by Tina Martin
“Dimitrius?”
“What if I did like her?”
“Then I’ll tell you like you told me…if she’s the one, go get her. But you can’t continue to beat yourself up over some past relationship.”
“I’m not beating myself up over anything,” Dimitrius griped.
Dante shook his head. “Jeez, Dimitrius…are you that much in denial? Ever since Emily and I married, your attitude had changed.”
Dimitrius shook his head. “Changed how?”
“Well definitely not for the better. You used to be so calm and pragmatic, and you still are in certain circumstances, but in the interview, you nearly bit Melanie’s head off. And for what purpose? Because she was five minutes late to an interview that you didn’t need to be a part of? If you want love and happiness, like I have with Emily, and you think that Melanie might be the woman for you, then by all means, talk to her but don’t drive a good woman away because of what the wrong woman did to you.”
Crap…his brother had made a point. Dimitrius didn’t want to admit it, but Dante was right. He had been irrational and downright thoughtless in his efforts to put distance between himself and Melanie. But why stay away from her when all she really wanted was to get to know her. Maybe he’d been taking the wrong approach all along.
Dante stood up and said, “I have to go to a meeting then I’m heading out to lunch. I’ll chat with you later. We need to talk about the new payroll app.”
“Alright man,” Dimitrius said, downcast. He needed to get out of the office too, to clear his head and think about his next plan of action when it came to Melanie. Maybe it was time to pay her a visit.
Chapter 4
Dimitrius sat alone at The Caribbean Hut, at a table that gave him a good view of the street. He wanted to see the comings and goings on the outside while he ate lunch and pondered about a few things. Nine times out of ten, Melanie was going to get the management position, so he had to come up with a strategy – a way to deal with her, especially since he was seriously considering his Dante’s advice.
If you want love and happiness…and you think that she might be the woman for you, then by all means, talk to her but don’t drive a good woman away because of what the wrong woman did to you…
Dimitrius took a long sip of water.
Dante could give him good, sound, solid advice, and he appreciated that. Not only was he the oldest, but Dimitrius had also considered him to be the wisest, especially since he moved to Asheville, convincing he and Desmond to come along and start The Champion Corporation from the ground up. It hadn’t been easy, but through the difficult times, Dante always kept his faith.
Then, a couple of months ago, Dante married Emily – his perfect mate. And they were perfect together in every sense of the word. Just like their father used to say – a man knew when he had met the woman he would marry in an instant. It didn’t take long for sparks to fly. That’s why Dante swooped in on Emily.
That was also why he needed to stop fooling himself into believing that he could halt his feelings for Melanie. Feelings he’d fought for the two years that he’d been woman-free were resurfacing and he knew why. He’d met the woman he wanted to marry.
“Can I get you anything else, Mr. Champion?” the waiter said.
“No. I’ll take the check.”
“Alright. Be right back.”
Dimitrius stared out of the window in a quandary. For a long time he contemplated love, marriage and a family. Plus, seeing how happy Dante and Emily were made him desire the same thing. Love. Happiness. The feeling of sharing his life with someone special.
A smile came across his face. He considered going to Emily’s boutique, which was only a few stores down. But what would he do there? Ask Emily a bunch of questions about Melanie? The idea escaped him when he saw Melanie and Emily walking down the sidewalk, laughing together.
Man, she’s beautiful, he thought as he stared at Melanie, her curls bouncing all around her face as she laughed. He watched as she and Emily walked inside of the sandwich shop across the street. That gave him an even better idea.
Chapter 5
“So tell me how the interview went,” Emily prompted, sitting across from Melanie in the crowded restaurant. The place was a popular business lunch site and was so loud, they had to elevate their voices just to hear each other.
“It was alright until Dimitrius opened his mouth,” Melanie scoffed.
Emily grinned. “Why do you say that?”
“Why do I get the feeling that you already know?”
“Mel, I tried to warn you about him.” Emily took a sip of water. “Anyway, what did he do?”
“Where do I begin? He was irritated by the fact that I arrived a few minutes late.”
Emily eyes brightened. “You were late!”
“Yeah, sort of, but I’ve never been to that building before. It was a miracle I could even find a parking space. Then, I had to get a badge and, ugh…it was a disaster. So I finally make it up to the tenth floor and Dante is completely professional. Even Desmond, with his boy-toy-ish looking self, managed to be courteous. They stood up to shake my hand, trying to make me as comfortable as possible. But Dimitrius remained sitting. He didn’t open his mouth to greet me at all, and guess what the first words out of his mouth were.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re late!”
Emily’s mouth dropped open. “No he didn’t.”
“Yes he did. And he said it in a disciplinary tone like I was going to get a spanking for being five minutes late. And he kept bringing it up throughout the interview…over and over again. Told me they needed to hire someone whom they could count…someone who could be on time since Desmond would be traveling a lot. Girl, I was trying so hard to keep a smile on my face…so hard that I had a headache by the time I walked out of there. The man has it in for me, and I don’t even know him.”
