Chapter 10

When she woke up in the morning, her mouth felt dry and her head was throbbing. Getting out of bed, she saw she was wearing the same clothes from the night before.

Lowering her head, she rubbed her temples before grabbing the glass of water that had been placed on her nightstand. She stripped out of her clothes and went and took a long hot shower.

She had no regrets about last night. She’d had fun, and thanks to Chad she’d been able to forget what was happening to her, even if it was only for a short time.

After throwing on a pair of jeans and a top, she headed downstairs. She was in dire need of some hot coffee. She groaned when she saw Claudia there having her breakfast.

“Where’s Dad and Dexter?” she asked, taking a seat and reaching for the coffee.

“Your father had to go away on business for a couple of days, and as for your bodyguard, I have no idea where he is. I would have thought he’d be with you.”

She looked at her in anger. “What makes you think he’d be with me?”

“I saw him bring you home last night. You both looked so cozy as he carried you up to your bedroom.

“I wonder what your father would think if he knew what was going on between the two of you. I should call him and let him know, so that he can fire Mr. Sinclair and hire someone else.”

“There’s nothing going on between us.”

They both turned toward Dexter when he entered the room and spoke.

“That’s right, Mrs. Greene, so I suggest you mind your own business, or I’ll be forced to have a long talk with him myself. I’m sure he’ll be interested to know what I’ve got to tell him.”

Claudia stood up, shooting daggers at him. “Suddenly there’s a bad smell in here. I’m going shopping,” she said, storming out.

Roxie was listening to the exchange between the two. She felt they were keeping something from her.

“Do you mind telling me what that was all about? Please tell me she didn’t make a pass at you.”

He couldn’t tell her the whole truth, about how she had been cheating on Thomas, so he only told her what he felt she needed to know.

“Yes, she did make a pass at me, but I turned her down flat. I don’t think she took it too well.”

She was furious. “That bitch. I bet she has been cheating on my father for a long time. I wish he would open his eyes and see what she’s really like.

“I’ve tried telling him, but he refuses to listen to me. Says he loves her.”

He sat down, reaching for the coffee. “They say love is blind.”

“Dexter, I never thanked you for saving my life, again, so thank you.”

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, he replied, “It’s my job.” Even saying it out loud, he knew it was more than a job to him.

“Yeah, just your job,” she said sadly. “You weren’t really serious about keeping me here and not allowing me to go to work, were you?”

He looked at her and knew it was going to be next to impossible to get her to agree to it.

“It’s getting much harder, protecting you outside the home. Here no one can get to you. As far as work goes, with all the technology we have these days, you can work from home.”

“You think it’s that easy? It’s not. There is so much to do, people to direct and shows to set up. I need to be there to instruct them on what I want to be done.”

“Just put Carson and that woman Cathy in charge. They seem capable enough. Through emails and skype, you should be able to manage. I’m sorry, but since I’m in charge, you will do what I tell you.

“You can give me all the dirty looks you want, but for now I am your boss,” he said when he saw the way she was giving him the stink eye. “Where are you going?” he asked when she got up.

“As long as I stay inside, it’s none of your business where I go.”

He tossed his napkin down and went over. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he drew her close. “I don’t care if you’re inside or outside. I still need to know where you are at all times.”

“Fuck you,” she said, pushing him away only to be pulled back into his arms. It all happened so quick. His mouth came down hard on hers, kissing her passionately.

At first she was taken by surprise, especially when he’d told her they couldn’t do this anymore.

But then her hands moved up, running them over the side of his head as she returned the kiss with everything she had.

She knew they were taking a chance of being caught, but their desire for each other was too great to stop.

When they heard footsteps coming, they broke apart, both breathing heavily.

“Would you and Mr. Sinclair care for anything else?” Douglas asked, looking from one to the other.

She used her thumb and index finger to wipe her mouth. “No, Douglas. That will be all,” she said, feeling the beating of her heart in her chest.

When the butler left, she looked over at Dexter. “That was close.”

He lowered his head, feeling guilty for what he had done. This was not like him to lose control, but damn, he just couldn’t seem to stay away from her.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. If anyone, especially Claudia, caught us, she would tell your father, and he would fire me.”

She moved closer to him. “Then we’ll have to be more careful, because I know you’re the only one who can keep me safe and alive. Unless you’re going to tell me that this won’t happen again.”

“That’s what I want to tell you, but I’d only be lying to both of us. Damn it, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

“I wasn’t supposed to get attached, but I can’t help it. There’s just something about you that is drawing us together.”

He walked over to the window and looked out. “I blame you. You haven’t been making it easy on me to resist you.”

With a smile on her face, she walked over to where he was standing. “I’ll try not to entice you anymore, if that’ll make you happy.”

He cupped the side of her face with his hand. “It’s too late. You’ve already got me hooked.”

He removed his hand from her face, just in case someone were to walk in. “Are you going to do some work in your father’s office today?”

“Actually, I was thinking of going down to the basement and going through those boxes we saw.”

