A Piece of Me

A Piece of Me

Yvette Hines

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as
real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in
print without written permission by the author.

A Piece of Me

Copyright © 2011, Yvette
Hines

Cover Artist: Antwan
Williams

Editor: Andrea Jackson

Proofer: P.A.

ISBN 978-1-4658-3639-7

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Dedication

To my husband, family,
friends and my readers, thank you all for your kindness and
support. This has been a year of many changes and when I looked up
and saw the faithful people standing around me, I knew I was
blessed.

Other Titles by
Yvette

Santa’s Helper

Speed Dating

The Marriage Clause

One Reckless Night

Holiday Affair

Take This Man

Golden Treasure

Ho, Ho, Ho and a Dom

Bet on a Mistletoe

Making the Man

Lady Justice

Trusting St. Nick

Shot at Love

Internet Rebound

Timberon Cat Series

Apprehension Series

Designed for Love (Reignited
Anthology)

We Go Together (Summer Lovin’
Anthology)

The Club

Chapter 1

“
What day are we looking at
for the celebration?” Amana’s pen scratched across her legal pad as
she made notes and continued with her thoughts, “I will need at
least two dates in order to reserve the usual hall we use. The
caterer and the DJ shouldn’t be a problem. We haven’t used them in
a while, but we’ve given them so much business in the past that
they should accommodate any date we give them.”

Neal waited until his personal
assistant lifted her head, her shoulder length black hair layered
around her face showcasing her dark brown eyes, before he declared,
“I don’t want a party.”

Her hand that hovered above the tablet
in the leather folder lowered and rested onto the paper covered
with her neat handwriting. He had given her the folder on her one
year anniversary working with him. He picked it out personally and
had it engraved with her name. It had been the first of many thanks
that he owed her.

“
Mr. Stephens, we always
have a party when the sales increase. The shareholders look forward
to it.”

Which Neal knew translated to his
employees, because he had always ensured that every person that
worked for him was a shareholder in his company. He believed that
people gave their all when they were invested in the outcome. It
had worked… to a degree.

“
I don’t give a damn what
they expect!” Neal tossed the pen in his own hand to his desk and
got up, walking to the large picturesque window that allowed him to
see across Charlotte’s City Center, all the way to the Lowes
Speedway in the distance. His company was nowhere near the tallest
building in the city, but the revenue he brought to the state could
in no ways be overlooked. In the fifteen years since he’d started
his government software security business, he had attained power
and clout in his hometown. No one wanted to be protected more than
city, state and federal officials.

“
I don’t understand…”
Amana’s voice reached him from where she still sat before his
desk.

He knew he’d shocked her. He’d always
prided himself on being a generous employer. As a CEO, of security
a software company, he’d taken care of business in every level that
was important: equal pay, health benefits, shares, on-site fitness
center, annual raises, fifty percent daycare reimbursement and much
more. But, all of those things had only given him loyalty on
paper.

“
What’s so hard to
understand that they should be happy with the dividends they’ll
get?” Shoving his hand in his pocket, he turned and looked at
her.

Amana’s normally elegant features were
drawn in confusion. “Nothing, sir.” In a blink, she relaxed every
muscle and took on the appearance of an efficient
assistant.

He’d disappointed her and that
knowledge caused the lunch still digesting in his stomach to sour
and weigh like a ton inside of him. With a sigh, he crossed the
room and placed a hip on the corner of his desk, resting his
clasped hands on the raised thigh. “Tell me, Amana, why should I
feel benevolent to managers and VPs who a year ago were all too
busy fighting over my position while I lay in the hospital and
almost destroyed my company with all the in-fighting? I was dying
and none of them thought of anything but themselves. I wasn’t a
passing thought in anyone’s mind.”

“
You were in mine.” Her
voice was barely above a whisper, but it struck him deep in his
core.

But her words weren’t a shock to him.
This was something he knew in both thought and physical reality. “I
know.” Looking away, he glanced out of his top office window
again.

Almost a year ago, he’d crashed his
private jet, barely walking away with his life. After a heated
argument with his then current girlfriend about why he wouldn’t
propose to her after five years, he’d driven to the private airport
and taken off in his jet. He should never have been behind the
wheel of a car in the state he was in, let alone up a
cockpit.

