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If you’ve read the story starter – a very long Chapter 1 – and you’re ready to dive into the story with me, please continue reading.

About the story: (short description. Click here for longer)

“Let Me Love You” is not just a tale of love and sacrifice but also a poignant story of self-discovery, celebrating the human capacity to find love in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Please enjoy the current WIP of Iris and El. This will be published freely up to a point… like the old days and then the entire book will be posted for the full download. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the companion stories. (Wicked Chances, Dreams of Reality, The Convenient Wife & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

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Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 4✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory

“Mrs. Folsom, you were in my conference room earlier,” he stated. 

Closing her eyes briefly, Iris pushed away the wild dreams she had last night about this man. In her dreams, she had invited him inside Aunt Rose’s shed. They’d removed their wet clothes, built a fire in the rocket stove, and made love on the floor all night.

“Are you going to say something?” Eledumare asked, annoyed.

She pointed out, “That wasn’t a question for me to respond to,” but immediately bit her lip because that was Iris’ response. 

Dammit! That’s not what Dwayne’s wife would say. 

Iris kept her voice leveled but breathy because she was nervous under this man’s rigid scrutiny. “Yes, I was in the conference room earlier today. Dwayne wanted to get here early to impress you.”

“With the report,” he surmised.

She nodded, even though she wanted to point out that it wasn’t a question again. 

“And last night, when he threw you out of the car-“

Cutting him off to correct him. “Dwayne didn’t throw me out of the car. I jumped out. I was upset. I needed to get away from him.”

“Do you often need to get away from him?”

She almost looked up at him, but closed her eyes to fight the urge to avoid eye contact. Unfortunately, this opened her senses, and her nose caught a whiff of him. No cologne. Just him. Pristine, clean smelling, all-natural, thick, healthy, earthen… Iris slowly released the breath and stared down at her fingers. The tips were starting to get their color back. “Last night, I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept in a while.” She needed to make sure Dwayne looked good for his boss. “He’d been furious at me. He gets jealous easily. He’s protective.” Yes, that sounded more loving. “I didn’t need him to know I got in his boss’s car when I saw you in the room earlier, and I’d appreciate you keeping that private. He didn’t do anything, Mr. Olorun.” 

“Speaking of things he didn’t do, let’s talk about things he doesn’t do here.”

Forgetting about the pain in her hand, she clenched her fist. Don’t look in his face. You can pretend to be scared; he thinks you aren’t a talker.

“Look at me, Iris.”

HE REMEMBERED HER NAME?! And there was just something about the way he said it with so much directness and control. Damn her eardrums for tingling, hearing her name on his lips. What would it sound like a whisper in her ear? Or a growl from his throat?

Bracing herself, Iris looked up at his well-toned body, which the suit didn’t hide at all, past those broad shoulders she had dreamed of resting her thighs on and those lips she had kissed a million times last night in her sugar-induced sleep up to his eyes.

The soft almond brown had returned with the gray dots. She wanted to lean close again and remember them from last night. She had mesmerized him in her dreams. 

She whispered, as innocently as possible, “I don’t know what you mean, Mr. Olorun.”

He smirked. “Honey, he must be hiding the biggest damn secret you’ve ever kept because you are not a stupid woman. That woman I met last night was bristling behind those beautiful eyes.”

Iris sat up just a little straighter. The longer she was in his presence alone the worse she knew she would get from Dwayne and Iris needed to get herself together and get out of that room no matter what… even if it meant… “I’m not some slick talker like Dwayne, sir.”

“That’s because you know your shit. And when you know your shit, you can’t help to be confident,” he said with admiration. “I read that report three times this morning and then met Dwayne Folsom. I knew in my heart of hearts that man has no idea how to even page number a report like that, let alone write up a concise, brilliant analysis. But you?! Just from conversing last night, you glow intelligence.”

Gawd, Iris wanted to cry from the compliment, but then he’d know she wrote the report. He’d know they’d been deceiving the company. Keep the box locked, Iris. Keep your lips shut. 

“What if I helped you? Get away from him. I could keep you all to myself.”

The tingles ran from her brain to her heart and between her legs. Yet, the only thing he received for that offer was a shudder of breath and lots of blinking. 

With irritation, Eledumare remarked, “You’re an extraordinarily hard woman to crack.”

DON’T TALK! PLEASE, IRIS! DON’T TALK!

