It was barely six in the morning. Charlotte closed her eyes and sipped the coffee she had treated herself to on the way into work. It was going to be the first of many caffeine breaks she’d need to get through the day.

She’d cleared the work from the Barton File as much as she could have on a Sunday, but it had been one in the morning before she been able to head to bed.

She must remember to make time and book her flight to Melbourne today. If she left it too much longer, she might not be able to get a seat. Going back home was one break she was looking forward to. For the first time in her career, she was bone tired. Even though Gabe was a great boss and was teaching her everything she needed to know about running a multimillion dollar business, sometimes even workaholics like herself needed a few days off.

Besides, she hadn’t seen her parents in such a long time. The longest time she had been away in her entire life. The cold hand of guilt squeezed her heart. Mum had had such a tough year. Her sister had done an amazing job helping Dad with the numerous doctor appointments, but Natalie had two children under five and was busy enough with her own family. Not like herself who didn’t even have time to date anyone.

Not that she’d put herself out there to meet anyone anyway. Not when she had to do what she was doing for the ultimate sake of her family. Natalie had married and had provided the grandchildren for Mum and Dad. While Charlotte was already twenty eight, and without any prospects at all, Natalie’s kids were the only grandchildren her parents were likely to get. Still, Charlotte would sacrifice a family of her own for her parents. They were such kind people, that they deserved a better future than the run of bad luck that had taken everything they’d worked so hard for. Bad luck and the actions of someone she’d thought of as a family member using them. Not to mention her own fault with the whole miserable mess.

Charlotte never reverted to violence, but just once she’d like to slap her father’s friends face for what he’d done to her parents. She’d imagined doing it so many times it still made her so mad thinking of the mess he’d left them in.

Swallowing her anger, Charlotte settled into her chair and turned the computer on. It was just firing up when Gabe strode into the office, all powerful six-foot plus of him. The man certainly had presence, and like her workaholic self, was unattached as well. Not that she had any feelings of a romantic thought at all towards him. They were professional colleagues as well as sharing a friendship that working closely with another person developed.

She wondered if he’d make a great husband for some lucky girl, just as she might make a great wife for a man she loved. But as soon as that thought swept into her mind, she firmly set it aside. There was simply no room in her life for a diversion. She tried to dismiss the tug on her heart that bordered on painful, but it steadfastly refused to be ignored. Charlotte frowned. That wouldn’t do at all.

“Scowling so early on Monday morning, Charlotte?” Gabe stood on the other side of her desk looking every inch the suave smart businessman he was.

“Not at you, Gabe. Just thinking about things I don’t have time for,” Charlotte said.

“Speaking of which, I need a Christmas advertising campaign across all of our stores,” Gabe said.

Charlotte sent him a raised brow, “I thought you weren’t interested in doing anything special for Christmas.”

Gabe waved his hand in the air, “I’ve had a change of mind. I want to offer a super-special to our existing clientele, so that people get their hair cut through the Chanukah period and Christmas Day. I want all of our shops to open later on the week leading up to the twenty fifth and a discount if they mention that they’ve seen the advertising.”

“All the shop managers will have to be on the same page. This will include a consumer advertising schedule, a social media schedule and maybe something mass, like newspaper advertising as well as an internal campaign. The timing will be close,” Charlotte mused.

Gabe sent her a devastating smile, “See how Andrew from KnowFactor is situated. The two of you work well together.”

Taking on this project was going to seriously compromise getting home for Christmas. She only hoped that Andrew had the available man -power to help. This was an already busy time of year.

“I’ll do what I can, Gabe. But the timing is very close,” Charlotte said.

“If anyone can do it, you can Charlotte.”

Charlotte nodded. She’d just need a minute to steel herself to talk to Mr. Sex-on-a-stick Andrew Robinson. “I’ll ring Andrew. See what he can do.”

“Thanks, Charlotte. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you,” Gabe said.

“You’d have to hire three people,” Charlotte said and caught Gabe’s deep chuckle as he disappeared into his office.

