ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories)

by Jane Prescott

  “Good. Let me show you where you will be working for the time being. We are both looking for someone, so if you wouldn’t mind helping us both out a little right now, that would be great. Or you can choose who you would rather work for and we could go from there. It would just really help us both out right now.”

  “That sounds good. I mean I think I can keep up with both of you.” Her smile stuck on her face as she turned and looked at him. Heat radiated from his eyes and she thought about what she said. She instantly blushed and turned away from him before he could see it.

  Matthew smiled even more when she turned from him but not before he saw the blush creeping up onto her cheeks. Her words went straight to his dick and he felt himself harden as he thought of bending her over his desk. He wondered what kind of underwear she had on and what color they were. He refrained from asking her, knowing that would come at a later date. “I am glad to hear it. Now come, I will show you where you will sit.” He would love for her to sit on his lap or his face he thought. He physically shook his head to erase the thoughts. His pants were getting tighter and he knew if he kept it up he would bust the seams, not to mention put them both in an awkward position.

  As Melissa looked around, she saw that the whole floor consisted of two rooms, one on each side of a long wide hall. Straight ahead was a long desk that matched the one in the lobby downstairs but much smaller in length. Right before the desk were two doors. Each door held the names of the two men who ran the office. “Wow. So the only offices up here are the two of yours?”

  “Yes. This will be your desk. Now I warn you there may be some long evenings spent here when we have a big case. So if there are children involved or a husband at home, perhaps now would be the time to let us know if working nights are a problem.” He hadn’t seen a ring on her finger but he wanted to be sure.

  “Oh no, I am not married or seeing anyone, so there is no problem staying late. Oh, and no children either.”

  “Great!” He rubbed his hands together with glee and realized how foolish he must look. Lowering his hands back to his sides he gestured to the desk. “We will have a computer, printer and fax machine in here by tomorrow morning. We have our own in our offices, but I would prefer a large one out here for your use. You will also be given an iPad and laptop. Phone lines are hooked up and Jase is already calling the consultants to come in tonight to have everything set up.”

  “Great.” Then she realized that Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Paterson had spoken on the phone way before they offered her the job, which meant they had already thought she would agree to the offer. “You had a high assumption that I would take the job, didn’t you?”

  “Just call it wishful thinking.” He winked at her and she thought she swooned a little bit. She really needed to get hold of herself.

  “Mr. Dunbar what kind of assignments will I be doing?”

  “First of all, no “mister” stuff. It sounds like you are talking to my father. I am Matt, and just to let you know, there is no “mister” for Jason either. He is just plain Jason or Jase.”

  “Ok. Matt, what will you need me to do?” She knew this time she saw his eyes darken with interest. She may have been able to blow it off earlier, but this time his eyes roamed her body before coming back to rest on her eyes with a heat so intense she thought it burned her.

  He turned abruptly before answering her. “It will be some filing and copying, and taking a lot of notes. We take the big cases ourselves and both of us have chicken scratch for handwriting. You will also be answering the phone, although Patricia knows not to send anything up to our offices unless its family. And sometimes I don’t want the calls then either.” She laughed at his grimace. “So, you can start tomorrow. Jase is out the rest of the day, but we will both be in tomorrow morning. How about a regular schedule of 8:00 to 5:00 and on the late nights you can come in late the next day?”

  “That sounds perfect. I guess I will see you tomorrow then. Thank you so much.”

  “No, my dear, thank you. You have just saved two grown men from crying like babies with temper tantrums the next few days. We just took on three cases between the two of us and they are huge. We will talk about that more tomorrow. Come on. I will take you to the lobby. We will also get you a key card. You have to have one to reach the top floor.”

  Melissa nodded as she followed him to the elevator. She didn’t even notice the elevator jerk, she was so happy thinking to herself of all the things she could now afford. Hell, she could get a whole house if she wanted to now. Matthew held her elbow as they stepped off the elevator. She looked up to meet the glaring eyes of Patricia. She turned to see Matthew smile down at her. His thumb caressed the crease of her elbow as he spoke to her. “Until tomorrow then, dear. Have a good night.”

  “And you as well Mr. D…..” She instantly stopped at the slip up when she saw his stern look. “I mean you too, Matt.”

  “That’s better.” He turned to walk back into the elevator.

  Melissa walked outside and for the first time in a long time she smiled, feeling truly happy. She had to call her mother as soon as she got home. She was never going to believe what happened to her today. Crossing the road to her little beat up car, she slid into the driver’s seat. She leaned forward to look up at the tall skyscraper. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms again but pushed the feelings aside as she started the car and put it into drive before pulling from the parking space. She passed a row of townhouses that she had thought were grand but never imagined she could afford. Now she could. That night she took the last $20 she had and splurged on dinner. For the first time in a long time she had a good dinner. Pushing the can of pasta to the side she started cutting the potatoes in chunks and put them in the pan with oil and seasoning. Pulling one of the chicken breasts from the package she put the others in individual bags planting them in the freezer. She hummed to herself as she cooked.

