Reese

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Thank God Adrian went back inside to retrieve the wine. I needed a few moments with my own thoughts, which were skyrocketing toward crazy. My attraction for him was now heightened after hearing his confession that he wanted to spend time with me. And I wanted that too. So what if I worked for him? People had office romances all the time. In fact, I’d once read that as many as thirty percent of the people who dated a co-worker or their boss, ended up marrying them. Not that I was looking for that, but we were two adults and I couldn’t deny these erotic thoughts about him any longer.

I stood at the railing, admiring the beach below with the moonlight playing against the sand, giving just the right amount of light to see that there was an ample amount of beach for sunbathing. Shit, when my arm nudged against the candle that was sitting inside a glass container and it tumbled off the ledge toward the beach below, the only thing I thought about was keeping it from hitting the ground and shattering into pieces. I used my mind to stop it midair and brought it back up to rest where it was. I hadn’t been thinking. I just didn’t want to break his glass candleholder.

When I glanced around to see if Adrian had been anywhere close to witness my ability, my shoulders sagged with relief when I saw him through the window, standing at the counter, pouring wine into two glasses.

That was the last thing I needed right now. My abilities needed to stay secret. My kind couldn’t afford to flaunt our talents. There were too many bad people in the world who wanted to study us or put us away because they feared what we could do. Not that I thought Adrian would ever do something like that to me, but still, my father would never forgive me if I accidentally put the Sectorium in danger.

Hell, there were a lot of people whose lives would be in jeopardy if anyone in authority ever found out about us. The Department of Superhuman Abilities was always on the lookout for people with abilities like mine. The DSA was a secret government facility run by humans who feared people like me. The outcome was never good when the DSA got ahold of one of us. They’d lock me up like a prisoner and conduct tests on me and try to use me as an experimental object for warfare contraband. At least, from some of the stories my father told me.

I glanced to my left where the deck took a turn around the corner and I strolled over that way. A set of stairs headed to a small deck below, with another shorter set of stairs leading straight into a beautiful pool of blue water formed by a small inlet. It looked like a perfect natural swimming pool.

“Reese?”

I turned to the sound of my name and went back inside to greet Adrian as he walked out from behind his kitchen counter holding two glasses of red wine. “I hope you like Pinot Noir because it’s going to go great with the oysters.”

“That’s fine.” I lifted the glass and took a small sip as I eyed him over the rim. I gripped both hands around the bowl of the wine glass to keep from fidgeting with my hair, which I usually did whenever I became anxious.

“Speaking of oysters, they should be ready now. How about we sit outside to eat?”

“That sounds nice.”

The table was already set for two and Adrian placed the casserole dish in the center and scooped oysters onto each plate. He’d also made a garden salad of greens, carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Everything looked delicious.

I stared at the oyster on my plate, not sure what to do with it. I’d heard oysters were an aphrodisiac. Did Adrian know that? I didn’t think I’d ever eaten an aphrodisiac before. I hoped it wouldn’t make me any more hot and bothered than I was already feeling. I didn’t need oysters to be attracted to him. I didn’t need any help in that area at all. I needed help refusing him.

“What’s on them?”

He smiled. “They’re topped with bread crumbs, finely chopped spinach, which is the only healthy aspect, and copious amounts of butter. They are sinfully rich and tasty. Here, let me.” He squeezed lemon juice over it and forked the oyster from its shell and held it in front of my mouth.

“Do I chew it?”

He chuckled. “Yes. These are cooked and easy to chew. It’s the raw ones that take an extra amount of courage to eat.”

“Here goes.” I stared at it then my gaze found his right before I opened my mouth, taking in the oyster, chewing as he suggested. It didn’t taste like I thought it would. It was rather delicious. “My God,” I said, then swallowed the bite. I picked up my napkin and dotted the corner of my mouth. “That is amazing. You’re a gourmet chef. What else do you cook?”

He smiled and scooped one of the oysters into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed. “You’ll just have to stick around to find out.”

I liked that idea. Our gazes caught for a brief second and he cleared his throat. “I began cooking with my grandmother when I was twelve. She’d been a professional chef in her heyday and she taught me a lot of handy techniques. They just stuck with me.” His eyes saddened with the mention of his grandmother.

“Is she still alive?”

“No. She passed a few years ago. She was ninety-four. She’d been snorkeling with my grandfather near Fiji and stepped on a stonefish, which gave her a heart attack. At her age, she died almost instantly.”

“Your grandmother snorkeled at ninety-four?”

“She was very spry for her age, and my grandfather loved swimming in the ocean. He’s gone now too. After my grandmother passed away, his health quickly deteriorated. My mother says he died of a broken heart.”

