Blazing Midsummer Nights (Harlequin Blaze)

by Leslie Kelly

  Really curious, she leaned forward and said, “Tell me what’s going on.”

  Lauren looked at her hands, which were clenched in her lap, then out the window, then down at her hands again.

  “Would you spill it? You look like you did that time you had to tell me you’d come back in to work late one night and caught the janitors doing it in the break room.”

  “Ha. I wish it were something that simple.”

  Simple? The two janitors in question had both been in their sixties, both married and both men. There had been nothing simple about that situation.

  To give her credit, Lauren had had the presence of mind—and the feisty temperament—to order them to get their clothes back on, and not to leave until they’d bleached down every surface in the break room. Despite that, neither Mimi nor Lauren had eaten a single lunch in there since.

  She wondered if either of the men were still married. Or still hiding in their very clean closets.

  Lauren’s next comment killed any curiosity Mimi might have about anybody else’s marital status.

  “I think Dimitri’s going to propose to you.”

  Her jaw fell and she sagged back in the chair. “What?”

  Though they hadn’t broadcast it, Lauren knew Mimi and Dimitri had been dating. She also knew—and had felt confident enough in her relationship with Mimi to comment about it—that they weren’t right for each other. Lauren called Dimitri the Stud Stick. Probably with good reason.

  “Tell me you’re joking.”

  “Nope, I’m not. Believe me, if I thought this was good news, that you wanted to hear it and would give even a minute’s thought to accepting, I would never have said a word. I’m not a proposal spoiler…that’s just mean.”

  “You’re right. I don’t want to hear it, and I wouldn’t give a minute’s thought to it.” She swiped a hand through her hair, knocking it out of its bun but not caring. “I’d been planning to tell him today that I didn’t even want to go out with him anymore.”

  “Obviously he thinks everything’s hunky-dory.” She shook her head woefully. “Lord, what fools these men can be.”

  “How could he possibly think I’d be interested in a proposal? Hell, we’re not even involved, we’ve never…” She flushed, realizing she was saying too much.

  “Oh, come on, it’s not like I don’t know you two haven’t done the nasty,” Lauren said with an eye-roll.

  “It’s that obvious?”

  “You can tell when two people have seen each other naked. And I’ve never seen a look on your face that says you’ve seen him wearing anything less than khakis and a J. Crew sweater…nor have you much looked like you cared.”

  True. All true.

  “Heck, I’ve never seen anybody who’s acted like they’ve even seen him with his shirt off.”

  Hmm. Helen might have. But that wasn’t Mimi’s business.

  “Why do you think he’s going to ask me to marry him?”

  “Because I came in really early this morning and went to ask your dad a question. From outside his office, I heard him talking to Dimitri about getting your grandmother’s ring so it could be reset for you.”

  That was serious. And wasn’t it just like her father to presume to not only talk to a man she was barely dating about his pending proposal, but to also demand he use a Burdette family heirloom, rather than picking out a damn ring himself?

  There were times she loved her father and wanted only to get along with him.

  There were other times when she came close to reaching for bleach to hide the bloodstains and a shovel to bury the body.

  “I’m really sorry, boss,” Lauren said. “I know you don’t need to deal with this stress right now.”

  Seeing the genuine concern on the other woman’s face, Mimi nodded her thanks.

  “I should be used to it. But honestly, I can’t believe this is happening,” she said, rubbing at the corners of her eyes with the tips of her two fingers.

  “Neither can I!” a male voice snapped.

  She jerked her head up, shocked to see her father storming into her office. Dimitri was right behind him, and he shot her a look that was half commiserating, half scolding.

  Lauren leapt to her feet. “Excuse me, I need to get back to work.”

  Though he was usually very polite to all the staff, her father ignored the young woman as she scurried out of the office. Striding right over to Mimi’s desk, he slammed his hand—a hand that was holding a brightly colored sales circular—down on top of it.

  Mimi stared at it in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

  “What do you mean what’s wrong? Are you trying to say you weren’t just talking about this…this…abomination?”

  A strong word for eight sheets of four-color newsprint.

  Confused, she could only shake her head. “I honestly have no idea, Dad. Why don’t you calm down, take a seat and tell me what this is all about.”

  “Her own department, and she has no idea,” he snapped, turning to Dimitri.

  “Maybe we should fill her in,” Dimitri replied, calmly, which was good since her father, the CEO of Burdette Foods, looked ready to blow a gasket.

  Whatever had happened, it was serious.

  “I wish somebody would,” she said, trying to keep her temper in check. She did not like feeling like a kid called on the carpet before her father and judgmental older brother.

