Cinderella's Christmas Affair by Katherine Garbera

groin. She could tell she’d had an effect on him. With a wink, she said, “That kind of trouble I can handle.”
    “Is there any that you can’t?” he asked, moving closer to her.
    Teasing and lightness were the key to managing Tad. She wasn’t sure, but she thought he might be content with the facade she showed the world instead of trying to see the real woman she hid. “None that you have to worry about.”
    “Who says I’d worry?” he asked, buckling the harness and then wrapping the lights he and Rae-Anne had straightened earlier into a neat coil. He put the lights into a pouch and fastened it to his belt.
    He looked every inch the primal man she knew him to be. Tad was the kind of frontier man who would have been able to support his family with no one else around. He was a survivor and that appealed to her because if the past ten years had taught her anything it was that she was a survivor, too.
    “I knew all that testosterone had killed the gray matter.”
    “Cathy Jane, you are playing with fire,” he said, leaning close to her once again. She grabbed his harness and pulled him closer. His pupils dilated and she knew she was playing a dangerous game.
    Though the store was crowded they were isolated together. They stood on the other side of the barrier that separated the public from the climbing wall.
    “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice low and husky.
    “Checking to make sure your harness is tight.”
    “Why?” he asked.
    She’d needed to touch him again before he climbed the wall. It was kind of high and she didn’t want Tad falling. “Because you’ve got all the trouble you need right here with me.”
    “Now that you’re here, I can handle anything you throw at me. It’s when you’re running that you give me difficulty.”
    “Are you sure you know how to do this rock climbing thing?”
    “Oh, I know exactly what I’m doing on the wall.”
    “What is the point of this?” she asked.
    “Climbing to the top stringing the lights and then rappelling back down. All before Pierce of course.”
    “Pierce is your partner?”
    “Yes.”
    “Is he any good at this?” she asked. What kind of competition was this going to be? From the job perspective this could be just the thing they needed to give Xtreme Sports the edge.
    “He’s second best,” Tad said.
    “You wish,” a man said.
    CJ turned to see a very well-built man in a wheelchair. He had kind eyes and was wearing a harness like Tad’s.
    “Cat Girl meet Pierce. Pierce, this is Cathy Jane Terrence.”
    “Cat Girl?” Pierce asked, glancing up at her.
    She knew she was going to regret that name from the moment she’d met up with Tad. But as she stared at him, very much at home in his environment she realized she didn’t regret having him in her life again.

Seven

    “T hat name is a long story and one that needs to stay in the past. Please call me CJ,” she said, taking the hand Pierce held out to her.
    Pierce took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I like stories, tell me about this name of yours.”
    CJ flushed and Tad realized that their inside jokes were meant to stay inside. And he knew that the name, which had been her rebellion against a group of peers who didn’t see beyond her outer shell, was still a point of vulnerability with her. Why hadn’t he realized it before now?
    “We knew each other in high school. That was her nickname then,” Tad said at last.
    CJ gave him a surprisingly grateful look. Did she still not trust him?
    “I can see where you got that nickname. You are sexy, but I am surprised high school boys would have been able to appreciate the nuances of your charm.”
    CJ shrugged and Tad remembered how he hadn’t made her life any easier during that time. Her expression made Tad want to carry her away from Pierce and the crowded store. He wanted to find a secluded place to apologize once again for the idiot he’d been as a boy. To promise