“He’s okay, Mel. I told you he could be a little…difficult.”
Brows furrowed, Melanie said, “A little difficult?”
Emily grinned. “Yeah.”
Melanie shook her head. “No, that’s not what you said, Emily. You said he was highly unapproachable.”
“That too.” Emily laughed. “But he’s okay once you get to know him. It actually took him a while to warm up to me.”
“Well, that’s you. I guess he has to like you since you’re married to his brother.”
“No. I think it’s genuine. And you know what else?”
“What’s that?”
“I know why he acts like he doesn’t like you. It’s because he does. Don’t you see what’s going on? It’s the typical case of boy likes girl, so boy is mean to girl.”
Melanie laughed. “That’s funny. Trust me. Dimitrius Champion does not like me. Seems I’ve given the man a perpetual indentation in his forehead.”
Emily giggled then took a sip of water. After setting her cup back on the table, she looked up and saw Dimitrius coming inside of the restaurant. “Oh, looks like we talked him up.”
Melanie’s entire face reddened. “Please tell me you’re joking?” Melanie turned around and there he was, Dimitrius Champion. The moment her eyes connected with his, a chill shot down her spine. “I hope he doesn’t come over here. I can’t take anymore of him today.”
“Well, looks like you’re going to have to,” Emily whispered, and when Dimitrius was close to their table, she said cheerfully, “Hey, Dimitrius.”
“Hi, Emily. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you doing today?”
“Never been better,” was his response.
Melanie didn’t say a word, nor had she planned to. She was hoping to disappear so she didn’t have to watch the tower of a man standing beside their table. He was dressed nice too, wearing a three-piece black suit and a crisp white shirt with a gray necktie. And he smelled so good, the man was downright tantalizing – well everything except for his demeanor.
“I see you’re on your lunch break too
, huh,” Emily said.
“Actually, I already had lunch at The Caribbean Hut. I was there when I saw you ladies come here…thought I’d say hello to my favorite sister-in-law.”
Emily giggled. She was his only sister-in-law.
“Also I wanted to speak with you, Melanie, if you have a moment,” Dimitrius requested, sliding his hands into his pockets.
Melanie looked confused and taken aback. Oh, now you want to speak to me after terrorizing me in the interview this morning? “I’m sorry, what?” she asked.
“I would like to speak with you outside for a moment,” he repeated.
Melanie glanced at Emily then frowning, she looked back at Dimitrius and asked, “Why?”
“You’ll find out once you come outside with me.”
Against her better judgment, Melanie pushed away from the table and, with a nervous stomach, she followed the trail of Dimitrius’ mesmerizing cologne out of the door.
Once outside on the balmy, eighty-degree day, he looked at her but hadn’t said a word. He wanted to take a moment to admire her, take her all in and get his thoughts together. However, thoughts turned into cravings as he felt himself become lost in her eyes. Her beauty was throwing him off of his game, forcing the frown away from his face and already improving his mood.
“How can I help you?” Melanie asked testily.
“I know we got off to a rough start.”
“We? I didn’t have anything to do with that,” Melanie said.
“I know. I claim full responsibility,” he responded. “I can be somewhat of a jerk sometimes. I wanted to apologize to you in person and when I saw you here, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. So, I’m sorry.”
To say she was confused was an understatement. Confused. It was a bit weird for him to seek her out like this, just to apologize, but he did. The least she could do was accept the man’s apology. “I appreciate that,” she finally responded, watching his chiseled face become cheerful as his lips curved into a smile.
“So do you accept my apology?” he inquired.
“I’m not a person who holds grudges. Yes. Of course I accept your apology.”
“Good, because if you hadn’t, the next thing I want to discuss with you would be even more awkward.”
“And what’s that?”
A sly smile touched his lips. “Well, I’ve chosen you, Melanie Summers, to be the woman with whom I will spend the rest of my life.”
The frown in her forehead was unmistakable, then the sound of laughter erupted from her mouth. “You chose me?”
“Yes,” he replied with a straight face.
“What do you mean, you chose me? You can’t choose me.”
“I just did.”
The smirk on Melanie’s face dried up. “It’s hot out here today, but it’s not hot enough to cause you to become delusional, Mr. Champion.”
“Please, call me Dimitrius, and I’m not delusional. You must be if you think this is a joke. I don’t play around when I want something. I just get it.”
“You can’t be serious…”
“Oh, but I am. When you get to know me, Melanie, you’ll see that I’m a pretty serious kind of guy.”
“Okay, wait…timeout…” she said, taking a step back.
“I know it’s all too much to comprehend right now, which is why I took the liberty of making dinner reservations for us at Connelley’s tonight. Meet me there at seven,” he said, backing away, leaving Melanie with a wide-opened, yet speechless mouth.
Chapter 6
“So what was that about?” Emily asked once Melanie had come back in the restaurant and taken a seat. “You look shell-shocked.”
