by Layla Holt
“Has father lost his mind?” Megan said seething.
“What’s up?” Sean said.
She handed him the sheet wordlessly. Sure, she’d agreed to starting at the bottom but she didn’t literally mean at the bottom. Sean chuckled as he read. Heat flushed through her body. They all thought it was a joke. She turned and strode off towards the elevator.
“Megs, wait up,” Sean called after her.
The elevator doors were open. She marched in and punched a button to shut the door. Sean sprinted after her and at the last minute managed to slip in.
They were both silent on the way up to his office. Megan slumped on his visitor’s chair. Boiling with fury, she ground her teeth and clenched her jaw so tight, it hurt. She considered her options. She didn’t have to work at Candin Inc. She could apply for a job elsewhere.
Even the thought of it made her chest squeeze with pain. She had dreamed of this moment for so long. When she’d reached the conclusion that her marriage was over, the dream of working at Candin Inc had kept her going. It had saved her from dwelling on her failed marriage or the five years of her life that she had wasted on loving an undeserving man.
“I’m not going to work at the reception, or security, or the factory floor, or the candy shop or the tasting room,” Megan said. “I’d rather find a job elsewhere.”
“What’s wrong with those places? They are at the heart of Candin Inc. We all worked there,” Sean said.
“You were fifteen,” she pointed out.
“Adrian and Dean might have been but I was twenty-three. I had a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.”
She folded her arms across her chest. She had worked in dirt at the vineyard, stepping in when workers did not show up while Luca was sleeping off a hangover. She had paid her dues and Candin Inc was her family’s company. She didn’t have to start at the bottom.
“Dad was right then?” Sean said. “You leave as soon as things get difficult or don’t go your way.”
“That’s not true,” Megan said. “I’m only leaving because it’s disrespectful.”
“Grow up Megs and stop whining. You have a distorted view of your own importance.”
“What?” She blinked at him, unable to believe that her soft-spoken brother had uttered those words to her. She’d had it. She stood up, grabbed her shoes from the floor and stomped out.
Chapter 4
“Where should I say you’ve gone if someone asks?” Liz asked as he flew past the reception desk.
“I have a client. Call me if you need me,” he said and raced to his car.
He should have expected that nothing would go smoothly with Megan. Sean had called him a minute ago to let him know that Megan had walked out of Candin Inc. Luckily, the chocolate factory was a ten-minute drive from his office.
He drove as fast as he could without breaking the speed limit. Sean had not told him what had upset Megan. There was no way her father would deny her a job, no matter what Megan believed. She was his only daughter and youngest child.
Max saw her as soon as the main building came into view. She was standing outside barefoot, clutching her shoes. She looked so small and alone. His chest tightened. He stopped the car in front of her, expecting to have to coax her to enter the car.
Instead, she opened the passenger door and entered.
He took one look at her face and decided not to say anything. Yet. He drove off and headed for the highway.
“How much do you pay them?” Megan said, breaking the silence.
“Pay who?” Max said.
“Jaime, Sean…”
Max laughed when understanding dawned. “I’m just good at my job. I’ve acquired telepathic skills over the years.”
She let out a loud sigh. “Thank you. Where are we going? Not that it matters since I don’t have a job and I’ve got hours to kill.”
“We’re going for a walk on the beach. We’re both dressed for it too.”
She laughed.
“That’s better,” Max said.
She looked so petite and feminine that all his protective instincts over her came out. But then, he had always reacted that way around her.
“Don’t you have some work to do instead of babysitting me?” Megan said.
“I’m getting paid to do this so don’t feel guilty,” he responded. He had noticed her purse when she entered the car. “Is that the handbag that was supposedly carrying the spare shoes?”
She shifted in her seat. “It was you who said it.”
He glanced at her in amusement and then shifted his attention back to the road. It didn’t matter. What mattered was she was not trying to get rid of him now.
They were silent for the thirty-minute drive it took to get to the beach but it was not uncomfortable. Max was glad that Megan was not one of those women who felt an urge to fill every minute with chatter.
It was odd that despite knowing Megan most of his life, he had never really spent a lot of time in her company. Just the two of them. There had always been someone else, mostly her brothers.
He snuck a glance at her profile. She had her eyes closed and he wasn’t sure whether she was asleep or not.
She wasn’t. As soon as he parked the car, she opened her eyes and smiled. “This is lovely.”
From the parking lot, they had a view of the ocean and at that time of morning, it was a shimmery blue.
Max got out of the car and proceeded to remove his jacket, tie, shoes and socks. He arranged them on the back seat. Megan had not moved an inch and was staring at him.
“What?” he said as he unbuttoned the first couple of buttons of his shirt and folded his sleeves.
“Nothing.” She got out of the car.
He locked the car and he and Megan made their way to the sandy beach. It never grew old, no matter how many times he came down. There was nothing like the warmth of the sand under your feet or the scent of seaweed and salty air. If nature had a way of soothing troubled hearts and minds, it was the beach.
