Pencil Him In

Dear Reader,

I am so excited to be a part of Harlequin Flipside! I love reading—and writing!—romantic comedy. I’ve discovered that it helps keep the smile (truly, that’s a smile, not a grimace) on my face in the course of my day-to-day life. And I’m sure I’m not alone. We all work too hard and too much, so a good dose of humor is absolutely necessary. It helps us keep our perspective and maintain our attitude in the face of, well, all of it! How else would we be able to convince ourselves that high heels and thong underwear are comfortable? Really, they are! What are we thinking?

In the midst of one of those daily internal discussions about the comfort of my clothes, I started thinking about the price of beauty, about our busy lives…and Anna, the heroine of this story, was born. Her job takes all of her attention until, suddenly, she’s on sabbatical and staring some questionable beauty regimes in the face. Daunting for a woman who’s used to letting her hair down, eating what she wants and not sucking in her belly.

I hope you find this story funny and entertaining.

Happy reading,

Molly O’Keefe

Too bad Anna lost that particular battle. Finally, the spa torture was over and—bowlegged and sore in places she didn’t even want to think about—she walked out the big red doors, vowing never to go back.

“Look at you, Anna,” Camilla cooed. “You look wonderful.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Anna hissed under her breath, trying to keep her clothes from rubbing up against the new hairless parts of her body.

“Anna? What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong,” she whispered furiously. “Hot wax is wrong. It’s wrong in a million ways.”

“I take it you didn’t like—”

“Yeah, no. I didn’t like.”

“That’s too bad because you look like a new woman.”

“There is no new woman, Camilla. It’s still me just chaffed.” If this was the price for beauty, Anna was content to forever window-shop.

Pencil Him In

Molly O’Keefe

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Molly O’Keefe grew up reading in a small farming town outside of Chicago. She went to Webster University in St. Louis where she graduated with a degree in journalism and English and met a Canadian who became her college editor and later her husband and tennis partner. She spent a year writing for regional publications and St. Louis newspapers, before she began moving around the country and writing romance novels. At age twenty-five, she sold her first book to Harlequin Duets, got married and settled down in Toronto, Canada. She and her husband share a cat and dreams of warmer climates.

Books by Molly O’Keefe

HARLEQUIN DUETS

62—TOO MANY COOKS

95—COOKING UP TROUBLE

KISS THE COOK

For Rye and McKenzie who have made our family a lot more fun!

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

1

“I’M GOING TO NEED those meeting notes by tomorrow,” Anna Simmons called over her shoulder to her assistant as they made their way out of the empty boardroom.

Anna could hear Jennifer behind her, shuffling papers and…yep, cursing under her breath. Jen had a mind like a tack, organizational skills not to be believed and a mouth, at times, like a trucker. Anna kind of liked that about her.

“We’ll want to send champagne to Aurora and…” Anna considered for a split second, the sound of her heels hitting the tiles echoing through the offices of Arsenal Advertising. Jen’s did the same right behind her. “Some daisies.” She turned left in the Creative department and headed toward the right corner of the Arsenal offices. Her corner office. Anna’s lip curled for a second. “You getting this, Jen?”

“Yes,” Jennifer answered, apparently not at all trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. Perhaps it was time for Anna to have a little talk with Jen about this attitude she was developing.

Anna cruised past Jennifer’s desk and threw open the door to her office. She continued across the hardwood floor toward her desk. “Creative’s going to need to be briefed and…” Anna paused. Jen’s footsteps were no longer behind her. And the grumble had stopped. Anna turned and Jen was not there. Anna walked back to the doorway.

Jennifer was sprawled out at her desk. Head back, her long blond hair falling down the back of her chair, her arms were out, her eyes shut, she looked like she was asleep or dead.

Her very chic and painful-looking stacked heels were kicked out into the hallway.

“Jen?” Anna asked, surprised. She had never seen the classy and together Jennifer look so…undone.

“Anna?” Jen mumbled, her eyes still shut, her lips barely moving. “Have you noticed that we are the only people here?”

