Securities expert Eric Jameson stood watching the monitor on his desk with an almost unblinking intensity as it showed the woman he hadn’t been able to take his brooding blue eyes off of for the last thirty minutes.
His housekeeper and quiet obsession…Winter Jones.
It had become a guilty pleasure of his to tap into the remote view of his state-of-the-art security system to catch a glimpse of her mesmerizing beauty while he was away on business. And today was no exception. Since he couldn’t be in her presence like he wanted to be, this was the next best thing.
When he’d had the system installed after moving into the north Scottsdale mansion a couple of years ago, he had never once thought he would become a voyeur into his own home just to feast his eyes on the quietly beautiful woman that made his home run so smoothly. But here he was time after time doing just that with no guilt whatsoever.
As an employee, Winter was always the perfect model of quiet competence. She never complained and she asked for very little. But as a woman, those same traits had given her an aura of mystery that had intrigued him and made him want to know more.
Briefly he wondered for the first time if he was breaking some kind of law by spying on his housekeeper with his less than pure intentions.
Probably. He thought running his fingers through the thick mass of his short wavy brown hair.
But he was too far gone to even care. Nothing at this point could deter him from getting his daily fix of her.
He never thought he’d see the day that he would find himself lusting after someone who worked for him. He’d built his reputation on a certain code of ethics and one of the major ones he practiced in business was to never pursue a woman he had a close working relationship with. Things got messy that way and he’d seen enough examples to make him not be tempted to go there.
Business stayed business and pleasure stayed separate. It had been his credo until the day he met Winter. Now after months of denying his need for her, he was ready to blow that rule right out the water. Looking back, he should have known from the first day they’d met that his perfectly ordered world was going to come to an end.
All the signs had been there.
After having his last housekeeper steal him blind and the one before her all but stalk him, he had ordered Pam, his PA to scour some local temp agencies. His requirements were simple: hire a more trustworthy housekeeper that wouldn’t have a tendency to turn his home into a five finger discount store or view him as target for a potential husband.
With that to go on, Pam had whittled it down to four candidates for him to interview. To be sure, he had run background checks on them all beforehand just to make sure they were even worth taking time out of his already busy schedule.
From the start the name Winter Jones had stuck out from the rest of the candidates because he’d never know anyone with that season for a first name before. And upon reading the background report on her, he’d been mildly curious about the contradictory nature of the woman profiled. On paper she had come off as just another sheltered young woman who really hadn’t made her mark on the world yet. But then when he saw her communications degree and the fact that she’d left everything she knew in her native Georgia to come to Arizona, he knew that there was another more interesting layer to her. Either she was running from something or running to something. Which was it? His curiosity had won out in the end.
He had scheduled Winter to be the first candidate that he interviewed that day and had found himself even then feeling a stirring of anticipation. Despite all his experience with people and human nature in his line of work as a securities expert, he’d had been ill prepared for the reaction he would have to her and how she would rock his world off its axis completely.
He’d answered the front door and saw an African American woman of medium height and curvy stature standing there with her back to him. The somewhat plain and average cut of her navy skirt suit hadn’t quite complimented her, but he had still been intrigued. And he had been trying to gauge exactly what length her tightly bunned black hair was when she turned around.
He’d not been prepared for the exotic beauty that confronted him. He took quick inventory of her beautiful sienna features and found himself instantly snared by her wide dark almond shaped eyes set in a heart-shaped face with high cheekbones and pouty lips. What topped it off was the toothy dimpled grin she had graced him with. It had lit her warm brown eyes with an irresistible sparkling light making him respond in kind.
From introduction to interview, he had felt inexplicably drawn to her animated spirit. Her beauty may have grabbed his attention, but her quiet competent demeanor had sealed the deal. There was no need to see the other applicants. She was the one. And he had hired her right on the spot without a single reservation.
Ruefully, he also remembered having her sign a employment contract with a code of conduct that required a strict employee/employer relationship be maintain at all times between them. Per his request no less. And at the time when he’d had that contract drawn up, he’d been confident that he could stick to his own ‘hands off’ rule.
