Monroe, Marla - Their Reluctant Submissive [Knights in Black Leather 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (18 page)

“Hi.” Kelly offered the woman a smile and nod.

The other woman nodded back and took a step back as if she was going to turn and leave. She knew then that something was wrong with the situation. She had never seen her there before, but that didn’t mean anything. She had only been there a few months herself and had not yet ventured out to make friends in the ratty complex.

“Don’t go. I’ve only got one load and have already cleaned out the washer so it will be fresh for you to use when I finish.”

Something that bore a close resemblance to fear raced across her face before she shrugged and leaned against one of the other machines. Her red hair was tangled and pulled back in a ponytail, and despite her clothes having seen better days, they were essentially clean. Did she live in one of the apartments there or was she just borrowing the machines to wash her clothes? Kelly wouldn’t tell on her if she wasn’t a resident. The fact that she was trying to stay clean spoke well of her.

“My name is Kelly.”

She didn’t move to get off the table or hold out her hand. She didn’t think the woman would like it if she moved. There was a skittishness in the other woman’s eyes that she had seen in her own eyes once. She recognized desperation when she saw it.

“I’m Tessa.” She settled the sack in her arms as if it held all her worldly possessions.

“You can share the table with me. I wouldn’t recommend sitting on anything else in here. I cleaned the table off, so I know it’s clean.” She indicated the cleaner in her basket sitting on top of the washer she was using.

Tessa licked her bottom lip then stepped closer. She didn’t get up on the table, but she leaned against it and watched the door. Kelly couldn’t help but wonder what her story was. It reminded her that there were other people in the world who had issues as tough or even tougher than hers. It was a humbling thought.

A thought flashed in her head. She wondered if Tessa had a job. Steve hadn’t found anyone for the store yet. She didn’t think it could hurt to let her know about the job just in case. It would be up to Steve who he hired, but so far no one had shown up who could work the hours he needed. It was getting close to school time again, so all the college kids and high school kids had other things on their minds.

She cleared her throat. “I don’t suppose you would be looking for a job would you? My employer needs someone to work mornings. Everyone wants to work nights but not mornings.”

Tessa’s eyes lit up for a second before she frowned. “What kind of work is it?”

“He owns a store in town. You would stock the shelves and help customers when they come in.”

“What do I do to apply?”

“Just go and ask to talk to Steve, the owner. It will probably either be me or him you see anyway when you go. That’s why he needs help.”

“What’s the name of the store?”

“Heavy Trinkets.” She gave Tessa the directions to the store and what was located around it.

“Looks like my load is finished washing. You can have it next.” Kelly quickly switched her clothes over to the dryer.

She looked up and watched as Tessa added her things to the washer. She started to add her money without adding soap. It dawned on Kelly that she might not have been able to afford soap. Thinking quickly, she grabbed her box of detergent out of her basket.

“This is nearly empty, why don’t you use what’s left in it so I don’t have to carry it back with me?” She held the container out toward the other woman.

Tessa’s face turned a bright pink, but she nodded and took the box of detergent and poured some in the machine before dropping in her money and turning it on. Kelly continued talking as if nothing had happened. She wanted the young woman to show up the next day at the store and apply for the job. Something told her that she was in desperate straits. If she could have figured out how to offer her something to eat without being obvious about it, she would have. She had done all she could do for now. The next step was Tessa’s to take.

Chapter Sixteen

Kelly got to work early the next day, eager to get started and hoping that Tessa would show up and apply for the job. She waited for Steve to open up the store and get everything started before she approached him. She wanted to warn him about what she’d done. When he returned to the back to set up the coffee pot, she got up from her worktable and followed him.

“Looks like another scorcher of a day out there, Kelly.”

“I’m glad we’re in here and not out there. I feel for the cowboys.” Kelly wondered if Marx would be out in the heat.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m not a cowboy.” Steve chuckled and started to walk off.

“Steve. Can I talk to you a second?”

“Sure, Kelly. What’s on your mind?”

“Um, you haven’t found anyone to work yet, have you?”

“Not yet. So far no one is available in the mornings when I need them the most.” Steve watched the coffee drip into the pot as if that would speed it up.

“Um, I met someone yesterday that needs a job. I told her about this one, and I’m hoping she will come by today.”

Steve looked up with a wide smile. “That’s great. Do I know her? What’s her name?”

“I don’t think you know her. Her name is Tessa. The thing is, I think she might be in pretty bad shape and need to work in order to eat her next meal. I don’t know if she’s going to have the sort of clothes she’ll need to begin with, but if you’ll hire her, I’ll help pay for something for her to wear until she gets on her feet.”

Steve’s immediate frown worried her. She had hoped he would look at Tessa the way he had her and give the other woman a chance.

“Did she look like she was hungry? Where is she living?” Steve asked, walking over to look up front toward the door.

“I think she was, but it was hard to tell. Her clothes were in pretty bad shape but clean. I don’t know where she’s living, but she was at my apartment building, so I’m hoping she lives there.”

“I’ll see what we can do if she shows up.” He grinned at her and waved her back to her table. “Get to work. I’ve got the front.”

Kelly got busy, and the morning flew by. By lunchtime she was having doubts that Tessa would show up. It worried her that something might have happened for her not to have shown up. Then again, she really didn’t know anything about the other woman. She might not have wanted a job in the first place. Not everyone wanted to work.

Anna walked in about the time that she opened up the lunch she had brought. The other woman sighed and sat down across from Kelly. It was obvious that she had something on her mind.

