After they finished eating he helped her wash up the dishes then followed her back to the living room. “So what do you do with your time, Mina? Do you date much?”
She dropped down on the sofa and curled her legs under her. “Oh yes,” she said regally. “I’m surprised you didn’t see the line outside. Men are just knocking down my door for a date.”
He sat down beside her. “I’m surprised they’re not doing just that.”
“You’re very nice to say that.”
“You don’t have a very high opinion of yourself, do you?”
Mina shrugged and plucked at an imaginary piece of lint on the sofa cushion. “I just don’t try to delude myself, that’s all.”
He started to tell her again how attractive he thought she was, but was interrupted by an incoming call from his cell phone. When he saw it was his realtor, Jim, he picked it up and asked him to hold on. “Top Secret corporate stuff,” he told Mina. “I’ll be right back.” He stepped out onto her front porch where she couldn't overhear his conversation. “Hey, Jim, what did you find for me?”
“I think we have a pretty tight match for what you asked for. It’s a little bigger than what you wanted, but it’s just down the beach from your house. It’s only been on the market for a week. The young couple who owned it got in over their heads and couldn’t pay the taxes. They did a little bit of damage to the inside, but the structure itself is solid. I can get the fencing company out there by this afternoon if you say it’s a go. You did want the fence all the way around the property, right?”
“Yes. Miss Harmon has a big dog so it’s a must. Tell me about the damage to the inside.”
“Just minor things. There’s a few cupboard doors hanging off kilter, the deck needs repaired, a few holes in the walls, but we can patch that up for you.”
“No, I don’t want you to do any repairs. As a matter of fact, I’d like you to mess up a few more things. Nothing major, but things that might take a bit of time to repair. How’s the paint inside and out?
“The outside is fine. Inside probably just needs to be washed down.”
“Throw some marks on the wall for me, maybe chip a few spots.”
Jim laughed. “Can I ask why you want to damage your own property?”
“Because I find a great deal of pleasure being in Miss Harmon’s company," he answered honestly. "If the house needs a few repairs, I’d like to offer my handy-man skills.”
“Ah, I think I’m getting the big picture now. I suppose if the carpets got torn up, that hardwood floor underneath would need to be stripped and refinished. That takes quite a bit of time to fix, you know.”
“Make sure the refrigerator and stove aren’t working either. I’ll need an excuse to get her brand new ones. When do you think it’ll be ready for her?”
“Let me get the paperwork to you on Monday. If you have a cashier’s check ready for me, I can hand you the key then.”
Scott thanked him and hung up. He told himself it would be better for both of them if he just tried to keep their relationship strictly business, but the more time he spent with Mina, the more time he wanted. But as much as he wanted to get her into his bed, he knew he’d have to be satisfied with the easy friendship they’d developed.
Mina looked up when he came back in. “Isn’t this the part where your phone self-destructs?”
“Too costly. It’s just easier to kill anyone that overhears the conversation.” He dropped down on the sofa, giving her a suspicious look. “You didn’t hear anything, did you?”
“Not a word, I swear,” she giggled.
“So what are your plans for the rest of the day?”
“Oh, the usual busy Saturday night schedule. I’ll start out with a few loads of laundry, maybe run the vacuum over the carpet. Then, if I’m feeling really adventurous, I’ll scrub down the bathroom. I like to polish off my Saturdays with some real excitement by making popcorn and watching the Classics Channel. What about you?”
“It’s going to be hard to top the thriller night you have planned,” he teased.
“I’m sure a man like you doesn’t spend too many Saturday nights alone,” she said quietly.
“Well, since I usually work all day Saturday, most of the time I’m just too worn out to think about going out on a date. As a matter of fact, I can’t really recall when the last time was.”
“Really?” She said a little too happily. “I mean, that’s too bad. You should get out and enjoy your life while you’re still young.”
“I’m enjoying myself now.”
She laughed softly. “Yeah, the excitement never ends around here.”
“I mean it. I’ve had a very nice time with you, Mina. I’m not big on doing laundry or scrubbing the bathroom but if you want, we can go pick up a few movies and I’ll share a bowl of popcorn with you.”
Mina’s face lit up. “You really want to?”
“Only if I get out of cleaning duty,” he said.
“What kind of movies do you like?”
“Suspense, thriller, drama. No chick flicks,” he gave her a warning glance.
“Do I look like the type that watches sappy love stories?”
“Great, let’s go.” He stood up and held out his hand.
Mina let him help her up. “I think there’s a video store in the little strip mall close to the grocery store.”
They spent quite a while in the video store, each vetoing the other’s choices. “Seen it,” Scott said when she produced another one of her selections.
“Well good Lord, you’ve seen every movie in here, it seems.”
“The new stuff isn’t worth seeing twice. What about renting a classic like The Birds or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?”
