by Marla Monroe
She cleared her throat. “I don’t suppose you would be looking for a job would you? My employer needs someone to work mornings. Everyone wants to work nights but not mornings.”
Tessa’s eyes lit up for a second before she frowned. “What kind of work is it?”
“He owns a store in town. You would stock the shelves and help customers when they come in.”
“What do I do to apply?”
“Just go and ask to talk to Steve, the owner. It will probably either be me or him you see anyway when you go. That’s why he needs help.”
“What’s the name of the store?”
“Heavy Trinkets.” She gave Tessa the directions to the store and what was located around it.
“Looks like my load is finished washing. You can have it next.” Kelly quickly switched her clothes over to the dryer.
She looked up and watched as Tessa added her things to the washer. She started to add her money without adding soap. It dawned on Kelly that she might not have been able to afford soap. Thinking quickly, she grabbed her box of detergent out of her basket.
“This is nearly empty, why don’t you use what’s left in it so I don’t have to carry it back with me?” She held the container out toward the other woman.
Tessa’s face turned a bright pink, but she nodded and took the box of detergent and poured some in the machine before dropping in her money and turning it on. Kelly continued talking as if nothing had happened. She wanted the young woman to show up the next day at the store and apply for the job. Something told her that she was in desperate straits. If she could have figured out how to offer her something to eat without being obvious about it, she would have. She had done all she could do for now. The next step was Tessa’s to take.
Chapter Sixteen
Kelly got to work early the next day, eager to get started and hoping that Tessa would show up and apply for the job. She waited for Steve to open up the store and get everything started before she approached him. She wanted to warn him about what she’d done. When he returned to the back to set up the coffee pot, she got up from her worktable and followed him.
“Looks like another scorcher of a day out there, Kelly.”
“I’m glad we’re in here and not out there. I feel for the cowboys.” Kelly wondered if Marx would be out in the heat.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m not a cowboy.” Steve chuckled and started to walk off.
“Steve. Can I talk to you a second?”
“Sure, Kelly. What’s on your mind?”
“Um, you haven’t found anyone to work yet, have you?”
“Not yet. So far no one is available in the mornings when I need them the most.” Steve watched the coffee drip into the pot as if that would speed it up.
“Um, I met someone yesterday that needs a job. I told her about this one, and I’m hoping she will come by today.”
Steve looked up with a wide smile. “That’s great. Do I know her? What’s her name?”
“I don’t think you know her. Her name is Tessa. The thing is, I think she might be in pretty bad shape and need to work in order to eat her next meal. I don’t know if she’s going to have the sort of clothes she’ll need to begin with, but if you’ll hire her, I’ll help pay for something for her to wear until she gets on her feet.”
Steve’s immediate frown worried her. She had hoped he would look at Tessa the way he had her and give the other woman a chance.
“Did she look like she was hungry? Where is she living?” Steve asked, walking over to look up front toward the door.
“I think she was, but it was hard to tell. Her clothes were in pretty bad shape but clean. I don’t know where she’s living, but she was at my apartment building, so I’m hoping she lives there.”
“I’ll see what we can do if she shows up.” He grinned at her and waved her back to her table. “Get to work. I’ve got the front.”
Kelly got busy, and the morning flew by. By lunchtime she was having doubts that Tessa would show up. It worried her that something might have happened for her not to have shown up. Then again, she really didn’t know anything about the other woman. She might not have wanted a job in the first place. Not everyone wanted to work.
Anna walked in about the time that she opened up the lunch she had brought. The other woman sighed and sat down across from Kelly. It was obvious that she had something on her mind.
“What’s going on, Anna?”
“Nothing really. I guess that’s the problem. I’m bored.”
Steve had explained to Kelly the week before that the reason Anna didn’t work in the store was because they argued over everything. They loved each other to death, but she couldn’t handle his bossiness, and he got aggravated with her need to rearrange and change things all the time.
“I thought you were doing some Web site work for someone?”
“I finished it, so now there isn’t really anything to do with it but add his updates and tweak it now and then when new things come out.”
Kelly swallowed the bite of sandwich she had taken and cocked her head. “How would you like to design a Web site for the store and my jewelry?”
Anna perked up at that idea. Then she frowned. “Have you talked to Steve about it yet?”
“Not yet, but I’ll talk to him about it. I wanted to see if you were even interested first. I want to showcase the jewelry and Steve’s custom leather and rope work. We could take online orders and ship from the store.”
“That’s a great idea! Do you have any ideas on what you want it to look like, colors, themes?”
They talked for the next twenty minutes while Kelly finished up her lunch. They heard Steve walking toward the back talking to someone. To Kelly’s delight, he entered the back with Tessa beside him.
“Hey, Anna. This is Tessa Green. Tessa, this is my sister Anna Tyler. You already know Kelly.”
“Hey, Tessa. It’s great to meet you. Don’t mean to be rude, but I need to run, and you’ve got things to talk about.” She turned to Kelly. “I’ll talk to you later about what we were discussing.”
