One Night Forever (The Cinderella Chronicles) (20 page)

Her gaze moving from one
to the other, Lauren wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. She
threw her hands in the air and marched toward the bedroom. To make
matters worse, she was almost certain she heard them laughing as
she did.

Could her life get any
more complicated?

Chapter Twenty-Three

Monday morning came way
too fast. The weekend had been heaven and Lauren had wanted it to
last forever and ever. At the inhumane hour of six o’clock in the
morning, already dressed for work, Lauren sat in a coffee shop.
Matt stood a few feet away at the register ordering their
drinks.

Just an hour before,
they’d been making passionate love. She sighed and propped her hand
under her chin, supported by her elbow. The weekend had been
amazing. Perfect. And now, it was…over. Matt left town this morning
for the rest of the week. This should come with relief. It would be
a cooling-off period. A chance for them to separate themselves from
one another.

But even as
she worked to bring herself back to reality, her thoughts drifted
to the prior day, and she found herself smiling. They were both so
excited about the BG account that they had actually worked through
some of the presentation together. They laughed, and joked, but at
the same time really made progress. Somehow combining work with
their time together made what they were doing worse, yet, she
couldn’t help herself. The shared excitement for advertising had
taken hold and dominated. She’d wondered if he’d felt as she had.
As if work intruding on their weekend somehow made it dirty or
wrong. She almost laughed out loud at that. It
was
wrong.

They had spent Sunday
seeing one of the new action flicks. A definite guy film, but she
hadn’t minded. A chick flick would have just made her want to jump
him in the theatre. As it was, she had struggled to keep Matt in
check when the lights went down. Pigging out on candy and popcorn
had been fun.

“
You’re
thinking way too hard. Save whatever it is until I’m out of
town.”

Lauren looked as Matt sat
down, sliding her coffee in front of her. She hadn’t even seen him
approach, she’d been so deep in thought. Eyeing him, she reached
for her coffee. “You still haven’t told me what you and my mother
talked about.”

He smiled. “I’ll let you
try and entice it out of me when I get back in town.”

Lauren frowned. “I’m
serious.”

“
So you’ve
told me the other twelve times you’ve asked.” He winked. “You’ll
just have to use your arsenal when I get home.”

She made a face. “I
already tried that several times and it didn’t work.”

Matt laughed. “But wasn’t
it fun?”

The warm sweet coffee
touched her tongue. It tasted good but her stomach was doing funny
things. She sat it back down, not so sure drinking it was a good
idea. Matt leaving was bothering her more than it
should.

Studying her, Matt
reached across the table and touched her hand. “What’s wrong,
sweetheart?”

She sighed and looked up
at him. The way he called her ‘sweetheart’ really tugged at her
heartstrings. He did it a lot. That and ‘baby’ were his two
endearments. “I don’t really know. I just feel…” How did she
explain what she didn’t understand?

“
I wish I
didn’t have to leave,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “I
promised Bret I’d go to a fashion show they’re holding in Los
Angeles.”

Lauren was about to
respond when she saw the receptionist from Carlson walk in the
door. She stiffened. “Oh God, Lori just walked in. What’s she doing
out so early?” Lauren fixed Matt in an accusing stare. “I told you
this was too close to work.”

Matt narrowed his gaze on
her. “We’re dressed for work. It simply looks like we’re discussing
the campaign.”

Lauren nodded, but she
felt the truth in the churn of her already-upset stomach. “Right.”
And she had some swampland to sell.

Matt pushed to his feet
and dropped a couple of bills on the table. “Come on.”

Lauren looked up at him.
Wouldn’t leaving make them more obvious? “Where are we
going?”

Matt’s expression was
indiscernible but she noted the flex of his jaw as if he was
grinding his teeth. Then in a low, intense voice, “Somewhere where
I don’t have to pretend I am not the man who made love to you all
weekend long.”

Meaning delivered with a
punch. She felt his words with the poison intended. He was mad.
Lauren stood, not making eye contact with him. She felt the burn of
reciprocating anger. They walked out of the coffee shop while Lori
paid the cashier.

Her heels hit the
pavement, accented the silence between them. The car was around the
corner, out of view. For that, Lauren was thankful. Yet, with every
step she took, her temper pitched a level higher. Matt held her
door open for her, but still, they made no eye contact. It was all
she could do to bite her tongue.

Once they were both
inside, Lauren turned to Matt. “I can’t believe you’re mad. Don’t
you see what this could do to me?”

Matt stared at Lauren for
long moments and then turned away. Gripping the steering wheel, he
bit back words. As crazy as many might think him, he’d made a
decision this weekend. He loved Lauren and wanted to marry
her.

“
What I see is
you overreacting.”

“
Overreacting?” Lauren said incredulously. “How can you say
that? What if she tells someone?”

He turned just his head
to look at her. “Then you tell them we were working.”

“
But we
weren’t.”

Now she wasn’t making
sense. “No one knows that but us.”

“
Lori knows. I
know she does.”

“
Lauren, I’m
not sorry we’re seeing each other. Gossip happens. Whatever she
says I’ll deal with it.”

She glowered at him.
“It’s not the same for you as it is me. You’re the
boss!”

Drawing a breath, Matt
counted to ten in his mind. The chances that he might be less than
objective about this situation were high and he knew it. Lauren had
valid reasons to be concerned. Yet, a part of him wanted to just
say, “marry me” and shut them all up.

“
At what point
will you be willing to disclose our relationship?”

“
I don’t even
know how to respond to that.” Crossing her arms in front of her
body, she angled her body away from him. “When would you if you
were in my shoes?”

