Bedroom Business.

Chapter 15

The night air was cool and perfect for swimming. Jade gulped in a breathe of air before going under again. The feel of the cool water felt like heaven on her skin. She swam to the end of the pool and stepped out gingerly, still sore from all the running around of the afternoon. Walking around on a construction site in the hot Texan sun hadn’t been fun at all. Reporters had camped out on the Colby building site, each shouting questions at them as soon as they arrived at the scene. The site swarmed with government officials, each eager to have a word. She’d never seen him angrier than she did today. He hadn’t shouted at the men. In fact, she’d had to strain to hear him, but his tone had been deadly calm, she suspected to control his anger before it erupted.

A part of the million-dollar structure had collapsed at dawn and although no one had been killed, dozens of men were injured. Part of his anger was directed at the fact that, earlier that day, the manager in charge of the collapsed wing had sent a sugarcoated version of the incident. But after further investigation, they’d discovered that he’d been using cheap substandard materials and pocketing the rest of the money. He’d barely been able to keep his anger in check. Her job for the afternoon had been to keep the press off his back. Jade had only been too glad to escape the scene between Nick and his erring manager. Although the man had fled, unable to face Nick’s wrath, she knew it was only a matter of time before Nick fished him out. She hadn’t seen him ever since. It was almost evening when a black Mercedes showed up with a driver who had been instructed to pick her up.

Apparently, since there was a branch of COLBY Int’ in Texas, he had a house there too. Jade had been surprised at the size of it; he didn’t even live there! The housekeeper, Glenna had already made clothing arrangements for her. A niggling voice in her mind wondered if it was a usual thing with the woman? To arrange clothes for her boss’s lady of the month. The call home had been much worse. Julie had giggled worse than a schoolgirl. After giving Jade a million tips and a hard time, she finally hung up with the promise to pass on the message to her aunt. Jade was still surprised at the acres and acres of lush greenery surrounding the house. It would make a beautiful sight in spring. The cold air hit her with force as she got out of the water. Her lacy white underwear had been the closest thing to a swimsuit that she had. As the goose bumps broke out on her skin, she thought wistfully of her modest one-piece swimsuit sitting idly at home. Hurriedly she grabbed the towel that she brought out earlier. Wrapping it around, Jade moved inside. She was opening the door when a movement caught the corner of her eye. Jade moved and automatically screamed at the dark silhouette lounging in the shadows. It took her a second to recognize the tall figure hidden partly by the shrubs.

“Don’t ever do that to me again” Jade flung her towel at him, a hand on her chest. He caught it and moved out of the shadows.

“Sorry. I was just enjoying the beauties of nature,” he said as his eyes raked over her wet underwear clad body. Feeling exposed, Jade reached over and snatched the piece of cotton from him and used it cover up. A rakish smile spread over his face, surprising Jade. His present mood was a huge improvement from the raging temper that he’d been in all afternoon.

 He looked roguish; his black hair looked as though his fingers had journeyed through them countless times. He was clad only in the white shirt, having gotten rid of the jacket and tie. He was nursing a glass of something in his hand.

Jade looked at him suspiciously. He pulled her into the darkness, sunk into a chair that she’d hadn’t noticed before and pulled her down into his lap.