Page 17 of Shattered Hope
When all was done, I picked up my things and went to the new room, starting to feel a bit tired. The sleepless night was taking its toll on me, but I couldn’t go to bed this early.
Another thing that had been worrying her was how thick these walls were. Susan assured her the staff suites were soundproof, to respect both employer and employee’s privacy, but I wondered if it would muffle my cries during the night.
My nightmares could be quite horrific. I had been told I screamed so loud I scared everyone around. The last thing I needed was for him to know about my nightmares… besides, that little detail might make him think twice about hiring me.
Yawning for the tenth time, I decided to take a shower and change clothes. Mr. Wells would probably want to speak to me, so I would better be ready.
I was coming out of the bathroom, still wrapped in a towel when I heard someone in the living room. I had forgotten to lock the main door, unused to being in a suite this big, but I guessed it was Susan looking for me.
“Were you looking for me?” I asked as I stepped into the living room, rubbing my hair with a spare towel.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I was,” his hoarse voice disconcerted me, and I looked up to meet his gray eyes.
The lust was back, and this time there was no place for misunderstandings. It was crystal clear, even when it only lasted no more than a few moments.
“What the hell… are you doing here?” I asked, painfully aware I was naked under the towel.
His face turned into a stone mask. “I wanted to talk to you,” he said in a somber tone.
“Couldn’t it wait?” I asked trembling.
He nodded. “Get dressed and meet me in the living room,” he said, and a moment later, he was gone as if chased by all the demons from hell.
8
My legs failed me, and I fell on my knees, my heart thundering in my chest. But this time, fear had nothing to do with it. The lust in his eyes had provoked a response in me; I couldn’t quite identify. My body was flushed, my heart was drumming, and I was breathing through ragged gasps.
No man had ever conjured such a response in me. Not even Daniel, when I met him for the first time and fell for him like a silly teenager.
It scared me, but after a few deep breaths, I was back in control of my emotions, once more determined to forget the whole incident and pretend it had never happened.
It was safer that way.
Wells was having a drink while contemplating the night falling over the city when I met him in the living room. It was still snowing, and the weather forecast had promised another storm for that night.
I cleared my throat to call his attention. “Did you want to see me?” I asked, standing as far as I could from him.
He finished his drink with one single gulp before he turned to look at me.
“Yes, please, take a seat.”
“I’m good, thank you, sir.”
“You can call me Jayden,” he ordered as he sat down in an armchair in front of her.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate, sir,” I insisted.
I needed to keep things on a professional level as much as possible. If it depended on me, he would barely see me around the house.
“As you prefer,” he conceded, but I could see he wasn’t happy with my insistence. Fortunately, he didn’t have grounds to demand anything different from me than what he expected from Susan. “I need your personal information to register you as my employee.”
His words were a cold shower on a winter day. “I can’t give you that. I thought that was clear.”
Last time I had used my social security number, Daniel had tracked me down in a couple of days. I wasn’t making that mistake again.
“Why not?”
“I have personal reasons for my request,” I assured him.
