Corporate Christmas

by Bernadette Marie

  "I'm going to get some water from the break room. I'll bring you one. I think you've had enough coffee."

  Chloe looked at her shaking hand and laughed. "I guess I have."

  Taking the papers from her desk, she turned toward her computer screen and began making the amendments to the contract they would offer to Gloria Vandenberg in the morning.

  * * *

  Jason walked to the break room, filled with the glow of the city lights outside. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water. As he closed the refrigerator, he leaned up against it to gather himself.

  Sitting in Chloe's office for the past three hours, he'd had a lot of time to watch her work, and gaze at her. The moment she'd pulled her dark hair up into a ponytail, his breath had caught in his chest. Her slender neck was exposed. Immediately his mind had gone to the thought of grazing his lips over the delicate skin. He'd had to excuse himself and take a walk around the office.

  There was no way he could act on the thoughts that were rolling in his head. At dinner he'd told her about Deborah King and the advances she'd made on him. How could he possibly consider the things he'd been thinking about Chloe? Besides, he'd sworn he'd never get involved with someone in the office again. The cost was too great.

  Taking in a few more deep breaths, he started back to Chloe's office.

  She sat facing her computer. Her fingers moved over the keys of her keyboard swiftly. A pencil was now tucked behind her ear, and her last cup of coffee had been pushed to the side.

  A small diamond stud sparkled from her earlobe in the light of the desk lamp. Were they a gift? Had she purchased them herself? He found that he desperately wanted to touch them.

  Swallowing hard he squeezed the bottle in his hand.

  "Here," he said as he set the bottle on her desk. "How's it coming?"

  "Good. I have ten pages left to go. My eyes are blurring though. We don't have time to proofread this thing before we take it in."

  He hadn't thought about that. "We'll get it done, then come back early and go over it."

  She shifted a look up at him. "We're going to look like a pair of zombies walking in tomorrow."

  "Wouldn't be the first time for me," he admitted.

  "Me either." She smiled before she turned back and continued her work at her computer.

  Chapter 12

  As she turned off the lamp on her desk, Chloe yawned. The clock on her desk said it was eleven-thirty.

  She rubbed her eyes and pushed back her aching shoulders. Tilting her head from side to side, she wondered how they were going to pull this off.

  Jason stood in the doorway of her office, his gym bag in his hand and his messenger bag on his shoulder. "Ready?"

  "Yeah."

  "Do you have your car here?"

  Chloe shook her head. "No. I'm only about twelve blocks from here."

  "It's the middle of the night. I'd feel better if you didn't walk home tonight."

  She shrugged. "I've done it before."

  "I could get us a cab," he offered.

  Chloe considered his offer. It was cold outside. She'd made the walk many times, but she had to admit that it did frighten her on occasion.

  "I'll pay for half."

  She watched as he took a breath as if to argue, but didn't. Instead he gave her a nod and waited for her to gather her things and together they walked to the elevator.

  The floor was dark, but for the glow from the emergency lights. When the elevator arrived and the doors opened it flooded them with light. Chloe blinked against them as Jason waited for her to enter before he did.

  He pressed the button for the ground floor and they rode in silence.

  There was something about the sight of him in his gym clothes, his wool coat, and messenger bag covering him from the impending cold. His cologne was faint, but she could still smell it floating on the stale air of the elevator.

  Her mind raced with the information he'd given her about Deborah King's moves in the elevator. The thought of her moving in and kissing him, touching him, taking him, had Chloe's breath hitch and her head spin. Lifting her eyes to watch him, she wondered what was going through his head. Did he think of that moment too?

  She needed to push the thought of him out of her head. That morning she'd despised him. Standing there wondering if he'd react to her if she moved in and kissed him in the elevator was asinine.

  He'd taken her job. He'd kept her at the office until nearly midnight. She was working harder than she'd ever worked, and was it because Deborah King was moving in on her client? Why would she have done that if not to be taking swipes at Jason?

  "You doing okay? You look tired," Jason's voice broke her from thought as the doors opened.

  "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

  "Let's meet back here at seven. We'll go over the contract and we can be to Pop! Cosmetics by eight."

  "Sure."

  A faint smile formed on his lips, but his eyes shadowed with concern. "I have a cab out front."

  "Thank you," she said, lowering her gaze from his, and walked out into the lobby of the building.

  As he'd said, the cab waited just outside the door. Jason opened the door for her and she slid across the seat as he climbed in. She gave her address to the driver and they pulled away from the building.

  The city had a fresh blanket of snow since they'd walked to the deli hours earlier. It sparkled in the streetlamp lights, and she thought it looked magnificently romantic.

  "Thank you for all the work you put in tonight," Jason said, and she turned to see him smiling at her. "You're going to land this. I have no doubt."

  But the compliment pierced her. Now it wasn't her that was landing the account. It was them. They were a team—perhaps a bit unwillingly. Did he feel as if he had to swoop in and save the account for them? Was he feeling guilty that they were even in the position they were in?

  The cab pulled up in front of her building, and Chloe gathered her things and opened the door.

