Cinderella's Christmas Affair (5 page)

Holding her head in his hands, he tilted her face back and took her mouth the way he wanted to take her. Fast, hard, deep and so thoroughly that she’d never again touch her lips and not think of him.

She smelled of a sweet floral scent that was wholly feminine. And felt like pure fire in his arms. He slid his hands down her back and around the curve of her waist. Moaning in the back of her throat, she kneaded his shoulders. He thrust his tongue deeper in her mouth. Until she was clutching at his shoulders and returning his embrace fully.

There was something challenging about the woman CJ had become. Something in her eyes and walk that told all men—especially Tad—that she wasn’t an easy woman to seduce. But he’d always been a determined man.

He traced the line of her spine down her back to the full curves of her buttocks. Damn, her butt felt as good in his hands as he’d known it would. He wanted to deepen the caress. Her jeans molded to her curves and he couldn’t resist tracing the center seam between her legs. She moaned again, scraping the edge of her fingernail around the neckband of his sweatshirt. His arousal grew heavier. Every nerve ending felt hyper-sensitive.

He slid his hands back up her body. She was so womanly. He needed to touch more of her and the only way to do that was to slip his hands under her shirt. She made one of those soft sweet sounds he was becoming addicted to.

He caressed her back and plundered her mouth. Content for now to have her in his arms and be able to taste this small part of her. A part of him knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop if he let things continue much longer.

He peppered her face with a few small kisses and slowly slid his hands out from under her shirt. He continued to hold her in his embrace until his pulse stopped racing. His erection was still heavy between his legs but he was old enough to know he wasn’t going to die from it.

He stepped back after a minute. CJ fingered her lips with tentative fingers and watched him as if unsure what he wanted from her. He thrust his fingers through his hair and wondered when his simple plan to marry her had become so complicated.

“Um…I better bring the coffee out to Rae-Anne.”

She tried to skirt around him but he stopped her by blocking her path. He knew it was childish but there was something about CJ that made him react from the gut instead of from the head.

“This isn’t over,” he said. He didn’t know why she was running but realized that life had changed this woman more than he’d realized.

Crossing her arms over her chest she glared up at him. He felt like a big mean bully and wanted to pull her back into his arms and kiss away her irritation.

“Yes, it is.”

“Why?” he asked, not willing to let the subject drop. “It can’t be because of one comment in high school.”

“It’s not.”

He waited but she didn’t say anything else.

She sighed and then looked at the floor. Finally in a small voice she said, “I don’t have affairs.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. “Why not?”

“Life is easier that way.”

Life was going to be damned hard for him until he had her in his bed, writhing under him. “I’m not going away.”

“You will.”

Her confidence threw him. She’d been the one to leave him all those years ago. “Don’t count on it, Cathy Jane. I have plans for you.”

“Business plans, I know.”

“I’m going to marry you,” he said, surprising himself. But the words sounded right in his soul. She was exactly the kind of woman he’d been unconsciously searching for. He’d been thinking of marriage a lot lately.

He wanted her to be his wife. He wanted her to be the mother of his children. He wanted her in his bed and it had nothing to do with the fact that his parents wanted him to give them grandkids.

“What?”

Having blurted out his announcement, he had no choice but to keep going. Damn, this is what happened when he let his groin do the thinking. He should have eased into his announcement but she’d been backing away and he’d wanted to put his mark on her. To claim her as his even though he didn’t have the right.

“You heard me. I’ve analyzed the facts and I think we’d be very successful together as a married couple.”

And he did believe that. He’d tried love with Kylie and ended up frustrated and alone. Marriages, the really successful ones he’d noticed, were based on common likes, similar backgrounds and physical compatibility.

CJ thought maybe she’d stepped into one of those alternate realities like they had on
Star Trek: The Next Generation
sometimes—like the one where Tasha Yarr was really alive and married to a Romulan. Tad watched her with that mix of determination and intelligence that she’d come to recognize meant he wasn’t backing down.

