The CEO and the Girl From the Coffee Shop (5 page)

He grinned. "I
suppose not."

At the top of
the staircase both paused and turned to face each other. Gabriel's
room was to the left, while Beth's was to the right. The air
between them thickened. She had been right; it felt like a date.
But if it had been a real date, he'd be pulling her into his arms
and ushering her to his bedroom, instead of standing before her as
the air between them simmered.

She captured
her lower lip between her teeth and his eyes were automatically
drawn to her frosted pink painted lips. They were lush and
inviting. His cock stirred in his pants and he groaned
inwardly.

Not being able
to control himself he reached out and touched her cheek with the
back of his hand. Her skin felt like satin to the touch and he
stepped closer, closing the gap between them. He needed to feel
more of her and he was powerless to stop himself. Her breath became
ragged as their eyes locked and he saw the fire burning in hers
that reflected his body's reaction.

He had to have
her, at least one kiss. One. Technically she didn't start work for
him until tomorrow. Technically.

As if waiting
for the inevitable kiss, she inhaled sharply as he slowly lowered
his mouth to hers, giving her a chance to back away. His hand
slipped from her cheek to the back of her head and he fisted her
long satiny locks, tilting her face up a fraction more and then
capturing her lips with his own.

Beth slipped
her palms up his chest and to his shoulders. She moaned as his lips
touched hers, her body melting against him. Her touch and her moan
set off fireworks within him. His cock hardened almost
instantaneously as he slipped a hand around her waist and pulled
her tight to him, his erection pressing hard against her
stomach.

Her lips
parted and Gabriel took full advantage of the opportunity, slipping
his tongue between her soft lips and exploring her mouth fully
tasting the sweetness of the wine on her tongue. His tongue
caressed hers, as his hand slid to her backside and he pulled her
groin tighter against him.

Fuck he wanted
her. Needed her. He didn't think he'd ever wanted a woman so much.
What was it about this woman that set him aflame? He had no idea,
but she was special. She was a classic beauty that didn't even know
it. She was genuine and in the span of a few minutes a day for
several months she'd managed to enchant him.

He groaned
against her lips and the temptation to lift her up onto his hips
and carry her to his bedroom so he could ravage her became too
great to withstand. So he released her, stepping back so quickly he
nearly stumbled in his haste.

"I'm sorry,"
he muttered.

He wasn't.

Disappointment
flashed in her eyes and she gave him a shy smile. "Don't be."

They stood
several feet from each other, both reeling from the kiss and the
feelings that came with it. "I'll see you in the morning Beth.
Thank you for a great evening."

A soft rose
colour touched her cheeks. "Good night Gabriel." Without another
word she turned and slowly made her way to her room as he
watched.

He even loved
the way she said his name,
Gabriel
, it seemed to roll off
her tongue sounding seductive and enticing.
What is that saying?
If she turns she wants you?
He pondered it as he watched her
round bottom sway under the fine black material covering it. Damn,
what he would love to do to that ass...

As she reached
for the door handle of her bedroom she paused and looked over her
shoulder at him. Their eyes locked again and he suddenly felt like
a school boy with a crush.
Get it together, you've dated super
models, actresses and heiress' for fucks sakes!
But none of
them were like or compared to the sweet blonde from the coffee
shop. Giving her a half wave he turned and marched off to his own
room with the intention of taking care of the throbbing problem in
his pants.

****

Beth groaned
as her alarm clock began buzzing and attempted to cover her head
with her pillow to block out the offending sounds. It was no use.
This was her first day at her new job of being Gabriel's personal
chef, housekeeper and whatever else that struck his fancy. Giving
up on blocking out the alarm clock she pulled herself out of bed
and turned it off.

Her head was
throbbing.
God, how much wine did I drink last night?
Judging by the scale of her hangover - too much. Flashes of the
previous night came to her. Gabriel had been so handsome and
charming and her fear was becoming a reality, she was falling for
him. And that kiss! Oh-My-God! If he hadn't stepped back from her
and ended the kiss she would have been more than eager to spend the
night serving her new boss in whatever way he wanted.