  As she stepped out, Jason slid across the seat to where she’d been and climbed out. Chloe gripped her bag a little tighter. She wasn’t going to let him walk her inside, she thought as he closed the door to the cab.

  "I’ll watch to make sure you get in safe. My mother always taught me to do so.” He smiled and it caused her stomach to knot. “Get some sleep," he said, standing next to the cab. "I can't wait to see Deborah King's face when she loses this account."

  And right there everything Chloe had been considering rushed through her head.

  "Is that why you're so focused on landing this account?" Chloe asked as the snow increased around them. "You want this account so you can stick it to Deborah King?"

  "What? No. It's a bonus, but no."

  "Are you sure? It seems like you have a vendetta against her and this would be icing on the cake."

  "Sure it would."

  "So you've made it your project?"

  He stepped away from the cab and reached his hand out touching Chloe's arm. "This is your account. You've done all the work, you deserve…"

  "It was my account. I worked my ass off to get it, and then you show up and it all goes to hell. Why is that? How did you manage to come along just as I was working on this? Did William think I couldn't handle it? Did he know you'd do anything to take it over from Deb?"

  "Chloe, what is this all about? We're a team."

  "No. I was flying solo and doing a damn good job of it until you walked into the office."

  Her words hurt, and she could see the result of them in his expression. As he frowned down at her, he touched his stitches, which were now getting wet in the snow.

  "You were doing a great job. You do a great job. I didn't mean to step on your toes. I was only trying to help."

  "Great. Your help was Deborah King moving in on my client."

  He opened his mouth and shut it again. "I think we both need some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

  Jason turned and slid back into the cab, but the ca
r didn't drive away. A moment later he rolled down his window. "Go inside. You're getting wet out here. So go."

  Out of spite she could have stood on that street until the sun came up, but she didn't. She turned and let herself inside of the building, then watched as the cab pulled away from the curb.

  Chapter 13

  What had he truly expected from her? Jason's intentions were nothing but helpful. He had half a mind to have the driver turn back around and he'd knock on her door and tell her as much.

  No, he understood where she was coming from. She was threatened by his very presence, and hadn't he felt that way himself when Deborah began to take his accounts from him when she didn’t get what she wanted?

  He wanted her to land the account as much for Chloe as he wanted to make sure Deborah King didn't. How could he prove to her that he wanted the best for her? He wanted the best for the firm. He wanted the best for himself, and that shouldn't feel as dirty as it did.

  Jason liked Chloe, and the cutthroat industry they were in didn't give much leeway for understanding. Everyone was out to make it themselves and break the competition. He'd thrived on that most of his adult life.

  When the driver stopped in front of his building, he paid the fare and climbed out. As the cab disappeared into the curtain of snow, he wondered what the next morning would entail. Could Chloe put her differences aside for a few hours? There was no doubt in his mind that she could manage the account on her own, but he wanted to be there to represent the firm. It was a package deal. Chloe, even if she landed the account on her own, would always have a team behind her to help her. He was part of that team.

  Damn her. He wasn't going to give up on this and it didn't have anything to do with Deborah King, though he would like to see her bite it. Chloe Richardson deserved the Pop! Cosmetics account, and he was going to see that she got it.

  * * *

  Jason unlocked his office door at six-thirty the next morning. Streetlights still glowed and the snow beneath them shimmered as he looked out over the wakening city.

  The office was quiet, and he preferred it that way.

  Jason hung up his coat and headed to the break room to make a cup of coffee. By six-forty-five he was seated in Chloe's office, sipping on his coffee, waiting for her to arrive. When he heard the bell chime from the church down the street, he realized seven o'clock was upon them. The office had begun to stir, but Chloe hadn't walked through the door yet.

  After fifteen more minutes, he walked to the break room and filled his cup of coffee again. They'd had an agreement. They'd meet at seven and go over the contract again. Where was she?

  When she hadn't arrived by seven-forty-five he looked up her phone number and called.

  "Where are you?" he began the moment he heard her weary voice on the other end.

  "I'm sitting in Gloria Vandenberg's office waiting for her to arrive."

  "You're what?" He walked swiftly to his office and yanked his coat from the rack. "I thought we were going to proof the changes to the contract before we went over together."

  "I decided that I could proof it myself, and this is my client. I can handle this."

  Jason gripped his phone tightly in his hand as he hurried to the elevator. "We're a team, Chloe. Why are you doing this?"

  "Because I can do this on my own. I landed the client to begin with. I can finish the deal," her voice screeched through the phone as the doors to the elevator closed. "I don't need your supervision."

  "My super—" he gritted his teeth as the elevator opened to the lobby. That was the last straw. Let her fail, he thought. He had his job. Why he was so worried about her feelings and her successes didn't even make sense to him. "I look forward to hearing about your meeting," he offered as he pressed the button to take him back up to his office.

  Chloe tucked her phone back into her bag, after having silenced it. The last thing she needed was to have her meeting with Gloria Vandenberg interrupted.

  She heard the distinct sound of Gloria's laugh a moment before she opened the inner door to her office and walked through it. Chloe stood as Gloria, in yoga attire and her mass of dark curls piled high on her head, walked in with another woman also in yoga attire.

