A Whirlwind...Makeover. Nancy Lavo
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floated to her office and closed the door to day-dream in privacy. There was no way she could concentrate on the Swanson Shoes account when she had a lunch date with the most beautiful man in the world.
At 11:45 a.m. Maddie grabbed her purse from the bottom drawer of her file cabinet and headed to the ladies’ room for a little prelunch primping. Her conscience nagged her about quitting work so early, but she silenced it with the knowledge that she hadn’t accomplished anything all morning anyway. Who could concentrate on clients when the man of her dreams occupied the office three doors down?
She had the elegant gold-and-ivory powder room to herself. She stopped in front of the first sink under the lighted wall-long mirror and got started. From the large black leather tote bag that did double duty as her purse she pulled out a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. After a thorough scrubbing she gargled a mouthful of the mouth-wash she carried for emergencies.
As she rinsed the residue down the drain she studied her reflection. For a change, her long curly hair hadn’t escaped the two dozen pins and half bottle of hair spray that secured it to her head. It didn’t look great, but it was neat, so she opted to leave it alone.
She wasn’t a big makeup enthusiast so all that was left was to reapply her lipstick. She carefully filled in her upper and lower lip with the tube of rosy-pink gloss she found wedged in the bottom corner of her bag. She smacked her lips together and stepped back from the mirror to get the full effect.
Hmm. No point in kidding herself. Miss America she wasn’t. Unlike her five-foot-three-inch blond sister, who’d had the good sense to take after their beautiful petite mother, Maddie was the spitting image of her dad.
Her smile faded. Though he’d been gone five years now, the still-sharp pain of losing him brought tears to her eyes.
Her dad had been a great big teddy bear—the classic gentle giant. He had stood an impressive six and a half feet tall and weighed in at 290 pounds. Though his size had certainly attracted attention, it was his kind heart and easy-going nature that had endeared him to everyone.
Maddie liked to think she’d inherited his character traits—his incurable optimism and ability to see beyond the surface to the beauty beneath—but she fervently wished that she’d physically favored her mom.
Inner beauty was a fine thing, but it was external beauty that snared the men. It was great to have people say she was the nicest person they knew, but she’d cheerfully forgo the compliment just once for an honest-to-goodness date.
Maddie returned her gaze to her reflection and purposely stretched her mouth into a wide smile. She had a date now—in a manner of speaking. Colton Hartley, advertising executive extraordinaire, was hers for the next hour.
They didn’t have much time. She needed to strategize to make the most of every minute. She’d take him down to the cafeteria on the lobby level. They’d sit at one of the small square tables that lined the far wall of the room. Preferably one tucked behind a potted plant.
She closed her eyes to complete the fairy tale. Without the distractions of fellow employees, they’d talk about themselves and the incredible good fortune that had brought them together. Colton’s beautiful blue eyes would look into hers and he would see her as no one had seen her since her father had been alive. As a rare treasure worthy of love.
Maddie’s heart hammered against her ribs as she reached up to knock on Colton’s door.
“Come in.”
Maddie took two steps into the room that now smelled faintly of his cologne. “Ready to eat?”
He looked up from the notes he was making in the Swanson file. He smiled, his perfect teeth blindingly white against his tan. “You bet.”
He was even better looking than she remembered. She stifled a sigh. “Great. Let’s go.”
It took nearly ten minutes to make the five-second walk to the elevator. It couldn’t be coincidence that every female employee, and a few males, just happened to pop out of their offices at the exact moment she and Colton passed. Though she couldn’t avoid stopping and chatting half a dozen times, she refused to lose sight of her objective. Colton was hers and hers alone for the next hour.
She could have wept with relief when the elevator doors whispered shut on just the two of them.
“Cue Communications is such a friendly place,” Colton said as Maddie pushed the down button.
The man had a gift for understatement. Co-workers mobbed him like groupies around a rock star. “So I’ve noticed.”
He inclined his head to her and smiled. “I appreciate you going to the trouble of showing me around, though I’m sure I could have found the cafeteria on my own.”
“No way.”
Colton’s eyes widened a fraction at the steel in her voice.
She tried for the lowered-chin, look-up-through-the-eyelashes approach. “What I mean is, there’s no way I’d desert you on your first day. I’ve got Cue’s friendly reputation to live up to.”
His face relaxed into a heart-stopping smile. “That’s real nice.”
The elevator doors opened onto the lobby, now crammed with people. Darn. She shouldn’t have waited till straight-up noon to take him to lunch. The cafeteria served good food and was a real favorite with the office-building crowd. They were all here today.
Maddie and Colton fell into the lineup of about twenty people waiting to pick up trays and make selections. She did some hasty calculations. At the rate things were moving they’d have only forty-five minutes sequestered at their table. Only a fool would waste these precious moments in line. And her daddy didn’t raise no fool.
“So, Colton,” she began. “How did you end up at Cue?”
A cute, size-four redhead standing two people in front of them turned at the sound of his name. “Colton? Colton Hartley?”
His handsome face lit up in recognition. “Paige?”
Their warm reunion carried them all the way to the tray and silverware pickup.
“It’s great seeing you, Paige,” Colton said as he pocketed the slip of paper she’d handed him with her phone number on it. “I’ll give you a call and we can get together.”
Maddie didn’t allow her heart to sink. After all, a man like Colton Hartley didn’t reach this stage in his gorgeous life without acquiring a few female friends. Just because their greeting seemed a tad overwarm to Maddie didn’t guarantee that Paige meant anything to him.
“So what’s good?” he asked Maddie, the first time he’d spoken to her since her brief introduction to the red-haired interloper.
“Everything.” Maddie had her eye on the warming tray stacked high with crispy chicken-fried steaks. Yum. A glob of mashed potatoes and cream gravy alongside would make the perfect lunch.
Colton looked down the length of the serving island, considering the options before picking up a chef’s salad and plunking it down on his tray.
“Is that all you’re having?” Maddie asked as they inched their way toward the golden chicken-fried steaks and steaming gravy.
“Yeah.” He motioned toward the steaks and delicacies beyond. “If you eat all that heavy stuff for lunch it doesn’t take long before the pounds start adding up.” He patted his rock-hard stomach for emphasis.
Maddie thought about her own not-so-rock-hard stomach and suddenly the chicken-fried steak didn’t look so good. She snatched up a green salad and a paper container of diet dressing instead. She sped by the freshly baked pies before temptation could destroy her fragile newfound willpower.
After paying the cashier for their food, Colton and Maddie paused to scout the crowded room for a table.
“I think I see a table over there,” Maddie said, pointing to the far wall. She