Money Man's Fiancée Negotiation

by Michelle Celmer

  “I think you shouldn’t worry about it until you’ve had more time to heal. There’s no rush. Look at what happened today when you got too stressed.”

  He was right. She knew he was. It was just that she felt this need to get on with her life. This deep-seated urgency to move forward.

  Give it time, she told herself. Eventually you’ll be yourself again.

  When they got back to their building, instead of pulling into the underground lot he stopped at the front entrance.

  “You have your key?” he asked.

  She pulled it from her jacket pocket and jingled it in front of him. “You’re not coming up?”

  “I really need to get back. You’re okay now, right?”

  Sort of, but she wasn’t exactly looking forward to being alone. But she couldn’t be selfish. “I’m okay. Maybe I’ll take a nap.”

  “I’ll call you later.” He leaned over and kissed her, but not on the cheek or forehead. This time he went straight for her lips. He brushed them softly with his, and she could swear her already shaky knees went a little bit weaker.

  “I’ll see you later.” She got out and shut the door and watched him zip down the block and around the corner. Incidentally, she didn’t see him later. Well, not for more than a few seconds when he roused her with a kiss and said good-night.

  From the light in the hallway she could see that he was still in his suit, and he had that fresh-from-the-office smell clinging to his clothes, so she knew he had just gotten home. She peered at the clock and saw that it was after midnight.

  At least tomorrow was Saturday. They could finally spend some quality time together. Maybe they could take a walk down by the water and have a picnic lunch at the park. She wondered if they had ever done that before. She drifted off to sleep making plans, and woke at eight feeling excited.

  She got dressed and as she brushed her teeth she caught the distinct aroma of coffee. She had hoped to be up first, so she could surprise him with breakfast in bed. Looked as though he didn’t sleep in on the weekends.

  She expected to find him in the kitchen reading the financial section, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in his bedroom either. Where had he gone?

  She grabbed her cell off the counter and dialed his cell. He answered on the third ring. “Where are you?” she asked.

  “Just pulling into the lot at work. I thought I would get an early start.”

  “It’s Saturday.”

  “And your point is?”

  “I just…I thought we could spend some time together today.”

  “You know I have a lot of catching up to do.”

  “What about tomorrow?”

  “Working.”

  He was working on Sunday?

  Or was he? What if all these late nights and weekends, he was actually somewhere else?

  “Ash…are you having an affair?” The words jumped out before she could stop them, and the second they did she wished them back.

  And Ash responded just as she would have expected. Bitterly. “That’s really something coming from…” He suddenly went dead silent, and for a second she thought the call had cut out.

  “Ash, are you there?”

  “Yes, I’m here, and no, I’m not having an affair. I would never do that to you.”

  “I know. I’m sorry for even suggesting it. I’m just…I guess I’m feeling insecure, and lonely. I never see you.”

  “I missed more than a week of work.”

  Which was her fault, so she shouldn’t complain. That was more or less what he was saying. “I know. You know what, forget I said anything.”

  “Tell you what, I’ll try to make it home in time for dinner tonight, okay?”

  “That would be nice.”

  “I’ll call you later and let you know for sure.”

  “Okay. I—I love you, Ash.”

  There was a sight pause, then he said, “Me, too. Talk to you later.”

  She disconnected, feeling conflicted, asking herself the obvious question. Me, too? Given the situation, wouldn’t the more appropriate response be, I love you, too? Shouldn’t he be happy that, despite technically knowing him only a couple of weeks, she knew she loved him? Or maybe he thought she was just saying it because she was supposed to. Maybe that was his way of letting her know that it was okay not to say it if she wasn’t ready.

  Or maybe she was just losing her mind.

  She groaned and dropped her forehead against the cool granite countertop, which she realized was a really dumb move when her head began to throb.

  Maybe the problem was that she just needed a purpose outside of Ash. She needed to get back to her education, back to law school. She needed a life. Maybe then she wouldn’t care how little time Ash had for her.

  If he really needed to be at work, why did Ash feel like such a jackass?

  Mel was just going to have to learn that this was the way things were. The way it had always been. They had always led very separate lives. She was there when he had time for her, and when he didn’t she filled her days with school and shopping. And she had never had a problem with that before.

  It made sense that being stuck at home would drive her a little nuts. What she needed was a car, and her credit cards back. That should make her happy.

  He rode the elevator up to his floor, feeling better about the whole situation, and wasn’t surprised to see Rachel sitting there as he approached his office. She always worked half a day on Saturdays. Sometimes longer if there was a critical pitch in the works.

  “G’morning, beautiful,” he said and she just rolled her eyes.

  “Coffee?”

  “Please.”

  He shrugged out of his jacket and had settled behind his desk by the time she returned.

  “How is Melody today?” she asked, setting his coffee in front of him.

  “Better.” He’d given her a very vague explanation of yesterday’s event. He said only that she was out, and wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t think she could get back home on her own. Rachel hadn’t said a word to him about his and Melody’s supposed engagement. He didn’t doubt that she was simply biding her time.

