When a Champion Wants You (3 page)

“
About thirty or
so...”

“
That’s good,” Desmond
said, scribbling a note on her resume. “To have someone with
knowledge of payroll systems would definitely be a bonus for our
payroll program.”

Dante nodded. “I agree.
That’s a huge bonus.”

Dimitrius gritted his
teeth. This wasn’t good for him. Not good at all. He had to think
of something about her to put her in a negative light with his
brothers before they hired her on the spot.

“
One more question and then
I want to review the job requirements,” Desmond said.

“
Okay, sure,” Melanie
responded.

“
What about travel? Are you
free to travel?”

“
Yes. I can travel. I’m
single. No children. I have nothing holding me back from
traveling.”

“
Excellent,” Desmond said,
then quickly clarified, “About the traveling part, I mean. Not the
single, no kids part…but then again, I guess that could be a good
thing too depending on who you ask.”

Melanie smiled.

Dimitrius frowned. Was
Desmond trying to flirt with her? And why was he curious about
whether or not she could travel when her job role would be mainly
in-house?

Desmond handed Melanie a
copy of the job requirements and gave additional copies to his
brothers. While he proceeded to read aloud the requirements and job
duties, Dimitrius was busy staring at Melanie, purposely. He wasn’t
trying to make her uncomfortable, but he couldn’t take his eyes off
of the woman, especially since they’d never been this close before.
Had he seen a woman more beautiful than her?

He’d first noticed her when
The Champion Corporation began using the hotel where she worked for
business functions a year ago. He never tried to make a move
because he didn’t want to be involved with her or any other woman,
especially since ending things with Kyra Hanes. He fell completely
in love with Kyra. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out, and he
promised himself that he would never fall for another woman. And in
two years, he hadn’t fallen for, or slept with another woman. He
devoted all his time and energy to work.

“
So, Melanie, tell me…”
Desmond said. “What would you consider to be your greatest
strength?”

Certainly not being on
time
, Dimitrius thought, and a smirk came
to his face. Then it dawned on him – maybe he could use her
tardiness to his advantage. If he could make her seem unreliable,
then maybe his brothers wouldn’t consider hiring her.

“
I have excellent
multi-tasking skills, and I take pride in doing a good job,”
Melanie responded.

“
What’s your greatest
weakness?”

“
That’s easy. Sometimes I
find myself so dedicated to a project that I spend a lot of time on
it instead of delegating it to someone else. So I’m learning to be
more trusting of other people’s skills and to delegate work instead
of trying to take it all on myself.”

“
Good,” Desmond nodded.
“Well, I don’t have any further questions unless Dante or Dimitrius
does?”

“
I do,” Dimitrius said, and
he couldn’t say it fast enough. With a frown deeper than his last,
he asked, “Why should we hire you?”

Melanie pulled in a long
silent breath, then looked him square in the eyes and responded,
“In my experience as a front desk manager, I have developed strong
customer service skills that, will not only make me a great leader,
but also an asset to your customers. As I stated before, I have
experience in payroll, and I’m very good with people.”

Melanie stared at him,
waiting for him to say something, but he just sat there. Looking.
His frown remained intact. Had he heard her answer?

Dante glanced at Dimitrius,
then he sent an inquisitive glance over at Desmond.

Desmond shrugged, not sure
what Dimitrius was doing? Was this some new interviewing tactic –
to stare people down and make them feel as uncomfortable as
possible? If it was, then he was succeeding at it.

Dimitrius was in a trance,
spellbound by the mere sound of her voice and mad all at the same
time. When he finally snapped out of it, he asked, “Do you get
along well with others?”

“
I do.”

“
That would be important
here at The Champion Corporation. We pride ourselves on maintaining
a good work environment.”

Then what’s your
problem?
She wanted to ask it, but instead,
she responded with, “Yes, I understand. I want to work in an
enjoyable, uplifting environment as well.”

“
And are you sure you can
be here on time?” Dimitrius asked.

“
Yes. I’m
positive.”

“
Being prompt and on time
is going to be extremely important, especially since Desmond has a
full itinerary coming up this year. He’s going to be away quite a
bit, and we’re going to need to count on you, or whomever we hire,
to be on time, and by on time, I mean not a second
late.”

“
Understood,” Melanie said
and nothing else.

Before Dimitrius could say
anything further, Dante broke in and said, “Well, thank you for
coming in, Melanie.”

“
Thank you, Dante.” She
stood up, threw her purse on her shoulder and said, “And thank you
Desmond and Dimitrius for your time this morning.”

Oh, the way his name rolled
off of her tongue…

That’s all Dimitrius could
think about as she left the conference room.

When Melanie had completely
stepped out into the hallway with Dante, Desmond looked at
Dimitrius and asked, “Man, what was that?”

“
What do you mean?”
Dimitrius asked.

“
I mean, you went in on
her. That made
me
uncomfortable.”

“
Well, you and Dante
weren’t really asking the right questions. I wanted to see what the
woman was truly made of. We can’t have anyone coming in here and
wrecking the flow. We need a professional.”

“
She
is
a professional, and she gave some
really good answers, Dimitrius.”

“
Actions speak louder than
words. I don’t think she can handle what we have to throw at her.
We should’ve just promoted Kent to marketing manager and called it
a day. He knows the job already. He’s your right-hand man, Des, and
I know he must feel slighted that you would even think about
bringing someone in from the outside to learn all the things he
already knows.”

