Page 33 of Mountain Struggle

She laughed. “Not for me either, Damien. I just … I think we need some time to see how this works out. We’ll need to agree on all sorts of things and—”

“I’ll speak with my son. This isn’t half as big of a problem as you’re making it out to be,” he said.

She wanted to believe him.

“I’m going to my room,” she said. “Why don’t you go back to sleep, Damien, and we can talk in the morning?”

“Sleep?” he complained, his hand coming to grasp his cock. “If I can’t have sex with you again, I’m going for a hard run, then a cold shower.”

She laughed, putting on her jeans. “Enjoy. I’ll be asleep again in my bed in about five minutes.”

She was lying, of course. She got as far as putting on her nightshirt and crawling into her own bed before she realized her body smelled of him. She thought of everything they’d done together the night before—then thought of everything she wanted him to do to her.

His words resonated in her mind.

This wasn’t a one-night stand for me.

Not for me either, Damien.

Giving up on sleep, she took a long shower—although she walked by the enormous bathtub gracing her bedroom every morning, she’d yet to use it—and dressed in her daily uniform of jean shorts and a short-sleeved top.

Nobody needs to know I spent five minutes choosing my bra and knickers—just in case.

It was still only seven a.m., way too early for Tess to even consider sitting down at her desk to write, so she made herself a cup of Earl Grey and called her sister. It was only six a.m. in London, where Sarah lived, but Tess knew she wouldn’t be waking her sister up.

Sarah was one of those people born with a built-in alarm clock. She was up at the crack of dawn every day, rain or shine, usually with a big smile on her face.

Pretty much the opposite of me.

She’d also found a job that suited her perfectly, as a radio host in a show that started every morning at seven a.m.

Sarah answered the phone on the second ring. She sounded breathless, and Tess imagined her walking briskly to the Tube as they spoke.

“Tess? Is everything okay?” Sarah asked sharply.

“Hi Sarah, everything’s fine,” Tess said quickly. Even though she’d tried to minimize the incident from a few weeks earlier in conversations with her family, her sister knew her too well.

“But you’re never awake at this time,” Sarah huffed. “Sorry for the noise, I’m walking to work this morning.”

“I figured you’d be on your way to work. Just wanted to chat for a bit.”

“You sound too happy. And, you want to chat. At seven in the morning your time?” Sarah’s voice went up an octave. “You slept with someone!”

Tess laughed. “So what if I did?”

“Tell me about him, what’s he like? Is he French? Is he young? Is he rich? I want to hear all!”

“Well, you kind of know about him already, Sarah.”

Sarah groaned loudly on the phone.

“Don’t tell me you slept with him. The kid’s dad? The search and rescue guy? Tess, you know better than that. He’s your boss, and he is old.” She paused dramatically.

Tess shrugged defensively—not that Sarah could see her.

“It’s not like that.”

“So what’s it like?” Sarah huffed impatiently.