rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_bacb670c-be4d-539b-b8f0-7ec49e8b043d">Chapter One
Allison wasn’t usually the type to spend too much time fussing over her appearance. She never left her apartment looking less than professional—that was a matter of pride—but she didn’t usually bother with more than a cursory brush with the mascara wand to darken her fair lashes and a quick swipe of gloss to moisturize her lips.
On the first morning after the holidays, when she found herself digging into her makeup bag for rarely used eye shadow and lipstick, she told herself that she simply wanted a new image for the new year. That the extra care she was taking with her appearance was in no way linked to the possibility that she might cross paths with Nathan Garrett at the office today.
Finally satisfied with the results of her efforts, she poked her head into her son’s bedroom. “Come on, Dylan. You don’t want to be late on your first day back.”
“Yeah, I do,” he told her. “School sucks.”
She held back a sigh. It worried her that he had such a negative attitude toward school when he was only in third grade, but she’d long ago given up trying to change his opinion and focused her efforts on getting him to class on time. “Okay, but I don’t want to be late on my first day back.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “How come you’re all dressed up?”
“What do you mean? I wear this suit to work all the time.”
“But you don’t wear all that gunk on your face.”
She had no ready response to that. If the “slight” improvement she’d been aiming for was obvious enough that her eight-year-old son noticed, she’d definitely gone overboard.
“And your hair’s different,” he said.
“Go eat your cereal, then brush your teeth,” she told him.
It had taken her almost twenty minutes to do her makeup and hair, and less than five to wipe the color off her face and tuck her hair into its usual loose knot at the back of her head.
Dylan didn’t comment on the changes, which she interpreted to mean that she now looked as she usually did. She certainly wasn’t going to turn any heads when she walked into the office, and maybe that was for the best. Far too many women tripped over themselves trying to catch Nathan Garrett’s eye, and she’d always taken pride in the fact that she wasn’t one of them.
After dropping her son off at school, she drove across town to the offices of Garrett Furniture, trying not to think about what had happened at the company Christmas party.
Of course, her efforts were futile. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t seen or heard from Nathan in the twenty-three days that had passed since they’d connected under the mistletoe—she hadn’t stopped thinking about him or THE KISS.
Which was ridiculous, because he really wasn’t her type. Not that she had a type—she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had a date. But if she did have a type, it would not be a too rich, too sexy, too good-looking and far too self-assured man who had a reputation for enjoying women of all types.
She decided it was a good thing that she’d wiped off her makeup and tied back her hair. The last thing she needed was for Nathan Garrett—or anyone else in the office—to think that she was interested in him.
Maybe her response wasn’t about the particular man so much as the fact that she hadn’t been kissed (even in lowercase letters) in a very long time. Maybe that was the real reason he’d stirred up desires so long dormant, she hadn’t been certain she was capable of feeling them anymore. Maybe she didn’t want her boss’s nephew so much as she wanted to connect with someone. Anyone.
As a single mother, she didn’t have time to be lonely—except for every other weekend when Dylan was with his dad, and Dylan had been with his dad the night of the Christmas party. She never would have stayed out so late, or let herself drink so much, if her son had been waiting for her at home. Not that she’d had so much to drink—probably not more than three glasses of wine. But she’d decided that being under the influence of alcohol was a convenient explanation for her uncharacteristic behavior.
And now she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush on the most popular boy in class—trying to pretty herself up to get his attention. It was pathetic, especially when she wasn’t even sure that she liked the guy all that much.
Not that she disliked him.
Allison blew out a frustrated breath. This was ridiculous. She was being ridiculous—spending far too much time obsessing over THE KISS and in danger of starting to think about Nathan Garrett as THE MAN. He was simply a man—no more and no less. Even if he was a man who could kiss far better than any other man in her experience.
She pulled into her usual parking spot and turned off the ignition. After the holiday, she was eager to get back into the familiar routines of work again, but she stopped by the break room first to grab a cup of coffee. While there, she wished a happy New Year to Melanie Hedley, who was doing the same.
“How was your holiday?” Melanie asked.
“Quiet,” Allison said. “Yours?”
“Amazing.” The other woman fairly gushed the word. “I went to Vail before Christmas and stayed at this fabulous condo resort that had fireplaces in every bedroom and hot tubs on all the decks. And Nate and I discovered the most incredible little café tucked away in the foothills.”
Allison sloshed coffee over the back of her hand and sucked in a sharp breath as the hot liquid scalded her skin. “That does sound...amazing,” she said, grabbing a paper napkin to wipe the spilled coffee off her hand.
“Lanie—” Enrico Sanchez poked his head into the room “—we need you on that conference call.”
“Oh, right.” Melanie smiled at her. “We’ll catch up more later.”
Allison added a splash of cream to her cup, stirring mechanically while all the excited anticipation that had fueled her buoyant mood only a few minutes earlier fizzled out like air from a balloon.
She wasn’t unaware of Nate’s reputation, but it still hurt to realize that, only a few days after he’d kissed her, he’d been dining with Melanie in Colorado. It shouldn’t. She had no right to be upset or disappointed or anything. He’d certainly never made her any promises, and she wouldn’t have believed him if he had.
So why had she let her own imagination paint unrealistic dreams? Why had she ever let herself believe that THE KISS had been anything more than a kiss?
She hated being taken for a fool. Worse, she hated being a fool. She sat down at her desk and turned on her computer, determined to put all thoughts of the man from her mind once and for all.
John Garrett walked in while she was still reviewing email messages that had come through over the holidays. He was a good boss and a genuinely wonderful man, and she greeted him with a sincere smile.
The smile froze on her lips when he said, “I’m glad you’re here—I need to talk to you about Nathan.”
* * *
Allison
