Her Christmas Wish ; Designed by Love

by Sherelle Green

  “Just don’t take forever. You young people today like to drag out relationships. Either you want to be together or you don’t. I’m the only one left with an unmarried child. LaVerne brags about Desiree and Jabari all the time.” Desiree was Lorenzo’s wife and Jabari was married to Lorenzo’s sister, Alisha. “And I’m not even going to start on Nolan and Dee.”

  He shook his head. Even if he got married today, he wouldn’t be able to catch up with his LA aunt and uncle. All five of their children were married and, between them, they had seven grandchildren. And from what Lorenzo had told him on the way from the airport three weeks ago, two of his cousins might be expecting again.

  “Theresa, it’s not a competition,” his father said. “He’ll bring his young lady over when it’s time.”

  “I know, I know. I just want Jeremy to experience the same kind of joy we have.”

  Jeremy had grown up hearing all about how his father had predicted his mother would be his wife before they had even been introduced. He had fallen in love with his mother a week after meeting her and their love continued to grow and deepen, even after all these years. That’s what Jeremy wanted for himself. And he wanted it with Serita.

  Chapter 9

  “We’re so happy to have you back home, sweetheart.”

  Serita hugged her mother. “I’m glad to be back.” Even though she had only been two hours away, she’d missed being able to drive over whenever she wanted. She’d left for college at eighteen and, aside from summer visits, remained in Reno until now. She had especially missed Sunday dinners.

  “Your dad is outside by the grill.”

  A wide grin spread across her face. “He’s making ribs?” she asked excitedly.

  “Yes.”

  She rubbed her hands together with glee. Nobody could make ribs like her daddy.

  “Is that my baby girl I hear?”

  “Dad!” She launched herself into his strong arms and tears misted in her eyes. “I missed you.” She had always been a daddy’s girl.

  “I missed you, too, baby.”

  Serita glanced between the two people she loved the most. David and Gayle Edwards had nurtured her, loved her and encouraged her to reach for her dreams, even when others didn’t believe in them. She couldn’t have asked for better parents.

  “Your mama tell you I’ve got ribs in the kitchen?”

  “Yes, she did, and I’m going to hurt myself.”

  His booming laughter filled the air. “Well, come on and get it.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” She led the way to the kitchen and piled her plate high with the ribs, sautéed corn, macaroni and cheese, green beans and her mother’s homemade yeast rolls. After they were seated at the table, her father blessed the food and Serita immediately bit into a tender rib covered in a thick, sweet barbecue sauce. “Dad, you outdid yourself. These ribs are to die for.”

  “Mmm-hmm, I’m going to have to agree with you, baby girl. I stuck my foot in these.”

  The rest of the food tasted just as good. Growing up, she had been known to eat four or five of those rolls at one time. However, her thirty-two-year-old metabolism couldn’t handle that now, so she settled for eating just one. “I haven’t had food that tasted this good in so long.” As soon as the words were off her tongue, she wanted to call them back. She had eaten some great food last night prepared by a man who seemed to be working his way deeper into her psyche as the days passed.

  “Tell us about your new job,” her mother said.

  She finished chewing before answering. “It’s temporary right now, but depending on how I perform over the thirty-day trial, I could be one of two the company hires permanently.” She still didn’t know how she felt about dating the man who had a say in her employment, but he had promised to be fair and she had to take him at his word.

  “Do you think you have a good chance?”

  “Yes. The two engineers I’m working with mentioned that they believed I’d be a good fit.”

  “And your boss?” her father asked over his glass of iced tea.

  Complicated...really complicated. “It’s only been a week and he hasn’t said much.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.

  Her mother patted her hand. “I’m not worried. With your background and personality, you’ll get the permanent spot. Mark my words.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “I have to say we were a little disappointed when you decided not to stay here. It would’ve been cheaper and you could save that money for something else.”

  “I know, but I wanted to do this on my own. Even though the cost of living is higher here, I got a good price for my condo, so I should be okay. I’ll probably start looking for my own place in a week or two.”

  “How’s Gabriella doing? I hope she’s not still dating that man we saw her with last year. Something about him made me uncomfortable. I wanted to tell her so, but your father made me stay out of it.”

  Serita chuckled. “No, she’s not. I think she dumped him not long after that.” Her mother treated Gabby as if she were another daughter and that included getting into Gabby’s business.

  “What about you? Have you met any nice guys that have potential?”

  She had hoped to avoid this conversation but should have known better. Her mom knew about all the heartbreaks Serita had suffered and always said that in life, one had to wade through the bad ones to get to the right one. “I did meet a guy at the conference in Madrid and he’s very nice.”

  Her mother narrowed her eyes. “We had a long chat about that trip. Not once did you mention a man. Where is he from?”

  “Here.”

  “I see. You’ll have to bring him over so we can meet him.”

  Serita’s father had always been her ally, so she looked to him for some sort of reprieve but found none.

  “Don’t look at me. I’m with your mother on this one.”

  Of course, when it came to men, he’d side with her mother. “I think it might be a little too soon for that. It’s only been a month or so.” And she’d done more with him in that time than she had with her ex, whom she had dated for eight months.

