Attitude Read Online Free PDF Page B

finger in the air in his direction—"are a jerk."
    "So I've been told."
    "I should walk... straight out that door."
    "Is that your final answer?"
    "No! But I darn well have to think about it."
    "How long will the thinking part take?" He looked at his watch. "Time is something I'm short on. Hud either catches a plane in an hour, or stays. It's up to you."
    "You really are a jerk."
    He looked at his watch again. "And you're repeating yourself. Do you want the job or not?"
    She looked mad and mulish. He sighed, got to his feet, and went to stand in front of her. He lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers.
    "Look, Cameron, you're a pretty woman with a decent body." He hesitated. "I think." He stopped when her weird lavender scent and some kind of lemony smell drifted up from her hair. And while the two scents warred with each other, he breathed them in. Distracted, he went on. "Although it's damn hard to tell from this side of the drapery. And you have great skin, like rich cream." He smoothed a thumb across her cheek. The warmth and heat in it jolted him. Her gaze, hot and bright, collided with his, and his groin tightened. It surprised the hell out of him. He liked smells like vanilla and rose. He liked women in tight jeans or slinky evening dresses. What the hell he was doing soaking up lavender and lemon worn by a woman who probably starched her bras, he couldn't figure. He looked for words and found some. "I'm not asking you to turn yourself inside out. But for the next couple of months you'll be representing my company. Meeting a lot of people. All I'm asking is that you accentuate the positive for the benefit of Cinema Neo and Ginger Ink."
    "And if I refuse, I won't get the job?"
    "I'm afraid so. This is a sharp, fast-moving, contemporary industry, Cameron. We're not talking Sound of Music and Mary Poppins. Cinema Neo is edgy, distinctive, and modern. I want that image projected by everyone associated with it. Especially the person in charge of public relations. So what do you say?"
    "I say I should be judged on my brain not my fashion picks. I should be able to wear burlap and safety pins, and you shouldn't have a thing to say about it. But I want the job." She put out her hand. "I'll revisit my closet, that's all I can promise."
    Cal took her outstretched hand, wondered how she made a hand, so delicate and butterfly soft, feel like a carpenter's vise. Even so, he wanted to hang on to it. "I'll settle for anything that dispels the idea you've been in cryogenic storage for forty years."
    "Ah, not only is he arrogant and heavy-handed, he's a comedian."
    "Laugh or cry. Take your pick." He was sure he spotted a brief curve of her full, pale lips.
    Then her face went paper blank. "Right now, I don't feel like doing either one. I'd prefer to work. I'll get my presentation folder. It's in the car."
    "You brought it?"
    "Of course, I brought it. Why wouldn't I?"
    Because I told you not to. "Maybe because we hadn't exactly settled things," he said, suddenly remembering she'd also ignored him when he'd canceled their appointment yesterday.
    She waved his comment away as if the settling part had been decided before she'd left home. "Do I get it or not? It wouldn't hurt to go over some preliminary plans."
    "Sure, why not? While you're doing that I'll call Hud. Tell him to catch his plane."
    Ginger headed for the door.
    "Cameron?" he called.
    She swiveled. "Yes?"
    "We have an understanding, right? You are going to power up your wardrobe?"
    "I said I would, didn't I?"
    He stroked his jaw. "You did."
    "Then you have nothing to worry about."
    Cal watched her walk out the door. Worried? Cal never worried. The twist in his belly was just leftover tension. It wasn't every day a man told a woman how to dress for the job.
    The twist morphed into a tight knot.
    And it wasn't every day a man decided to trust a woman who'd already snookered him—twice. But there was something about Ginger...
    * * *
    It was late afternoon, a few days later,