  “I’m a little surprised to see you here,” she said.

  “Why? I always work Saturday.”

  “Well, with Melody still recovering…”

  “She’s okay. It’s good for her to do things on her own.”

  Rachel shrugged and said, “If you say so.” And before he could tell her to mind her own business she was gone.

  Melody was a big girl, and she had always been extremely independent. Once she had a car, and money to spend, she would stop giving him a hard time.

  Instead of working he spent the better part of the morning on the phone with his regular car dealership, negotiating a deal. Because he was a regular and valued customer the salesman even offered to bring the model he was interested in over for a test drive. Unfortunately they didn’t have one in stock with all the options he wanted and had to ship it in from a dealership in L.A., but delivery was promised on Monday.

  With that taken care of, he called to reinstate all the credit cards he’d cancelled when she left. With expedited delivery they would arrive around the same time as the car. By the time Rachel popped in at noon to let him know she was leaving, he was finally ready to start working.

  “Stay home tomorrow,” Rachel told him. “Melody needs you just as much as these clowns do. Probably more.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Phil.”

  She rolled her eyes and walked out.

  Not ten minutes later Brock rang him.

  “I need you in the conference room now,” he said sternly. Considering his tone, this wasn’t going to be a friendly chat, and Ash was not in the mood to get chewed out again. He couldn’t even imagine what he’d done. Had Brock found something else to pin on Melody?

  Dragging himself up from his desk, he headed down the hall. The normally clear glass walls of the conference room were opaque, which in itself was not a good sign.


  The door was closed, so he knocked.

  “Come in,” Brock snapped.

  Jesus, he so didn’t need this today. Ash sighed and pushed the door open, ready to tell Brock to go screw himself, and was nearly knocked backward by a roomful of people shouting, “Surprise!” at the top of their lungs.

  He must have looked the part because after a beat, everyone started to laugh. They were obviously celebrating something, but he had no idea what. Had he gotten a raise that no one told him about?

  On the conference table was a cake, then he noticed the hand-drawn banner draped from the ceiling.

  Congratulations, Mr. Melody Trent.

  Eleven

  People started milling over to Ash, shaking his hand and congratulating him on his engagement. Brock and Flynn and Jason Reagert. Gavin Spencer, Celia Taylor and Celia’s fiancé, Evan Reese. There were even a few public relations people, several creatives and a large group of his financial people from the fifth floor.

  Everyone knew.

  Dammit. So much for it not being a big stink when he dumped Melody.

  Between handshakes someone stuck a drink in his hand and he took a long swallow. “You guys really didn’t have to do this,” he said.

  “When we heard the news we knew we had to have some sort of celebration,” Flynn said. “We wanted to invite Melody, but Rachel didn’t think she would be feeling up to it.”

  Jesus, what a nightmare that would have been.

  Rachel, the person he assumed was responsible for this fiasco, was on the opposite side of the room so it took him a few minutes to make his way over. When he did, she gave him a huge smile and hugged him. “Congratulations, Mr. Williams.”

  “You are so fired,” he said, hugging her back.

  She knew it was an empty threat, so she just patted his arm and said, “You’re welcome.”

  Celia approached and handed him another drink. “I figured you could use it. I know you hate big productions like this.”

  “Thank you.” He accepted the glass and took a long drink.

  “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am for the two of you,” she said. “I know how hard the past couple of months have been. I’m so glad everything worked out. Have you set a date?”

  He took another slug of his drink. “Not yet.”

  “I hope you’re not planning to elope, or get hitched in Vegas. You know everyone here is expecting an invitation.”

  Well, then, everyone here was going to be very disappointed.

  He finished his drink and someone gave him another, then someone else handed him a slice of cake. As desperately as he wanted to get the hell out of there, he was more or less stuck until the party wound down around three. And though he could have easily drunk himself into a stupor, he stopped at five scotches—although two were doubles. He wasn’t drunk by any means, but tipsy enough to know he shouldn’t be driving.

  When everyone but the executives had cleared out, Ash figured it was finally safe to get the hell out of there. He hadn’t gotten squat done. Not work anyway, and he was in no condition to go back to his office.

  “I’m going to call a cab and head home,” he told everyone.

  “We’re heading out, too,” Celia said. “Why don’t you let us drive you? You don’t mind, do you, Evan?”

  Her fiancé shrugged. “Fine with me. If you want, Celia could take you home in your car and I can follow. That way you won’t have to take a cab into work.”

  “That would be great,” Ash said.

  Feeling pleasantly buzzed, he said his goodbyes to everyone else, and the three of them headed down to the parking garage.

  When he and Celia were alone in the car and on their way to his condo she told him, “There’s something we need to talk about.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No. Everything is actually going great. But it’s clear that the long-distance relationship Evan and I have is going to get tedious.”

  “But things are okay with you two?”

  “Yeah. Things are so good, I’m moving to Seattle at the end of the year.”