Megan reached for her hair and pulled out the band holding it in place. Max inhaled sharply when her mass of curly blond hair came lose and tumbled down her shoulders. He couldn’t count the number of times he had wondered how it would feel to thread his fingers through those silky strands.
“I’ve missed this,” she said, gesturing at the beach and ocean.
“Are there no beaches in Italy?” he said.
Just the mention of the word Italy was enough to transport Max to the last year. It had been long and the thought of what Megan was going through had haunted him constantly.
He’d always suspected that her marriage was not a happy one and Dean had hinted at it a few times. But seeing Megan’s unhappiness for himself during Jaime’s wedding had broken his heart. True, at one point, he had wanted Megan for himself but after she got married, all he’d wanted was for her to be happy.
“Of course there are,” she retorted. “But there’s nothing like a home beach. Hey, do you remember when I used to tag along with you guys? You all used to get so mad.”
Max laughed at the memory. “You were a pain in the butt and a snitch.”
Even then, he had a soft spot for her. When her brothers would want to send her back home, Max would insist that they let her stay and she would shoot him a grateful smile.
It was as if the beach was a private one. There was no one on the long stretch and it felt as if he and Megan were alone in the world. It was a nice, peaceful feeling.
“How’s work?” Megan said. “Jaime told me how much your company has grown.”
“It’s doing fairly well,” Max said and then found himself telling her about the change of direction the company was taking.
“But isn’t providing security for celebrities more lucrative?” Megan said.
“It is but you reach a point where it’s not about the bottom line. It’s about growth. There’s potential for growth in the CCTV industry and I want us to be part of that growth.”
“Hey, I just got
an idea. I could come work for you,” Megan said as she ground to a halt and faced him.
“I would love that more than anything,” Max said. The thought of working alongside Megan every single day would be like a kid experiencing Christmas morning every day.
“Yeah, I know,” Megan said even before he could formulate a response. “My brothers.” She continued walking.
“Wrong. As many as they are and as protective of you as they are, your brothers are not the reason why I think it’s a bad idea,” Max said. “It’s for you. You need to be at Candin Inc with your family. You need them and I’m thinking you guys have been apart for so long, you have a lot of bridges to build.”
She did not immediately respond. “Father made a schedule for me that involved working everywhere from the factory itself to the candy store.”
“You’ll look cute in the white overalls and hair thing,” Max said with a chuckle. “I think it’s fun getting to see first-hand how all the pieces work together to become Candin Inc.”
“You make it sound so much better than it really is,” Megan said, her tone grumpy.
“Life is a matter of perspective. If you change how you look at things, tasks stop being a chore and they become something to look forward to,” Max said.
“When did you become so wise?” Megan said, moments later.
He thought about the deal he had entered into with Nancy. “I make mistakes just like everyone else.”
“No you don’t,” Megan said. “And neither do my brothers. I mean, who messes up their lives so badly that in their mid-twenties, they are divorced and living in their parents’ house?”
To Max’s shock, Megan stopped, covered her face and broke into loud sobs. He immediately pulled her into his arms and she clung to him and cried, her whole body trembling.
“Please don’t cry.” Max had never felt as helpless as he did at that moment. He held her tight and with one hand smoothed back her hair.
He had never been good with words and he scrambled for words that would comfort Megan. He came up with nothing and all he could do was hold her and make soothing noises. Pain rumbled through him as he listened to her helplessly.
If that ex-husband of hers had been there at that moment, Max’s fists would have been embedded in his face.
Megan’s sobs subsided and she drew back. He fished for a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
“I’m sorry, it’s been an emotional couple of weeks.” She gave a little laugh. “Maybe even months.”
“You never have to apologize when you’re with me Megan,” Max said, fighting to keep his own emotions under wraps.
She smiled. “I always knew you were a teddy bear under all that muscle.”
He knew that she would prefer that they not talk about what happened but Max was a believer in never pushing things under the carpet or postponing them for another day.
“You might not have been aware of the mistakes your brothers have made over the years because you’re the last born and you were away. We all make mistakes Megan. What matters is what you’re doing. Dusting yourself off and starting again. I’m in awe of you Megs.”
“I hate that name,” she said.
He chuckled. “I know.”
“Thanks Max, I was ready to throw in the towel,” she said softly.
Relief surged through him. Megan was a fighter but even fighters grew weary and he had worried that she had taken so much over the years that all the fight had seeped out of her.
It wasn’t going to be easy to find her place in the family and at Candin Inc, but Megan could do it, if that jerk had not messed with her self-esteem.
“Does that mean that I can pick you up tomorrow morning to take you to work?” Max said.
“Yes, but we need to talk about that. Honestly, I don’t need a bodyguard. It’s ridiculous and crazy and a waste of your time.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about wasting my time? Besides, I enjoy your company.”
She shot him an amused look. “Even when I’m ugly crying?”