“It does seem quiet.” Anna looked into the darkened offices with empty chairs and blank computer screens. “Where did everyone go?” she asked. There was still so much work to do. The meeting had only ended a few hours ago.

“It’s seven o’clock on a Wednesday night, Anna….”

“You’re right, we should order some dinner.” Anna leaned against the doorframe. It was so easy to forget, in the heat of the deal, to eat. And she suddenly realized she was starving.

“No, Anna.” Jen’s eyes opened, her head came up off the back of her chair. “I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?”

“Yes, as in going home.” Jen pulled her body upright. “As in bed. And sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep.” She opened a big drawer in her desk and pulled out her purse.

“But, Jen, there’s still so much work to do. We have—”

“I spent the night here, Anna.” Jen’s brown eyes snapped and Anna took a step back. “I was here all last week until midnight.”

Anna was well aware of the schedule they had been keeping. She rubbed her neck which she was beginning to think had permanent damage from sleeping on the couch in her office.

“You can fire me, Anna, but I am going home.”

“Fire you?” Anna asked, shocked. “Jen, I’d never fire you.” Jennifer and her hard work and fanatic attention to detail had been a huge part of the success they had achieved in the boardroom today, finalizing a deal that had been months in the making.

“I wish you would,” Jennifer mumbled as she went about shutting down her computer. “Swear to God, I’d finally get some sleep.”

Anna quickly realized she had worked the very hardworking Jen too hard. “Go home. Take the rest of the week off.”

Jen suddenly looked at Anna as though she had grown two heads. “Really, Jen. You did an amazing job today. I could not have done this without you.” Jen’s mouth fell open and Anna was embarrassed. Was she such a bad boss that a little recognition was shocking?

Jennifer sat back in her seat, her brown eyes looked tired but still sharp. “It’s about time you noticed that,” she said. “You can fire me—”

“Jen, I am not going to fire you.”

“But, I have got to say, you have the worst case of tunnel vision I have ever seen.”

Anna smiled—nothing wrong with a little tunnel vision. “Well, it certainly paid off today didn’t it?”

Jen grinned back, albeit a little weakly and Anna felt a serious tug of appreciation for her. “Let’s go get some drinks,” she said, surprising herself. “Celebration drinks.” They could have those Cosmopolitans everyone loved. Anna would bet Jen loved Cosmopolitans. The two of them had never done that, gone to happy hour together after work. Well, Anna had never done that, perhaps Jennifer did.

“Drinks?” Jen asked.

“Sure.” Anna nodded her head definitively. Though as soon as the words had come out of her mouth she began thinking of the amount of work she needed to do. But if Jen wanted drinks; drinks it would be.

“You…ah…you and me?” Anna read horror all over the girl’s face and remembered why she never went to happy hour. Anna wasn’t the most popular person around Arsenal. “Uh…”

“Never mind.” Anna saved Jennifer the trouble of coming up with some lie to avoid socializing with her. “Go home and I’ll see you Monday.”

“You should go home, Anna,” Jennifer said softly.

Anna nodded, having no intention of doing that, and shut her office door behind her. She leaned back against it. She wasn’t bothered by Jennifer not wanting to go to a bar with her, but Anna deserved some drinks.

After what happened in that boardroom I deserve a parade, she thought.

She closed her eyes and for a moment just felt blank. Empty. And very, very tired. But then, from deep in the pit of her gut there was something cheering. She pushed away her mental to-do list and let herself savor the delicious sensation of victory.

“Anna Simmons,” she murmured through her smile. “Top of the world.”

Part of her wanted to dance around and cheer. She wanted to kick off her heels and leap around on the dark leather furniture. She had done it. She had pulled it together. Again. Goddess Sportswear had just agreed to pay Arsenal Advertising a fortune for the fall campaign.

But she was exhausted. Dancing and cheering would have to wait until she had had six straight hours of sleep. She did, however, manage a little jump and a little wiggle on her way over to her mahogany desk. Humming ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” under her breath she sat down at her desk. The chair rolled around a little on the hardwood floor and she turned it into a spin as she opened the bottom drawer and took out the family size bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups she kept stashed there for just these sorts of occasions.