Kelly nodded and waved before tossing her garbage in the trash. She smiled at Tessa and was pleased to see the other woman was wearing a fairly decent pair of jeans and a T-shirt that appeared in good shape.
“I’ll watch the front while you two talk.” She winked at Tessa and headed for the store.
She kept her fingers crossed that it would work out, but if it didn’t, she had done all she knew to do. It was up to Steve now. He had to do what he thought was best for the store. It was his and Anna’s livelihood. Even though Anna rarely worked at the shop, she was part owner as well. She free-lanced doing graphic art for Web sites and had just started handling more Web site design.
She spent the next thirty minutes arranging the merchandise and waiting on customers. They didn’t have all that many during the morning on weekdays, but that was when the shelves needed stocking when they weren’t crowded. Steve needed to be working in the office not tending to the store. If the Web site worked out and it did produce some business, they could potentially end up needing even more help.
She had been so busy thinking about Tessa, Anna, and the Web site that she hadn’t had time to worry about her own dilemma, namely what to do about the Callahans wanting her as their submissive on a long-term basis. Before she could begin to mull it over in her head some more, Steve and Tessa returned from the back. Both had smiles on their faces though Tessa still looked a little wary.
“Well, you’re both smiling. I take it that means something good.”
Steve nodded. “Meet the latest addition to our store crew. She starts tomorrow morning.”
Kelly held out her hand. “Congratulations! You’re going to love working here.”
“Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.” She took Kelly’s hand but quickly let go again.
“I need to go. I, um, have some things to do to get ready.”
“I’ll see you in the morning, Tessa.” Kelly watche
d the other woman walk out of the door.
“What did you think of her?” Kelly asked.
“She’s very intelligent. I don’t know what her story is, but she’s obviously down on her luck. She said she lives in the same apartment complex you do. I brought up the subject of what type of clothes I expected for her to wear, and she said she thought she had what she needed.”
“Good. I sure hope this works out for her. Plus, you need the help. I know what you really want to be doing is working on your leather and rope projects.” She winked at him.
Steve chuckled. “You already know me too well. What were you and Anna talking about?”
“How would you feel about having a Web site where we could feature your leather and rope work and my jewelry designs?”
“I’ve thought about it in the past, but I don’t have time to maintain one. They can be a lot of work even after you get them set up.” Steve shook his head.
“What if you didn’t have to do anything except supply pictures and information and someone else handled the rest?”
“That would be ideal, but I don’t know of anyone who has that kind of time and expertise that I can afford. I could probably afford to have the site built, but the maintenance fees aren’t cheap, and if they are busy, they don’t get your stuff up on a timely basis.”
“Come here.” Kelly walked into Steve’s office. “Can I use your computer to show you something?”
“Sure.”
She typed in the Web address to the site Anna had built for a Jackson and Marx. She had looked at it when she first got in that morning and thought it was a good example of Anna’s work. She hoped it would impress Steve enough that he would let his sister design and run one for Heavy Trinkets.
“Look at this one and see what you think.”
Steve furrowed his brow and scrolled around clicking the various links. After a few minutes he nodded and stood up.
“Looks really good. I didn’t even realize Jackson and Marx had a site.”
“Your sister created that site and maintains it for them. She’s done a couple of others as well. I think we should let her do it.” Kelly licked her lips and waited to see how Steve would take it.
She had come to realize that Steve and Ben still saw Anna as their little sister and not as a mature grown woman of twenty-two. Anna had confessed to Kelly that she’d had to sneak around to get her own apartment the year before and move in while they were both at work. Then it had been a fight for her to manage to keep it. She had her own small trust fund from her parents’ estate, so she could afford it.
The problem had been that the men didn’t want their little sister out from under their eagle eye where they couldn’t take care of her and protect her. Now that she was finished with college and dabbled with Internet web design, she even had a little money coming in each month.
“You’re kidding me. She did that?”
“She’s really good. Isn’t she.”
“I’ll be damned. I guess I thought she was just messing around all the time when she was on the computer. I had no idea.”
“So, what do you think? Can I tell her to get started?” Kelly held her breath.
“Yeah. Tell her to go ahead with it. I’ll take some digital pictures of the store and our merchandise for her to have to work with. I guess it’s a good thing I hired Tessa when I did. You realize this is going to create more work for us, don’t you?”
Kelly grinned. “I’m counting on it. Now that I make a percentage off of my sales, I want to increase business.”
Steve groaned. “I’ve created a monster.”
The bell over the door rang alerting them that someone had entered the store. Steve hurried out front while Kelly returned to her workstation. She couldn’t help but smile. She liked that maybe she was giving back some of the good fortune that she’d been given. She couldn’t wait for the next day when she could get to know Tessa a little better.