She was still trying to assimilate all the feelings from him kissing her. It had been a high school dream and something she’d imagined a million times. But the reality had been so much more. Now she knew his taste, his touch. The way his hands felt on her face. And the way he’d closed his eyes just halfway as they’d pulled apart. Dammit. She didn’t want to think about the kiss.

Instead she jumped on the one subject that was a powerful distraction. Marriage.

“Are you nuts?”

“No. I’m serious about this.”

“We don’t know each other,” she said. And there was a part of her that was really glad he didn’t know her. There were certain secrets she wasn’t going to share with anyone—especially a man.

“Sure we do. Plus we have a lot in common.”

“Name one thing.”

“We’re from the same small town.”

“That barely counts. And we don’t live there anymore. Name something else.”

“We both chose the same type of Christmas tree.”

“Tad, have you fallen on your head lately? You don’t marry someone because they like the same things as you do.”

“Just think about how peaceful our Christmases will be.”

“There’s more to life than Christmas.”

“I know. We also live only a few blocks apart and work in the same area of town.”

“So do hundreds of other people. That hardly means we’re meant to be.”

“Yeah, but hundreds of other guys haven’t kissed you.”

“You hadn’t either until today, so I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“Maybe you are the one woman I’ve never been able to forget, Cathy Jane,” he said, quietly.

“Is that true?” she asked. When he called her Cathy Jane it made her feel cherished. Not like a corporate warrior who’d carved a place for herself in the world, but like a woman who’d found a special spot with the right man.

She watched those wizard eyes of his carefully. They revealed no emotion to her and she sensed that he was trying to decide if pretending he was in love with her despite the time that had passed between them would win her. But she’d been lied to by men her entire life and she’d learned long ago not to believe what they said.

“Forget I asked,” she said. She’d learned some tough lessons about men. You’d think she’d have enough smarts to stop asking them questions like that.

“I won’t forget you asked. I want you to say yes, CJ….”

“But you can’t admit that I’ve been on your mind. I’m not asking you to confess undying love.”

“Good. Love is such an indefinable thing.”

“It’s not a thing, it’s an emotion. Do you have those?”

“Sure, I do.”

“Just not for me?” she asked.

He gave her an aggrieved look. What had happened to Tad in his past relationships? Something in his tone told her that he was hiding an important detail from her. “We don’t really know each other.”

“My point exactly,” she said. Marriage was…scary. She didn’t know that she’d ever be able to risk her heart on happily ever after since every time she’d counted on that, she’d lost.

“Which is why our marriage will work.”

“How do you know this? Did you try it once before and fail?”

“No. I’ve never made it to the church.”

He must have gotten close. She wanted to find out more about his past relationship but didn’t want to probe too deeply. “Then how can you be so sure?”

“I watched a friend of mine get torn apart in the name of love.”

There was a fierceness about him that told her that he did experience deep emotion. For a minute she mourned the fact that she wasn’t the person inspiring that emotion in him. But she’d looked in the mirror. She knew her limits.

She was the meat and potatoes kind of girl. A solid meal that would keep you alive. She wasn’t the fancy French pastry that everyone craved. It was time she stopped forgetting it.

“I don’t plan to ever marry,” she said at last. She wasn’t settling in her personal life and fully expected to remain single because she was realistic enough to realize no man could give her everything she wanted from him.

“Cathy Jane, forget those dreams you have of a white knight. We can have a nice, comfortable life together.”

Screw you, she thought. What was she a pair of bedroom slippers? Sure she knew that she didn’t exactly have it going on when it came to being a sexy goddess but that didn’t mean she was comfortable.

“No. Thanks.”

“No to what?” he asked as she pushed past him and gathered napkins and paper plates.

“To marriage,” she said under her breath.

“I haven’t asked you yet.”

Stunned she pivoted to face him. He watched her with a calm implacability that made her want to scream. “You are so frustrating.”

He gave her a half smile that she was sure he intended to lighten the mood. But nothing could. She’d only seriously considered marrying two men in her life. Tad when she’d been eighteen, which had been pure fantasy.

