Christmas Miracle (4 page)

She hadn’t gotten a memo for an appointment.

“Fiona, did his secretary call you about lunch today?”

“No, Ms. Samuels.”

“Where is he right now?”

“Waiting for you in the reception area, Ms. Samuels.” Fiona’s voice grew significantly lower as she asked, “Would you like me to send him away?”

Briefly, very briefly, Melanie considered saying yes. Sending him away would teach him a very important lesson about respecting other people’s time, but alas, this was Cameron Mackintosh, the very stubborn client she was trying to snag. She needed to get him to sign a contract first.

“Send him in, Fiona.”

There was such a period of silence that Melanie thought her secretary had hung up the phone. Before she could do the same, Fiona replied slowly, “Are you sure, Ms. Samuels?”

“Yes, Fiona. Send him in. Thank you.”

She hung up and shook her head. Her secretary no doubt thought she was losing her mind, allowing someone to see her without an appointment. It was one of her golden rules. If they didn’t have an appointment, they needed to make one. And now, because she couldn’t concentrate, coupled with the fact that he was a big client, and the small detail that she didn’t mind his company, she was allowing Cameron to see her unplanned.

The door opened just seconds later and he casually strolled in, wearing the smile she’d come to associate with him. He held a black wool coat in one hand and was dressed in a gray business suit. Once more, he looked every inch the important CEO.

“I’ve come to take you to lunch again.”

“No.”

He smiled, completely unaffected by her rejection. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

“Good. You have to eat sometime. You might as well do it with me.”

“And why is that?”

He grinned. “Because I’m great company.”

“I’m not so sure you are.” He was definitely distracting company.

“And I’m steps closer to choosing the agency that will best represent me.”

Looking down at the pile of papers on her desk, the very same pile she’d barely even touched, Melanie glared up at him. “What you’re doing is a cross between bribery and blackmail. I can’t exactly figure out which.”

He laughed softly. “I’m a businessman. What I’m doing is getting what I want.”

As she continued to glare at him, caught between wanting to rage at his boldness, while at the same time admiring the trait, he winked at her.

“Where’s your coat, lass? It’s freezing outside.”

***

“What are we doing here?”

“Sorry,” Cameron murmured with a little frown as he looked around the expensive boutique on Fifth Ave.

They’d been heading back to her office after lunch when he took a detour to this place. At first, Melanie had thought he was bringing her to his home, as the place seemed homey on the outside, without any markings to label it a store. As soon as he rang the bell and the redhead sales associate opened the door with glasses of wine ready, she’d known they were selling something.

“I have a sudden need to put a huge dent in my wallet.” When she only lifted her brows, he smiled. “Christmas shopping for my sister and cousins.”

“You go Christmas shopping?”

“Well, no one else does it for me,” Cameron replied, walking to the aisle that contained bags. Melanie followed after him, wondering if this was some joke. She’d imagined that the very wealthy sent personal shoppers to choose Christmas presents for their families. Apparently, Sebastian Cameron Mackintosh did not.

“Melanie.” Blinking, she focused her gaze on him. He was looking at her strangely, as if he’d been calling her name for a while and she’d been lost in thought. “What do you think of this? Something a high-strung eighteen-year-old would like?”

He held up a Hermès Birkin bag, a retro-looking one, and she nodded. It was chic, “in” some would say.

“Good.” The redhead sales associate appeared once, and he handed the bag over to her and proceeded to select five more. With that done, he moved over to the shoe section, and Melanie watched as he charmed the blushing sales associate into selecting shoes that would match each of the bags.

By the time they were ready to leave, thirty minutes had passed, and Cameron had put a dent in his wallet so big it would have paid her rent for a solid two months. She wasn’t poor by anyone’s standards, upper middle class if one were to get technical, but she didn’t have the ability to splurge like Cameron Mackintosh either. She ran her own business so she was always saving in the event of a crisis.

When they were back in his SUV heading back to her job, Cameron asked, “What do you want for Christmas, Melanie?”

She didn’t want anything for Christmas. Well, she didn’t want a typical present. She wanted him to sign with her agency.

“Are you sure you want to know?”

He laughed. “That sounds like a challenge to me, lass.”

“Sign with my agency,” she replied blandly. At that moment, they approached a red light, and he turned to look at her. Something intense passed over his features, but she held his gaze.

“That’s it? That’s all you want for Christmas?”

“Yes.”

“So, let me see if I understand this: you work on Christmas Day, and you want me to sign with your company as your Christmas present?” At her nod, he continued, “Do you do anything on Christmas that has nothing to do with your job?”

“No. I don’t.”

He whistled softly, and a few honks behind them told him that he was holding up traffic. Applying his foot to the gas pedal, he eased through traffic. When they were parked before the building that housed her PR firm, he shifted his body so he could look at her.

“Thank you for lunch,” she said automatically, sensing that whatever he was going to say was not something she would like.

“You’re welcome. We’ll do it again, soon,” he replied easily. When she turned to reach for the door handle, his hand settled against hers, tugging gently.

She looked down to where his large, tanned hand held hers and felt a tremor run up her spine. When was the last time she’d been touched by anyone outside of a medical necessity? Even a simple holding of the hand?

“You don’t have to spend Christmas alone, Melanie. I’ve already invited you to my Christmas party. You can spend the night–” He broke off and laughed when she looked offended. “It doesn’t have to be that kind of night, although you’d find no objections on my part if you were considering that kind of night.”

Her hand relaxed in his, and he caressed it slowly. “I know you have no family members to spend it with, so I see nothing wrong in having you spend Christmas with mine.”