He stood up and put the chair back at the desk. “Fine, Iris.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he moved behind the taped line again to sit behind the desk. “I’ll bring your husband back in here, fire him, and ensure the two of you never work in an office building again. I’ll do my best to make sure you can’t get a job in the Metro Detroit area, even for free, because I’m a petty son of a bitch that intends to tear your life apart piece by piece.”

Shooting up from the couch, she said, “No, please!”

The idea of Clem having to leave his friends and her having to move away from Aunt Rose broke her.

“Oh, she talks.” Eledumare’s eyes shot down to her feet. “What the hell is that?”

Iris followed his eyes to see her purse had fallen from her lap and all the contents had come out, including the bag of shrimp she had been saving.

Quickly, she scrambled to put everything back in the bag. “Nothing. I-I have my nephew, and he likes shrimp. I wanted to take…” She couldn’t say more, was too embarrassed, and lacked the strength to lie.

“So she can’t lie,” he said, referring to her in third person. “What else does she do? Whatever it takes to make sure her husband doesn’t get fired? Would you do that?”

Standing up, Iris closed her eyes again for a moment, unsure who she should be. “T-Talk with Dwayne.” Folding her arms over her chest, she could still feel the pinch of bruises her husband had left on her arm. Dwayne had done it so much that the skin barely had time to heal, and just rubbing down on the area caused irritation. “He’ll tell you everything, please.”

Eledumare determined. “He’ll tell me what I want to hear. You’ll tell me what I want to know.” 

“If he lies, I promise to let you know. I’ll promise.” She lowered her eyes again and slowly sat back on the couch.

The man glared at her for a long moment before pressing a phone button. “Send Mr. Folsom in, Lester.”

He didn’t wait for a response, but she could still feel his eyes on her. They weren’t mad. He wasn’t angry at her, but he was something else. She couldn’t figure out what emotions he was experiencing, and she felt too scared to maintain eye contact with him, worried that her genuine feelings towards this man might be evident on her face.

Dwayne took ninety long seconds to get in there. Her husband burst through the doors like the room was on fire, and he was there to put out the flames.

“Mr. -“

The boss cut Dwayne off, his voice dripping with annoyance. “Don’t ever make another attempt to say my name. You may call me Mr. O, like everyone else who can’t pronounce it.”

Why did she want to laugh? Hearing Eledumare speak to Dwayne like a child felt good or someone talking down on Dwayne, since she never did.

“Sit down, Mr. Folsom, right here,” Eledumare ordered, nodding to the location.

Dwayne sat in the chair in front of the desk with his back to Iris. No one would know that the boss had just moved it to sit beside her. 

Iris also noted that the chairs in front of the desk were four feet away from it and a foot away from the taped area. The man needed to have people away from him or wanted this? What did he desire a lot of space for?

Peeking a little, Iris noticed Eledumare reach into a drawer and put something under his nose. She thought the action was just a little odd, but prior to it, he looked as if he was about to throw up.

“Don’t move that chair to look at your wife. I need you to look at me. Do you understand?” his boss demanded.

“Yes, sir.”

Dwayne’s submissive tone shocked her. The only other time was when she had eavesdropped on Dwayne and her father speaking and the way her father told Dwayne ‘the plan’ after Violet died.

“I must say, Mrs. Folsom is loyal to you. She takes her position as your wife exceedingly seriously, even though you don’t look like a man who would appreciate someone who would go above and beyond to earn such a woman. Or you don’t appreciate her.”

“I do,” Dwayne lied.

Iris couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“You’re lying,” Eledumare said.

Dwayne shifted in his chair. “No-“

His boss cut him off. “I said don’t look at her. Don’t worry. She’s being her obedient self behind you, just like you trained her.”

Dwayne sat straight in the chair and code-switched to his professional voice. “Mr. O, I don’t know what you mean.”

Eledumare slammed a fist on the desk in deadly gravity. “If you lie to me again, I’ll fire you instantly and make your life a living hell. I’m trying to give your stupid ass a chance, but you keep running that damn mouth.”

“Please, Dwayne,” Iris whispered.

Dwayne adjusted himself and nodded. 

Eledumare cocked his head a little, looking past her husband at her. “Mrs. Folsom said whatever questions I have, I will have to ask you. And I have a lot of questions. One, how long has she been doing your work for this company? When was the first assignment?”