Now over this last year he’d wanted to be very much hands on with Winter. At times he found himself just barely hanging on to the professional barrier between them because he wanted so much more. He even found himself wanting to know her on a much deeper level without the added issue of a physical entanglement like all his other relationships.
He was surprised at that, because in the past he hadn’t cared enough to have more than a passing physical attachment with any woman. Winter was different.
He’d inadvertently found out that she and her sister had been raised by her aunt after their parents had died in a car accident. He also knew that not only did she support herself; she also sent money back home to help her sister take care of their Aunt Sophie’s medical needs. But in all the time he’d known her he’d never heard her complain in any way about what must be a sacrifice for her to do. He’d been amazed by that when he’d found out and when he’d questioned her about it, she had simply said, ‘she could handle it’ in her soft southern drawl that he’d come to crave almost as much as he craved her delectable body.
Speaking of which, just recently he’d started to notice a subtle change in her a few months back and grew concerned. During her breaks she’d started working out in the gym at the house and losing a good amount of weight. And when he’d asked her why she was doing it, she had brushed it off by saying she was on a mission.
He’d thought she was more than fine the way she was, but obviously she had felt differently. He had racked his brain wondering what was going on when a thought had occurred to him. Was she dating someone? He knew besides her roommate that she didn’t know very many people locally.
Whatever the case, he had immediately come up with ways to take up any excess time just in case his theory proved to be correct.
Yeah, he’d felt like an ass for doing it, but it was better than going around acting like a total bastard because he thought some asshole was laying claim to the woman he wanted with every fiber of his being.
To make up for it he’d made sure to compensate her well for the extra load of work he’d come up with. Still, he was amazed she hadn’t complained not once. Not even when he’d complained about the light bulb incident a couple months ago that he’d walked in on her doing.
He remembered walking into the kitchen one afternoon to find her doing a balancing act on a ladder that would make a circus performer proud.
All in the name of changing a light bulb in the overhead light fixture.
At first he’d been pissed to see her risking her safety so foolishly, but once he noticed what she was wearing, he’d almost swallowed his own tongue.
She had removed her customary thigh length sweatshirt to perform the task and had inadvertently given him his first real view of her curves. Her simple tank top and form fitting jeans was the perfect foil for her sinfully tempting hourglass curves openly on display thanks to the position of her raised arms as she changed the light bulb.
But what really caught his attention was the view of her firm round breasts straining against the thin cotton fabric of her t-shirt. He’d been hard pressed not to damn everything to hell and push the material to the side and suckle to his heart’s content on the perfect beads of her nipples seemingly crying out for his touch.
The only thing that had saved her in the end had been her unsteady perch on the ladder. When the ladder tilted dangerously, her startled cry had quickly broken through the sensual spell he was under making him snap into action.
He’d just barely caught her in time. Clutching her securely in his arms he’d given into a knee jerk reaction and barked, “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, woman?”
Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she’d looked up at him with startled eyes and laughingly said, “Why, exactly what you asked me to do Eric.”
She’d continued to smile after that sassy comment not knowing how close she was to getting her ass thrown over his shoulder and carried off to the nearest bed to sample every inch of her delectable body. He still didn’t know to this day how he’d resisted the temptation of her in his arms for the first time.
After that incident Eric had found himself on more than one occasion thankful that she had not wanted to completely lose the sexy hourglass shape that had made her become his favorite mental pin up girl. It was also when he realized that he wouldn’t be able to resist her for too much longer. The only thing standing in his way besides the fact that she worked for him was the unexplainable need to do things differently with her. There was something about her that made him want her for more than just another warm soft body to ease his sexual need for the moment.
What exactly did he want from Winter? He silently questioned himself.
He knew he had more of a responsibility for his actions than she did due to the fact that he was her boss. But somehow he knew it was more than that. She seemed less experienced than most twenty-six year olds and certainly not like the usual women he dated. She didn’t seem to even share the same orbit as women he’d been with.
