Melted Read online

  Melted

  Lucy Eden

  Copyright © 2018 by Lucy Eden

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/ or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book is intended for mature, adult audiences only. It contains extremely sexually explicit and graphic scenes and language which may be considered offensive by some readers.

  This book is strictly intended for those over the age of 18.

  All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older. All acts of a sexual nature are completely consensual.

  No one is related in this book.

  Hello Dear Reader,

  Welcome to my newest steamy story, Melted.

  If you’re into love at first sight, steamy sex scenes, audacious yet innocent heroines, brooding alpha males & happy endings, you’ve come to right place.

  This is a standalone story so you don’t need to read any of my other stories to enjoy this one, but I highly recommend that you do.

  Be sure to visit me online & let me know what you think:

  website: lucyeden.com

  instagram.com/lucyedenauthor

  twitter.com/lucyedenauthor

  email: [email protected]

  All my best,

  Lucy xx

  Contents

  Melted

  1. Tessa

  2. Charles

  3. Tessa

  4. Charles

  5. Tessa

  6. Charles

  7. Tessa

  8. Charles

  9. Tessa

  Also by Lucy Eden

  Gaia

  Trevor

  Athena

  Grant

  About the Author

  Melted

  In a crowded social club in the heart of New York City full of the most successful and wealthy men in the country, Tessa Findlay grabs the attention of the wealthiest & also the sexiest.

  So what does she do?

  She panics and runs away, of course!

  Charles Kerwin had everything in the world; money, success, fast cars and big homes. The one thing he didn’t have: someone to share it with. That all changed the moment he laid eyes on the woman of his dreams, but she disappeared before he could talk to her.

  So what does he do?

  He buys the company she works for and moves to her hometown, of course!

  Get wrapped up in this syrupy sweet, hot and steamy roller coaster ride of cat & mouse, true love & second chances.

  This standalone novella has an obsessed alpha, love at first sight, safe, no cheating with a guaranteed happily ever after.

  Please enjoy with two pints of rum raisin on standby.

  Tessa

  First days are always anxiety-inducing for me. Today, I was entirely beside myself. Charles Kerwin recently acquired our company and decided to move his headquarters to our office. There had been a fair amount of downsizing, and I felt lucky to have made the cut, but in a strange turn of events my boss was transferred to another office, and I was assigned to Mr. Kerwin, himself. The position came with a hefty pay raise, and I'd have my own assistant. I would be an assistant with an assistant, which I struggled to wrap my head around.

  I had spent the past three weeks taking a Charles Kerwin crash course with his outgoing executive assistant, a formidable woman in her late forties, named Tanya. She had worked for him for over ten years and was promoted to the CEO position as part of the acquisition. Her last duty as an assistant was to make sure I was ready to manage the life of one of the busiest, and wealthiest men in the world.

  I was smart, organized and a quick learner but I struggled to keep up with all of Tanya's instruction. She was a whip-smart, no-nonsense woman, but also kind and patient. She assured me that I was ready and I believed her. She also gave me all of her contact information in case I needed her help. I had a feeling I'd be using it often.

  Of course, Tanya was keeping her assistant, so I had to find my own. I had the perfect candidate in mind, but I wanted to be sure I was making the right decision, so I tossed my work husband, Dustin's resume in a pile with four other great candidates and asked Tanya to help me choose. I wasn't surprised when she recommend I hire Dustin and he and I spent the final week completing Tanya’s Charles Kerwin Bootcamp.

  Dustin and I started at the company at the same time. I assisted the CEO, and he assisted the CFO, who had been laid off. We hit it off immediately, and we work together well. We had a lot in common and became close. I've even played the third wheel with Dustin and his fiancé, Mark, who is always trying to set me up with one of his personal training clients. I'm not good at dating and painfully shy. I guess that's why I make such a great assistant. I prefer to be behind the scenes.

  Something else about Charles Kerwin that's making me dread my first day is that he's absolutely gorgeous. I know it's incredibly unprofessional to have these kinds of thoughts, but since the moment I laid eyes on him at the networking event in Manhattan, my former boss made me attend, I haven't been able to get him out of my head. The thoughts I had about him had no place in a corporate setting, even though they often involved him bending me over his desk and swatting my ass with a rolled up file folder.

  Seeing a photo in a newspaper or watching an interview on TV doesn’t begin to compare seeing the real thing standing mere feet from you.

  To call Charles Kerwin, a tall man would be like calling Mt. Everest, a big hill. He easily towered over every man huddled around him jockeying for position, and was built like a grizzly bear. He had pale blue eyes, like ice which starkly contrasted with his dark brown hair. We locked eyes for a moment, and I froze in place. It felt like someone knocked the breath out of my body. I quickly turned and began to walk away, quickening my pace the further I got away from him. It was like he had a gravitational pull that got weaker with distance. The feeling excited me but also terrified me, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to feel it again.

