After his friend drove away, Holden, being the gentleman that he was, he walked her to her front door. “Skyler, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for marrying me.”
“You could kiss me again,” she said, as the amount of alcohol she’d consumed had removed her some of her inhibition.
Since Holden was greatly attracted to his new wife, he decided to grant her request as it might be the only opportunity, he’d ever have to kiss her. But once he started kissing her, he couldn’t stop. He picked her up and carried her to her bedroom, her clothes quickly disappeared and soon they were both lying naked on her bed.
Enjoying Holden’s kisses, she didn’t think much about it when his lips left hers and started kissing her neck, then the kisses started downwards on her body. She assumed he was headed for her breasts, so she didn’t stop him, but then his kisses started downwards once more.
When he passed her belly button, she realized where he was headed and knew she had to stop him. “Holden, what are you doing?” she asked as she tried to pull her body away from his mouth.
“If you have to ask, I must not be doing something right,” he replied with an ornery grin.
“I want you to kiss me,” she said, hoping to get him to return to her lips so he would stay away from the area below her belly button.
“I am,” he muttered.
“I mean I want you to kiss my lips.”
He simply smiled and continued kissing down her body.
Knowing where he was headed, she was glad it was dark in her bedroom, as she knew she had to be turning red. “Holden, we barely know each other,” she said as she tried to push him away from her body.
“We’re married,” he uttered without removing his lips from her skin.
“I know that. Please stop, as I’m uncomfortable with you what you’re doing, as I’ve never done this before.”
He stopped kissing her and looked up at her. “Never? You and Jarvis were going to be married; you’re telling me he never kissed you there?”
“Our relationship wasn’t that . . .” she stopped, as she wasn’t sure how to explain.
“You’re missing out on something wonderful.”
He didn’t quit where he was going, and soon she was gasping and begging him not to stop.
* * *
The next morning as the sun shone into her bedroom, Skyler woke, but her eyes remained close as she was reliving making love to Holden. When she felt a hand touch her face, she smiled, and her eyes flew open. “Holden, we goofed, as we had decided we weren’t going consummate our marriage.”
Holden leaned over her so he could look her into her eyes, and as he did, his lower half of his body touched hers. “That was the plan, but somehow we lost sight of that.”
“That’s going to cause us a problem as a divorce may take months to be finalized.”
“Skyler, no one but the two of us knows what we’ve done, so it won’t make a difference how we end our marriage.”
“I guess you’re right,” she replied slowly, as she just realized how her new husband’s body was reacting to their close contact.
“Skyler, I want you,” he muttered as he lowered his lips to hers.
She would love to have a repeat performance of last night, so she excepted his kiss. Soon she was flying, and as she recovered from Holden’s lovemaking, she wondered how she would ever let him go.
Holden leaned over and kissed her one more time, then got out of bed to get dressed. He didn’t look at Skyler but could feel her eyes on him as he put his clothes on. “You stay in bed and I’ll let myself out.”
“Bye Holden, I’ll call you as soon as I hear something about the job.”
He waved, then left the room. Skyler remained where she was until she heard the front door closed, then she got up and started her day. She left for work just as she did every morning; only this time it was different, as today she was a married woman.
Since their marriage wasn’t going to last, she didn’t tell anyone, not even any of her friends, that yesterday she’d married a total stranger. Sitting at her desk, she couldn’t keep her mind on her work as she was thinking about the three men she’d been with this week. Thank goodness, she was on the pill, as this was her most fertile time of the month. If she got pregnant, she wouldn’t know whom the father was until after the baby was born.
When the phone rang on her desk five minutes later, Skyler didn’t think much about it, as she hadn’t any idea this call was drastically going to change her life. “Hello?”
“Is this Skyler Collins?”
“Yes, it is. How may I help you?”
“This is Fuller Pharmacy. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”
“Bad news?” She couldn’t imagine why they were calling her; let alone what bad news they would have to tell her, as her only medication was her birth control pills.
