Katherine Garbera - Cinderella's Christmas Affair

She took a deep breath; assured herself that her physical changes were enough to keep Tad from recognizing her. Of course, she recognized him even though he’d put on at least twenty pounds. All of it solid muscle. He looked exactly how she’d expect the owner of a sporting goods company to look.

It was too bad he couldn’t be balding like other guys who were her age. Instead his blond hair was thick as ever and bleached by the sun. He looked too good and she wanted to run and hide.

“CJ Terrence,” she said introducing herself. She could only hope that maybe Tad wouldn’t be able to identify her as the girl he’d known as Cathy Jane in high school.

He took her proffered hand and shook it for the required three pumps. Shivers of awareness or maybe it was nerves shook her. His hand was bigger than hers, not surprising since she wasn’t a big girl—at five foot five inches tall she was average and Tad Randolph had grown into a giant since she’d last seen him.

Calluses ridged his palm and his skin against hers was rough and warm. She wondered how his hand would feel against her stomach. Tremors of sensual awareness pulsed through her body. He continued to watch her with that razor-sharp gaze of his. Had she given too much away?

“Ms. Terrence, where do you want these presentation boards?” CJ’s secretary, Rae-Anne King, asked.

CJ dropped Tad’s hand and glanced at her new temporary secretary. “Please excuse me.”

“It’s a pleasure meeting you, CJ,” Tad said.

“I’ve…got to set up,” CJ said. Yes she was the queen of intelligent conversation—not!

“Don’t let me keep you.”

Right. One minute in the man’s presence and she’d lost ten years worth of self-confidence. Confidence she’d earned by standing on her own and not depending on anyone else.

Tad nodded and walked to the coffee service that CJ had set up. Normally, her assistant would have handled it but this was her first day working with Rae-Anne. Her temp had proven to be a little inept around the office.

CJ motioned to the easel at the end of the long narrow conference room. Working quickly she set up her presentation and then glanced out the window.

It was a blustery day in early December. Chicago was gray and damp. Though the Christmas decorations along Michigan Avenue tried to instill a little cheer, they failed.

Failure was something CJ understood but she didn’t plan to let it rest on her shoulders today. She took a deep breath, muttered her mantra to herself and then turned to face the other people in the room.

Tad touched her shoulder; she started and dropped her cards. Damn. This wasn’t going to work. Six years of moving her way steadily up in the advertising world was suddenly in jeopardy.

He picked her cards up from the floor and held them out to her. Their hands brushed. His were large and tan. He wrapped his fingers around hers, which were cold. Rubbing his thumb across the back of her knuckles he warmed up more than her fingers.

“Cold hands?” he asked softly.

“Always,” she said. Her fingers were never warm even in summer.

“You know what they say about hands,” he said.

“Honestly, no.”

“Cold hands, warm heart. Do you have a warm heart, CJ?” he asked.

No way was Tad Randolph—the only boy she’d ever allowed herself to have a crush on—flirting with her in the middle of the conference room.

“CJ?”

“Uh…I don’t know.”

“There’s something familiar about you,” he said.

She took her cards from his grip and nervously shuffled them. Oh, God, please don’t let him remember me. She was never going to be able to do this.

“Have we met?”

She shook her head. God, don’t get me for lying, she thought. Just in case she crossed her fingers behind her back. Before she could answer her boss walked in.

“CJ was featured in Advertising Age last year as part of their Top Thirty To Watch. Twenty-somethings who were taking the advertising world by storm,” Butch Baker said from the doorway.

Butch was forty-eight and had been with Taylor, Banks and Markim forever. He was her immediate boss and observing today as part of the promotion process. CJ was next in line for the directorship of the domestic division of the advertising company. Today’s meeting wasn’t a make-it or break-it deal, but bagging the sporting goods contract would give her a nice lead over her competition.

Butch and Tad turned aside to discuss mutual friends and CJ turned back to her presentation. Everything was in place. If she’d paid closer attention to her notes then she would have realized that P.T. Xtreme Sports was owned by Tad Randolph.

Normally, her secretary Marcia would have taken care of notifying her of such details. But Rae-Anne had been lucky to find the file on the company before they’d had to come down to the conference room.

She missed Marcia. They’d worked together for four years like a well-oiled machine until Marcia had fallen in love with Stuart Mann and married him. The couple had decided to start a family, which left CJ without Marcia’s presence in the office. Not that she begrudged Marcia her family, she just wished they’d had more time to train this temp.

“You nervous?” Rae-Anne asked when Tad’s other executives filled the conference room.

“I shouldn’t be. This is routine.” Sure, it’s every day the boy you had a girlhood crush on was the key to an important account…and your promotion.

“Then why are you?” Rae-Anne asked.

“That’s the million dollar question, Rae-Anne. Thanks for helping me set up. You can go back to the office now.”

“No problem. Good luck, CJ.”

“I need more than luck,” CJ said. She needed a miracle, but her life had been short on those.

Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and began her presentation. She avoided meeting Tad’s gaze. And spoke with all the confidence she’d cultivated since she’d left that small town she’d grown up in, and honed since Marcus had left her.

It would be a lot easier to deal with Tad’s reappearance in her life if he weren’t so damned attractive.

Remember what he said about you and how it felt to realize you’d put your trust in someone who was so superficial. Remember that Tad wasn’t the only one to teach you that lesson. Marcus did as well.

How many times did she have to be hurt before she’d finally learned?

Her career had never let her down. Advertising was safer and required no heartache.

But there was a part of her—Cathy Jane—that wondered what it’d be like to kiss Tad Randolph, high school superstar. A little experiment to see if all the hype that had surrounded Tad during high school had been accurate.

She was no longer the girl with the baggy clothes and frizzy hair. She was a sophisticated city girl who knew how to make men take notice of her and wasn’t afraid of their attention. At least in the boardroom she knew how to do it.

Life couldn’t get much better, CJ thought. Once she started talking her confidence returned and she realized that even if Tad recognized her it wasn’t the end of the world.

“I know you had a long-standing relationship with Tollerson but together we can take P.T. Xtreme Sports to the next level,” she said.

“Very impressive. We’ll be making our decision at the end of the week,” Tad said, wrapping up her presentation.

He had a few words with Butch as CJ cleaned up her presentation boards. Not bad, she thought. She’d made it through the presentation and unless she’d missed her guess, P.T. Xtreme Sports was going to be the newest account in her impressive portfolio.

“Great job, CJ,” Butch said.

“Thanks, Butch.”

Butch walked out of the room and CJ felt like doing the Snoopy dance of joy.