  Hmm. An older brother. To be honest, when she thought about it, that’s kind of how she’d been thinking of Dimitri lately. She liked him, respected him…but sure didn’t want to make out with him, and God help the man if he ever actually proposed. She’d be saying no quicker than a sober virgin at a frat party.

  Her father threw both hands up in the air and strode across the room to her corner window, which looked out over downtown Athens. She’d taken the smallest executive office just because of that pretty view. Now she kind of wished she could step out of that window and fly away.

  Like in her dream.

  She’d flown in that amazing dream she’d had the first night when she’d drunk some of Obi-Wan’s tea. She’d forgotten it again until just that moment. Which made her wonder if she’d had any other dreams the second time she’d drunk the tea…dreams she couldn’t remember, either.

  “Let me show you,” Dimitri said, bringing her mind back to the tense moment at hand.

  Leaning over her desk, he flipped through a few pages of the sales circular, until he came to the page displaying this week’s meat specials. Running the tip of his perfectly manicured finger over the photographs of the products, he stopped about halfway down, tapping on one tiny picture and block of text.

  Mimi peered at the image. Then, not believing what she was seeing, grabbed her reading glasses that she used when she’d read so much she could barely see anymore, and looked again.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  “Exactly!” her father said.

  She understood why he was so angry. Because she was hit with a rush of fury herself.

  Right in the middle of the meat ad, between the mention of the buy-one-get-one deal on London Broil, and the special on chicken breasts, was a small hand-drawn image.

  “It’s a penis,” she whispered, still not believing her eyes.

  “Of course it’s a penis!” her father said.

  This was a nightmare.

  Whoever had drawn it was talented. It was just about the most realistic cartoon penis and testicles she’d ever seen, right down to some icky purple veins. Nobody could claim it was a mirage seen only by dirty-minded people.

  Well-drawn, but small and cleverly concealed. Probably only about a half inch long, it was lost amid all the other images…until you looked close. And to drive the point home, directly beneath it were the teeny-tiny words Tube Steak! Eat all you want for free!

  She slid her fingers under the glasses, rubbing her eyes again, aware of a headache that had just begun to pound behind them.

  What to do…a recall, obviously. Strip all the
copies from the stores, publish an apology in the next circular?

  “How could you let this happen?” her father barked.

  She stiffened. Mimi had been focused on the what of the issue, and the how to fix it. Not on casting the blame for it happening in the first place. That could come later, after they did some major ass-covering.

  But not according to her father.

  “Me?”

  “You’re the head of the marketing and advertising departments, aren’t you?” He swung around to face her, his face red, spittle flying from his lips. “If you were anybody but my daughter, I’d fire you on the spot.”

  If she were anyone but his daughter, she’d tell him to go fuck himself. Because while she was the head of the departments, as he’d said, she was also very good at her job. She had gone over the proofs of that circular with a magnifying glass in hand, like she did every week, and knew damn well that obscenity had not been on it. She had the proof filed away, with her initials on it, and if there was a penis on the damn thing, she would not only tender her resignation on the spot, but she’d also drop to the floor and kiss her father’s hand in supplication.

  But there wasn’t. She knew it down to her very soul.

  She had an immediate suspicion about what might have happened. Her fight with their printer, who’d had the contract for so long they’d grown lazy, had blown up last week. She’d told the owner she was putting out a request for proposal for bids from other companies. The man was a good-old-boy redneck with a sexist attitude and a chip on his shoulder, and he had been furious. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d expressed his fury to somebody on his staff, who’d decided to slip a little something extra into the ad. Or, heck, if he’d done it himself!

  It made perfect, infuriating sense. But her father didn’t even want to hear an explanation—he was busy blaming her.

  “I want everyone in those departments in a meeting in one hour,” he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his foot imperiously. “One of those jokers thought he was being funny and might have cost us a major media firestorm. Well, let’s see if he’s still laughing when he’s standing on the unemployment line.”

  “It wasn’t one of my people… .”

  “Of course it was. You just don’t want to admit it because you treat them like friends instead of employees.”

  Her jaw fell. “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “Oh, I know about your pedicures with that assistant of yours. You can’t treat subordinates like gal pals, Mimi, or you get taken advantage of. This obviously proves it.”

  She couldn’t understand what he meant, then something dawned on her. She had given Lauren a gift certificate to a local day spa for a mani/pedi after she’d done a terrific job on a project, and had decided at the last minute to go with her. Dimitri had been taking her out for dinner that night, their very first date, and had heard all about it.

  And he’d felt the need to run to tattle to her father.

  Like…like a big brother.

  She turned her attention to him, glared with such heat he flinched. Her eyes never left his face, though she was addressing her father. “Oh, is that what you’ve heard?”

