by K. L. Jessop
“Marcus, he’s the guy.”
“What guy?”
“Jesus Christ, Megan, keep up,” I sigh. “Mr Matthews is the guy. The guy I kissed, the one who brought me flowers. He’s. The. Guy!”
Her eyes spring wide and her mouth drops open, it’s not often Megan is speechless, I feel exactly the same on the inside right now. “Whoa really? Check you out hitting it off with the local rich boy.” She grins nudging my shoulder. My chest starts to tighten and palms sweat as panic sets in. Megan like always clocks it straight off and grabs my arm. “Babe, you really need to stop freaking out. Everything will be fine.”
To make me even more on edge, Marcus sits directly opposite me for the rest of the meeting, never taking his gaze away which only heightens my nerves and frustration to point of overload. As soon as the meeting was over, I was out the door in a flash. The more he stared the more I did, and the more I did the more irritated I become with the fact he’s taken a hold on me that I never wanted him to grasp onto.
Chapter Seven
Amelia
I pace my office floor like a crazy airhead thinking about Marcus and that I’m likely to now see him every-fucking-day. Now what? Which is likely to encourage him to be around me more. Then what? If only I had just stayed in. Curled up on the sofa and watched shit TV whilst munching on a family size bag of pretzels, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have encountered his sexy charm and I certainly wouldn’t have the mixed feelings like I have right now. Angry, hurt, confused. It’s all going on. Most women would have just thought ‘fuck it’ and moved on, not let it bother them. Probably even got off on the thrill of kissing the shit out their panty-melting boss. But I’m not like most women. Trust is like glass-easy to break, impossible to put back together. I’ve learned the hard way and even the slightest thing of not telling me who he truly was, hurts. I was still striding out my frustration when the office door opened and Marcus casually strolls in like he owns the place. Oh wait, I forgot-He does!
“Afternoon, beautiful.”
“You lied!” I shot at him.
The corners of his mouth tick in amusement as he stands with his hands in his pockets.
“Nooo, I just didn’t tell you who I actually was.” His cockiness only infuriates me more as he stands there with his care free fucking attitude.
“How the hell is that any different? I told you who I was, where I worked. I asked you what form of business you were in. You said you dealt with properties, Marcus. You. Lied.”
He straightens, taking his hands out his pockets to tap them as he spoke. “I said my name was Marcus-fact. I also said I was here on business-fact. I own properties, Amelia-fact, this Hotel and Rubies being two of them. You never asked and I never told. Where’s the lie?”
My jaw hit the floor with his statement. “Rubies? You also own Rubies? Oh my god now it all makes sense. Anything else on your list you failed to tell me?”
“Believe it or not I own a house too.” He smirks. His cockiness of trying to win me over is doing nothing for me.
I can’t think straight. I turn from him, overlooking the shore from my window and rest my hands on the desk. I feel his eyes burn into me from the other side of the room before he’s up behind me; I straighten folding my arms as he steps close trapping me against the oak desk. My heart races with his proximity, butterflies take flight in my belly as his hot breath brushed over my neck, lowering his voice and dancing his fingertips over my hips. “Have dinner with me, we can talk.”
My head falls into my hand as the sarcastic laugh leaves my throat. Is he for real? ”No.”
“Why not? You said you would before you kissed me.”
I turn quickly, causing him to step back. My confidence climbing like I’ve never known it before as I stood in front of this beautiful beast of a man. “That was then and I was drunk. I may have seemed like a desperate woman to you then, Marcus, but believe me I’m anything but.”
“You often kiss the shit out of men when drunk?”
If looks could kill he’d be on the floor right now. As much as it was slipping away from me and his presence were causing my body to react in the way I didn’t want, I couldn’t let my guard down. I had to fight, if I’ve learnt anything from my history with men it’s not to let them walk all over you. Lifting my head and look directly into his hazel eyes. “My first rule of business, never get involved with employees.”
