When a Champion Wants You (6 page)

“
My name is
Dimitrius.”

“
I’m aware of that, but I
don’t think we’re on a first-name basis just yet.”

“
Well I’m giving you
permission to be on a first-name basis.”

Short of rolling her eyes,
Melanie said, “So Di-mi-tri-us, what am I doing here? What are you
trying to accomplish? Is this like a test or something to see if
I’ll be a good fit for the company?”

“
We’ll talk about that
after we eat. Right now, I want us to enjoy dinner together and get
to know one another.”

“
But why the sudden urge to
know me all of a sudden, especially after you bit my head off this
morning?”

He narrowed his hazel eyes
at her. “You don’t listen very well, do you?”

“
Excuse me?” Melanie said,
snapping her head back.

He grinned. “I said we’ll
talk about it after we eat, but since you can’t wait then, fine.”
With his elbows resting on the table, he brought his hands to a
steeple and said, “I’m not conducting a test with you, nor is
anything about me wanting you is all of a sudden. We first met a
year ago…at the hotel where you work.”

“
No we didn’t.”

“
Yes we did. We locked
eyes. We shared a moment. We didn’t officially speak to each other,
no, but we had a moment where, as far as I’m concerned, it was just
the two of us in that crowded hotel lobby. Tell me I’m
wrong.”

Goodness the man was a
persuasive as he was fine. But, Melanie didn’t like being backed
into a corner, even though he was right, so she replied, “You’re
wrong.”

“
And you’re not a good
liar, Melanie Summers.”

“
I’m not lying,” she said,
barely looking at him.

“
You are,” he said,
smiling, “But, at any rate, that’s where we met. Then my brother
recommended you for the marketing manager position and, knowing
Dante like I know him, the job is pretty much yours. So while it
was easy for me to ignore you before, because I didn’t have to see
you on a daily basis, I can’t do that when you’re slated to work in
my building, now can I?”

Melanie smirked to hide her
uneasiness. The reality was, she was so nervous, so completely off
her guard that she didn’t know what to say to Dimitrius. And the
way he stared at her had her legs shivering underneath the table.
She could feel her heart rate quicken just by the fact that he
mentioned that he wanted her. And had he noticed that her breathing
seemed forced? She hoped he hadn’t.

“
Was that answer
satisfactory?” he asked, leaning back in his chair while loosening
his necktie at the same time.

When he did, Melanie paid
close attention to his strong hands, so large and thick with the
imprint of his veins running through them like streaks of lightning
bolts. He wore cuff links that looked to cost more than her mini
Cooper and his goatee – how had she not noticed that man had hair
on his face before – hair that was well-kempt. Shaven. Even. It
complimented his caramel-colored skin, black hair, hazel eyes and
full lips.

Melanie took a sip of water
to relieve the dryness in her throat. She was irritated that
Dimitrius had such an effect on her, making her forget the script
that she had went over and over to herself on the drive to the
restaurant. So, attempting to take control of the conversation, she
said, “Out of all the women you could have, you chose me.
Why?”

“
Because I like you,” was
his simple, straightforward reply.

“
Like me? You don’t know
me. You don’t know the first thing about me.”

“
Well, that’s what we’re
doing now…getting to know one another.”

“
Good evening, Mr.
Champion,” the waitress said, interrupting their
conversation.

“
Good evening,
Bailey.”

Looks like I wasn’t the
only one you’ve been getting to know
,
Melanie thought to herself, looking at the flirty,
twenty-something-year-old brunette – a Mila Kunis look-a-like,
standing there with a pen and a little notepad.

“
Good evening, madam,” the
waitress said, looking at Melanie.

Melanie offered up a warm
smile and said, “Good evening.”

“
What can I bring you to
drink?” she asked.

“
Do you drink red wine,
dear?” Dimitrius asked, looking across the table at
Melanie.

Melanie hid a frown. Since
when did she become his
dear
? “Yes, I do.”

Then, looking up at Bailey,
Dimitrius said, “Bring us a bottle of Jordan, Cabernet Sauvignon
Imperial.”

“
Awesome. I’ll be right
back with that and two wine glasses.”

“
Thank you, Bailey,”
Dimitrius said before she walked away.

Melanie smiled. “I take it
you know her.”

“
Yes. I come here every
Monday evening for dinner.”

“
Wow. Guess I’m the flavor
of the week this week, huh?”

Dimitrius frowned. “What do
you mean?”

“
You said you come here
every Monday evening for dinner…”

“
Yes, and I’m usually
alone. Sometimes my brothers join me but with Dante being happily
married now and Desmond being out of town on business quite
frequently, it’s usually just me.”

Like you really expect me
to believe that
. “Oh okay,” Melanie said
and left it alone. Besides, he wasn’t
her
man. He owed her no explanation
as to his whereabouts and who he may or may not have been wining
and dining in this swanky joint.

“
Have you dined here
before, Melanie?”

“
No. My income doesn’t
allow me to splurge on thousand-dollar bottles of wine and
seventy-five dollar steaks.”

Dimitrius grinned
slightly.

“
Why is that funny?”
Melanie asked, thinking the man had a weird sense of
humor.

“
It’s not. I was thinking
that nothing here is over-priced. It’s quality.”

“
If you say so,” she said,
then nervously interlocked her fingers, feeling the heat of his
eyes on her. And just to think that she had planned on being the
one to dominate the night and the conversation. Her plan had
flopped because, she was in the hot seat, sweating and feeling the
force of attraction tug at her insides. And why was he staring at
her with his darling eyes like she was one of the dinner choices on
the menu?

