Page 48 of Tuxedos and Tinsel

Last night.She fought a smile as she walked toward her office. Fake or not, she had had a terrific time.

When she concentrated, she could still feel Lewis’s kiss. Of course, later that night he’d dropped her off at her apartment with nothing but a friendly hug, but she wouldn’t dwell on that.

Upon reaching her office, she found Linus sitting on the edge of her desk. It was an annoying habit he had, that of refusing to use a chair. When he saw her, he pointed at her with a rolled-up newspaper. “If it isn’t my sister, the cover girl.”

“What are you getting on about? And get off my desk. You’re messing up my piles.” She hung her wool coat on the back of her door before shooing him off her work with a wave of her hand.

“I gather you haven’t seen this morning’s edition of theLooking Glass.” He unfurled the newspaper. “I lied about the cover. Turns out you’re more page-five material.”

Grabbing the tabloid from Linus, she quickly flipped to the page. There, under the headline Merry Kiss-Mas was a photo of her and Lewis.

Wildman Champagne Lewis Matolo Looks Tamed As He Cozies With A Mystery Lady, read the subhead.

The corners of her mouth twitched upward. The photographer had caught the moment just before they kissed. Her face was lifted to his, and they were looking at one another as if each were the only person in the room. There was a second photo too, which, from their excited expressions, looked like it was taken in the fourth quarter when they were cheering for a last-minute rally.

This explained all the odd looks. She gave in and let her smile bloom. Lewis had to be thrilled.

“You little minx. Why didn’t you tell us you were seeing someone?”

She cast her brother a look over the top of the paper. “Minx? Seriously?”

“First word that came to mind, and you didn’t answer my question. When did you start dating Lewis Matolo?”

“We…” Linus’s question reminded her they hadn’t worked out a proper backstory. Since she was alone, she was going to have to go with the obvious and fill Lewis in later. “We met at Maria’s wedding. He went to school with her new husband. We shared a couple drinks in the bar and hit it off.”

“A couple? Thomas said you were hung over when he spoke to you the next morning.”

“Thomas has a big mouth, and what business is it of yours anyway?” Tucking the paper under her arm, she cast him another look as she made her way to her chair.

Much to her consternation, Linus followed, and perched himself on the edge of the desk again. “Is this where I say none?”

“Unless you’d like me to say it for you.” Folding her arms, she sat back and waited for him to get to the point. Because there was a point; Linus always had a point. She just wished he’d hurry up because she wanted to call Lewis.

“Here’s the thing,” he said finally. “Normally, I’d agree with you, but in this case…”

“What do you mean, in this case?”

“Do you know who Lewis Matolo is? I mean really know?”

Of course she knew, and she knew exactly what Linus was driving at, as well. “Get to your point.” Might as well hear him say it out loud.

Her brother tapped a knuckle against his lip, a habit he had when thinking. “How do I put this…”

“He’s a drunken arse.” Thomas Collier’s pronouncement entered the office two seconds before he did. The chairman of Collier’s Soap strode into her office wearing his standard severe black suit. Dark and handsome, he was night to Linus’s day.

Add Lewis to the mix and you would have one heck of a gorgeous trio, thought Susan. With her as the plump wrong note.

“Why don’t you say it a little louder, Thomas? There might be a few people at the reception desk who didn’t hear you,” she snapped. “And he’s not a drunken anything. Anymore. He stopped drinking.”

“You just said you shared a couple drinks at the wedding,” Linus said.

Oh, brother. She didn’t realize they were going to analyze every single word. “Idrank.Hehad water,” she replied. “Not that what I do is any of your concern. In case you didn’t notice, I’m a grown woman. I’m not required to explain my actions to you.”

“Unless your actions blow back and bite Collier’s,” Thomas replied. “Do you have any idea the kinds of stunts this guy has pulled? Bar fights, drunken howlers.”

“Stop it. I’ve read the headlines, same as you.”

“Then you know he’s a degenerate. Even his teammates got tired of his antics. He bounced around to every team in the league because the other players hated dealing with him.”