Invitation

After a few years of hard work, Morgan Blodwyn has already established a net worth in the multiple million dollar range.

His parents initially did not trust him to run their business as he was a spoiled and reckless brat. Despite undergoing a radical change along with Jasper's guidance, his success was the result of his own strategic planning and smart investment choices.

He was now prepared to increase his investment goals, but this required him to build a team. In order to move further in his business, he knew he needed to employ a competent assistant first.

Would it be a mistake to hire someone so young and inexperienced?

Morgan brushed aside his skepticism over Melody Brynleigh. She was young, but there was a strong passion in her eyes that reminded him the excitement he'd had when he saw Jasper suddenly appeared in his life.

With the thought, he drove out of the parking lot and returned home. He was just thirty-four, but the thought of taking care of a yard made him opt for the convenience of a condo. He entered the building, dropped his keys into the marble dish in the foyer, and made his way through the large room and down the hallway to his office.

His apartment had a lot of room, including four bedrooms, a dining area, a living room, and an office. In spite of the fact that he did not require four bedrooms, he had bought them anyhow in the hopes of one day filling them all.

After settling into his chair, he signed on to his computer, entering his complex password and other security measures. The attempts of others to steal his methods of making money have already been foiled. The algorithm for his investment plan was protected by a multi-layered security system he had developed, and the firewalls he set up were stronger than his rivals in the city.

Morgan had always been proud of his business acumen and his ability to outperform his competitors. He had spent years developing a unique system of mathematics that allowed him to maximize his profits and keep his competitors at bay. None of his rivals had been able to come up with a solution as effective as his, and it showed in his portfolios.

While his strongest rival, Gold Field Industries, had only managed to increase their portfolios by 6%, Morgan had achieved an impressive 10%-13% increase. He knew that his system was the key to his success, and he was determined to continue using it to stay ahead of the game.

He wasn't looking into potential investment opportunities tonight. Instead, he read up on the online detailed information of a young lady with shocking brown eyes and a hungry wrath that made her pale, chubby body flare with energy and rightful rage.

This was the first time that he had been reprimanded by a young woman. It instigated his curiosity even further, and he wanted to know more of Melody Brynleigh.

Gosh, she was so fabulous! He remembered her small hands clenched at her sides as she informed him that she could solve any problem he threw at her, and how she had beaten him up for making her wait two and a half hours for her interview. He chuckled admiringly at the thought of her utter confidence that she wouldn't ever crawl onto his bed.

That worked out well, since he was looking for personal assistant rather than sexual attraction. Morgan had already had it up to here with the scheming women who tried to woo him between interviews, so by the time the fiercely determined Melody Brynleigh sat down for her interview, he was entirely uninterested. How did all these unscrupulous ladies find out about his job opening? And what gave them the idea that they could just walk in and entice him?

Half an hour later, Morgan paced back and forth across his office, fuming over what he had found.

Melody wasn't merely a mediocre worker who was having trouble finding work. Twenty minutes interview with her this afternoon filled in the blanks he had about Brynleigh other than the fact that she was Sarah's older sister and had a different family name. This also piqued his interest, albeit he kept his questions away for a later time.

Yet he knew that she had power hidden away inside of her, and all she needed was a little guidance to bring it out. Morgan had been following the advice and counsel he'd received from Jasper for the last few years. It was time to help Melody Brynleigh in order to repay that grumpy old man. If he wanted to spare her modest life and maybe even her dignity, he'd have to act swiftly.

After working on it for almost three hours, he managed to get everything set up by midnight. He planned to contact Ms. Brynleigh early in the morning, with the expectation that she would accept his help.

As he took off his clothes that night, he pondered his unwavering confidence in Melody. What exactly was it about her that caught his eye? She seemed too skeptical to have any romantic feelings. And she had already declared her complete lack of sexual interest in him. That's fine, he thought, even though he knew deep down that he was lying to himself.

***

The next morning, Melody stood in the street in front of the high-rise building, her stomach was in knots. The message had arrived on her phone first thing in the morning. "We expect you to come at the office promptly at 8 o'clock." That was all the text read.

Did she get herself into trouble? Good grief, she really should've kept her mouth shut yesterday. She didn't think the man she'd yelled at would have much patience with a sassy, sharp-tongued young woman.

Melody pushed her shoulders back and lifted her chin in the proud arrogance that would eventually be her doom. At this point, she could not take pride in anything. Her life was in tatters when she blurted it out yesterday.

However, she continued to move forward. If this guy wanted to start yelling at her again, she'd just ignore him and get out of there. When she told Sarah this morning, she was sure that it was a second interview, but Sarah tried to convince her to at least meet him this morning.

"Believe in yourself; you can pull through this. Carry yourself with full confidence as you enter. It makes no difference if this family is richer than Bill Gates and Donald Trump put together. You'll get the job, and you need it." Melody continued to give herself a pep talk inside the elevator ride up to the twenty-fifth floor.

Her fingers trembled as she reached for the doorknob, but she finally managed to open it and breathe a sigh of relief. It probably wasn't a trouble, she thought.

This morning, the lobby was oddly quiet. It had no line-up of stunning women in rows. There were no attractive blondes applying makeup or red-haired women unbuttoning their tops. No clacking of high heels or jiggling of butts in tight skirts.

It was so quiet. Eerily quiet!

She glanced around and thought maybe the text was wrong. Did she misread the time? Was she ...?

A stern voice snarled, "You're late!"

Melody checked the time on her wrist. It was eight ... oh past one!

"I'm…"

That same man from yesterday, with the insane long eyelashes and stunning blue eyes, walked slowly towards her. He appeared to be making an effort to look professional in dark pants and a white button-down shirt with the cuffs tucked, but the power of his masculinity was too great for his attire to contain.