“I am so sorry, Mam. I didn’t even know I nicked your big toe. There’s no blood. There’s not even a red spot where you say I did that,” the woman says.
I put my phone down to watch Ariel’s reaction to anyone telling her such a thing. This should be good!
“Listen to me, you little nitwit!” she shrieks at the top of her lungs. “How dare you tell me that I’m lying.”
“No, Mam!” the woman says as she shakes her head and wrings her hands. “I did not say that, Mam! I never would say that.”
“How can you say you didn’t call me a liar?” Ariel asks as loud as she can. “You told me there’s no blood or even a red mark. Do you think I can’t feel my own body? Do you think I can’t feel the horrible pain at the tip of my big toe where you cut it?”
“I didn’t say that,” the poor woman mutters as she looks around for help. Her eyes land on me and I quickly pull my phone up to avoid any eye contact.
She knows Ariel is with me and I can see her asking for my help. But shit will hit the fan if I get involved. Ariel will make sure of that.
“I’m not about to pay for this. You can be sure of that. This entire day will have to be comped,” Ariel says with a huff. “Your little mistake just cost your company thousands of dollars as my friend and I have both had massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, and the deep skin treatment that costs three thousand dollars each on their very own. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
A hush falls over the group of employees who have gathered together to ease the situation with Ariel. I find myself looking up to see why.
“May I ask what the problem is here?” I hear a sweet feminine voice with a delicate southern drawl say. She’s coming down the hallway and I’ve yet to see the woman behind the voice. “Back to work, please.”
The others disperse quickly as the woman who is being accused of mutilating Ariel’s big toe stands still with her head down. “Miss Harmsworth says I cut the tip of her big toe. There is no cut or even a red mark there.”
Ariel turns up the volume as she shouts, “I will not…”
The woman emerges from the hallway and lays one hand on Ariel’s shoulder. I find I can’t breathe as I look at the woman. She’s absolutely gorgeous!
Thick blonde hair hangs to her waist in a satin sheet. Her curves have curves and they are perfectly accentuated by the form fitting white suit she’s wearing. With a skirt that goes to just above a beautiful set of knees.
Knees aren’t always beautiful but hers are. Her lips are a shade of pastel pink that matches the blush on her high cheekbones then her deep blue eyes make my heart skip a beat. Thick, lush dark lashes surround those brilliant blue eyes and set them off perfectly.
She turns a little and her profile shows me her nose is a little turned up on the end and so cute I could just kiss it. “Now, now, Miss Harmsworth. No need to shout. I will be happy to take care of things for you.”
I watch Ariel’s face go from red to pink as she seems to calm down immediately with the young woman’s touch and words.
This lady is a miracle worker!
Chapter 3
MERCY
The red-head in the pedicure chair has flames coming out of her head, but she seems to be calming down as I touch her shoulder. It’s a technique my therapist taught me to calm people down, I find it often works well.
The lady who looks to be about thirty or so holds up her right foot as she wiggles her big toe. “See,” she says with a little whimper following it. “She just about took the end of my toe off.”
Although I don’t see a thing to collaborate her accusation, I pat her shoulder and say, “My, that does look painful.”
“It’s excruciating,” she moans. “I doubt I’ll be able to wear closed toed shoes for a month with this horrific injury.”
Stifling a laugh, I say, “Thank goodness it’s summer and sandal season. I’m so sorry about this.” I walk past Rhonda, the employee who’s on the ropes here. “Rhonda, can you go to my office and wait for me, please?”
She nods and leaves as I go grab a carafe of Mint Julep from behind a desk in the little room. I notice a man is in here with her and has decided to sit quietly instead of helping to diffuse the situation.
Putting ice in a couple of tall, skinny glasses, I toss a piece of fresh mint into each one and fill them with the alcoholic drink that will hopefully calm her the rest of the way down. I walk over to the very handsome and built like a brick house man and hand one drink to him. He smiles and I smile back then go take the other drink to the over the top woman who’s acting as if her toe has been chopped off.
“Miss Harmsworth, I’ll be comping your visit with us today. Plus, that of your,” I gesture to the man who is sitting quietly, sipping his drink. “Boyfriend?”
She shakes her head. “We’re just friends.” She gives me a wink then whispers, “With benefits.”
We share a giggle and I cut my eyes to find the handsome man’s cheeks growing pink. Pulling a card out of my jacket pocket that I keep for these occasions when our guests find themselves put out with my staff, I hand it to the woman.
“Well, how would you like it if I sent you two out on the town this evening in our VIP, chauffer driven, brand new, state of the art, limousine? This is a voucher for one of Dallas’ five-star restaurants, anything you want will be taken care of.” I pull out another card and hand it to her. “Then you will be taken to the newest nightclub where only the most elite people go. It’s new and completely upscale. It’s usually a member's only kind of place but this will not only get the bouncer to let you in, it will get you anything you want and the check will be on us.”
She looks at the man and asks, “How does that sound to you?”
He nods without saying a word and I find him way too handsome to be with this piece of work. He seems laid back and cool and she seems like a nightmare. But that’s what some of these rich men want. A complete bitchy handful of a woman. It makes no sense to me.