She swivelled in her chair and faced her floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over San Francisco Bay. She kicked off her shoes and put her feet up on the printer table to survey her kingdom. Lights were beginning to illuminate the fading day. The houses on the hills of Sausalito were glowing with their pastel colors like Easter eggs and the Golden Gate Bridge was bloody red in the last bright rays of the sun.

A chuckle of contentment bubbled up from her chest.

Anna liked the birds the best. They looked like hundreds of bright white handkerchiefs blowing in the breeze. She watched them, ate her chocolate and knew that nothing could ruin her tremendous good mood.

There was a knock on her door and she turned toward it as Camilla Lockhart, her boss, mentor and friend, poked her head in.

“Camilla,” Anna said expansively. “Come in.” Thrilled that Camilla had stopped by to congratulate her, she held out her bag of chocolate. “Can I interest you in a peanut butter cup? In celebration?” The idea of drinks, those Cosmopolitans came back to her. “Wait!” She stood up. “Let’s go get a drink. It’s Wednesday but, Lord knows, we deserve it.”

“You sure do,” Camilla smiled broadly and walked farther into Anna’s office. She put her briefcase down on the couch. “But I came in for a chat.” Camilla sat down in one of the deep green wing chairs facing Anna’s desk and crossed her long thin legs at the knee. Anna looked at her and marveled at how absolutely gorgeous Camilla was. She had long silver hair and eyes as sharp and blue as the sky outside the window. Camilla was in her sixties and she looked like a woman twenty years younger.

“All right.” Anna sat back down and smoothed the wrinkled hem of her best black suit. Anna had spent the past five hours in the boardroom in heavy negotiations and she looked like she had crawled out of a trench. Camilla had been in and out of the room—coming in like some kind of fairy godmother when Anna had needed her most—and she looked as fresh and unscathed as she had first thing this morning. She was a marvel that woman.

Anna touched her black hair, relieved it was still pulled back in the bun she had fashioned twelve hours earlier. Of course, considering the serious engineering system of bobby pins and hair spray, having the bun actually fall out would take an act of God.

Anna’s good mood was far too strong to be daunted by something like Camilla’s unwrinkled suit. She dug back into her candy. “Let’s chat about how unbelievably well today went.”

Let’s chat about how I kicked major ass! She thought but didn’t say.

Camilla tilted her head, “I have to hand it to you, you were right about Goddess.”

“Goddess just needed to be refocused,” Anna said about the women’s sportswear line. It had taken a few years to get Aurora Milan and her company to this place, but the effort was worth it. Goddess was about to explode all over the nation, Anna was sure of it. It wasn’t the biggest deal in Arsenal history, but Anna was sure that it was the most important. “It’s a great product with a great philosophy. It just needed some help getting out there.”

“And that’s where you come in.” Camilla smiled.

Anna shook her head. “That’s where Arsenal comes in.”

“You did a great job,” Camilla said, her eyes and smile warm. “I was very proud of you.”

Anna nodded, uncomfortable, and tried not to show how outrageously pleased she was by Camilla’s praise. There was this bubble in her chest, like a laugh trapped in her rib cage. “Well,” she said, nodding, “I just did exactly what you taught me.”

Camilla chuckled wryly, “Honey, in my best days I couldn’t have pulled off that deal—”

“Not true,” Anna interrupted, shaking her head. She knew all of Camilla’s victories. Sitting at the woman’s right hand in that boardroom all these years had been the best education she could have wished for. “Norway Vodka,” she said the name of one of their biggest clients who, long ago, had paid an unprecedented amount for Arsenal’s advertising magic. Camilla had taken an almost unknown product and made it the most exclusive and high-end vodka in the world.

“Well.” Camilla smiled and flicked imaginary lint off the hem of her red power suit. “That was a good one.”

“See, Camilla—” Anna sat back and put her arms out expansively “—I just learned from the master. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Jennifer worked her tail off for the last week.”