“Can we get both?”
Scott smiled at the childlike excitement in her face. “You think you can handle being around me that long?”
“As long as you don’t hog the popcorn, I think I can manage it.”
They found the classics section and picked up the movies then headed back to the house. “I forgot to tell you the rental house is being vacated this weekend. If you want, we can swing by after work Monday so you can take a look at it.”
“We haven’t even discussed the rent yet.”
“I guess that depends on the condition of the house. If it’s just minor repairs, we can get you moved in and work on fixing it up while you’re there. That way, you can save some rent and I’ll know my house is being taken care of. When all the repairs have been done, we’ll talk about rent.”
“But…”
“The house is all paid for, sweetheart, so stop worrying about what the rent will be. All I really need to do is charge enough to cover the annual taxes and I’ll be happy. As long as you work for me, that will be the deal. If you quit on me, we may have to renegotiate, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
“You make it very difficult for anyone to say no.”
Scott pulled up in front of her house and parked the car. “I’m going to take that as a compliment, though I have serious doubts about you having meant it that way.”
Mina unlocked the front door and with a sly smile, stood back to allow Scott to go through first. He looked at her curiously but opened the door and walked in. She waited for the inevitable charge by Buster and was disappointed when she heard Scott greet the dog normally. She stepped inside and had just enough time to let out a small squeak of surprise before Buster landed on her. She was too busy trying to protect herself from the dog’s lapping tongue to see Scott’s face, but he was roaring with laughter. Finally, he took pity on her.
“Down Buster,” he commanded.
Mina sat there for moment, too astonished to say anything. The minute the order was issued, Buster backed off and was now sitting at attention as if he was awaiting Scott’s next command. Scott was still trying to hold back his laughter when he held out his hands to her. Once he'd pulled her to her feet, she dusted off her bottom, glaring intermittently at both of them. “The
dog has no manners and neither do you,” she grumbled.
“Me? What about you? You deliberately sent me in first because you thought Buster would jump on me.”
She tried not to look too guilty. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Anyway, how did you get him to do that?”
“You just need to let him know he’s not the alpha in the pack. Use an assertive voice and don’t come into the house timidly, as if you expect him to jump on you.”
“But I do expect him to jump on me because he does jump on me.”
“I know that, Mina, and so does he. The next time we come in, I want you to try it. Keep your voice low and authoritative and always use the same word for the command. Buster responded nicely to the word down, so use that.”
“I’ll give it a try,” she promised.
“It’s getting close to dinnertime. We can go out if you want, or we could just order a pizza and start the movies.”
“Would you mind if we just stayed here?”
“Not at all. If you set up the first video, I’ll order the pizza.”
****
Renting The Birds had been a waste of money for the most part because they talked through the whole movie. She got up to let Buster out for a while and make popcorn before they started The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. She looked at Scott a little skeptically when he insisted they turn off all the lights.
“What fun is watching a scary movie if you’re going to leave all the lights on?”
Mina dumped the popcorn in a bowl. “I think you just want to see if I’ll whimper like a helpless female. That way you can feel all manly when I beg you to let me sit closer.”
Scott hadn’t actually thought of that, but the idea of Mina snuggling up to him sounded pretty good. He followed her into the living room. “Are you telling me this movie won’t scare you at all?”
She wasn’t about to admit she still thought it was one of the scariest movies she’d ever seen. Even the new high tech slice and dice movies couldn’t compare with the old classics that relied on the tension of chases in the dark and murderers that jumped out of the shadows. She sat down on the sofa again. “I’ve seen this move a hundred times. It barely even affects me anymore.”
“Good,” he grinned, not the least bit fooled by her false bravado. “Then you won’t mind if I turn off all the lights.”
He flipped the light switch and took his spot in the middle of the sofa then picked up the remote and started the movie. He smiled with satisfaction when the first couple got nailed and Mina put the popcorn bowl onto the coffee table before sidling a little closer to him. When Leatherface took after the teenagers with the chainsaw, she was suddenly a few inches nearer to his side of the sofa than hers.
Scott eyed her with amusement. “Why don’t you scoot on over here and feed my ego a bit.”
Mina didn’t hesitate a second to curl up next to him or utter a word of protest when Scott put his arm around her and pulled her a little closer. “I’m not scared,” she insisted, “I just don’t want your manhood to feel threatened.”
“If you say so, sweetheart,” he chuckled.
She gave up the pretense and settled her head on his shoulder. Maybe it was the feel of his strong arm around her or it could have been the distraction of having her head resting on the hard muscles of his chest, but she didn’t feel nearly as scared as she’d been when she was just sitting next to him. Mina wasn’t sure how appropriate it was to be cuddled on the sofa with her new boss, but she found it entirely too enjoyable to worry about it. She could feel the heat from his body even through his clothes and just the scent of him was making her stomach flutter.
