The click of her kitten heels broke through the throbbing beats of her pulse. Melanie fled Thorn Tattoo and didn’t look back. She couldn’t. The email hadn’t been destined for her, and yet somehow that made it worse. After two years of loyal service, Luciano was ready to throw her away. Melanie didn’t consider herself disposable. She’d worked her ass off making sure she was the assistant Luciano so desperately needed. She didn’t come all this way to be met with failure.

Failure wasn’t an option.

Where else was she going to go if it wasn’t here?

Once the door closed behind her, Melanie brushed away her tears and headed for her car. She remembered, as a child, living out of her parent’s van for weeks on end. The back seats had been stripped out, and they’d installed hammocks instead. Some nights, when her father drove late, too compelled by the psychedelic music he loved to stop for the night, Melanie had lain awake in her hammock and stared at the domed metal roof overhead.

Being on the road was her life. Being on the road was all she knew.

She hated it.

She didn’t want to travel anymore.

Melanie sealed herself in her car and took steadying breaths. How long would it be before Luciano realized his mistake and sent Antonio the email asking him to fire her? How could she ever show her face in Thorn Tattoo again?

The plan she’d thought would work had fallen to pieces and now threatened her livelihood. What had she been thinking sabotaging things the way she had? She was really glad she’d only rigged one bottle of soap to open because it had been a much bigger mess to clean up than she’d first anticipated. While she would have stopped the order for the disposable needles herself, she had hoped that Luciano taking it upon himself to call would mean that he was ready to take over as manager. She couldn’t go back to her parents now. She couldn’t ask her sister and brother-in-law to take her in. She was stuck.

And if she had no money….

“Calm,” she whispered. Sometimes, speaking the words helped. “Be calm, be easy, you’re going to be okay.”

It had been three years since her parents had last moved—an eternity for nomadic souls. The commune they’d found in rural California was the right fit for them, or so Melanie had heard. They were only in touch through snail mail, and since she’d been on the road for the last two years, she hadn’t heard much from them.

Violet was moving there, too, along with her husband, Aspen, and their children. It was a paradise, Violet informed her the last time they spoke. The crops the commune grew kept everyone well fed through the summer, and the climate allowed them to keep growing hardier plants through the winter. Combined with the fall harvest, no one was ever hungry. Some of the women in the commune sold woven jewelry or did bead work, others embroidered, and some even sculpted. The men often did manual labor or helped with the trinkets. Everyone raised their children together. Everyone shared everything they had.

To some, it was paradise. To Melanie, it was more like hell. She’d become disillusioned with her parent’s hippie lifestyle during her early teenage years and when boys her age in their communes had started trying to date her, talking about soul mates, love bonds and hand fastening ceremonies, Melanie couldn’t take it anymore.

She wasn’t going to go back now. It would feel the same as it had before. She’d left for a reason, and she’d put herself through college all on her own and made a life for herself in the civilized world because she was strong, she was capable, and more than anything else, she didn’t want back into that lifestyle.

If Luciano fired her, she’d find a way around it. She wouldn’t go back to her old life. It didn’t matter if she was living out of the back of her car—Melanie was determined. There would be other opportunities, other jobs, and maybe even other cities.

All she needed to do was believe in herself. She’d seen herself through the worst of times and always landed on her feet.

The first thing she needed to do, she decided as she calmed down, was take the rest of the day to start researching potential job placements. She knew Antonio, and if he thought she wasn’t giving it her all, he wouldn’t hesitate to fire her. It was better to be prepared than to be caught unaware.

If she was going to be fired anyway, it didn’t matter if she didn’t show up for the rest of her shift.

Melanie turned the keys in the ignition until the engine caught, then eased away from the curb and left the central Vegas strip for her hotel on the outskirts of town. The weekly rates were ridiculously cheap the farther out from Vegas the hotel was, and until she found an apartment that would suit her needs, it was her home away from home. Luciano, who owned a house and who rented an apartment, had been able to stroll right back into normal life. Melanie wasn’t so lucky. She’d sold her belongings and arranged for a sublet when Luciano had told her they were going on the road, so she had nowhere to go.

Now it was a small blessing. If she had to relocate, nothing would be holding her back. Wherever she landed, she’d be able to set down roots there and lead a normal life.

It was okay to have a few false starts, she told herself, so long as she always aimed to get back on course.

By the time she arrived at her hotel room, there were ten unread text messages from Luciano on her phone, and three missed calls. Melanie frowned. She cleared her notifications and set the phone on her desk. A part of her wondered if he’d realized his mistake with the email and that’s why he was texting her but she wasn’t ready to hear from him. Settling in with her laptop, she started to research job opportunities in Las Vegas for someone with her qualifications.

All of the acts on the strip needed a personal assistant with more than two years’ experience. Outside the strip, there wasn’t much. Melanie broadened her search results and began to look for related jobs. She wasn’t sure if Luciano would give her a glowing recommendation after all the chaos she’d caused in the shop, but Melanie didn’t let it deter her.

No matter the circumstance, she’d power through. She was determined.