Her husband took a moment, but he answered clear as day. “About five years ago, give or take.”

“That’s how you got that corner office?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And since then?”

“She comes at night, looks over all my stuff, and then does everything I need for the day.”

Eledumare leaned forward. Eledumare leaned forward, keeping his head cocked so he could see both of them. 

Iris could feel his eyes all over her. 

“Second question,” Eledumare said. “Why the fuck is she helping a barely out of high school low life like you?”

“I’m her brother-in-law,” Dwayne said, obviously.

Iris saw Eledumare flinch at Dwayne’s reference to her. Of course, she wasn’t Dwayne’s true wife. He’d never thought of her like that. Violet would always be his wife – whether alive or dead. Iris was just a placeholder to keep his company job and take care of the kid he didn’t want in the first place.

Dwayne continued, “I told her sister about the job and how much it was paying, and I wasn’t smart enough to keep it. Violet and her dad said that Iris knew all that shit from their momma, and she wasn’t doing anything with her life except being her father’s handmaiden and secretary.”

Iris closed her eyes for another moment to hide her feelings. A tightness in her chest rocked her hard enough for her to lean over. 

Deep breaths, she told herself. Just take deep breaths.

Dwayne continued, “Violet was like, Iris could do the work, get me a promotion until I could learn the ropes.”

“But you never did,” Eledumare surmised.

“I tried, Mr. O. I really did, but some of that shit… I mean those numbers. They were throwing all this work at me, and I could barely understand some of it, even when Iris tried to teach me. I tried.”

Iris remembered those long nights trying to teach him how to do things. Initially, that had been the plan, but it failed. Soon, it was easier to explain everything to Dwayne in layperson’s terms, so at least he could do presentations without letting people know he was an idiot.

Eledumare picked up the financial report. “Because the only way to understand something like this is to love something like this. It’s rare… and beautiful when someone can write a report as eloquently as your wife.” He sat back in his chair, looking at the report, Dwayne and then Iris. “You’re still getting fired, but it’s up to you how you want to get fired, Dwayne.”

Dwayne’s mouth dropped open, and he was about to look back at Iris, but then remembered what his boss had threatened.

“You can either accept a job as an office manager in Canada. I need someone to hire competent employees and get the office ready to take international orders. You can move there immediately, like tomorrow, while your wife works for me as my assistant. I’m in need of one.”

“I thought Lester was your assistant.”

“He’s the office assistant. I need a personal assistant to travel with me, help me with things, and so forth.”

“How long will I be in Canada?” Dwayne demanded. “Is it close enough to come home?”

“No,” Eledumare said quickly. “Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. About twenty-six hours’ drive from Detroit. I need you there for two years.”

“What about my kid?” Dwayne questioned. “Iris takes care of him. She’s like a mother to him.” 

Eledumare shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You can take the kid, or she can make arrangements when she has to go out of town. You’ll have the same salary, but I’ll be deducting down to your original hire amount from your check to pay part of the money you owe me, but you’ll have enough to live on, including benefits.”

“I can’t survive on that!” Dwayne balked.

Iris could only stare at the ground because she understood Eledumare’s reasoning.

“You’ve stolen close to four hundred thousand dollars from this company. You falsified information to obtain a job for which you were not qualified. That’s not including all the executive trips you’ve been on, the business meetings you went to and ate like a king, or all the bonuses you received,” Eledumare said. “I haven’t counted those expenses yet.”

She hadn’t known about the bonuses, and Dwayne told her he paid for those trips, which she had not gone on.

“Dwayne,” Iris said again quietly. “I can go back to work for my father at night to make extra money. We could sell the house, move in with my dad, and be okay until we pay off the debt.”

“Or,” Eledumare offered. “Dwayne, you could quit right now on your own. Say this meeting didn’t go as you had planned and walk out of here. No one has to know all the hard work she’s done to get you where you are today, but I still hire her. You’ll still never get a legitimate job in this city again. I pay her the lousy fourteen dollars an hour with benefits, and she works off your debt. Either way, I get my money, and I get her.”

Why did that make her heart flutter double-fold?

No, he only meant her office work. He didn’t want her… like that.

But last night…

Iris forced herself to pay attention to the present conversation. 

End of This Chapter | Post your thoughts in the comment | Let the author know what’s going on in your head

Let Me Love You (c) 2024 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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