Cinderella Body Club Boxed Set

by Conner, Jennifer

  “You’ll be the toast of the station as soon as the series starts. You have brains for the history aficionados and they’ll draw lady viewers because…well, you’re very handsome.”

  “I won’t be just another pretty face to them?” He chuckled.

  Cami’s cheeks turned a cute shade of pink. “I can fact check everything that is said on the show, that’s my end. If it’s a success, who knows, you might find yourself as a permanent host to a line of shows. That wouldn’t be so bad would it? Remember, tonight is your night. The victor gets to write the history. Wow them, and you’ll be the victor.”

  “You seem to know just the right thing to say. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but, right now, I really want to kiss you.” Lance reached out and brushed Cami’s cheek.

  Cami smiled. Lance raised his hands to cup her face and his thumb caressed her lower lip. His slow descent was torture. He wanted to kiss her hard and fast. It had been a long time since he’d been this attracted to a woman. He dropped his head and his lips skimmed hers. In the middle of the cold parking garage with street sounds of the city above them, he kissed her soft and sweet, relishing the moment.

  “Thanks for listening to me being a big, insecure idiot. I hardly know you, but I…well, felt that you might understand.” His insides were a muddled up mess of nerves. He touched her bare arm. “While you’re patiently standing there listening to me babble on, you’re freezing to death.” He pulled her shawl higher and tucked her shoulders under his arm.

  He didn’t miss the fact that Cami leaned a little closer when he touched her. This time he didn’t think it was nerves that made his stomach do a flip.

  “Come on, professor,” she said in a gentle tone. “I want to see you wow the masses. I’ve met this group before. The museum board is actually very nice. They are the friendliest group in town, and it will be a good place to start your new side career getting to know them as a television host.”

  They stood side by side and watched the numbers on the elevator click down to their floor.

  “Hey,” Lance said, suddenly pulling his phone from his pocket. “Let’s take a selfie to remember this night.” He extended his arm, waited until they both smiled and pressed the fire button. He previewed the photo and then dropped it back into his inside coat pocket. When the elevator doors opened and he waited for Cami to enter, he thought that it might not be bad at all if he had to spend a few more months in Portland. The first twenty-four hours had sure been good.

  Cami looked up at the sweeping staircase of the museum’s lobby and couldn’t help but pull in a breath. The light wood inlaid floors with the dark red walls made her think of the natural habitat which surrounded the city she loved so much. She’d been here a dozen times, but seeing the museum again always felt like the first time.

  The lobby was filled with men and women dressed in formal attire. She’d been invited to the last few events at the museum, but never found the nerve to attend. She usually came on her own, after work, to help with projects when they needed her. Now, with Lance holding her arm, in the dress she’d only worn once, she relished standing out.

  Things might change soon, but for tonight, she was going to enjoy it. With his high cheekbones, sandy brown hair, and piercing blue eyes, Lance was one of the most handsome men she’d ever gazed upon. When the women at the station got an eyeful, he’d probably be off her list of dating options.

  But for tonight, he was with her.

  Lance snagged two tall flutes of champagne and handed one to her. “Thanks for talking me off the ledge a few minutes ago.”

  Cami clinked her glass to his and said, “You weren’t on a ledge, we were in a parking garage. If you had been on a ledge, you may have been on your own. I don’t like heights.”

  “Note taken.”

  She introduced him to Mrs. Feildberg, one of the large donors to the museum and to the station. In a short time, Mrs. Feildberg and Lance were deep in a conversation about the Tudors. The older woman excused herself and Lance, saying that there were some people that he ‘just had to meet.’

  Cami wandered between the patrons but there was no one she recognized. She wanted a second glass of champagne, but thought better of it since she hadn’t had time for dinner. Instead, she nibbled on a few cream cheese and herb-stuffed finger sandwiches and washed them down with a cup of sparkling lemon water.

  She people-watched for the next hour or so and lost track of Lance. When she did catch a glance of him, he was surrounded by people and seemed to be enjoying himself. Good. The museum was crowded and that meant there was interest in the War of the Roses.

  Finally, not knowing what else to do, Cami wandered off toward the diorama. She was the only person in the room. Others probably toured earlier in the evening. The walls were covered with portraits of Richard the Third and information which led from one station to the next to reveal the chronological events. Many of the displays were interactive. She picked up the headphones and slipped them over her ears.

  It was enjoyable to hear the historical information read back to her. It felt like when her mom used to read her a story. A hand touched her shoulder. When she turned, she found Lance behind her. She pulled off the headphones and placed them back to rest on the stand.

  “Do they have all the information right?” he asked.

  “Sounds good so far. I volunteered to help the museum and wrote much of the description for this exhibit. It’s right.” She winked at him.

  “You work full-time and still find time to volunteer for the museum?”

  “When it’s something you love, it doesn’t feel like work. I don’t have to take up my time at night. No guys beating down my door.”

  “That’s a fact I like.”

  “I guess I have to offer to go and pick them up. That’s the secret,” she whispered the last part.

  “Next time, I’ll drive.”

  “Next time?”

  “When I take you out on a real date.”