  “What’s his name? I assume, since he was at the conference, that he’s in the same field.”

  “His name is Jeremy Hunter and, yes, he’s an engineer.”

  “At least you know he has a good job,” her father said, saluting her with his fork.

  “He does. He owns his own company.” Just tell them, her inner voice chimed. “The same one I happen to work at,” she mumbled. Two pairs of eyes bored into her. “Neither of us knew until I walked into the office, so...” She had no idea what to say after that. She forked up some macaroni and cheese, feeling all of twelve years old.

  “Sometimes things happen for a reason,” her mother said. “That job brought you back home, so I can’t be too mad, but I’m really curious about this Jeremy now. I do hope that means you’ll be back for good.”

  “I won’t know until I find something permanent, whether that’s with this company or another one.”

  “With him owning the business, I suspect he’s much older than you. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

  “Mom, you do realize that I’m thirty-two, not twenty-two and Jeremy is only four years older. If things start to get serious between us, I promise you’ll be the first to know and I will definitely bring him over.”

  Her mother nodded as if satisfied.

  Serita sighed in relief. So, having sex twice, spending an entire evening at his house and hearing the man tell you the two of you were meant to be isn’t serious? She wished that annoying voice in her head would just shut up. It didn’t matter that it was the truth.

  * * *

  Jeremy had tried diplomacy when dealing with Wade, but by Wednesday morning, he’d reached his limit. Wade seemed to forget that it was Jeremy’s name on the
deed to the building and not his. He had a habit of talking down to the other new hires and taking extended breaks, which, in Jeremy’s mind, meant that Wade would not be a good fit for the company.

  “Jeremy, I think you need to come see this.”

  He glanced at the terse set of Shane’s jaw and knew the day was about to get worse. It is only nine. He just hoped nothing had gone wrong with one of the designs in progress. Pushing to his feet, he followed Shane out and down the hall to one of the work areas. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight before him. On the table lay one of the sensor components, detached from the robot console. The same one that had taken him two weeks to perfect. He’d worked late nights and weekends to get the precise specifications of the foot pedal that would be used by his client during surgery and now... It took Jeremy several seconds to find his voice. “What the hell happened in here?”

  Shane nodded toward Wade.

  “Wade?”

  “What happened was innovation. This simple sensor would do nothing more than flip a switch when someone put their foot on it. I took the liberty of drawing up something with a little more pizzazz.” Wade held out a notebook opened to a page with a sketch.

  Ignoring it, Jeremy said through clenched teeth, “My office. Now!” He strode out of the room. When Wade got to the office, Jeremy slammed the door. “Your job was to work on designing the console from the existing schematics, not create your own.”

  “Robotics is about being innovative and thinking outside the box.”

  “You can be innovative and think outside the box on your own damn time, not mine. As of this moment, you’re done here. Collect your belongings and get out.”

  Wade’s face contorted in anger. “You can’t fire me. My contract says thirty days.”

  Jeremy opened a file, took out a sheet of paper and slid it across the desk in front of Wade. “Actually, I can. If you hadn’t been so focused on one-upping everybody in the room last week, you would have heard me mention the procedures for design change. Do you see your signature on the bottom of that page?”

  He snatched the sheet up and read, then tossed it aside.

  “Now, we’re done here.”

  Wade stormed out of the office.

  Jeremy paced for a good two minutes, trying to calm himself, then went out to make sure the man had left.

  Serita passed and placed a hand on his arm. “Hey, everything okay?”

  “Fine,” he said tersely, and kept walking. He stopped. He hadn’t meant to snap at her. “Serita?” He reached for her.

  She held up a hand. “Obviously, you have a lot on your mind right now. It’s okay.” She left him standing there.

  Jeremy cursed under his breath and ran a hand over his head. He wanted to follow her but remembered the parameters they’d put in place for their relationship while on the job. However, he did owe her a big apology and would take care of it as soon as possible. For now, he continued to Chris’s office.

  “That bad of a morning?” Chris asked, glancing up from the papers on his desk.

  “Worse. Wade decided to dismantle a part of the console and tried to call it innovation.”

  Chris’s eyes widened. “I hope you fired his ass on the spot. We should’ve done it last week.”

  “Agreed. Now, I’m going to have to spend many hours redoing something that shouldn’t need to be done.” In order to keep his bottom line down, Jeremy, most likely, would be working overtime for the next couple of weeks to get back on schedule. He hoped that the reassembly wouldn’t take as long as the original assembly had.

  “Well, we’ll be taking it out of his check and if he complains, I’ll tell him it’s either that or we can sue him for destruction of property.” Chris stood. “You go back to your office, and I’ll make sure that idiot is gone.”

  “Thanks.” He started toward his office, then changed direction and headed for the room where Serita worked. He poked his head in the door. “Serita, can I see you in my office for a minute, please?” He could tell she wanted to say no but, with Shane and Elena looking on, didn’t.

  “Sure.” Serita crossed the room and sailed past him without a backward glance. She didn’t say a word until they’d reached his office and Jeremy closed the door. “Yes?” She folded her arms and glared at him.

