Say Goodbye to Melody

by Velvet Vaughn

  His brother’s family would welcome him with open arms, and he loved visiting, but he didn’t want to interfere. Same with younger brother Ben and his ready-to-pop-at-any-minute wife Rachel. And no way in hell would he live with newlyweds Kaitlyn and Dan. He loved them both dearly, but they’d drive him to drink. So, temp housing was his best option.

  He didn’t see himself marrying anytime soon, so there was no sense on waiting to build. He’d seen too much in the world, done too much to live a happily ever after. He’d save that for his siblings. War was harsh. He’d lived through it, but not without a boatload of scars, both physical and mental. He’d witnessed three of his teammates—brothers—killed in front of his eyes. When DeAndre, Hector and John died, so did Grant’s desire to continue as a member of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, formally known as SEAL Team Six.

  Life was short, something he was intimately familiar with since he’d lost both of his parents when he was a teenager. Luke had given up a football scholarship and a lock as a National Football League pro to come home and take care of Grant, Ben and Kaitlyn so they wouldn’t be separated. Wanting to help take care of his siblings was the impetus for Grant to join the Navy. But he’d been away from his family for too long and he missed them dearly. Coming home had been an easy decision.

  A small body plopped beside him and mirrored his stance with arms crossed and one bent leg anchored against the wall. “He’s my favorite.”

  Grant glanced down at Kai Costa as the kid stared out at the arena. “Yeah? Which one?” There were several dogs in the vicinity, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot…

  Kai shrugged. “All of them.”

  Grant smiled. Kai was a huge dog lover and even volunteered to help with Quinn’s operation, though it was mostly in the pooper scooper milieu. “What would Midas say to that?” Kai had his own golden Labrador Retriever and usually the two were inseparable.

  Kai’s eyes widened dramatically and he glanced around. “Shh, don’t tell him. He gets jealous when I come home smelling of other dog.”

  Grant chuckled as Quinn brought Camo over to stand in front of them. The dog was in full work mode until Quinn gave him a command and he turned into a big ol’ puppy, attacking his buddy Kai until the two were wrestling on the ground, laughing.

  Grant and Quinn smiled at their antics. Currently, Camo had Kai pinned to the ground by lying his body atop the boy’s, and he was attempting to wash Kai’s face with his tongue.

  “I heard it was pretty intense in Coslos.”

  Grant nodded, thinking back to his last assignment. A country ravaged by drugs and war, the innocent citizens caught in the crossfire. “It was like being back on the Teams,” he said, referring to his SEAL squad. It had triggered nightmares of his last deadly mission. Thankfully, they’d managed to locate and rescue Harlow Duquesne, the granddaughter of the President of the United States. In the process, his teammate Sawyer Oldham and Harlow fell in love.

  “You up for a couple of beers later?”

  Quinn understood. He’d been there, done that in the military, too. “Absolutely.”

  “Camo, work.”

  The dog jumped up, all seriousness, and followed Quinn. Grant reached down a hand and helped Kai up. The kid’s short black hair was sticking up at all angles and he was wiping his face with the sleeve of his t-shirt. “How about I school you on the Parkour course?”

  “Ha! You wish, old man!”

  Kai took off running while Grant just stood there and shook his head. Old man? The years were creeping up on him. He thought he’d be a SEAL until at least forty, if not later. He served with a teammate who’d been forty-three and that guy could take down an entire cadre of terrorists by himself. But that plan had ended several years early when he’d lost three of his brothers.

  Kai came running back and wrapped his arms around Grant’s legs. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. You aren’t old.” He sprinted off again before stopping and turning. “Are you coming?”

  “What do you think?” He took off after Kai, who let out a startled yelp and dashed away.

  Some days Grant felt as old as Methuselah. Thank goodness he had Kai and Sean and Tiff around to keep him young.

  Chapter Two

  “Ms. Franklin, it’s so good to see you.”