The usual women he’d dated would have acted on the budding interest he’d glimpsed in her eyes a time or two without hesitation or encouragement, but she hadn’t. And while that made him cautious, he was honest enough to admit it was a total turn on too.
Did he dare even go down that road with her? His libido said hell yes, while his mind told him to continue to be cautious. So far, that’s what he continued to do.
A grin lit his ruggedly handsome clean shaven face when he thought of the cookies he had found when he’d arrived home from his last trip. They had been seating there on the kitchen counter after he had admitted to her one day that he was addicted to her chocolate chip cookies. Apparently she still had not gone over to the diet food dark side enough to deprive him and his sweet tooth of her delicious cookies.
Would a taste of her sinfully made lips be just as sweet? That was only one of the many questions and thoughts he had been torturing himself with lately concerning Winter. He knew that he would have make a move soon to appease his need for her once and for all because it was getter harder and harder to deny how much he wanted her.
Not willing to torture himself anymore, he shook off his wayward thoughts and disconnected the video feed. Clicking on the file that held the Carlton case, he reread the client profile again. He’d been in the middle of a meeting the last time his friend and business partner Quinn Thomas had called with an update on the case. Now as Eric sat there looking at the most recent notes, he realized that he needed to refresh himself on exactly what they were dealing with.
From the first day they’d started J&P Securities, they’d built a name for themselves in the security and protection business with their personal touch in dealing with all their clients. One of their newest clients was movie star and latest media darling, Vivaca Carlton. They were currently trying to get to the bottom of some threatening letters she was receiving along with suspicious incidents on her latest film set. Quinn was now in New York working with local law enforcement to find out what was going on.
Eric was very interested in how his no nonsense partner was dealing with what by all intents and purposes was turning out to be the job from hell. As he continued to read the client profile that Quinn wrote, the words difficult and uncooperative kept jumping off the page at him.
Just great. A hostile client. He didn’t know who to feel sorrier for—Quinn or Vivaca Carlton. With Quinn’s ‘take no prisoners attitude’, probably Vivaca Carlton.
But as intense as Quinn could sometimes be, Eric had complete confidence that he would be professional and handle any situation that might arise in that calm, cool manner he always employed.
And it’s a good thing too. Looking at the second message that Pam had left for him earlier, things were heating up real fast there in New York.
Eric reached for the phone to put in a call to Quinn before it got any later on the East coast to get filled in on the latest on the Carlton case. It was their habit to back each other up on difficult cases. And Vivaca Carlton was definitely shaping up to be a difficult case with a capital D.
An hour later he sat back in his chair with a frown marring his face as he thought about what Quinn just told him about the case. It would take all their combined resources due to the fact that Vivaca herself was not telling them the whole truth. His conversation with Quinn led him to believe so, even though he didn’t come right out and say it. Eric couldn’t help but feel there was something his partner wasn’t telling him.
Sitting there for a few more minutes in thought, Eric finally got up and started gathering everything he would need to finish up some of his work at home this weekend. If something came up, he wanted to be prepared. Because if by some small chance Quinn needed reinforcement, he knew Eric would back him up without hesitation. There hadn’t been a case yet that could withstand their combined ‘kick ass, take names later’ method.
****
Finally pulling up in the parking lot of her apartment complex, Winter Jones coasted her beat up old white sedan into her parking space. Turning off the headlights, she tiredly closed her eyes as she sat there wondering how long she had before her car finally gave out on her. Judging by the knocking she heard on the harrowing forty-five minute drive from work and the thrift store, not very long at all. The last thing she needed was to be stuck on the side of the road in rush hour traffic at the mercy of the most impatient drivers on the planet.
Once again she thought of the standoff she and her handsome employer Eric Jameson had come to about her using the shiny new silver SUV left sitting parked in the garage while he was away. She admitted to herself that she might just have to concede defeat and accept his unofficial command that she drive that big honkin’ thing before her car made good on its threat to quit on her. It’s not like she’d have much of a choice if that happened. She ruefully admitted that her pride often played too much of a role in most of her decisions when it came to excepting help. It always had.