She did love this job, and she’d learned so much from Gabe, but sometimes he had unrealistic expectations about how long things took to put into place properly. Especially a campaign that needed to be thought out properly, consumers engaged and store managers brought in line with what Gabe wanted. Any weakness in the chain and they’d all be in trouble, not to mention the social ramification if someone was turned away because the store manager didn’t know about the promotion.

Luckily she had Andrew.

Thinking of whom… Charlotte tried to stifle the tingling in the pit of her stomach as she dialed Andrew’s number. He answered on the second ring. “Hi, Charlotte. How are you this fine morning?” Warm honey soothed her soul before she realised it was only six thirty in the morning.

“Oh! I didn’t realise how early it is. I just had my mind on business. If it’s too early I can ring back later.” This was a normal starting time for her work day but she often forgot that normal people started at a more decent hour.

A quick chuckle followed her statement. “Relax, Charlotte. I’m an early bird too, remember?”

She’d often rung him early, but not quite this early. Maybe he was just waking up and had answered her call while he was still in bed. She could just imagine his sleep jostled hair and the extra warm touch of his skin from bed. She wondered if he was as toned as he looked beneath those well fitted stylish business suits he wore so well.

“Charlotte?”

“Uh… Yes! Yes. I was just getting an early start on the day, and have some work I want to go through with you, but just give me a call when you’re in the office and we can go through everything then.” Geez, blabber much, Charlotte!

“No need to do that. I’m five minutes away from your building as we speak. How about we meet at the little cafe across the road from your work and we can go over what you’d like me to do over breakfast. I bet you haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?”

That was the other unnerving thing about Andrew. He always had this sixth sense about her. And he was right. She’d rushed out of the house with no time for breakfast and with the stress of the now extra workload she was more than ready for caffeine despite the coffee she’d already had. The thought of seeing Andrew in a few minutes though, had her nerves working in a shambled mess.

She wanted to see him like some sort of drug she couldn’t work out of her system, which made distancing herself a little bit harder every time. So far, despite numerous times he’d asked her to lunch or dinner to discuss work, she’d managed to keep their meetings in business hours. Business hours she could cope with. Anything else might be too much of a temptation.

She opened her mouth to refuse, but Andrew cut her off. “It’s a good time, Charlotte. You can have me while I’m fresh.”

“What?” Illicit images ran through her mind. She really needed to get a grip.

His chuckle had her nerves jangling all over again. “I think better in the mornings, and I’m free until eight. I need to have breakfast and I was headed there anyway. How about we kill two birds with one stone? You need to eat, I need to eat, and you need to unburden yourself from this work Gabe has lumped you with. If nothing else I can take the burden off your workload.”

There we went again. Knowing things that he couldn’t possibly know because she hadn’t told him yet. “How did you…?”

“There is no other reason anyone would call me at six thirty in the morning. And I know your boss. He expects a lot from you and I gather he just dropped another project on your desk,” Andrew said.

“Well, yes. There is a new project.” Her first instinct was to stand up for Gabe, but this latest project was going to push her limits, especially since she was so desperate to get home. A wave of homesickness suddenly washed through her and she yearned to feel her mother’s arms around her again. Maybe this was a good time of day after all. Get in early and let Andrew help.

“You can come down straight away. To the Roll-Over Café. I already have a table while we’ve been talking. See you in a couple of minutes.”

She really needed to get this plan up and running as quickly as possible. Andrew usually was hard to get, with back to back meeting himself during the day. Usually it was a lesson in coordination just to tee up a time. “Well, okay then. Thank you, Andrew. I appreciate your consideration.”

“I’m looking forward to it, Charlotte.” Andrew’s voice was low, almost a murmur and her skin dimpled with goose bumps at the sound.

Sighing, she reached for her handbag and headed to the elevator trying to ignore the way her heart fluttered with anticipation. Control yourself, Charlotte. You’re a professional businesswoman. Andrew is a professional businessman. He’s being nice because you’re a client, that’s all. He’s being nice to you because it’s business and Gabe spends a lot of money with him. It’s called being professional. Time to suck it up and be a professional yourself.