  He sighed. She’d asked him if he had any faults, and he’d told her about being anal and a perfectionist. What he hadn’t revealed was that until the age of ten he’d had an explosive temper. He’d had to sit out more Little League games than he could count because of it. Jeremy didn’t like losing and whenever his team lost, he’d thrown bats, balls, torn down backstops and more. Of course, his mother’s shoe landed on his backside as a result, but it didn’t help. He didn’t know how it happened, but by the time he reached age twelve, the behavior had all but vanished. In its place was the relaxed, laid-back man everyone knew. For the first time in his adult life, that old anger had risen up in him with such force that he’d almost lost it. It had been stirred to a level where he wanted to tear something apart, preferably Wade Brewer. “I want to apologize for my behavior in the hall earlier. My anger wasn’t directed at you, but I was still wrong and I’m sorry.” She didn’t say anything, and it was killing Jeremy. Even though they were still on the clock, he had to hold her in his arms. Pulling her into his embrace, he kissed the top of her head. “Please forgive me, baby. I’m sorry.”

  Finally she looked up at him. “This time, but don’t make it a habit.”

  He smiled for the first time that day. Unable to resist, he placed a sweet kiss on her lips. “I promise.”

  She backed away. “What are you doing? No kisses during the workday.”

  “That wasn’t a regular kiss. It was an apology kiss.”

  Serita shook her head, but a smile peeked out. “I need to get back to work. What had you so upset anyway?”

  “Wade.”

  “Ugh, that man is a pain in the butt.”

  “Well, he’s going to be someone else’s pain in the butt because I fired him. He dismantled one of the foot pedals on the console and I’m going to have to put in extra hours to redo it.”

  “Oh, no. I’m so sorry. Let me know if you need some help. I don’t mind staying longer.” She reached up to touch his face and then, seemingly remembering where they were, snatched her hand down.

  “Thanks. I might just take you up on the offer. What are you doing for lunch?”

  “I have to make a quick run to Target, why?”

  “I thought we could have lunch, but we can do it another day.”

  “Okay. Do you need me to bring you anything back?”

  “Nah, I’m good.” He reached around her and opened the door.

  “See you later.”

  Jeremy stared after her with his smile still in place.

  “Should I be dusting off my tux?” Chris asked, coming from the other hall.

  “Maybe.” Jeremy laughed at the shocked expression on his friend’s face.

  “Hold up. I was just kidding.”

  “I’m not.” Just like his father, Jeremy knew who he wanted and didn’t plan to mess around and let her get away.

  Chapter 10

  Serita parked in the lot in front of Target and got out. In reality, she could have made the pit stop on her way home, but she wanted to get out of the office. While she enjoyed the job and working with Elena and Shane, they kept up a constant stream of conversation during the day. Being a relative introvert, Serita needed a break. Inside the store, she pulled out her list, grabbed a basket and started up the aisle. It took only a few minutes to get what she needed, then she made her way to the line. While standing there, she spotted a package of Skittles—one of her favorite childhood candies—and tossed them in the basket.

  A few minutes later, she was in the car and on her way back, leaving her a good thirty minutes to eat a quick l
unch. She had only gone a block when she felt her steering wheel pulling to the right and the unmistakable sound of a flat tire. Sighing, she flipped on her hazard lights and slowly pulled into a nearby parking lot. Serita got out. Just as she’d suspected, her right rear tire was flat. For the life of her, she couldn’t recall running over anything on the road. Going back to the car, she searched for her auto insurance card to call for road assistance. Then she decided to call Jeremy first to let him know she would be late getting back.

  “Hey, baby,” Jeremy said when he answered.

  “Hey. I have a flat tire, so I’ll be late getting back. I’m not sure how long road assistance will take to get here.”

  “Where are you?”

  “In the Rocky Ridge Town Center.”

  “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  She opened her mouth to tell him she could just wait, but the line went dead. She should have expected that would be his response. The late-October temperatures had started to drop into the low seventies, but the slight breeze made it feel cooler. Serita got her jacket out of the car and put it on. A few minutes later, her phone buzzed in her hand. She saw Jeremy’s name on the display. “Hey.”

  “Where are you parked?”

  “Near the front, by Macaroni Grill.” She searched and saw his silver Audi. She threw up a wave and waited for him to park next to her Elantra. Unlike her, he had on a short-sleeved button-down shirt and no jacket. “You’re not cold?”

  He grinned. “Nope. Pop the trunk.”

  She did as he asked, then stood off to the side. While waiting, she checked her emails. It would have been the ideal time to eat her lunch, but it was at the office in the refrigerator. By the time they made it back, her lunch would be over. She’d probably have to eat on her afternoon break. Serita turned around to ask Jeremy something and froze. He had taken off his shirt. Her gaze traveled down his body from his wide, muscular chest and defined abs to the low-hung jeans riding his trim waist and his black boots. A pulsing began in her core. She was about two seconds from jumping him right then and there. She closed her eyes to bring her rampant desire under control and opened them to find him standing in front of her, concern lining his features.