Which she suspected Eric knew because he’d simply shrugged those big shoulders of his and would say that he’d never understand why she was making such a big deal out of something so small.
Only he would think giving her a brand new car as something small. She thought reluctantly getting out of the car.
A few minutes later, she walked the short distance to her first floor apartment. Inserting her key in the door, she opened it and was greeted to the cool interior that was filled with sounds of loud alternative music blasting from the direction of her roommate’s bedroom. She was on the verge of going to ask Cheri to turn it down when her face instantly flushed as she recalled why the music was turned up so loud.
After she had complained one night about hearing Cheri and her new boyfriend Randy having sex, her roommate had started turning the music up on her stereo to cover the sounds coming through the paper thin walls. Unfortunately, it didn’t completely eliminate the suspicious thump of the bed hitting the wall that no amount of noise could hide.
Sighing wearily, she put her purse on the counter and went into the kitchen instead to get something to eat. Not wanting to cook anything on the stove that dominated the small kitchen, she mentally ran through what was left and settled on a bag of microwave popcorn.
Opening the cabinet where she always kept her things, she reached for the popcorn box sitting in there and found it suspiciously light. She already knew what she’d find before she even opened it, but some part of her was obviously a glutton for punishment. As if she couldn’t help herself, she looked inside the box anyways.
Empty. Not even one packet left.
Damn.
She felt irritation rise up in her like an angry snarling beast as she threw the box in the trash under the sink. As she did so, a burnt half empty popcorn bag fell out onto the kitchen floor spilling its black charred contents.
She had to count to ten and pray to Jesus as she got down on her knees to pick up the mess that was solid proof of Cheri and Randy’s disrespect.
“Really?!” She all but yelled. Here she was, talking to herself like a crazy woman. She was so mad.
She’d gone to all the trouble of marking all her food with her name on it like a kindergartener on crack and they still managed to buzz through it like they couldn’t read…
That was it.
Do what you will, but don’t mess with the kettle corn!
She marched to the hallway leading to her roommate’s door and knocked hard to be heard over the music that was still blasting. Hearing laughter come from the other side of the door only further inflamed Winter as she stood waiting for Cheri to answer.
When the door opened, she stepped back in shock at what she saw. Instead of Cheri standing there, Randy in all his sleazy glory stood there wearing Cheri’s much smaller robe on his tall lanky body. She didn’t know what offended her worse: his bare bony chest so grossly displayed or the stupid smirk on his face.
“What did you want Winnie?” He taunted in his annoyingly nasally voice as he casually leaned against the door frame. As a result the folds of the robe moved even further apart.
Eww!
She quickly closed her eyes and inwardly cringed wanting to erase the nasty image of him from her mind. She turned away before she could start dry heaving all over the place and give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to her yet again.
It would serve him right if she blew her cookies all over his raunchy butt! She thought taking a deep breath.
“Tell Cheri I want to speak to her in the kitchen.” She called over her shoulder as she hurried away from his offensive presence.
Not for the first time lately, she thought about moving out. The lease would be up in a month and she really needed to start exploring her options because things were getting ridiculous. It was at the point where she didn’t even want to come home anymore because she was tired of feeling like she’d been taken hostage by their relationship.
Making it back to the kitchen, Winter leaned back against the off white countertop and looked out of the small window above the sink trying to clear the confused thoughts playing tag in her already tired mind.
For what seemed like the millionth time, she asked herself: What did Cheri see in him? She honestly didn’t get it. They were total opposites. Cheri was a sweet and bubbly country girl while Randy was just…well Randy. Nasty, crude and rude. She’d heard of opposites attracting, but this was beyond that. Winter never would have moved in with Cheri if she’d known things were going to be this way.
What would it take to break Cheri of her cult-like devotion and make her see that Randy was no good? Winter knew she had to try to talk some sense into her friend some kind of way.
