Chapter 2

Jessibelle

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I couldn’t keep a hold of my words any longer. I was so freaking pissed at how this man was treating me. I’d had it up to here with men, and this was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae that had been the men in my life.

Well—not men, per se—a man. Aston. Aston LaChase. My ex. I mean, with that name, I shouldn’t have expected anything more than the overly cocky jock and asshole I got, but I was so flattered to have the attention of a hot guy who normally wouldn’t have given me a second look.

I should have known something was up.

Back in high school I never felt like I fit. I was out of sync with the rest of the world, it led to me to college a dateless virgin. So when Aston showed me even a hint of interest, I was right there, running after him like a dog after a bone, doing everything I could to convince him I really, really wanted him.

We’d dated a while. Long enough I gave him my virginity. It felt like such a precious thing to me, something sweet and sacred, something I was happy to share with him. Like a gift.

Sadly, the sex was just okay, but I was still so grateful to be with him, I never even considered asking for more. Why would I? Things were perfect the way they were, or so I tried to convince myself over the course of our relationship.

There were obvious problems in our story. He went out late without bothering to tell me where he was going or who he was with. I caught him blatantly checking out other women when we were together, but if I so much as I glanced at a dude, there would be hell to pay.

Almost everyone in our graduating class seemed to know before I did that he’d been hooking up behind my back with a third-year bitch named Becky in the law library. That was the clincher. I could ignore everything else and put it down to something wrong with me, but that one was all on him. And if I wanted to cling to even a shred of my dignity, I had to leave.

So, I did. And it was hard. God, it was so fucking hard. I focused my energy on getting the job at my stepfather’s law firm and did my best to leave that asshole in the rearview mirror, reminding myself at every opportunity he’d used me and taken me for a ride and was nothing but an unrepentant asshole the whole time we’d been together. But after I’d believed him for that long, it was hard for the truth to penetrate the fantasy I’d construed in my head.

I thought about it on the way over to meet with my new client. In fact, whenever I found myself alone, my brain drifted into the painful intricacies of my relationship with Aston. That was what had me in such a terrible mood when I arrived to speak to Zachary Rose about the assets for his company. My job was to help him figure out what to do with them while he took a temporary leave as CEO. Should be easy, right?

I pulled up to his house and envied him. This place was in the middle of the countryside, a gorgeous mansion clipped straight from the pages of a fairytale picture book I had as a kid. The long driveway opened up to this stunning, castle-like home too beautiful and majestic for my crappy old car to be anywhere near. But I forced myself out of the driver’s seat and to the front door, despite the butterflies dancing in my stomach. I had to get this right. I couldn’t let the firm down—not this soon on the job. How would it look for my stepdad if the first thing I did was mess up my first case?

They’d warned me this Mr. Rose was depressed and not receptive to visitors. In fact, one girl at the office told me he was a damn monster. But that had to be an exaggeration. No one could be that bad, after all. Yes, he’d lost his father, and then his fiancée left him, but he had to be resilient to get where he was in the cutthroat world of business. Surely, this wasn’t weighing him down as badly as everyone thought.

As soon as he opened the door, I understood how deeply the losses of the last few months had affected him. He looked so different from his pictures I’d googled before coming here to meet him. Shocked. Gone was the polished CEO with the big, cocky grin, and in his place stood a shell of man. Beneath the grown-out hair, the thick, shaggy beard and a haunted look in his eyes that made him seem that he just arrived from a distant planet, I could see the remnants of a handsome guy.

It was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping at the sight of him. But, I was there to do a job. It was my first week as junior associate, and I wasn’t going to let a little stubble get in the way of doing what I came here to do.

I followed him through the gorgeous, empty house toward an indoor pool, watching as he ran his fingers absently through his hair, slid a hair band out of his robe pocket and pulled it back into a man-bun while he waited for the pool cover to retract. So this is the way the other half lives, I mumbled to myself. I didn’t even have the luxury of a bathtub in my little apartment. Shower only.

