A Whirlwind...Makeover. Nancy Lavo

A preppie-looking guy waved at them from his table some ten yards away.

      “Okay with you?” Colton asked, lifting a muscular shoulder in the direction of the caller.

      Her heart slipped a few notches. “Sure.”

      With Colton now leading, they threaded their way to the table, trays lifted high to keep from bumping into diners. Maddie hung back to allow Colton time to make introductions.

      “Good to see you, Colton.” The preppie clapped Colton on the back. “What brings you to our little corner of the world?”

      The predominately female group seated around the rectangular table greeted Colton like a visiting celebrity. Or a god. A woman skinny enough to shop in the preteen department patted the empty seat next to hers. “Come sit here.”

      While they fussed over Colton, Maddie did the math. One preppie, one accountant type, five skinny hussies and one delectable Colton. Eight bodies. Table for eight.

      There wasn’t room for her.

      Maddie stood several inconspicuous steps from the table, waiting for Colton to notice her predicament. Once he saw she was still standing he’d insist they drag an extra chair up to the table for her.

      She waited.

      When one minute had lapsed into two and he still hadn’t looked up from his friends, Maddie knew she’d been forgotten. She couldn’t blame him. Who wouldn’t forget their own name in the midst of all that adulation?

      Not wanting to embarrass him or herself, Maddie backed up in retreat. As she slowly moved backward, a stupid smile plastered on her face, Maddie didn’t notice the abandoned chair blocking the aisle. Inching along, her leg caught the chair rung and she knew in that awful moment that to cap off her humiliation, she was going to fall.

      “Whoa.” A deep voice rumbled in her ear as strong arms came from behind to steady her.

      Her heart seemed to stop. Her stomach did a long, slow slide. It took Maddie a second or two to realize the hideous downward pull of gravity had been broken. She wasn’t going to fall. She’d been saved.

      Balance restored, Maddie turned, tray in hand, to thank her rescuer.

      Dark eyes, the color of the richest chocolate and tinged with amusement, met hers. “You okay?” he asked.

      Chapter Two

      “I’m fine, thanks to you.” Obviously shaken by her near fall, the woman’s pleasantly husky voice wobbled. “I’m not usually so clumsy. I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

      Dan had seen her slow progress through the crowded room and knew full well why she’d stumbled. She was one-hundred-percent focused on the movie-star guy she’d come in with. As was half the population of the room. “No problem. You want to sit down?” he asked, pointing to the chair that had nearly toppled her. “I’ve got room for you here.”

      After an almost imperceptible glance toward the movie star’s table, she turned to Dan and smiled. “Thanks.”

      She had a great smile. Full. Warm. Sincere.

      And a really great mouth. Full. Warm. Delicious. He knew the camera would love it, though at the moment his thoughts weren’t entirely professional.

      Dan eased the tray from her white-knuckled grip and placed it on the table before maneuvering the chair from the aisle. He waited until she sat down before sitting across from her.

      “I’m Dan Willis.”

      She smiled again. “Maddie Sinclair,” she said, extending her hand to him.

      “Nice to meet you, Maddie.” He glanced down at the puny salad on her tray. “Not much lunch.”

      She looked at the red plastic bowl half filled with greens and wrinkled her nose. “No.”

      He tapped the dessert plate on the edge of his tray. “Tell you what. You eat all your salad and I’ll give you a bite of my pie.”

      She grinned. “Deal.”

      Dan watched her pour the watery dressing over the lettuce and pick up her fork. “Great hands,” he said.

      Her fork froze, drippy lettuce dangling in midair. “I’m sorry?”

      “I said you have great hands. Very graceful. You have the perfect combination of slender palms and long fingers.”

      She looked embarrassed but pleased with the unexpected praise. “Long fingers must be the only perk of being a giant.”

      He heard the dissatisfaction in her voice. “You’re not a giant. You’re tall. What are you, six feet?”

      “Only five-eleven,” she corrected in a way that told him that that one inch was important to her.

      “If I look taller it’s the hair,” she continued while pointing to what looked like an ugly brown badger hibernating on top of her head. “It’s long and thick. I pin it up on the top of my head to keep it out of the way. Once I tried pinning it around the sides of my head, but it looked like I was wearing a hairy inner-tube crown. I probably look taller with it pinned up this way, but really I’m only five-eleven.”

      “I believe you.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “I take it you don’t like being tall.”

      She blew out a frustrated breath. “I hate it. Trust me, it’s only in fairy tales that giants have the advantage. In real life we have to buy ugly flat shoes and slump our shoulders to keep from towering over everyone.”

      “You didn’t seem to tower over the guy you came in with.”

      “Colton?” Her gaze traveled to the movie star’s table and her expression softened. “He’s the perfect height.”

      “Perfect for what?”

      Her eyes remained trained on Colton. “For me.”

      “He’s your guy?” Dan hoped his astonishment didn’t bleed through to his voice.

      She dragged her eyes back to Dan. “No,” she admitted with an embarrassed blush.

      Dan sensed there was an interesting story here. “How do you know him?”

      She leaned in, eager to talk about Colton. “We work together. At Cue Communications. He just came on board today.”

      “You met him today, and you’ve already fallen for him?”

      “Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I’m not usually the impulsive type. I don’t even believe in love at first sight. Or didn’t. There’s just something about Colton.”

      He couldn’t keep the cynicism from his tone. “Mind if I hazard a guess? Could it be that he looks like a movie star?”

      She dismissed the idea with a graceful wave of her hand. “Oh no. I mean, sure, he’s fabulous looking, but there’s more to it than that.”

      “Like what?”

      She hesitated. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

      He hadn’t been tempted to until he saw her suddenly solemn expression. He chewed the insides of his mouth. “I promise.”

      “My dad always told me that when I met Mr. Right, he’d knock me off my feet. Not literally, of course. He used to say that when he met my mom his heart went zing and he knew she was the one. It happened to me today. The minute I saw Colton my heart did this funny thing.”

      Dan resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. “Define ‘funny thing.’”

      She shrugged. “I can’t explain it exactly. It was a weird feeling. First my chest felt kind of tight, and then my heart raced.”

      Dan swallowed his last bite of sandwich. “I don’t think a tight chest and