“I don’t work here, Amelia, I just own the buil-”
“You have an office with your name on the door, you work here.” His powerful eyes suddenly begin to make me uncomfortable, I slide passed him needing space. “My second rule. Never lie, to which you’ve failed already. You could have prevented that by telling me straight.”
He sighs and cocks a brow, clearly enjoying every second of my flustered state. “And is there a third in this rule game of yours?”
“Yeah-” I stride over and open the door, raising arm length to hold it while my other hand places my hip “-with all due respect, Mr Matthews, this maybe your building but this is still my office. Close the door on your way out.”
Ok so that’s technically not a rule.
He takes two strides towards the door and I’m feeling a little triumphant that I’ve won this battle, only it’s short lived when he slams it shut and thrusts me against it, our lips a breath apart as he locks his eyes on mine, placing his arms either side of my head to cage me in. My body stiffens instantly. His voice low, “Do you have any idea how sexy you are when flustered? The way your neck turns every shade of pink and your eyes dart everywhere.”
“It’s people like you that make me flustered.”
His brows furrow as his eyes search over my face. “Do I intimidate you, Amelia?”
“What do you want from me?” I whisper in a rush.
He studies me for a few seconds before he speaks. “I have rules too. First I never lie. Giving you wrong information about me and not telling you the whole truth are two completely different things altogether. And second, I go out with who I want regardless of who they are or where they work. You intrigue me, Amelia, there’s something about you I want.”
“You’re a man. All you want is a free pass to a woman’s panties.” I hiss. My mind is in spirals from his words and the proximity is too much. My own panties are most likely ruined as my body fails me from loving every goddamn part of this. I’m craving his lips to touch mine. To whisk me away from normality just like they did the first time.
“If a free pass was on offer right now, I’d rather have it to get to know you. I think you’d want that too. To be freed from whatever lies behind those eyes.”
“You don’t know anything about me!” I snap. My legs now quivered as my body fought hard against my emotions. I’m clearly easier to read than I thought and if he knows of my want for freedom what else does my body language tell him.
“I know enough. I want to know the real Amelia Weston,” he murmurs as I swallow down the ball of tears that’s on the verge of spilling.
“Well you’re out of luck. She fucked off a long time ago.”
“Then I’ll do whatever it takes to find her.” My guard finally falls the moment his lips touched mine, and just like before that unexpected shock shot through my body as the gentle whispers of his finger caress my neck, making the hairs stand tall. His velvet tongue playing with mine caused my insides to melt and butterflies to soar. Every fragment of dread vanished in an instant just like it did the very first time I laid eyes on him at Rubies. Consuming my every thought with a feeling I don’t recognise. A feeling I don’t understand.
“You really need to go.” I whisper.
He runs his thumb along my bottom lip, sweeping it over the scar on my chin and studying it before flicking his eyes back to mine that are now glassed over with unshed tears. “I’m not giving up on you that easily, Amelia. I want and will get to know you, however long it takes.” With that he’s gone leaving me a hot mess and wondering how the hell I’m going to
get out of this stupid situation I’ve got myself into.
***
“I kissed him again!” I announced, bursting through Megan’s door.
All I get is a huge grin before she removes her outstretched body from the sofa and comes to place a kiss on my cheek. “I’ll get the Tequila,” she whispers, leaving me standing in the oversized room.
I plonk myself down on the sofa as she hands me a drink. Looking up at the ceiling like I always did when my head needed to focus. Megan’s house is amazing, all open planned and stylish; originally belonging to her uncle before he moved abroad. It was rented out as her parents aren’t beach lovers and her brother Lucas worked away. Her neighbours were thrilled when she moved in as the previous tenants were a bit of a rowdy bunch, so having a young respectable member of the Simmons family take on the premises they welcomed her in with open arms. I’d love to know their opinion now as she’s one for causing her own rowdiness.
“So, what are you going to do about Marcus?” she questions, joining me and curling her legs behind her.
