Page 4 of Dominion

“Ben Stone, the CEO and owner of Stone Tech.”

Melissa whistled. “Nice. How’d you swing that?”

She told her sister the whole story, from him finding her lying on the floor in her cubicle to telling her he had a personal assistant position open.

“So, what’s he like?”

“Super sexy in that dark, brooding Batman sort of way.”

“Did he sayI’m Stoneman?” her sister asked, attempting a deep, throaty voice.

She giggled. “I wish I hadn’t had this migraine, because I screwed up my chances at the position by putting my foot in my mouth.”

“I don’t know, Ash. He’s picking you up in the morning. It kinda sounds to me like you have this one nailed.”

She tried to ignore the frissons of excitement her sister’s words caused. “I definitely wouldn’t say that. He’s a tough nut to crack. Totally unreadable.”

“What’s the scoop on him, anyway? He’s South American, right? And he moved here to run the company when his brother died?”

“Yeah, I read inBusiness Weeklythat he’s half Latino. His mom was American and that’s where the name Stone comes from. He graduated from Harvard Business School and he’s only thirty. That’s about all I know. The company has sort of languished since Ben’s been CEO, but he refuses to step down and hire someone more experienced to run it even though the board has been pushing for it. He still owns the majority interest, so they can’t fire him.”

“So, you think he’ll get things figured out?”

“Well, he’s smart enough. Some people say he doesn’t care about the company, but I’m not sure that’s true. I don’t know, but I sure would like the chance to get close enough to him to form an opinion.”

“Well, tell him tomorrow when he picks you up.”

“Tell him what?”

“That you really want the job.”

Her pulse quickened just at the thought of sitting beside him in his car again. “Okay,” she said.

“You’re not going to,” her sister accused, probably catching the nervous twinge in her voice.

“No, I will. I will. You’re right. It’s worth groveling over.”

“So, guess who’s coming over here tonight?”

“Ooh, who?”

“Donny. The guy I met at the roller derby meet. Remember I was telling you about him?”

“Of course I remember.” She couldn’t always keep track—her sister was a bit of a serial dater. “That’s awesome. What are you going to do?”

“We’re just going to watch a movie we talked about that night we met.”

“Mmm hmm. Sure you’re just going to watch a movie,” she teased.

“Well, if stuff happens in the dark, I’m not going to call 9-1-1 or anything,” Melissa said with a laugh.

They chatted a little more and she hung up, leaning her head back against the cool porcelain of the tub, the ice tucked up behind her neck. This migraine had better be gone by tomorrow morning because there was no way she was missing out on another ride with Ben Stone.

The next morning,she changed five times before she finally settled on a short, fitted skirt and silk blouse. Her headache had mostly disappeared, although the aura of it still made her face feel tight and her eyes appear too small. She stood at the window of her duplex, ready to go by 6:45 a.m.

Even so, when the black Mustang pulled up, she snatched up her things and dashed out as if she were late. Ben was just getting out of his car when she came flying down the porch steps to the sidewalk. He stopped, leaning against the car, gazing at her with a speculative look. “Good morning, Ashley.”

“Good morning, Mr. Stone,” she said breathlessly.

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