Jennifer Labrecque - Mistletoe Madness

Cole couldn’t contain a grin. He planned to speak to Tatiana with his gifts, for sure.

“See, Cole’s excited about it. You’ve just got to enter into the spirit of the season, Tatiana.”

She skewered Cole with a look that suggested he nosh on something vile.

Okay, there was no holding it back. His grin gave way to a full-blown smirk. Thank you, Melvin. Score one for him.

“Now on to the matter at hand. As you both know, the magazine market is getting tighter and tighter, and it’s increasingly important for us to evaluate on an ongoing basis…”

Cole’s eyes began to glaze over. He’d heard this about a freaking million times. Melvin pulled out the same state-of-the-industry preparatory speech and meandered through it for ten minutes before actually making a point. Cole’s attention wandered to Tatiana’s legs. Shapely.Curvy, like the rest of her, with nice muscle tone in her calf.Slender, sexy ankles. Just the kind of legs a man could imagine wrapped around his waist or thrown over his shoulders.

What would Tatiana Allen be like in bed? Would she always be jockeying to be on top? He’d bet the family farm she wasn’t a quiet, gentle lover. No way. She’d moan and scream his name and sink her red nails into his shoulders, nipping and biting. Climbing into bed with her would be like going to war. And damn it if the thought didn’t leave him squirming in his chair and more than a little turned on.

What would she taste like? It’d been his experience that no two women tasted the same, whether you were lazily licking along her neck, kissing her mouth or something more intimate.

Wasabi. Tatiana would taste like wasabi. Not hot to the initial bite, but then it set your senses on fire. That’s what she’d be-exotic, spicy, hot, with an incendiary afterburn…

“So, Cole…” Hearing his name snapped him out of his sexual contemplation and back to the present, “What do you think?” Melvin asked.

A quick glance at Tatiana made up his mind. She looked disgusted and thoroughly pissed off. Anything that elicited that kind of response in her, he was all for it.

“I think it’s a great idea.” Did she actually grind her teeth? “I think you’ve got a real winner.” Yes. He was sure he just heard enamel on enamel. He laid it on thicker. “Best I’ve heard in a while.”

Melvin preened. “See, Tatiana, Cole likes it.”

If looks could kill…“That’s because Cole is an imbecile with a mouth. He doesn’t have a clue as to what he just endorsed. He was drifting along in la-la land. And besides, he wouldn’t know a good idea if it came up and bit him in the butt.”

Oh, shit. She was far more observant and sharper than Melvin. Well, except for that bit about a good idea biting him in the butt. Still, he knew the best defense was a good offense. “Just because you don’t like the idea…” What the hell was the idea? “Well, darling, you really shouldn’t sulk, because it’s not very becoming.” He tossed her a flirtatious smile. “And I’m flattered you’ve noticed my rear.”

Her look turned docile, almost sweet, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He’d pushed too far. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is a great idea and I just need to see it the same way you do. Why don’t you recap it for me but with your spin on it? You know, a different perspective.”

Damn her. Melvin jumped in, saving his proverbial butt.

“Perfect. This is just the kind of thing we want to play up. Siskel and Ebert.Hepburn and Tracy.Michael Jackson and Bubbles?”

Mother of God. What the hell was Melvin babbling about? Siskel, Hepburn and Tracy were dead. And Jackson and Bubbles?

“Melvin, be reasonable.” Tatiana adopted a conciliatory tone. “It’s the holidays. I have obligations and a full schedule. I’m sure Cole does, too.”

Melvin templed his fingers in front of his mouth. “I appreciate that and I also appreciate that this takes precedence over anything else you’re working on for Connoisseur at the moment. You and Cole will just have to figure out when you can get together and take it from there. I’m not worried because I know I have two consummate professionals in front of me.”

Well, Melvin had just neatly backed Madame Snark into a corner. Any further protest would mark her as unprofessional. Nice job, Melvin.

And what the hell had he agreed to?

“About this project…” Cole said, his voice a deep rumble behind her as they left Melvin’s office.

She’d prefer to ignore him, but then she’d be labeled noncooperative, which would translate to unprofessional. It wasn’t the assignment itself she objected to as much as the methodology.

