by Kimberly Fox
“I’ll grab a cab.”
What is going on?
And just like that, she leaves.
18
Dahlia
“How could you have done that? How could you have done that?” I mutter to myself over and over again as I walk to the office in the morning.
I had a deal with myself to treat this as a business arrangement—no feelings and definitely no sex.
Well, I broke the no sex part of the deal, but I’m still unsure of where I stand with the whole feelings part.
This is too important to risk screwing up with sex. There’s a whole factory, no, a whole town depending on me to do the right thing. I have to stay focused and stay sharp for my friends and neighbors in Summerland. It’s the only way.
Mack already warned us about fooling around in his building, and a few hours later I had my panties off, my legs spread, and Tyler’s big dick filling me completely.
A warm shiver cascades through me as I think about it. Fuck, that dick. I can complain about having sex, but I can’t complain about the sex. It was definitely the best sex I’ve ever had. The fucking best.
He made me come twice! Nobody has ever made me come even once before without some assistance from me.
I take a deep breath of the cool morning air and then take a long sip of my warm coffee, trying to get the dirty thoughts out of my mind. It’s much too early to be thinking about sex, and I definitely don’t want to spend the day walking around in wet panties, so I try to keep Tyler and his big dick out of my mind.
Think of the proposal instead. I close my eyes for a moment as I walk down the sidewalk and imagine Tyler down on one knee with a diamond ring in his hand and a smile on his face. Not that kind of proposal!
I shake my head, trying to clear the unwanted images invading my mind. This is a big day for me, and I can’t be distracted. Tyler and I worked on the business proposal for the steel factory in Phoenix all night until we got… sidetracked. When I got home, after my cold shower, I finished writing it up, and I’m proud to say that it’s damn good.
All of the numbers worked out perfectly, and I even managed to cut an extra four percent from the budget. I can’t wait to show it to Mack, and I really can’t wait to see Nick’s face when Mack approves it.
I’m smiling to myself as I turn the corner on the way to work. There are five cult members standing on a blanket up ahead who are handing out flyers to the businessmen and women walking past them. Well, they’re trying to hand out flyers, but nobody seems to be taking them.
I can’t blame them. The cult members look like freaks with their long yellow robes and bare feet. They’re all completely hairless, including the women. They have no eyebrows, no eyelashes, and their heads are shaved down to the skin. They’re looking around with big scary smiles plastered on their slightly crazed faces as they try to find someone to take their flyer.
I think of crossing the street to avoid them, but something catches my eye. They are all wearing flower necklaces that look strangely familiar.
Oh, no. I cringe when I recognize it as the same flower necklace that I woke up with after my drunken night with Tyler. It was stuffed in my purse next to the almost empty box of Magnum condoms and the Sunshine Happy Church flyer.
I get chills as I approach them. I have a really bad feeling about this. Tyler and I seemed to have done a lot of wild stuff that night, but even getting a tattoo on my ass won’t hold a candle in the wind to joining a crazy cult.
I keep my eyes locked down on the sidewalk as I hurry past them. My stomach is rolling as one of them shoves a flyer in my face.
“Sunshine Happy Church,” she says, following me for a few steps. “It all begun with the sun. Come learn about the holy healing power of the Sunshine Happy Church.”
“No thanks,” I mutter, keeping my eyes on my feet.
She gasps in recognition as she stares at me.
Shit!
“Blessed Prophet?” she says, still following me even after I pick up the pace. “Is that you?”
“Nope,” I say, cursing that Lucky 7 drink that started all of this. Someone has to change the name of that drink. It’s anything but lucky.
The cult member leaps in front of me and holds out her hands, making me skid to a stop in my heels.
“Blessed Prophet,” she says, staring at me in complete shock. Her eyes are popped out and her mouth is hanging open as she openly stares at me in wonder. “It is you!”
She drops to the ground like a bullet is headed for her head, grabs my ankles, and starts singing softly to them with her head lowered.
“Excuse me,” I say, trying to get my legs free but she has an iron grip on them. “I have to get to work.”
She raises her head and looks back at her friends. “Blessed Prophet!” she shouts. “It’s the blessed Prophet!”
“No blessed Prophet,” I say, shaking my head as the other four turn to me. “I’m like the opposite of a blessed Prophet.”
Shit. Their eyes pop as wide as the girl at my feet’s eyes as they rush over.
I’m going to kill Tyler for this. I don’t know how it could be his fault, but it probably is.
“Blessed Prophet! Blessed Prophet!” they all shout as they gather around me, staring at me like I’m some sort of God. Wait. Do they actually think I’m a God?
“Uhm,” I say with an ache in the back of my throat as several hands begin touching my arms, back, and legs. “I think you have the wrong person.”
“Tell us a prophecy,” the tallest one asks. “Tell us the future.”
The one who is kissing my Kate Spade heels looks up at me. “Tell us we will make it into the center of the sun on our rebirth day?”
“Uhm, sure,” I say, wanting to get the hell out of here. These freaks are sending a constant flow of cold chills running down my spine.
The girl smiles like she just won the lottery and returns to shining my shoes with her lips.
