Mindy marveled at how tight her arms were becoming as she pulled up roll after roll of the old dusty carpet. As much of an athlete as she was with her impossibly flat tummy and lean legs, her bane had always been floppy arms. Who knew that demolition and restoration had been the answer? For months she had been doing the majority of the renovations to her newly inherited property herself and her body had showed the results. Granted, she knew she was skinny and that this was no way to enhance her meager curves, but there was something so satisfying about pushing her physical limits when it seemed like nothing else in her life was under control. She was also pleased to have learned so much from this endeavor about plumbing and carpentry and such. Most of her knowledge had come from the very books that populated the first floor of the shop.

Mindy bent to one more strip of carpet, but it stuck. She tugged and tugged with the already straining muscles in her lower back and thighs, but nothing happened. Digging in her heels with a determined set to her jaw, she let her weight—which was considerable no matter what people thought—fall back while she tugged hard. The carpet gave much easier that expected and though surprised, Mindy’s reflexes allowed her to catch herself before she landed on her butt. A plume of dust rose from beneath the carpet and she sneezed. She sneezed again. Three times. Still, she felt such a sense of accomplishment by getting the thing to budge, that she laughed out loud then standing up straight and wiping the perspiration and grime from her forehead in satisfaction. With another chuckle, she tugged again to finish the strip.

“Good evening, Melinda Ann Banner.”

This time her reflexes couldn’t help her, when the carpet gave way peeling loudly from the hard wood floor she fell back on her butt. Still, light on her feet, she leapt up with the grace of an antelope to face the man leaning against the wall with crossed arms. She had never heard this voice before, at least not in person, but she knew who it was and she knew why he hadn’t deigned to help her up.

Mindy told herself to be calm. She deliberately forced her hand away from the heart that beat so hard that her chest ached and pounded harder than it had when she was sprinting. Desperately, she tried to will her body to stop tingling all over. When that didn’t work, she settled for not wiping at the sweat and grime coating her skin and all of a sudden making her itch. She kept her voice low and balanced even though she felt far from calm. “Good evening, Richard Bey Beltran.”

Rich Beltran was Lead Counsel for Med Solutions, the company everybody seemed to think she wanted to ruin. Rich Beltran was also leader of the Dragon, the Second Family everybody also seemed to think she wanted to ruin. Unfortunately, and probably completely unbeknownst to him, Rich Beltran was also the man about whom she had been having crazy and disturbing dreams for nigh on six months.

As far as men went, Mindy couldn’t help but notice that Rich Beltran was downright pretty. Skin the color of buttermilk fudge but the texture of the smoothest velvet; hair black and shining like obsidian, near shaved but long enough for her to see that it would indeed curl. Maybe it was his eyes. They were large and black, intelligent and expressive. They were tilted up at the ends belying his half-Asian heritage.  Just then, they glittered with intent as they studied her. Maybe it was the dark berry of his lips, sculpted and manly and set in lazy smile that was also deceptive.

Even though he lounged, Mindy could tell that he was maybe six feet tall and had a lean strength about him. That relaxed pose couldn’t fool her. He possessed some sort of leashed power about him that made her swallow and her tongue get twisted. The man looked like he was probably very quick and very deadly in a fight.

Again, Mindy tamped down the urge to fuss with her appearance. In the end, there was nothing much a sweaty, filthy, unfortunately skinny woman could do to make herself presentable.

“You and I need to talk,” he said congenially and stepped away from the wall. His slow gait was casual.

Mindy took a step back effectively spreading her legs and bracing them. She was certainly in what one would call the ready-set-go mode, ready to either bolt or fight at the first sign of trouble. She tried to look relaxed but wasn’t sure she was fooling him. “Really? What about?”

“Many things,” he responded coming to stand in front of her. His voice was not deep, not high, not clear, not gruff. It was elusive and almost compelling.

The only thing in Mindy’s head at that moment was the fact that he was utterly gorgeous, his voice was delicious, and he kept advancing on her. Mindy felt her stomach churn and took a step back. Her whole body had gone warm. She chewed on the inside of her jaw feeling distinctly as if she were being backed into a cage. Rich came forward with a silent roll of his feet. She looked down. He was wearing soft black sneakers. Running shoes. She bet he was fast.

She swallowed painfully. Another step back and she would be against the wall. Not willing to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had intimidated her, Mindy stood tall—thankful for her full six feet—and crossed her arms over her chest. Rich wasn’t a foot away from her. Standing so near to him, she realized that they were the exact same height. While her stature had tended to put her at a level with most men, never had she stood before one where her eyes were directly on par with his. Rich’s eyes bored directly into hers. She licked her lips.

“How’d you get in here?” She questioned finally.

“The door,” he answered.

“The door is locked,” Mindy countered.

“Not that door,” Rich smiled with straight teeth. Mindy had to admit, as handsome as he was and as nice as she had heard he could be, the man looked downright predatory.

“Then, uh… how…”

“Let’s not play games, Melinda,” he quirked an eyebrow at her. “You know what I am. Just as I know what you are.”