  Ash hated to see her go, but he wasn’t exactly surprised. She had fallen pretty hard for Evan. He just wanted her to be happy. “I guess this means you’re leaving Maddox?”

  “Technically, no. I’ll be handling all of the advertising for Reese Enterprises as a consultant for Maddox. I’ll just be doing it from Seattle.”

  “Wow, that’s great.”

  “I told Brock and Flynn I was thinking of leaving, and they didn’t want to lose me.”

  “That’s because you’ve made them a lot of money. They know a good thing when they see it.”

  “I’m excited, but I’m going to miss everyone here.”

  “Who’s going to take your place?”

  “His name is Logan Emerson, he’s going to start working with me Monday. I’ll train him for a couple of weeks, then I’ll be exclusively on the Reese account. I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of traveling back and forth until I make the move.”

  “Well, we’ll miss you, but it sounds like an awesome opportunity.”

  They reached Ash’s building and he directed her down into the parking garage, then they walked up to the street where Evan was waiting.

  “Thanks for the ride,” he said.

  Celia smiled. “No problem. See you Monday. And say congratulations to Melody for us. We should all get together for dinner sometime, when she’s feeling better.”

  “Definitely,” he said, knowing that would never happen.

  Ash waved as they drove off, then he went upstairs. The condo was quiet so he figured Mel was probably out for a walk, but then he saw her key on the counter. He walked to her room and looked in but she wasn’t in bed, then he heard water turn on in her bathroom. He crossed the room, and since the bathroom door was open, he looked in.

  Hot damn. Melody was in the shower.

  He wondered if she might be in the mood for company. After watching her watch that video the other day, he had the feeling it could get very interesting.

  He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on the bed, then kicked off his shoes.

  He stepped into the bathroom, not being particularly stealthy, but Mel was rinsing shampoo from her hair so her head was thrown back and her eyes were closed. Suds ran down her back and the curve of her behind, and all he could think about was soaping up his hands and rubbing them all over her.

  He waited for her to open her eyes, so she would see him there, but when she finally did she turned with her back to him. She grabbed a bottle of soap and poured some out into her hand then turned away from the spray and began soaping herself up. He had a fantastic profile view as she rubbed suds into breasts and her stomach and down her arms. It was far from a sensual display, but he was so hot for her, she might as well have been giving him a lap dance.

  She finished her arms then her hands moved back to her breasts. She cupped them in her hands, her eyes drifting shut as she swirled her thumbs over her nipples. They hardened into two rosy pink points, and he could swear he saw her shudder.

  Goddamn.

  God knew he’d seen Mel touch herself before. So many times that, honestly, the novelty had sort of worn off. But this was different. Maybe because she didn’t know he was watching. Because she wasn’t putting on a show for him. She was doing it because it felt good.

  She did seem to be enjoying it, and he was so hard his slacks were barely containing him. He watched, loosening his tie as she caressed herself. He tossed it across the back of the toilet and started unbuttoning his shirt.

  Melody’s hands slipped down off her breasts, then moved slowly south, stroking her hips and her stomach and the tops of her thighs. It was obvious what her final destination would be and he thought, oh, hell, yeah. Unfortunately she chose that moment to open her eyes and see him standing there.

  She shrieked so loud he was sure the people living beneath them heard it.

  “You scared me half to death!” she admonished when she
realized it was just him. He half expected her to try to cover herself, but she didn’t. Her cheeks did flush though. “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough to enjoy what I was seeing.”

  He could see that she was embarrassed, which made it that much more arousing.

  “You know it’s rude to spy on people,” she said, then her hands came up to cover her breasts. “Tell me you don’t have a video camera out there.”

  He chuckled. “No camera,” he assured her, unfastening the buttons at his wrists. “And I wasn’t spying, I was watching.”

  “Same thing.”

  “You make it sound like I was looking through a peephole in the wall.” He tugged the shirt off and dropped it on the floor.

  Mel watched it fall, and when she saw the tent in his pants her eyes grew larger. “W-what are you doing?”

  He pulled his undershirt over his head and dropped that on the floor, too. “Taking off my clothes.”

  Her eyes strayed to his chest. He didn’t think she realized it, but she was licking her lips. “Um…why?”

  “So I can take a shower.” He tugged off his socks then unfastened his pants and shoved them and his boxers down.

  “With me?” she said, her voice suddenly squeaky and high-pitched, as if she’d been sucking helium.

  “Unless you have someone else in there with you.”

  He crossed the room and pulled the shower door open, his hard-on preceding him inside. If Mel’s eyes opened any wider they would fall out of her head.

  “I thought we were taking this slow,” she said, backing against the far wall, looking worried.

  “Don’t worry, we are.” He stepped under the spray, slicking his hair back. “We’re just doing it naked.”

  If they didn’t make love that was okay with him; he just needed to touch her, get his hands on some part of her body. If she let him get her off, fantastic, if she returned the favor, even better. He was going to let her set the pace.

  Mel stood in the corner watching him, chewing her lip. “This is going to sound stupid, because we’ve done this before, but I’m really nervous.”