Attitude Read Online Free PDF Page A

it."
    "Hudson." Cal's tone was low and lethal.
    Ginger didn't miss a beat, even though she suspected the polished Hudson Blaine expected she'd fall flat on her unbuffed face. "And I'd love to show it to you." She glanced at Cal. He looked thunderous. She plopped her case on his desk and started to unzip it. "I've got some great ideas for Cinema Neo and—"
    "Miss Cameron?" Cal put a hand over hers, effectively terminating the unzip.
    She looked up at him, unaccountably flustered by the slide of his warm hand over her knuckles. "Yes," she croaked, desperate to look assured, but afraid she'd only managed the desperate part.
    Cal looked as if he were about to loose a blister of words, but instead he took a noisy breath, and left his hand to linger over hers. "You've got twenty minutes," he said, then gestured at Hudson Blaine with a jut of his chin. "And you owe it to him. Better say your thanks now, because after you leave he's going to have an unfortunate accident."
    Hudson chuckled and pulled out a chair. "Ginger, take a seat. Let's make the big guy squirm."
    * * *
    An hour later Cal walked Ginger out of his office and out the main theater door to the street. The sun hit her eyes with a blinding smack, but she'd barely blinked before Cal had the doors locked behind her.
    When she got to her aging Omega, she slumped against it with the sluggishness of a centenarian on tranquilizers, her mind alternately buzzing and whiting out. She brushed an errant curl behind her unstudded ear.
    She'd blown it.
    She'd given it her best shot and had the biggest misfire in her brilliantly short career. She sighed. Ginger Ink was back to promoting doughnut shops and tire sales.
    Hudson was nice enough, but Beaumann? He hadn't said a word during the entire presentation. Sat there and glowered like an old bull moose with a rock in its hoof. Not a question, not a nod, not a sign she'd made any impression at all.
    She'd exhale if her lungs weren't filled with lead. Still, she couldn't figure out if she was mad or sad.
    She chalked the feeling up to disappointment, got in her car, and fired it up. She needed a cream puff drenched in chocolate, and she needed it fast.
    To hell with Cal Beaumann and his precious Cinema Neo.
    * * *
    "You have to go with her, Cal. That was great stuff." Hud poured himself a glass of water and went back to his chair.
    "I don't know." Cal shook his head, still in doubt.
    "Why the hell not?"
    "God, Hud, you saw the way the woman was dressed."
    "So undress her. You used to be pretty good at that as I remember."
    "Funny," he answered dryly, knowing he'd been thinking the same thing all through Ginger's presentation. Take it off, Ginger. Take it all off.
    "She's into retro." Hud shrugged. "What's the big deal?"
    "The deal is she looks like a nineteen-twenties Salvation Army officer." Cal got to his feet. "Her ideas for radio spots, local ads, and press releases? Great, sure, but the meet-the-people part of this project? I can't see it."
    "So tell her to pick up her image. Get some new clothes."
    "Tell a woman what to wear? I'd rather face a prison riot with a water pistol."
    "Your call, but under that tarp she calls a suit there's a helluva creative person." Hud got to his feet. "I'm going back to the hotel. Call when you decide." He paused. "And remind yourself of this... she'll be a lot cheaper than The Blaine Group."
    Cal watched him go. Money! It always came down to money.
    He leveled his shoulders, committed himself to the equivalent of an hour walking a bed of burning coals. He'd do it. He'd take Hud's advice, tell Cameron to take off her clothes... change her style.
    He'd be straightforward, businesslike, and above all, tactful with a capital T. He'd call her tomorrow, set up a meeting.
    How bad could it be?
    * * *
    "Get up, Ginge. It's the phone. And it's him!" Tracy yelled as if she were trying to hurl her words to the third floor instead of the two feet separating her from Ginger's bed.
    Ginger blinked, stared at the