Night fell somewhere along the way. Melanie had moved from looking at jobs in the Las Vegas area to searching in Los Angeles, then New York. She hated cold weather, but if her calling was out there, she wasn’t going to let climate hold her back.

If visas and citizenship weren’t issues, she’d have gone up into Canada for a chance at work. It didn’t matter where she went, so long as she could sustain herself.

Being alone was harder than the rest of the world made it look.

Melanie glanced at her computer clock—it was time for the shop to close down for the night. She pinched the bridge of her nose and slipped her fingers beneath the rim of her glasses to rub the corners of her eyes. Luciano had left her alone all afternoon and evening. With any luck, he’d given up the chance and decided it was better to let her go easy.

After embarrassment like the kind she’d suffered, Melanie didn’t think she could go back to the shop as if nothing had happened. It hurt too much to know how little she was valued.

Luciano hadn’t even tried to talk to her about her performance; he’d automatically moved to fire her instead.

The betrayal stung deeper than Melanie expected. She liked Luciano.

It was obvious he didn’t feel the same.

A few minutes later, her phone chimed with a text message. Dread curled in Melanie’s stomach, and she turned the screen toward herself to look at the message. It was Luciano, of course. She didn’t expect it to be anyone else.

The message was different from what she expected, though.

I know you’re reading this. I fucked up. Let me buy you dinner to show you how sorry I am.

Curious, she unlocked her phone screen and brought the message up to read it again. The rest of Luciano’s texts were similarly apologetic. She hadn’t bothered to read them, fearing what they might say.

In a guilty way, Melanie felt good about the things he’d said. Reading Luciano’s apology was satisfying. It was justifying.

Quietly, she enjoyed the attention he’d afforded her. He’d taken time out from his day in order to beg her forgiveness and offer an explanation. She knew Luciano, and she knew that he was headstrong and stubborn. It wasn’t often that he asked anyone to forgive him.

The gesture wasn’t lost on her.

Melanie considered not texting him back at all, but as she sat on it, she knew she had no other choice. Luciano wasn’t looking to fire her—at least not yet—and she needed to make sure she had all her bases covered before she did something rash.

Job searching could be easily resumed the next day if dinner went poorly, but the chance was worth it. The easiest way forward would be to keep her job. The shame she felt wouldn’t be half as bad if she was able to talk it through and resolve the issues Luciano had with her outside the office.

Melanie caved. She replied via text.

Where and when?

Tonight, one hour, at l’academie.

You know where it is?

Melanie didn’t, but she had a GPS app on her phone. If Luciano was familiar enough with it, she figured it couldn’t be outside Vegas.

Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll see you then.

There was nothing else said between them. Melanie sucked in a breath and pushed back from her desk. If she was going to go out, she needed to shower and get ready.

There was no way she was going to show up to dinner with a man who’d wronged her looking like she’d spent the afternoon crying. She needed to show Luciano how strong she was.

She’d hold her head high even if she felt like crumbling. It was all Melanie knew how to do.

* * *

The restaurant wasn’t far from the strip. It seemed like everything in Luciano’s life was centrally located, and while it was convenient, Melanie couldn’t help but think that it played a role in his flightiness. If he could find everything he needed in close quarters, he’d never expand his horizons and form connections with a place.

Still, l’academie was an impressive place. Melanie knew it wasn’t something Luciano fell back on. She knew his tastes and his preferences. Pricey French cuisine didn’t fit his habits.

He’d planned this for her, and as she walked through the doors and was directed to his table by a kindly maître d’, she smiled.

The low lights, the string quartet playing in the corner, the small, intimate tables, the candle centerpieces… everything about l’academie was right. If Luciano was looking to apologize, he’d already hit it out of the park on location alone. But that didn’t mean she was going to forgive him that easily.

Their table was against the wall at the back of the restaurant. Luciano was already seated there, looking strikingly handsome in a suit jacket. Without a collared shirt beneath it, his tattoos still peeked through, but Melanie knew that as soon as he dressed formally, not a trace of ink was visible. She liked how he could blend in with the normal working man, yet still be so heavily inked beneath it all. A bad boy in disguise, she’d always thought to herself.

There was something so appealing about that even if he was her boss.

“Hi,” Luciano said as she approached. “You look incredible.”

The little black dress she wore was sensible, and she knew it hugged her body in just the right way and from the look of appreciation Luciano gave her, he definitely agreed. Before she could sit, he rose from his chair and stepped around to pull hers from the table. Melanie blushed.

“Hi. So do you. It’s rare that I see you so dressed up.” She sat, and Luciano tucked her chair back into the table. Melanie had never seen him go out of his way to be such a gentleman before.

“I can clean up when I need to,” he teased.

He sat in his chair and looked across at her. The candlelight from their centerpiece flickered in his eyes and played with the blue of his irises to make them look like crystals. Melanie found the trick of the light stunning.

“And you needed to tonight?” She didn’t know why she was pressing him.

Fiddling with his napkin before placing it on his lap, he gave a curt nod. “Yea, I did, which is why I’m glad you came. I was half expecting you to turn me down.”

