DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN (19 page)

But Luke
motioned her to sit back down.
 
“Just sit
down and relax, Nikki, come on,” he said.
 
“What’s the rush anyway?
 
I’m the
boss, remember?
 
And you just went
through a harrowing night thanks to your boss.”

She would
hardly call it harrowing, but she got the point.
 
She sat back down.
 
“So what’s up?” she asked.

“Happy two
weeks,” he said.

She looked
at him oddly.
 
“Happy what?” she asked,
certain that she didn’t get it.

“Happy two
weeks.
 
This is the end of the second
week that I’ve been your boss.”
 
He then
pulled a rectangular-shaped, small gift-wrapped box out of his desk drawer and
handed it to her.
 
“I had hoped to give
you this a few hours ago, but still.”

Nikki was
stunned.
 
Was this guy for real?
 
“I can’t accept that.”

“Sure you
can.
 
Okay, it’s not really a happy
second week gift, all right?
 
It’s more a
will you forgive me for putting you in
harm’s way
gift.”
 

He said this
with such a charming smile that Nikki couldn’t help but smile, too.
 
But she still refused the gift.
 
“I can’t take that,” she said.

“Just look
at it, please.”

“There’s no
reason.”

“Just look
at it.
 
That’s all I’m asking you to
do.
 
You don’t have to keep it, just look
at it.”

It made
little sense to Nikki, but she took the gift from Luke and opened it.

"I just
wanted to let you know how grateful I am to have you on my team - and in my
life.”

Nikki opened
the box and stared at the expensive pen set.
 
And it felt like the story of her life.
 
She would have given a million bucks if Daniel would be as attentive to
her as Luke was trying to be.
 
But
Daniel, unfortunately, didn’t roll like that.
 
So she was stuck hoping that her fortunes would reverse, and that Daniel
would crave her more and Luke would just ease up.
 
She looked at him.
 
“I’m grateful to be on your team too, Luke,”
she said, “but I think you need to understand something.”

Luke’s heart
began to pound.
 
“I understand,” he
said.
 
“Daniel’s your man, I get it.
 
No need to even go there.
 
You’ve got yourself a sugar daddy and you aim
to keep him.
 
I get it.”

Nikki was
offended.
 
“A
sugar daddy
?
 
Seriously
?”

“Let’s keep
it centered in reality, Nikki, that’s all I’m asking.
 
Let’s do that much.
 
That’s what friends do, you know.
 
They keep it real.
 
Daniel Crane is, let’s be honest, your sugar
daddy.”

“But that’s
ridiculous!
 
He’s nobody’s sugar daddy,
okay?
 
Every female in Wakefield would
love to have him, are you kidding me?
 
Women would pay to be with him, he doesn’t have to give up any
sugar.
 
Trust me on that.”

Luke didn’t
expect this kind of spirited defense, especially not after the way he left her
at the hospital last night.
 
So he played
it off.
 
He smiled.
 
“All right.
 
Damn.
 
I was just kidding
around.
 
Don’t take my head off.”

Nikki
exhaled.
 
She couldn’t even smile
anymore.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
But let’s not play about Daniel, if you don’t
mind.”

Luke
nodded.
 
Daniel Crane: her weakness.
 
“Okay.
 
I can respect that.”

Nikki stood
up.
 
And gave him back his pen set.
 
“But it really was a very thoughtful thing to
do.
 
Thanks.”

Luke smiled
his gorgeous white smile.
 
“You’re
welcome.
 
Now get to work.”

Nikki
laughed.
 
“What a two-face!”

“Takes one
to know one, baby.”

Nikki shook
her head playfully and left Luke’s office.
 

Luke leaned
back in his chair and shook his head, too.
 
Only he wasn’t playful anymore, but disgusted.
 
Daniel Crane was like a mountain in Nikki’s
eyes.
 
A
got
damn Everest.
 
How in
hell, Luke wondered, do you knock a mountain down?

He arrived
at work early the next day expecting crisis after crisis.
 
That was the nature of his business.
 
He also expected Phillip Grayson to drop by
with what would probably amount to hourly updates on the horse race to become
CEO of Dreeson.
 
But he didn’t expect to
see the woman from the party last night.

But there
she was, sitting oh so primly in front of his secretary’s desk, her
conservative blue business suit topped off with a nice red scarf around her
thin neck.
 
Just enough hint of color, he
thought, to bring out even more the beauty of her dark skin.

She stood up
when Daniel walked in, and her great smile and large, dark eyes almost
necessitated that he would smile too.
 

“Well, hello
there,” he said, remembering her from the mayor’s dinner party, and also remembering
how he had to run off to see about Nikki and did not give her a proper goodbye.

“Hello, Mr.
Crane,” she said, extending her small, soft hand.
 
“I was hoping you’d remember me.”

“I do
indeed,” Daniel said as he placed his hand in hers and shook it.
 
She seemed to give him an extra squeeze,
which he immediately released.

“You left so
abruptly the last time we met I wasn’t sure if you’d remember.”

“I apologize
for that.”

“No need for
apologies, none at all.
 
Sometimes it
simply can’t be helped.”

He
smiled.
 
“That’s very understanding of
you.”

“Oh, I don’t
know if it’s so much understanding as experience.
 
I’ve been left hanging by the best, sir, so
don’t you worry about me.”

