Charming Co-Worker - Jeannine Colette

Chapter One

“A toast to the best company in the world!” Branson Ford raises his champagne flute as he stands in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows at the top of Time Warner Center. “May your joys be seen through rose-colored glasses, and may all your pain”—he pauses and gives the crowd his pristine smile—“be cham-pain!”

The room erupts in laughter as Branson tips his flute toward the room of Empire Media employees dressed in their finest holiday garb.

“Cheers!” He takes a sip of Dom Pérignon, and the room reciprocates as I stand here and let out a wishful, yearning sigh.

All I want for Christmas is Branson Ford.

With his jet-black hair, piercing blue eyes, and the face of a Disney prince, he is the catnip to my kitty; he’s the most handsome man in New York and the one I’ve been prowling after for two long years. Well, prowling might be too strong a word. I’ve more sat quietly at my desk, waiting for my boss and man I desire to pay the slightest bit of attention to me.

But that ends tonight.

Right here, right now, I think I’m finally going to pounce. How exactly is up in the air.

“Looks like someone has their rose-colored glasses on,” a deep baritone says from behind me.

I’d know that smooth-talking voice anywhere.

Hunter Johnstone—a producer at our fine media company, the office flirt, and most importantly, my friend—is standing a few feet away, holding two drinks in his hands.

“I don’t wear glasses,” I muse as I turn to face him fully.

He walks forward and raises a brow. “You’re worrying that pretty lip. What’s going on in that head of yours, Katie McGee?”

I hadn’t realized I was gnawing, like he so nicely pointed out. I release it and raise my chin while pushing my shoulders back. “Just admiring Branson’s toast. It was very witty.”

Hunter gives me a disbelieving smile as he holds out a glass of whiskey to me.

I take the offered glass and drop my shoulders. “How did you know I needed whiskey?”

“I notice things,” he states with a devilish grin as he raises his drink to his lips.

I don’t miss the way women in the room look at Hunter standing here with me. He’s quite the eligible bachelor around the office—one that many try to gain the attention of and succeed.

He’s good-looking, I admit, with his masculine jaw that always has a bit of scruff. Six feet tall with brown hair, caramel eyes, and the fine black tapered suit he’s wearing shows off his body perfectly. Hunter is what Janice from Accounting refers to as a panty-dropper.

His hair is slightly unkempt, and his tie is already loosened with the top button of his shirt undone, giving him a devilish look, like he just made out with someone in the coat closet.

Actually, knowing Hunter, maybe he did.

He’s brawnier and more roguish than most men. But his inability to commit to any woman is a huge turn-off to me. Not that I’ve ever considered. I’m taken by another man. In my mind at least.

I look back at Branson as he gives his dashing grin to a woman who’s come over to say hello to him. He’s wearing his charcoal-brown houndstooth suit that makes him look even more like the gentleman that he is. I let out a long exhale.

“So, what’s the plan to seduce the prince tonight?”

Hunter’s words have me spinning to him with wide eyes. “There is no plan,” I scoff in a whisper-yell, looking around to make sure no one heard his comment.

A waitress comes by with a tray of puff pastries. I refuse while Hunter takes one and pops it into his mouth before winking at her as she walks away with a smile.

His eyes are back on me with a wry expression. “When are you going to admit that you want to sleep with your boss?”

I balk at the inappropriate conversation. Not that we haven’t had many in the past. As a senior producer on one of Empire Media’s most-watched programs, Hunter is in my office every day for a meeting with Branson. While he waits for Branson, he always takes a seat at the chair nearest my desk and tells me stories about projects he’s working on, weekend trips he jetted off to, or some anecdote about a woman he’s dating. There have been many in the months since we’ve met.

Over the years, he’s become a bright spot in my day and someone I look forward to seeing at his regularly scheduled eleven o’clock meeting.