Chapter 5
Late Night
“So basically Christopher Columbus was a horrible person,” Benson said. The 10-year-old sat across the table from Victoria. His posture was straight as an arrow, and had been that way since they started their first tutoring session two hours ago.
Which was why Victoria consciously sat up straight too, even if it was exhausting. She felt ashamed to slouch when her student was sitting with such perfect posture.
“Yes,” Victoria said. “They don’t teach you that in school, do they?”
Benson shook his head.
“Well, history never tells the whole truth,” she said. She wondered if maybe contradicting Benson’s school teachers on her first day of work was a particularly bad idea.
“So why do we study it then?”
“That’s...a very good question.” Victoria smiled inwardly. The boy was smart. She was not going to hate this job. “I think we study history so we can find out the truth about us. Even lies tell us something.”
It was uncanny how Benson looked so much like Chase. The young boy had blond hair, but he and his uncle had the same blue eyes.
She couldn’t quite figure out the funny feeling she had when she found out that Benson was Chase’s nephew, not his son. Until Chase’s assistant mentioned it, she’d assumed he was Chase’s son. And that there was a Mrs. Chase in the picture.
“I wonder what Mr. Everett would say if I ask him about it,” Benson said, glancing down at his book.
“Well, let me know.”
He looked up and frowned. “You think I should bring it up?”
“I think...you should never be afraid to ask questions. If they’re sincere.” Asking too many questions has gotten Victoria in trouble at school more than a few times. But she didn’t remember ever regretting it.
Benson shrugged, and closed his book. “I think that’s the last of this week’s material,” he said. “Do you want to go over next week’s?”
“Oh no. I think we’ve had enough for tonight. You can get dinner. Your homework’s all done, so I think you can hit the Playstation or something.”
“I don’t play games.”
“You don’t like them?”
“I’ve never had a Playstation. Or an Xbox.”
“Does your uncle not want you to play games?”
“No. It just never came up.”
Victoria helped him put his books and notebooks away. “I have a Playstation myself,” she said. “Games are fun, and a great way to relax.”
“Aren’t you a bit old for gaming?” Benson grinned.
She smiled back at him. “No one’s ever too old for fun, kid.” She paused, thinking. “You know, I could bring it over sometime. The new Tomb Raider is pretty cool, we could go a few rounds on that.”
“Okay.”
Victoria eyed him suspiciously. “Just like that? You’re not going to ask your uncle first if it’s okay?”
“What for? He hired you as my tutor, didn’t he?”
“Yes?”
“Well, that means he trusts you not to teach me anything bad. And besides,” he added. “If I don’t like games, I can stop playing.”
“That’s true.” Victoria couldn’t stop smiling. Benson was so precocious, she had to restrain herself from pinching his cheeks.
To think she almost didn’t get this job.
It was still all very strange to her. Chase interviewed her, but said she wasn’t what he was looking for. And then one day he shows up at the Foxhole with a job offer.
Benson may not be into games, but maybe his uncle was.
There was a knock in the study, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Sellers came in. “It’s time for dinner. Victoria, won’t you join us?”
Victoria hesitated. Was Chase home? She wasn’t expecting to be having dinner with the family. “Would that be all right?” she asked.
“Oh, yes, please eat with us,” Benson said. “Uncle Sebastian always comes home late. It’s just me and Mrs. Sellers.”
“Oh.” So she wasn’t having dinner with her boss. “All right then.”
Victoria wasn’t used to eating with people she just met, or other people’s kids, but dinner wasn’t as awkward as she thought it would be. Mrs. Sellers, who was in her sixties, didn’t speak much, and neither did Benson. But he was always glancing at Victoria, as though he expected her to make conversation. Which she did. They talked about his favorite subjects at school and sports he was into. He was polite, and she found herself enjoying the boy’s company.
After dinner, Benson excused himself to read before bed. Mrs. Sellers asked Victoria if she could wait for Mr. Chase to get home, as he wanted to speak to her before she left.
“Shall I wait in the study?” she asked the elderly woman.
“Maybe you’d prefer the living room?” Mrs. Sellers said. “The one on this floor has a television, so you won’t get bored.”
“Oh, right. Yes, that would be great, thank you.”
Sebastian Chase’s house was incredibly large. It had three floors and was divided into two wings. She was almost sure each floor could fit about a dozen rooms. It definitely had more than one living room, but Mrs. Sellers said only the one on the first floor of the main wing had a TV.
Victoria found the channel that showed old movies, and luckily, it was playing one of her favorite Humphrey Bogart films. She settled down on the couch with some tiny cakes and a soda the housekeeper brought her.
The cakes were delicious. Mrs. Sellers mentioned they were madeleines, and she’d just made them that afternoon. Victoria couldn’t remember ever having them in her life, and she sighed contentedly as she bit into the buttery goodness. She could definitely get used to this.
What was it like being so rich you had servants bake you tiny French cakes anytime you wanted, she wondered. If she didn’t have to make her own dinner or do laundry, she’d probably be able to finish her novel in a month or two. It was way too late for her to have been born to wealthy parents, and she doubted she had a long-lost aunt somewhere out there who needed an heir to leave their fortune to. She had no illusions about hitting it rich by herself someday. There were very few millionaire authors out there.