“I thought you didn’t like it down there with all the spiders and everything,” he said, remembering how last time she freaked out, thinking she had spiders in her hair.

“I’m not going to go down to the tunnel, just to the basement, where we saw all those boxes. I’ve been dying to see what’s in them. You never know what treasures there might be inside.

“You wouldn’t like to go with me, would you?”

“Well, I’m not going to let you go down there alone. I’d hate to see you fall and hurt those beautiful legs of yours.”

“You think I have beautiful legs?” she asked, looking at him seductively.

A small smile crossed his face. “Yeah, you have amazing legs.” Damn it, she was doing it again, getting him all hot and bothered just thinking about her legs and how they felt wrapped around him.

“So when do you want to go down to the basement?” he asked to get his mind off of her body and what he was wanting to do to it.

“We could go now.”

“Okay, just let me go grab a couple of flashlights, and then we’ll go.”

When they got to the room with the boxes, they started rooting through them. Most of them were filled with junk, some books, pictures, and knick-knacks.

All were ruined by the dampness and smelled moldy.

“It looks like all this stuff has been here for years, nothing worth keeping,” he said, closing the lid and opening another box. After an hour, he looked up when he heard her swear.

“What did you find?”

“Some of my mother’s things,” she said sniffling. “I can’t believe they put them down here instead of giving them to me.

“There are pictures of the three of us together, and some of her jewelry,” she said, picking up the small jewelry box and going through it. “Even some of her favorite books.”

She looked over at him. “I bet that wicked bitch had these things moved down here.”

When he heard her crying, he went over, putting his arms around her. “Do you want me to carry these things upstairs?”

“Yes, I’ll put them in my room and go through it all later. Let’s go through the other boxes. There might be more of my mother’s stuff in them.”

It broke her heart to think that her father would discard her things so easily. It was like he and Claudia were trying to wipe out all memory of her mother.

Not finding anything else, he grabbed the box, and they headed back upstairs. Of course, they had to bump into the wicked witch.

“Oh, will you look at the condition of you two. So dirty. What have you two been up to, and what’s in that box?”

“My mother’s things. We found them in the basement. But you already know that, since you were the one who had them moved down there. How could you do that? They should have been given to me.”

“Your father and I thought it was best to store them. We did it for you. We didn’t want you getting upset by seeing them.”

“Oh please, Claudia. You never gave a damn about me. You did it to get rid of everything that would remind my father of her.

“You wouldn’t even allow a picture of her anywhere in the house, or anything that belonged to her. You were always an evil, jealous bitch.”

“I don’t have to stand here being insulted by a brat like you. Your father will be told about how you talk to me. I only wished he had listened to me and sent you away to boarding school years ago.”

Dexter stepped in between the two women when he saw Roxie was about to attack her. “Let’s get these things to your room.”

He lifted his brow, letting her know not to get into a physical confrontation with her. He followed her up the stairs, looking over his shoulder to give Claudia a dirty look.

When they got to her room, she turned to him. “Why did you stop me? I wanted to rip that hair out of her ugly head.”

“I stopped you because she’s not worth it. Where do you want me to put this box?”

She sat on the bed, looking down. “Just put them in the closet for now. I’ll go through it later after I take a shower. I just hate her so much. It’s time I got a place of my own, away from that bitch.”

“That’s a good idea. But wait until the danger is past.”

He placed the box on one of the shelves inside her closet. He chuckled to himself when he saw all the other boots and purses and couldn’t understand why she had to go shopping for more.

“Okay, I’m going to go take a shower. Are you going to be all right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

He sat on the bed and put his arms around her, pulling her close to kiss her.

“God, your lips taste like sweet wine,” he said when the kiss ended. He wanted to lay her down, rip off her clothes, and make love to her.

But with Claudia snooping around, he couldn’t take the chance of them getting caught. “Maybe when we go down for dinner, she’ll eat in her room and leave us alone.”

“We could go out somewhere to eat. That way we won’t have to see her.”

He placed his hands on her cheeks. “When this is all over, I promise I’ll take you out somewhere special.”

“Like a date?”

“Yeah, like a date. That is, if you want to.”

A warm feeling raced through her body, knowing that he intended on seeing her even after his job ended.

There were a few minutes a while back when she thought it was just sex he wanted during his time here. But hearing what he had just said to her told her he wanted more than that.

“Yes, I do want that.”

He took her hand and pulled her up. “Give me one more kiss before I leave.” He wrapped his arms around her, pressing his body against hers as his lips landed on hers.

It was a kiss that lasted for the longest time before he pulled away. He was in dire need of a cold shower after that kiss.

He never knew a woman could kiss the way she did. She knew how to work it, her tongue playing with his while she tugged on his hair.

He was horny as hell and had to get out of there before he lost control.

When he was gone, she smiled, knowing how excited he was when she felt how hard his manhood was pressed against her.

He’d been breathing hard, and she’d felt his heart beating like crazy against her chest.

Hell, her panties were wet and her core was throbbing like crazy. She knew there was only one thing she could do.