  Melody shook the hand of the CEO of Chem-Co, praying her palms weren’t sweaty. “Thank you, Mr. Kingman.” She wasn’t about to return the sentiment, mostly because it wasn’t true. At all. In fact, the last person she expected to see when she heard the knock on her shop door was Elliot Kingman.

  He flashed a perfectly white smile at her, still not letting go of her hand. But now, he’d added the other to sandwich hers between his. “Call me Elliot.”

  She smiled back, albeit tightly, and extracted her hand from his grip. “Elliot.” She indicated a burgundy leather chair. “Please have a seat.”

  She took a seat behind her desk, the power position, if she remembered correctly from her college classes. She was the one in control here. She’d been in Elliot Kingman’s office once when she worked for Chem-Co and he’d held all the power. But now he was on her turf. She glanced around the small space in the store she was renting, making sure she wasn’t in some alternate universe. Tan suede couch, check, picture of her and her brother Max on his boat, check. It all seemed the same, yet here was her GQ-model-worthy former boss smiling at her and inviting her to call him by his first name.

  He smoothed his tie and dropped elegantly in the chair across from her desk looking both masculine and fashionable in a charcoal Ermenegildo Zegna suit immaculately tailored to his build. She’d always been intimidated by him. He was in his late forties, fit with dark hair that she assumed he colored because there wasn’t one strand of gray. His eyes were a chocolate brown, his jaw chiseled, and he was handsome and charismatic. She knew he had degrees in chemistry, but his main job was building the clientele and reputation of the company.

  “Melody…may I call you Melody?” At her nod, he continued. “I’m sorry about the circumstances of the last few weeks.”

  She smothered a hysterical laugh. Circumstances? The man had sued her, for goodness sake! Chem-Co took her to court for trying to sell a product that they claimed belonged to them. Thank goodness Max had thought to draw up the first right of refusal document. That, along with her documented notes and pictures dating back over ten years, had made the case open and shut—in her favor.

  While it was in her nature to forgive, she could never forget. Still, she offered, “That’s behind me now.” It helped that she was the victor. She might not feel so magnanimous if Chem-Co had come out on top. Scratch that. She definitely wouldn’t have felt so generous.

  “I sincerely regret that it had to come to that.” He leaned back in the chair and crossed one leg over the other before smoothing a non-existent wrinkle. “I wish you had brought your proposal to me in the first place. It’s a wonderful idea and judging by your flawlessly perfect complexion, it works amazingly well. I would’ve green-lighted it immediately.”

  Easy for him to say now. “I didn’t feel comfortable going around my immediate boss, either before I pitched the proposal to him, or after he turned it down.”

  He waved a hand, the overhead lights glinting off his diamond-encrusted Rolex. “Oh, I’m not criticizing you at all, Melody. I completely understand. In fact, I appreciate you following the rules. You made the right call. Burton Kline, however, did not. I wanted to let you know that I’ve let him go. If he passed on your proposal, there’s no telling what else he’s been wrong about. His blatant lack of business sense was a detriment to the company.”

  Funny how he’d thrown his complete support behind Burton Kline a couple of weeks ago in the court room. Valuable employee, sharp mind, excellent judge of character were just some of the descriptions he bantered around. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she murmured, her words sounding insincere to her own ears. Ah well, she tried.

  He uncrossed his legs and leaned for
ward to reach into his Brunello Cucinelli leather portfolio. The man certainly didn’t shop at Wal-Mart. Even his shoes were leather Gucci’s. And goodness, he smelled amazing. She wasn’t sure of the scent, but it was exotic, Oriental. Musky and warm with a hint of vanilla and something else she couldn’t name. While Taylor and Kendall’s husbands and all the male employees she’d met at COBRA Securities were one-hundred percent testosterone-fueled alpha-males, Elliot’s appeal was more of the urbane, cultured variety. Metrosexual, she supposed it was called.

