Christian Clause
Theresa Hodge
Contents
Summary
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Other Christmas Books By Theresa Hodge
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Summary
Hope has some setbacks in life, but the Christmas season is the time for miracles, second chances, faith...and a new beginning.
Christian Clause is successful, charismatic, and the owner of Clause Enterprises. He has set his sights on Hope. The attraction is mutual, but when he offers her a job as his assistant, he tries to put his interest aside to keep things professional.
Will this holiday season work its magic and allow romance to bloom in and out of the boardroom for Christian and Hope? Or will it end with another disappointing setback with no glad tidings and joy?
Copyright © 2020 Theresa Hodge
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Any unauthorized reprint or use of the material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage without express permission by the Author.
This is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Contains explicit language & adult themes suitable for ages 18+
Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author/Publisher.
To all of my die-hard romantics.
Prologue
Hope
“Can this day get any worse?”
Shivering, I lift my dark brown eyes to glare at the dark ominous clouds which mirror my mood. The darkened October sky will not let up soon, I surmise. I might as well continue my journey back to my apartment. It doesn’t matter if I get drenched before I get there. A cold tremor runs through my body as I walk down the street from my office. Well, former office.
A sob catches in my throat.
About thirty minutes ago, I was relieved of my job as an Associate Developer Assistant in the computer department of Novak Corporation.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Grady, but your services are no longer needed,” Mrs. Barnett from HR told me in a sorrowful tone. “We’ve had to make some cutbacks, and I’m afraid that means laying off surplus staff.”
Surplus staff, I wanted to yell at her but left with my dignity intact. I stiltedly thanked her and went to my office to pack my stuff. After working in the corporation for five years, I didn’t think I deserved such treatment. But when I saw Giles and Nat also clearing their desks, I had felt slightly better. Petty, but better.
Everyone came around to wish us well, but I knew they were happy that they weren’t in my shoes. It took great effort, but I managed to smile at everyone and thank them, even though I wanted to crawl under my desk and cry my eyes out.
Tears glisten in my eyes and I hastily brush them away. Tears won’t solve anything. I need a plan.
Plan? What plan for a shitty life?
I have no job, no savings, no boyfriend…nothing.
Two months ago, Terrance, my boyfriend of over a year, walked out on our relationship. Why? He was no longer feeling the connection between us.
It was later I got to know that it was all because of his first love, Christie. They had dated back in college and broken up after graduating. But he hadn’t been able to put her out of his mind.
“I have tried to forget about her, but she’s in my heart, my soul,” he told me the night he shattered my heart to pieces. “And now that she’s single again, I see no reason we can’t be together. She also feels we made a mistake breaking up.”
Like a fool in love, I cried and begged. I reminded him of all the good times we spent together. But that didn’t stop him from telling me it was over.
Terrance made me feel good about myself, and his loss from my life had hit me hard. Every day, for a month after he left, I read his poem-like text to me from when we had just started dating.
Your flawless satiny dark brown skin makes me think of smooth chocolate.
All I can think of whenever I’m with you is placing my lips on your full, glossy lips, and running my fingers through your natural black hair.
Your curves are to die for and don’t get me started on your heart-shaped face. An artist would die to paint it. And your eyes can eat a man whole; dark brown with light gold specks that sparkle like fire.
You’re beautiful, babe. And I love you.
A hand squeezes my heart in pain. I deleted the texts when the words were too much for me to bear any longer, and everything that had to do with him in my life before he dumped me.
As if nursing a broken heart for the past two months wasn’t bad enough, I lost my job as well.
Tears well up in my eyes.
Keep your chin up, Hope. You can overcome anything, baby.
I sniffle as I remember what my late mother used to tell me whenever I was blue.
I miss you, Mom.
I lost my parents in an automobile accident five years ago, and I haven’t been the same ever since. I will never forget the day Debra, my older sister, called me to tell me the horrible news. It shattered me. The shock left me numb for days.
They were coming home from visiting a sick friend when a drunken truck driver pushed them off the road. It was painful for me because I hadn’t seen them in a while.
After graduating from Spelman University, I fell in love with the city of Atlanta and had no desire to return to the chilly atmosphere of Colorado where I grew up. My parents wanted me to return, but I was adamant about staying back in Atlanta. When I got a minor job working for an IT firm a few months after graduating, it sealed it for me. I went home for the holidays whenever I could. But after my parents died, I found it harder and harder to go back there even though my sister and her family lived there.