Desmond shook his head.
“That’s not why I hired Kent. He’s my assistant, and he’s going to
be traveling with me.”

Dimitrius stood and
gathered his laptop and some papers. “Well I hope you have other
qualified candidates to interview. I don’t think Melanie is the
woman for the job.”

“
Why? Because you have the
hots for her?”

Short of reaching for the
door handle, Dimitrius turned to look at Desmond and said, “Hots
for her?”

“
Yeah,” Desmond said, then
grinned. “Dante told me all about it.”

Dimitrius frowned. “Dante
told you what?”

“
He told me to steer clear
of Melanie because you like her.”

“
Don’t know why he would
say that, but I don’t have the time or the energy to dwell on it.
Catch you later, Des.” Dimitrius stepped out into the hallway. How
had Dante known that he liked Melanie? Just because he’d caught him
staring at her one time? Jeez! Couldn’t a man look at a beautiful
woman without wanting her?

* * *

“
How do you think it went
in there?” Dante asked Melanie as they rode the elevator to the
first floor.

“
Um…I thought it was going
well until Dimitrius pretty much served my head up on a silver
platter.”

Dante chuckled. “Don’t pay
Dimitrius much attention. If you get the job, you won’t be working
directly with him anyway. I mean, you’ll have to interact with him,
but it won’t be on a daily, consistent basis.”

“
If I won’t be working with
him, why was he one of the interviewers? I initially thought I’d be
meeting with you and Desmond.”

“
Well, ah…Dimitrius sort of
invited himself,” Dante admitted.

“
He did?”

“
Yes, he did.”

“
Well, I guess I left a bad
impression on him, huh?”

“
I don’t think so.
Dimitrius is a little stern, but once you get to know him, you’ll
see that he’s not that bad of a person. He’ll grow on
you.”

Once in the lobby, Melanie
said, “Well, I want to thank you again for considering me for the
job. I know this is kind of awkward with me being Emily’s best
friend and all.”

“
It’s different, but I
think you have the skills we need here. If I didn’t think you were
qualified, I would not have extended this opportunity to
you.”

“
Well, I appreciate
it.”

“
And I appreciate your
courteousness at the hotel and for your prompt scheduling of TCC’s
business functions. Even when I need to plan last minute things
you’ve been nothing but accommodating.”

“
I always try to do my
best.”

“
And that’s precisely why I
want you for this job.”

Melanie smiled. “Do you
know when you and your brothers will be making the final
decision?”

“
We have a few other
candidates to consider so we should know something by
Friday.”

“
Perfect. Well, I have to
get back to work, but thank you again,” she said, shaking Dante’s
hand.

“
Thank you, Melanie. Enjoy
the rest of your day.”

“
You as well,” she said,
heading to the receptionist desk to turn in her badge, before
heading for her car.

Chapter 3

Dimitrius leaned
back
in the chair at his desk, staring at
the profile picture on Melanie’s Facebook timeline, but nothing
could compare to how she looked in real life. He knew he couldn’t
have a woman like her, at least not without a commitment. She was
that type of woman – the long-term relationship type. He knew her
last relationship was with a guy who had cheated on her, as the
story went, and because of it, she never wanted to have another
relationship for fear that it would end the same way.

Two quick taps at the door
interrupted his thoughts. Dimitrius looked up and saw Dante walking
in.

“
Got a minute?” Dante
asked.

“
Sure,” Dimitrius said. He
exited out of Facebook. “What’s up?”

“
Nothing…ah…just was
wondering if you were okay. You seemed a little tense in the
interview.”

“
I’m cool. I just want to
make sure we get the right person for the job.”

“
Even though this
person
won’t be reporting
directly to you, you want to make sure we get the right
person…”

“
That’s right.”

“
So why is it that you’re
not sitting in on the remaining three interviews with me and Des
today? You only wanted to be there for Melanie’s
interview.”

“
Like I said…I want to make
sure we get the right person. And why are you telling Desmond to
steer clear of Melanie?”

“
Because I know you like
her.”

Dimitrius frowned. “And
what makes you think I like her?”

Taking a seat, Dante
crossed his legs and said, “Well, I’ve seen you checking her out,
Dimitrius, and I’ve been pretty curious about why you haven’t made
a move yet. She’s a good woman.”

“
That’s fine and all, but
I’m not interested.”

“
I think you are. Look,
Dimitrius, I haven’t seen you with a woman in quite some time even
though you claim to have a woman on speed dial for every day of the
week.”

“
I never claimed that.
Desmond made that up. That’s more of his method of
operation.”

“
And what’s
yours?”

“
Why are you suddenly
interested in my love life?”

“
The same reason why you
and Desmond were interested when I made it clear to you that I was
falling in love with Emily. Because I care about you, man. We’re
all we have, Dimitrius. We lost our parents. Now, it’s up to us to
create our own families…our own legacy, and if you’re ready to do
that then, do something about it. Don’t let anything hold you back
from getting what you want. That’s the Champion way.”

Dimitrius was
silent.

“
Tell me you’re not the
least bit interested in her, and I’ll drop it. Tell me,” Dante
said.

Dimitrius knew he couldn’t
deny it for long. Besides, Dante already caught him staring at
Melanie. And then there was the fact that Dimitrius seemed to lose
control of his urges whenever she was around. His feelings for her
were bound to be made apparent sooner or later, especially if she
got the job.

“
Dimitrius?”