She seems pleased as she says, “This will do. Thank you for being so professional with me. I find that refreshing. Our bills will be very high today.”
I wave my hand at her. “Think nothing of it. And I’d love it if you came back to visit us again. I can promise you won’t be getting any of our services done by Rhonda again.”
She nods and tilts her head to the side as she says, “I may. You have been more than nice about what the woman did. I hope you take care of her. She is not fit for this type of work.”
“I will take care of her, Mam. That is a promise,” I say as I gesture to the dressing room. “Your clothes are in there. We’ve moved them to that dressing room for you. Please do not hesitate to give me a call if you need anything else. My name is Mercy Noland. It’s written on the back of the card attached to the VIP card I gave you.”
The man in the room who has been very quiet is already dressed in a very nice casual suit in a chocolate color that makes his tanned features even more attractive. He gets up as I start to leave the room and the other woman gets up and limps to the dressing room. Her antics are amazing!
As I walk down the hall to go back to my office, I feel a hand touch my elbow and sparks shoot through me. “Oh!”
“Sorry, did I startle you?” the gorgeous man asks me. He seems to have followed me and I have no idea why that is.
“A little. What can I do for you, Sir?” I ask as I try hard not to look into his big brown eyes with a hint of green in them and drool.
“I’m sorry about her. She’s not very even-tempered,” he says then extends his hand. “I’m Jude Hurst.”
I shake his hand and recognize the last name. “As in, Hurst Oil and Gas?”
He nods. “That’s the family business. So, what’s your story?”
Walking slowly along the hallway, I have to wonder what he’s getting at. “It’s boring. Just a normal girl in a normal world. Nothing that’s anywhere near as impressive as the people in your circles, I’d imagine.”
“Try me,” he says as he takes my arm, stopping my retreat. “I’d like to get to know you, Mercy.”
My stomach lurches as he seems to be hitting on me. “Mr. Hurst…”
His fingertip touches my lips, stopping me. “Jude. Please call me Jude.” He pulls something out of the breast pocket of his jacket and places it in my palm.
My body goes crazy as he grazes his fingertip over it and I find a little business card in my hand. “Look, Sir, I don’t make it a practice to fraternize with our clients. I’m sure you understand.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t understand at all. You see, I’m not really a client. This is my first visit. If there’s a problem going out with me because I come here, then I won’t come here for your services again. It’s just that easy. So how about you give me a call later on when you get off work and we can go out for a drink and see what happens after that?”
“You have a date for the night, Mr. Hurst. I just set that all up for you,” I say as I cannot believe this man’s audacity.
“She can take someone else. She and I aren’t a thing. She stays at our place when she’s in town. She was bored and came for a visit. I have brothers that would love to accompany her this evening.” The back of his hand grazes my cheek. “So what do you say? Drinks after work with me, Miss Noland.”
With a shake of my head, I walk away and say over my shoulder, “No thank you, Mr. Hurst. Thanks for asking, though. I assure you, I am not a woman who you would be interested in and I’d hate to take up your time.”
The elevator doors open and I quickly step through them and hit the button to take me away from the very handsome and totally out of my league man.
What a day!
Chapter 4
JUDE
Watching her walk away with the slight swish of her skirt being the only noise at all in the quiet hallway, I’m left more than a bit stunned by her answer to my offer of a drink after work.
Who the hell declines a drink with a fucking billionaire?
“Jude? Where the hell are you?” I hear Ariel screaming as she looks into the hall. “Oh, there you are. Come on. Let’s get out of this dump.”
I turn to leave then stop and say, “You have that private car waiting on you and I brought my Jag so you go ahead. I’ll tell Zeek to escort you on your evening out.”
“What?” she shrieks yet again, and it’s a sound I am completely tired of. “No! I want you to come with me, Jude. Come on.”
She comes to where I’m standing in the place that woman left me so callously and grabs my arm. “You come with me. Zeek can be so handsy and you understand it when I say I’m tired. He doesn’t. Plus, my toe hurts like hell.”
I look down at her exposed toes as she has on these little flip-flops and see absolutely nothing on either of her big toes. “Which one is hurt again?”
“Don’t worry about that. I took care of the bill, didn’t I?” she asks, spreading an anger through me as I had an idea she was being scammy but now I know she was.
“Ariel, you may well have gotten that woman fired,” I hiss at her as I take her by the arm and lead her to the lobby so she can get the hell out of here.
“So?” she asks as she comes along with me, pretending to limp as we go.
“You aren’t hurt. It’s wrong,” I can’t believe I have to tell her this.
“It doesn’t matter. These people can get hired right back on at another place. It happens all the time. They’re a dime a dozen. And since when did you get all good Samaritan, Jude?” She looks up as a young man comes from behind the main desk in the lobby walking toward us.
“Miss Harmsworth, my name’s Dave and I have your car ready for you and your friend,” he says as he comes up to us. He has a basket full of fruit and wine and I see some expensive cheeses in there as well. “Please accept this gift from us at The Dallas Day Spa. We’re so sorry for your pain and want you to let us know if you experience any type of medical problem or treatment of your injury. We will be more than happy to pay for that.” He looks down at her feet then frowns and looks right back up at her.