And now, I’m a thirty-year-old woman with no job or love life. How am I going to pay my bills? Alice, my roommate, usually nagged if I was even a day late in paying my share of the rent.
She will blow her top and maybe even put me out if I can’t pay the rent when it’s due. My heart cringes at the thought of her barbed comments if I dare ask for a few days to complete my share of the rent which will be due at the end of the month.
Things haven’t been easy. A year ago, the corporation offered us the options of a pay cut or a sack. We all chose to slash our salaries by fifty percent, which made life even harder for me. I could barely keep up with paying my bills, and now this? I planned to complete the rent money with this month’s salary, but I don’t even think I am going to receive any as they have chosen the first day of October to fire me.
I place my box on the ground as despair overwhelms me. Depression reaches out, grabs my throat, and threatens to choke me. I’m in so much pain at the heavy hand that life has dealt me. It’s unfair. I try to think of what I might have done to bring this upon myself, but nothing comes to mind.
People brush past me as I stopped r
ight in the middle of the sidewalk, but I don’t care.
Why is my life so full of difficulties? One minute I’m smiling, and the next, I’m lamenting over one tragedy or the other. It’s not fair.
I need someone to talk to, but I don’t really have anyone except Debra. Calling up my older sister just to lament how shitty my life has turned doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. I’m thirty years old for crying out loud, and I’ve been independent for a long while. And so, I’m going to have to wallow in self-pity all alone.
I look up at the darkened sky and let the raindrops mix with my salty tears.
Chapter One
Christian
Cursing under my breath at the nonsense I have just read, my eyes, filled with fury, lift to regard the sultry blonde-haired woman who is gawking at me like she wants to eat me.
“Get out. You’re fired!”
Her lips part with surprise as her blue eyes widen. “What?”
“You heard me,” I throw at her with a savage bite. “I don’t know how you got the job as my personal assistant, but you suck at it. I have tried to be patient with you for the past three days because I desperately need a personal assistant, but not at the detriment of my company.”
“But…” her lips wobble and her eyes become wet with tears.
A grimace crosses my face because I’m in no mood for theatrics.
“But nothing. Please leave before I call security,” I snap, getting to the end of my tether.
Why’s a good personal assistant so hard to find these days?
“Please tell me what I’ve done wrong,” the teary-eyed woman persists, placing her hand on her hip.
With irritation, my gray eyes roam her body, beginning with her blonde hair she left flowing at her shoulders, her round face, her tight pale yellow blouse with the buttons almost popping, to her black miniskirt and yellow heels.
I know she is trying to be seductive, but I find her cheap and annoying. Why anyone would wear such clothes to the office is beyond me.
Gritting my teeth, I tell her, “Next time, cover up when coming to work. And learn how to spell, too.”
Her face turns a rosy hue, but I don’t care. I’m sick and tired of employees who feel they can get me by dressing nearly unclad. To further annoy me, she raises her hand to twirl a strand of her hair in her finger while maintaining what she believes is a seductive pose.
Pouting her lush lips, she says, “Is that all?”
“If you’re not out of here in sixty seconds, I’ll have security throw you out.”
All form of sultriness leaves her face. She straightens and gives me a fulminating glare.
“The rumors are true. You’re a cold, hard man, Christian Clause,” she remarks before turning on her heels and swaying her hips out of the office.
If I wasn’t so angry, I’m sure I would laugh at her words. I’m only cold and hard to people like her. But I don’t care one way or another about what people like her think about me. Come to think of it, I don’t care about public opinion. As long as I’m happy, who cares? I didn’t come this far in life to pander to the dictates of the public.
Reclining back in my swivel chair, I let out a heavy sigh. I have a lot of work to do, but I’m encumbered by the lack of a personal assistant.
Leaning forward, I buzz my secretary. I have had enough of unreliable workers who are only here to get me into bed or a relationship.
“Mrs. Ashwell.”
“Yes, Mr. Clause,” she replies shortly.
“Call HR and tell them I need another assistant ASAP!" I instruct her in a snappy tone.
"Sure thing, Mr. Clause, I will get right on it. Will there be anything else?" Mrs. Ashwell replies.
"Yes. Tell them to send someone reliable this time around and not just any blonde bimbo that’s more interested in dating the boss than doing her job.”
Silence falls at the other end of the line.
“If they don’t send someone dependable, tell them I’ll have them all fired and hire a competent team.”
“All right, Mr. Clause.”
