Once the appetizer was put together, Hadley returned with it to the den, where she placed it next to the whisky. She wondered when he would be out of the bath. Just then, she saw the book that she had borrowed.
“Damn it,” she said under her breath. She was getting too comfortable. This was her livelihood, and she needed the job to last if she was going to pay the bank.
She ran across the room, swooped up the book, and tiptoed towards Jack’s room.
As she slipped through the door, and crossed the bedroom floor as softly as she could, she listened intently for any sign of movement from the bathroom.
She placed the book on his nightstand, just as she had found it, when a sound came from the master bath, like someone moving out of the water. She sped her steps, nearly running, but trying to stay silent.
When she was still several feet from the exit, she heard the bathroom door open. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she froze in her tracks. She turned slowly, trying not to look too guilty.
Thoughts flew through her mind as to what excuses she could make for her presence in his bedroom, but her mind went blank when she saw him standing in front of her.
He wore a small towel around his waist, and his body was dripping with water. He was fit -- and not just slightly. He was movie star fit; pro athlete fit. His body was ripped, toned, and breathtakingly gorgeous.
Seeing him in person in that was completely different than seeing his blurred biceps on the pages of the Millennial, and trying to imagine the chest that they connected to. Now, he stood before her nearly naked, and all she could do was stare.
She felt her bottom lip lying slack, and had to apply all of her willpower to sculpt her mouth back together and finally avert her eyes.
Holy shit, he has the body of a God, she thought. How have I not noticed this before?
She glanced back at him, letting her eyes travel up his six-pack abs, past his muscular chest and shoulders, and up to his face.
He was grinning, in that way he often did when he saw her. It was a barely-there grin, almost imperceptible. But with the addition of a slight twinkle in his usually analytical eyes, Hadley could pick up on the fact that he was amused by her.
“I’m -- Excuse me,” she managed. “I shouldn’t be in here.”
“No,” he said, the slight turn to his lips not leaving. “You shouldn’t be. But since you are, could you bring me a drink? I could really use one. We skied ten thousand vertical feet today.”
“Yes,” Hadley said. “Yes, of course. Is that a lot? A lot of skiing? I don’t ski,” she added.
“It’s a lot, for these mountains,” said Jack. “They’re steep and rugged. You have to earn your turns. We have to hike up for every foot we want to ski down.”
“Hike, up? In your skis?”
“It’s called skinning,” he said, chuckling. “I’d better put some clothes on now, if you don’t mind.”
“Oh my god, sorry. Yes.” Hadley stole one more look at his gorgeous body before bustling out of the room.
She tried to take deep breaths as she went to the den to collect his drink and appetizers. Picking up the tray, she crossed back towards his bedroom.
As she did so, she hesitated. Will he come out, once he is dressed? He did ask for the drink. Should I go in?
Hadley was not sure.
Jack had warned her that the job was relatively simple, and she had to admit that she’d never been paid so much per hour to do something so completely easy. But situations like this were completely foreign to her. She had trouble reading her elusive and private boss, and she found that she could not judge whether she should knock on the door, walk in and place the food down, or wait for him to exit.
Finally, she lifted her fist and knocked.
“Come in,” he said.
Hadley entered, and closed the door behind her.
He was sitting in a chair, by a window. He’d picked up his book, and when Hadley entered he set it down. He looked at her carefully.
“Your drink,” Hadley said, handing it to him. Their fingers brushed as she handed it to him, and she felt a tingle run up her arm and down to the open toes of her black pumps. “And an appetizer. I asked the chef to make it for you, as an apology for being late with your drink.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Jack said. “But thank you. Do you know how to start a fire by any chance?” He sipped the whisky and motioned towards the fireplace. “I’d like one started, if you can manage it.”
“I’ll try,” Hadley said. She moved towards the fire, bending at the knees as she removed the grate and began studying the wood that was left in it. The wood was only partially burned, and she saw some more logs in a stack to her left. A lighter was hanging from a hook on the wall nearby, and she reached up and grabbed it, and then returned to her knees.
“You look different,” she heard Jack murmur, from his seat at the chair.
She looked up.
He was sipping his whisky and staring at her thoughtfully.
“I do?” Hadley tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear, and looked up, through her bangs, towards Jack. He had changed into soft, navy pants and a tight fitting grey tee shirt. She felt strange kneeling before him in the formal attire, while he was dressed so informally.
“Your eyes,” he said. “You did something with your eyes. It looks good.”
Hadley turned back to the fire, and flicked the lighter. She held the tip of it towards the base of the pile of logs, where she’d placed a small firestarter. It caught quickly, and flames flickered upwards, licking the edges of the new and half charred logs that she had placed on it.
*****
Jack watched the woman before him kneel in front of the fire. He felt himself stirring with arousal as the flames caught and bathed her in a soft glow.
She looked just as beautiful here as she had in the New York Den, and he continued to savor her shape, her curves, and her stunning features whenever she wasn’t looking at him. He felt the familiar knot in his stomach, the growing anticipation.
