Enchanted by Patti Berg

removed his hand from her shoulder and stood, pulling her up from the couch. “Are you trying to avoid me already?”
    “No. I’m trying to get a promotion.”
    “Is it that important?”
    “It’s the second most important thing in my life.”
    “And the first is?”
    “Julie.”
    “Oh. Your daughter.” His low voice sounded disappointed. “I’m glad she’s first on your list.”
    “She’ll always come first. Now, are you going to take me home?”
    He didn’t answer, just went to the phone and requested a taxi while Kathleen slipped on her shoes.
    He found his tie slung over a chair and hung it around his neck. He stepped into his shoes, then went back to Kathleen, debating what to do next.
    She started to take off his jacket, but he pulled her hands away. He didn’t release them.
    “Keep it on. I might have second thoughts about leaving if you’re not wearing it.”
    She smiled, pulling her hands away from his before he could draw them to his lips.
    “And I might not want to leave if you do that.”
    They walked to the door, both of them taking one last look at the room they had shared, the dirty glasses and plates, the leftover food. She’d never forget this night. She hoped Mac felt the same.
    They rode down in an empty elevator. The door opened, but Mac pulled Kathleen close, keeping her inside as the door closed, and the elevator stood still on the lobby level.
    “I know you don’t want me to kiss you, but I’ve never let a woman give me orders and I’m not going to start now.”
    She didn’t resist when he opened the coat and put his hands inside, slowly, tenderly letting them slip under the light wool of his jacket and around her silky-smooth back. He pulled her close, lowering his head to her upturned face.
    “God, you’re beautiful.” Their lips met, gently, carefully exploring newfound territory. For Kathleen the kiss became the finishing touch to what had started hours earlier in the bed of a penthouse suite at the Plaza. For Mac, it became the fulfillment of a desire he had shoved to the back of his mind six long years before.
    The door opened again. “Excuse me, sir.” The bellboy cleared his throat and blushed at the sight before him. “Your taxi’s waiting.”
    At five-thirty in the morning, very few people littered the lobby, only the bellboy and a desk clerk. Mac tightened his coat around Kathleen to keep out the morning’s chill, draped his arm over her shoulder, and pulled her close. They walked out of the Plaza into the pinkish gray dawn. The taxi waited at the curb, the driver standing beside the opened door.
    Again, Mac slid his hands down Kathleen’s back, cupping her bottom and pulling her close. That’s when the first light flashed, and the photographer ran up for a closer shot. Another flash.
    Mac pushed Kathleen into the cab, turned to yell at the photographer, and raised his hand to cover his face as the next flash went off. He climbed into the car and the driver shut the door behind him.
    “Damn those photographers,” Mac cursed. “God only knows what they’ll print in the paper.”
     
     

Chapter 7

    Kathleen wanted to die. She propped her chin up with her hand, hoping and praying no one would walk in to her office and see that she was half-asleep. She could kill Mac for keeping her out all night. Yet, the magic of the evening played over and over in her brain and heart, and she wouldn’t trade the exhaustion she now suffered for even one moment of her night with the man of her dreams.
    She checked her schedule. No staff meetings, no lunches, no chance of yawning or nodding off to sleep in front of strangers or colleagues. Her desk overflowed with copy, artwork, pressures, and deadlines. Half a dozen phone messages had been affixed to her phone so they wouldn’t get lost in the shuffle. She laughed. Where do I begin?
    In front of her lay the beginnings of an article she had hastily scribbled about “The Arrogant Male.” Words had been crossed out with