“Nothing.” I lean into the armrest all the while she gazes right at me with raised brows. “Why are you looking at me like I’m insane?”
“Probably because you are,” she places her glass on the coffee table. “Look, you’ve been out with him already and by all account enjoyed it. Clearly he made you feel at ease within yourself so I don’t see the problem. He obviously doesn’t think there is one so why not go for it. He’s is a good guy.”
I shoot her a look. “Your point being?”
“There not all like Daniel babe. Marcus sent you flowers for Christ sake that in itself says a lot. Forget about who he is and think about how he made you feel when out with him. What have you got to lose?”
“Everything I’ve rebuilt over the last few years.” I let out a deep exhale and close my eyes. “But what if he wants more, Megan? I mean are his dates the same as my kind of dates? Not that I go on them but still. He will see me, all of me and I don’t know how I feel about that. I can’t let that happen.” My eyes and chest become heavy with emotion at the thought of what could be. I never wanted to be found by another because I knew what the possibility of that meant for the future. I’ve never exposed myself since Daniel and it scares the shit out of me.
“Babe, you’re freaking out again, stop it. Marcus is one of the nicest guys I know. He won’t push you into anything you’re not comfortable with. Just have faith and promise me you’ll try. You know you need to do this and in your heart, we both know that you can do this. By not doing it, you’re still letting that fucker win.” She’s right I can’t let an asshole from the past ruin and run my future. Yet the thought of letting someone in is a whole new level of fucking scary.
“Huh, who needs a therapist, when I have you and self-help remedies in the form of Tequila.” I smile.
“Well as your home help therapist, I’d like to end this session with one last question, if I may?” she gets up heading toward the kitchen and grabbing the Tequila to refill our glasses.
“Ask away,”
“Is he good with his tongue?”
“Fuck yeah. I dread to think what else he can do with it.” I chuckle.
“Well if he’s that good let me know, I’ll be happy to help him out with his requirements.” I choke on my drink as our giggles filled the room, falling into our world of our own giddiness. I blast out Katy Perry while Megan loads up the internet for our nightly searches of hot guys and celebrity gossip. Its times like these that are precious to me, having someone close that’s there to talk my problems through. To know that no matter what they always had my back. Times like that were when I wished my dad was here to hug me and my mum was still here to guide me in the right direction.
My only direction now was with a sassy blond who loves Tequila and-when on holiday-her older incredibly hot brother Lucas who I now looked up to as my own. I didn’t want anyone to spoil what we had, because they were all I ever needed. But somewhere in this crazy subconscious of mine there’s a little voice of my guardian angel that’s saying that same thing as Megan.
Just try.
Chapter Eight
Marcus
“Are you listening to anything I’ve said?” Andrew asks, with an irritated look across his face. I scroll over the web page of the latest news not paying one bit of attention to the headlines in front of me as my mind plays over the information I read earlier.
“Sorry, I was just…why is Lenton’s Daughter wanting her wedding here?”
Henry Lenton is a very powerful man, his Theatre Company is one of the largest organisations which travel worldwide, he’s a hard and ruthless man who worked his backside off to be where he is today and I give him credit for that. The fact he’s a complete asshole is another matter. That said he’s also the former husband of Sylvia-the woman my father was fucking in his office when they decided to destroy two families.
“This is a seven star hotel on a glorious coastal resort. She’s a celebrity with money. Do the math.”
“I know that dickwad, but why here?” His brows narrow in confusion and I can’t be fucked to go into detail. “And why is Amelia practically organising the damn thing when her job role doesn’t involve wedding planning?”
Andrew chuckles, rubbing his hand over the dark scruff on his jaw, “Yeah, she’s been trying to get out of that one since the entire thing started. But she seems to be the only one Nadia listens to. She has this calming effect on people which is a surprise considering she lives on her nerves.”
