First Class Male

 Chapter 2 Not having her life run by a clock, Rachel didn’t need to be up any earlier than her body desired. Never a morning person, she enjoyed the opportunity to make breakfast her noontime meal, which was why she was more than a little irritated when her phone rang at nine-thirty.“Rachel? It’s Alex, from the post office.”At the sound of his voice, she was wide awake.“Alex?” she tried not to sound as if he had just awakened her.“Did I wake you?” Apparently, she hadn’t succeeded. “I’m sorry, but you have a special delivery package here that needs your signature.”Rachel felt as if he could see her through the phone cord, and she pulled the covers over her skimpy nightie.“Uh, ok,” she said, “I can be there in an hour.”“That’s why I was calling. I have to take another delivery out your way

At twelve o’clock sharp, Alex locked the lobby door and turned off the lights. Usually, he’d stay in the office a bit late in case someone needed to buy some stamps or get mail past closing, but today was not a usual day. He changed out of his uniform and stopped by the corner market to pick up what he needed for lunch. It seemed silly to pay for flowers when there were plenty of free ones everywhere, but he did it anyway. Alex put the roses and the bags of groceries in his truck along with the magazines, bills and other mail he would personally deliver to Rachel. On top of the pile, he placed a large envelope from Prelude Press that was marked URGENT.Rachel spent most of the morning cleaning her cabin and talking to her agent. Usually she’d spend her Saturdays sleeping till ten and shopping at the local stores, but today was not a usual day. Sandra called at eight to discuss several amendments to the contracts and they had gone over every line word by word

It only took Rachel an hour and a half to reach her apartment in Manhattan and another twenty minutes to find a parking spot. Living in the city, she didn’t own a car and searching for a place to park the one she rented was one of the reasons why. New York in July was not a place anyone would call pleasant, but the people Rachel lived and worked with were not at all like the stereotypical New Yorkers who were known for their nastiness and snobby behavior. Even in the heat and humidity, the doorman gave her a smile as Rachel entered the building. She checked her watch and found that she still had plenty of time to relax and change before her meeting. But first, she wanted to fill out the postal form on Alex’s behalf. She had no difficulty writing a highly complementary letter, based on what she had seen earlier, but she still embellished the facts, just a little. Rachel didn’t want anyone in the postal service to know she had written the letter. They might not take it serious

Alex tried to concentrate on the employee applications his fellow postmaster Richard Drew had put in front of him, but the pages were a blur. “Sorry, Richard. I didn’t get much sleep last night. These all look pretty good to me.” They all look pretty much the same to me, he thought. “I don’t know why you need my help picking a clerk.” “Actually, Alex, this was just an excuse to get you out of the office. You spend way too much time behind that desk. How about her?” Alex read the file Richard handed him. “Cynthia Anderson? What’s so special about her?” “Her entire family are all employees of the postal service. Her dad worked his way up from letter carrier to postal supervisor and was promoted a few years ago to head the maintenance contracts division, and her mother manages all the computer systems for the entire state of New York. Cynthia aced the postal exam with a perfect score. She’s not the typical college kid looking for some eas

“That sonovabitch! That lying bastard!” As soon as Rachel returned to her cabin, she began tossing clothes into her suitcase. Every item she packed was accompanied by a series of very loud curses, aimed at the, fortunately absent, Alex Bentley. “He knew,” She yelled at the laundry. “All these weeks. He acted so innocent, when he was the one who did it. God, how could I have been so stupid?" Rachel grabbed the suitcase and headed out to her car. Even though she didn’t have to be back in the City until after the weekend, there was no way she was going to spend one more night anywhere near Alex Bentley. She was about to close the trunk when she saw headlights coming up her driveway. Instinctively, she knew those headlights were attached to a very familiar truck, and she also knew she didn’t want to have anything to do with the driver of that truck. Not bothering to turn off the headlights or the engine, Alex jumped out of the truck and