He had been forcing himself to wait.
The wait was just as important as the fuck, and he enjoyed the sense of need, and desire that coursed through him when he thought of what was coming. The moment that was nearing. The uncertainty of whether or not she would be open to a physical relationship.
She could refuse him, and that sent a rush of adrenaline through him when he thought of it. It was so rare that he was around a woman who wasn’t throwing herself at him.
She was so different.
At first he enjoyed her nervousness, and the soft, naive way she had wandered through the club. He enjoyed the way she didn’t hit on him, didn’t attempt to seduce him.
As the days passed in the Patagonia cottage he found that he enjoyed the way she had relaxed. He liked watching her face as she peered through the windows, up at the snowy mountains. He loved watching her become more comfortable in the sexy outfit he had required her to wear.
Tonight, there was something entirely new about her.
He knew the moment that he had seen her, there in his bedroom as if delivered to him in a bow-wrapped package, that he had to have her. She looked damn sexy. Sexier than usual -- and it was her confidence that did it. This much he was sure of.
For the first time since he’s seen her in that get up, she finally owned it.
Owned herself.
He found it irresistible.
He sipped his drink, watching her in the firelight.
The anticipation of what might happen between them was delicious -- as delicious as the aged whisky in his crystal cut glass.
How would he do it?
How did he want this to happen?
How could he draw it out… make the wait last as long as possible?
How would she react?
He smiled, thinking about what he wanted to do to her.
*****
Hadley felt his eyes on her as she replaced the grate. The fire was roaring, and it tossed heat out
into the room.
“Is there anything else?” she asked.
“That will be all,” he said. Hadley felt her heart beating in her chest as she left the bedroom, and pressed the door closed. She pressed her back against the wall, breathing heavily.
She almost thought that he’d been about to ask her to… she wasn’t sure what… pleasure him? Strip for him? She didn’t know.
But she recognized the hooded look to his eyes, and the way he was watching her.
All of this… the outfit, the way he invited me here, all the way from New York… it couldn’t be just to serve him meals. Could it?
And what would she do if he asked for more?
The image of his nearly naked body flitted through her mind, and she felt herself heat up as if the fire was right in front of her again.
What would he feel like?
What would his skin feel like against hers?
Was she crazy to even imagine it?
She felt frozen against the wall, paralysed with confusion. The moment in the bedroom had been so tense… so full of unspoken desire. And she felt sexy -- sexier than she had felt in years. What did it mean?
The door at her side opened, and Hadley looked to her left.
He was standing there, the drink gone from his hand. She met his eyes with her own, the question pouring through her soul: What? What do you want from me?
He stepped forward, and placed a hand on the wall, near her head. He was only inches from her now. “I want something from you, Hadley,” he said, his voice low and deep as it met her ear. “I need something from you.”
“What?” Hadley said. It was so good to verbalize the question on her heart. What do you want from me? She felt as though she’d die if he merely asked for a second drink. Her knees were weak as she looked intently into his eyes, searching them for an answer.
“I want to kiss you, Hadley Wilder,” he whispered. “Would that be okay with you?”
She felt feeble as she broke his gaze and looked down.
She nodded, her breath shallow as she felt heat emanating from his body. She felt his strong hands touch her chin, lightly, and tilt it upwards. She closed her eyes, and felt her breath moving slightly over her lips, little miniature whispers of air, in and out.
Soon this mingled with a second movement of air, and she felt heat draw nearer, and sense that his lips were about to touch hers. She could not open her eyes as he held her chin, his lips a hairsbreadth from hers. She felt herself tremble with desire, and finally his lips were on hers, moving gently.
She felt herself giving into the kiss, meeting his movements with her own. His fingers left her chin, and traveled so that they were cupping her face, his thumb stroking her hair.
Hadley surrendered into the kiss, and became lost to his touch. His hand left her face, and traveled down, over the strap to the dress. She felt herself press her breasts into him, and was aware the longing she felt for him to touch her breasts. His hand lingered on the strap of her dress, and she felt him begin to pull it down, off of her shoulder. She deepened her kiss, letting him know that she it was all right-- that she was his to disrobe.
She lifted her hands, so that they were around his back, and she felt him lean in, pressing against her. His body was warm, beneath the thin material of his tee shirt and lounge pants. She moved her hands up and down his back, and he pressed into her more. When he pulled away, she was breathless.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” Jack said, almost as breathless as she. She stayed against the wall as he disappeared into his room, her heart racing.
The hallway, the cabin, the very world felt completely different.
What just happened? she thought, desperately trying to ground herself before she floated away into a sea of daydreams about the handsome billionaire. Am I imagining this? She ran a hand through her hair. That was the best kiss of my life. He is the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on. I am in his cabin, in Patagonia.
Where is this leading? If I allow him to kiss me like that, where do I draw the line?
Do I want to draw the line at all?
Dinner was a tense affair, and Hadley served him without meeting his eye.
