Falling for Maria

by Heather B. Moore

  And she was filling out online applications for other marketing companies. She’d miss her clients.

  The only thing keeping her sane was chatting with either June or Sydney after work. Oh, and every morning, when she found Walker alone in the conference room pecking away at his laptop, she unknotted his tie and removed it.

  He said nothing, just watched her with amusement. She’d set the tie in her desk drawer alongside the other ones. By the next time she saw him, he was always wearing another tie. She wondered how many ties a man could own. Or if there would come a point when he’d actually have to go shopping again. For now, she was getting quite a collection.

  Tonight as she drove home, she hooked up her Bluetooth and called Sydney.

  “I made it through the week,” Maria said.

  “That was a week for the history records,” Sydney said with a laugh. “What are your plans this weekend?”

  “Nothing until Sunday,” Maria said. “Going to take my mom to lunch for her birthday, but until then, it’s all about me.”

  “Sounds nice,” Sydney said. “Unless Walker calls you again and invites you to a sports bar.”

  “That won’t happen,” Maria said. “I’ve been a good employee, and he thinks he has me securely in his back pocket. Oh, did I tell you I have an interview Monday?”

  “Already?” Sydney asked.

  Maria smiled to herself. “I doubt I’ll get it. They said there were over forty applicants. But it’s local, and I like that. I don’t want to telecommute, because I’d start to drive myself crazy working from a home office.”

  “I’d be the same way,” Sydney said. “How’s your boss’s black eye?”

  “Hardly noticeable now,” Maria said. “So at least I don’t have to be reminded of the bar fight every time I see him. Although… he’s been sort of nice to me this week.”

  “Do tell,” Sydney said in a lowered tone.

  “He’s just been complimentary and given me my space at the same time,” Maria said. She’d arrived at her apartment complex now, and she parked the car. “Except for when he asked if I wanted to meet during the lunch hour. I told him no to that one.”

  “He asked you to lunch?” Sydney’s surprise was clear over the phone.

  “Not like a lunch date, like a meeting over the lunch hour— or should I say the forty-five-minute allotment.” When Sydney didn’t reply, Maria said, “What?”

  “I think your boss is into you, Maria.”

  She laughed. “Hardly. If you saw him, you’d know what I mean. He could have any woman he wanted and probably has several women on speed dial.”

  “Has he talked about a wife or girlfriend?” Sydney asked.

  “He told me he wasn’t married or seriously dating anyone,” Maria said, gathering her purse and popping open her car door.

  “How did he happen to share that information?”

  Maria shut her car door, thinking for a moment. “It was in response to something else I said. But it was later on, so it was sort of a surprise. He walked past my cubicle and leaned in and told me. Then he walked away.”

  “Hmmm,” Sydney said. “I stand by my first assessment. He’s interested.”

  Maria had reached her apartment door and unlocked it. “I don’t think he meets any of my relationship requirements.”

  “You still have that thing?” Sydney asked with a laugh.

  “I threw away the full list a long time ago, but I haven’t forgotten the important points,” Maria said.

  “Well, sometimes you just have to take a chance,” her friend said. “Sometimes you need to throw away the list.”

  Maria released a sigh. “Well, this weekend I’m taking a break from everything.”

  “Good for you.”

  When Maria hung up with Sydney, she did just that.

  In fact, she didn’t leave her apartment until late Sunday morning, when she headed out to pick up her mom for lunch. Her parents lived in the same house she grew up in, and Maria always felt a bit nostalgic when she went back home. It was great to be independent and living on her own, but there was nothing like seeing her old house and remembering all the great memories there.

  “Maria,” her mother said, opening the front door when she arrived.

  Maria stepped in and hugged her mother. “Happy birthday, Mom,” she said. Her mother was petite, with a head full of dark hair and plenty of laugh lines around her eyes.

  “Dad,” Maria said, spotting her father coming toward her. He still walked with a limp from his knee surgery a couple of months ago. But his brown eyes twinkled. He kissed Maria’s cheek.