  I left New York the next morning sure that I would never see Charles Kerwin again. Five days later, it was announced that he had purchased the company. Two days after that, I discovered I was chosen to be his executive assistant and would have to see him every day.

  I couldn’t understand why a man like Charles Kerwin would even be interested in a company like ours, much less want to work out of an office in the middle of Pennsylvania. I supposed billionaires could work anywhere they want.

  My entire career has been spent assisting one person. Mr. Claffey had a very demanding schedule, lots of meetings and travel. But Charles Kerwin’s schedule on a slow day made Mr. Claffey’s look like a chore chart from a kindergarten classroom. I have never been one to shy away from a challenge, but the real struggle would be trying to keep my composure while working up close and personal with one of the world’s most eligible and gorgeous bachelors.

  Mr. Claffey was in his late sixties, overweight and slightly balding. He'd been a father figure when I'd lost my own. He was also romantically obsessed with his wife, Janice. It was like other women didn't exist. They had met in elementary school and married right after high school. It was the kind of love I'd always dreamed of. I dreamed of Charles Kerwin too, but in a different way, with a different type of love.

  The hardest part of my new job would have nothing to do with Tanya’s boot camp.

  Charles

  I can't believe how nervous
I am. I don't get nervous. Nothing rattles me or at least it didn't until I saw her. In a sea of corporate cutthroats and kiss-asses, she was there looking like an angel, so out of place. I was immediately overtaken by a desire to scoop her into my arms and take her away. Fuck, I didn't want to be there, but my PR reps insisted I attend one of those stupid events every year.

  I tried to stay focused on whatever nonsense whoever happened to be in front of me at the moment was saying, but my eyes always drifted to her. Whenever I saw a man talk to her, I could feel my fist involuntarily clench and release when she inevitably walked away from them. She didn't seem interested. Maybe she somehow knew she already belonged to me and no other man would touch her.

  She must have felt my eyes on her and looked directly at me. I felt like I'd been hit in the chest. Her eyes were a vibrant blue, and her hair fell in golden waves past her shoulders. She had a heart-shaped face with the most adorable button of a nose and luscious pink lips that I wanted to spend the rest of my life kissing. She was an angel fallen from Heaven, and I had to have her then. But in an instant, she was gone. She had turned and disappeared into the crowd. I began knocking people aside in my haste to find her again, but she was gone; vanished into thin air. I swore loudly and called for my head of security who always travels with me.

  The next morning we scoured the security tapes from the event until we found her. She was the executive assistant for the CEO of Claffey’s, an ice cream company, headquartered in Pennsylvania. She must travel with him often. Not anymore, I thought. I initiated the acquisition that day. After an agonizing month, the day was here.

  I had her boss, Marvin Claffey III, transferred to our corporate office in Manhattan and it was mercy. He was the grandson of the founder of the company and inherited his role as CEO, but had no idea what the hell he was doing. The company was hemorrhaging money, which didn't stop him from treating the company like his own personal piggy bank. Another fiscal year like the last one would see Claffey's filing for Chapter 12 and Marvin in prison. No one in their right mind would touch that turd of a company with a twenty-foot pole, not without a good reason.

  The sale must have been the quickest in corporate history. Claffey was eager to sell. In fact, he'd been trying to get my attention at the mixer. I ignored him, of course. If he'd only known he had the strongest weapon in his arsenal, negotiations would have gone much differently. It took my security team less than a day to uncover all of his embezzling. We presented them to him with one offer. He accepted it immediately. He would stay in the company to instill confidence in the brand, and also where we could keep an eye on him, then in five years he’d announce his retirement.

  I gave his job to my executive assistant, Tanya. I had a feeling Tanya suspected why I was doing all of this but if she did she wasn't saying. Why would she? I had promoted her and nearly doubled her already generous salary, besides she was smart, capable and ready to flex her corporate muscles. She spent ten years running my life. If she could handle that, she could handle anything. She had her work cut out for her. Rehabbing this company would take years. Her first order of business was to cut the workforce by twenty-five percent. For Kerwin Industries that meant a choice of a generous early retirement packages or generous severance packages with career counseling, anyone who didn't find a new job in six months would be reabsorbed into the company. Taking care of the people that take care of me has always worked well. That's why our retention rate is high, and we attract the best and brightest. Tanya could definitely handle herself in the boardroom.

  As for the rest of world, I was either an eccentric billionaire making bizarre business decisions or a calculating corporate genius who knew something that everyone else didn't know. I even saw a talking head on a cable news finance show devote an entire segment to ice cream and frozen treat companies, advising his viewers to get in on the upcoming trend and buy all the stock they could. I couldn't help but laugh if he only knew.

  The instant I saw her in at that event, my life changed. When I lost her, I also felt lost. When I found her again, I knew what I had to do.