“It has come to our attention that the manufacturer of your birth control pill has been sabotaged by a disgruntled employee. To get back at the company, he replaced thousands of your brand of pills with a placebo. We are calling all our customers to inform them of the problem. If you come in, we’ll replace your prescription with another manufacturer’s product.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening to her, especially now as she’d just had the thought that she didn’t have any reason to worry. Damn, just her luck. “Have any of your customers announced they’re pregnant?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Yes, that’s how we learned of the problem.”
His answered didn’t reassure her at all. “I see.”
If sleeping with three different men in three days wasn’t bad enough, now she had this to worry about. If a baby had been created this week, any one of the three men could be the father. First thing she would have to do was tell Holden, so he would know a baby was a possible result of their night together. And if it turns out that Holden wasn’t the father, how would that fact affect their marriage status?
“Do you have reason to be worried?” the pharmacist asked.
“Yes, but it’s too soon for me to know either way. Thank you for calling me to let me know,” she replied slowly.
“We want you to call us if you are pregnant, as there is going to be a lawsuit against the manufacturer.”
Like a lawsuit would fix this problem if she were expecting a baby. “Yes, I’ll call as soon as I know.”
* * *
Skyler expected Holden to call her all week, but each day ended without her talking to him. When Friday afternoon arrived and she still hadn’t heard from him, she decided she wouldn’t hear from him until he was ready to dissolve their marriage.
Since she needed to talk to him about the birth control situation, but didn’t have his number to contact him, she decided to ask Scott for it. As she got closer to Scott’s office, she was surprised to hear someone speaking who sounded a lot like Holden.
She hurried her steps and arrived at Scott’s office just as he was thanking Holden for stopping by, but they were going to hire someone with more experience.
Skyler was outraged by his statement. “Scott Raines, if you don’t hire this man, I’m going to make sure Mr. Goodman knows you turned him away so you could hire another one of your worthless relations for the job.”
“Skyler, I suggest that if you want to keep your job, you apologize to me for that rude comment,” he stated, eyes full of his anger at her statement about his family.
Skyler simply laughed, as she wasn’t afraid of losing her job. Herb had personally hired her, and so if Scott did fire her, he would simply hire her back.
“Go ahead. I dare you to fire me,” she goaded to Scott, hoping he would do something stupid, which would cause him to lose his job as the result of his actions.
“Skyler don’t lose your job because of me,” Holden told her, grabbing hold of her arm.
“Okay, you’re fired. Get your belongings and get off the premises,” Scott stated loudly, furious at the woman before him.
She had to laugh at Scott’s audacity to fire her as he had just sealed his fate. “Fine. Do you want to tell Mr. Goodman what you just did or should I?”
Scott gave her a bewildered look. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what? Since it’s Friday afternoon and I’m out of a job, I’m going home to start on my weekend. I hope you enjoy yours, as come Monday morning, you’re going to be sorry for what just happen here today.” She gave Scott a wicked grin.
She turned to Holden. “How about coming over to my place? I have a great stew recipe in the crockpot, I’ll fix some corn bread and you can help me eat some of it.”
Scott was stunned that she would offer a man she didn’t know over to her house for dinner. He was even more so, when Holden accepted her offer and they walked hand and hand down the hall together.
“Skyler, what are you going to do now that you lost your job?” Holden asked as soon as they were out of Scott’s hearing.
Skyler patted his hand, as she smiled at him. “Don’t you worry about it. As soon as Herb finds out what Scott has done today, he’ll be the one out of a job, along with all his worthless cousins.” She giggled at the thought of Scott’s actions blowing up in his face.
When Holden entered her home, the first thing he did was smile, as the most delicious aroma was coming out the kitchen. “If that smell coming out of your house is any indication of your cooking, I say I’m in for a treat.”
She shook her head at his declaration. “It isn’t anything fancy.”
He took hold of her hand and gave it a squeeze. “It doesn’t have to be fancy to be good.”
