Her Billionaire Boss by Gena Snow
Chapter 7
Harper
It’s Saturday afternoon and we’re on Pacific Coast Highway. Nick’s Ferrari zips through the lane, making me nervous. I’m not used to the speed, but I don’t complain because I also enjoy the thrill. And it’s not an everyday event for me to be inside the vehicle that everybody hates but envies.
I gaze at the scenery outside the window mainly because I want to avoid looking at my boss. He’s so damn handsome— even his profile is enough to make me daydream.
What happened last night at the office still felt like a dream to me. After I got home last night, I soaked in the bathtub and revisited the moment instead of watching Netflix as I had planned. While I lay in bed, I asked myself what the hell I had done and what I was supposed to do next. But I fell asleep without a definite answer.
When I woke this morning, I was full of confidence and energy. I was ready to put last night behind me. It was just a silly make-out sparked by alcohol and maybe my own frustration. I had been attracted to Nick all along. Although I hid my feelings well, I reached my limits last night when he was suddenly so kind and considerate. I forgave my reckless act. I won’t let it happen again.
But now I’m nervous. I’ll be with him for the rest of the day and a night. Nick wants us to spend a night at the resort to find out more about the place as customers. He hasn’t told his uncle we’re coming for the same reason.
The Seaside Spa Resort is located in Beacon, a neighboring town, and is only an hour’s drive from Alton, but it feels like a different planet.
First of all, it’s seaside, so ocean view instead of mountain view dominates the region. The place is home to affluent people. Not many commercial zones, but mostly residence and lots of recreation areas.
When we were little, my parents took us to the beaches here once in a while. I was last here two summers ago with Avery and Jimmy. But whenever we were here, we only just sunbathed at the beach, never stayed in any hotels.
The spa resort is hidden in the mountains, although one can glimpse the ocean through the pine trees.
We check into the Summit Suite on top of a hill with a fantastic ocean view.
“Holy smokes!” I exclaim the moment I step out of Nick’s car, astonished by what I see.
Nick can’t hide his appreciations for the view either. I can’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile.
I expected a simple log cabin like the ones I saw on TV; thus the two-story house with lots of glass and a huge balcony stuns me.
When Nick slides the keycard to open the door, my heart is hammering a hole in my chest. Just entering the house with him alone feels so intimate. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like later on, even though we aren’t going to sleep in the same bed.
I push away my dirty thoughts as soon as I step into the suite. The art décor interior is ridiculously luxurious, a bit incongruent with the rustic view. From fancy ceiling lights to expensive-looking rugs on the hardwood floor. Plush couches and a flat-screen TV. “Wow,” I exclaim. No wonder it’s so pricy. It costs a thousand dollars per night on a weekend.
The master bedroom upstairs opens to the patio, where a hot tub is located in the center of a wooden deck. The patio has no fences, but it’s enclosed by dense junipers on three sides. The remaining side has an unobstructed view of the ocean, which isn’t that far away.
My God. This is paradise. I want nothing other than relaxing in the bubbling water.
Nick doesn’t look impressed, though. Understandingly, it isn’t his first time being at a luxury setting like this.
Instead, he criticizes everything. “That’s so old-fashioned. Wooden tubs require high maintenance and are less durable. Why don’t they just use acrylic spas?”
I’m no expert in the subject but I like the tub. “It looks classy,” I say. “And it matches the wood cabin.”
“Maybe,” he says with a shrug. “But costly.”
Not until we’re back into the suite do I notice the king-sized bed with a canopy, a wood headboard and four posts. I’ve never in my life slept in a bed with these features. It looks so grand to the point of intimidating. It’s also very too high to plop down conveniently. I worry I would fall if I got up in the middle of the night to use a bathroom.
I must be staring at the bed for too long because Nick asks, “What’re you thinking?”
“N-nothing,” I say. And then a witty remark comes to mind. “It’s just that the bed is so high it really requires some climbing.”
He doesn’t laugh as I’ve hoped. Instead, his eyes darken as they fix on mine. “You don’t have to climb. There are other ways to get in bed.”
Holy mackerel. What does he mean? How? Other ways? My imagination goes wild as my eyes fall on his thick biceps. Of course, those thick arms could carry me all the way from downstairs or from the hot tub.
Stop it. I chide myself as a wave of warm wetness gushes out of my center.
I clear my throat and ask, “What’re we going to do next?”
My husky voice gives me away, and he smirks. “We’ll go to the beach.”
“The beach?”
“Yes,” he says. “It’s too early to go to bed, right?”
“That’s not what I have in mind,” I say with a nervous chuckle, knowing he’s teasing me. “But what about checking out the place?”
“We’ll do it on our way to the beach,” he says with a wriggle of eyebrows.