  I paced back and forth in my penthouse. This was the craziest gamble I'd ever make when, not if, it pays out it will be worth it. Taking risks made me rich, and I had my eye on the biggest jackpot.

  "Sir," It was Tanya. She agreed to accompany me to the office the first day, give me the tour and introduce me to the team, to her. "The car is here. Are you ready?" I was ready a month ago.

  My angel was waiting at the door of my office holding a tablet and a mug. Her blonde waves were pulled into a meticulous bun with two golden wavy tendrils cascading in front of ears you wanted to nibble on. She wore a white long sleeved blouse buttoned up to her neck and tied with a big white bow, like a gift, over a tight, black pencil skirt that just covered her knees and black with a t-strap across the front, like a flapper from an old movie. Her look said all business, but there was no hiding those ample breasts and perfect round ass. I devoured her body with my eyes: her smooth, flawless skin with only a hint of makeup, her tiny waist, and the gorgeous curve of her calves. I wanted to run my hands over every inch of her. I wanted to taste her and drink in her sweetness. I wanted to possess her the way she'd already possessed me but didn't know it.

  “Good Morning, Sir.” She sounded confident and self-assured, but the hand that held the coffee was trembling. It was adorable. I reached out and gripped the coffee mug, steadying her hand and letting my fingers gently brush hers.

  "Is this for me?" I looked down at her angelic face. She was so short, and I was standing so close to her that her head was nearly tilted all the way back to return my gaze exposing her lovely neck. I saw her gulp before replying.

  “The… coffee?” I had to stifle a laugh.

  "Yes, the coffee," I answered trying to fight back a smirk. "Is this for me?"

  "Yes, sir." She shook her head to regain her composure, but her cheeks had a slight flush. "The coffee, of course, I meant the coffee." I slipped the mug from her hand and took a gulp. Tanya had taught her well; it was perfect. I saw the brand new CEO smile and nod before backing away, confident that she had left me in good hands.

  I walked into my new office, and Tessa followed me in calling out my schedule for the day. I removed my suit jacket, seated myself at the desk, fired up my desktop hoping to clear some emails before my first meeting when I saw someone had seated himself at the smaller of the two desks outside my office.

  “Who the fuck is that?”

  Tessa

  "Sir?" I couldn't believe what I just heard. I followed his gaze and saw Dustin, seated at his desk. I had sent him to get coffees, and he must have returned as we were entering the office. "Dustin?"

  “What is he doing here?” His eyes never left Dustin.

  "He's my assistant." His eyes snapped to me, and I saw something that I couldn't have seen. He looked jealous. "I was told to hire an assistant. He's the best. I've known him for years and Tanya, herself…"

  “How well do you know him…” His tone was accusatory. I felt my face growing hot, but it wasn’t embarrassment. It was anger.

  "I don't know what you're implying, but you really have the wrong idea." I was seething but barely controlling my voice. I hoped I sounded calm.

  "You need to get a new assistant. Tell him he's fired." He turned back to his computer, but I could tell he wasn't paying attention to the screen.

  "No." I felt myself reply in a calm, controlled voice. As terrible first days go, this was going to be one for the history books. He turned his whole body to face me. His head was cocked to the side with a confused look like puppy when it sees you still holding the ball you pretended to throw. It would have been cute if I wasn’t so pissed off.

  "What did you say?" He was gazing at me with a look I could place. It wasn't anger. It was like he was incredulous at hearing the word, no. A man like him probably didn't hear it very often, but there was a first time for everything, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him fire Dus
tin.

  “No,” I repeated, “I’m not firing my assistant. We, me and Tanya,” I hoped throwing her name into the conversation would strengthen my argument, “interviewed a number of applicants and he was the most qualified. You have no grounds to do this. It’s the first day! What could he have possibly done to make you want to fire him on the first day?!" Calm and collected had gone out of the window, and I was shouting.

  “This is my company. I decide who works here and who doesn’t. This isn’t a negotiation.”

  “I’m well aware that this is your company. We’re all aware that this is your company." I waved my arm, indicating that entire office. I was off the rails at this point, but I couldn't stop myself. "You swooped in here a month ago with your giant bag of money and turned everyone's lives upside down. You fired good people. You moved people around, and everyone's who's left has spent the last three weeks working their asses off to get ready for your arrival, and that includes Dustin."

  He slowly rose from his chair and swiftly moved around to the front of the desk. He was so tall that he closed the distance between us in two strides. I was rooted to the spot. I didn’t feel an ounce of fear; I felt something else. The rage born from my instinct to protect my friend sparked a flame. It was like one of those cheesy romantic movies Mark loves to force Dustin and me to watch. One minute, the man and woman were screaming at each other and the next they were ripping each other's clothes off. It always seemed so crazy, but now I completely understood. I was so angry at this man but wanted nothing more than to feel his big hands all over me.