“Okay…he’s psycho. I’m convinced.”
Emily grinned, then wiped her mouth with a napkin. “What did he want?”
“First, he wanted to apologize for being a jerk during the interview this morning.”
“Aw…that was nice of him.”
“If you say so…”
“What else?”
“Okay…let me try to say this without laughing,” Melanie said and began laughing anyway.
“Girl, you’re crazy,” Emily said, taking a bite from her sandwich.
“No. Dimitrius is crazy. He told me that he was planning on spending the rest of his life with me.”
“What!” Emily shouted, forgetting she was in a restaurant. But the place was so loud, no one was disturbed by her sudden outburst.
“That’s what he said...” Melanie drawled out.
“What!” Emily shouted again.
“Okay, Emily…at some point, you have to say something other than what.”
“I can’t. I’m like totally in a state of shock right now. Dimitrius Champion told you what, again?”
Melanie narrowed her eyes at her. “You think this is funny, don’t you?”
“I do,” Emily admitted. “I honestly can’t imagine Dimitrius doing something like that.”
“Well he did. He even told me that he made dinner reservations at Connelley’s tonight to discuss it with me further. And get this…he didn’t ask me to come to dinner. It was more like a demand that I meet him there.”
Trying her best to disguise a smile, Emily said, “You should meet him, girl.”
“The devil is a lie. I ain’t meeting him nowhere.”
“Why not?”
“Um, hello…you don’t recall me telling you how Dimitrius interrogated me this morning? And what kind of man takes it upon himself to make dinner reservations for a woman he doesn’t know and then demand she be there.”
“It’s the Champion way,” Emily said, thinking about all the things Dante had done to secure her. Not only had he created a fake online profile, he also tricked her into signing a contract in order to get her to marry him. “I’ll admit, the Champion men are different, but they know what they want. And I love Dante more and more every day.”
“Well, that’s Dante. They might be brothers, but Dimitrius is no Dante.”
“Dimitrius is not that bad, Melanie. You just have to get to know him, and then you’ll see. Plus, I think he’s perfect for you. You two can balance each other out.”
Melanie frowned. “How’s that?”
“Well, he’s uptight and grouchy, and you’re lively and funny. You both are attractive. He’s tall. You’re tall-ish. You would look good walking next to him.”
Melanie rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“Plus, it would be so cool if you and Dimitrius ended up getting married. That would make us sisters-in-law.”
“And what makes you think that I want to be with a grouch? And why are you talking about marriage?”
“You said he told you that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you, right?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Then what is he talking about if he’s not talking about marriage?”
“I don’t know, and I honestly don’t care. I want to get this job. I can’t be worried about your brother-in-law and his arrogance.”
“You better be worried about it.”
“Why?”
“Because if you get the job, you’re going to see him every day, so you might want to take him up on his offer to go to Connelley’s. If you don’t, then it probably won’t make for a good working relationship.”
“Ugh,” Melanie grunted. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Yeah, now you know how I felt when I kept telling you to stop trying to fix me up with Dante but all you kept saying was, take a leap of faith, Emily. I took a leap of faith and, it worked for me. Now, it’s your turn, my dear. But dealing with a man like Dimitrius, you’re going to need more than a leap of faith….more like a surge of conviction.” Emily chuckled.
Melanie grunted again. Standing, she said, “I’m going back to work.”
“You haven’t eaten anything yet,” Emily said.
“I can’t…lost my appetite. I’ll see you later.”
“Alright,” Emily said, watching Melanie
walk away. “I expect to hear all about your dinner date later.”
“Whatever,” Melanie said as she continued towards the door.
* * *
At work, Melanie couldn’t concentrate. She was able to check in guests and make a few reservations, but her mind was occupied with Dimitrius. The man really told her that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. It was baffling to watch him go from one extreme of disliking her to the complete opposite end of the spectrum of wanting to marry her. Was he insane?
And then he wanted her to meet him at Connelley’s for dinner. As Emily was so quick to point out, if she didn’t go, but ended up getting the job, then things would be tense between her and Dimitrius. However, if she did go, she would be extremely uncomfortable around the man. He was a bit of a mystery. A presumptuous, hard-nosed, narcissistic mystery. Although he was handsome and wealthy, something about him frightened her, and she knew what that something was.
The Champion men were well-known in Asheville because of their million-dollar corporation but more famously due to their reputation with the ladies. Although he hadn’t been rumored to have been attached to anyone recently, Dimitrius could very well have any woman he wanted. He was thirty-four, so handsome it should be against the law, and the man had a body out of this world. Even when Melanie had briefly caught sight of him a year ago, she knew how built and masculine he was. Now, a year later, he wanted to have dinner…
Chapter 7
Back at the office now, Dimitrius sat behind his desk, checked a few emails then walked over to Dante’s office. The door was open as he approached.
“What’s up, man?” Dante said.
Dimitrius walked in, took a seat and said, “I’ve decided to take your advice.”
