Chapter 1
Mel slid into the conference room, ten minutes ahead of schedule. She was a bit surprised when she took note of the people already in it. Her boss was always running behind for meetings and the look on his face told her the kind of day it was going to be.
“Where the hell have you been?” Henry demanded.
“I’m sorry Mr. Tracks; you said the meeting was scheduled for noon, and no one had made the changes to the packets you wanted,” she stated aware of the others in the room throwing looks at her ranging from appreciative to apologetic to intrigued.
“You still should have been here by now. We were waiting on you, again.”
She gritted her teeth to keep from throwing out a nasty retort. She couldn’t afford to lose this job. It was the only thing keeping a roof of any sort over her head and if she did, she didn’t know how easy it would be to trick someone else. She could only manage to work an irregular schedule to keep up with everything else, and she didn’t want this one to go away.
“I apologize then, sir,” Mel said putting a polite smile onto her face as she hurried to distribute the materials for the meeting. She paused beside the computer, and her fingers flew across the keys as she brought up the same material that wasinside the packets she’d just finished reprinting. Then made her way around the other side of the room handing out the papers and was thankful when one of the men there sent her a polite smile instead of the leering ones she was used to seeing like on several of the others’ there.
“Thank you,” he stated and she felt a real smile pull at her lips.
Mel gave him a nod and finished, handing the remote to Mr. Tracks to begin the meeting. Why she had to be included in it she didn’t know. All he wanted was to give these men a chance at bidding on the construction of the new facility he wanted built. Her stomach churned as the minutes went past, reminding her she’d missed both breakfast and lunch now in her attempt to get here on time.
“Melinda…wake up girl,” Mr. Tracks stated nearly an hour and a half later and she was conscious that she’d just written that down on the notebook along with the other fifteen or so pages she’d been taking on her half-size memo pad.
“Sorry, Mr. Tracks I was just finishing up the notes.”
“Would you please see that these gentlemen find their way out?” he ordered giving her his dismissive look.
“Of course,” she answered hoping to stave off anything else he was about to say. She attempted to walk to the door, but he stopped her beside him as he grabbed her arm.
“I can easily replace you Melinda. I only allow your work schedule the way it is because we have plenty of business that comes in during the evening. I won’t hesitate to end it if you don’t start paying more attention.”
“Of course,” she answered again, pulling her arm away from him resisting the urge to wipe away the grimy residue from his hands. She couldn’t stand the man or his attitude. They both grated on her last nerve, and she had enough of that in school.
Mel ignored the urge as she led the group towards the exit, a daunting task with the illogical space. Whoever put the office together had to have been smoking something illegal because it was the only explanation as to why things were arranged the way they were, she mused as they started out. She wound her way through the maze and nearly ran into Ryan who was coming back from lunch down the narrow hallway that she was certain was not within the ADA compliance requirements.
He took one look at her face and smiled at her sympathetically. “At it again?”
“Later,” she mouthed, as he turned so his back was against the wall to let the group pass. Several others called out hi to her as she eased them through the mess and she responded with her usual smile conscious that the men were staring at her ass as they followed her out of the suite.
Mel stopped, holding open the door when she reached the lobby. The receptionist smiled at her, and she knew she’d seen the guys checking her out. It was the main reason she’d been hired for the job. Mr. Tracks liked having someone pretty sitting beside him at meetings. He hoped it would distract the others and give him an advantage.
The last one through was the man who’d been polite to her, Jordan Holmes, she remembered. He paused beside her and sent her another smile. This one wasn’t just a polite social one, yet it wasn’t the same as the others, and it made her stomach clench in a way that had nothing to do with hunger for food.
“A pleasure to you meet you, Melinda,” he said holding out his hand as the others made their way towards their vehicles.
“You too Mr. Holmes, if there’s anything you need, feel free to call me. My number’s in the packet. We’ll be looking for your bid.”
“Please call me Jordan. Mr. Holmes makes me feel ancient. You don’t like your boss, do you?” he added a bit out of the blue surprising her.
“What makes you say that?” she asked, glad he hadn’t asked her out forcing her try to find an excuse to turn him down, because she honestly didn’t know if a no would come out of her.
“You keep wiping your arm where he touched you.”
She glanced down, unaware that she was doing exactly that, and dropped her arm. “You caught me, I detest the man.”
“Why work for him?”
“Because he lets me make my own schedule. I take care of my grandmother and have to wait until the nurses can get there to take over before coming into the office,” she told him sticking to the lie she’d created when she first took on this job.
“I see, well if you ever decide you’d like to make a switch career wise give me a call. I think we can rival their employment packages, or if you’d like to just call me to talk…” He trailed off, handing her his business card with his personal number on the back of it.
“I…”