“All right,” I say, shaking away from them. I slap away a hand that’s clinging onto my skirt and run across the street to the safety of the other side.
Luckily, they don’t follow me, but when I turn back all five of them are kneeling on the ground and waving their hands up and down in the air, chanting.
“Freaks,” I mutter, rushing down the sidewalk. I don’t stop until I’m safely inside McMillan Worldwide Inc.’s corporate office.
I head to the elevators, rehearsing what I’m going to say to Mack when it’s time to hand him the proposal when I stop next to a familiar face.
“Dahlia!” Emily says, hugging me. “I was hoping I’d see you here!”
“What are you doing here?” I ask. “I didn’t know anyone else from Hospitech was going to be working here.”
The elevator bings open, and a bunch of suits fill it up. Emily grabs my arm and pulls me to the side where we can talk in private. I have a few minutes to spare so I go to catch up.
“What’s this I hear about you and Mr. McMillan being married?” she asks, staring at me in shock. “Is that true?”
“It is,” I say, nodding. I swallow hard before spitting out the next few lies. “We fell in love quickly and decided to get married. We’re so happy.”
She laughs in my face as she listens, not buying any of it. “But by fell in love you mean get really drunk, and by decided to get married you mean, you woke up hungover and married. Right?”
I sigh. “Right.”
She knows me too well. I forgot that she was in the office with me that morning when I discovered the engagement ring.
“You’re staying married?” she asks. “I don’t get it.”
There’s no point in hiding it from her. She’s just going to wear me down until I tell her, which she always does, so it would just be easier on both of us to get it out now.
I explain to her about the plans to shut down the Hospitech factory in Summerland and the importance of Tyler getting Mack’s position. There’s a lot more that I can say—particularly about last
night’s office shenanigans—but I don’t. She doesn’t have to know everything.
“So, all of Tyler’s family think you two are married?” she asks, giggling to herself. She loves gossip. I have to remember to keep her away from Susan.
“We are married,” I say, shaking my head. I still can’t believe that part, and saying it out loud always comes with a touch of anxiety.
She just giggles as she watches me. “You two are married like Britney Spears was married to that guy for a day. Oh, my God, are you going to shave your head?”
I cringe as I think back to the woman with the shaved head who was tasting my shoes a few minutes ago. I really hope not.
“As far as you’re concerned, we are married and we love each other. Okay?”
Emily is trying to hold back her laugh as she nods her head. “Did you two… you know?”
“No,” I say quickly but my cheeks are heating up, trying to expose my lie.
She laughs. Like I said, Emily knows me too well.
“So, do you like him?” she asks, leaning against the wall as she stares at me.
I take a deep breath, not knowing how to answer. I don’t even know how I feel. Anytime I start to think about Tyler like that, I curse myself and change the subject, focusing on how important it is to the town of Summerland to keep feelings out of this.
“He’s okay,” I say with a shrug. “But I don’t like him like that.”
So what if my heart seems to swell up in my chest whenever I see him, and so what if I constantly look around for him whenever I’m in the office? And so what if I leave the diamond ring around my neck when I go to bed at night and hold it in my fist as I fall asleep, and so what if I catch myself daydreaming of him living in Summerland with me? None of that means I like him.
Oh, crap. I like him.
“You liar,” Emily says, seeing straight through my bullshit. “You’re in love with him!”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “No, I’m not,” I fire back. “This is just a mutual arrangement so we can both get what we want. We’re working together so his father will give him the top spot in the company when he retires. The factory in Summerland is going to be closed if anyone but Tyler gets the position. That’s all this is. There’s no feelings involved.”
“Sure,” she says, giggling.
I grit my teeth, wanting to slap the chai mocha cappuccino out of her hands. She knows me better than anyone.
“You know you can do all of that and still be in love with each other,” she says, giving me that look. “Love is all you need.”
I shake my head and sigh. “My parents had love, and look where it got them. No. A career, stability, that’s all you need.”
She reaches out and takes a strand of my curly hair, twirling it in her fingers. “Oh, Dahlia,” she says sadly. “If only you’d open yourself up to love. The result would surprise you.”
“The result would be the factory in Summerland getting shut down,” I say with a little more aggressiveness than necessary. Why can’t anyone but me see that?
“And what brings you to McMillan Worldwide Inc?” I ask, trying to get the subject off of me and onto her. Luckily for me, Emily loves to talk about herself. It’s her favorite subject.
“Mr. McMillan asked me to come,” she says, standing proudly. “We met at the Hospitech East Coast office, and he wants to show me around.”
“My Mr. McMillan?” I ask, furrowing my brow. “Tyler?”
She grins. “No, not your Mr. McMillan. His cousin, Nick. He’s so hot!”
“Oh, that guy,” I say, gritting my teeth as I think about how nice it would feel to punch him in the nose. “Just be careful with him. He’s the one who wants to shut down our factory.”
She smiles as we head back to the elevators to get up to work. “When I get my hooks in his hot little ass, he’s going to do whatever I want.”
I hold my tongue as we squeeze into a crowded elevator.
“Just be careful,” I whisper.
She turns to me with a grin. “What fun is that?”
