don’t be rude,” David scolded.

Madeline shushed him. “Leave her alone. You’re the one that caught her off guard here.”

I’d made it to my office door before Little Red caught up to me.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I said, not wanting to alert her to any issues between me and Lucas. “Just have a few things to deal with.”