  “I also wanted to talk to you about a business proposition.” His voice snapped her out of her trance and she shifted back so that she wasn’t seduced by his scent. She needed all her wits to deal with Elliot Kingman. He withdrew a stack of papers and presented them to her with a flourish. “I would like to propose a partnership between you and Chem-Co, to produce your products. Frankly, Melody, we have vast resources that you don’t have. We can manufacture and distribute quickly and efficiently, and even though we would be producing it, you would still be in complete charge of the project. You would oversee all aspects from design of the containers to brand marketing. It would still be your baby.”

  Melody’s mouth dropped open. It was the last thing she expected to hear from her former employer. Chem-Co did have the resources to produce Harmony quickly and efficiently, with state of the art equipment and support. She wouldn’t lose sleep at night with the overwhelming thought of having to take out a massive loan to build a production facility, even though she had investors. She wouldn’t worry if she could meet deadlines or what to do if the equipment broke down. She could concentrate on producing a line of products to go along with the face cream and cleanser. And if she were in charge, she could make sure it was produced correctly and met all the requirements. It was exactly what she wanted when she approached Burton Kline in the first place.

  She shoved the papers across the desk without looking at them. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kingman, I’m not interested.”

  “It’s Elliot.” He stopped the progress of the papers and urged them back in front of her. “And I think you should take a look at the bottom line.” He tapped a number on the top sheet of paper. “It includes a more than generous salary with unmatched benefits and stock options.”

  He was saying all the right things and she would’ve jumped at the chance…two months ago. Before she met Layla and Taylor and the rest of the women who had encouraged her, supported her and offered her unconditional friendship. It was because of them that she had the courage to go out on a limb and reach for her dreams.

  “Truly, Elliot, I appreciate the offer, but I’m all set. I’ve already had plans drawn up for a production facility and filmed promotional materials which are scheduled to air in just a couple of weeks. The marketing materials have been produced and the branding is complete with custom bottles and a stylized logo. It’s a generous offer, and I am appreciative, but it’s too late.”

  He studied her for a moment before he closed his briefcase and stood, waving away her attempt to hand him the papers. “I’m going to leave them with you and hope that you will do me the courtesy of looking them over. I think you will find that it’s a very attractive offer, one I hope you won’t be able to decline.” He smoothed his tie again and smiled at her. She stood, intending to escort him to the door. “It is good to see you, Melody. I hope that we can put the past behind us. In fact,” he stepped closer, “I would like to take you to dinner.”

  Melody concentrated on breathing so she didn’t hyperventilate, but breathing was bad because his exotic scent filled her nose. She’d had a crush on Mr. Kingman—Elliot—from the moment she met him. She’d never been the recipient of one of his killer smiles before. When she worked for Chem-Co, she tended to fade into the woodwork. She was just a worker bee in a white lab coat and chunky goggles in a building full of them. He’d walked by her dozens of times without so much as acknowledging her existence while she, on the other hand, tracked his every movement and drooled as he passed. Now he was asking her out on a date? She should be flattered, but she was smart enough to realize it was just a ploy to get her to agree to his terms of the contract. And two months ago, she might’ve said yes just because she had a mega crush on him, but that was BG, before she literally crashed into the sexiest, most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. She’d been a goner ever since. BG stood for Before Grant, Luke Colton’s younger former SEAL brother.

  Grant was everything that Elliot was and everything he wasn’t. They were both handsome and sexy, but while Elliot presented a cultured elegance, Grant exuded raw masculine power and strength. They were both fit, but Elliot’s build probably came from a set of Solo-Flex weights and an expensive trainer, while Grant’s body could have been chiseled from a block of marble. Thick, strong, muscular, not an ounce of fat. He was, simply, a warrior.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. King…Elliot,” she corrected at his look. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Well, I’m nothing if not persistent. Thank you for not slamming the door in my face.”

  She smiled as he’d intended, but truthfully, she had thought about it. When the knock sounded on the outer door of the storefront, she’d thought it was one of the workers who had forgotten their keys. She’d stuttered to a stop when she spotted Elliot Kingman through the glass, smiling at her and waving. She wondered if he’d come to present her with another subpoena.