  Her little studio was soon brimming with the exotic smell of food cooking. She was glad she brought the little George Foreman grill her mother had bought her when she went off to college. Her mother served a hard life. Being a single parent of three children, she still had one at home and worked two jobs just to keep food on the table. She had dropped out of 10th grade. Back then, being in school and pregnant wasn’t looked upon as it was now. She had married Melissa’s father that year after her parents’ death and had soon become pregnant. Melissa sighed when she thought of her father. He had been a great dad until the day of the cave took many lives in the miner town they lived in, including her fathers.

  *****

  The next morning Melissa decided on a pair of black dress pants and a blue sweater. She of course wore her black heels as well, but it was mainly because they were her only pair, not just her favorite. She parked outside the building and walked into the lobby preparing for the onslaught of the angry woman at the front desk. She was surprised when the woman wasn’t there. Instead there sat a pleasant brunette with a large smile. Melissa looked down to see a wedding ring on her hand and knew this woman wouldn’t be a problem. She walked to the desk and smiled back at the woman.

  “Hello. I am Melissa Jones. Today is my first day but I don’t think I can reach my floor.”

  “Oh yes. This is for you Ms. Jones. It is a card for the elevator. Mr. Paterson said that you should know how to use it, but if you need me to show you, I would be more than happy to do so.”

  Oh no, thank you. I think I can do it. Have a nice day.” She smiled at the woman before she turned to walk away. She was smiling and had a little spring to her step this morning. She glided to the elevator and stepped inside without shaking. She was still apprehensive. Fears don’t just fade away overnight, you know she thought to herself. She held on to the rail and as it began to jerk, she started breathing harder again. She could do it; this would be a trip she would have to make at least twice a day now. As the elevator jerked to a stop she slid the card in the hole and watched as the elevator rose to the top floor.

  Melissa step
ped from the elevator to see the two gorgeous men at the desk where she would be working. Jason stood while Matt had his ass firmly placed on the desktop. They both turned when they heard the elevator.

  “You made it.” Matt said as he stood.

  Jase looked down at his watch. “And early too. Quite impressive Melissa.”

  “Thank you sir.” She smiled at them both with confidence even though her legs were shaking so bad she was sure they could hear her knees knocking together.

  “Hmmmm. I like that sound.”

  “I’m sorry?” She said with a quizzical look to her expression.

  “Oh nothing. Come, I will show you the ropes this morning. Matt has a few meetings so it will just be the two of us today, which is how it will be most of the time. You will only be here normally with one of us. Unless it is one of those late night circumstances and we are working the same case.”

  “Oh, ok.” She didn’t know what he had been talking about at first, but decided to forget it. She walked over as he held a chair out for her to sit at the desk. There were two chairs here today and they were elegant and large. They were the type of chairs you only saw at expensive executive desks.

  “Alright you two behave and I will hopefully see you later. If not I will see you at home later Jase. Melissa, enjoy your first day and don’t let the drill sergeant there run you away.”

  “You too Matt, thank you. Oh, and for the pay I am receiving, I don’t think he could scare me away.” She realized what she said and her cheeks turned a bright color of red as she turned to Jase. He had one eyebrow cocked at her in challenge. She heard Matthew’s laughter as he made his way to the elevator.

  “Yeah I think she is perfect Jase. You have finally met your match I think.” He continued laughing as the doors to the elevator closed around him.

  *****

  The next few days went by fast. Jase showed her how to navigate the systems and got her set up with all her sign-in IDs and passwords. There was only one of them at the office at a time, so she had to only deal with swooning over one man at a time. She was sitting at the desk when Jase walked out of his office.

  “So, what would you like for lunch?”

  “Um.. I’m really not that hungry actually.” For one, she had spent the last of her money splurging on food and wouldn’t receive her first check until the next day. Also, she didn’t want to be stuffing her face in front of this hot-ass guy. Uh huh… not happening.

  “You have to eat. My treat for congratulating you on a great first week. How about Chinese?”

  Her eyes lit up before she could say a thing. It was her favorite and she hadn’t had Chinese take-out in almost a year when one of her roommates had bought it. Coming from nothing, she learned to scrape what she did have to make it by. She knew by his smile that he knew she liked Chinese.

  “Chinese it is then.” He picked his phone up and called a number. She faded into the background as he ordered and then hung up. “So what do you think so far? Is this somewhere you can see yourself? Now I know that Matt and I can both be very demanding at times, but you can just tell us to cool it. We are actually pretty laid back.”

  “I see that. You guys aren’t anything like I thought you would be.”

  “Please don’t tell me you are one of those tabloid readers. You know you can’t believe everything you read.” He winked at her.

  “Yeah, but you have to admit that some of it is true. I mean look at this place. You guys have really done well for yourselves.”