“My office,” she said without turning around. She strolled down the hall practicing deep breathing. Damage control. It was a done deal and she’d simply make the best of it. She waited until Cole trailed in behind her and then closed the door. She turned to face him.

Her already small office shrank considerably with six feet of broad-shouldered male sucking up space. It seemed patently unfair that someone so utterly loathsome should have such startling blue eyes, somewhere between blue and silver. And equally unfair that her pulse leaped every time she was around him-it had from day one.

Of course, that was part of what made him so loathsome-he traded on his dark-haired good looks and what seemed to pass for charm with some people. Sexy with no substance. But, then again, what would you expect from someone who bought their way into a job rather than got there through hard work?

She assured herself that the rapid-fire beat of her heart was a product of Melvin’s latest dictate and had nothing to do with being in closed-door proximity with Sir Superficial.

“You don’t have a clue as to what you agreed to, do you?”

“Nope.” He grinned, and she once again assured herself it was irritation that set her heart thudding against her ribs. “Guilty as charged.”

She skirted him, rounded her desk and sat in her chair. With a flick of her wrist, she invited him to sit in the guest chair. “Why waste everyone’s time? Was it too much to ask for you to actually pay attention?”

Instead of taking the seat, he followed her and propped against the rear corner of her glass-topped desk, which felt too close and too intimate with his hip and thigh inches away and a faint whiff of his aftershave scenting the air. But she’d be damned if she’d ask him to move.

“Oh, come on, Tatiana. Give me a break. You know Melvin goes into that same soliloquy every time and it takes him forever to get to the point. Besides, it was your fault I missed the point anyway.”

Oh, no. At least he could take ownership of his own ineptness. “Hardly.”

“Most assuredly. Your legs distracted me. They’re extraordinary, really. And I started thinking about-”

“Stop right there,” she interrupted him, her pulse racing like a fully stoked steam engine. “I don’t need to be privy to the vagaries of your mind. Did you catch any of what he said?”

His gaze roved the length of her legs, clearly visible through the translucent glass, and lingered on her ankles, leaving her tingling as if he’d blazed that trail with his fingers…or mouth. “Nary a word.”

Better to get this over with and him out of the confines of her office. “Douglas Creighton wants Connoisseur to have more of a Web presence.”

“Smart. Subscriptions have been flat for the last year and a half.”

“Exactly. He wants to launch a pilot Web piece January first, along the lines of a she said/he said article where we each give our take on the same restaurant. He thinks it’ll generate interest because we each have such distinctly different styles and taste.”

“Okay. I stand by my original assertion. It’s a damn good idea.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, and since she was neither blind nor dead, she did, in fact, notice he had a nice broad chest. But she wasn’t about to be distracted by Cole Mitchell’s chest.

“Except they want us there together.Same time.Same table.” Maybe he did have a brain rattling around somewhere up there, because he appeared suitably appalled. Up to this point, they’d each had separate assignments. Their contact had been limited to the odd interoffice skirmish. “Budgetary constraints. If we’re at the same table, we can sample each other’s food. Twice the bang for their buck. Plus, we’re evaluating the same wait staff at the same time.”

“And this starts when?” he said.

“Rollout is January first. They want our pieces in before Christmas so Andi and Tory have a chance to verify and proofread. The pilot features one local restaurant each week, alternating from high-end to moderate-priced so they appeal to every reader. They want four weeks’ copy in to begin, which means four restaurant visits.”

“That means we’ll have to do dinner almost every day from now until Christmas,” he said in a sick tone.

She’d delight in the fact that he looked as if he’d just tasted something bad, except she was dining from the same dish. “Yep. Of course, half an hour ago it was the best idea you’d heard in a long time.”

“I’ve got a life.”

What? And she didn’t? Well, technically it was arguable, especially according to her mother lately, but he didn’t need to know that. “News flash-so do I. Bring your girlfriend along if you want.” Wouldn’t that make for a fine dining experience? Tatiana, Cole and his ho de jour.

“I’m in between.”

Well, at least they could skip that acid-reflux-inducing three-some. “Depriving the women of New York?”

“Hiatus. What about you? Are you towing along a boyfriend?”

“There’s no one in the picture at the moment.” Uh, make that several moments that culminated into several months, but, once again, he didn’t need to know that.

His teeth flashed in a grin. “Ah, giving the unsuspecting men of New York a break, are you?”