  Dimitri swiped a hand through his perfect hair, messing it up as much as she’d ever seen it. “Mimi, I…”

  “Save it,” she snarled, talking not to Dimitri, her colleague, but to Dimitri, the man she’d actually gone out with a couple of times. Had he been reporting the amount of money she spent, where she ate her lunch, or how quickly she’d let him kiss her? Bastard.

  Mimi closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and grabbed hold of her emotions and her anger with both fists. When she felt under control, she turned back to her father. “Fine. Meeting in your office in one hour.” Her eyes narrowing, she added, “But I will decide which of my staff members need to be in attendance.”

  Their stares locked, and she noticed his eyes flared a little. They’d had a few run-ins, but she hadn’t ever addressed him with such fury and utter disdain in her voice. But he’d laid the groundwork for this confrontation when he’d stormed in here and thrown around his accusations. Not to mention making that hateful crack about firing her.

  The ridiculous thing was, if she were anyone but his daughter, he would have treated her a whole lot more respectfully. At the very least, he would have bothered to ask if she had any idea what had happened, rather than just deciding she’d screwed up.

  “Now how about both of you get out so I can get busy figuring out how this happened?”

  Her father’s stiff, angry posture softened a little, as if he suddenly realized how righteously furious she was. “Mimi…”

  “If you’ll excuse me, sir, I really need to get to work.”

  He hesitated, his mouth pulling down and his brow furrowing into a puzzled frown. Her dad was the type to bluster and fume, then calm down and listen to reason, which was obviously what was happening here.

  Problem was, it was too late. He’d crossed a line this time with his minion’s help. She wasn’t going to just laugh this off as Dad being Dad. He’d behaved badly, been a lousy manager, and once she cleared her name—and her staff—she was going to make sure he knew exactly how she felt about it.

  Beyond that, she honestly didn’t know what she was going to do. But if she still felt the way she did right now, it might not be just her staff members walking the unemployment line. Because she’d quit her job before she ever let him make her feel the way he’d made her feel this morning, her future with her family’s company be damned.

  Part of her was horrified by the very idea, considering she’d been trying so hard to prove herself worthy of the CEO job. Another part—the part that had other dreams and wishes, that sometimes fantasized about going to a new company where she could really push herself creatively—found it incredibly exciting.

  Right now, Mimi truly had no idea which way things would go. All she knew was she had sixty minutes to clear her name, and her staff.

  After that…the future was wide-open.

  * * *

  THOUGH THEY’D BEEN physically involved for under a week, the moment Xander saw Mimi Thursday evening, he knew something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

  It wasn’t just the frown on her face. Or the dark circles under her eyes. Or the streaks on her cheeks that told of recently shed tears.

  The spoon and half gallon of ice cream in her hand, and the big glass of wine sitting beside her on her kitchen counter said a whole lot, too.

  He’d come over right after he’d gotten home from the station, knocking once, then letting himself in after she called out that the door was unlocked. Seeing her in such a wrecked state, his stomach dropped and he went right to her, taking the ice cream out of her hands and pulling her into his arms.

  He didn’t say anything, and when she opened her mouth to, he stopped her with a kiss.

  She dropped the spoon to the floor with a clatter, then lifted her hands up to encircle his neck, holding him tight. Her mouth opened, her soft lips parting in welcome, her cold, chocolaty tongue plunging against his.

  When they finally drew apart for breath, he said, “I can tell something’s wrong and you’ve had a shitty day. What will make you feel better—talking about it, or getting made love to until you can’t even remember your own name, much less what was wrong?”

  She gazed up at him, a tiny hint of a smile appearing on those beautiful lips. Instead of answering, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt, turned and pulled him toward her bedroom.

  Oh, good. Hot sex instead of conversation. That would have been his first choice, too.

  He followed her for a couple of steps, then stopped, bent and swept her up into his arms. Any woman who’d had a day as bad as hers deserved to be swept off her feet by a man who was crazy about her.

  And he was crazy about her. Head-over-heels, out-of-his-mind, now-and-forever mad about her.

  He had fallen into lust at first sight the night they met. Now, his emotions w
ere fully engaged by this woman. Hers was the face he pictured when he drifted off to sleep every night, and the first thing he thought of every morning. He’d already fallen into an I-have-to-tell-Mimi-about-this habit, so used to having her in his life already, even though he hadn’t even known her a couple of weeks ago.

  His father had once told him he’d fallen in love with his mother, who he barely knew, when he saw her angrily confront a man who had made a racist remark to a passing stranger.

  Xander had fallen when he’d seen Mimi up in that tree, trying to rescue that dumb cat.