  “Yeah we have, and the best part is that we built this place between the two of us. We struggled at first, but we didn’t take one cent from our parents to build our empire. We got a loan and paid it off every month just as anyone else in America does.” His eyes shone with pride as he said it.

  “Really? Wow. I have so much more respect for you now. I mean I had respect for you before, but you……”

  His finger went out to cover her lips and he smiled. “I know what you are saying. We seem a little less like rich snobs now and more like the working man right? Believe me; we are far from the rich and famous. Matt actually is no longer allowed in any of the country clubs in the state. He pretty much told them what they could do with themselves.”

  “Really? Good for him.” She smiled as she turned to look at the computer. Was this whole thing an act or a prank that was set up by one of her college buddies? Something just didn’t seem right. This couldn’t be for real. She looked back up to see him staring at her and watched as he sat in the chair next to hers. She kept one there just in case they needed to show her something. It was there from the first day of training she had with Jase. His eyes dropped to her lips and traveled back up to her eyes. They sat there and just looked at each other for what seemed like forever until his head started moving towards her. The blare of his phone made them both shake and turn away from each other.

  “Yes!” It wasn’t a question and his voice was strained as he spoke into the phone. His eyes never left hers and she realized that her mouth was slightly open as she tried to breathe. “Ok. I’ll be down in a minute.” He placed the phone back in his pocket never taking his eyes from hers. “Food’s here. I have to go down and get it. The three of us are the only ones with keys to get up here except maintenance, and Jared is on vacation this week.” She nodded and watched as he rose from his chair and headed to the elevator. He turned back around to give her a heated stare that traipsed over her body before stepping inside the elevator compartment.

  As soon as he was gone, she ran into the bathroom and splashed water on her face. What was going on? She had just come back out to the room when the elevator “ding” rang through the air. She turned and saw him walking with bags strung across his arms. Geez, what did he order?

  “Did you get one of everything?” She followed him into his office where there was a large sofa and coffee table sitting. He sat the bags onto the coffee table and smiled. “I know I’m big, but I really don’t eat much.” She laughed but stopped when she saw the smile drop from his face to be replaced with a frown.

  He turned and stalked her way until she felt the wall against her back. “Don’t you ever cut yourself down again, do you hear me? You are beautiful and amazing.”

  “Thank you but it is ok. I have dealt with it since high school. You don’t have to make me feel better about myself. You are my boss. While I thank you, it is unnecessary.”

  “You don’t see how beautiful you are, do you? How incredibly sexy you look.”

  “Ha! That was a good one, but let’s just eat. There is no need to lie.”

  “Lie?!” He scoffed. He grabbed her hand, placed it over his very enlarged dick and smiled at the widening of her eyes. “Is this a lie? Tell me Melissa have you ever had two men want to fawn over you and make you orgasm so many times that you didn’t have any strength to go on? Because you do now.”

  “Wh…What?”

  “You heard me. Matt and I have had our sights on you since you walked through that door. Have you ever been with two men at once, Melissa?”

  “No!” It was a squeak that she barely got out before his lips swooped down to take hers in a kiss that had her senses reeling. His tongue swept into her mouth and she didn’t think she could take much more. She felt his hands slide their way around her waist to grasp her by the ass and bring her up against him. She realized she still had her hand on him and moved it up his chest. His mouth explored hers and she moaned deep at the feeling of his tongue penetrating her mouth. All thought fled from her mind as her arms wound around his neck.

  “Well, it looks like I came in at a good time, didn’t I?” They both turned to see Matt standing in the doorway smiling.

  “Oh god.” She whispered it, but she knew that Jase heard when he chuckled. She felt his hand that was still on her ass squeeze it in a handful and gasped.

  “Would you mind if Matt joined us? I promise you won’t regret it.” Jase whispered it in her ear.

  Melissa looked from one man to the other. Ho
w in the hell could she say no to either one of them. They were amazing and gorgeous, and they both wanted her. She felt Jase’s hands caress across her back and then roam back down to her ass. “Um… I don’t know. What is going on here?”

  “Isn’t it obvious, honey? We are going to give you the time of your life.” Matt walked up behind her and she felt his hands coast up her hips to rest right below her breasts. Jase’s hands were now on her lower stomach and she looked up at him as his head descended to take her lips again. She felt as Matt’s lips descended to her neck. His hands moved up to cup her breasts as he brought her back against him. She felt his desire pressing into the small of her back just as Jase stepped forward to grind his into her pelvis. She felt Jase’s hand slip under her skirt to raise it up to her hips. It was a pencil skirt so it stayed there while his hand traced the band of her panties. He let go of her mouth as his lips traced a path down her neck. She realized that at some point the buttons had come undone on her shirt and her bra was unhooked. Matt squeezed her large breasts and offered a nipple to Jase’s mouth. He quickly sucked it into his mouth.

  “Oh god!” She gasped, feeling herself overcome with lust and desire for both of these men.