“That’s so sad.”

“Well, they lived a long and happy life together. Another?” Adrian gestured toward the plate of oysters.

I nodded. Surprisingly, I ate a total of four oysters and some salad. I hadn’t been as nervous as I thought after all.

When we were finished I carried the plates inside while Adrian grabbed the casserole dish and salad bowl. “I’ll do these later. The drawings are there on the coffee table. I didn’t want them to get caught in a draft and blow away.”

I turned to see two scrolls on the glass table that sat between the two sofas. Maybe I was wrong about what he’d meant earlier about getting to know each other. It was possible that he simply wanted to get to know me, but not the way I’d been hoping. I didn’t know whether to be relieved to see the drawings or disappointed that he’d actually brought me to his home to work. It had been rather presumptuous of me or perhaps it was wishful thinking that maybe Adrian had other intentions this evening.

“Let’s sit.” He sat on one of the sofas and he motioned for me to sit on the other one on the other side of the table. All the way across from him. Yep. I was so wrong.

He unrolled one of the plans, placing a glass dolphin paperweight on one end to hold it down as his hand held the other. “This is a sketch of two of the larger suites. These suites have a separate living room as well as a large bedroom and bath complete with a spa tub surrounded by unbreakable glass windows. The entire hotel is made of the same material they use in submarines, only we’ve patented it as a clear substance so you can see through it. Waterscape is the deepest underwater hotel in construction right now at ninety-five feet below sea level.” His eyes lit up with pride.

“This is amazing, Adrian. This plan must have taken years to put into action. Whatever made you want to build something like this?” The minute the words were out of my mouth, I regretted saying them. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out the way I intended. I didn’t mean to make it sound as if I thought your idea was too eccentric.”

“No. It’s fine. I know it is a rather exotic endeavor. I’ve always loved the ocean, like my grandfather, as did my mother. I guess you could say the sea has always seemed like a second home to me.”

That was a strange way of thinking of the ocean.

“You don’t have any claustrophobic issues, do you?” he asked with a wink and a smile.

“No. I don’t think so.”

“That’s good.” Then he fell silent for a couple of seconds and added, “What about heights?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure what a fear of heights had to do with an underwater hotel, but he smiled as though pleased by my answer.

“Good. We’ll be taking a tour of the facility next week.”

“It’s finished?”

“Well, there’s a lot to be done with the interior, but the structure itself is there.”

My hand rested on the table and I prepared to ask a question about one of the rooms when the back of his hand brushed against mine as he pointed to one of the hallway walls.

Our gazes flicked up and held for a few seconds. He licked his bottom lip before he cleared his throat and glanced back down at the drawing. I wanted to suck his tongue into my mouth. The man made me hot.

“This right here is part of the ventilation system. It went in last month, and they finished construction of it yesterday. They’ll turn the air on next week for a trial run. I’d like you to be there for it. The press will be there and I also think you should see some of the rooms in person to get a feel for how they should be decorated.”

“You want me to go down into the hotel? Underwater?” I believe all the color just drained from my face. I knew I’d have to go into the hotel eventually, just not before it was finished being built and tested for any problems. Like airflow.

“Yes.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, Reese. You’ll be protected. You’ll have a breathing mask on until the air kicks in. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

My teeth sank into my bottom lip as I contemplated the worst case scenario. Visions of my body floating like dead weight in the ocean, or me gasping for breath as I was stuck inside an elevator without any air invaded my mind. I didn’t think I’d sleep a wink until next week, worrying about going so far below the surface, even if we were protected inside unbreakable glass with good airflow.

Adrian stood and came to sit next to me. I glanced at him as he pointed out all of the details on the blueprints. His face was inches from mine. His lips were so close I could almost feel them on me and all the thoughts and fears I had about being so far underwater were averted when he closed the gap between us and his mouth slanted against mine.

Instinct told me to shove him away, again. Yes, we agreed to get to know each other, but he was still my boss. His lips were soft though, and it seemed that my mouth and his had other plans and I no longer cared about our professional relationship.

His hands took hold of my face and at the same time, my free hand traveled up to his side. I held tightly to the stem of my wine glass, thinking about possibly using my telekinetic ability to set it down without him noticing. I wasn’t sure that was possible and I worried I’d spill the red wine all over the blueprints when his hand came down on top of mine and took the glass away. He placed it on the table as he continued to kiss me. His kiss wasn’t hard or demanding, but it was sensual and heat flowed through my body. This felt so right. He was perfect for me, and I wanted to explore that new revelation and maybe, just possibly find out what the rest of his body felt like.