Trying to
clear her head of the thoughts of him - he was her boss now,
nothing more - she made her way to the shower stripping off her
t-shirt and panties as she walked.

A half-hour
later, at 6:30am, Beth was dressed in boxers and a fresh t-shirt
and was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Gabriel told her the
night before he wanted something nice and simple so she was to
prepare eggs over-easy, toast with strawberry jam and bacon. Easy
enough right? She hoped it would be as easy as it sounded. She
always had a tendency to overcook bacon. Okay, that was a lie, she
burnt bacon. Always. She crossed her fingers that wouldn't be the
case today.

As it turned
out, this morning was no exception.

The sound of
Gabriel clearing his throat sounded just as she was about to scoop
the bacon from the skillet. Her breath hitched as she spun around
and laid eyes on him dressed in a black suit, tie yet to be tied
and hanging loose around his neck and the top two buttons of his
light blue shirt undone. He was sex personified. The feel of his
lips on hers came rushing back to her and the throbbing between her
legs began.

"Morning," he
greeted sauntering into the kitchen and seating himself onto a bar
stool at the breakfast bar across from her. "Something smells...
burnt."

O
h dear
lord!
In the seconds that it took to turn and smile at him the
bacon had went from nearly cooked to burnt
.
She counted
backwards from ten slowly trying to calm the frustration welling up
within her as she flashed Gabriel a smile and tried to make light
of her first failure in the kitchen. "Good thing I'm taking lessons
from Peter right?"

"Yes, it's a
good thing," he replied, his tone solemn. While his tone may have
been solemn, she was relieved to see amusement dance in his
eyes.

Her nerves
began to calm. At the very least he wasn't angry. Which lead her to
the question... Does this man
ever
get angry? She'd never
met someone so easygoing in her life. It was as though he didn't
have a single care in the world.

She salvaged
his breakfast as best she could as she thought back to her daily
encounters with him and couldn't think of a single instance where
she'd seen him in a bad mood. With the breakfast plated she was
thankful that at least she managed to not screw up the eggs. The
toast, was yet another failure. Too dark. She growled to herself as
she turned and with a great deal of embarrassment presented him
with what he had described as an easy "no brainer" breakfast. "I'm
sorry."

He laughed out
loud as he looked at her pathetic attempt and then up at her.
"Looks... great..."

With a loud
huff, she planted a fist on her hip and cocked her head, "Don't
lie."

Picking up a
piece of charcoaled bacon he took a bite and it crumbed.

She cringed.
What in the hell was she thinking taking this job. She blew at a
strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail and fallen
over her left eye and grimaced.

Putting the
bacon down, he looked up and met her gaze. "Alright, I... Your
cooking skills need some work." he held a hand up when she started
to protest. "But, I was aware of that and I take full
responsibility for this. So don't worry, I expected a learning
curve."

A learning
curve? He had to be insane if he thought she was getting any better
anytime soon.

''Listen,
there was something I wanted to talk to you about." The kiss kept
coming to the forefront of her mind and she felt she needed to at
least apologize for her behaviour the previous night.

"Oh," he
cocked a brow at her and gave her that patented Gabriel sex smile
that sent her stomach fluttering.

"I'm sorry if
I consumed a bit too much wine and then when we got back here, when
I-…"

Gabriel placed
his elbows on the counter, and steeped his fingers. He leaned over
keeping his dark eyes glued to hers, his expression suddenly heated
- intense. "Attempted to seduce me?" he offered.

Beth could
feel the colour draining from her face as she began to recall the
events of the previous evening. Did she really come on that strong?
She didn't think so. Sure, she kissed him, or kissed him back,
or...
Oh God!
She remembered the kiss vividly and if she
concentrated on the encounter hard enough she could still taste to
wine on his lips. The kiss had just happened, she was sure of
it.