“Yes, she did.” Camilla brushed back a lock of silver hair and took a breath. “But, Anna, no one else has spent the past two weeks sleeping on that couch.” Camilla tilted her head toward the couch along the wall of Anna’s office.

“Tell me about it,” Anna said with a laugh. “It might be the most uncomfortable couch on the planet.”

Camilla looked at Anna for a long second and Anna suddenly felt something else in the air. This was a time for laughs and pats on the back. Camilla didn’t look much like laughing.

“What’s wrong?” Anna put down the bag of candy and leaned on her desk.

“Well, Anna, I was going to wait and make an announcement in a few weeks, but I don’t think things can wait that long.” Camilla stood and walked over to the windows. She was a thin red line against the backdrop of the city. And Anna had the strange and terrible feeling that change was in the air. She wasn’t a big fan of change.

“Oh, my God.” Anna stood up. As a rule she jumped to the worst conclusions. It always seemed to get to the heart of the matter. There was very little beating around the bush in Anna’s life. “You’re sick.”

“No,” Camilla said quickly with a reassuring smile. “I am healthy, my family is healthy…”

“But?”

“I am retiring after the New Year.”

Anna collapsed back hard into her chair. She had no idea what to say. Arsenal was Camilla’s company, built out of a spare room in her house twenty-five years ago. Camilla had created, built and nurtured one of the biggest advertising agencies in the city. Even more, Anna felt like Camilla had created, built and nurtured her right along with the company. Anna had started working for Camilla ten years ago as a receptionist and now, she was sealing the deals that would ensure the future of the company. But Camilla was leaving. It was all just too much to take in.

“Anna,” she said firmly and Anna’s eyes darted back to her face. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“I know,” she tried to relax. “It’s just a surprise. But…why are you leaving? You’re at the top of your game.”

“No, sweetheart, you are at the top of your game. I’m just tired.” Camilla chuckled but Anna couldn’t find anything funny in this situation.

“What…?” Anna couldn’t help feeling lost. She looked down at her fingernails and wanted nothing more than to bite them. “What about Arsenal?”

Camilla shrugged. She looked back out the window, her face in profile against the fading blue California sky, and tried to hide a smile. “I think you’ll take good care of it.”

“Me?” Anna asked, floored.

“You.” Camilla turned to face her and Anna could feel the explosions going off in her head. Fireworks and cannons.

Holy shit! Anna Simmons, president of Arsenal Advertising. It was a dream come magically true.

Anna leaped up, grabbed Camilla around the waist and squeezed, lifting her off the ground in her crazed enthusiasm. “This…oh, my God…I…” She was stuttering and laughing and at some point she felt herself crying. It was all just too much.

The day. Goddess. And now this, president of Arsenal. Camilla trusted her enough, believed in her enough to give this to her. Anna could hardly make sense of it all.

“Drinks, definitely drinks!” Anna said, laughing. “Cosmopolitans for everyone!”

“I’m glad you’re so excited, but there’s something we need to talk about first.” Camilla put her cool hands on Anna’s flushed face and made her look at her. Really look at her.

“Okay,” Anna said carefully, the crazy joy subsiding in her chest. Something else was sneaking in, something that felt like dread. Camilla looked worried. Nervous and sad.

Uh-oh.

“Please sit down,” Camilla said, gesturing with elegance and poise to the chair Anna had erupted from just minutes ago. Anna sat and, without thinking, grabbed the bag of chocolate while Camilla perched on the corner of the large mahogany desk.

“What’s going on, Camilla?” Anna asked. “My heart can’t take all this in one day.”

“I am very excited about leaving you Arsenal. I believe in you and I trust you….”

The pause. The dreaded pause. Anna felt panic like a wave in her throat. Why is she pausing there, she believes in me. Trusts me. No pauses!

“But…”

“No, Camilla no buts…”

“But,” Camilla talked over her. “I can’t in good conscience allow you to take over the company the way you are right now.”

Anna jerked, baffled. “What does that mean? The way I am right now?”

