With a dismissive shrug, I turned around and proceeded into the kitchen, “It’s an act of kindness. Just think of it that way.”
“Sir,” She sighed, “People are rarely, if ever, kind without a reason, sir. Trust me. I know and….”
“Crystal.” I snapped out the word she’d given me when I asked for her name, turning around to look her in the eye. It felt strange, somehow forbidden, to say her name out loud but I pressed down the uncomfortable feeling, narrowing my eyes at her, “You don’t have to pay me back. Don’t overthink it. Just do what you’re here to do, okay?”
Chapter Four
Frank
With a heavy sigh, I drove into the underground garage, parked the black Audi I’d chosen to drive today, and turned off the ignition. Then I looked at my watch and shut my eyes, realizing that the time had come for me to, once again, go into that house.
It wasn’t as if there was a ghost inside, or an evil force that I was trying to avoid. In fact, everything was perfectly normal. Except for the fact that, of course, I had a woman in my house.
A woman who unsettled me like no other.
Groaning, I tightened my grip around the steering wheel and squeezed my face into a tortured frown, looking out of the window.
The garage was completely silent. And the only thing I could hear was my own breath. That quietude was very misleading, wasn’t it? I mean… just judging from my calm, collected exterior, one wouldn’t know the war that was going on in my mind.
I just drove from the office after closing a multimillion-dollar deal which, in any other circumstance, would have been thoroughly satisfying. Heck, if this was just a week ago, I’d already be inside the house, opening a bottle of champagne as I arranged some temporary female company for the night. If I didn’t feel like having women nearby, I always had my friends – the fellow members of the Merry Men club who were never too busy to celebrate a brother’s success.
But it seemed like ever since I made those calls right after Tom dropped the ‘love’ bomb, both Jack and Kevin have had one reason or the other why they couldn’t meet up. If I didn’t know better, I might have been tempted to believe that they were avoiding me. The very idea was simply ridiculous, of course. Why on earth would they suddenly start avoiding me?
Apart from Jack and Kevin, the last two options for male company were Richard, the weenie who got married to Tom’s daughter, and then Tom himself, betrayer extraordinaire. Lord knows I wouldn’t be caught dead near any of those two – especially not after they not only broke the pact but also chose women over friendship.
So, without male companionship, I’d been left on my own, with my thoughts, which was the very last thing I wanted. Why? Because whenever my mind had the opportunity to lift itself from the countless files at the office, issues at meetings, or other business-related matters, it went to one place – the very direction from which I’ve been trying hard to steer away from in the past few days.
Crystal.
This was ridiculous. I shouldn’t be sitting here outside in my car, bidding my time. I shouldn’t dread entering my own house. And I most definitely shouldn’t, for some reason, keeping imagining the moment I’ll get to see her again as if I was actually looking forward to it.
And all this anticipation, anxiety, and discomfort started from the very day she moved in.
And I couldn’t even deny that this anticipation was not entirely platonic. Whenever I looked at her and saw her walking past me in that damn maid uniform that was a few sizes too small, my eyes couldn’t help but rise and just… behold her.
She was… perfect. With curves in the right places and a body that made me think of a bed just by looking at it. She nearly drove me crazy with her presence.
And to imagine that it had only been a week since she came here.
With a frustrated sigh, I hit my forehead against the steering wheel and shut my eyes, my chest tightening. Was I so sexually starved that I’d started looking at someone who was supposed to be my maid? A person who trusted me with the safety and health of her family?
I couldn’t keep this up. This wasn’t the first time I’d encountered a beautiful woman, and this won’t be the last. The circumstances of our meeting might have been quite unique, but Crystal and I were never going to happen.
That’s it.
I needed to go in there. Right now. And set this right.
Placing my hand on the car door, I opened it and got out. Within minutes, I was on my way to the front door, my lips set in a grim line, and a harsh, determined look on my face.
But then I opened the front door and stopped abruptly, blinking as the bravado I spent at least thirty minutes beating into myself just tumbled down like a house of cards in the wind.
Unexpectedly, Crystal was right in front of me.
But she wasn’t actually facing me. She was bent over, doing something on the table. I didn’t know or couldn’t even begin to care about what she was doing. All I could see or comprehend at that moment was the way her curves stretched against the maid uniform, her long, smooth, tantalizing legs pouring down from under the dress.
She must have sensed my presence, because, instantly, she gasped and swerved around, her eyes meeting mine as her lips stretched out into a smile.
Is she that happy to see me?
“You’re back!” She exclaimed and then revealed a glass of water in her right hand, offering it