“I wanted to hear you out,” she said softly. “I’ve been loyal to you for two years. I wasn’t going to walk away so easily.”

“Right.” Luciano tugged at his cuff. “I just… I’m sorry.” The waiter brought them menus, and then left them to decide on their meal while he tended to other tables. Luciano continued. “I didn’t mean what I wrote in the email. I don’t want to fire you, Melanie. How the hell would I be able to get anything done if you weren’t around to guide me back on track?”

Melanie arched a brow, but didn’t look up from her menu. After a few hours of planning for her future, she’d calmed down enough to play it cool. Luciano wasn’t going to elicit an emotional response out of her. Not yet. “I imagine you could find another assistant.”

“I… shit.” Luciano scratched his temple. “I didn’t mean it. I was bullshitting. There’s no one else out there who can work like you do, or who knows what I need as well as you do. I’d be stupid to give you up.”

“So why did you say you were going to, then?” Melanie asked. “And why did you ask me to become manager? I’m better off managing you.”

She set her menu down and moved her hands down her skirt, pushing out the creases. Tonight, she needed to feel sexy and in control.

Only with Luciano in a suit jacket, looking at her in the way he did while sitting at their candlelit table, it felt a whole lot less like a business meeting and a whole lot more like a date.

“Because you’re the best woman for the job,” Luciano said. He leaned forward. “You’re smart, you’re charismatic, you’re funny, you’re responsible, and you’re damn good at everything you put your mind to. I know that you were purposely sabotaging yourself the last few days. I get it. But I also know that you’re a terrific woman, and when the shop needs help, you’re not going to hesitate to step up and do what needs to be done.”

Melanie’s fingers stopped at the hem of her dress, and she toyed with the fabric as she basked in his praise. Luciano was sarcastic, and humorous, and often times blunt, and to hear him speak so highly of her was unusual, but welcome. She let a comfortable silence lapse between them for a while, then looked up at him and spoke. “And you can’t do that?”

“Nope.” Luciano crossed his arms loosely over his chest. “Definitely not.”

“But you’re handsome, and intelligent, and determined,” Melanie replied. There was a curl of flirtation to her words that she knew she should have held back on, but couldn’t bring herself to keep under control. Two years they’d been traveling together, and two years she’d silenced her feelings for Luciano. Tonight, out in a fancy restaurant in a dress that made her feel more empowered than ever, she was going to let herself indulge.

“I’m also not cut out for it. You’re the one with the incredible mind for detail.”

“I’m not sure.” Melanie rested her elbow on the table and laid her chin tenderly in her hand. “I’m thinking that you’re cut out for it better than I am. Everyone respects a man with a beard, Luc. A skinny woman with glasses who scrambles to make sure everything’s perfect? Not so much.”

Luciano was looking her over. Melanie saw his gaze dip, following the slender line of her neck to her shoulders. The straps on her dress didn’t cover them, but the square neck exposed enough of her collarbone that she felt it made up for it.

“They’ll respect you, given time.”

“They only respected Riley because it turned out she was an awesome artist and managed to throw Giovanni over her shoulder,” Melanie said. “I am the farthest thing from an artist. I think if I picked up a pencil, you’d be horrified.”

“I’ve never seen you draw,” Luciano mused. “You should surprise me sometime.”

“Terrify you is more like it,” Melanie said. “So, how am I supposed to gain the respect of people I can’t relate to at all? I don’t know what they do, I don’t know what effort they put into it, and I don’t know the kinds of things they need to make their art a reality. You know all of that. It’s far better if you step forward and get it done. You already have the knowledge you need to succeed.”

It was turning into a debate, but she wasn’t going to let it go this time. Every time Luciano tried to win her over by complimenting her, it worked, but she was growing greedy. It had been a long time since Melanie had heard anyone speak so highly of her, and she wanted to hear more.

“And you have the ability to learn faster and exceed where I would stagnate.” The conversation paused for a minute while the waiter returned. He took their orders, but the whole time, Melanie watched Luciano who watched her in turn. Passion glinted in his eyes, like he not only understood the game they played, but hungered for it.

The longer she watched him, the more trouble Melanie knew she was in. Flirting with Luciano, even in subtle ways, was fun. She didn’t want to stop.

The longer the night went on, the more it felt like he was enjoying himself, too. For that narrow window of time, she knew he wasn’t thinking about Cassandra.

Imagining it made her feel better than ever.

When the waiter left, Luciano resumed the conversation. “Why should the shop be punished with someone who’s only ever going to do adequately when it could be blessed with someone like you? Someone who might need a little bit of time to get everything right, but after that, who excels in ways I never could? Your kind of dedication and commitment is the kind Thorn Tattoo needs.”

God, it was nice to hear him say things like that. Melanie crossed her ankles, running one hand slowly up along her thigh. She knew he couldn’t see, but it didn’t matter. She was on top of the world and for once, she was feeling desirable.

Luciano was doing her more good than he could ever comprehend.

Maybe, just maybe she’d give him the benefit of the doubt and take the temporary position of manager again.