When a Champion Wants You (4 page)

“
What if I did like
her?”

“
Then I’ll tell you like
you told me…if she’s the one, go get her. But you can’t continue to
beat yourself up over some past relationship.”

“
I’m not beating myself up
over anything,” Dimitrius griped.

Dante shook his head.
“Jeez, Dimitrius…are you that much in denial? Ever since Emily and
I married, your attitude had changed.”

Dimitrius shook his head.
“Changed how?”

“
Well definitely not for
the better. You used to be so calm and pragmatic, and you still are
in certain circumstances, but in the interview, you nearly bit
Melanie’s head off. And for what purpose? Because she was five
minutes late to an interview that you didn’t need to be a part of?
If you want love and happiness, like I have with Emily, and you
think that Melanie might be the woman for you, then by all means,
talk to her but don’t drive a good woman away because of what the
wrong woman did to you.”

Crap
…his brother had made a point. Dimitrius didn’t want to admit
it, but Dante was right. He had been irrational and downright
thoughtless in his efforts to put distance between himself and
Melanie. But why stay away from her when all she really wanted was
to get to know her. Maybe he’d been taking the wrong approach all
along.

Dante stood up and said, “I
have to go to a meeting then I’m heading out to lunch. I’ll chat
with you later. We need to talk about the new payroll
app.”

“
Alright man,” Dimitrius
said, downcast. He needed to get out of the office too, to clear
his head and think about his next plan of action when it came to
Melanie. Maybe it was time to pay her a visit.

Chapter 4

Dimitrius sat alone
at The Caribbean Hut, at a table that gave him a
good view of the street. He wanted to see the comings and goings on
the outside while he ate lunch and pondered about a few things.
Nine times out of ten, Melanie was going to get the management
position, so he had to come up with a strategy – a way to deal with
her, especially since he was seriously considering his Dante’s
advice.

If you want love and
happiness…and you think that she might be the woman for you, then
by all means, talk to her but don’t drive a good woman away because
of what the wrong woman did to you…

Dimitrius took a long sip
of water.

Dante could give him good,
sound, solid advice, and he appreciated that. Not only was he the
oldest, but Dimitrius had also considered him to be the wisest,
especially since he moved to Asheville, convincing he and Desmond
to come along and start The Champion Corporation from the ground
up. It hadn’t been easy, but through the difficult times, Dante
always kept his faith.

Then, a couple of months
ago, Dante married Emily – his perfect mate. And they were perfect
together in every sense of the word. Just like their father used to
say – a man knew when he had met the woman he would marry in an
instant. It didn’t take long for sparks to fly. That’s why Dante
swooped in on Emily.

That was also why he needed
to stop fooling himself into believing that he could halt his
feelings for Melanie. Feelings he’d fought for the two years that
he’d been woman-free were resurfacing and he knew why. He’d met the
woman he wanted to marry.

“
Can I get you anything
else, Mr. Champion?” the waiter said.

“
No. I’ll take the
check.”

“
Alright. Be right
back.”

Dimitrius stared out of the
window in a quandary. For a long time he contemplated love,
marriage and a family. Plus, seeing how happy Dante and Emily were
made him desire the same thing. Love. Happiness. The feeling of
sharing his life with someone special.

A smile came across his
face. He considered going to Emily’s boutique, which was only a few
stores down. But what would he do there? Ask Emily a bunch of
questions about Melanie? The idea escaped him when he saw Melanie
and Emily walking down the sidewalk, laughing together.

Man, she’s
beautiful
, he thought as he stared at
Melanie, her curls bouncing all around her face as she laughed. He
watched as she and Emily walked inside of the sandwich shop across
the street. That gave him an even better idea.

Chapter 5

“
So tell me
how the interview went,” Emily prompted, sitting
across from Melanie in the crowded restaurant. The place was a
popular business lunch site and was so loud, they had to elevate
their voices just to hear each other.

“
It was alright until
Dimitrius opened his mouth,” Melanie scoffed.

Emily grinned. “Why do you
say that?”

“
Why do I get the feeling
that you already know?”

“
Mel, I tried to warn you
about him.” Emily took a sip of water. “Anyway, what did he
do?”

“
Where do I begin? He was
irritated by the fact that I arrived a few minutes
late.”

Emily eyes brightened. “You
were late!”

“
Yeah, sort of, but I’ve
never been to that building before. It was a miracle I could even
find a parking space. Then, I had to get a badge and, ugh…it was a
disaster. So I finally make it up to the tenth floor and Dante is
completely professional. Even Desmond, with his boy-toy-ish looking
self, managed to be courteous. They stood up to shake my hand,
trying to make me as comfortable as possible. But Dimitrius
remained sitting. He didn’t open his mouth to greet me at all, and
guess what the first words out of his mouth were.”

“
What’s that?”

“
You’re late!”

Emily’s mouth dropped open.
“No he didn’t.”

“
Yes he did. And he said it
in a disciplinary tone like I was going to get a spanking for being
five minutes late. And he kept bringing it up throughout the
interview…over and over again. Told me they needed to hire someone
whom they could count…someone who could be
on time
since Desmond would be
traveling a lot. Girl, I was trying so hard to keep a smile on my
face…so hard that I had a headache by the time I walked out of
there. The man has it in for me, and I don’t even know
him.”

“
He’s okay, Mel. I told you
he could be a little…difficult.”

Brows furrowed, Melanie
said, “A
little
difficult?”

