Priceless Treasure

by Melody Anne

  And he’d been perfectly content to marry Kalli. She didn’t make him uncomfortable, with the exception of that shoe thing, and he’d had decent sex with her. She wasn’t someone he got all giddy about inside, but that wasn’t what he wanted.

  And now, in less than two weeks, Savvy had come along and turned his life into tatters. Who did she freaking think she was? He had half a mind to storm over to her boat — no, not her boat, his boat — and give her a piece of his mind. Or a piece of something.

  No, not in his best interest. Obviously. But he wasn’t exactly sure what was in his best interest. He had a clue, though, that the first step in being a hell of a lot healthier was to avoid his newest employee.

  He could do that. He was certain of it.

  Closing his eyes, Ashton spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. When the sun began rising and he wandered out onto his deck just in time to find Savvy sauntering along the dock and showing off that amazing derrière of hers, he sent a withering look her way. What in the world was she doing dressing the way she dressed?

  “Savvy,” he hollered, making her whirl around. She’d obviously thought she was alone, and anyone with any real savvy knew that assumptions brought disaster. Or dis-ASS-ter.

  Reluctance seemed to follow every step she took toward him, and that only put him in a worse mood. His mood hadn’t started out too well to begin with. She was about to receive the brunt of it. Or, in other words, she was cruising for a metaphorical bruising.

  “You slacked off yesterday. Don’t let it happen again or I’ll be left with no choice but to replace you.”

  Her mouth dropped, and she was obviously trying to figure out where this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde attitude was coming from. Why hadn’t he been able to stop himself?

  “I don’t understand, Mr. Storm. I did everything you told me to do,” she finally said.

  He couldn’t even stop himself now. “You’re moving too slowly, Ms. Mills. Other people shouldn’t have to pick up after you. Do you know what I’m going to say next?”

  “I have an idea. ‘Shape up or ship out’?”

  “Got it in one.”

  “I find that offensive.”

  Her irritation, which was now matching his own, didn’t bother him in the slightest. He’d rather have her irritated than hurt. For some reason he couldn’t stand the thought of hurting her, which was ridiculous.

  “I find it offensive when people don’t do their job.”

  She gasped at him, but he decided he’d caused enough damage for now. With a minor snort, he walked away without giving her another chance to respond. But he’d be damned sure to keep tabs on her work.

  Maybe she’d give him a reason to fire her. If only the thought of doing just that didn’t turn his stomach. Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! He kept using that word. But this woman was trouble. He’d known it from the first moment they’d met. And he still knew it.

  And yet he didn’t appear to be doing anything at all about it. That made him a fool, and that made him seriously unhappy.

  Damn them both.

  Chapter Eight

  Who was this guy? One moment he was carefree and laughing, joking, making out with her — okay, maybe she shouldn’t think about that last thing. But the next minute he was yelling at her and stern and threatening her job. She couldn’t figure him out.

  One thing she knew for sure, though, was that Ashton loathed her now. Savannah felt it in every fiber of her being. Some days he didn’t, but right now, he positively loathed her. She’d been working for him for two weeks and he had her doing every disgusting job known to man — and then some jobs probably unknown to anyone but the grunts of the world. And there were a lot of them.

  At least she was finally sleeping well. The water rocked her into a deep sleep each night. Well, if she had to be precise, she meant that she was lulled to sleep on the nights she didn’t have intimate conversations with Ashton when he changed back from the nice Dr. Jekyll into the scary Mr. Hyde.

  And so what if she was doing this sort of menial stuff? She could do any work as long as she got to be on the water. And if the stars all aligned just right, she was going to be out on the ocean on a beautiful cruise going to ports she’d never been to before. That kept her much more perky as she ran the large net through the water, picking up garbage that was floating in.

  “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  Savannah jumped when she heard the boisterous voice behind her. And she was mortified as she wiped sweat from her brow.

  “Hi, Mr. Storm. What are you doing down here?” she asked.

  He was with two men who looked so much like him. Interesting.

  “Aww, sweetie, why so formal?” Richard said, and he surprised her when he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

  “I, uh, I …” She didn’t know how to finish.

  “Call me Richard,” he told her. “I insist. And these handsome young men are my brothers, Joseph and George.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she said, touched by their winning smiles.

  “Not as much of a pleasure as it is for us,” said Joseph, who was the next to give her a bear hug. George then stepped in and swept her into his arms too, and Savannah didn’t know what to think. Her ribs might be cracked — a definite possibility. Were they trying to kill her with kindness? She wasn’t all that small, but these men were giants.

  “Let’s take a lunch break,” Richard told her. “I’m starving.”

  “Oh, I can’t go right now. I have to finish clearing this water.”

  “Nonsense,” Joseph said. “Everyone needs a break.”

  “What are you three doing down here?”

  The sound of Ashton’s voice sent a shiver down Savannah’s spine, as it always did, but she was getting much better at covering it up. She didn’t even turn to make eye contact with him this time. Take that.

  “We’re here to visit with Savannah,” Richard said to his son. “By the way, I don’t understand why you have her scooping up garbage. The woman has a master’s degree, for goodness sake.”

