Read Online Cinderella's Christmas Affair by Katherine Garbera - Free Book Online

was sorry. She was sorry. Damn. It sounded like she was on the verge of tears and without really thinking about it, he grabbed the handset.
    “CJ?” he asked.
    She took a deep breath and then in a husky voice said, “Oh, you’re home.”
    He didn’t know what to say to this woman who he wanted to marry but wouldn’t let himself love. The woman who had more walls than he knew how to scale. The woman who had become the one he wanted. “I was working out.”
    “Um…I just wanted to thank you for dinner. That was really nice of you,” she said.
    Tad knew he could hold onto his anger and let this relationship go no further or he could let it go and try to understand why Cathy Jane always ran. “No problem.”
    Silence buzzed on the open line. Why had she called tonight?
    “Listen, we need to talk,” she said, as he heard pans clatter in the sink. Then water running.
    “I’ll say.”
    “Are you going to listen or be mad at me?” she asked. The water shut off. He pictured her in her kitchen. In his mind she wore those tight jeans she’d had on earlier.
    “CJ, I sat at a table for two in a very expensive restaurant waiting for you for over an hour.”
    She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
    “Yeah, right. Why’d you agree to have dinner with me?” he asked. But his mind wasn’t on his anger. Lust had kindled to life the minute he’d realized she was in the kitchen where he’d kissed her. He could still feel the softness of her curves against his body. His blood ran heavier.
    “You were pushing too hard.”
    Not as hard as he’d wanted to or else they’d both be in his bed right now instead of in their own houses having a tense conversation on the phone. “I was, but you know I wouldn’t force you into anything you didn’t want to do.”
    “I guess.”
    “Are you afraid of me?” he asked. He didn’t think she was. The way she’d kissed him this afternoon told him that she didn’t fear him on an instinctual level.
    “I don’t know.”
    “I’m not the same guy you used to know.” Whatever happened now, he refused to leave things in the weird limbo they’d been in since the last time they’d seen each other in Florida. He liked the woman CJ had become. Liked that she was a successful businesswoman. Liked that she was sassy and smart and sexy as hell.
    “Well I’m not the same girl either.”
    He leaned against his desk. What was she driving at? She’d hinted earlier that she’d changed. But then when he’d given her the opportunity to tell him or show him, she’d chickened out. “I know. What can I do to convince you I’m not a monster?”
    “I don’t think you’re a monster.”
    “Then what’s going on here?” he asked.
    “I’ve never been able to deal with desire well,” she said in a shaky voice.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I want you.”
    His groin hardened and his entire body started to pulse in time with his heartbeat. He straightened and paced around the room. “I want you too. So what’s the problem?”
    “You want to marry me,” she said.
    “I’m not following,” he said. She made him feel like an idiot sometimes.
    “I’ve never been able to handle a committed relationship and have a life at the same time.”
    “I’m not planning on taking over your life.”
    “No you wouldn’t plan on it. But it would happen all the same.”
    “Why do you think that? I don’t want to run your life,” he said. He meant it, too. He’d learned a long time ago that women need their space. He just wanted someone to share the success he’d achieved.
    “What do you want from me?”
    “The future. Our future. Not one where we live separate lives but one where we’re together.”
    “That sounds so easy.”
    “It is. Trust me.”

    Trust him. There was a part of her that wanted to just give in and do whatever Tad asked of her. She’d always liked strong-willed men because life around them was blissfully effortless.
    That was why she didn’t trust herself. Not