  “Your mother told me this is ladies only.”

  Maria smiled. “Sorry, Dad.”

  He waved her off. “Go have fun. There’s a game I want to catch on TV.”

  Maria and her mother loaded into Maria’s car, and they drove to her mother’s favorite French café. The croissants and pastries were to die for. The place wasn’t too crowded for a Sunday afternoon, and Maria told her mother about the new company policies and how she wasn’t happy about them but was trying to compromise.

  “Good for you, Maria,” her mother said. “I don’t know if I could work with so many rules.”

  Her mother had sold Avon for as long as Maria could remember, and with that job, her mother had always dressed to the nines with immaculate makeup. Even now, her mother was wearing a turquoise linen jacket over a cream blouse, paired with cream capris and strappy sandals. She looked classy and colorful. The perfect combination.

  They ordered, and just after the waitress walked away, the restaurant door opened, and three people walked in. Maria only glanced over because she heard one of the men laugh. A familiar laugh.

  She blinked in disbelief when she saw Walker. Quickly, she looked away and hoped he wouldn’t see her. She hadn’t seen who he was with, but it seemed like a couple of older people.

  “Maria?” Walker said.

  Oh no. She could practically feel him getting closer. She had to turn and acknowledge him now.

  When she turned, Walker had already arrived at her table, so she looked up into his green eyes.

  “What a small world,” he said, a half smile on his face. He cast a glance at her mother.

  “Hi, Mr. Harris,” Maria reluctantly said. “This is my mother.”

  He extended his hand to shake her mother’s hand.

  “Mr. Harris?” her mother said. “As in Maria’s new boss?”

  “Yes, that’s me,” he said. “But please call me Walker. Mr. Harris is my father.” He motioned to the man and woman standing next to him. They looked like his… parents?

  “This is my father, the real Mr. Harris,” Walker said. “And my mother, Janene Harris.”

  Maria’s mouth almost dropped open, but she clamped it closed just in time. Walker was here, with his parents? Maybe one was his step-parent. But as she scanned each of their faces, she was convinced they were his real mother and father.

  “Mom and Dad, this is Maria—”

  His mother gasped and placed a hand on Maria’s shoulder. “Maria? The one you punched another guy over?”

  Now Maria was truly stunned. Walker had told his parents about the bar incident?

  And his parents didn’t seem mortified. They were smiling at her.

  “When Walker told us about the fight, I just knew I had to meet the woman behind the story,” his mother continued to gush. She linked her arm through her husband’s. “Don’t you think it’s time our son met a woman he was willing to fight for, Phil?”

  The real Mr. Harris cleared his throat, his eyes dancing with merriment. It was at that moment Maria noticed that Walker wasn’t wearing a suit or tie. He wore jeans, which were nicely fitted and worn in the right places, and a polo shirt that did nothing to hide his muscular chest and shoulders.

  “It is an honor to meet you, Maria,” Mr. Harris said. “Walker has told me about some of your suggestions about the company dress code.”

  Right. Because Mr. Phi
l Harris owned the company and he was the big boss. Maria’s throat went dry.

  “Well, then, you’ll be happy to know that I signed the employee contract,” Maria said.

  Mr. Harris chuckled.

  “For what it’s worth,” Janene said, “I told them it was a bit too stuffy. Especially for you millennials.” She waved a hand at Walker. “Both of my men are old-school, I guess.”

  Maria’s mother was watching the entire interchange with great interest. “Why don’t you join us? We’ve just ordered, and I’d love to hear more about these company policies. Maria was just telling me about them as well. And I’d love to know all about this bar fight.”

  Maria wanted to crawl under the table, or better yet, run straight out of the restaurant and never stop.

  “Thank you,” Mr. Harris and his wife both said, and within moments they were all fitted around the rather small table.

  Walker sat next to Maria while her mother beamed at her from across the table. On top of it all, his clean spicy scent reached her, and she had to restrain herself from inhaling deeply.

