Just Like That

PETE

Mel stirs, wrinkling her nose as I lie here, my arms wrapped around her, staring at her face. She blinks awake, her eyes focusing and fixing on my face.

“Hi,” she whispers.

“Hi.”

“I missed you.”

My heart thumps, my thumb stroking her jawline. “I missed you too, Tinker Bell.”

“It feels right to have you here in bed with me again,” she burrows against my side, hiding her face. Her cheeks are pink. My stomach twists, my arms holding her closer. Cupping her chin, I lift her face to mine, my eyes searching hers.

“It feels right for me too.”

She blinks, her eyes bright. “You left.”

Yeah, I did. “I couldn’t watch you walk away when you graduated.”

“You didn’t ask me to stay.”

My heart is thudding like a helicopter rotor blade. “I didn’t want to clip your wings.”

“Asking for what you want isn’t clipping my wings. It’s just asking for what you want. What do you want now?”

“You.”

“I’m right here.” She’s smiling softly at me now. I stroke my thumb over her jaw again.

“I want you to stay. Stay in Seattle. Stay with me. Be with me.”

“That’s what you want?”

“Yes,” I whisper, my mouth dry.

“Okay.”

Holy. Fucking. Shit. “Okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll stay. I don’t really have any plans. I have to be out of this place next Friday, after graduation, but other than that…no plans.”

“You’ll stay with me?”

“Yeah.”

Pressing my forehead against hers, I swallow roughly. “Can I kiss you?”

She giggles. “You don’t have to ask.”

“You had a rough day yesterday.”

“Not with you.”

Groaning, I cover her mouth with mine, tasting her lips and deepening the kiss. Mel presses herself to me, her arms snaking around my neck, kissing me back just as desperately. My leg slips between her thighs, and I roll her onto her back, covering her with my body. She moans softly, and I groan, lifting my head and moving off her.

“I need to leave.”

She pouts, looking adorable. “Right now?”

“Yes. I need to go home, shower and change, and go to Sea Nest.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll come back after I’ve finished there.” I press another kiss to her lips, sliding out of bed and dressing in my suit from yesterday.

Mel slips out of bed too, pulling on a robe and darting out of the room, probably to the bathroom. As I step out of the bedroom, Mel appears before me, slapping a set of keys into my hand.

“It was Bee’s set,” she mumbles, her cheeks cherry red. Grabbing her waist, I tug her against me, kissing her hard.

“I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Yeah.”

Mel watches me walk down her hallway, ducking into her bathroom before I leave. Her keys feel heavy in my hand. Closing my fist around them, feeling the bite of the keys into my flesh, I grin. After one of the worst nights of my life, this morning was surprisingly positive. Now I have Mel back in my life. I’m never letting her go.

“Mr. Keighly doesn’t have any space in his schedule,” the bored-looking receptionist at Sea Nest Constructions informs me. “You’ll have to make an appointment and come back. I have some space next week.”

“I’ll see him now, or I can have him served.”

She blinks slowly, my words registering. “Wait here, please.”

Yeah. That lights a fire under her ass. She disappears through a glass door. I don’t bother sitting down, standing with my hands in my pockets, flexing them. I want to eyeball this prick.

The receptionist reappears, a bright smile on her face. “Come through, please, Mr. Rampwood.”

Following her through the glass doors, I wait in the meeting room, turning down her offer for a drink of water. This prick, Keighly, one of the senior managers, appears after maybe twenty minutes.

He looks exactly like I thought he would, a weak prick who preys on young women like Mel. Pretty girls who are powerless to push back against him and his advances. My teeth grind, and I keep my hands safely in my pockets.

He frowns when I don’t shake his offered hand, dropping it beside him. That’s probably the hand that touched Mel. Like fuck I’m shaking it.

“What can I help you with, Mr. Rampwood?”

“Melinda Larch.”

“Who?”

“One of your young interns.”

“Ah, what about her?”

Either he’s a damn good actor, or he doesn’t even know Mel’s fucking name. He’s such a slimy prick. I bet it’s option number two.

“I’m here to talk about you sexually assaulting her in the copy room last night.”

The blood drains from Keighly’s face, and, like any bully when confronted by someone his own size, he starts blustering.

“I didn’t…there wasn’t…nothing happened in the…I think you’ll find our interns sign NDAs, so I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’m sure you are well aware that attorney-client privilege isn’t affected by NDAs.”

The blood drains out of his face.

“Look,” he says stiffly, fixing his beady little eyes on mine, “I don’t know what that little slut told you, but she came onto me.”

My hand is no longer safely in my pocket, slamming into his jaw. He goes down hard as my nostrils flare. I replace my hand in my pocket, glaring down at him as he groans, slowly climbing to his feet.

“I’ll have you thrown out of here and charged with assault.”

“I’ll have you arrested and charged with sexual assault. Do you want to go up against Rampwood & Stein, Mr. Keighly?”

Yeah, I’m not against pulling out the you don’t want to mess with my family when it suits me, and right now, it really fucking suits me.

His eyes narrow, his face still pale. “What do you want?”

“For not taking this to court, suing you for sexual assault and emotional damage?”

“Yeah, what do you want for that?”

“Five hundred thousand dollars, made out to Ms. Larch.”

The weak prick snorts, his cheek flushing bright red. “We pay out fifty thousand for settlements. Company policy.”

That’s fucking disgusting. Of course they have a company policy.

“We’re not talking about company policy,” I sneer. “We’re talking about Rampwood & Stein putting a call out for a class action against Sea Nest Constructions. How many interns quit quietly without any settlement? I’m sure they’ll come out of the woodwork.”

Keighly pales, swallowing and looking like he’s about to hurl.

“Five hundred thousand? And Rampwood & Stein will drop this?”

“Five hundred thousand, and the matter of Ms. Larch is at an end.”

I’m promising fucking nothing about anyone else who might come forward. I’d take every one of those cases pro bono with a smile.

“Let me write out a check.”

Yeah. I thought that might be how the wind was blowing.