Melanie closed her eyes as she tried to compose herself. It was an extremely generous and nice offer. He barely knew her, yet he was willing to share his family with her on Christmas Day. His hand tightened on her hers and she blinked her eyes open and looked into warm blue ones. “You may end up strangling me for that offer. The people I call family belong in an asylum far away from normal people. Still, they’re usually great fun at Christmas, if only because you can laugh at them.”

“Cameron, I—” She broke off and pulled her hand away. “It’s okay. Really. I don’t mind working on Christmas. I actually like it.”

Melanie rarely lied to herself, but that was a blatant lie.

She spent Christmas alone because she’d started doing so years ago, and had forgotten how to interact with people during these happy occasions. She was miserable, had been miserable for years, and she’d grown accustomed to wallowing in her own despair. She didn’t want to share that side of herself with others.

He snorted. “You like working on Christmas? I doubt that, Melanie. No one
likes
working on Christmas.”

“Well, different strokes for different folks, right?” Her tone was frosty as she opened the door and stepped out of the SUV.

He got out behind her. “Why you’d choose to isolate yourself on Christmas—”

“Is none of your business,” she finished pointedly, her heels clicking as she moved up the pavement, toward the entrance of the building.

“Well, damn it, I’m making it my business.” He caught her before she could enter the walkway to her building. Melanie looked around and noticed that a few of the pedestrians were staring at them curiously. She hated when people made scenes, and now here she was, in the midst of her very own soap opera.

“Mr. Mackintosh —”

“For fuck’s sake,” Cameron bit out, glaring down at her. “I think we’re past formalities, don’t you, sweetheart?”

She scowled even more at the moniker but decided to ignore it. Instead, she hissed, “Let me go. You’re making a scene.”

“Trust me, Melanie, they haven’t seen anything yet.” As his eyes lowered to her lips, Melanie panicked. No. She tugged frantically at her arm, and, confused, Cameron released her.

As if realizing something for the first time, Cameron nodded and offered her a smile that was as wintery as the weather. Without saying goodbye, he turned and went back to his SUV.

Melanie remained where she was, staring after him as he drove away. She wasn’t sure if the numbness in her body was due to the cold, or something else.

Chapter Four

“I’ve come to apologize.” Those were the words he uttered right before he stepped past her and into her apartment as if invited. Melanie was still reeling from the shock of seeing him at her front door, and then watching him enter her apartment. She was rendered speechless.

Pushing the door in, she quickly followed after him to find him in her living room, his jacket and scarf on the back of one of her sofa chairs. As soon as she stepped into the entranceway to her living room, he approached.

“I’m sorry for today.” He paused and his gaze roamed her face before dipping down her body.

Heat immediately infused her cheeks. Thank God he couldn’t see it. Her complexion was much too dark for something as red as a blush to show through. He was in her apartment, at night, and she was dressed in pink, cotton pajamas. She’d also washed her face of all makeup and had left her hair down as she was preparing to wrap it when he’d knocked on her door.

Blinking rapidly, as if to refocus on what he’d come to say, Cameron continued, “I lost my temper and you didn’t deserve it.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Do you forgive me?” he asked softly, lifting a dark brow.

Melanie nodded once more. She hadn’t expected him to apologize, as she didn’t quite see him as being wrong. Irritating at the time, yes, but not wrong.

“Good,” he murmured, and his eyes lowered briefly to her lips before he turned and looked around her living room. Melanie took pride in the way she’d set up her apartment. The apartment and the furniture in it were the first things she’d purchased when her company started raking in profits. “Nice place you’ve got here. Spacious.”

“Wait. How did you find out where I live, and how did you get past my doorman?”

If she hadn’t been so shocked at seeing him, those would have been the first questions out of her mouth.

The smile he turned on her was so wicked that she began shaking her head before he even answered. “Don’t blame the lovely Fiona. She didn’t stand a chance against my charm and persistence. As for your doorman, I may have led him to believe that I’m your fiancé. He had that same expression on his face: utter disbelief. But then I persuaded him by describing you in
great
detail, and he allowed me to come up to surprise you. Well, are you surprised?”

Melanie shook her head and muttered, “Sebastian Mackintosh, you really are something else.”

Even as she acknowledged that, Melanie made a mental note to have a conversation with her doorman in the morning. He’d let up not one, but two people to see her, and while they weren’t threats, she did have enemies. Simply telling him that Melanie was a relation or a fiancée shouldn’t be enough to get access to her building.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” His smile faded and his gaze travelled down her body, all the way to her bare, unpolished toes. Melanie couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so exposed. “I never pegged you for a pajama type of girl.”

She almost rolled her eyes. “Really? What type of girl did you peg me for?”

“Silk lingerie,” was his immediate reply. Her smile faded as he closed the distance between them. His hand touched the edge of her pajama top. “Still, I’m finding this extremely sexy.”

Feeling the tug of desire, Melanie took two steps back and tried to lighten the mood. “It’s not black.”

He grinned and took another step forward. “No, it’s not.” She looked up at him with eyes that were growing wide. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while, Melanie, and I’m going to do it now. If you have any objections, now would be the time to voice them.”

She knew he was giving her time to push him away, to pull back, but her limbs seemed frozen. Even her vocal chords were tied. Her mind was the only thing that seemed to work.

They shouldn’t. It was an all-around bad idea.

He was a potential client, though he wasn’t her client
yet.

It would just be sex because she wasn’t looking for a relationship. Cameron likely wasn’t looking for a relationship either. Sex with no strings wasn’t such a bad idea when one hadn’t had any in over six years.