C H A P T E R 3 7 : P I E R S J O S E P H S U M M E R S
J A V I E R S U M M E R S
Later, she lay in his arms, in the warmth of his embrace and soft glow of good sex and soothing heat from the fireplace. If someone had told her a month ago whether she would end up in a stranded cabin in a wood somewhere in Sicily, naked with her boss's body — also naked— pressed against hers as if they were lovers, she would have laughed out loud. Yet here she was. Would she regret it? In all honesty, she did not know. She was probably going to regret it in the morning, when this dreamy reality would lose the word dream and became nothing more than just a reality — something she had to face head on. What if he was going to leave her in the morning? What if when the sun rose up, he would tell her that this had been a mistake? What would she do then? Her brain wanted her to rethink about all of this but her heart was t
C H A P T E R 3 8 : T H E B O N D O F B R O T H E R H O O D E L L A S T A N F O R D Ella pointed at the post it note and he took it off then turned it around. Right behind it, there was a happy birthday note. “This must be my birthday present. My birthday was last month.” Javier looked at it frowning. “So he did not forget,” he stared at her as if he needed a confirmation, anything to convince him that this was real and not just his mindless dreaming. “Jiev, I don’t think your brother has ever forgotten you.” His eyes widened and she did not think they could get any bigger. “What makes you say that?” “Come here.” She brought him closer to the wall where all the canvases were stacked against the wall. “What am I supposed to be looking at?” She moved the canvases away and when
C H A P T E R 3 9 : T H E I S S U E O F T H E P A S T J A V I E R S U M M E R S Javier planted a kiss on her forehead. “I will buy you some time to get dressed.” He picked up his pants off the floor, put them on, then walked away. He came to a halt by the door to look over his shoulder and smiled as his eyes landed on her stretching her body on the bed. “Could you stay here for at least a few minutes? I would like to talk to him as well.” “Sure,” answered Ella with a yawn. He closed the door behind him and went downstairs. Sure enough, his brother was standing in the kitchen with his hands on his waist. He seemed to be focusing on the stove on the right hand side. He took a deep breath and greeted his brother. “Piers?” His voice sounded a little unsure. His brother turned around, eyes widened. He blin
C H A P T E R 4 0 : T H E B L A T A N T S T A T E M E N T E L L A S T A N F O R D Despite Piers’s wish for the two of them to stay longer, they both packed the next day, claiming that they had to work on Monday morning. Piers drove them to their hotel and would then drive them again to the airport. Albeit Javier telling him that they could simply ask a driver of one of their hotels in Italy, Piers insisted to drive them anyway. They were greeted with curiosity and surprise at the hotel. Ella was slightly embarrassed by the stares she received as her clothes were disheveled here and there but she held her head high—convincing herself that she was at least dressed. Javier inquiries about their rooms and the manager appeared, bowing, and politely assured him with an obsequious smile that he had indeed held their rooms, imagining that they would be returning since Mi
Ella POV “W-what?” Accidentally choked by the ice tea, Ella ended up coughing quite violently. Her hand reached for the napkin and she wiped her mouth. “I am sorry.” Piers patted her back, trying to help but unsure whether he should get her something to drink or soothe her. “I should not have said it like that.” Ella soon calmed herself. She leaned back against the back of her chair, her eyes were narrowed as her gaze fixated on Piers. It was not every day that someone said something like this to her, let alone her boss’s brother. Furthermore, she was pretty sure Piers got the gist that there was something going on between her and Javier especially since Javier had once mentioned her as his lover thus she could not quite comprehend why on earth Piers was telling her this now. They had not even known each other that long. “Please do explain yourself,” she responded, her voice turned formal and business-like.
Ella hung up the phone, then pulled her Disney T-shirt over her head and take off her pajama pants, keeping her panties on. Right now, wanting to get into trouble with Javier won out over the regret she would feel in a few hours. She hurriedly brushed her teeth and hair and grabbed her slick black raincoat from her closet. She shoved her feet into a pair of silver, comfortable pumps and dropped her keys into her coat pocket on the way out the door. The second her eyes landed on him, she sucked out of breath. There he stood next to his black Jaguar parked heading the wrong way next to the curb. Darkness surrounded him, and a cool breeze from the wind blew, tossing several strands of her hair in front of her face. “Miss Stanford.” “Sir.” He opened the passenger door. “Nice coat.” She stepped in front of him and looked through the darkness into his face. The same breeze that
C H A P T E R 4 3 : T H E M O R N I N G A F T E R E L L A S T A N F O R D When the morning came, it came with a reality check. Feeling the warmth of the sun on her face, Ella woke up with a sigh and looked her surrounding. Clearly she was not in her room, her bedroom did not have a balcony nor a tall, ceiling to floor, window. And one hand two inches below her left breast reminded her of what had occurred last night. Her eyes shifted to the clock on the nightstand. It was eight in the morning. Carefully she slid her body out of his embrace, making sure she did not accidentally wake him up, then started to get dressed. Since obviously she had come with only a coat, panties, and silver pumps, she took a liberty to grab one T-shirt out of his drawer before she tip toed herself all the way across his bedroom towards the door. She gave him one last look over her shoulder, watching hi
Javier POV She stood perfectly still at first but then her hands were around his head, pressing him on, eager, demanding, expressing an urgency that was wild for satisfaction. All the erotic thoughts he had had about Ella for the last two weeks raged through his mind. He remembered her rounded behind tempting him whenever she walked in and out of his office — as it had always reminded him of how she had looked like when she had been naked in his bedroom and walked to the bathroom, and he ran his hands over it, wanting to squeeze the fullness of her cheeks. But the fabric of her skirt was stiff, not soft and giving. He hauled it up and pushed it away from her panties. Nothing to get in the way and he reveled in the lovely bare curves, cupping them, lifting them to fit her more closely to the rampant hardness stirred by her readiness to come his way. Her way, too. No doubt about that. She wriggled against him. S
Ella POV Javier cooked them a really nice steak, and accompanied with a glass of wine, Ella could say that it was one of the best dinners she had ever had in her life. “This is nice,” commented Ella as she took another sip of her wine. “Having you here is nice.” Javier leaned forward and clinked his glass to hers then took a drink. “You know, I woke up that morning alone and I have never felt so lonely in my life.” He tilted his head as he placed the crystal glass carefully on the table. “Why did you leave?” Ella took a deep breath and decided to tell him the truth. “Because we agreed that when the Monday morning came, things would go back to normal.” “But what is normal, really?” he asked, lifting his brows and daring her to reply. He finished off his wine then started to clear out the table. &nb