The Makeover (15 page)

He gifted her with a small tight smile. “Times have been difficult for us all.”

Mykal ground her teeth together. She was sick of his excuses. “You always have an answer at the ready,” she said. And she could see it was pointless to continue to try to reprimand James. He would always presume that he knew best. She sighed. She’d called her father to discuss this possibility with him. She’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this.
“James, you’ve been a valuable employee for many years.”

“Yes,” he agreed with a nod of his bald head. The overhead lights reflected off of his shiny dark brown scalp. “
Twenty-five to be exact,” he said with an air of satisfaction.

Mykal squirmed in her seat. As annoying as he was, she truly didn’t want to have to do this, but he had left her little choice. He didn’t respect her authority. He was unwilling to work with her. “Yes, well… Times have changed and I want to take the management of the store in a new direction. I simply don’t feel that you are comfortable with or willing to take that route with us.”

He sat up stiffly. “Now, see here, young lady. Are you trying to fire me?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m giving you the opportunity to retire.”

“I’m not ready for retirement.”

“Then I suggest you seek employment elsewhere,” she said before she could stop herself.

James scowled. “Is your father aware that you’re trying to fire me?”

Mykal nodded. “I discussed the possibility with him.
” Her father hadn’t liked the idea, but he’d given her his support. And he’d been proud that she was taking on more responsibility with the stores. “I had hoped it could be avoided, but after witnessing your interaction with a customer-”

“This is my store and if
your father
wants to fire me, then he will have to come and do it himself. Until such time, I will remain at my post. I’ve been running this store since you were playing with dolls and crapping in your diaper. If your father wasn’t the owner of this business, you’d never have been given this job and you sure as hell don’t deserve it. Why can’t you do something you’re good at? Find a good man, get married and have a baby. I’m sure you can still find the time to get a few manicures.” He stood, straightened his clothing once more and left the room.

Mykal trembled with repressed rage. She was not going to stoop to his level. She couldn’t physically remove him, but letting him remain in the store for even a few more weeks so that they could give him a retirement party was not an option. She would not accept this outright defiance. Grinding her teeth, she called her father to inform him of this situation. Then she placed a second call to the police to have James removed.

That had gone much worse than she’d even imaged it would. Dropping her face in her hands, she thought that her day
had
to get better from here.

***

Greg stepped out of the conference room of
Fire Games, practically bouncing with excitement. He pulled his cell out of his back pocket. The area around him buzzed with the activity of employees. Some played games on their computers while others tossed around a ball.

“Looking for a quiet spot?” asked Sally, the personal assistant to Mr. Rodgers, the company’s president and CEO.

He nodded. “I need to make a phone call.”

She smiled. “You’re welcome to use my office. It’s small, but you’ll have privacy.”

“Thank you.” He followed her down a narrow corridor. Both her office and that of Mr. Rodgers
were separated from the rest of the employees by glass walls. Greg immediately felt like he was enclosed in a fish bowl. Sally’s office was less than half the size of her boss’s. He wanted to try stretching his arms out to see if he could touch both opposing walls at once, but he didn’t want to offend Sally. She’d been very friendly to him since he met her on Tuesday.

“I’ll leave you alone,” she said, gathering some papers off the corner of her desk.

“I’ll only be a few minutes
,” he promised. “They’re expecting me back in the conference room.”

“Take as long as you need.” She caressed
his shoulder as she passed him. “And maybe later, we could have lunch together.”

“Um…” He didn’t think he’d ever become accustomed to this new reaction he was getting from women. He was used to be ignored—comfortable with it even. He wasn’t certain how to say no without hurting her feelings. “Well, we’re working through lunch,” he finally replied.

She arched a slender blonde eyebrow. “Dinner?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m seeing someone.”

Her gaze flicked over him from head to toe. “You can tell her for me that she’s one lucky woman.”