  “We’ll see.” Cami looked down and twisted the strap of her purse. “You might feel differently tomorrow.”

  “I doubt it.” Lance looked across the distance at the lobby. “It sounds like the fundraiser is shutting down. Is there anyone you want to say goodnight to?”

  “No. I don’t know most of the people.” Cami ran a hand over the information engraved on the brass plate. “The big reason, I suspect, Henry Tudor didn’t engage in a more lengthy investigation was that the country had been torn apart by a thirty-year war. He needed to get the people united under Tudor reign”

  When she looked over, he was watching her.

  “What?” Cami asked, wondering what she’d said.

  “Do you know how sexy a woman is that can randomly quote historical facts?”

  “Right…” She burst out laughing. “All the women in there tonight were watching you and most of them were gorgeous. You could have gone home with any of them.”

  “But, I don’t want them.” He took a step closer and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “They can’t tell me why Henry the Seventh was concerned with peace and prosperity but did nothing but encourage the ugly implications against Richard. As I said, I find history sexy.”

  “Sexy? I’ve never heard history referred to as ‘sexy’.”

  “Let me tell you a story, and then maybe you’ll believe me.” He took her hand and walked her around to the other side of the diorama blocking them from the view of those lingering in the lobby of the museum. “A few months ago, I dated a woman named Anna. Speaking of gorgeous. Anna was a knockout.”

  Cami held up her hand. “Stop. I don’t think I want to hear this. Let me live in the fantasy for tonight.”

  He grinned. “Give me a chance to finish. We spent…well, some time together. But when that was over and done with, we’d sit down to have a conversati
on, and I found that it was impossible. I couldn’t help but think of her as the ‘like’ girl. Her conversations consisted of, ‘like, I went to my mom’s, and like, we had lunch and like, we ate a burger and like...’” He twirled a flamboyant hand in the air. “After a few days, every time she started talking, like was the only word I could hear. I would fixate every time she said it. I wanted to gouge out my eardrums with a spoon and Brillo pad my brain. Beauty isn’t everything. Brains last longer.”

  She braced her hands on the wood and sat on the rail. “Like, I could totally like understand that.”

  “Don’t even start.” Lance chuckled. “When I met you in the lunchroom and you started debating with me on Richard the Third, all I could think of was how lucky I felt for taking this job. Then when you told me that we’d be working together? Even better.” He wrapped his arms around her. Her whole body tensed and then softened as she relaxed into his embrace. How did everything feel so right in his arms? So unlike her, she traced the stubble on his chin and kissed him.

  The kiss started gently but then quickly heated. Lance pinned her between the wood railing and his hard body. The heat from his chest pulsed through the linen of his shirt. He gave her long drugging kisses that ignited her entire body.

  Was that me that groaned or him? Cami didn’t care, she pulled him down for another round. All of this was happening so quickly, but she only had a few more hours in her Cinderella body. Why not?

  The lights over them flicked off and back on and a museum guard cleared his throat. “The museum closes in five minutes.”

  They broke apart. Lance rested his forehead against hers. They still breathed heavily.

  “Even though this would be a fantasy of mine, we’d best not lose our jobs before we even start on the Roses. There would be some explaining to do,” she said, with her hands still laced behind his neck.

  “Good idea. It would be a fantasy of mine too, but when I make love to you, I want to go slow and take all night.” His wicked grin was filled with carnal promise.

  Her mouth went dry.

  He grabbed her hand and hauled her toward the exit. “If you agree, come on, you have the car keys and I have a key to my hotel room.”

  Chapter Five

  Cami felt restless and edgy every time the light turned red and she pressed the car’s brake to stop. She glanced at the clock that blinked, mocking her with the fact that she had less than two hours left in her ‘body.’ A few times, Lance reached and traced his fingers over her bare knee which sent a charge through her. He was so sexy. And in that tux…double wow. She snuck a glance in his direction again and couldn’t believe that someone as handsome and smart as him would be interested in her. But, he saw a beautiful woman beside him, which she wasn’t.

  How could she possibly ever explain this? He would think she was cuckoo balls!

  She parked in the hotel garage and they rode the elevator to his floor in silence. He slid the key card in the lock and the door swung open. He motioned with his hand and she followed him in.

  As soon as the door clicked closed, she grabbed him and kissed him with all the pent-up sexual energy that swamped her brain for the last forty-five minutes. This was it. Lance Rainey, the man of her dreams was here, ready, willing, and able. She figured it was one of those all or nothing moments in her life. She no longer cared if tomorrow, reality destroyed the fantasy.

  He tasted like the chocolate in the after dinner mints he’d eaten in the car. Cami was the one who felt like chocolate against him and couldn’t stop herself from melting if she tried. Her fingers tangled in the soft, dark hair at the nape of his neck. As he dropped his head to kiss a path down her neck, she smelled his cologne and then felt his warm, wet kisses across her breasts.

  “Wait,” Cami murmured. He stepped back to look at her. “I’m not who you think I am.”

  “You haven’t killed someone to gain access to a throne have you?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Not that. It’s difficult to explain.”