When it was finally over, she returned to her room upstairs.
She allowed herself to think over the kiss -- the way his lips felt on hers. She imagined the way his body looked in just the small towel.
In her fantasy he hadn’t dressed at all, but kissed her instead while he wore the towel. As she thought of the way his body would feel, she imagined what it would be like to do more than merely kiss.
She imagined what it would have felt like to lie down on his bed, and to have him take off the towel and climb in next to her.
Thoughts of his hands on her breasts, in her hair… his lips on hers and his body moving against her excited her, and she began to pleasure herself as she imagined the scene. Her pleasure mounted and she climaxed before drifting into sweet dreams of the billionaire in the room below her.
Chapter 5
The next morning when Hadley awoke, she was excited to get dressed and see Jack. She longed for him to kiss her like that again. It was their fourth day in Patagonia, and she knew that the trip was only scheduled to be five days.
Instead of thinking about leaving, she faced the day with determination to be open and appreciate what came to her, rather than resist it.
The feeling of excitement, attractiveness, and desire that had engulfed her the night before stayed with her, and she enjoyed the way it carried her forwards. She felt as she imagined a surfer might, riding a powerful wave.
She dressed with care and appreciated the way her body looked in the mirror. Sunlight was streaming through the windows to the small guest room, and she liked the way it played off of her honey colored highlights.
I look beautiful, she thought as she swept a shimmering neutral shade across her eyelids, and placed pins in her hair so that it was partially held up. I feel beautiful.
The cabin was filled with light, and as she floated down the stairs into the kitchen the smell of fried bacon, coffee, eggs and fresh croissants intermingled to create a symphony of goodness. The chef was in a good mood, and sang as he loaded a plate for Jack.
Hadley carried it into the den, where Jack usually took his breakfast.
Jack stood as she entered the room, and to Hadley’s surprise he walked to her and took the plate from her hands.
“It smells delicious,” he said, returning to his chair. “Sit with me and eat. I’ll have the butler bring coffee. Do you drink coffee?”
Hadley found herself unable to decline his offer. Once again his assured voice washed over her, just as it had when he hired her. She felt as if she was hypnotized by the deep tones.
“Yes,” she managed, sitting in a chair at his side. “I do drink coffee.”
“Good,” Jack said. He walked to the door and she heard him speaking to the butler. When he crossed the room he walked towards her. Hadley felt breath catch in her throat as he leaned forwards and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. She met his eyes and saw that familiar twinkle there.
He is enjoying this, she thought, as he returned to his seat. I can too.
She felt herself relax.
“So,” he said, reaching for a croissant. “I thought we could take a drive, today. If you’re interested.”
“You’re not skiing?”
“No,” he said. “Not today. El Calafate is beautiful, and only a two hour drive from here. I thought we could go and do some sightseeing.”
“That is kind,” said Hadley. “But I am not here for sightseeing. I am here to work. You don’t have to do that.”
At that moment, the butler arrived with a second plate and utensils for Hadley. He also brought two glasses of orange juice, a carafe of coffee, sugar, cream, and two white mugs.
Hadley watched nervously as the butler set everything down. She felt self-conscious for being seated with the billionaire.
What does the butler think? she wo
ndered. And why do I care? The butler seemed unaffected by her situation, and that made her wonder if he’d known it was inevitable the whole time. Maybe Jack did this often with staff from the states. A bitter feeling of jealously unraveled over her, and she felt herself leaning away from the man who moments ago she had been openly attracted to.
Jack seemed to sense that she was cooling off. As the butler left he leaned forward and poured coffee into a mug.
He held it out to her. “Enjoy,” he said. She sensed he was talking not about the coffee, but was referring to what was happening between them.
Hadley took the steaming mug carefully, averting her eyes while she accepted it. “Do you do this often?” she asked. “Take staff to your cabins, and kiss them?”
“Does that matter?” he asked. “Does it make you feel upset?”
Hadley thought a moment. “I’m not used to...” She struggled to find the right words, and her thoughts tumbled over her ex-boyfriend, the man who she’d hoped to marry. Since then she hadn’t been in relationships. There had been so much going on, with Schuanne’s condition, and then managing the business on her own.
There was no time for relationships, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted one, either.
It had been so hard to lose love, and she had felt so guilty.
So selfish.
So incapable of making anyone happy.
Jack was pouring his own cup of coffee, and watching her.
“I’m not used to having this kind of… well.” She knew she couldn’t call it a relationship. It was far from a normal relationship as she was used to defining the word. “This kind of… encounter… I suppose. I mean, I’ve never worked at this kind of a job… never thought I’d be dealing with --”
Jack’s grin widened. Hadley wondered what it was about her awkward floundering that made him so amused. As she watched him try to suppress his smile she grew annoyed.
“What?” she asked. “Is there something about a confused woman that makes you feel happy?”
“You’re only confused in your head. Just let your body decide. Don’t make this so complicated.” He winked at her. This only angered Hadley more, and her annoyance tipped over into anger.
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