They had a nice dinner and after they’d cleaned up the dishes, they sat down to watch some television. Skyler knew now would be the perfect time to tell him about her situation with the birth control pills, but she was afraid if she did, he would run out of her house screaming. Wanting to enjoy what time she had with him, she kept her news to herself, as it may be a false alarm.
Holden took hold of her hand as they watched a movie. He kept stealing looks at her, and the more he looked at her, the more he desired her. He couldn’t believe this beautiful woman had married him and was legally his. He didn’t say anything to her, but he hoped she would ask him to spend the weekend with her. Holden got his wish, and when Monday morning arrived, he was still in her bed.
* * *
When Herb Goodman arrived at work on Monday morning, he was quite distraught to learn what Scott had done to his best chemist. And just as Skyler predicted, Scott and his five cousins were soon out on the street as Herb now had a reason to fire Scott, as well as all his family. As before this situation, he didn’t feel right firing a man just because he didn’t like him.
First Herb had to call Skyler and get her back to work, and once that was done; he would have to hire a new HR person, along with six new chemists. Damn, he didn’t need this headache.
“Hello,” Skyler answered phone as Holden closed the bathroom door.
“I want to see you back in the office as soon as possible. I fired Scott for his stupidity and all his relatives who shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. Now I must replace all of them as well as Isaac, and I don’t know even know where to start,” he said, his voice full of anxiety.
“I’ve recently met with Holden Dawson, who applied for Isaac’s position, but Scott refused to hire him. He used to work at Jackson’s Drugs, and since he’s unemployed now, he could start today. Since the company he worked for closed so recently, he may be able to get some of his old associates to come work for us.”
Herb let out a sigh of relief. “I knew I did the right thing when I hired you. If you think he would be a great asset to us, hire Holden immediately; as I don’t want to take the chance that some other company will hire him first.”
“I’ll talk to him as soon as we hang up.”
“Ask him to check into the other employees, especially whoever used to be the HR person. Anyone he hires is fine with me, as I don’t trust my judgment any longer.”
“Scott had you fooled. How were you to know he was going to replace some of your good employees with his cousins?”
“Just call me back when you know something either way, and then get here to work.”
She laughed. “Give me fifteen minutes.”
Just as they hung up, Holden opened the bathroom door and stepped out.
“Guess what? I have been told to return to work, and the best part is I’ve been asked to hire you.”
“That’s great news.” He was happy with her statement, but also saddened by the fact that once he was employed again, Skyler would want an annulment.
“You know what else Herb told me?” she asked with a bright grin, not knowing what was going on in his head.
“No, what did he say?” His eyes studied her as he waited for her to reply.
“Since the company needs five more chemists and a HR manager, Herb wants you to call some of your old colleagues and offer them a job.”
“I’ll call Alyssa first, she was the head of HR; she’ll know who else should be hired.”
“I’ll call Herb back to tell him you accepted the job, and then I need to get to work.”
* * *
While Skyler was on the phone to Herb, Holden called Alyssa on his cell phone.
When the phone rang, Alyssa checked caller ID before answering. “Holden, how are you doing? Any luck finding a new job?”
“I just got hired at Dixon’s Cosmetics.”
Jealousy filled her, as that was her dream company. “Oh, Holden that’s wonderful. From what I’ve heard, that’s a great place to work.”
“Are you sitting down?” he asked, smiling with excitement.
“Yes, why do you ask?” She was puzzled why he asked the question.
“You won’t believe this, but I’ve been asked to hire you.”
“Holden are you teasing me?” she asked tearfully, glad she was in fact sitting down.
“No, I’m not. Their former HR manager was fired today. So, do you what the job?”
Alyssa let out a squeal. “Yes, I want it. This is such wonderful news.”
“Good. Mr. Goodman has asked that your first task as the new HR manager is to hire five of our colleagues for scientist positions that have recently come available.”
“I know just the five to call. As soon as they accepted the job, I’ll call you.”
Holden gave her the address of the office, telling her that after she’d hired everyone, to come to the office and asked for Herb Goodman.