Her brown eyes narrow as she silently dares him to ask her a thing about her supposed injury. He heeds the warning and I am glad to say he thinks better about saying anything. Instead, he motions for us to follow him out the side door of the huge lobby.
Past the fountain with a mermaid rising from the center and three dolphins seemingly swimming around her, we go as we follow the man all dressed in white scrubs that fit a lot better than any I’ve seen before.
“You work out?” I ask him as I hold Ariel by the arm and pull her along faster than her fake limping allows.
“Yes, Sir,” he says as he looks back at me with a smile. “Every day, twice.”
“You know, with the right nutrition and the right exercises, you don’t have to work out twice a day to stay in the shape you’re in. I work out one hour each day and along with the right foods and nutritional supplements I manage to keep my body very fit.”
He opens the side door and looks me over. “Wow! How do you manage that? Please don’t tell me steroids because I’m against them.”
I shake my head. “I have a Master’s Degree in the fitness genre. I know where each and every muscle is and how to make it work to its best capacity.”
“Do you have a gym or a private training gig?” he asks as he opens the car door for us.
“No, I have a home gym and my own regiment. I could make out a program for you if you wanted me to. No charge,” I say, surprising myself.
When the hell did I get so chatty or offer anything to anyone?
Ariel slides into the very nice, deep black, leather covered backseat and reaches for a bottle of chilling Champagne immediately. “Look, drinks.”
Looking inside the car, I say, “So off you go, Ariel. If you don’t want Zeek to go with you, then I’ll ask Rose to. You two can make it a girl’s night out.”
“You really are leaving me like this?” she asks as she glares at me. “Really? What else do you have to do, Jude?”
I’d rather shovel sheep shit than go anywhere with her after what she just pulled. That was low in my book. The woman has more than enough money. When you add in the fact I was going to pay for everything it really ticks me off. She pulled the scam just to prove something to herself.
“I have to take care of some business, Ariel. I’ll see you around.” I close the door before she can squawk at me anymore. I give Dave a nod and a thumbs up and he tells the driver to take her without me.
As we walk back inside, I tell him, “I want to pay the bill, anyway.”
“I completely understand,” he says without adding any more to it.
I like a man who knows when not to ask too many questions. The fact she was being a crazy, conniving bitch is pretty obvious. But when people with vast amounts of money complain, people do what they want with no questions.
I’ve seen it done all of my life. The rich may pay for extravagant things but let there be the least little complaint about virtually anything and they get it free with no hesitation at all. I think it’s ridiculous.
I don’t mind spending my money. Even when things are subpar. I have it, I may as well pay for the things I want. There’s no reason to scam anyone.
Following Dave to the front desk, I take out my wallet to get my credit card as he looks at the computer to find the bill. “Let me see here. Oh! Well, I’m sorry, the bill has been removed from the system. I suppose our manager did that. Looks like your spa day was free after all, Mr. Hurst.”
With a shake of my head, I say, “That’s not going to do for me, I’m afraid. I live in this town and I won’t have my name bantered about as a person who doesn’t pay his bills and pulls scams on the local companies here in Dallas. I’m afraid I’m going to need to see whoever is in charge here.”
Dave looks at the time on his watch then back at me. “Sorry, she’s left for the day. She leaves at five-thirty sharp every day. You missed her by mere minutes. I can t
ell you that once she puts her mind to something, she never changes her direction. If she took this bill off that quickly, then she’s not going to change things.”
“I want to pay. This makes no sense. Can’t you just call her and get her to come back?” I look at my phone and see it’s only three minutes past the time she left. “She’s probably still in the parking lot. Just call her. I’ll wait.”
I watch him do as I’ve asked and am not happy with the results as I hear him telling her things, then saying the words, ‘yes, mam.’
After he puts the phone down, he says, “Like I thought. She’s compensated the bill and she won’t be changing that. She told me to tell you to have a nice weekend, Mr. Hurst.”
Well, she’s made that impossible, hasn’t she?
Chapter 5
MERCY
After giving Rhonda a three-day weekend, with pay, so she can recuperate after that she-wolf made a meal out of her, I’m on my way to pick the kids up from daycare and thinking about the phone call I just received from Dave.
It seems Mr. Hurst wants to pay the bill anyway. Perhaps he’s found out his girlfriend is a huge liar. Or maybe he just wanted another chance to talk me into drinks with him. Either way, I’m not buying into any of it.
The company can handle the loss. It’s not that bad at ten thousand dollars. Bad reviews would’ve been worse than the lost profit.
I tap the steering wheel as I see our private car pulling out behind me. Miss Harmsworth, the horrible bitch, is inside of that car. Along with the, thinks he’s so smooth, Mr. Hurst.
So what if my body heated when he touched me. It’s been over two years since I’ve had any male attention, it’s to be expected for my poor body to react to his touch. The crazy thing would be if I didn’t react at all to the man’s touch.
Jude Hurst is tall, dark, and handsome. The way his dark hair stays perfectly in place is pretty cool. His eyes are a combination of green and brown and shimmer all on their own like he has a little secret he wants to tell you.
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