My eyes dart up from the computer screen. So it’s not just me that makes her anxious, I thought to myself. “And she manages to work here…with you? Jesus that takes some doing.” I chuckled.
“Watch it asshole.”
“Can you tell her I want to discuss this with her when she has a minute?”
“No problem.” Andrew stands, stretching his tall thick body and heading for the door. “By the way, it’s good to have your grumpy ass back around the place.”
“Who the fuck you calling grumpy, you’re the one that walks around looking like Scrooge’s brother most days.” His deep laughs fills the space as he leaves. I’ve missed this guy and it’s good to hear him laugh again, he’s had it tough.
A soft tap hits my office door and it slowly opens to Amelia peering her head around before coming in. “Hi,” she whispers. Her fingers twisting around her ring as I take the opportunity to run my eyes over her body.
“Amelia, please sit.” Nadia Lenton was a strong powerful woman who has ways of bringing people down regardless of her actions, and I didn’t want Amelia to be a victim of that. Or anyone. “Tell me about the Lenton wedding.”
“Would you like me to be professional or personal?”
“Let’s stick with professional.”
“Well, she wants full access of the hotel regardless of what she’s actually paying for. No change in staff members during her time here but has asked to for us to re-interview them before the day, which I’m not prepared to do. The function room out of bounds two days prior to the wedding. Red carpet on entry and my head on a stack if nothing goes her way.”
I nod once she’d finished. This sounded like Nadia perfectly, she demands full attention at all times and thinks she’s fucking god. “And your thoughts personally, don’t be afraid to hold back.”
“She’s the biggest bitch I’ve worked with, that’s got a stick so far up her ass it’s dislodged her brain from thinking clearly and processes shit to fall from her mouth.”
My laugh roared through the office which encouraged Amelia to join in. There she was, the women I was with that night at Rubies and one I was so desperate to know. “Couldn’t of put it better myself.” I rounded the desk and leant against it in front of her. Her body language changed instantly and reverted back to the anxious girl with worried eyes. “While we’re still on personal mode, please let me take you out. And don’t give the ‘But you’re my boss’ crap because that shit never bothers me. I
t’s just a drink.”
“Our one drink led to one bottle last time,” she coos as her cheeks pinked.
“Then this time I’ll bring two.” I grinned. Even with her wall of defence yesterday, I knew it wouldn’t last long, she tries hard to fight but whenever I touch her or get close I feel her melting under me like warm butter.
“Pick me up at seven.” She says just above a whisper, collecting her notes and diary and heading to the door. My eyes focus on her ass as she strides across the floor, all snug and perfectly curved in her tight black skirt as her hair of fire cascades down her back. Fuck me.
“Amelia, wear something comfortable. I’ll be taking you to the beach.”
A few hours later I left my office and the buzz of the hotel to hit the gym when I received a text from Megan.
Megan: I believe you’re taking my girl out tonight. Look after her, don’t fuck with her head.
What the hell? I’m a man but I’m not an asshole, I have no intention of playing her.
Me: I don’t intend to.
Megan: She’s special, Marcus. You hurt her I’ll feed your cock to the gulls.
Within days of being here I’ve done a complete turnaround to what I said I would do and found the most beautiful woman to which I can’t get out of my head. I want her for reasons beyond my control. Her body yes, but more importantly the more I’m around her and witness the way she closes herself off, hides herself from the world the more I have this powerful need to save her, and that is something I’m determined to fix.
***
“So why the beach when there’s all the other places?” Amelia questions as our feet sink into the sand. “Not that I’m ungrateful, just curious.”
“You wanted to see me in shorts and with a board right? I thought we’d strip and go for a swim.” I clock the flash of fear on her face as she looks over my shoulder to the water. “Relax, Amelia, I’m just kidding. We won’t do anything you don’t want. However, I do want you to sit over there and try to enjoy yourself.” I point to the red blanket that’s laid out between the sand dunes surrounded by lanterns and chilled wine.