  “From what you said earlier, there isn’t a man in your life, is there?”

  “No.”

  “All I can guess is that you’re wondering if you spend the night with me, can we still work together tomorrow? I’m almost thirty. I know the difference between lust and love. We’ve only been together for a few hours, so who knows, this attraction may not be for more than just tonight. You can believe me or not. I’m not the kind of guy that sleeps around. I’m very attracted to you. Very. But I’m also mature enough to understand that if things don’t work out between us, we can still work side by side.”

  “I think I can do that too.”

  “Good. I will leave it up to you. It always needs to be the woman’s choice. If you want to leave, I’ll see you in the office on Monday morning. If you stay, I’ll still see you in the office on Monday. Understood?”

  She nodded. “You’re the guy I’ve only wished for in private fantasies.”

  “Really?” He grinned at her. “Be careful, my ego will burst.”

  Cami took a step closer and ran her hands under his tux coat and helped to pull it off his broad shoulders. She unbuttoned the buttons on his shirt and he undid the cufflinks. He slipped out of his shirt and she tried to keep her mouth from dropping. Gorgeous. She touched his bare chest, felt the curls of coarse hair, and the ripple of muscle beneath her palm.

  He turned off the overhead light and turned on the bedside lamp. It helped with undressing in front of a new partner.

  When Lance took her hand and pulled her against his hard chest, he kissed her the way she’d always dreamed of. She forgot where they were. Hell, she forgot to breathe. He gave her everything—his hands, his body, his tongue.

  He stared down at her in astonishment. “Damn,” he muttered. “You’re so beautiful.” He came to her, spun her on the pad of her feet, and unzipped the back of her dress. “Talk ‘dirty’ to me with what I like to hear. Surprise me with another random historical fact that I may not know,” Lance said against her skin as he kissed a hot trail down the opening in her dress.

  She tried her best to form sentences. “Medieval bread could get you high or even kill you. The stored rye was often infected with Ergot. Ergot is a fungus with LSD-like properties but it can also bring on gangrene, hallucinations, and sometimes death.”

  He spun her back. A large grin stretched his lips. “Really?”

  “Really. I wouldn’t make something up just to get you in bed,” she said, knowing that she was completely out of breath.

  “You did find something I didn’t know.”

  “Well, professor, did I pass?”

  “Oh, yes. You pass.” He slipped his fingers underneath the shoulders of her dress and slipped it off to pool at her feet. She was happy for her earlier lingerie purchase, the garments made her feel even sexier.

  They helped each other undress and she lay back on the bed. Lance’s eyes were filled with hot appreciation. When Cami finally dared to meet his eyes, he was watching her, his jaw tight with tension, his gaze heavy-lidded with desire.

  With a quick grab of his wallet from his pants, Lance rolled on protection, and then crawled over her, covering her body with hot, demanding kisses.

  “A woman who knows facts about medieval bread fungus and is also sexy as hell. Where have you been all my life?” He brushed her blonde hair off her forehead and kissed her with such sweetness, her heart slipped.

  When he pressed inside her, Cami knew what heaven felt like.

  The hotel was quiet except for the sounds of a television down the hall. Lance made love to her twice and now was asleep. She was exhausted too, but knew she had to move. His arm was protectively slung across her bare middle. Cami slipped free from the tangle of sheets and his grasp. She traced a gentle finger down his strong arm and muscled rib cage. She wished she could take an X-rated I
nstagram shot of his backside―and his front side―for her memory book of how he looked at this moment. Both were in the top one percentile. She’d never forget this evening.

  She scooched off the bed, and looked at the bedside clock. It blinked 12:04. Cami moved quietly across the room and into the bathroom. She closed the door and with apprehension, flipped on the light.

  Her breath caught as tears pricked her eyes. Unfortunately, Grandma was right about everything, including the twenty-four-hour timeframe. The old Cami stared back at her from the large gold mirror.

  Her blonde hair was a tangled mess and the scar led down her cheek and up under her hairline once again. She looked at her shoulder. It too held the puckered scars from the car wreck. She sniffed, took a damp washrag, and then wiped at the smeared makeup under her eyes.

  It was too good to last. Who was she kidding? She really was Cinderella. Not the beauty at the ball, but the one sweeping out cinders from the fireplace.

  Cami tugged on her dress. It took her a moment to find her stockings, garters, panties and bra in the jumbled mess of clothes she and Lance left behind in the heat of passion. She forwent the stocking and garters. It would take too much time for her to figure out how to get them back on. Sitting on the edge of a chair, she slipped on her heels. When she stood, her ankle twisted and she felt the heel snap off her right shoe.

  “Crap. Great,” she growled. “Back to the old Cami.”

  Lance murmured something in his sleep and smiled. Panic gripped her. What if he woke up and saw her? He might recognize her, or he might not. He could wonder who the hell the stranger was in his room.

  Cami yanked off the broken shoe and dropped them both into the discarded pile of his clothes. She snatched her purse and hurried out the door in her bare feet. She doubted it would be the first time the hotel saw a barefoot woman making a quick, late night walk of shame. She fled into the hall, back down the elevator and then headed to her car.