I don’t know who keeps on sending me sex sirens instead of personal assistants. But if I have one more seductive woman passing through my door, I’m ready to go down to HR to get to the bottom of the matter. Probably someone there isn’t taking his or her job seriously and wants to look for another one.
I try to be fair to my workers, but as a hard worker myself, I expect the same from them. I will not give less of myself.
Sighing, I push my chair back and rise. I stride across my carpeted floor to my floor-to-ceiling window to stare at the busy Colorado business street.
As usual, cars move past my office building. People walk up and down the streets, patronizing the shops below.
It brings back memories of the first time I walked down the streets in search of a building to begin my electronic business. Every building had been too expensive for me to rent. So, I went back to working for a factory to save enough money.
A smile spreads across my face when I remember the day I made my first million. Of course, millions have since turned into billions.
“I’ve come a long way,” I mutter and turn away from the window.
My nose catches the pungent scent of the woman who has just left my office. A grimace crosses my face. I almost gagged earlier when she stepped into the office. I wanted to ask her if she had her bath in a tub filled with perfume.
I shake my head as I return to my seat. The last assistant sent to me was equally incompetent. My fingers run through my hair as I settle in my chair. It isn’t the first time I’ve had women sucking up to me, but I’m particularly disgusted because this is a work environment. I don’t enjoy mixing business with pleasure. Everyone who knows me is aware of that. The bimbos refuse to understand that I don’t joke with my work. I didn’t come this far to have a fling with my personal assistant.
I never thought I would say this, but I miss my former personal assistant. She was a very efficient worker. Unfortunately, she had to move with her husband to London.
Pushing aside my feeling of discontent, I flip open the file on my desk.
Chapter Two
Hope
“I’m sorry, Miss Grady. We don’t have a position for you at the moment,” the HR manager says to me with a small smile on her face.
My heart crumbles in my chest at the disappointing words of the woman.
“Thank you,” I reply and force my stiff body from the chair. I straighten my blouse and pick up my purse.
With my shoulders slumped, I make my way out of the office. I navigate my way out of the building, thinking of what I’m going to do next. If I don’t find a job soon, I’ll be in big trouble with my piling up bills.
Out in the sunshine, I let out a frustrated breath. I’m confused as to where next to go as I watch cars move up and down the busy street. I turn around and look at the building I just vacated. It would have been nice working in the IT firm, but they don’t need my services.
Shifting my gaze, I spot a café a few blocks away. Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to get free Wi-Fi there, I force my feet into motion. As I cross the distance, a shiver of fear runs through me. What if I don’t find a job before the end of the month? Alice has already told me that if I don’t come up with my share of the rent by month’s end, she’ll look for another roommate.
“I thought we were friends,” I told her with tears in my eyes.
“We are, but I have to be realistic,” she returned with a savage bite. “I can’t afford to pay your bills and mine.”
“So, you’ll put me out?” I asked with shock.
Swirling back her glorious blonde hair across her shoulders and sporting a small frown on her oval face, she said, “Well, if my new roomie doesn’t mind your sleeping on the couch and sharing the apartment with us, no problem.”
I could not believe my ears as she walked away to her room. We have been roommates for years. When she had some difficulty with her finan
ces some time back, I assisted her with the bills before she paid me back. But now that the shoe is on the other foot, she refuses to help me.
“So much for friendship,” I mutter and push open the door of the café.
The cozy-looking place with its exquisite antique interior brings a smile to my face. I love the round tables with a burgundy table cloth. The décor was done in shades of blue and gold, which is a contrast to the white floor and black chairs. My interest is in the antique vases and art work on the wall. I have never been to this side of Downtown Atlanta before.
I choose a seat by the window and settle down on the comfortable chair. Almost immediately, a waitress, in a black and brown uniform, walks up to me with a smile on her face.
“Welcome.” She brings out her a white notepad. “What can I get you?”
I don’t really have much money on me, but seeing as I didn’t eat breakfast and I want to use their Wi-Fi, I know I have to order something.
“Coffee and a slice of cake, please.”
“Coming right up,” she says and is about to turn away when I ask, “Do you have Wi-Fi?”
She nods and says, “I’ll get you the password.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks.”
I look out the window at the passersby and I wonder if I could work as a waitress. No shame there, as I’m desperate. I don’t think the pay would be much, but if I can give Alice at least half of the rent at the end of the month, I’m sure she’ll get off my case a little.
Christian Clause: A BWWM Holiday Romance Page 1