“I’m sorry about that Win.” Cheri said calling Winter by her nickname as she breezed by in the exact same robe Randy had worn just a few minutes ago.
“You know how Randy likes to joke around a lot.” Cheri said opening the fridge and taking a swig straight from the orange juice container.
Frowning at the inconsiderate action, Winter mentally marked off one more thing she wouldn’t be eating or drinking if she could help it. She might get Randy cooties by association.
“Why is Randy here all the time Cheri? It feels like he never goes home…” Looking at Cheri, Winter tried to keep the disgust from rising up in her at the memory of him standing in the doorway just now.
“Well….I told him he could stay with us for awhile until he gets back up on his feet.” Her words came out in a rush as she threw a guilty but challenging look Winter’s way.
“You did what?” “When?” Winter asked as she went and sat on a bar stool next to Cheri hoping she had heard her wrong.
“Today… well last week—but you don’t have to worry Winter. You won’t even know he’s here, I promise.” Cheri’s confident promise had no effect on her as she thought of all the drama about to ensue. This isn’t what they agreed at all when they originally moved in together. Winter couldn’t believe Cheri was sitting there changing the rules on her now.
“I thought we had an agreement to ask each other about things like this before we did them. What happened to that Cheri?” She had to hold Cheri accountable for this one.
Waving off her concern Cheri said, “That’s why I’m mentioning it now, silly.” She went on drinking her juice not realizing how much her flip statement was twisting knots in Winter’s stomach.
Sitting the now empty container down on the counter, she reached over to pat Winter’s shoulder when she saw her panicked stricken expression. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay. You’ll see. You won’t even know he’s here.”
When Cheri got up and left, Winter sat there contemplating the problematic situation she now found herself in. There was no way in hell she could live here with Randy living here too.
It was official; she would have to find somewhere else to live. The only problem was affording the whole amount of rent by herself and still continuing to send money home to help Charlene take care of Aunt Sophie.
Oh, and let’s not even talk about packing up all her stuff and moving it.
This was so not something she wanted to deal with right about now.
Tired, hungry and now stressed to boot, Winter headed to her own bedroom on the opposite side of the apartment. She just wanted to lay her head down and pretend like the last few minutes didn’t happen.
But sleep didn’t come easy that night because she couldn’t help the unsettling feeling that everything was about to blow up in her face. And there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it.
****
Saturday morning, Winter wearily pulled up to the iron gates of Eric’s Scottsdale mansion and buzzed herself in. Watching the gate smoothly close behind her car, she rubbed her tired dry eyes as she continued on the familiar cobblestoned driveway to the house.
She didn’t know how much longer she could go on in the state she was in. Not only had she taken another lukewarm shower, but thanks to Cheri and Randy’s antics she had only gotten a couple hours of sleep last night.
Her nerves were shot.
This morning she’d woken up and hustled out of the apartment at the crack of dawn to void running into either one of them. As a temporary solution she had decided that until she could find somewhere else to live, she would just avoid them as much as possible.
When she’d thought of a way to do that, the only thing that had come to mind had been the vivid beautiful colors of the flowers that grew abundantly around Eric’s home. She’d spent many quiet moments while Eric was away just walking around the grounds touching and smelling the various blooms.
Now, as she glimpsed the beautiful colors of the landscape she felt her frayed nerves slowly relaxing. For just a moment, she imagined what it would be like to live here and call the man who owned it hers. It was one of her favorite daydreams and it instantly put her in a good mood making her lips stretch into a soft smile.
Her tired mind couldn’t fully wrap around the impossible dream, but she had a pretty good idea that it would be pure heaven. She decided right then and there that today she would leave her problems at home and enjoy her time away. With that decided she drove the rest of the way up the driveway to the house to start her day.
Parking her car in the spacious six car garage in her allotted space, she reached to the passenger side and got the two bags of groceries she’d picked up earlier. When she got out making her way to the house, she caught the flash of an envelope on the SUV Eric was trying to get her to drive. The letter sized envelope was tucked in the passenger door window with her name boldly hand-written on it. Curious, she slowly reached to remove it off the window and opened it.
