Falling for the CEO

by Audra North

  “Why would I be nervous?” All of my dreams are coming true. In this moment, Meredith couldn’t imagine feeling anything but intense happiness. She was practically glowing with it.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Big holiday dinner. Lots of people you’ve never met before. Presents, festive sweaters, possibly carol-singing around the tree…,” he teased.

  “There’s nothing wrong with presents or festive sweaters.” She pointed to her own bright-green sweater, woven with images of Christmas trees, candy canes, and dancing gingerbread men. Last night, on Christmas Eve, she and Andrew had exchanged the presents they’d left for each other under the tree in her apartment. The sweater had been among them—a gag gift that she’d surprised him by actually wearing. And despite his protests when she’d emerged from her bedroom with it on, she’d seen the delight in his eyes.

  “Or carols. Or trees,” she added. Especially not trees.

  The morning after the gala, after they had celebrated the discovery of the missing money, he had dragged her out of bed again to go buy the small fir that now sat in her living room, and carried it back to her home still wearing his tuxedo pants and dress shirt. After some cursing and a couple of broken boughs, they’d managed to set it up, at which point he had declared it unacceptably barren and whisked her off to Saks for ornaments and tree trimmings, dropping by the office along the way to pick up the extra set of clean clothes that he kept there.

  Once at the department store, he’d insisted on buying her not one, but two handmade, delicate angels to stand atop her tree. “For your parents,” he’d said, and then held her in the middle of the store as she’d cried and cried over all the Christmases she hadn’t had with them.

  “Well, good, because I don’t think we have a shortage of any of those things.”

  She laughed, thinking of how they’d spent the rest of the weekend alternating between her apartment and his place in Tribeca, filling each one to the brim with Christmas decorations. Definitely no shortage.

  And then, last night, they had started a new Christmas tradition. They’d given each other gifts, kissed under the mistletoe, stuffed themselves with iced sugar cookies, and played Christmas carols on repeat. After that, they’d gone to bed and made love until they’d fallen asleep, exhausted, waking up with just enough time to jump out of bed and dress hastily so as not to be late for Christmas dinner.

  Christmas with family.

  “I almost forgot to tell you.” Andrew’s voice broke into her thoughts, and a smile flashed across his face. “I sent a thank-you gift to Bob right after you moved the money back into the fund account.”

  The fact that the Christmas Bonus Fund had grown so much only elevated Andrew’s status as a philanthropic visionary, and he’d spent nearly an hour on the phone with Bob on Monday, talking excitedly about North Star Industries. Now, mere days after the gala, the new organization already had several corporate clients and a recently appointed executive director. Meredith would wrap up her work at Harbor and step into her position at North Star at some point in the coming months.

  “I hope it wasn’t a six-thousand-dollar dress,” she teased.

  He let out a loud laugh, then reached over the seat and squeezed her thigh, leaving his hand there.

  “Speaking of,” he began, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Lily is very excited to meet you, so get ready for a lot of enthusiasm being aimed in your direction. She’ll probably end up talking your ear off, pressing you for all the details about the gala and how I took such good care of you.”

  Meredith rolled her eyes, but she curled her fingers into his hand and squeezed his palm as if to say, You do take good care of me. “First you ask me if I’m nervous, and now you’re warning me about Lily talking my ear off. Are you trying to intimidate me with threats of family closeness? Because I have to tell you, it’s not working.”

  He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners, but quickly grew serious. “Really, if you do feel overwhelmed at any point, just say so and we can bow out early. They’ll understand. Besides—” He shrugged. “They just want me to be happy, which I am as long as you’re happy.”

  She sighed, feeling like the luckiest woman on earth. She was finally getting her Christmas wish. A family.

  Andrew winked at her. “Really, baby. Are you sure you want to take the risk of being crushed by family togetherness on Christmas?”

  Meredith didn’t even have to think twice. “Yes,” she replied, smiling. “Yes, I’ll take it.”

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  Acknowledgments

  I never would have been able to write this story if it hadn’t been for my husband. He not only gave me the time to write; he also gave me the confidence and encouragement I needed to keep writing until I got to where I needed to go. He is my partner in every sense, my life’s love, my best friend. There is not enough space in all the pages in all the books to express my respect and love for him.

  To my children, for their patience with Mommy when I needed to finish another chapter, and for their impatience when I needed to be reminded of what was really important.

  Tahra Seplowin and Heather Howland, this book’s brilliant editors, I am proud of and humbled by the hard work and constant positivity that you both put into it. Thank you for seeing something in this story in the first place, and then giving so much time and energy toward making it even better. And thank you for simply being good people.

  Tahra, I wonder every day what I would do without you. After so many frustrated attempts at starting this story, it was your suggestions that really made it explode to life.

  Mary Spencer, I wish you were still alive so that you could see what you inspired. I owe my love of romance—and all that grew out of it—to you.

  Mom, thank you for buying those countless romance novels for me before I was able to buy my own, even when I was in my Angry Teen phase and certainly didn’t deserve your time, money, or care. If I didn’t tell you before, I want you to know now that it meant a lot to me.

  To Dad, Daniel, and Sara, for being such a big part of who I am today.

  For the bonds that we forged in our youth, the ones that constantly bring us back to one another across the time and distance of lives well-lived, thank you: Kim Har, John Mark Keller, Merrilee Brinegar, and Vanessa Nudd.

  To everyone who has worked so hard to give this book life, including its readers…thank you.

  About the Author

  Audra North fell in love with romance at age thirteen and spent the next twenty years reading as many romance novels as she could. Even now, after having read over one thousand of them, Audra still can’t resist the lure of a happily ever after, and her collection continues to grow. She lives near Boston with her husband, three young children, and a lot of books. Visit her website at www.audranorth.com or find her (way too frequently) on Twitter @AudraNorth.

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  Discover the rest of the Stanton Family series...

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