Emily grinned.
“Yeah.”

Melanie shook her head.
“No, that’s not what you said, Emily. You said he was
highly
unapproachable.”

“
That too.” Emily laughed.
“But he’s okay once you get to know him. It actually took him a
while to warm up to me.”

“
Well, that’s you. I guess
he
has
to like you
since you’re married to his brother.”

“
No. I think it’s genuine.
And you know what else?”

“
What’s that?”

“
I know why he acts like he
doesn’t like you. It’s because he does. Don’t you see what’s going
on? It’s the typical case of boy likes girl, so boy is mean to
girl.”

Melanie laughed. “That’s
funny. Trust me. Dimitrius Champion does not like me. Seems I’ve
given the man a perpetual indentation in his forehead.”

Emily giggled then took a
sip of water. After setting her cup back on the table, she looked
up and saw Dimitrius coming inside of the restaurant. “Oh, looks
like we talked him up.”

Melanie’s entire face
reddened. “Please tell me you’re joking?” Melanie turned around and
there he was, Dimitrius Champion. The moment her eyes connected
with his, a chill shot down her spine. “I hope he doesn’t come over
here. I can’t take anymore of him today.”

“
Well, looks like you’re
going to have to,” Emily whispered, and when Dimitrius was close to
their table, she said cheerfully, “Hey, Dimitrius.”

“
Hi, Emily. How are
you?”

“
I’m good. How are you
doing today?”

“
Never been better,” was
his response.

Melanie didn’t say a word,
nor had she planned to. She was hoping to disappear so she didn’t
have to watch the tower of a man standing beside their table. He
was dressed nice too, wearing a three-piece black suit and a crisp
white shirt with a gray necktie. And he smelled so good, the man
was downright tantalizing – well everything except for his
demeanor.

“
I see you’re on your lunch
break too, huh,” Emily said.

“
Actually, I already had
lunch at The Caribbean Hut. I was there when I saw you ladies come
here…thought I’d say hello to my favorite
sister-in-law.”

Emily giggled. She was
his
only
sister-in-law.

“
Also I wanted to speak
with you, Melanie, if you have a moment,” Dimitrius requested,
sliding his hands into his pockets.

Melanie looked confused and
taken aback.
Oh, now you want to speak to
me after terrorizing me in the interview this morning?
“I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

“
I would like to speak with
you outside for a moment,” he repeated.

Melanie glanced at Emily
then frowning, she looked back at Dimitrius and asked,
“Why?”

“
You’ll find out once you
come outside with me.”

Against her better
judgment, Melanie pushed away from the table and, with a nervous
stomach, she followed the trail of Dimitrius’ mesmerizing cologne
out of the door.

Once outside on the balmy,
eighty-degree day, he looked at her but hadn’t said a word. He
wanted to take a moment to admire her, take her all in and get his
thoughts together. However, thoughts turned into cravings as he
felt himself become lost in her eyes. Her beauty was throwing him
off of his game, forcing the frown away from his face and already
improving his mood.

“
How can I help you?”
Melanie asked testily.

“
I know we got off to a
rough start.”

“
We
? I didn’t have anything to do with that,” Melanie
said.

“
I know. I claim full
responsibility,” he responded. “I can be somewhat of a jerk
sometimes. I wanted to apologize to you in person and when I saw
you here, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. So, I’m
sorry.”

To say she was confused was
an understatement. Confused. It was a bit weird for him to seek her
out like this, just to apologize, but he did. The least she could
do was accept the man’s apology. “I appreciate that,” she finally
responded, watching his chiseled face become cheerful as his lips
curved into a smile.

“
So do you accept my
apology?” he inquired.

“
I’m not a person who holds
grudges. Yes. Of course I accept your apology.”

“
Good, because if you
hadn’t, the next thing I want to discuss with you would be even
more awkward.”

“
And what’s
that?”

A sly smile touched his
lips. “Well, I’ve chosen you, Melanie Summers, to be the woman with
whom I will spend the rest of my life.”

The frown in her forehead
was unmistakable, then the sound of laughter erupted from her
mouth. “You
chose
me?”

“
Yes,” he replied with a
straight face.

“
What do you mean,
you
chose
me? You
can’t
choose
me.”

“
I just did.”

The smirk on Melanie’s face
dried up. “It’s hot out here today, but it’s not hot enough to
cause you to become delusional, Mr. Champion.”

“
Please, call me Dimitrius,
and I’m not delusional.
You
must be if you think this is a joke. I don’t play
around when I want something. I just get it.”

“
You can’t be
serious…”

“
Oh, but I am. When you get
to know me, Melanie, you’ll see that I’m a pretty serious kind of
guy.”

“
Okay, wait…timeout…” she
said, taking a step back.

“
I know it’s all too much
to comprehend right now, which is why I took the liberty of making
dinner reservations for us at Connelley’s tonight. Meet me there at
seven,” he said, backing away, leaving Melanie with a wide-opened,
yet speechless mouth.

Chapter 6

“
So what was
that about?” Emily asked once Melanie had come
back in the restaurant and taken a seat. “You look
shell-shocked.”

“
Okay…he’s psycho. I’m
convinced.”

Emily grinned, then wiped
her mouth with a napkin. “What did he want?”

“
First, he wanted to
apologize for being a jerk during the interview this
morning.”

“
Aw…that was nice of
him.”

“
If you say so…”

“
What else?”