Chapter 13
Bastian
My cell phone rang from near my bedside, waking me from a troubled and light sleep. A headache throbbed in my temples, and I reached out to grab the damn thing without even glancing at the caller ID.
“Who the fuck is calling me so early?” I growled into the phone. “This better be a damn emergency or a wrong number.”
“Who the hell says it’s so damn early?” Ashton asked.
I forced my eyes open with a grimace to look up at the ceiling of my bedroom while letting out a painful groan.
“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing at my eyes. “It’s not seven, right?”
“Try 9:23 a.m.,” Ashton said. “What the hell is going on, Bastian?”
Shit. I rolled over onto my stomach to look at the tiny alarm clock next to the bed. He was right about the time. I had slept in after spending the majority of the night tossing and turning in bed with images of Joanna’s naked body burning in my mind. I let my face sink into the pillow while the headache in my temples continued to throb.
My head wasn’t the only thing throbbing, either. I could feel my rock-hard and painful dick pressed up against the mattress. That had been the main reason I hadn’t been able to sleep all fucking night long. I had resisted going low enough to jerking off to a woman I did actually care about—especially a woman who had just escaped an abusive relationship. I didn’t have many morals when it came to sleeping with women, but when it came to Joanna’s situation, I didn’t want to cross the line. I wanted to give her the respect she deserved, and getting involved with me would only land her in further heartache.
“Nothing is going on,” I mumbled into the phone. “Can I call you later?”
“Not until you tell me what is going on. I’m at your office right now with the documents for the fashion company you were planning to buy. Remember?”
I swore into the pillow. “Roger was supposed to take care of that. I told him to rearrange my entire schedule this week.”
“Roger is not a good assistant. I don’t know why you bother keeping him around the office when he just mucks it up. Joanna was the one who did a good job. Speaking of that, I heard an interesting rumor this morning about the two of you.”
“Nothing is happening between us,” I said quickly. Unfortunately. “I don’t know what you’ve been hearing, but nothing is happening between us.”
“I haven’t heard that there is anything going on between you two,” Ashton said. “A woman named Sabrina informed me that the office has been getting a lot of threatening phone calls from someone who wants to talk to Joanna. From what I gathered, she left the building yesterday morning and no one has seen her since.”
“Okay,” I said.
“I have a feeling that you know more than what you are letting on here, Bastian. You realize that people are talking about what is going on. There is a lot of talk at the moment about why you’re not in the office to handle a few accounts.”
“I’ll get to work on those accounts today from my house in Park City,” I said, irritation sweeping through me. “It’s a long story, Ashton. I don’t want to get into it out of respect for Joanna.”
“So you do know where she is then? Her friend here is contemplating a missing person report. Do you really want that type of press going on right now?”
“Fuck.”
I pushed myself up into a sitting position to glare across the bright room despite the cloud cover. There was a good couple feet of snow outside with more trickling down. I needed to get into the barn to get out the truck and snowplow to get the roads manageable again for Roger, who now had to come drop off more things for me.
“Joanna is with me.” I relented because I didn’t want Ashton prodding this even further. “Her ex, the one who is probably calling, has been roughing her up. I told her to come stay with me until things settle down.”
Ashton breathed into the phone. “Christ, man. No offense, but why are you involved in that type of situation?”
“Because Joanna walked into my office with marks all over her neck from when the bastard strangled her.” My fingers curled up into fists. “I need to make a phone call to my lawyer about all of the shit he’s pulling. Don’t speak of this to anyone else either, Ashton. I don’t want someone in the office spilling the beans to him when they answer the phone. It could get her hurt.”
“That’s understandable I suppose,” he said slowly. “You need to do something about it, though, Bastian. The entire office is freaked out by it.”
“Yeah, I will. Hand over all those documents to Roger. I’m having him come out to where I am so I can look over everything.”
“Sounds good,” Ashton said. “Call me once you get a chance to look over the papers. I need it by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
I tossed my phone down on the bed after exchanging good-byes. I stared down at my rock-hard erection that had yet to go down since thinking about work. My fingers reached down to stroke it lightly. I needed to do something about this before Joanna got up. Even with a frigid-cold shower and plenty of work to do, there was no trusting myself to keep my hands to myself. I’d probably bend her right over my desk to ram myself into her.
And if there was one thing for sure that I had gotten out of last night, despite a shitty hangover, it was that Joanna felt the same urge of attraction for me. We were both attracted to one another despite the situation we were currently in, but I couldn’t let myself get close.