And then Marcus when she’d been twenty-three, which had been harsh reality. Now Tad was here asking her to marry him and she wanted to say yes but she couldn’t…wouldn’t. She wasn’t risking her heart and soul for another man. No matter how attractive he was or how sincere his offer of forever sounded.

“So are you.”

Picking up the cookie platter she hurried out into the living room. Rae-Anne was standing back staring at the tree. For a moment there was a look on her face that gave CJ pause. Her secretary had an aura of sadness around her.

“You okay, Rae-Anne?”

Slowly Rae-Anne turned to face CJ. “Yeah.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” CJ asked.

“Hell, no.”

CJ set down the cookie tray and Tad was right behind her with the coffee. Her living room was spacious and had a nice grouping of a sofa and a couple of chairs. Rae-Anne took one of the armchairs and Tad stood next to one of the other ones. So CJ sat on the sofa.

She focused on serving coffee and then relaxed against the cushions. Tad didn’t sit down, just propped one hip against the arm of the chair and watched her with that wizard’s gaze of his.

She had the feeling he wanted to pursue the topic they’d been discussing in the kitchen. He was going to be disappointed because she wasn’t ever going to be alone with him again. And the topic of marriage was
not
going to come up if she had any say so.

“What were you two talking about?” Rae-Anne asked.

“Our marriage,” Tad said around a bite of cookie.

“I didn’t realize you two were serious. When will the blessed event take place?” Rae-Anne asked.

“When hell freezes over,” CJ said.

Four

T
ad threw his head back and laughed. Despite CJ’s homey living room with the Christmas tree, a part of him wondered if she was going to be worth the battle. He’d lost at love before even though he hadn’t told CJ the details. Losing Kylie had changed him. It had made him realize that life was more than winning and that sometimes a loss could cut deep.

She crossed the room to the stereo and put on a CD that played Christmas tunes. But CJ had so much sass and spunk—way more than he remembered Cathy Jane having. He couldn’t wait to get her into bed. He had a feeling this glimpse of the real CJ was one not many people saw. “It’s certainly cold enough to freeze hell today.”

“I’m not kidding,” she said, taking a large sip of her coffee. There was a hint of vulnerability in her eyes that he knew she’d regret revealing. There was so much more to his Catwoman than he expected. She’d always been complicated, he just hadn’t been mature enough to appreciate her.

He waited until she swallowed then made sure she was watching him. “Good. I like a challenge.”

“Is that all this is? A game?” CJ asked.

It was more than a game and more than he wanted to admit to himself. He didn’t know why but she’d become important to his future.

The CJ he’d kissed in the kitchen was gone and in her place was the modern-day amazon he’d first encountered in CJ’s office. The hint of vulnerability he’d glimpsed in her was now carefully concealed. Would the real Catherine Jane please step forward? “Would you play with me if it was?”

“No, Tad. Marriage is a sacred bond,” CJ said.

“Not everyone thinks of it that way,” he said, gently. Kylie certainly hadn’t. She’d thought of it as a business transaction and the more money he’d brought to the table the more viable a husband candidate he’d been. Only at the time he hadn’t realized it. Wouldn’t even listen to Pierce when he’d tried to warn him that Kylie was only with Tad because of his bank account.

Pierce was his partner and best friend, a paraplegic who’d endured a lot in the name of love.

“Women do. Right, Rae-Anne?”

“I’m not the best one to ask about this,” Rae-Anne said, staring down into her coffee cup.

Tad watched the older woman. There was no ring on her finger. But that didn’t mean anything.

“Divorced?” CJ asked.

“I never had the time for marriage.”

“Gay?” Tad asked.

“No. I just never took the time to settle down,” Rae-Anne said.

“Do you regret that?” Tad asked her.

“Recently, I’ve started to. But my job used to be the most important thing in my life.”

“Well, my job still is. And I’m not going to give it up for some guy,” CJ said, standing up and walking toward the bank of glass windows that provided a clear view of Lake Michigan.

Tad set his coffee cup down and walked up behind her. Placing his hands on her shoulders he tugged her back against his chest. Damn but this woman felt right in his arms. “I’m not just any guy.”