But she loved writing. There wasn’t anything else she could think of doing for the rest of her life. And she was used to not being rich. She knew life could still offer you happiness and good friends and love, even if you didn’t have a lot of money.
Key Largo ended around 10pm, and Mr. Chase still hadn’t arrived.
Victoria was getting sleepy, but she had assured Mrs. Sellers, who popped in fifteen minutes earlier to tell her Mr. Chase was still at the office but he would be getting home shortly, that she was all right to wait for him. After all, the man was paying her more than what she made for a full day at the coffee shop for only a couple of hours tutoring Benson. She could wait up for him this once.
***
It was midnight when Sebastian let himself in the front door. He was tired. The conference call with China didn’t end until an hour ago. But it had been an extremely productive call, and his company’s directors were going to be very pleased at the board meeting next month.
He took his jacket off, and tossed it on the chair beside the door. His day wasn’t over. There was another important meeting he had to go to before he could call it a day: he needed to speak to Benson’s new tutor. He wasn’t at all sure if she had left already, as he was about three hours late getting home.
The housekeeper would have gone to bed an hour ago, so most of the lights were turned off. There was just enough light to allow him to walk down the hall to the first floor living room. It was dimly lit, but the television was turned on. He could see the back of the couch but there was no one sitting there that he could see. Puzzled, he moved closer to look for the remote control to turn off the television, and found Victoria lying on the couch, fast asleep.
He caught his breath.
While he was aware that he found Victoria enticing, he had no plans of pursuing the matter. It was out of the question, and he was prepared to give no hint of his attraction until it went away. Which it would, he was sure of it.
But he was unprepared to see her in such a vulnerable position — in his house, in his living room, lying on his couch. It gave him a slight tinge of possessiveness, along with the strong urge to kiss her awake.
Her white blouse looked well worn, and it seemed a size too small. It was so tight it accentuated her breasts — which heaved whenever she inhaled. And it was so short, every breath she took lifted its hem enough to show him a tiny bit of her skin above the waist of her jeans.
Sebastian cursed under his breath. Without taking his eyes off the sleeping woman, he unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt angrily, and then began to undo his necktie.
Victoria felt Sebastian’s presence even before she opened her eyes. The room had become warm, and the scent of him hung in the air, teasing her.
When his lips touched hers, it sent a blaze of heat from her head down to her spine. He slid his hands down her back until they rested on her hips, and she arched her back instinctively, until her breasts touched his chest. Almost immediately, she felt his body press down on hers gently, and his kiss deepened. She moaned softly. She parted her legs, and sliding each one up against his, she wrapped them around his thighs. He moved his hands up her waist until they reached her breasts. His thumbs gently caressed her nipples.
What was happening?
His tongue was persistent in its exploration of her mouth. Slowly all her inhibitions faded away, drowned out by the wild beating of her heart.
She was kissing a beautiful man, that’s what she was doing. And letting him kiss her, and touch her —
“Ms. Slade,” Sebastian said, his voice low.
She was about to reply, “Yes?” But his mouth was still on hers.
Wait.
If Sebastian was kissing her, who was talking?
Victoria tried to open her eyes.
“Ms. Slade!”
She woke up. Suddenly realizing where she was, she sat bolt upright...
... and found herself facing Sebastian Chase.
He was sitting on a chair a few feet in front of her, both arms on the arm rests. Staring at her. He had no jacket, and his shirt cuffs were unbuttoned. His tie was missing.
He looked angry.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry, Mr. Chase,” Victoria said, standing up. She tugged at the hem of her shirt, trying to fix her clothes that fell into disarray as she slept.
“Sit down.”
“Uh, yes, sir.” She sat back down on the couch.
Victoria was mortified, to say the least. Her first day on her new job and she falls asleep on her boss’s couch. She flushed, remembering what she had been dreaming about. Oh God, she didn’t say his name out loud in her sleep, did she?
“What is that?” he asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“That ...” he pointed a finger straight at her. “What you’re wearing.”
“It’s ... my clothes. What do you mean?”
“Did I or did I not give you specific instructions to buy new clothes before coming to work?”
“Mr. Chase, it was hardly necessary —”
“What is or isn’t necessary is not for you to decide, Ms. Slade. You are in my employ and I dictate the terms by which you will dress yourself while performing your duties.”
“I’m a tutor, Mr. Chase. What I wear has nothing to do with my duties. Benson ...” She took a deep breath, trying not to get too worked up over his unreasonable demand. “Benson and I had a great first session, and he was not ... disgusted at how I looked.”
“My son is polite. If he had been disgusted, he would, of course, not have shown it.”
“Unlike you?”
She regretted it the moment she said it.
What was wrong with her? Why was she trying to piss off a man who was paying her good money for a decent job? And why did he look so hot when he was angry?
Sebastian didn’t say anything for what seemed like forever.
Oh God he’s going to fire me.
“I was pointing out an unacceptable facet of your ... person as my employee,” he said, ignoring the question.
“Forgive me, sir, but if I was so unacceptable to you, why did you hire me?”
“Are you making me regret that decision, Ms. Slade?”