I didn’t want to risk losing Joanna in the process because of my own demons lurking inside me. She had been through enough as it was.
The cold air washed over me. I needed a hot shower before facing the day with this shitty headache, but at least I would be able to somewhat concentrate with Joanna around me this way.
Letting the entire bathroom steam up, I stepped into the tiled shower stall that was warm beneath my bare feet. Living in Utah during the winter months meant having to have floors that were warmed throughout the winters, but it felt good when I leaned my back up against the tiles while I stroked myself to the image of Joanna’s naked body. I should’ve let her take those panties off just so I could’ve gotten a peek at the core of her. I imagined my fingers there, but also sliding into what I imagined was slick and tight heat.
My cock twitched beneath my fingers. I cried out as my peak came hard and swift at those images swirling about in my head. The intensity of it nearly brought me to my knees. I sucked in deep and sated breaths while my heart rate came back down.
I could at least get through the morning now without wanting to fuck Joanna like crazy. I wished it would happened, though. There was no doubt about that, but I knew that having sex with Joanna would change everything between us. I wasn’t sure if I was even ready to let go of the dynamic we had going between the two of us at the moment. It made working with Joanna easy but trusting her even easier.
And she trusted me without a doubt. After everything that had transpired the day before, I couldn’t let myself go there. The striptease had gone too far, and I had let it go that far because of my own selfish desires. It was best for us to brush it off and put it behind us as best as we could.
I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting Joanna after everything she had gone through. After finishing up in the shower, I ventured down to the kitchen to find my housekeeper, Marcie, already doing the dishes from last night. She smiled up at me when I entered through the dining room door.
“Good morning, Mr. Burke,” she said cheerfully. “Full pot of coffee over there for you.”
“Thank you,” I said, offering a grateful smile. I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and, after a second thought, picked up another for Joanna whenever she came downstairs. “I appreciate everything you’ve done getting this place cleaned up, Marcie. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Of course, sir. It’s my pleasure.” She frowned down at the large pot she was currently washing out with bubbles. “I didn’t get a grocery list from you, though. It was a miracle you found some food in here last night.”
I sipped at my hot coffee. “Yes, a miracle. I’ll make sure to write down a list for you later if you don’t mind going. Were the roads bad?”
“My husband has some good snow tires, so it wasn’t too bad,” she said. “I’m sure the snowplow will be heading this direction soon. They’ve been out all night.”
“We’ll wait and see. I don’t want you out driving unless the roads are acceptable to drive on.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
I took my coffee to the living room to sit in front of the crackling fire. Sinking down into the leather cushions, I pulled out my cell phone to call Roger.
“Good morning, Mr. Burke,” he said promptly. “What can I do for you today?”
I rubbed at my aching head. “I assume that Ashton has stopped by to deliver a few documents to you?”
“About forty minutes ago, sir.”
“Great,” I said. “I need those documents here by the end afternoon, along with whatever else is piling up on my desk.”
“I’ll be there later this afternoon, sir.” He hesitated for a moment. “Mr. Burke, I have to tell you that Joanna’s ex-boyfriend has been calling around here quite a bit. He’s starting to make the receptionist terrified to pick up the phones.”
“So I’ve heard,” I said darkly. “Do me a favor, Roger. Record the calls. Mark how many times he calls the office by the end of today. I’ll slap a protection order on the bastard for calling the office excessively.”
“I will tell the women up front. I know this is personal, but tell Joanna that I’m proud of her.”
“You can tell her in person,” I said. “By the end of the day, Roger. I mean it. I need those documents Ashton dropped off.”
I hung up after Roger spouted off a time that he would be by the log mansion. I sat in silence until the sound of Joanna coming down the stairs alerted me that she was up. She came into the living room dressed in a simple pair of gray leggings and a black sweater. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a loose braid. Her eyes were puffy and red when she looked over at me with a nervous glint in her eyes.
“Morning,” she said cautiously. “How are you feeling?”
“Just fine,” I responded curtly. “I just got off the phone with Roger. He’s bringing a few things for us to work on from the office, but we have a lot to get done today. No time for chitchat.”
Hurt flashed in Joanna’s eyes. I resisted the urge to apologize because this was in her best interest. Last night couldn’t happen again, even if I wanted it to.
“Okay,” she said in a small voice. “Um, is there any more coffee in the kitchen?”
“An entire potful. Also, Marcie is making a list of things to get from the store. Write down anything you think you need on the list.”
Joanna retreated from the living room in the direction of the kitchen. Guilt lodged itself in my throat. I had already hurt her.