Cheeks aflame, he said, “Thank you,” but he had no intention of telling Mykal about women hitting on him. It’d been happening with increasing frequency lately. He knew it was because of Mykal. She’d not only given him a makeover, she made him happy. And
people were attracted to positivity. He was no longer moping his way through his days. He walked with his head up and his shoulders back. His self-confidence was at an all-time high.

Mykal wasn’t the lucky one, he was. He knew she was probably approached by men every day, yet she didn’t rub it in his face or make him feel like she was doing charity work by being with him. Not the way Daria had. At the time, his confidence was so low, that he’d agreed with her. The woman had even cheated on him and like an idiot, he’d begged her to return to him.
Had even started this makeover with the intention of winning her back. Thank God, he’d come to his senses.

Once the door swung closed behind Sally, he located Mykal’s number under his favorites on his phone.

“Hi, baby. Are you calling me from the airport?”

His eyes closed involuntarily at the sound of her voice. “No, I’m calling you from the offices at Fire Games.”

There was a pause. “I don’t understand.
If you’re still there, how are you going to make it home in time for our date?”

Greg sighed. “Nigel—the guy I’ve been meeting with all week—called
me last night after midnight your time and said that Mr. Rodgers, the CEO and president, had just gotten back in town and he wanted to meet with me this morning. And guess what? They want to put my game into production next year. We’re still talking logistics but-” He stopped his excited rambling and drew in a deep breath. “But obviously, I had to cancel my morning flight. I’m not going to make it home until tomorrow. I hope you’re not too disappointed.” He braced himself for an ear blistering.

“I am very disappointed, but mostly because I miss you and I needed something to go right today.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I had to fire someone this morning.
It was an ugly situation. I had to call the police to have him removed. All that drama caused me to be late for my nail appointment and lady at the nail spa didn’t hold my reservation.”

“I’m sorry you’re having such a crap day. If it’s any consolation, I miss you like crazy, too. I wish you could be here with me so that we could celebrate together.”

“Greg, I’m really happy for you. We could celebrate tomorrow. Will you be home then?”

“Yeah. Since it was last minute, they offered to fly me to Charlotte
on the company plane in the morning. From there, I can catch a flight back into Greenville.”

“Okay,”
she said, but she sounded so forlorn that he wished he were there to hold her.

A knock sounded on the door and Nigel stuck his head inside the room. “Are you finished? Mr. Rodgers is asking for you.”

Greg held up a finger. “I’ve got to go,” he said softly to Mykal. “I love you and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay. See you then. Goodbye.”

“Bye.” He stared at straight ahead, barely aware of his surroundings. His gut twisted with guilt that he wasn’t there when she needed him and that he’d missed their first date. He wished that he’d mustered the courage to ask her to come with him. He’d wanted to, but he wasn’t sure she’d be willing. After all, she had yet to tell him that she loved him. He was almost certain that she did, but he’d like to hear the words.

“Ready to go?” Nigel asked
, practically bouncing with impatience.

“Yeah,” Greg said with a nod, forcibly pushing aside thoughts of Mykal for the moment.

***

Mykal fluffed her pillows and piled them against the headboard before settling in with a cup of salted caramel cheesecake ice cream.
She was well aware of her clichéd behavior, but after the day she’d had, she felt she’d earned the treat. The spoon was half way to her mouth when her cell rang.

She stuffed the spoon in her mouth and grabbed her cell off the nightstand.
“Hello?”

“Tell me all about your crappy day. Starting with the employee you fired.”

“Greg?” she mumbled around a mouthful of ice cream.

“Yes. Now, you tell me about your day.”

“I’
d prefer not rehash it. The sooner I forget today, the better.” She swirled her spoon around the edge of her cup. “I’d rather hear about your day. It sounds like it was exciting.”

“They want to buy my game. Mr. Rodgers was really impressed. They want to make a few tweaks, but the hope is to get it into production in time to get it into gaming conventions and have it up for sale before next Christmas. Mr. Rodgers liked the game so much that they offered me a development deal to buy my next three games.”