Upon seeing
her distress his face broke out into a grin. "I'm teasing Beth." he
reached across the counter and gave her hand a light squeeze. "I
kissed you and you responded. It's not a big deal. Okay?"

Not a big
deal? She wasn't sure if it was or not. She was slightly
disappointed he said it like that. It stung that what would qualify
as one amazing moment to her was "no big deal” to him.
Well
,
she decided,
at least I know where I stand
.

Slowly she
nodded. "That's what I was going to say." she shrugged to accent
her point. "No big deal." Their gazes continued to hold and her
body continued to sing with need for him. Damn it, to her it
was
a big deal!

Peter had
turned out to be an amazing teacher and an extremely likeable and
patient man. Beth was already looking forward to the next lesson,
however, being that today was Friday the next lesson wouldn't be
until Monday morning. She was confident she'd be preparing gourmet
dishes for Gabriel in no time with Peter's tutorage. She still had
a few hours before Gabriel was due home so she decided to get some
laundry done and was now standing in the middle of Gabriel's
massive bedroom and heading for the large mahogany dresser against
the back wall, by the door that led to his massive walk-in
closet.

The dresser
had three columns of four drawers. Sitting the white plastic
laundry basket filled with clean, folded clothing in it on the top
of the dresser she decided to start with the top left hand drawer
and work her way though. It occurred to her for a second that
perhaps he wouldn't want her going through his drawers, but it
was
what she had been hired to do.
I'm his
cook/maid/personal assistant and anything else he needs and right
now he needs his clothing put away,
she reasoned,
besides,
he had no problem sending Gerald rummaging though my stuff.

Opening the
first drawer she was confronted with ties. The second made her
gasp, her eyes widening in surprise, quickly followed by a grin
spreading across her face. Gabriel Reynolds just got a lot more
interesting.

She grabbed a
thick pink vibrator from the drawer and flipped it on, it buzzed
softly in her hand. Giggling softly, she turned it back off and
tossed it back in. "Well, well Mr Reynolds you have been a
very
naughty boy," she said out loud with a chuckle as she
then pulled a soft brown leather flogger from the drawer and ran
her hand down the length of it.

"Indeed I can
be."

Her grin
immediately faded as she spun around, her hair fanning out around
her head and colour draining from her cheeks. The flogger slipped
from her fingers and fell to the floor at her feet. She quickly
bent, not taking her eyes off of her new boss, retrieved it and
then straightened back up. Before her stood Gabriel, his tie
loosened leaning his shoulder against the door jab, one foot
crossed casually over the other and regarding her with raw desire.
He was pure sex in a tailored suit if she'd ever seen it.

"I'd ask you
what you were doing in here, rummaging through my personal
affects," he nodded towards the laundry basket as he pushed himself
off of the wall and stalked towards her, his expression becoming
more intense, so intense that her stomach fluttered and the
throbbing between her legs ignited. "But I suppose I can see for
myself."

"I... Well, I
didn't... I mean," She closed her eyes briefly and tried to calm
herself. When she opened them up he was standing before her, less
than a foot dividing their bodies. She then realized that she was
still holding the flogger, clutched tightly in her hand. She placed
it back in the drawer filled with sex toys and shut the drawer.
"I'm so sorry Gabriel."

He took
another step forward, trapping her between his hard, muscled body
and the dresser. His dark eyes flashed, and her breath hitched.
What was he thinking? She prayed he wasn't angry, she was coming
too really like the idea of working for him. She just needed to
control herself around him. She just needed to remain professional
and not get emotionally attached.

Gabriel bent
down and his lips grazed her ear lobe. His body was yet to actually
touch hers, though secretly she wished it would. She moaned
involuntarily, as she grasped the dresser behind her for support,
her legs failing her. But how could she remain professional when
her body reacted to him in such a way?

"I'm sorry,"
she whispered again.