The Reluctant Cinderella

He hoped so. Greg Banning had been waiting all his life to go crazy over the right woman. And now that he’d finally found her, he wasn’t letting the chance for a little glorious, happy, wild, wonderful insanity slip through his fingers. Not without one hell of a fight.

He introduced her and her team to his father and to the three dark-suited Banning’s vice presidents. She spent a few minutes detailing the qualifications of each of her people, explaining the jobs they all did and how each would contribute to the update of the Banning’s brand.

They dropped the shades and dimmed the lights for the Flash presentation, which was every bit as convincing as he’d expected it would be. Once the show was over, the secretary brought in refreshments. Two hours of brainstorming and Q&A followed.

Those were informative, important hours. Greg gave his full attention to the task at hand. At the same time, he longed for it all to be over. He couldn’t wait to get busy convincing Megan that the two of them had a lot more than business to transact.

It all went off beautifully. Design Solutions won the contract. Next, it would go to legal. Megan, her Web guy and her senior graphic artist would come down into the city on Friday to firm up all the details.

Of course, after the meeting, his father insisted on taking everyone to lunch. But Megan was one step ahead of Gregory Banning, Sr. She had reservations at a really good seafood place right on the Hudson a few miles from her office.

It was after two when his father and the three other executives finally climbed into the stretch limousine and headed back to Manhattan. Greg sent them off without him, explaining that he’d take the train down later, as he had a few more points to go over with Megan.

He didn’t mention that the “points” in question had nothing at all to do with Design Solutions or the big job Megan and her team had just been hired to accomplish. Why should he? They—especially his father—didn’t need to know.

Not yet, anyway.

Megan had called a couple of cabs to get her people back to the office. He took her aside as the others climbed in.

“Stay. Please. I need to talk to you.”

She looked flushed, suddenly. And bewildered. A whole other woman from the smart, savvy entrepreneur who’d just sold Banning’s, Inc. on a complete image makeover. “But I didn’t plan to—”

He cut in—fast—before she could find a way to say no. “You really need to go back inside that terrific restaurant with me.”

“Um. I do?”

“You need another cup of coffee. Or maybe a glass of wine.”

“Oh, no. No wine.” She looked really scared.

And that made him smile. “Coffee it is, then.”

“But—”

“Stay right there. Don’t even move.”

She actually did what he’d told her to do, stood there on the sidewalk as he paid the two cabbies and sent her employees on their way. Then he took her arm—hours and hours he’d been waiting for the chance to do that, to take her arm, to clasp her hand….