“Wow. Does that mean that they want you to work there?”

“Ideally, yes.” Mykal’s stomach took a nosedive.
“But there’s no reason I can’t work from home. I do my best gaming in pajamas and I have this sexy neighbor that I can’t live without.”

“Oh, Greg
….”

“There are nights when Mrs. Johnson forgets to close her curtains and it just makes my week-”

“Greg!”

He laughed. “You know I’m talking about you. I’d never take a job
clear across the country from you. I love you, Mykal.”

Mykal closed her eyes.
For a moment, she was so choked up, she couldn’t speak.

“Are you still there?”

“Mm.” She sniffed and cleared her throat. “I miss you so much, baby.”

“I miss you, too. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I can’t wait.”

Chapter Eleven

Greg’s mouth slanted over hers and his tongue plunged deep to tangle with hers. Mykal moaned as pleasure bloomed low in her belly. She clenched her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. He cupped her bottom and thrust his hips into the cradle of hers, showing her without words how much he desired her.

Reluctantly, Mykal broke away from Greg, ending the kiss she’d initiated upon finding him on her doorstep. She lowered her legs from around his waist. Greg buried his face in her neck as she slid down his hard frame. “God, I missed you,” he groaned.

She hugged him tighter, savoring the warmth of his embrace and the feeling of joy of being in his arms. “I missed you, too.” She inhaled his unique scent and then kissed his earlobe. “Unfortunately, I need to get ready now if we’re going to make it to Ben’s party.”

“Fuck him,” he said, his arms tightening around him.

Mykal laughed. “He’s your friend. Plus, I convinced Tania to go. She’ll have a conniption if we don’t show.”

He groaned. “All right. But hurry before I change my mind. I came straight over without taking my bags out of my car. I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.”

At the
realization that seeing her had been his first priority when arriving home, Mykal cupped his face and kissed him exuberantly. Though he’d only been gone for a few days, she could have sworn that he was more handsome. His eyes were a more striking blue. His shoulders were broader. Even his five o’clock shadow was seriously sexy.

Smiling, he swatted lightly her on the ass. “Twenty minutes.”

“I’ll try my best,” she promised, but they both knew that her personal best was forty-five minutes.

He backed out of the house and walked halfway to his car backward, not breaking eye contact with her. “Much as I love the sight of you, you’d better hurry
or I can’t promise that we’ll make it to the party.” And then he turned. It was only then that she noticed that his clothing was rumpled. Though she was usually a stickler for neatness, she found the disheveled look adorable on Greg.

How she
loved
him! Her chest was near full to bursting with the emotion. She barely restrained herself from yelling it out across the yard. Greg deserved to hear the words before anyone else and not with an audience of who knows who standing around on their lawn. Still it was difficult to contain her emotions. Before she could lose control, she retreated and closed the door. She raced upstairs to get ready for the party, humming with happiness. She would tell him tonight after the party.

Greg was kind, intelligent, sensitive, and sweet—essentially everything she wanted in a man. He respected her. And even though he acknowledged her flaws, he still seemed to view her as some sort of goddess. She suddenly couldn’t wait to tell him that she loved him. Their time apart, though brief, had made her realize how much he meant to her and what an integral part of her day he had become. What she had with him was nothing like what she had had with Mario. On the surface, it may have had some similar traits. She’d transformed both of the men. But whereas Mario had been starved for any sort of feminine attention, Greg was focused only on her. She recalled the first time that a waitress had paid extra attention to Mario. He’d been surprised and then flustered. But he quickly became accustomed to it. When he started flirting back, she’d been amused. It’d seemed harmless. And it was nice to see his self-confidence grow. She’d never imagined that he was a cheater. She’d liked and trusted him. He would probably make a good friend even if he wasn’t a trustworthy lover. Not that she saw the two of them becoming friends now considering his betrayal.