Paulette had thrown one accusation
after another into his face when he attempted to postpone their
expected engagement for another year. She’d stormed out of his
house and he’d been five minutes behind her and jumped into his own
car.

It may have been a summer day, but
warnings had been going out all day about unexpected thunderstorms
on the horizon. However, his mind hadn’t been clear enough to make
a rational decision at that time. It had been cluttered with images
that were created by Paulette’s words. At the time of the argument,
he hadn’t been able to deny them so he’d refused to talk about
them.

The last thing he recalled was the
fast moving black clouds surrounding him. He’d awaken in the
hospital three weeks later, memories of his descent gone. He
discovered that he’d made it close to the airport, but his plane
had crashed in a field a mile away. During moments of lucidity,
doctors had told him about the destruction his reckless actions had
caused to his body: a broken femur, two broken wrists, four
fractured ribs, a severely lacerated kidney and multiple bruises
and a concussion. In surgery they had placed pins in his body,
reset bones, dislodged shrapnel and removed one of his
kidneys.

He would have mended and healed fine,
going on to have a healthy, active life until an infection set into
his remaining kidney. Still damaged from the accident, his body
hadn’t been able to fight and even though they had removed the
infection, sooner or later he would have ended up on dialysis. He
had needed a donor.

The members of his family, who had
been a match, had been too old to donate. None of his friends or
business associates had even been tested. But Amana had. It still
amazed him that she had bravely gone under the knife for him.
Without a doubt, she had probably saved his life.

With those memories in his head, he
returned his gaze to hers. “That’s why I’d prefer to celebrate this
success with you.” He pushed off the desk and rounded it. “I’ve
never really had the chance to thank you for the kidney and all
your support; rehab, personal errands and everything else in the
six months I’ve been back to work.”

Suddenly shy, she glanced down for a
moment as she always did when he attempted to show his gratitude.
“I don’t need thanks. I was happy to help.” Smiling she looked up
at him. “I’m not an organ donor for nothing.”

He chuckled and resumed his seat
behind his desk. This was a constant debate between them. “Yes, but
most people expect that will happen after they die. You, however,
stepped up to the plate while you still needed what was inside of
you to live.”

“
Not true. A person can
survive and have a very productive life on one healthy kidney.” She
waved her hand between them, both of them living proof of her
words.

“
Touché,” he agreed. She
always won with the final point, but he wasn’t going to let her
slip out of him doing something to thank her. “You win, again. But,
I still want to take you out to dinner. This last six months has
been hard work getting this company back on firm ground and showing
a profit after my board had set it on a sinking course, a lot of
long hours, weekends and early mornings, Amana. How many times have
you found yourself sitting beside me in business class heading off
to one meeting after another as I negotiated deal after
deal?”

She crossed her long, toned legs and
Neal couldn’t help but watch the movement. He was a sucker for
women’s legs in sexy sheer stockings. Amana’s legs were some of the
sexiest. At six three, not many women met him eye to eye, but Amana
did. In her three inch heels she wore to work, she frequently
strutted down the hall beside him taking notes, mirroring him in
height. She may have been tall, but her build never let anyone see
her as anything but a woman. He wasn’t one of those bosses that
chased their secretaries around the desk or who pinched their asses
every time they bent over. But his personal assistant was a
beautiful woman and more than a few times he’d caught himself
admiring her body.

Nothing had ever come close to
happening between them. She had been newly married when she started
working with him five years ago. Once her husband had died, Neal
had already been in a long term relationship and she needed time to
heal. Besides, he had excellent radar that spotted women who found
him attractive or wanted to sleep with him. Amana never put out any
of those vibes, so it had been easy to respect the boundaries of
their working relationship.

“
It’s my job, Mr.
Stephens.”

“
Yeah, but you did it
without complaint.”

“
What else was there for me
to do…?”

Her voice faded away and he noticed
the same shadow that occasionally clouded her eyes when he’d ask
her if she had any plans before he requested her to stay late or
give up a weekend to be across the country with him. Two years ago,
Amana’s husband had died of a rapid spreading colon cancer. Neal
assumed that it was her grief of losing Kevin that still saddened
her. Hell, it had been two years and she’d never even dated anyone
else as far as he knew.