I saw Harve as soon as I entered the store. Though he was surrounded by women who seemed to be crawling all over him, he towered above them and he saw me right away, too. Working his way through the crowd, he walked towards me quickly, a huge grin on his face.

“Sam…Sam so good to see you!” His smile turned to a frown as he noticed my grim expression. “What’s wrong?”

“What the hell do you think is wrong? You’re the manager of Eldon’s—my competitor. When did you plan to tell me this piece of news?”

“Well, I tried to tell you…but every time work came up, you changed the subject.”

It was true, I had changed the subject. When Harve and I got together, I just wanted to relax, not dredge up how badly things were going at Courtland’s. But still…

“You should have made me listen to you!” I yelled.

Harve glanced around the showroom. Women were eyeballing us, their eyes wide with interest.

“Look, let’s go talk about this in private.” He turned to a tall, dark-haired woman nearby. “Mia, please see to it that all of these ladies,” he waved his hand towards the women standing around, “are taken care of.” He gently took me by the arm and led me towards the back.

“No! I’m not interested in talking to you! Let go of me,” I tried to pull my arm away, but he held on with a firm grip. “You lied to me.”

“We are going to my office, Sam, and we’re going to talk.”

I took a deep breath. I was so angry. Boy was I going to let him have it.

Harve pushed the door open to his office and pulled me inside. He shoved the door closed, locking it behind him.

“Sam, Sam, please calm down. I can explain everything.” He pointed to a large, plush sofa in front of a dark wood desk. “Sit down, please.”

“I’ll stand, thank you very much. And yeah, I’m going to tell you what I think of you alright. You need to know what a horrible man you are. You lied to me!”

“How did I lie to you? I wanted to tell you but you didn’t want to talk about work.”

My words came out in a jumble. “Ok, maybe you didn’t lie, but you misled me. I was such a fool. I trusted you and all you cared about was getting information from me so you could win!”

He shook his head. “That’s not how this is.”

“Right…you even jumped on my idea about giving away free jewelry. Well, I see it worked! Congratulations,” I added bitterly.

“Sam, you said you thought the only way you could stay in business was to give away your jewelry for free. What does that have to do with Eldon’s giving away charm bracelets with a charm purchase? I mean, it’s just not the same.”

“Well, maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s a variation on my idea.”

He shook his head. “Eldon’s has started doing that for all of their new store openings. Those bracelets were ordered months ago—long before I met you.”

“Well, you should have told me you worked for them.”

“Sam…I told you…I tried to tell you. You didn’t want to talk about business. How many times did you say you just wanted to relax whenever the topic of work came up?”

“I don’t care…you should have forced me to listen.” I could feel myself losing control. I had to get out of there before I broke down completely. I would not let this man see me cry. I refused to give him that satisfaction.

“Please, Sam, I…”

I could barely stand to look at him. I knew I should never have opened my heart. I felt so hurt…so lonely…

“I’ll be leaving now.” I turned towards the door. I hadn’t even reached for the knob before I broke down in tears.

“Sam, I love you. Please listen to me.”

“Love me? What are you talking about? What’s there to listen to…you…you tricked me.” I sobbed, confused and in pain. I started to turn the door handle, but before it opened, Harve had pushed his way in front of me, blocking the door.

“You are going to listen to me.”

“No, I’m not, I…” I tried to push past his powerful body.

“Just a minute ago you said I should have forced you to listen to the fact that I am the manager of Eldon’s. I didn’t. But now I am going to force you to listen to what I have to say.”

I could see from the hard set of his jaw there was no getting around it. Well, I guess I would let him talk. Then I would leave, and never see or speak to him again.

“Go on, then,” I replied bitterly.

“At least sit down,” Harve said.

“What difference does it make?”

He pointed to the sofa.

“Ok,” I walked over to the sofa and plopped down on it. He sat down next to me. “What do you have to say?” I demanded.

“Sam, I love you. You’re my mate. I knew it from the moment I met you.”

“Sure you did.” Why was he keeping up this ruse?

“And I want us to be together, now and forever.”

“Uh huh, sure,” I muttered.

“Listen to me, Sam,”

He put his hand under my chin and lifted it, so I was staring directly into his deep, green eyes.

“I love you. I want you. I need you. Can’t you see that?”

I didn’t say anything.

“What do I need to do to make you see how I feel?”

“All you care about is winning; your kid winning the championship—your store doing better than my store.”

“I promise you, that’s not how it is. Of course I want my son to win at soccer matches. I mean, don’t you want Jimmy to win?”

I shrugged my shoulders. Of course I did, but I knew Jimmy wasn’t a strong player so I didn’t focus on it. But there was no need to tell Harve that.

“And when it comes to the jewelry store, I’ve been working with Eldon’s for the past ten years. They send me out to open all of their stores—get them started up. Then, I go on to the next new location. It’s my job. I would have told you, but like I said, I never got to talk about work with you. Will you please just trust me and give me a chance?”

I searched his face. He seemed so sincere, so truthful.

“Please, Sam…”

And suddenly, I couldn’t help myself. I melted into him and his strong arms circled around me. I never wanted him to let go.