  "Chloe, I'm so glad to see you. We just did hot yoga and it was invigorating," Gloria took the towel from her shoulder and wiped her face. Walking to the small refrigerator behind her desk, she took out a bottle of water for herself and one for the woman who had walked in with her. "Can I get you something, Chloe?"

  "I'm fine. Thank you."

  Gloria opened the water and took a long drink, all the while the woman with her, her blonde hair pulled in a bun, watched Chloe carefully.

  "So, what do you have for me?" Gloria asked as she sat down behind her desk.

  Chloe exchanged looks with the woman and then with Gloria, who didn't seem to have any thoughts about excusing the woman.

  She pulled the contract from her bag. "I've got some changes to the contract for you to look over. We've added some new options for you to consider."

  "Great." Gloria sat forward to take the contract from her. Immediately she began to skim through it, flipping pages, and then going back. "You've been doing a lot of thinking on this."

  "Yes. We think we'd be a good fit, and we'd have a dedicated team for your account," she confided in her as the woman continued to watch her.

  "I like that." Gloria continued to look at the contract. "You know legal should look at this."

  "Of course. I wouldn't dream of it not going through the right channels."

  "I have the other contract to consider as well," Gloria noted with a quick glance at the woman who stood between them, a crease now defined between her brows.

  "I understand."

  Gloria continued to look at the contract and the corner of her mouth lifted. "You know, there is just something about this contract that feels right. You and I have been working together for a bit now on this, and I wouldn't feel right if you weren't working on this."

  Gloria took a pink pen from the top drawer of her desk and held it in her fingers over the contract before looking up at the woman that stood to her side. "Why don't we catch up later," she said to the woman whose cheeks had become red. "We can do more yoga next week."

  "Gloria, I think you need to have legal look at that before you sign it. You have a lot at stake, I'm sure you don't need to be reminded of that," the woman argued.

  "I know. Oh, I didn't introduce the two of you. Chloe Richardson this is Deb," Gloria offered nonchalantly.

  Chloe felt the blood drain from her head. "Deborah King?" With her hair piled on her head and her skin bright red from the yoga, she didn’t look anything like her professional photos online.

  Deb's eyes narrowed on her. "How do you know who I am?"

  "I know."

  Deborah's lips pursed. "Mason Arts, right? You're their glory girl?"

  Glory girl? Oh, Chloe liked the sound of that. "I'm with Mason Arts, yes."

  "Too small to take care of Pop! Cosmetics. No matter who they've put in charge."

  Gloria lifted her head. "Who did they put in charge?"

  Deborah shook her head. "No one important." She turned her attention to Gloria. "I think it would be best if you ran that contract through legal," she reiterated the need for her to not sign it.

  "I ran yours through legal. I've run four others through legal," she said, and Chloe tried her hardest to not let the shock resonate on her face. She'd thought she'd had the account in the bag. She'd had no idea anyone else was in the running until Deb had come along. Gloria lifted her strong chin and smiled in Chloe's direction. "Chloe has sass, smarts, and a fire that I admire. Her firm is small, but I like that. I like that they're willing to reach out to a company as big as mine. It's not going to be easy, and they're going to fail on some of this," she noted as she tapped her pink pen to her cheek. "But she's going to work her ass off to keep me happy."

  "Stockton will do the same," Deborah pointed out.

  "I'm
sure they will." Gloria smiled again at Chloe and signed her name to the contract. "Chloe, honey, I look forward to doing business with you."

  Chloe stood and took a breath to thank her, but Deborah moved in and placed her hands on Gloria's desk. "Are you kidding me? You signed that? Are you stupid?"

  "Oh, I'm not stupid. Never stupid."

  "We've spent nearly the entire week together. We just did yoga together for Christ sake."

  "Yes, and if you'd like to do it again next week, I'm game."

  "Why would I want to do that?"

  Gloria eased back in her chair, a smile radiating from her lips. "Deb, business and friendship are two different things. I can be your friend and not want to do business with you because I don't believe in your ethics. I can be your friend, but not like how you slapped my assistant's ass as we walked through design two days ago. I can be your friend and want to do yoga, lunch, drinks, you name it, but not like that you proposed a two man team and they have eight."

  Deborah eased up, her lips tight. "You've made a great mistake. Your company will pay for it. I hope you understand what you've done. You're young and naive."

  "I think I've done what is right here. Perhaps we can't be friends if you can't understand how I do business."

  Deborah turned to Chloe. "Tell him he didn't win this. If that was his motive in adding such features to the contract."

  "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Chloe offered, keeping her voice steady. "I'm going to take very good care of Miss Vandenberg."

  Gloria picked up her phone and pressed a button. "Jeffery, Ms. King is ready to go. Can you have her car pulled up to the front and her things gathered from the other room, please?"

  Deborah pushed her shoulders back and walked to the door. "This isn't the last you'll hear from me," she promised as she opened the door and slammed it behind her.

  Gloria laughed before she stood and extended a hand to Chloe. "I look forward to doing business with you," Chloe beamed.