Strangely enough, she also found herself wanting to tell Marx and Jackson about everything as well. She wanted to be able to share her day with them and hear about theirs in return, but she wasn’t sure that was possible. If they only saw each other when she was going to do a scene with them, then discussing daily activities wasn’t part of the equation. Of course, they were hinting that they wanted more than the occasional visit and club date, but she had balked at the idea. It had seemed too much like a serious relationship, and she had worried it would eventually develop into more than she was willing to take on.
Kelly sighed. Why did things have to be so complicated? If only she could trust them not to change their mind about what they wanted, then she would feel safer spending more time with them.
Steve called back to her for help out front. It effectively put an end to her internal arguments for the rest of the work day. By the time they had been able to close the store and she had cleaned up her work area, it was nearly seven. Steve walked her to her car and made sure it would start before he climbed into his truck and left. Kelly couldn’t wait to run a bath and soak away some of the tenseness that had built up inside of her all afternoon. She was sure that subconsciously she was worrying about what to do about Marx and Jackson. No matter how many ways she turned it around, the fact remained that her trust only went so far at the moment.
Her cell rang just as she pulled on her sleeping shirt. When she checked the screen, it was to see Jackson’s name. It made her smile as she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, kitten. How was your day?”
Kelly felt herself begin to melt. How had he known what she had been wishing for?
“It was busy but productive. What about yours?”
“Same here. So tell me about it. What’s going on?”
Kelly told him about meeting Tessa and how she had ended up getting the job at the store. Then she told him that Steve had agreed to let Anna design a Web site for the store. He listened and asked questions, seeming to be really interested. She closed her eyes and enjoyed just talking with him.
“I’m glad you were able to help her, Kelly. Not everyone would have spent the time to find out about her and try to help her.”
“Really it’s Steve who’s the nice one. He stuck out his hand and gave me a job when I needed it, and now he’s giving Tessa a chance as well. He’s a really nice guy. I wish whatever is going on between him and Stacey would work itself out. They were happy together when I first started working there. I don’t understand what happened.”
“Sometimes relationships just don’t work. If it’s meant to be, they’ll work it out.”
“Enough about my day. Tell me about yours? How’s Marx doing?” Kelly didn’t want to think about sad things anymore.
She listened to Jackson tell her about clearing up some paperwork and getting a call about selling some of his cattle. She couldn’t imagine how he managed to keep up with so many different things going on around the ranch. Even though Marx handled the outside part of the business, there was still a lot that went on behind the scenes that Jackson took care of.
“Marx came in around six cussing a blue streak about how hot it was out there. I suggested he take a dunk in the pond, and he near about took my head off.” Jackson chuckled.
“What’s he doing now? Watching the Discovery Channel?” she asked.
“Actually, he just walked in. Here, you can say hi to him.”
Kelly heard voices as Jackson handed the phone over to his brother. A second later Marx’s gruff voice greeted her.
“Hey, babe. How are you doing?”
“Hey, Marx. I’m fine. Tired, but fine. It was a busy day today. Jackson said you were in an especially good mood today.”
“Bastard was inside with the fucking air conditioner on all day while I was outside sweating trying to figure out where the cows are getting out at.”
Kelly laughed. “Did you figure it out and fix it?”
“Hell, no. Gonna have to go back out tomorrow and look some more. Sometimes I think they c
an climb the damn fences.”
They talked for a few more seconds before Marx handed the phone back to his brother.
“Wow! That’s the most I’ve ever heard him talk on the phone before. You must be someone special.”
Kelly smiled and hoped he was right. She wanted to be special to both of them. Special enough that they would want to spend quality time with her outside of sex and doing scenes. The thing was she was too scared to go for it.
After a few more minutes, Kelly said she needed to get in bed in order to be able to get up for work the next day. They said good-bye, and she pressed end. The phone call had left her with a sense of wellbeing and something she was afraid to believe in—hope.
Chapter Seventeen
The next few weeks flew by with October bringing some relief from the summer heat. Kelly enjoyed getting to know Tessa, though she didn’t learn anything about her past. The other woman was a puzzle that she wanted to fit all the pieces together and make whole.
The first week Kelly made sure she brought more than enough food for three people to be sure that Tessa got at least one good meal a day. By the second week, Tessa was bringing her own lunch and had assured Kelly that she had plenty to eat. It was obvious in the beginning by the way she strived to learn that she was a hard worker.
Anna slaved over the computer while setting up the Web site for Heavy Trinkets. On the day that she unveiled the site to them, it was obvious by the way Steve beamed that he was proud of his little sister. Even Ben showed up for the event. To Kelly, it looked like everything on that end was working out fine. Her personal life, however, wasn’t moving along at all.
Kelly talked with the men almost every night. They exchanged tidbits about their days and what was going on around them. On weekends, they would pick her up and take her somewhere to eat before taking her to the club. She enjoyed going with them and visiting with the other subs. The scenes helped to settle that part inside of her that wanted the dominance in her life. Going home with them afterwards helped keep things a little more personal without adding a lot of pressure on her.