Daniel
laughed.
 
“Yes ma’am.”

There was a
slight pause, as Melanie seemed genuinely pleased.
 
“It’s so good to see you again, Daniel.”

“Same here,”
he said, and it was true.
 
“Come on in,”
he added, gesturing for her to come into his office with him.
 
Then he looked at Whitney, who was staring at
them.
  
“Hold my calls, honey,” he said
to her.

“Good
morning, Mr. Crane,” she replied.

He
smiled.
 
“Good morning, Whitney.
 
How are you, Whitney?”

“Fine.
 
And you?”

“Just
fine.
 
Hold my calls.”

“Yes, sir.”

And Daniel,
smiling still, escorted his guest into his office.
 

Whitney
watched them as they disappeared behind closed doors, and then she shook her
head.
 
He must take her for a fool, she
thought.
 
Hold his calls.
 
Yeah, right.
 
Whitney knew what that was about.
 
He was probably in that office letting that chick have it good.
 
She’d be willing to bet her paycheck on
it.
 
And poor Nikki, she thought, didn’t
have a clue.

Melanie sat
in the wingback chair in front of Daniel’s desk and accepted a cup of
coffee.
 
She watched him as he stood by
the table, pouring her coffee, looking gorgeous even to her in his black
business suit and white shirt, everything perfectly tailored to fit his fine
body.
 
He was a man invented for women to
desire and for men to envy.
 
It was easy
to fall into the trap of Daniel Crane’s charm, easy to get swept away by his
elegance and good looks and wealth, and Melanie knew it.
 
She knew it all too well.
 
And she had to be careful.
 
She deserved to have Daniel Crane’s head on a
platter, stewed if possible, and she had appointed herself to deliver it.
 

But watching
him operate, so smooth and experienced, made her less confident; made her ever
aware of the fact that she was about to scrimmage with a master.

“Here you
are,” Daniel said as he handed her the coffee and then leaned against the front
edge of his large desk.
 

She accepted
the cup graciously, thanking him in an almost whisper.
 

When he
stretched his long legs out and crossed them at the ankle, she waited until she
had his undivided attention.
 
Then she,
too, crossed her legs.
 
Only her skirt
was purposely short enough to inspire serious interest, but not so short as to
cultivate lust.
 
Lust would come
later.
 

“There’s
nothing like a good cup of coffee in the morning,” she said as she sipped.

“Yes,” he said,
folding his arm and sipping from his cup too, watching the beautiful curves of
her long, shapely brown legs going up into a skirt hem barely covering her
undoubtedly warm inner sanctum.
 
He loved
it when Nikki wore her skirts short - although, to his disappointment, she
rarely wore skirts.
 
“So,” he said,
putting his coffee cup down on his desk, “of what do I owe the pleasure of your
visit this morning?”

“I’ve
decided to accept your offer, sir.”

Daniel
hesitated.
 
“My offer?”

“Yes.
 
Oh my.
 
You’ve forgotten.”

“No, I just
. . . don’t remember.”
 
Daniel said this
with a smile.
 
Melanie smiled too.

“At the
mayor’s party you seemed to intimate that there was possibly a job for me
here.
 
You said you could use a good
executive assistant.”
       

“Oh.
 
Yes.
 
I
remember that.”
 
Actually, he realized,
it wasn’t exactly a job offer.
 
She was
welcome to apply, was what he remembered saying.
 
“I thought you were weighing your options,”
he now said.

“I was.
 
And I did.
 
But your offer seems to be the kind I can’t resist.
 
Don’t ask me why.
 
It just does.”

Daniel
nodded.
 
“Okay.
 
Good.”

Melanie
reached into her briefcase and pulled out a thick manila folder.
 
“I have my resume and my references all
here.”
 
She said this as she handed the
folder to Daniel.
 
“I also included
information on awards that I’ve received and articles I’ve written, in business
journals and other germane periodicals, just to give you some idea of just who
this person really is.”

Daniel
accepted the papers without opening the folder.
 
He sat them down on his desk.
 
“I’ll have my people down at human resources take a look at it.”

“All
right.
 
Okay.
 
Understood.
 
But this is the deal.
 
Am I wrong
to be hopeful?”

“Hard for me
to reach that conclusion.
 
If the
background check turns up all right, and your qualifications are as impeccable
as you have indicated, then I’ll have one of my senior staff interview
you.
 
If that goes well, I don’t see why
we can’t work something out.”

Melanie
smiled, although she was disappointed that he wasn’t so taken with her beauty
that he couldn’t cut through the red tape.
 
Not that she was worried.
 
She was
careful.
 
The background check, she was
certain, would not pose a problem whatsoever.
 
“Wonderful,” she said.
 
“I was
worried there for a minute.”

“Worried?
 
Why?”

“We haven’t
spoken since last night.
 
In this fast
paced, social media world, I wasn’t sure if you’d even remember me.”

He
laughed.
 
“I hear you.”

 
She laughed too, and took her slender finger
and slid it slowly along the under part of her skirt hem.
 
That was an old trick she learned from an old
slut.
 
Daniel unbuttoned his suit coat.

“Hopefully
I’ve put your worries to rest,” he said.

“You
have.
 
Oh, have you.
 
Thank-you so much, Mr. Crane.”

“Although,”
he said, “I have a confession to make.”