“What is it?”
“A surprise. She said it was a treat for you for being my driver.”
I walked a little quicker, hearing him laugh.
The surprise was visible as soon as we entered the room: a bottle of champagne in a cooler and the scent of roses coming from the bathroom.
A bath had been run, filled with rose petals, a note beside it that told me the roses and the oil used in the bath had come from the chateau’s gardens.
A tray of macarons had been placed on the bed too, along with a hand-tied bouquet of roses and lavender next to it.
“This is a really sweet touch.” I picked up the note left with the flowers.
Check the water isn’t too hot x
Good advice. You should always check the temperature before you jump in.
“Carina and Suzette are good people.” He wasn’t smiling; his expression was almost stern. “You want me to open the champagne for you?”
“There are two glasses. I think we’re meant to share.” I picked up the champagne myself, twisting the metal and popping it open with no spillage.
Jesse’s eyes stayed on me all the time, his smile never breaking through.
“I’d offer to share the bath with you, but I think I know what your answer would be.” I poured him the first glass, passing it to him with a smile.
He accepted but didn’t take a sip. “I don’t do relationships, Jerrica.”
“Disagree. We have a relationship already. What you’re saying is that you don’t do intimate relationships.” I poured my own glass, putting the bottle back in the stand. “I’m not suggesting a ring and a church, Jesse, just a night or two, and this is the last I’m saying about it. I can only take so many semi-rejections before I start to consider writing crime fiction and basing a victim on you.”
He managed a smile, looking away.
“I’m going to enjoy my bath. I’ll leave the door unlocked in case you need to come in.”
The door stayed shut, but I hadn’t expected anything different.
My ego wasn’t bruised. I didn’t feel like I’d been rejected, despite the bath — which was big enough for two, even when one of them was the size of Jesse — only containing one of us.
I was different from the women Jesse usually hooked up with. He made them sign non-disclosure agreements and agree where their hard no’s were. Everything was about them, only on his terms.
I wasn’t someone who agreed to anyone’s terms and conditions without negotiating my own.
Even if that someone came in a viciously sexy package with enough of a broken hero complex to fill a trilogy of romances.
I drank champagne in the most glorious bath I’d ever been in and let my mind drift off to the next book I was planning to write, trying not to think about the release day for my second book which was in just a few days. Escaping into a world that I could control without risk to anyone else was blissful, the view from the window next to the bath full of fields and blue skies. A moment of bliss, although another man-induced form of bliss would’ve been equally welcome.
I wasn’t going to hold my breath, though.
CHAPTER11
Jesse
I’d been lessfrustrated watching my team play from the bench than in the bedroom while Jerrica soaked in that bath.
The scent of the water stayed with me long after Simone and Jack served their first course; it overtook the taste of the wine and fucked with every thought that I tried to have that didn’t include Jerrica.
I’m not suggesting a ring and a church.
Those words had reverberated through my head on a loop at least every three minutes, the absolute truth to them a banging drum.
