Page 12 of One Night with Cinderella

It was like the glamorous set of a 1940s movie.

For a moment she pictured herself dressed in a satin gown with perfectly coiffed hair, large diamond baubles and painted with elaborate makeup, smoking from a long and slender cigarette holder as she blew perfect rings in succession.

The idea made her chuckle.

Allowing herself a quick stretch, Monica pulled on a fresh set of gloves and set about putting the room back to showcase status. She smoothed out any wrinkles in the gray coverlet before she folded it down to the edge of the king-size bed. She turned and noticed the edge of a folder sticking out from the mirror-trimmed antique nightstand. Normally she didn’t venture inside private spaces, but she didn’t want it to appear that she ignored her duties. She pulled the drawer out just enough to ease the folder back inside but found resistance when she tried to close it. She tried twice more with a frown. It felt off track.

Monica pulled the drawer out again to get it back on track. An inadvertent glance down revealed a typed sheet atop the file. She gasped as it registered just what she was seeing, and she rushed to ease the drawer closed. But then she thought one of the Cress parents would know she’d seen the file, and that could lead to her dismissal, so she quickly took the drawer back off track and tried her best to place the file peeking out just the way she’d found it.

She’d rather be admonished for overlooking the drawer than fired and kicked out on the street for seeing that one of the Cress parents—maybe both—currently had their family under surveillance by a private detective.

They were wealthy and powerful but still human, and there was no such thing as a perfect human being. Nor perfect parents. Or family.

Not that she had much experience with one of her own.

But she knew she would rather tackle her loneliness than be in a family that was slowly shifting as the sons all vied for their father’s position as Cress, INC.’s CEO. In the six months since Phillip Sr. had first alluded to stepping down, the closeness she’d witnessed between the five brothers was beginning to fade. That troubled her, but she was a hired employee and said nothing about the more frequent arguments, the sly observations of another brother’s missteps or failures whenever they were in their father’s presence, or the decline in family events over the last few months.

Even the night of the celebration, Gabe had left the rest of the family behind to party alone.

It is none of my concern. It’s my job to clean up their physical messes. Not the emotional ones. I just hate they don’t know how blessed they are to have each other. I wish I had—

She pushed away that long-held regret, refusing to give any more energy to her grief over her parents not wanting her for their own.

Quickly, Monica finished her duties and was glad to leave. She had just peeled back a veil to the Cress family that she could not unsee. With that, she no longer viewed them as a loving, close-knit family.

“Gabe, Gabe, Gabe.”

The memory of that night and his name tumbling from Monica’s lips with a passion she couldn’t hide had him in a trance. So much so that he didn’t even see the Manhattan skyline outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office in the Cress, INC. headquarters in Midtown. Instead, in the reflection, he visualized a scene of him making love to Monica playing out before him.

And that had been nearly a constant during the last three weeks.

Monica had surprised him that night and left him impressed with her ardor. The passion.

Still, no matter how delicious their tryst, it had been a one-time treat. He wasn’t interested in anything more with the shy beauty and her hidden hunger. Nothing could ever be between them but hot sex, and he was willing to honor her request for a one-night stand.

“Just this once. Then I better make it damn good.”

“Please.”

Gabe had learned long ago the leap from good sex to love was easier for some women than most men. And his gut told him Monica Darby was that type. He had no love to give, and he would never want to lead her on when he knew he was just as adamant about his success as he was in avoiding a serious relationship. His romantic history had proven he was unable to balance the expectations of both love and his career without anyone suffering.

Most important, he was fully aware his mother would fire Monica if she discovered their tryst. Common sense said Monica needed her job, and he’d much rather have the trustworthy and efficient woman as their reliable housekeeper than his temporary bedmate. Anything else was selfish on his part.

I can’t believe I almost messed it all up, he thought.

Not that it hadn’t been one hell of a night.

They’d both agreed that they should put the night behind them and move on as if it had never happened.

It’s for the best.

Still, he was quite tired of waking up from erotic dreams of her and taking cold showers to ease his desire.

Bzzzzzz.

Gabe cleared his throat and turned in his chair to face his ebony-wood desk. He pressed the intercom button. “Yes,” he said briskly, flexing his agile fingers before turning to type his password to access his laptop.

“Your brother Phillip Jr. is here,” his assistant said, her voice echoing through the speakerphone of the system.

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