  Savannah’s cheeks flamed up.

  “I wasn’t complaining,” she assured her boss, finally looking at him. Dang it. Yep. There was the zap, the electricity, that she’d been trying to avoid.

  “Is there something wrong with a good day’s work?” Ashton asked her sharply.

  “I just said I don’t have a problem,” she snapped. “Of course, you’ve always done a good day’s work, haven’t you?”

  The glare he sent her should have been intimidating. Instead, all it did was make her want to push him into the water that she was busy cleaning up. But then that would just be another piece of garbage she had to scoop back out. Before he was able to answer her, Richard intervened.

  “This woman has too much class to complain,” Richard informed his son. “I’m the one who thinks her being out here in the hot sun doing menial tasks is a waste of her talents.”

  “Sorry if you feel that way, Dad, but I’ve done my fair share of crap work,” Ashton told him.

  Richard’s eyes bored into his son. “And do you still?” he asked. “And were you always that engaged in hard work? I seem to remember …”

  Savannah was curious about this change in topic. She really didn’t know much about Ashton. Was his dad insinuating that he’d once been lazy? Now that the focus was getting off her, the conversation was much more interesting.

  “I remember too,” Ashton said. But he obviously wasn’t going to mention his attitude toward work in his trust fund years, at least not in front of Savannah.

  “Then let’s see it,” George told his nephew. “If you help get this dang task done, we can take Savannah to lunch.”

  Ashton stared daggers at the three men before turning and shooting Savannah a warning look. She just gazed back in an I-can’t-stop-this expression.

  “Go to lunch,” he growled. “They won’t lay off me unless you do.”

  “I’m perfectly fine doing my job,” she tol
d her tormenter. “I don’t expect special treatment.”

  Ashton took a step closer. “I said, ‘Go to lunch,’ Savvy. Do you have a problem with following orders?”

  “No, boss, of course not.” Savannah probably couldn’t have injected any more sarcasm into her voice if she’d tried.

  “Good.” He turned to walk away.

  “We’re taking one of your boats over to Orcas Island and eating at the Loft at Madrona,” his father said. “You’ll join us, son, and captain the ride, of course.” Richard took Savannah’s arm and threaded it through his as he made his way toward Ashton’s favorite sailboat.

  “I have work to do, Dad. I don’t have time right now.”

  “Didn’t you just tell Savvy … I like that name, by the way, very fitting,” Joseph said. “Sorry. I got off track. But didn’t you just tell Savvy that there’s no use in arguing? Why in the world would you argue?”

  Ashton blew out a breath and rolled his eyes before deciding to follow them all. “Fine. But we can’t be out long,” he said with a heavy sigh.

  Savannah was in shock that he’d caved in so easily. He didn’t seem to be the type of guy to be pushed around. Then again, when faced with three giants, he was probably wise to just go ahead and do exactly what they wanted.

  “I love it when they behave,” Richard whispered in Savannah’s ear. “Don’t you?”

  She blushed another time and decided that dishonesty was the best policy. These men were way too overwhelming for a mild-mannered woman like her, so she didn’t reply.

  They boarded the most beautiful sailboat Savannah had ever stepped on. She was growing more uncomfortable by the minute, but she was stuck on this journey for now, so there was no use in being negative.

  Before long, they set sail to a nearby island, and Savannah kept to herself in the back of the ship while the men raised sails and helped Ashton get the boat from point A to point B and so on. She would have loved to help them, but either she, or all of them, would probably have ended up taking an unexpected dive into the water.

  She cursed her klutziness. It truly was a curse.

  Just as she was really beginning to enjoy their journey, Ashton slowed the boat and then they were pulling up to a dock. The restaurant wasn’t far away at all, so they strolled over to it.

  They got a table without any delay. As she sat down with the powerful Anderson and Storm men, she couldn’t help but think that she wasn’t worthy of being there with them. Her family was nothing like these men, nothing at all. If they knew the whole truth about her, she doubted they’d be so eager to take her to lunch. She’d come up from a poor, abusive family. Her present company knew nothing of that kind of life.

  But someday soon Savannah was determined to change her circumstances. She was going to have a doctorate, be a college professor doing a job she loved. She’d be making great money — relatively speaking, of course — and she’d get to play on the sea while doing research during the summers. Life didn’t get much better than that. Her poor, miserable roots could be left behind, where they belonged.

  “Are you enjoying working for Storm Adventures?” Richard asked her. “Apart from the fact that my son is forcing you to slave away under the hot sun.”

  Ashton said nothing as a waiter came and took their order for drinks. All the men were having a glass of wine, and she was thirsting for one, but unsure if she should go for the gusto. After all, she was the only one in the group who was technically still on the clock.

  “Have a glass of wine, Savvy. One glass isn’t going to make you inebriated or render you unable to do your job,” Ashton said when she looked in his direction.

  It was a bit creepy that he’d been able to read her thoughts.

  So when she ordered and the glass arrived, she picked it up and took a sip. It was delicious. But she most certainly would need to pace herself.

