Emma groaned. “Joel, you are ridiculously good. You know that, right? An annoyingly good guy. You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Not even for the restaurant bill?” he asked with a smile.

“Okay, yes, two-hundred-dollar champagne wasn’t exactly in my budget.”

“Well, I’d say I owe you, but I was only able to get fifty percent of the cost of the engagement ring back, sooo…” He winked.

“Call it even?” Emma said as she walked him to the door.

He pulled his coat off the hook, draping it over his arm as she opened the door.

He stepped into the hallway then turned back, his broad body taking up all the space in the door.

Joel’s smiling eyes turned sad for a moment as he looked down at her, his smile fading into something that looked like contentment. As though he knew this was the last time they’d see each other, and was at peace with it.

He used two fingers to tilt her chin up to his, then laid his lips against hers, softly. Lingering only for a second before pulling away. “Good-bye, Emma. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for. Or ditch whatever haunts you.”

Joel turned away then, nodding with a quiet good night to the man who’d just approached the neighboring apartment.

Cassidy.

Cassidy nodded briefly to a departing Joel, but his eyes never left Emma’s. His expression betrayed nothing, but Emma knew he’d seen the whole thing. Seen the kiss.

She lifted her chin, refusing to feel embarrassed or guilty.

He unlocked his door and entered his apartment. The door closed without a word uttered between them.

Emma closed her own door, then stood there for several moments, unmoving.

Then she leaned her forehead against the door and closed her eyes. Joel’s parting words echoed in her ears.

I hope you find whatever you’re looking for. Or ditch whatever haunts you.

It was good advice.

But what if what she was looking for and what was haunting her were the exact same thing?

Chapter 16

There were few things Alex dreaded more than the weekly meetings with the Stiletto team. Not because they weren’t a group of competent, driven, and insightful women. In many ways, the types of discussion weren’t unlike his weekly meeting with the Oxford team.

But the topics of discussion?

Painful. Utterly painful.

“Mr. Cassidy?” one of the shy girls asked from the other end of the table. Kristen? Kirsten? “Any thoughts on which direction you want to go?”

Shit. He’d zoned out. And not even in a distracted sort of way, but in the deliberate way in which someone lets the brain wander because it simply does not have an opinion on tampons, types of yogurt, or navy nail polish.

“I trust your judgment,” he said, giving the petite blonde a confident smile.

He was pretty sure he heard a snort from the Relationships section of the table. Most of the rest of the Stiletto team seemed either in awe of his presence or embarrassed by it, but Grace, Riley, and Julie seemed amused. At his expense.

As for Emma…hard to tell. She was doing her usual stone-faced thing.

Had been ever since that night he’d caught her kissing her ex-boyfriend. Alex’s fingers clenched on his pen, and he shifted his attention to her end of the table.

“What about you four? How are things coming on the December articles?”

“Great!” Grace said. “ ‘Stocking Stuffers He’ll Actually Use’ is nearly done, even though it’s been a pain in the ass to write it in October.”

Alex nodded distractedly. It was weird discussing Christmas in October, but it was the nature of the magazine timeline.

“Ri?”

“Well, since you wouldn’t let me do ‘Logistics of Sex Under the Christmas Tree,’ I’m going with ‘Festive Lingerie.’ Found a bra with little gingerbread men on the nipples.”

Alex winced.

“There’s a how-to on under-the-tree sex?” Emma asked. “Don’t you just do it?”

Riley gave her a patient look. “Five words: pine needles up the ass.”

“Jesus,” Alex muttered. “Julie, how’s your story?”

“Not started,” she said with a cheeky grin. “I get married in two weeks. I’ve been prioritizing. But it’ll get done.”

He clicked his pen. “Refresh my memory?”

“ ‘Surviving the In-Laws.’ ”

“Speaking from personal experience?” Riley asked.

Julie sighed. “Mitchell’s mom is planning ahead and insisting on a posed family photo in front of the Christmas tree. She bought me a red headband. With sparkles.”

“Pretty,” Emma said. “Do you get to wear a jumper, too?”

Alex rubbed his temple. A headache was definitely on its way. “Emma? Your story?”

Her eyes locked on his. “It’s fine.”

Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to say more.

She didn’t.

Then everyone looked at him, waiting for him to demand more.

He didn’t.

Alex looked away from her as though he didn’t care one way or another about her story. As though he didn’t want to know every little detail about the guy who’d been kissing her in the hallway the night before.

He did want to know.

But he didn’t trust his own reaction. Not with an entire conference room full of women watching him.

“Okay, fitness team, you’re up.”