When a Champion Wants You (8 page)

“
Yay! I think this is so
awesome.”

“
Why?”

“
Because Dimitrius is the
opposite of every guy you’ve ever dated. Think about it Melanie…you
thought Scott was down to earth, but look what he did to you. Now
I’m not saying that to upset you, I’m just being real. You told me
that after you broke things off with Scott you would never date
again, and you haven’t. You were so busy working and focusing your
attention on setting me up with Dante to avoid the possibility of
romance in your own life. Well, now it’s your turn. So, yes, I
think you should take Dimitrius up on his offer. What do you have
to lose?”

“
I knew I shouldn’t have
called you.”

Emily grinned. “Just do it,
Melanie.”

“
How can I when I don’t
mesh with him?”

“
Well, start
meshing.”

“
Alright. I gotta go. You
and Dimitrius are too much for me.”

Emily laughed. “Okay, girl,
but think about it, alright?”

“
Yeah…okay.”

“
Alright, girl.
Later.”

Melanie pulled up to her
apartment, shut off the engine and went inside. She kicked off her
sandals and dropped her purse and keys on the coffee table. Then,
stripping out of her clothes as she headed for the bathroom, she
turned on the hot and cold water in the shower, waited a few
seconds for it to get warm before stepping in. Standing there, she
thought about how she hadn’t had such a long day like this in quite
a while. First, there was the job interview, followed by lunch with
Emily, then dinner with Dimitrius.

Dimitrius…

She could admit the man was
as sexy as men came, but she also knew she wasn’t ready to jump
into a relationship – at least not a fast-paced one that would lead
to marriage in such a short amount of time as Dimitrius was
proposing. And speaking of marriage – certainly a man like
Dimitrius Champion would want to marry a woman who could have his
babies, and since she couldn’t have children, a secret that she’d
kept from her parents and even Emily, marrying him wasn’t an
option. It didn’t matter if he turned out to be the man of her
dreams – it was not an option.

She found out that she had
fertility issues a few months before she had a hunch that Scott
might propose. She’d made a special appointment to see her
gynecologist, just to make sure her body was healthy and fit enough
to have children. However, the doctor informed her that she had an
abnormally shaped uterus – one of the primary causes of infertility
in women. The news crushed her, because not only did she want
children herself, she knew Scott wanted them as well.

Deciding not to keep her
findings a secret from him, she told Scott everything that the
doctor had said, and from the look in his eyes, she could see his
disappointment. A few weeks later, he ended things by leaving her a
voicemail that simply said he couldn’t be with her anymore, and
that he was sorry.

Melanie never told anyone
the truth of what happened between her and Scott. She hadn’t
mentioned it to Emily because it was embarrassing. She was ashamed
to have scored such a decent guy like Scott only to lose him due to
her inability to have his children. So, to save face, she’d told
Emily and her parents, that she’d broken things off with Scott
because he cheated on her. It was a lie – one she didn’t want to
tell, but felt she needed to at the time.

After their relationship
was over, she spent most of her time getting over Scott, focusing
on her life, working and getting accustomed to being single again.
When she was ready and lucky enough to meet a man who didn’t want
children, then maybe, just maybe she would consider dating again.
Somehow, she knew right out of the gate that Dimitrius Champion was
not that man.

Chapter 10

Dimitrius leaned
back
in his chair and glanced at the clock
as a streak of sunlight burst through the blinds in his office. The
time was 8:51 a.m. At 9:00 a.m., he would be meeting with Dante and
Desmond to discuss the interviews they conducted yesterday as well
as other items on the agenda. But first…

Dimitrius did something he
hadn’t done in a very long time. He called a flower shop to order a
dozen roses for a woman – for Melanie. He requested that they be
sent directly to her hotel. He hadn’t heard from her, not that he
expected to this early in the morning, but to be sure he stayed
fresh in her mind and at the forefront of her thoughts, he sent her
flowers. He knew that would do the trick.

“
Ay, you coming?” Desmond
said, peeping around the door of Dimitrius’ office.

“
Be right there,
Des.”

Dimitrius picked up a black
notebook, a pen and his cell phone before he walked to the end of
the hallway where Dante’s office was positioned. Dante had the
biggest office in the building. It housed a six-chair conference
room table set, a couch, coffee table, wet bar and a personal
bathroom. Since he spent most of his days in meetings, he needed to
make sure that his guests were comfortable.

Dimitrius walked in and
took a seat near Desmond on the couch while Dante remained behind
his desk.

“
So,” Dante said, bringing
his hands together. “What’s first on the agenda? Let’s
see…”

“
The interviews,” Desmond
said, speaking up.

“
Yes. The interviews,”
Dante said. “Out of the four candidates we interviewed yesterday, I
definitely think Melanie Summers and Kurt Hempstead are our top
contenders.”

Desmond nodded. “I
agree.”

Dimitrius hadn’t said a
word because he didn’t sit in on Kurt’s interview. The only person
he’d interviewed was Melanie, and just thinking about her,
especially at dinner last night brought a slight, reminiscent smile
to his face.

“
Dimitrius, what do you
think?” Dante asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

“
Well, Dimitrius can’t
really give a good opinion,” Desmond said, “Especially since he
didn’t sit in on Kurt’s interview.”

“
Doesn’t matter, Des,”
Dimitrius said. “I think we’re all in agreement that Melanie is
perfect for the job.”

His brothers stared at him.
Confused. Shocked. Well, Desmond was more shocked than Dante.
Desmond wasn’t privy to the conversation that Dante and Dimitrius
had concerning Melanie, so he hadn’t known that Dimitrius was
seriously considering dating her, and if he had his way, marrying
her.