  “I love my job,” she told the men, and she concocted yet another bold lie in hopes they’d drop the subject. “I honestly like working in the sun. I’m so pale, it’s good to get some color.” In truth, her pale skin was turning red no matter how much sunscreen she applied, but she was only going to say positive things about her job. She was sick of getting the look from Ashton.

  Joseph snorted. “Red, except in wine, isn’t a great color when you’re burning at night,” he said. “I don’t think anyone truly enjoys baking all day long.”

  “I really do like it,” she lied again.

  “What other jobs do you have planned for Savvy?” George said to his nephew. “Your father already told you that she’s far too qualified for only grunt work.”

  “What I do with my employees is none of any of your business,” Ashton told them. “I don’t appreciate the interference, and I haven’t had any complaints so far. I treat my people well and pay them good wages. I’m providing free housing for Savvy, so I’d think she wouldn’t have anything to be ungrateful about.”

  “I don’t,” she said quickly before this heated up any further.

  “Humph. I think most of those tasks could be done by some of the young men you have running around out there,” Joseph said.

  “And what would you have Savvy doing?” Ashton asked.

  Before the men could answer, the waiter came again and took their orders. It was a tough choice, but Savannah decided on a Caesar salad and Cast Iron Scallops. Yum. She was used to scarfing down cold turkey sandwiches for lunch, processed turkey, and this was a real treat. But the rich food was bound to make her sluggish. She’d try not to eat it all.

  When the waiter left, the four of them began speaking again.

  “I don’t know. It’s not my company, as you so kindly pointed out,” Richard said.

  Savannah did very little of the talking as the conversation continued. And though the men seemed to be bickering, with barbs flying back and forth, she did notice that there was a lot of love between them all, too.

  She found it all highly entertaining — especially when the topic of conversation turned away from her. Soon, the food was there, yet the talking barely slowed. And before she knew it, her meal and wine were all gone, and her stomach was more than full. Yep, the rest of the day was going to be an ordeal.

  And it was, because by the time they were back at the docks, Ashton’s mood had never improved. Although Savvy didn’t consider herself a violent person, she was thinking about making an exception to her rule.

  Chapter Nine

  Thank goodness it was almost quitting time, because this day couldn’t get any more bizarre if a snowman came waddling down the pier and slapped her on the ass. Okay, that might be weirder than the day Savannah had had so far, but just a little bit.

  Three days had passed since her impromptu lunch with Ashton, and she’d begun to notice a pattern. A Twilight Zone pattern that she wanted nothing to do with. One day the man was almost … dammit, the only word she could come up with was sweet. But then the next, he was the asshole boss from hell.

  She never knew which side of the coin was going to land when he moved toward her. But there was only one more workday left in the week, and then finally she was going to get to see her sister. It was about time.

  So she could put up with just about anything for another day. She looked down at her watch, noted the time, and made a slight amendment — another day and fifty-three minutes. No big deal.

  But thirty minutes later, when she was putting away the cleaning supplies, she felt a sudden chill, and it had nothing to do with the breeze blowing in off the ocean. Savvy had no doubt that Ashton was standing within a couple of feet of her.

  Dang it! Another fifteen minutes and she would have been safe and sound and inside hiding on her temporary boat. But of course Ashton knew her schedule. If he wanted to seek her out, he was going to do it, whether she was on the clock or not.

  When she turned toward him, she almost drew back. Ashton normally wore shorts, polo shirts, or no shirt at all, and Disarray could have been one of his many middle names. The man ran his f
ingers through his lush head of hair more than any other person she knew.

  Yes, she’d seen him in a suit once, when he was with his bimbo fiancée on the night of the show, but it had been dark and she’d had a buzz going on, so she hadn’t gotten the full viewing pleasure. But right now, this man could be gracing the cover of GQ in a three-piece suit that made his shoulders appear a mile wide. Worse, his hair was brushed back, and his cheeks were tanned and firm. So freaking unfair! Why didn’t she have billionaire genes?

  She’d found him attractive before. Come on, she wasn’t dead. But standing before her in all his glory, he was absolutely mouthwatering. That wasn’t a thought she wanted to have about her bipolar boss.

  “You’re gaping at me, Savvy.”

  It took a moment for his words to penetrate her muddled brain. But with the accompanying arrogant smile now resting on his lips, his words computed and she grew instantly cranky.

  “I’m most certainly not.” Okay, maybe she could have come up with something a lot more biting than that. He’d caught her by surprise, though, and she was thinking ahead now for her next insult.

  “Why lie?” he asked with a shrug. “You obviously like a man in a suit. Had I known, I might have worn one more often.”

  This time her mouth really was hitting the floor, but she managed to snap it shut. She didn’t normally lack in intelligence, and it really bit her on the butt that she’d turned stupid in this man’s presence. What in the world was wrong with her? She didn’t like him, and besides that, she wasn’t one of those girls who went all googly-eyed when they found a man attractive. Or at least she’d never been one of those girls.

  “Is there something you wanted?” she asked at last when no stinging comebacks came to mind.

  “Nope. I was just passing this way and thought I would say hi,” he said after his eyes trailed from her head to her toes and then back up.

  The pig didn’t even try to hide his leering.

  “Seriously, Ashton, are you this crude with every woman you’re around?” she asked when he met her eyes again.