Their Festive Island Escape. Nina Singh

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       CHAPTER THREE

      ALEX STILL STOOD in the middle of Reid’s office studying him like a lab specimen. “Is there something I can do for you?” Reid finally asked, ultimately losing the game of visual chicken.

      “Yeah. Neither you nor the young lady really answered me earlier when I asked if you two knew each other. It appears you do.”

      Reid pretended to type on his keyboard. “Then you seem to have answered your own question.”

      “I have more.”

      Reid gave up all pretense of trying to get any work done. Leaning back in his leather desk chair, he tried to stretch out some of the tension that seemed to have tied a knot in the back of his neck right at the base of his skull. “Somehow, I knew you would.”

      “I do. One of them being, exactly how do you know our esteemed guest? I couldn’t help but notice she’s traveling alone.”

      “So?”

      Alex grinned. “So does that fact have anything to do with you?”

      “What? No! Of course not.” Not directly, anyway.

      He hadn’t realized he’d mumbled the last part under his breath until Alex questioned him.

      “What does that mean, Reid? Not directly?”

      Alex sighed, the tension in his neck traveling farther down his spine. He might have to hit the spa later for some kind of back treatment massage. Though he’d been meaning to do that for weeks, ever since he’d arrived at the start of the season.

      “It’s not what you’re thinking, partner.”

      “Then what is it? You two obviously have some kind of history and not all of it is positive.

      Reid almost laughed at that. Less than positive would be an understatement.

      “Celeste was almost the wife of a friend of mine. Let’s just say he hasn’t been the same ever since their relationship ended.”

      Alex nodded slowly. “Oh. So she dumped him.”

      Reid rubbed his jaw. “Not exactly.”

      “Then I don’t understand.”

      Reid ran a hand down his face. He hadn’t been sleeping well. There was always something that needed to be done, some detail to attend to. He also had his father’s ill-formed takeover attempt to contend with. Now he’d been thrown another curveball in the form of Celeste Frajedi and he wasn’t sure how to explain to his partner exactly what had gone down three years ago. It hadn’t really had anything to do with him. So it was hard to explain why he’d taken it all so personally back then. Even when it came to explaining it to himself.

      “Well, on the surface, Jack was the one who actually did the dumping.”

      His friend gave him a blank look. “On the surface?”

      “She wasn’t in the relationship for the right reasons. He told me all about it.”

      Alex raised an eyebrow.

      Reid felt a sensation of discomfort meander down his spine. As if he was betraying a confidence somehow. Though he’d be hard-pressed to identify whose privacy he was uneasy about. Celeste’s or Jack’s?

      “Celeste is a shrewd businesswoman. She’s very well known in the industry as one of the most successful marketing executives in New York. The business sites have regular profiles on her. She can be ruthless when she doesn’t get what she wants.”

      “You said your friend hasn’t been the same ever since the disastrous wedding that didn’t happen.”

      Reid nodded. “That’s right. He’s still traipsing all over Europe, partying in different cities. Living with various women.” Some of those women being wealthy, married socialites looking for a good time on the side.

      “Huh. And he didn’t behave like that before he met Celeste?” Alex wanted to know.

      The uneasy feeling grew from tingling sensation to an all-out burning down his back as Reid sought for a truthful way to answer. If he was being completely honest, Jack had always had a propensity to be a bit of a partier, something of a Lothario. If anything, his relationship with Celeste had seemed to temper that side of him.

      “It’s just different. Trust me. I heard all about it before he called off the wedding. Celeste worked long hours, was never around for him. He said he felt single most of the time.”

      “Sounds like she’s just ambitious.”

      “I agree that’s a commendable trait. But for people like her, it’s never enough,” Reid answered quickly, though the uneasiness was now sitting like a boulder at the base of his spine. Damn it, why hadn’t he scheduled that massage? Maybe they could fit him in between clients.

      Alex went on, “She also happens to have booked our most exclusive and pricey deluxe suite for an extended stay. So clearly her ambitions have served her well.”

      Reid shrugged. “I guess. Again, some people can’t seem to have enough.” He couldn’t even tell anymore if he was talking from personal experience about his father or if he was still referring wholly to Celeste.

      “You sound like a man who’s only considered one side of a story.”

      “What’s that supposed to mean?”