  “You’re with your parents?” Maria whispered to Walker as the older adults fell into a conversation of Where are you from.

  Walker leaned closer to catch her quiet words. “Sundays are our traditional lunch together.”

  “But… you told me you were in juvie. I thought your parents were divorced or something.”

  Walker’s brows lifted. “No, my mom quit her charity organization for a few years when everything started to go wrong. She practically stalked all my activities, and although I resented it at first, I realized for the first time that my parents loved me unconditionally. When I started my freshman year in college, she went back to her charity work, but I never forgot her sacrifice. Which is probably why I work for my dad now.”

  Maria sat back, stunned. She’d assumed so much about Walker, when in fact, he was becoming more and more like a regular guy. Wait. He was far from a regular guy. He’d just singled her out in a restaurant and introduced her to his parents. They hadn’t even been on a date yet— not that she was planning on dating him, or expecting him to ask her out.

  Walker shifted close to Maria and whispered in her ear, “My mom already loves you.”

  Maria’s heart thumped. “She doesn’t even know me.”

  “When I told her about how I got my black eye, she told me that was the best news she’s had for years,” Walker continued.

  Maria turned to stare at him. He was really close. Too close. She swallowed. “Why would any mother be happy about her son getting into a fight that could get him arrested?”

  Walker bumped his shoulder against hers. “I don’t know, should we ask her?”

  “No,” Maria said.

  Walker chuckled. “I only see this unexpected meeting as a good thing.”

  Maria cast him a sideways glance, trying to ignore how good he looked in his casual attire. “How’s that?”

  “Well, our first date will be a lot less awkward if you’ve already met my parents.”

  “He said what?” Sydney said over the phone.

  Maria had just dropped off her mom, then immediately called Sydney and June. When they were both conferenced in, she told them all about the restaurant incident, from beginning to end.

  “Your boss asked you out?” June added, astonishment in her voice.

  Maria was still astonished herself. It had taken everything she had to act normal and calm on the drive back with her mom. “Not exactly in the traditional way,” Maria explained. “He just brought up how our first date would be more like a third or fourth date since I’ve already met his parents.”

  “Oh my gosh,” Sydney said.

  “Yeah,” June echoed. “Oh my gosh.”

  Maria’s pulse drummed. “You guys aren’t helping. You’re supposed to laugh and tell me that this was all a huge joke. I mean this is Walker Harris— a stuffy suit. He doesn’t meet any requirement on my list.”

  “Remind me of your list,” June said.

  “Well, after Josh, I added a few things,” Maria said. “But basically my perfect man is someone I’m attracted to—”

  “Check,” Sydney said.

  Maria ignored the interruption. “Easygoing, which is not Walker.”

  “He seemed easygoing at the restaurant,” June chimed in.

  Not helping. “Steady job,” Maria continued. “Okay, he’s got that. Not sure if he wants kids, and he says he doesn’t have an ex-wife.”

  “So what else doesn’t he qualify as?” June asked.

  “He’s not okay with my fashion choices,” Maria said. “Although I have met his parents, but that’s totally coincidental.”

  “He just has to uphold the company dress code,” Sydney said. “He definitely noticed what you wore last weekend at the sports bar.”

  “Well…” Maria started, but she didn’t have a comeback.

  “Mm-hm,” Sydney said. “That’s what I thought. Like I told you Friday. Dump that list.”

  “I agree,” June said. “You need to be more open-minded.”

  Maria heaved a sigh. “This was not why I called you guys.”

  Both of her friends laughed. And by the time Maria was home and changed out of her lunch-date clothes and wearing her lounge pants and tank shirt, she was second-guessing everything she’d thought about Walker.

  Just as she settled on her balcony with a cup of tea, her cell rang. Her breathing about stopped when she saw the caller ID: Ex-boss.

  When she answered, Walker said, “Are you missing something?”

  “What are you talking about?” Maria asked, her heart thudding at the sound of his voice. His call was just unexpected, she told herself.