Then again, was he staring
at her? She hadn’t looked up to find out. Maybe he was looking at
something behind her. Or maybe he was looking at the menu? To be
certain, she looked up at him and their gazes locked.
Held.

Dimitrius swallowed hard
and refused to take his eyes away from her. She needed to know that
he wanted her, that he intended to have her and he wasn’t a man who
gave up easily. If she expected such, then she was in for the
surprise of her life. A smile came to his lips just thinking about
that. And he thought about something else too – things that men
typically don’t think about. He thought about how long it would
take for her to agree to marry him. How their children would look.
Would their daughter look more like her or him? Would they have a
boy first, or a girl?

Do something,
Melanie
, she told herself in the midst of
this stare-down standoff with Dimitrius, feeling his gaze
infiltrate her, deep down into her bones. If she didn’t look away
soon, she was liable to become putty in his hands.
Goodness…

“
I’m going to take a look
at the menu,” she said, finally breaking their gazes and, while she
scanned through the selection of offerings with prices that made
her head spin, she could feel Dimitrius’ eyes on her. She couldn’t
help but wonder why he was staring so much, so in an effort to keep
his vision from stalking her, she slowly eased the menu up in front
of her face, smiling at herself for being silly, especially since
he couldn’t see her now.

“
Melanie,” Dimitrius
said.

“
Yes?” she answered, hiding
sarcasm from her voice but hadn’t removed the menu from in front of
her face.

“
Are you seriously hiding
behind the menu?”

She folded the menu shut,
placed it on the table and with a huge smile and red cheeks, she
giggled. “Yes. I was hiding. There. Happy.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you won’t stop
staring at me?”

“
It’s not my fault you’re
so beautiful.”

“
Will you stop?” she asked,
blushing harder.

He cracked his mouth to a
small smile. This wasn’t the first time he’d made a woman blush.
This time, it actually meant something – meant that the woman he
intended to marry was attracted to him. That was a good thing. If
he could make her blush, then he could certainly make her do other
things…

“
So what do you normally
order here?” she asked.

“
Their steaks. They have
the best steaks in all of North Carolina.”

“
Okay, then let’s make it
simple. I’ll have what you’re having.”

“
Perfect.”

Bailey brought over two
wine glasses and the bottle of wine that Dimitrius had requested.
Then, after pouring a little in both glasses, she said, “Do you
know what you’re ordering?”

“
Yes,” Dimitrius said.
“We’re both going to have the same thing – the New York strip with
asparagus, and a baked potato.”

“
Butter and sour cream on
the side?” Bailey asked.

“
Yes,” Melanie and
Dimitrius replied together.

Dimitrius looked at Melanie
and smiled.

Bailey scooped up the menus
and said, “Cool. I will put that in right away for you.”

When Bailey walked away,
Melanie looked up at Dimitrius and figured she may as well initiate
the next topic of conversation. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to
make it through dinner. “So what do you do at The Champion
Corporation?”

“
Shouldn’t you know that
already?”

Melanie couldn’t help but
laugh. “And why would I know that?”

“
That’s what people do
typically before they have a job interview. They browse the
company’s website, check out the main players—”

“
Well skip all that. I’m
asking you now. Face to face. Man to woman. Mano y
womano.”

“
Womano?” he repeated, then
laughed.

“
Yes. I mean, after all,
you
did
invite me
to dinner.”

“
Okay. I’ll give you that.”
When he was finally able to stop laughing, he said, “I head up the
accounts department. I won’t go into the specifics, but basically,
I’m in charge of every single account that runs through the various
lines of businesses. I do a lot of analytical work.”

“
Oh, you’re one of
those.”

“
One of those?” he asked
with one brow raised.

“
Yes. Analytical
thinkers.”

“
I am. And I’m good at it.
I’ve always been good at analyzing numbers, people, things and
situations.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes. Really. That’s why I
know you better than you think I know you, Melanie.”

Melanie frowned. “And just
what do you
think
you know about me?”

“
Are you sure you want to
test me?” he said with arrogant eyes.

“
Are you sure you want to
embarrass yourself?” she tossed back.

He smiled, ready to accept
her challenge. “Okay. I know that I’ve never seen you with a man,
which means that you’re single, intentionally, because I know men
try to pick you up all the time but you turn them down. You’re not
ready to date again…to love again, probably due to some idiot from
your past who didn’t know a good thing when he had it. I know you
like to laugh and have fun which is one of many reasons why I think
we’ll make the perfect couple because, I’m usually more
serious…something I’m making an effort to change about myself. Your
favorite color is pink and if it’s not then, it should be for the
simple fact that it looks heavenly against your soft, light-caramel
skin. I know you have trust issues. I know you hate meeting new
people and you like to live your life as simple as possible. I know
you’re interested in me even though you’re trying hard to pretend
that you’re not having a good time tonight. And finally, I know
that, after this date is over – and yes, I called it a date
because, well, that’s what this is – you probably wouldn’t want to
see me again. How’d I do?”

Melanie took a sip of wine
and leaned back in her chair. The man had her all figured out. But
how? For the first time tonight, she actually thought she was out
of her league. Dimitrius wasn’t the typical, random guy who tried
to holla. He was the real deal and he had his eyes on
her.

“
Melanie?”

“
Yes?”

“
How did I do?”

Not wanting him to see her
sweat any longer, she said, “You did alright.”