Then, to my utter shock, he dropped his robe and slipped butt-naked into the water.

With my mouth wide open, I stared for a second, and then averted my eyes, because I had no idea what else to do. Was he so out of his mind that he’d forgotten I was standing right there, or was this some kind of sick power play? Either way, I wasn’t prepared for this. At first, heat flushed my cheeks, and my nerveless fingers nearly dropped the files I clutched like a shield.

Being ignored wasn’t new to me, but naked men with no regard to me standing right there was. This job was supposed to be a fresh start, and I had promised myself I wouldn’t let anyone make me feel like shit again. My embarrassment crumbled, giving way to a volcanic anger that had been building for weeks. I didn’t deserve this. Just because I was in his house and he didn’t want to deal with life didn’t mean he got to treat me this way. No, if he thought he could get away with it, then he had a whole other think coming.

I slammed down the pile of papers on a nearby table, which wobbled like it was about to topple over and sent one of the sheets flying dangerously close to the pool. For a second or two I lost my cool as I wrestled it out of the air and put it back in place. Then I planted my hands on my hips and glared down at him, waiting for him to come to a halt. He didn’t. He hadn’t even noticed me. I could have been the pool vacuum hanging on the wall for all he cared.

“Hey Rose! You’re an asshole,” I yelled, making sure he could hear me before turning to leave. Sure enough, his head popped up from beneath the water, and he pulled himself to the side of the pool. And dammit, the cocky bastard smiled. That just pissed me off even more.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demanded. “You can’t treat me like this. I’m here to help you, and you just strip naked and swim around like I’m not even here. I’m not asking you to be kind, Mr. Rose, but you could at least be respectful!”

I was trembling. There was something about being under this man’s gaze that made me hot. Those eyes. Did he get them from meltyourpanties dot com? They burned right into my skin when they settled on me, and he seemed to stare deep into my soul as his gaze met mine. I wanted to look away, but at the same time, I couldn’t. I didn’t want him to think he’d won, that despite my badass stance he’d somehow made me uncomfortable enough to break his gaze. I was going to win this. I had done enough losing when it came to men, and I’d be damned if this was another defeat to add to the list.

“Aren’t you going to apologize?” I angled my head down, clenching my fists at my sides as though fighting the urge to take a swing at him. “You’re just locked up in this mansion, not dealing with your business or anything else in your life, and when I come in here trying to help, you make me—”

I trailed off, not sure what he’d made me do. Because I could’ve just turned and walked out when he’d refused to invite me in. Or I could’ve left when he dropped his robe and displayed his surprisingly toned, completely naked body, or even when he started swimming lengths and ignoring me. Instead, I’d chosen to stay, and there had to be a reason for it. I dismissed the thought as it nagged at the back of my head. I was here to do a job and nothing more.

“Made you what?” he asked mildly, his tone neutral, as though he were reading my mind. It was almost uncanny, but then, someone who’d been in business as long as he had needed to have a grasp on how people functioned. I opened and closed my mouth like a guppy, failing to come up with an answer. And that’s when he pulled himself out of the pool.

I saw him. Every inch of him. More than I signed up for. He was soaked from head to toe. His hair now in a wet, messy bun and the water glistened off his muscular body. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, even though I knew I should. His eyes were burning into mine, and I was struggling to find something to say or do that didn’t involve me throwing myself into his arms and licking his beautifully sculpted chest. My fingers itched as I wondered what he would feel like, and my eyes traveled down, down—

And then I snapped out of it. I shook my head, averted my gaze, and lowered it to the ground.

“I’ve left the papers,” I muttered, blushing hotter than I’d ever felt before. “Please review them when you get the chance.”

I shot one last look at him, already talking myself into leaving, making sure he’d heard me, and found him grinning in my direction. The grin lit up his whole face—damn him—etching itself into my memory for good.