Two hours later, and I still haven’t seen Tyler. I’m twirling the ring around my neck anxiously as I peek out of the staff break room, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
I left in such a hurry last night, and we haven’t talked since. I hope he’s not mad.
I’m still not sure why I left so abruptly. I just kind of freaked out.
A McMillan walks into the break room, but it’s not the one I want to see. It’s the one I want to watch drown.
“That’s what I said,” Nick shouts into the Bluetooth clinging to his ear. “The whole department.”
I grab an empty coffee cup from the cupboard and rinse it out as I listen, keeping my eyes off of him.
“Nope,” he says, shaking his head as he walks over to the fridge beside me. He opens it, pulls out a brown paper lunch bag, looks inside of it, and then shoves it back in. “No. No benefits… I don’t care what that means.”
He pulls out another brown paper bag that has Susan written on it and looks through it. “Then legal will deal with it,” he says, looking annoyed as he pulls out a sandwich and throws the bag back into the fridge. He slams it shut and walks over to the coffee pot. “Just get it done!” he shouts before hanging up.
He grabs the coffee pot as he curses under his breath about how all his employees are incompetent and overpaid.
“What department are you closing down now?” I ask, glaring at him.
He turns to me, acting like this is the first time he’s noticed me in the small empty kitchenette of the break room.
He looks me up and down and laughs. “You’re on a need to know basis,” he says, moving his arms as he talks. What little remains of the coffee is sloshing around the bottom of the pot.
I grin as I turn and stare him down. “I need to know because I’m going to be running the company soon.”
He bursts out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, crossing my arms as I stare him down with my no-fucking-around face on. “I wouldn’t be laughing at my future boss. Especially with a stolen sandwich in my hand.”
He looks down at Susan’s sandwich in his hand and grins. “Everything in this office is mine,” he says, smirking at me. “Even your friend’s tight little ass.”
As if on cue, Emily comes skipping into the room. “I’m ready for you,” she says, shooting me a quick smile before focusing all of her flirty attention on Nick. “I did everything like you asked.”
Her hands are folded in front of her as she looks at him with sparkling eyes. She has her chest thrust out, and she’s biting her bottom lip. She’s interested. Shit.
I want to puke as he smiles back at her. “Perfect. Go get comfortable in my office, and I’ll show you what I really want you to do when I get back.”
Her eyes dart up and down his body as she grins. “I can’t wait.”
She flicks her hair as she spins around, skipping back out of the office. His eyes are on her ass, blatantly staring until she disappears out the door.
“Nice to see you’re making fuck friends around the office,” I say, rolling my eyes.
Nick laughs. “You should talk.”
My cheeks heat up as I turn to him, but it’s not out of embarrassment. It’s out of anger.
“What?” I ask, giving him a stare that would send the Grim Reaper fleeing in terror.
He laughs, clearly proud of himself that he got under my skin.
“We all know the only reason you’re here is because you make a nice dick warmer for my cousin. Something for him to fuck in between his massive office screw-ups. Otherwise, why the hell would my uncle let a glorified assistant like you into our executive meetings?”
My body tenses as heat flushes through my body. I’ve worked way too hard in my career to get accused of favoritism and unfair family treatment, especially from a sandwich-stealing asshole like Nick.
I raise my chin as I glare at him with my nostrils flaring. “The only thing this
glorified assistant fucked was your shitty proposal in the meeting yesterday.”
He grins in amusement as he watches me. “I can see why my cousin likes you,” he says with a laugh. “You two are perfect for each other. But just remember, I am the master of this place and have eyes and ears all—”
“Wait, what?” I say, interrupting him.
His shoulders slump down in disappointment as he sighs. “You ruined my evil speech.”
“Why do you think we’re perfect for each other?” I ask. Normally I wouldn’t care what he thinks, but I have to know. Nick has known Tyler his whole life and maybe he’s seeing something that I’m not.
He rolls his eyes. “Because you’re both idiots who are horrible at business. So just remember, I am the master of this place and have eyes and—”
“That’s not what you were thinking,” I say, interrupting his evil speech once again. “Why do you think we’re perfect for each other?”
He huffs out a frustrated breath. “I can see it by the way he looks at you.”
My breath catches in my throat as I stare at him with my heart pounding. “How does he look at me?”
He rolls his eyes. “Like he’s happy he finally found you.”
Awwwww. I wonder if he can see my heart swelling up in my chest.
His eyes harden once again as he glares at me. “But just remember, I am the master of this place, and have eyes and ears all over the—”
This time it’s Susan who interrupts him as she walks in and heads to the fridge. His face looks panicked as he watches her with her stolen sandwich hidden behind his back.
“Again!” she shouts when she looks into her lunch bag. “Who the hell keeps stealing my sandwiches?”
She throws her bag back into the fridge and slams the door closed, breathing heavily as she stares at us with an angry tightness in her eyes.
“Not sure,” I say, grinning at Nick as I head for the door. “Maybe Nick has some answers hiding behind his back.”
Susan rolls up her sleeves as she charges at him, trying to look behind his back. He turns and spins, trying to keep her from seeing it, but she looks relentless, pissed off, hungry, and determined to see what he’s hiding behind his back.