“What’s going on, Anna?”

“Nothing really. I guess that’s the problem. I’m bored.”

Steve had explained to Kelly the week before that the reason Anna didn’t work in the store was because they argued over everything. They loved each other to death, but she couldn’t handle his bossiness, and he got aggravated with her need to rearrange and change things all the time.

“I thought you were doing some Web site work for someone?”

“I finished it, so now there isn’t really anything to do with it but add his updates and tweak it now and then when new things come out.”

Kelly swallowed the bite of sandwich she had taken and cocked her head. “How would you like to design a Web site for the store and my jewelry?”

Anna perked up at that idea. Then she frowned. “Have you talked to Steve about it yet?”

“Not yet, but I’ll talk to him about it. I wanted to see if you were even interested first. I want to showcase the jewelry and Steve’s custom leather and rope work. We could take online orders and ship from the store.”

“That’s a great idea! Do you have any ideas on what you want it to look like, colors, themes?”

They talked for the next twenty minutes while Kelly finished up her lunch. They heard Steve walking toward the back talking to someone. To Kelly’s delight, he entered the back with Tessa beside him.

“Hey, Anna. This is Tessa Green. Tessa, this is my sister Anna Tyler. You already know Kelly.”

“Hey, Tessa. It’s great to meet you. Don’t mean to be rude, but I need to run, and you’ve got things to talk about.” She turned to Kelly. “I’ll talk to you later about what we were discussing.”

Kelly nodded and waved before tossing her garbage in the trash. She smiled at Tessa and was pleased to see the other woman was wearing a fairly decent pair of jeans and a T-shirt that appeared in good shape.

“I’ll watch the front while you two talk.” She winked at Tessa and headed for the store.

She kept her fingers crossed that it would work out, but if it didn’t, she had done all she knew to do. It was up to Steve now. He had to do what he thought was best for the store. It was his and Anna’s livelihood. Even though Anna rarely worked at the shop, she was part owner as well. She free-lanced doing graphic art for Web sites and had just started handling more Web site design.

She spent the next thirty minutes arranging the merchandise and waiting on customers. They didn’t have all that many during the morning on weekdays, but that was when the shelves needed stocking when they weren’t crowded. Steve needed to be working in the office not tending to the store. If the Web site worked out and it did produce some business, they could potentially end up needing even more help.

She had been so busy thinking about Tessa, Anna, and the Web site that she hadn’t had time to worry about her own dilemma, namely what to do about the Callahans wanting her as their submissive on a long-term basis. Before she could begin to mull it over in her head some more, Steve and Tessa returned from the back. Both had smiles on their faces though Tessa still looked a little wary.

“Well, you’re both smiling. I take it that means something good.”

Steve nodded. “Meet the latest addition to our store crew. She starts tomorrow morning.”

Kelly held out her hand. “Congratulations! You’re going to love working here.”

“Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.” She took Kelly’s hand but quickly let go again.

“I need to go. I, um, have some things to do to get ready.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, Tessa.” Kelly watched the other woman walk out of the door.

“What did you think of her?” Kelly asked.

“She’s very intelligent. I don’t know what her story is, but she’s obviously down on her luck. She said she lives in the same apartment complex you do. I brought up the subject of what type of clothes I expected for her to wear, and she said she thought she had what she needed.”

“Good. I sure hope this works out for her. Plus, you need the help. I know what you really want to be doing is working on your leather and rope projects.” She winked at him.

Steve chuckled. “You already know me too well. What were you and Anna talking about?”

“How would you feel about having a Web site where we could feature your leather and rope work and my jewelry designs?”

“I’ve thought about it in the past, but I don’t have time to maintain one. They can be a lot of work even after you get them set up.” Steve shook his head.

“What if you didn’t have to do anything except supply pictures and information and someone else handled the rest?”

“That would be ideal, but I don’t know of anyone who has that kind of time and expertise that I can afford. I could probably afford to have the site built, but the maintenance fees aren’t cheap, and if they are busy, they don’t get your stuff up on a timely basis.”

“Come here.” Kelly walked into Steve’s office. “Can I use your computer to show you something?”

“Sure.”

She typed in the Web address to the site Anna had built for a Jackson and Marx. She had looked at it when she first got in that morning and thought it was a good example of Anna’s work. She hoped it would impress Steve enough that he would let his sister design and run one for Heavy Trinkets.

“Look at this one and see what you think.”

Steve furrowed his brow and scrolled around clicking the various links. After a few minutes he nodded and stood up.

“Looks really good. I didn’t even realize Jackson and Marx had a site.”

“Your sister created that site and maintains it for them. She’s done a couple of others as well. I think we should let her do it.” Kelly licked her lips and waited to see how Steve would take it.

She had come to realize that Steve and Ben still saw Anna as their little sister and not as a mature grown woman of twenty-two. Anna had confessed to Kelly that she’d had to sneak around to get her own apartment the year before and move in while they were both at work. Then it had been a fight for her to manage to keep it. She had her own small trust fund from her parents’ estate, so she could afford it.

The problem had been that the men didn’t want their little sister out from under their eagle eye where they couldn’t take care of her and protect her. Now that she was finished with college and dabbled with Internet web design, she even had a little money coming in each month.

“You’re kidding me. She did that?”

“She’s really good. Isn’t she.”

“I’ll be damned. I guess I thought she was just messing around all the time when she was on the computer. I had no idea.”