“Especially when you’re ugly crying.”
Chapter 5
Megan’s heels clicked the tiled floor of the cottage as she strolled into the living room. It didn’t matter that she was working in the factory all day and all week. She still wanted to show up to work looking like a million dollars. There was something about looking good on the outside that seeped into the inside.
But it was more than her looks or the golden rays of sunshine streaming in through the window. Whatever it was, was not external. Something had stirred inside her chest. Something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She paused in the almost bare living room of the cottage to give it a name. Hope. That was what she was feeling.
It had been so long since she felt hopeful that her life was on the right track, that she wanted to cry. She had been dead inside for so long that she had forgotten how it felt to be hopeful. It was a small seed but it was there and it was telling her that she would find her path.
Swallowing hard, Megan flung open the front door and stepped out. Max was leaning against his car looking as if he had nowhere else to go. She smiled, pleased and guilty at the same time that he had ignored her pleas that she didn’t really need him.
She knew the way she was feeling had a lot to do with their conversation at the beach. He had coaxed her off of the ledge and she had no words to express how grateful she was.
As she strode towards him, her chest pooled with warmth. She tried to ignore how hot he looked in his gray suit with the jacket stretched out across his massive shoulders.
She stopped as she got close to him and smiled. He smiled back and handed her a coffee.
“We never speak to the client first. They have to speak first,” he said, a sparkle in his gray eyes dark with warmth. “But we do offer them coffee.”
For as long as she had known Max, she had never seen him in a bad mood or even angry. For a reason she couldn’t explain, an urge to dig deeper came over her.
“Why is that?” she said taking the takeaway cup from The Aroma.
His scent overpowered the coffee, perfuming the air with a masculine, outdoor scent as if he had come from chopping down pine trees.
“So that we can adjust our conversations to their moods. If they want to talk, we talk. If not, we fade into the background,” Max said.
“No wonder you want to move on from celebrity bodyguarding. It’s hard work. Lucky for you, we’re friends and we really do need to talk about this,” Megan said as she slipped into the car.
She settled into the seat as Max went around and entered the driver’s side.
“You don’t let up, do you?” he said, staring at her in a way that made her insides tremble.
“No I don’t.” That wasn’t quite true but she wasn’t going to think about the person she had been in Italy. It wasn’t someone she was proud of or familiar with, when she looked back.
She took a sip of her coffee and made appreciative noises. “You’re spoiling me, you know that?”
“You deserve to be spoiled,” Max said quietly.
Unexpected tears sprung into her eyes when he said that. She was glad that his attention was on the road and he couldn’t see how much his words had affected her.
She had gotten so used to being treated coldly and then warmly in the years she had been married. Weeks would go by when Luca would be like his old self and then he would change and treat her as if she was the worst form of a living creature he had ever met.
Megan had forgotten what it felt like for a man to say something nice to her. She did not respond as she struggled to contain her emotions which were behaving as if Max had opened the can that kept them contained.
“Where are you working today?” Max asked moments later.
That she could talk about. “At the factory,” she said.
“You’ll be great,” he said cheerfully.
“Thanks. Perspective is everything, a wise man once told me,” she said playfu
lly.
He laughed. She found herself thinking that she did not want the drive to end. He was growing on her and she understood why her brothers were drawn to him. His feet were firmly rooted in the ground in a way she hoped hers would be some day.
“How’s your mom?” Megan said, remembering she had wanted to ask him the previous day but had forgotten to.
“She’s fine, she’s retired now and enjoys spending hours at the beauty parlor. That’s where she gets all the local gossip,” Max said.
Megan laughed. She had met Max’s mom once or twice and had thought she was a riot. She had looked like a woman who enjoyed her life even after she lost her husband.
“Yes, I remember that about Lockwood,” Megan said.
“But your mother is not much for gossip,” Max said. “She loves her charity work, doesn’t she?”
Megan raised her eyebrow. “What do you think they talk about in those lunches when they are planning events?”
“Planning events,” Max countered.
“Wrong.” She laughed as did he. She asked the next question without giving it too much thought. If she had, she would not have asked for two reasons. One, it was none of her business and two, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
“So who is the lucky woman in your life?” Megan said and held her breath as she waited for his answer.
He glanced at her and wore a look of surprise. As if the idea of him with a girlfriend was unfathomable, which was ridiculous as she was sure he was one of the most eligible bachelors in Lockwood. The women had to be falling at his very large feet which supported a very large and attractive frame.
Why couldn’t she tame her thoughts away from Max’s physical appearance? She answered herself instantly. It was because Max was overpowering. He was too masculine. Potently so.
“There is no woman in my life,” he said. “I’m happily single.”
Joy spread across her chest but only because she hated to think she was stealing his time and attention from someone.
“Are the women in Lockwood blind?” she said.
He glanced at her. “Is that a compliment?”
“We are here,” Megan said, his question coinciding with the moment he brought the car to a stop in front of Candin Inc.