It read:
Donate your pumpkin Cinderella. Your carriage awaits…
Winter felt a full fledge laugh bubble up as she stood looking at the silver gleaming SUV that sat silently mocking her poor little car.
How could she resist the man and his charm? The answer was simple. She couldn’t.
Continuing on her way to the house, Winter made a note to thank Eric for being so thoughtful. She knew when to give in gracefully.
Walking through the short hallway leading to the immaculate Tuscan themed kitchen she called her domain; she sat the grocery bags down on the earth-toned granite counter. She felt excitement move through her when she thought about seeing Eric for the first time in a week.
He had told her he would be home this weekend for a big charity event at some candy millionaire’s mansion. She remembered seeing the notice in the social section of the newspaper and wondering who he was taking with him as his date for the evening.
Feeling slightly guilty, she remembered what she’d found while searching the internet for information on Eric a few months ago:
He wasn’t married and he was one half of one of the biggest security technology companies in the country with his partner Quinn Thomas. Those were things she’d already known.
Not satisfied with that, she’d dug a little deeper and had been depressed by what she’d found.
The random photos of him with model-like drones suggested that he had certain type and clearly it wasn’t anything remotely looking like her.
Snapping out of her disturbing thoughts, she silently chastised herself for being so nosy. She had to be careful not to let her infatuation for Eric get out of hand because of the contract she’d signed when she first got hired. She knew all she needed to know as his employee and that would have to be enough.
He was decent, honest and he paid her a good salary. So what if she longed to know him on a more personal level. She also wanted to win the lottery too, but that wasn’t going to happen either.
Making her way determinately through the house, she heard the faint sounds of a familiar bass pumping song flowing from the home gym on the other side of the house. It further signaled he was already up getting his customary morning workout done.
She’d always felt that the gym always felt like the one room in the whole house that had his personal stamp all over it. He was the only person she’d ever known to actually use all the random equipment in the wall to wall mirrored room.
The man was ruthless when it came to pushing his sculpted physique to the limit and it showed.
And oh did it show.
She thought of the emblem-like tattoo on his upper left shoulder. The military looking insignia must have something to do with the discipline he showed in every aspect of his life as well as maintaining the muscular bulk his expensive tailored suits fit to perfection.
She had to hand it to him. Shaking her head and grinning. Even though she was now taking better care of herself, she knew that there would have to be a loaded gun involved if she had to work out every day the way he did.
Eric, she knew kept his routine through rain, sleet or snow. And that was not only in the gym, but also in business as well. He was always flying out for meetings with different clients all over the country and that was why she tried to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible for him here.
Humming the words to the song she heard thumping in the background, she made her way back to the kitchen to put away the groceries and got started on making the usual Saturday morning breakfast. She knew despite his healthy physique that the man could eat like a horse and he had a sweet tooth that would make a five year old jealous. She often wondered where he put it all.
It just wasn’t fair…
*****
As soon as Eric saw the flash of Winter’s small car drive pass the bank of windows to his gym, he’d fought with himself to keep his concentration on what he was doing. He must not give into the impulse to go near her like he desperately wanted to.
With the bulky muscles of his body now glistening and protesting the intense session of mixed martial arts, he knew punishing himself for his obsession still wouldn’t kill the strong need to be in her presence.
It always came back to her, no matter what he did to try and take away the craving for her.
And from the faint grumbling sound coming from his stomach, apparently it wanted the same thing as the smell of bacon mixed with the heavenly scent of coffee seduced him where he stood. It seemed almost unfair that Winter be an absolute goddess in the kitchen as well as being the physical embodiment of one too.
Giving into temptation, he took a towel and wiped his sweat soaked face and bare chest and changed into another pair of shorts. With that done, he left the gym on a mission to feed both his appetites.
**To be continued** Checkout Amazon.com for full story