He forced himself to take
a mental step backwards. “You’re right, Lauren.” His hand went to
her arm. “I know how it would look for you.”

She turned to him then.
“I have a lot to lose,” she whispered.

He brushed his knuckles
down her cheek. “I know, sweetheart. I know.Glancing at the clock.
“I have to go to the airport. I’ll call you tonight and we can
talk.”

Her bottom lip trembled.
“You don’t have to. I’m fine.”

“
I want to,”
Matt said. “Now kiss me like you’re going to miss me.” But he
didn’t give her time. He kissed her with everything he had. A long,
passionate kiss meant to tell her how special she was to
him.

* * * * *

Lauren shut her office
door thankful for the escape to privacy. Watching Matt drive away
had almost brought her to tears. What the heck was happening to
her? She didn’t cry over men.

Before she
could even make it to her desk, a knock sounded on her door.
Damn it.
“Come in.”

Lauren settled into her
chair as Celia walked into the room looking more than a little
distressed. “Why do I know I’m going to hate what you’re going to
tell me?”

Celia shut the door and
crossed the room before she responded. Once she was seated directly
across from Lauren, she asked, “Are you seeing Matt?”

Lauren’s eyes fell shut.
This was not happening. She forced herself to make eye contact with
Celia. “Why would you ask me something like that?”

Celia cleared her throat.
“Lori saw you two together.”

The office had been open
all of a half-hour and already Lori had spread the gossip. It made
Lauren mad. “Tell Lori if she comes up with a good idea for the BG
account she might just get invited to coffee as well.” It wasn’t
like Lauren to be snide, but she was really ticked. And
hurt.

Celia smiled. “I thought
it was something like that. I’ll pass the word.” She made a face.
“I better start with Greg, who loves trouble almost as much as he
does his own looks.”

Lauren would have laughed
if she didn’t feel so much like screaming. “Great,” she muttered.
Then, louder to Celia. “I’m going to look like dirt before this is
over.”

Celia sighed. “I wish I
could say that wasn’t true.”

Lauren waved a dismissive
hand. “But you can’t, so don’t bother.”

“
Sorry
sweetie,” Celia said as she stood up. “I’ll do what damage control
I can.”

Lauren nodded. “I
know.”

But the truth was, Lauren
had made her own bed, and now she had to lie in it. And this time
without Matt.

The writing was on the
wall. You play, you pay. Lauren had to end things with Matt if she
had any hope of making a living in advertising.

As she had known from the
beginning, he would survive the end of their affair, but her career
might not. If she had any hope of salvaging her future in
advertising, she had to get busy rebuilding what was left of her
reputation.

Which meant she had to
leave Carlson.

Chapter Twenty-Four

On Friday morning, Lauren
sat at her desk, absently tapping a pencil on the wooden top, and
trying to figure out how to get out of that night’s BG party. Matt
would be arriving back in town just in time to make a showing with
the guest of honor from BG by his side.

Seeing Matt would be hard
enough without doing it in front of the entire staff. Matt had
called every night he was away. Each time she hadn’t answered,
letting the machine pick up. By Thursday his messages weren’t so
nice anymore. He knew she was avoiding him, and actually demanded
she call him.

She laughed at that. He
didn’t know her well if he thought demanding would work. The phone
on her desk rang, making her jump as it pulled her out of her
reverie. Lauren grabbed it. “This is Lauren.”

“
So it
is.”

Matt’s very irritated
voice made her stomach flutter. “Oh, uh, hi.” Busted. She should
have known he would call the office after last night’s
message.

“
Talk to me,
Lauren.” His voice was low, but intense.

She dropped the pencil.
“I don’t know what to say.”

“
That’s
becoming your famous line for everything you want to avoid. Why
can’t you say what’s on your mind?”

“
Fine,” she
said. “You want to know what’s going on? I can’t see you
anymore.”

Silence. One beat. Two.
“Is that what you really want?”

She knew the answer was
“yes”. Knew it. Why something different came out of her mouth was
what she didn’t know. “No,” she half-whispered. “You know it’s
not.”

“
Do
I?”

“
Yes,” she
said in a shaky voice. “You do.”

“
Then why are
we even having this conversation?”

She didn’t want to do
this on the phone but on the other hand getting it over with had
its plus side. Like no more worrying about how and when to say what
was on her mind. “If I keep seeing you, then I’m going to
resign.”

Silence again.

“
I can’t do
both,” Lauren added.

“
We’ll talk
tonight.” There was no give to his voice. “It’ll work out. I
promise.” His voice was different now, gentler. “Deal?”

“
Talking won’t
change anything. I wish it could but it won’t.”

“
It will,” he
said firmly, and then lowered his voice, “I missed you,
Lauren.”

God, he was making this
hard. And though she knew she shouldn’t say it, she did… “I missed
you, too.”

So much for her
resolve.

* * * * *

Lauren chose a
form-fitting dark blue dress to wear to the party. Underneath, she
wore red lace panties and a matching bra. For Matt. She didn’t even
pretend differently. She wanted to be with him just one more time.
How many times had she said that before? Just one more
time…

But this time would
really be the last time.

It had to be.

How ironic that the party
was at the hotel she and Matt called their secret little world. It
gave the night a certain seductive quality.

Reaching for her purse,
Lauren stilled at the sound of a knock on the door. Her heart
flip-flopped. For some reason, she knew it was Matt. She raced
across the room and pulled the door open. He stood there, a
suitcase in hand, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, nowhere near
ready for the party, looking rugged and sexy.