The early morning humid air must be to blame for the sudden breathy catch in her throat. The mayor was more...undressed than she had ever seen him before. His hair was damp and curled messily down over his forehead. He was shirtless, and oh, my. She stopped there for a long moment to appreciate the sight.
Fine, dark hair covered his broad chest, tempting her fingers to touch. His waist was narrow, his stomach tight with muscle, leading down to a furrow of dark hair that disappeared into shorts that slung low from his hips. Long, powerful thighs, tight with muscle, stood slightly spread in front of her. His lack of a suit exposed a raw masculinity that made him seem larger and rougher than she was used to.Gimme.
“Are you done?” he asked with that one arrogant eyebrow arched, crashing her back down to reality.
Nice to look at maybe, but still the same arrogant, entitled man.
"Look who's decided to grace me with his presence. And here I thought I was the late one," she said.
“My day starts at nine. Yours starts at eight. It’s eight fifteen.”
“Sorry, boss,” she said unapologetically. “Betty was being fussy.” She nodded toward her car in the driveway. It wasn’t lost on her how out of place her trusty little red Mazda was in Theo’s driveway. Theo’s home was more of a residence.
The tall Victorian, with gables, trim, and elegant windows seemed like it was from another time. Yeah, he would never see the inside of her apartment with her secondhand furniture. That they were from different worlds had never been so apparent.
Amber wasn’t usually self-conscious about her upbringingin Cedarwood Village, but standing in front of Theo’s house gave her a long-forgotten twinge of discomfort. She lifted her chin and raised her own eyebrow in a haughty impression to even them up.
Theo gave her an unreadable look and reached around her to open the door. She followed him into the foyer. Her heels had seemed like a good idea this morning. She always forgot that they were more for sitting pretty than for following cranky men around rambling old Victorian houses.
The fast clicks echoed on the shiny wood floors all the way to the back of the house where French doors let out to a stone patio that held a hot tub under a pergola. A quick impression of neat rooms filled with tasteful furniture—simple, expensive, and not a thing out of place. What else had she expected? "Nice place you got here, Mr. Mayor. Do you work from home often? 'Cause I could get used to this," Amber said.
“Some days. This is my home office.” He led her into a room closed off by glass French doors and handed her a stack of mail. “Start with this. Open everything and sort it into piles. I’m going to shower. I’ll be down shortly. Take messages if anyone calls.”
“Got it, boss. Need any help washing your back, give me a shout.” She smiled up at him innocently.
“Inappropriate,” he called back, and Amber grinned. This was going to be fun. Lord knew she had had worse jobs in the past.
She looked around the office space. It was more of a library with a desk, all done in dark wood and elegant gray with an oversized desk by the window. She settled herself in the leather chair and got comfortable.
Okay, mail. She could totally do this. She had plenty of experience in an office setting, althoughit wasn’t her favorite place to work. She much preferred jobs where she could use her creativity, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Unfortunately, sorting Theo’s mail only took her a few minutes. He had several boring events coming up, which she put aside, and bills that she sorted by due date. She looked for any juicy subscriptions to porn, but from what she could tell, Theo’s social life consisted of golf tee times, boring town budget meetings, and a long-running breakfast date with his grandma.
Mail sorted, she wandered over to look at the framed pictures on the wall. In many of the photos, Theo was with his father or what she assumed was his grandfather from the resemblance. Both men were tall and dark and aristocratic in their three-piece suits. In every one, Theo had a serious look on his face.
She poked around the desk for a few minutes. Not a thing out of place. She shifted the stack of papers on his desk an inch to the right just to be perverse.
“If you’re done snooping, you can follow me.” Theo appeared, buttoned and tied to perfection again in a charcoal suit and tie. He led her to a modern chef’s kitchen that could fit her entire apartment.
“Sit there,” he pointed to the massive marble island with barstools.
She headed toward the counter instead, just to be contrary, but the bonus check floated in front of her eyes and she took a sharp right toward the island instead to try to wiggle up onto the stool. Her pencil skirt was mighty tight around her knees.
Theo paused in the middle of taking out a blender. “That doesn’t look very...” He waved vaguely toward her, “comfortable,” he finally said.
“Comfort’s overrated.” Amber smoothed her hand over the slim white column of her skirt. She had paired it with a red off-the-shoulder blouse for a Marilyn office vibe. “I thought you'd appreciate the effort," she said. Unlike her, Theo kept his eyes above her neck. Of course he did.
"You'll break your neck in those heels,” Theo said finally.
Amber smiled. “These old things? They're practically slippers," she lied, knowing full well the four-inch black patent leather heels with the darling ankle strap were anything but comfortable.
She eyed a package of kale as Theo started adding things to the blender. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who drinks green juice?”
He looked down pointedly at the assortment of kale, green apples, and celery on the counter. “Would you like one?” he asked politely.
She hopped off the stool to look suspiciously at the various bags and jars on the counter. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten yet.
“Not only are you late, you didn’t eat? Don’t you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day?”