She tried to concentrate on the movie but was finding it increasingly difficult, especially since she experienced a warm tingling sensation whenever Scott tightened his arm around her for a moment during the scary parts. She hadn’t dated much in high school and once she’d gone to college there just didn’t seem to be much time for it, even if she had been asked out. Once she’d started working, she’d been asked out a few times, but didn’t think it was a very good idea to date someone you worked with. Since she was too shy to go to bars or singles clubs by herself, Mina basically had no experience at all being with men.
Now as she found herself pressed so close to Scott and the warmth of his body, she began to realize how exciting it could be. She could feel her own heartbeat pumping at a furious pace and went nearly breathless when his hand started idly stroking her arm. She tried to stay focused on the movie as the final chase scene played out, her muscles tensing as the girl ran for her life even though Mina knew she escaped in the end. When the movie was over and the credits started rolling, she felt a deep disappointment at the thought of separating her body from his, but to her surprise Scott only leaned forward to get the remote and turn off the DVD player before flipping through the channels until he found an old Ma and Pa Kettle movie.
“Are you okay with this one?” He asked her.
She tipped her head back to look at him. “Are you an old movie buff too or are you just being nice because you know I am?”
“Hell, I’ve seen these movies so many times, I could probably say their lines right along with them.”
Mina smiled up at him and for one brief moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. Almost imperceptively he lowered his head and she waited in breathless anticipation until his mouth was so close she could feel the warmth of his breath against her lips. For just a second his eyes locked with hers, then Scott abruptly pulled his head up.
“I should go,” he said gruffly. “It’s getting late and I have a lot of errands to run tomorrow.”
A little hurt that he was so hastily extracting himself from the sofa and seemed to be making a point of distancing himself from her, Mina stood up stiffly. Obviously she'd read too much into him spending the evening with her and now she'd embarrassed them both by behaving like a school girl with a crush. She walked him to the door and let Buster back in then held out her hand as if she was concluding a business deal.
“Thanks for everything, Scott.”.
Het took her hand but just held it for a moment. Then he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, his lips lingering for a few seconds. “Good-night, Mina. I’ll be here at seven-thirty Monday morning to pick you up for work.”
“You don’t…”
“Don’t argue with the boss,” he said with a grin. Then he let go of her hand and left.
Mina closed the door behind him and locked it, suddenly feeling very lonely. “Come on, traitor,” she said to her dog, “it’s bedtime.”
****
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Scott said when he called her Monday morning.
“I’ll be ready and waiting,” Mina told him.
The truth was, she’d been ready for over half an hour and had spent the last thirty minutes pacing back and forth. She checked herself in the mirror one more time and was quite please with the dark blue skirt and jacket set she'd chosen. The silk shirt beneath was white with large, multi-colored polka dots and her shoes were the same dark blue as the suit . She knew Scott liked it better when she wore her hair down, but she didn’t think it was very professional and had used a large butterfly clip at the nape of her neck to hold her hair away from her face. It was simple but elegant and Mina thought she’d never looked better in her life.
After spending so much time with Scott on Friday and Saturday, she’d felt incredibly despondent when she had to spend the day alone on Sunday. She’s spent a good deal of the time chastising herself for getting too personal with Scott, and worse, for wishing there could be something more between them. It had probably just been her imagination when she thought Scott was going to kiss her. Maybe she was actually the one who’d moved closer and he'd had been so embarrassed by it, he’d felt compelled to make up an excuse for leaving. She was mortified by that thought and made up her mind to be nothing but professional with him no matter how hard it was.
Mina grab
bed her purse and let Buster out before she locked the door then went to stand by the curb to wait for Scott. He pulled up and was out the door before she’d even made it across the sidewalk, greeting her with a big smile as he opened her door for her.
“You look amazing,” he told Mina as he took her hand to help her in. Once they were on their way again, he gave her another sweeping glance. “You seem a little nervous.”
She was nervous, but it was more from being with Scott and trying to remain aloof than any problem the job might present. “I am a little, I guess.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine. I’ve cleared as much of my week as I could so I can help get you trained. Of course, there’s some things you’ll have to learn from the other assistants so I’ve made up a schedule for some of them so they’ll be rotating the training with you. That way they’re not pulled away from their own jobs for too long and it’ll be a good time for you to get to know some of the people you work with. The assistant I‘ve asked to work with you this afternoon is Mary Jenkins. I’ll just introduce you to the people in my own area today. There’s over two hundred employees working in the building so I couldn’t possibly introduce you to everyone. Eventually, I’m sure you’ll meet more people if you use the break room or when you’re meeting with them for me.”
INNOCENCE AND ARROGANCE Page 6