Melanie raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?” And why should it matter to her?
“Ummm…” Tim mumbled. “I mean, he must find you attractive since you’re dating and all.”
“We are?”
Tim leaned forward. “Assistants know these things. He mentions your name all the time. I never heard him do that before.”
“Before?”
“Yeah, when he dated. The only reason I’d ever know he was seeing anyone is if he asked me to send flowers.”
“When would he do that?” He hadn’t sent her flowers.
“Oh you know, after a hot night of sex, when he wanted to dump them for another woman, stuff like that.” He laughed. “Just kidding.”
Melanie bit off another carrot end. “Humph. I guess I didn’t impress him.”
“Cheer up, Melanie! Rob is nuts about you. Can’t you talk to a woman about this kind of stuff? My mom or someone like that? Everyone knows how Rob feels, okay?” Tim squirmed in his chair.
Melanie rested her chin on her hand, giving up the unappetizing carrots for the moment and stared at Tim. She didn’t feel any more comfortable than he did. “Did you have a crush on my cousin?”
“Who, Brisa?” Melanie nodded. Tim shrugged and tugged at his collar. “Who didn’t? But she never gave me the time of day.”
“You should try,” Melanie suggested. “You never know. Give her a call. You’re a nice guy.”
“Well, thanks,” Tim said, his eyes wandering. “That’s sweet. I suppose I’m going to have a lot of free time pretty soon.”
“How come? Vacation time?”
“No. Rob’s decided to sell the company and he’s moving on. I’m his assistant, so I guess I’ll be out of a job. Need an assistant, Melanie?” he asked hopefully.
“What?” Melanie stood, holding onto the desk with her fingers nearly white from the pressure she applied. “He’s selling?”
“Yeah. To Professional Massage. They fired a bunch of people and Rob agreed to sell.”
“Oh my god,” Melanie sat back down, unable to breathe for a moment. “I can’t believe he did something so stupid. He adores his job. I wish he cared about me as much.”
Tim tapped her on the cheek. “Wake up, Melanie, of course he does. On Friday all he did was push paper around his desk and mutter to himself. You’re driving him crazy.”
“Really?” Melanie asked. “Crazy good or crazy bad?”
“Crazy in love,” Tim said, hoisting himself to his feet. “Go after him, for heaven’s sake. The pheromones around here have been a mile thick since you came here.”
Melanie stood too and grabbed her purse. Could she have been wrong about him? Would it be safe to love him after all? “Where is he?”
“Up north at a warehouse. I think he’s going straight home from there.”
“Which warehouse?” She wanted to speak to him now before she lost her courage.
“Lynnwood.”
Melanie tossed the bag of carrots to him. “Enjoy. I’m leaving for the day, if anyone wants me.”
“Where are you going?” Tim called.
“To talk some sense into Rob!”
Outside, Melanie jumped into her car and headed for Interstate 5 heading north. He couldn’t be doing this. Not selling the company. It was his life. Just when he had everything in the palm of his hand. Didn’t the silly lug know she wanted the best for him? Because, well, she loved him.
The thought frustrated her, but she couldn’t help it. He was perfect. Honorable, smart, sexy, really sexy, really really sexy. Melanie blinked. Focus on the freeway, Melanie.
Twenty minutes later, she found the exit she was looking for and pulled off to the right. The warehouse was a few blocks east and as she entered the driveway, she saw Rob’s car in a parking spot next to the door.
Melanie flashed her company badge at the security guard as she came through the front door. “Can you tell me where Rob Black is?”
The security guard pointed to a set of white swinging doors behind him. Melanie smiled at him and pushed one of the doors open. The huge room was sex toy central. Boxes containing all of the company’s products were lined up on parallel gray metal shelving units. To the left of the door, an open container held boxes of the manacles Melanie had played with in Vegas. That was the first night that they had kissed, the night that had brought her the third best orgasm of her life, the other two being on the nights she and Rob had made love. Melanie pulled out a set of manacles, remembering that crazy night. Then she recalled the Thursday night only a few days ago that she and Rob had spent together. She hadn’t slept well since. Rob was tearing her apart. Love and fear warred inside her. Could they be a team in love and business?