“It means you are killing yourself for this company and, at the rate you are going, if I give you Arsenal, you will be dead before you are forty.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Anna said. The hard work, the weeks on the couch, the stress of the past five hours and now this…Anna felt a headache blooming behind her eyes. She pinched her nose.

“I know you don’t.” Camilla leaned forward. “For months I have been trying to get you to take a break. A vacation…”

“I will, I know,” Anna sighed, relieved. This was just about a vacation. “Tomorrow. I promise. I’ll book a cruise. I’ll book two cruises. I just had to get this job…”

“Sweetheart, there is always a job. That’s the nature of this business.”

“Right, so…?”

“So, I’ve taken this upon myself.”

“You’ve booked me on a cruise?” Anna asked, confused.

“No, but that’s not a bad idea.” Camilla seemed to consider it for a split second and then she pushed the silver hair off her face and took a bracing breath. “Until I retire in six months, you are, in essence, fired.”

Anna blinked. Her mouth opened, words rushed through her brain but died in her throat. She shut her mouth. Opened it again. “Wh-what? What do you mean fired?”

“I mean you will not be working for six months. It’s a forced, but paid, sabbatical.”

The explosions from earlier came back. Canons in her head. And not the good kind. “Are you joking?” She started laughing incredulously. “Because I have to say, if you are, good one. Really. You had me going.” She shook her finger at Camilla.

“I am not joking.”

“Then I must have fallen asleep on the couch again, because there is no way—” disbelief had her on her feet “—no way the woman who just cemented the future of this company for you is getting fired!”

“Anna, sit down,” Camilla urged calmly.

Anna sat. “Tell me this isn’t real, Camilla. Please.”

Camilla’s unlined patrician face fell and she stood up. “It’s very, very real and it’s for your own good.”

She was elegant and calm and as serene as she was in every situation. It was the end of Anna’s world and Camilla might have been ordering lunch.

Anna’s eye started to tick uncontrollably.

“Listen to me,” Camilla said. “You have six months. A sabbatical.”

“I don’t want a sabbatical,” Anna spat.

“Well, that’s too bad, sweetheart, because you need one.”

“I don’t need one!”

Camilla’s lips pursed for a second. “Anna,” she said carefully. “Yesterday you threatened to shove chopsticks up Andrew’s nose.”

Well, Anna slouched a little bit in her chair. She had been working hard, she had been stressed out and Andrew, the little rat, had thrown out her leftovers. Perhaps holding the chopstick to his throat that way might have been a little much, but…

“Okay, that was too much,” Anna admitted. “But that hardly translates into me needing six months off. Camilla, this is crazy.”

“It’s six months off. You come back and Arsenal is all yours. It’s your company. President, just like we agreed.”

“What if I say no?” Anna asked, her brows furrowed and the pain behind her eye nearly blinding. This was a nightmare. This day should have been a celebration and now it was hell.

“Then you’re fired for real,” Camilla told her in dead seriousness and Anna felt her heart stop for a moment. “You need these six months to get a life.”

“I have a life!” Anna protested, hotly.

“Really?” Camilla asked and the pity in her eyes sent Anna to her feet. The chair spun out behind her and hit the glass of the window.

“Yes, really, this company is my life.” Anna slammed the bag of candy on her desk. “I have devoted everything to Arsenal, every single thing….”

“That’s the problem, sweetheart,” Camilla said, standing to face Anna.

“How can that be a problem?” Anna was beginning to shout and she didn’t care at all, which if she had been rational, would have alarmed her. “In this business, my kind of devotion is usually rewarded.”

“Sit down, Anna,” Camilla said in her persuasive tone usually reserved for tough clients.

“No!” Anna refused. “I won’t sit down, Camilla. Not while you stab me in the back.” Anna began to pace the small distance between the windows and Camilla. “Does this have anything to do with my job performance?”

“No,” Camilla sighed and settled back down on Anna’s desk. “You do an excellent job.”

“Excellent, not just good. Not just fair, but an excellent job.” Anna’s finger jabbed the air right in front of Camilla’s nose. It wasn’t the job that drove Anna. Surely, Camilla could see that it was the excellence she was after. It was the details. It was perfection.