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She lifted my arm, turning herself, and I found it impossible not to finally join in. Her joy was infectious, something I desperately needed, because the line we were waiting in was the mandatory greeting line with prominent Elysium members. And the person at the head of that line was the president.
Archer.
Or should I say, Archer and hisdate.
I stumbled at the thought, catching myself and giving Serena a tight, apologetic smile. She winked at me and kept dancing, not giving a care when she bumped into Travis behind us.
“Come on, you sexy beast. Dance with us.”
Travis eyed me over her head. “How many drinks has she had?”
“Only one,” I said, twirling her around. “This is her in her most natural state.”
He wrinkled his nose and ran a hand down the lapel of his steampunk-inspired jacket, complete with a tailcoat, a look only he could pull off. “What’s it like to be that…happy?”
I almost answered that I didn’t know, but I caught myself before the words left my tongue. Because Ididknow. I’d felt that fleeting moment of happiness in my time spent with Archer, where my heart felt so full it might burst.
Serena squeezed my hands and nodded behind me. “We’re next.”
Shit.My stomach dropped, and I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what I was about to face.
“He’s got nothing on you,” she murmured, and then stepped past me to greet her dad.
“Trying to start a conga line already?” I heard Archer say as I turned around to join Serena.
Damn, damn, damn.The man stole my breath. He wore a classic black tuxedo that fit his trim body to a T. In that moment, it didn’t feel real that he and I had anything to do with each other. We were on two different levels, like a king greeting his subjects.
I can do this. I can do this.I kept repeating the mantra in my head, hoping like hell I would convince myself it was true before?—
“Preston.”
—Archer turned his attention on me.
“Mr. Carrington.” I somehow managed to get his name past my lips as he held a hand out to me, and never had it been so hard to play the role of the fake boyfriend andperfectsenator’s son.
I slipped my hand into his, and as his fingers wrapped around mine, a jolt of electricity shot between us.
“The place looks amazing.” I looked up at the reindeers overhead, anywhere but at him.
“It does. Thanks largely in part to you.”
My attention came back to him and lingered, and Serena cleared her throat and wrapped her arm through the crook of my elbow.
“You and Preston always make a great team.”
Archer looked to his daughter as he nodded in agreement. “That we do, and may I say, you both look extraordinary tonight.”
“You may.” Serena lifted the edge of her skirt to show it off, and Archer chuckled.
“A modern-day princess.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, his eyes finding mine. His heated expression let me know, the only way he could, just how extraordinary he found me.
My heart thundered as he straightened to his full height, but when he turned to Rodney and introduced him to Serena, it just about flatlined.
Talk about going from an ultimate high to an all-time low. But I’d known this was coming. I’d been dreading it the whole way here.
“Rodney, this is Preston,” I heard Archer say somewhere in the periphery. “He was the lead volunteer in helping get the Elysium ready for tonight. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
Archer’s words were polite, professional, and about as impersonal as could be, but still that moment of slight praise made me want to throw my arms around him and kiss the living hell out of him.