Staring at the manacles, Melanie suddenly realized Rob had already proven himself. She was more important to him than his company. Could it be true? She stared blankly at the box in front of her. Could there really be a man who put a woman first?
But what did that make her? She didn’t want to ruin his life. She had to change his mind so that he didn’t destroy his own professional dreams.
Melanie skirted around the edge of eight sets of shelves. At first she couldn’t see anyone or hear any voices, but as she walked down the second row, she saw him, alone, crouched over a box on the floor.
As she came closer, she saw his jeans were filthy and dust had darkly streaked his hair. She knelt next to him, not caring that her linen pants were not going to be white much longer.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“Melanie,” Rob said, looking up with a smile. Melanie touched her hand to his face and accidentally clanked his nose with the manacles.
“Sorry!” she yelped and jerked her hand back.
“What are you doing with those?” Rob asked with a grin.
“I didn’t realize I was holding them.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Rob said. “I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but beating on me won’t solve our problems.”
“That’s what you think,” Melanie said, but realized from his expression that he didn’t grasp that she was teasing him. How could she make him realize that she finally understood? She looked down at her hands. “Maybe I do have a use for them.”
“Oh?” He looked wary.
“Yeah.” Melanie closed one end of the cuffs around one of the shelving unit’s support poles. “How about I chain you to your company until I can talk some sense into you?”
“I am making sense,” he replied. “I guess you heard I’m going to sell.” He looked down for a second, his expression clouded, but then he lit up with a smile as bright as the stars had been the night before. “I want to make you happy. Come here.”
He pulled her close. Melanie held onto the unattached cuff with one hand and wrapped the other arm around his neck, kissing him greedily.
“There aren’t any more reasons for us not to be together, honey. Your reputation is recovered and even if I’m out of work, I’ll be financially secure. We can do whatever we want.”
“Together?”
“You bet.”
Melanie looked into his eyes, noticing the green flecks in them for the first time. Green was her favorite color. But it didn’t matter, she’d love him if he were redheaded and pink-eyed, no matter what any fortuneteller told her. “I don’t want you to give up LeatherWorks. It makes you happy.”
“You make me happier,” Rob said, cupping her breast with a hand. As he ran his thumb across her nipple, Melanie gasped.
“Stop that,” she demanded, rubbing her hand down his jean placket in retaliation.
Rob swallowed visibly. “Don’t you dare stop.”
Melanie smiled and, letting go of the cuff, she gave her full attention to unbuttoning the placket of his jeans. “You have to promise to keep the company,” she demanded.
“At the cost of losing this?” he said roughly.
“You made your point, Rob. I won’t fight you anymore. We’re in it together.”
“You’
re going to become a Black?”
Melanie nodded. “Just try to stop me.” She paused to kiss him then looked down as she tugged the stiff fabric of his jeans open. When she had the buttons pulled apart, she blinked in amazement.
“Your undershorts,” she whispered.
Rob looked down, grinning sheepishly. “Dagmar threw them at me.”
Melanie touched one of the devils she had hand-stenciled onto this fabric a couple of weeks before. How different its meaning seemed now.
“I wore them because you designed them,” he offered. “How stupid is that? I wanted to keep you close.”
Melanie put both of her hands to his cheeks. “You beguile me, bewitch me and bedevil me, Rob. I don’t think I want to live without you in my life.”
“Soul mate,” he whispered. “You believe that, don’t you? His lips pressed against hers, “I love you so much. You don’t need to chain my arms, you’ve already stolen my heart.”
About the Author
Heather Hiestand’s first short story, “Nancy’s Magic Penny”, was written when she was seven. Though the story was popular in grade school publishing circles, it took her years to find additional fiction publication. She has been reading and reviewing romances for a decade and is now thrilled to share her own stories with readers. She has been previously published in mystery and romance short fiction.
Heather resides in Washington State with her husband, and wishes to remark, “Yes, dear, of course you’re the model for all of my heroes.”
Heather welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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