His Perfect Woman (Harlequin Superromance) by Kay Stockham Read Free Book Online Page B

four-year age difference hadn’t mattered much, even though she’d been five to his nine. Throwing rocks, climbing trees, riding bikes. They were kids being kids, a group of them who’d hung out and played during the day. But when the others went home, Melissa had stayed, her father’s long hours matching his grandfather’s.
    â€œWhat kind of ‘important things’?”
    â€œWell…” She clasped her hands in front of her and squeezed until they were red. “Flirting, for one.”
    He stared at her, unsure where this was headed. “Flirting?”
    â€œAre you going to repeat everything I say?”
    â€œI’m giving myself time to process things,” he said. “Give a guy a chance to wake up.”
    â€œBryan, we used to be friends—”
    â€œWe’re not friends?”
    She waved a hand as though batting away the question. “Honestly? We’re more like acquaintances, as you well know.”
    He conceded that point with a nod. The years had wrought a lot of changes in them both.
    â€œWe played together as kids, didn’t see each other for a long time, and then you came back and you saw me—” she closed her eyes “—at one of my worst possible moments.”
    She was worried about—
    â€œYou stood in my living room and told me my baby died not because of the things I helped the prosecutor convict Joe of doing to her, but because I neglected—”
    â€œI never said you neglected her!” He planted his hands on his hips and glared at her. “I’ve never once said that.”
    â€œBut in that instant, I’d not only lost my daughter again, I’d lost my hair and my dignity and very nearly my sanity, and you saw it all. So just…ease up. I’m not going to be another Holly or Crystal or Lisa, or any of the others you’ve—not that you’ve asked me to—” she clarified quickly, holding up her hands so he wouldn’t interrupt. “But I just want to set the record straight. I want a job, Bryan, nothing else, and the effort you’re putting into being…nice and—and flirtatious isn’t needed because it’s wasted on me. You don’t need to be that way with me.”
    â€œIs that right?” She was giving him hell because he was nice?
    â€œDon’t take it personally. It’s not you, it’s me,” she said, echoing his words to Tricia the Temp, but making it so much worse by adding that last part. “I’m just asking you not to bother, that’s all. You can relax. There’s no pressure for you to be…you know, Bang ’em Booker . That’s the last thing I want. Just be my friend again, my boss. If you can do that, we can work together.” Melissa held out her hand. “Deal?”
    He took her soft, trembling palm in his. She’d taken the lead and said everything he’d wanted to say to her. Well, notquite the same things, but close enough. The no-flirting rule, keeping things professional. It was all good. “Deal,” he murmured, ignoring the slight punch in the gut he felt because she looked so relieved.
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    T WO AND A HALF HOURS later, Bryan quietly walked down the hall carrying yet more of the files that had accumulated in his office. While he’d unearthed his desk, Melissa had sorted through the collection of papers and files covering the reception area, moved into the waiting room and now had everything divided into neatly stacked, organized piles. In record time, too. She’d accomplished more in a couple of hours than the other temps had completed in weeks. And after her little speech about being friends, the tension and worry he’d felt about hiring her eased. “Looks like you’ve gotten a handle on things. You ready to stop for lunch yet?”
    Distracted, she stuck a note on top of a chart and nodded, her eyebrows pulled down as she wrote on the yellow sticky.