  He turned to leave but stopped and glanced at her again. “Please, look over the papers and then we’ll talk again. Have a good day, Melody.”

  She waited until he left before she twisted the lock and then collapsed into the chair behind the counter where her product would be sold. Her wobbly legs refused to hold her up any longer. Her former boss had asked her on a date. Unbelievable.

  #

  Elliot Kingman slipped on his Versace sunglasses as he stepped outside into the bright sunlight. The meeting with Melody Franklin hadn’t gone as he’d hoped. He thought she would jump at the chance to have Chem-Co produce her face goop. They had resources that she didn’t, and they could get the product to the market in far less time. Instead, she hadn’t even spared the document a glance, one he’d worked long hours drafting until it was perfect. Under the terms he’d presented her with, she would receive a generous salary, but the majority of the money would go directly into Chem-Co coffers, i.e., his pocket.

  He was still pissed Burton Kline passed on the original offer, but if he was honest with himself, and he tried to be, he would’ve made the same call. It was face cream, for hell’s sake. The shelves of drugstores and discount chains were lined with dozens of similar products and the competition was fierce. It would take a truly outstanding creation to compete in the market, a one in a billion invention. Unfortunately, judging from her flawless, spotless, wrinkleless complexion, it looked like Melody Franklin had produced that one.

  When he’d read a story in the paper about a local woman launching her own beauty line with the backing of several major celebrities, including an Oscar-winning actress, a pop music icon and a best-selling author, he’d been intrigued. Then he found out she used to work for him and his reaction would have been the same if someone had tossed a plugged-in blow-dryer into his bath. He’d been completely shocked, his body twitching with surprise. He didn’t remember Melody Franklin at all. Not the name, not the face. She must have blended into the woodwork when she worked for him.

  He called upon his senior department head, Burton Kline, and asked about her. At first, Burton couldn’t recall her, either, but then he nodded and said that she had approached him about some proposal. When Elliot asked if it was a line of beauty products, Burton had snapped his fingers and said, “Yes, that’s it.” Elliot lost it. It took everything in him not to pound Burton Kline into dust.

  His first reaction had been to sue. Melody Franklin had worked for Chem-Co and anything produced by employees belonged to the company. That clause was in every employee contract. Then he found out that that dumbass Kline sign
ed a right of refusal document. Still, he’d shove Kline under the bus if need be, so he’d tried taking her to court, only to be shot down. Spectacularly. Apparently, Melody Franklin created the formula years ago when she was some pre-teen geeky genius. She had the documentation to prove it. He didn’t have a leg to stand on and he’d even been ordered to pay her court fees. That one had hurt, especially since her high-powered lawyer was also her brother and he’d gouged Chem-Co on the fees.

  Plan A, suing her ass off, didn’t work, so he went to Plan B: offer to partner. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? Except, she’d turned that one down rather quickly. He wasn’t sure how Melody Franklin could rope in such star power to sell her product, but that almost guaranteed a success. She really didn’t need Chem-Co. Still, he hadn’t given up, but he was pretty sure she was serious. And he was serious about taking her to dinner. He didn’t remember much about her when she worked for him. After speaking with Burton Kline, he vaguely recalled her wearing her long, blond hair pulled into a ponytail, no makeup, big goggles obscuring her face, but then, that described most of the females at Chem-Co, so he didn’t know if he actually remembered her or he was just projecting her into the image of the other women at the company. But after dealing with her in court and then seeing her now in her office, holy hell, she was stunning. Her beauty wasn’t the in-your-face kind, enhanced with gobs of makeup and tight, flashy clothes and a surgically-enhanced chest…his usual preference. She didn’t make you do a double-take when she walked by. Her beauty was the wholesome kind, with shiny, healthy hair the color of sunshine, eyes the same hue as the Caribbean Sea surrounding Saint Lucia, and skin that was utterly and totally flawless. Not a pore or pimple in sight. Damn, that cream worked.