  “Your purse,” Walker said. “You left it at the restaurant.”

  “I did?” Maria said, standing to go search her kitchen counter. She could hardly believe she’d end up with her car keys and phone but not her purse. But the purse wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She must have been distracted after paying and just grabbed her keys and left with her mom. And she knew who to blame for being distracted.

  “Did you pick it up?” she asked.

  “I did.”

  Maria paused, while Walker seemed to be waiting for her to say something else.

  “Thank you,” she finally said. “I can get it from you at the office tomorrow.”

  “I thought I’d just drop if off at your place right now,” he said. “Are you home?”

  Maria started to feel a bit warm. “You don’t have to. I probably live a ways from you.”

  “I overheard your mom talking about the area you live in,” Walker said. “It’s not out of my way.”

  “All right,” Maria said, wanting to take it back the moment she said it. She couldn’t imagine Walker taking the time to drive to her place and give her a purse.

  “Great. See you soon,” Walker was already saying. And then he’d hung up, and Maria wasn’t sure what had just happened.

  She rushed to her bedroom and pulled on some yoga pants— at least they were better than her lounge pants with holes in them. Then she checked her fading makeup in the mirror and decided to put on a little more mascara.

  She must have lost track of time because when the doorbell rang it seemed it had only been a couple of minutes since Walker had called.

  Taking a deep breath, she crossed to the door, straightening a couple of things as she went. When she opened the door, there was Walker, still in his jeans and polo shirt and wearing a smile that she’d begun to appreciate more than she should.

  “I didn’t interrupt a nap or anything, did I?”

  “No,” Maria said, taking the purse he held out. “Thanks for this.”

  He just stood there, looking at her, and she finally said, “Do you want to come in?”

  “I was hoping you’d ask,” he said, stepping through the doorway, giving her another waft of his spicy scent.

  “Really?” Maria shut the door, crossed the small living space, and
set her purse on the counter.

  “Really,” Walker said, not looking at her, since he was busy scanning her living room. When he did look at her, he said, “I’m starting to get you, Maria.”

  She folded her arms. “And what’s your conclusion?”

  Walker took a couple of steps forward, and Maria refused to budge.

  “That you don’t like to be told no, and you also don’t like to be told what to do,” he said in a low voice.

  Maria just arched a brow.

  “You definitely don’t want to be stuffed in a corner and forgotten.” He moved closer, and although his nearness was making her heart beat like mad, she still held her ground.

  “Your mom’s great,” he said.

  Maria almost smiled, but she didn’t. “Your parents are not what I expected at all. At least not after what you told me about juvie time and the whole ‘I’m the boss, so shut up’ routine.”

  Walker blinked; then a slow smile spread across his face. “If that’s what some people think I’m like, I’m glad you know differently.”

  “Do I?”

  “Maria,” Walker said, moving even closer so now she really couldn’t catch a full breath. “You can’t be shocked that I’m interested in you.”

  She looked into his green eyes flecked with gold and found the intensity in his gaze a bit disarming. “Is it my yoga pants? Or my earrings?”

  He chuckled and rested his hands on her waist. His touch sent a wave of heat through her body.

  “It’s everything about you, no matter what you’re wearing,” he whispered, his mouth dangerously close to hers.

  “Well,” Maria said in a breathless voice. “I must admit that the casual look isn’t so bad on you either.” She put her hands on his shoulders and curled her fingers around his collar.

  There was no more encouragement needed, and Walker closed the distance between their lips and kissed her.

  His lips were warm and soft, and his kiss gentle, questioning. But when she moved her arms behind his neck and pulled him closer, he smiled against her mouth, then deepened his kiss. Maria’s breath seemed to leave her as she kissed him back. One part of her was in disbelief that not only was she kissing her new boss, but that it was Walker Harris. The other part of her didn’t care as she became caught up in everything that was Walker. The way his hands moved to her lower back, pulling her even closer, and the way his mouth explored hers as if he’d been thinking of kissing her for a long time.