slowed his pace. He thought it was CJ and an older woman. He still wasn’t used to seeing her with auburn hair. In his mind she had thick ebony hair. She looked cute with her knit cap and matching muffler around her neck. Her companion looked like her secretary.
He slowed to a walk to let his breathing slow and even out and then approached her. All he could make out was her long black wool jacket, legs encased in faded denim and a pair of boots that would have done any one in Auburndale proud.
“Rae-Anne, can you lift your end a little higher?” CJ asked. The two women juggled the tree without much success. The six-foot blue spruce was a nice tree—not unlike the one that he’d ordered for his condo. For someone who’d changed so much, they still had a lot in common.
“Madon’. I’m trying. I’m not as strong as I used to be,” Rae-Anne said.
“Let’s set it down for a second,” CJ said, bending at the waist to set the trunk on the snow-dusted ground. Her coat slid up and Tad was treated to the full curves of her backside. His fingers tingled with the need to reach out and caress her.
Instincts older than time had his hand lifting before he could stop himself. Her buttocks looked firm and full, but he’d learned the hard way that women didn’t appreciate a man reaching out and grabbing something he liked. She straightened, still holding the tree up.
“Can I help?” Tad asked, reaching around CJ to take the trunk of the tree from her.
CJ glanced over her shoulder at him. Her breath brushed across his cheek and he inhaled sharply. The scent that was uniquely CJ assailed him. He was surprised at its familiarity. It reminded him of home and of memories best forgotten.
“What are you doing here?”
“I live up the street,” he said, gesturing to his building. “Let me carry the tree up for you.”
“Thanks, but we’ve got it,” CJ said, brushing his arm aside. He refused to let her budge his arm.
She glared up at him but he knew she wouldn’t make an issue of it in front of her secretary. “We don’t need your help.”
“Merda, I do,” Rae-Anne said. She put her hand over her heart and sighed loudly. “Some of us aren’t as young as we used to be. And I just stopped by to drop off the Monday files. I finally figured out your last secretary’s system.”
CJ bit her lower lip, unsure. He knew her well enough to know that she didn’t like to give ground. He sometimes wondered, if he hadn’t let her beat him in arm wrestling when they’d been twelve, if they’d have even been friends.
Tad took control, grabbing the tree and hefting it with one hand. “I got the tree.”
“Very impressive. Do the girls usually swoon when you do this?”
“You’re my first, CJ,” he said.
“I’m impressed. Are you sure you won’t drop it?”
Always the smart-ass, when they’d been teenagers she’d teased him about his choice of girlfriends. He’d forgotten that there’d always seemed to be two different Cathy Janes. The one at school who kept her head down and her nose in a book and the one at home who sassed him. He wondered what she’d do if he kissed her. Her lips were full and he was tempted more than he should be. His plan for a wife was simple and straightforward—filling a void in his life. “I can handle one tree, CJ.”
“Of course, you can,” Rae-Anne said. “You’re not a middle-aged woman.”
“Kind of you to notice,” Tad said, smiling at the other woman.
“Think nothing of it,” Rae-Anne said. “I believe in giving credit where it’s due.”
“So do I. Machismo isn’t something that requires praise, Rae-Anne,” CJ said.
“Machismo?” he asked. A man had to have a strong ego around CJ. Unlike Kylie who’d always flattered him…until she’d walked out the door with one of his competitors.
CJ tilted her head to the side and studied him. He couldn’t help it. He flexed his abs and stood a little taller. Her gaze moved over him and his blood flowed heavier. He shifted his legs trying to keep her from noticing his stirring erection through the fabric of his sweatpants. “Overabundance of testosterone sound better?”
Oh, yeah, he was going to kiss that smart mouth. To hell with her Christmas tree. “Gallant rescue sounds good to me.”
“You always did have a big head.”
“You always were a bit of a pain.”
“Then why are you here?” she asked.
Because she was the one woman he’d never been able to forget. No matter how many beautiful, intelligent women he’d dated, CJ had always lingered in the back of his mind. “I’m a glutton for punishment.”
“Follow me. I’m on the twelfth floor. We have to use the service elevator,” CJ said.
“I’m yours to command.”
“As if,” she said and climbed the stairs to the building.
Rae-Anne and CJ held the doors open for Tad, and in a short time they were standing in CJ’s apartment.
“Where’s your tree stand?” he asked.
“I can do that. I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Really that’s okay.”
“You can’t do it on your own,” he said.
“Rae-Anne is going to help me, right?” she asked.
Rae-Anne had a pile of file folders in her arms and didn’t really look like she’d expected to decorate a tree.
“Do you want me to help?” Rae-Anne asked. “My mother used to say many hands make light work.”
Tad winked at her, sensing he had found an ally in his pursuit of CJ. And he just realized it was a pursuit and nothing less than complete surrender of the saucy redhead would suit him.
Three
CJ had had enough interaction for the day. Saturdays were normally her favorite. She wanted Rae-Anne to go home and Tad to disappear back into the fabric of the past so that she could once again have control of her life. She’d make herself a nice cup of herbal tea and then climb onto the counter and pull down the box of HoHos she had stored above the refrigerator.
They were for emergency use only and after this day she knew she needed the sweet bliss that only consuming a box of chocolate cream-filled cakes could bring.
She’d talked to Rae-Anne last night and they’d discussed Rae-Anne bringing over the Monday files so they could have a head start on the week. But then Rae-Anne had called to say she’d be late and CJ had decided to go and get her Christmas tree. Bad idea. She should have gone into the office instead. Nothing was the same with Rae-Anne
