Son of a bitch! Does everyone in the room know my business? Am I wearing some kind of invisible sign or something? Well, he was in charge. He could do a number of things. Pretend to be confused. Pretend Hawkins meant someone else. He could ignore the comment and squelch him with one look, or he could ignore the comment entirely. Yes, sirree, he could do all those things. “Yes, she does. Everyone looks beautiful. You guys surprised me. You all look great.”

Hawkins laughed knowingly and moved off. Now Pappy was the one standing alone. He didn’t like the feeling. Not one little bit because he felt exposed, vulnerable. Sam was still laughing at something Vandameer was saying. Suddenly, she linked her arm in Vandameer’s and led him to the bar. When she turned around, Pappy got an eyeful of one long slender leg, which seemed to go all the way up to…The hard-on was back. He turned on his heel and went in search of his father. Surely it was time to eat.

Pappy felt desperate. The last time he felt like this he was in deep cover in Afghanistan, and his exit route had been cut off. The only way to the kitchen was past the bar, where Sam and Vandameer were standing, laughing and touching one another’s arms. He pasted something that could have passed for a sickly smile on his face and shouldered his way to the kitchen, apologizing as he went along.

The matter was taken out of his hands when the tall blonde named Kate whirled around, jostling his arm so that he did a pirouette and in doing so bumped Sam’s arm, spilling her drink down the front of her blouse. He started to apologize when Sam rendered him mute. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” she whispered in a choked voice. He was shocked at her words, more shocked at the tears glistening in her eyes. “Stop making this personal. I don’t give a good rat’s ass if you like me or not. Let’s be professional. This is Christmas after all,” she hissed, the words sounding dangerous in his ears.

Pappy imagined that everyone in the room heard Sam’s whispered words while in truth no one but Vandameer and Pappy heard what she’d said. All he could do was shrug, but it was an arrogant shrug, one that brought sparks to Sam’s eyes to match the shooting sparks wafting off the diamonds in her ears.

In the kitchen, Kyros threw his hands in the air in disgust. He opened the refrigerator and withdrew a bottle of club soda. He grabbed a white linen napkin at the last second. He headed toward Sam, passing his son on the way. “Buffoon. Do I have to write you out a script?” he said sourly.