“
Wait…you made it clear
that you didn’t want Melanie for the job,” Desmond said. “You were
drilling her so hard, it made me uncomfortable.”

“
Well, I changed my mind,”
Dimitrius said. “I looked over her resume again, and I think she’s
qualified, especially coming from such a wealth of customer
service. That’s what we were looking for right?”

Dante smirked. That hadn’t
been all Dimitrius was looking for. “Right.”

“
Then are we all in
agreement that Melanie has the job?” Desmond asked.

Dimitrius
nodded.

Dante said, “Yes. We’re in
agreement.”

“
Good. I’ll call her after
the meeting is over,” Desmond said.

Something about Desmond
calling Melanie sent a streak of jealousy through Dimitrius as
evident by the slight frown in his forehead.

Dante saw it right away and
said, “That’s not necessary, Des. I’ll get my assistant to call
her.”

“
Okay. Cool.”

“
I do need to know when you
want her to start,” Dante told him. “Ideally, I need her to train
with you for the first week.”

“
Monday is a good start
date,” Desmond replied. “I don’t have much on my calendar for next
week.”

“
Okay. Monday it is. Now,
let’s discuss eRoll. Des, run through the marketing strategies for
the re-launch.”

“
I’ve started with the
basics. A month ago, press releases went out. Another batch is set
to go out this week. My team has sent out emails and fliers to the
top corporations in the country, inviting them to send a
representative to the eRoll re-launch.”

“
How has the response been
so far?”

“
So far we’re getting a
pretty good response. I think businesses are looking for a better
streamlined payroll process than what current payroll processors
provide. Of course you have the main payroll outsourcing company,
Automatic Payments, who would be our direct competition, but eRoll
offers solutions that they have yet to address.”

Dante nodded. “I agree.
Dimitrius and I discussed the new eRoll app that he’s been working
on. That’s one solution Automatic Payments has stayed away
from.”

“
How’s that coming?”
Desmond inquired.

“
It’s coming along. It’ll
be ready for download during the first day of the re-launch. The
app syncs with the eRoll software and allows employees to enter
their payroll time and submit it directly to their company’s eRoll
account. Of course, whomever approves timesheets for the company
would go in, make sure everything is in order before they process
their payroll, but imagine the convenience that will give, not only
employers, but their employees. People lead busy lives these days.
No one has time to continuously stalk their timesheet every couple
of weeks. The app automatically enters their time, then it sends a
notification reminder on the day that it needs to be
submitted.”

“
So employees could go in
and make tweaks to their time before they submit it,” Desmond
said.

“
Exactly,” Dimitrius
responded.

“
That’s good, man. These
companies are going to be blown away at the show,” Desmond
added.

“
Then it sounds like we’re
right where we need to be at this stage in the game,” Dante said.
“I have to say, I’m excited about this project.”

“
Me too,” Desmond said.
“Can’t wait to see the full turnout.”

“
Has anyone booked our
hotel rooms yet?” Dimitrius asked.

“
I had my assistant book
rooms for all of us,” Dante told him.

“
Perfect,” Dimitrius
said.

“
And how long are we
staying?” Desmond inquired.

“
Just the three
nights…Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Dante said. “Sunday is our
chill day and then Monday morning, we’ll fly back.”

“
Alright.” Desmond closed
his notebook. “Sounds like a plan, bro.” He stood up.

Dimitrius joined
him.

“
Hey, Dimitrius, can you
hang back for a second?” Dante asked.

“
Sure.”

“
See y’all later,” Desmond
said. “I’m taking an early lunch today.”

“
Alright, Des,” Dante told
him.

Dimitrius walked over to
close the door after Desmond had left. Then turning to look at
Dante, he asked, “What’s up?”

“
Everything good with you
and Melanie?”

“
It is what it is,”
Dimitrius said nonchalantly. “We had a nice dinner last
night.”

“
I saw the way you grimaced
when Desmond mentioned he was going to call her. You actually
looked like you were a little peeved. That’s why I told him that I
would have my assistant call Melanie to tell her about the job, but
I’m not really going to do that. I’m going to leave that up to you.
So when you see her today, and I have a hunch that you will, you
can give her the good news yourself.”

Dimitrius grinned. “I swear
I feel like you have some sort of tracking device on me and
Des.”

Dante chuckled. “I just
know my brothers. I’m older, so therefore, I’m wiser.”

“
Well, I’m pretty sure you
and Emily are occupied enough…no need for you to be all up into my
personal happenings.”

“
I’m just excited for you,
bro. Our parents would have loved to see us settle down and have
children with good, classy women, don’t you think?”

“
I’m sure they would have,”
Dimitrius responded. “At any rate, I’m going to get some more work
done before I take a lunch.”

“
Alright man. See you
later.”

Chapter 11

Melanie was all
smiles when she signed for the dozen roses that
were delivered for her this morning. Without having to look at the
card, she already knew who they were from. And they weren’t the
dull, lifeless flimsy-looking roses that one could purchase from a
supermarket. The heads of these roses were large with dark red
blooms and long stems. And Dimitrius had left a note for her that
said:
For my opposite.

She smiled at the note
because she
was
his complete opposite, one of the reasons why he said they
would be good together. And when was the last time she received
roses from a man?

* * *

After checking in a few
customers, she was about to call Emily when she looked up and saw
Dimitrius walking into the hotel lobby. Her breath caught in her
throat at how handsome he was. He was dressed nice again today –
had on a tan suit, white shirt, a plaid tie that contained
variations of blue and brown leather shoes. And he had that
serious, stoic look on his face again.