“You’re thinking about him again?” Mom questioned as she held my embrace. I was so lost in my thoughts that I forgot I was holding her still. I released her and we flopped on the brown leather sofa.
Dammit, I thought as I ran my hand over the top of the sofa. The quality felt like nothing I had ever touched. Then, as I cast my eyes on the cream-colored walls and matching carpet, it dawned on me that this was going to be my world. Modern, expensive, and totally different to the world I had been used to. I looked around and noticed everything I ever needed or could need had been provided: the cutlery, plates, sheets, towels, and even toilet paper was in the house.
I felt pathetic, like a child who had been spoon-fed. The boxes were filled with our belongings and I thought by bringing them here they would be emptied. I looked at them, puzzled about what to do with them. Everything of mine would clash with the beautiful furniture and ruin the carefully selected décor.
“Have you seen Mason since he came to dinner?”
“No.” I shook my head. I hadn’t seen him since. I wanted to keep it professional. For once in my life I was going to make sure that I put my daughter’s welfare first. I wasn’t going to let her down again.
“Elizabeth made it clear that I need to keep professionalism intact and I should remain in my job or try and seek a relationship with him outside of work. But no matter what, I should never think of mixing the two.”
“Now you listen to me,” she said as she grabbed my hand. I looked her deep into her eyes and all I could find was sincerity and kindness. “Your sister’s right. I will not deny that. You took up the role as a tutor. But I saw the way he looked at you. I saw the way he kissed you…”
“But…” Wait, how did she see how he kissed me? Did she know about last night too?
“Let me finish, take up this role. Do everything right, but keep your distance, for now. Take it one step at a time. You are still vulnerable. Only a few months ago, I couldn’t get you out of bed on the weekend. I want my little girl to be the woman she was once before. You are stronger than that and you can’t take any more disappointment, especially from men. Focus on yourself and become the woman you always were meant to be.”
I nodded, as I knew exactly what she meant. She knew how I felt, and her words meant so much to me that it all came home. I was smarter than I was giving myself credit for.
Being Liam’s tutor did not just involve his lesson plans. It also involved organizing all the schedules of the staff, ensuring the Johnsons were never disturbed by their presence. I had to create the schedules, I had to help take care of Liam, and foremost, I had to take care of my daughter, Mia. I had my training already and I had scored 100% on some of the tests. Most of them were based on common sense, though.
“If Liam has choir practice at five and his piano teacher is scheduled to come at six, what should be the protocol?”
Answer: Reschedule his piano lesson for the day and for future appointments.
That one was obvious!
The bulk of my training entailed finding out everyone’s schedule in the house, from the gardener right down to the carpet cleaners. The idea was to make sure most of the cleaning was done when they were not around, and to ensure that Liam participated in at least two activities a week and had his tutoring sessions with me every day. Jesus, the boy was only six years old and he was more advanced in foreign languages than I was at twenty-five.
I could tell easily that Liam was being groomed to be the next leader of the clan. But the problem was, it was by his aunt. Not by his father. His father seemed to take a back seat when it came to his son’s education, social circuit, and everything else, and I wanted to know why.
I grabbed Mom and hugged her again on the sofa. She whispered in my ear, “You have nothing to be scared about; you’re not going to fail.”
CHAPTER 21
Emma
I watched Liam as he stared at me, standing in his room like a spy. I thought it was important for him to meet Mia informally before we became part of the household. She stood at the doorway, afraid to come in, waiting for an invitation from Liam, but he never gave it to her.
So, she remained, with her eyes focused on him. I started to feel uncomfortable. They were only six. Yet they were not acting as though they were kids.
The first time I met him was formally, with Ms. Johnson by my side, watching our every move. He warmed to me straight away hugging me like a long-lost relative. Today, in his room, there was a different vibe.
My eyes cast around the room. I smiled, as I thought this room was far from a child’s room. The blue walls and shelves full of books. The odd miniature car and train on the shelf. The walls were neutral, with a matching carpet.
In hindsight, the play room, which was the adjoining room, had all the toys and fun and games. None of it was in this room. Just a small wooden table and matching chair. There was nothing to say that it was a child’s room apart from the size of the furniture.
I sighed in sadness as I thought about this boy living in a sterile environment and then I saw the picture. It was a huge photo in a gold frame, of a woman looking happy and pregnant, and I concluded there was only one person that it could be: his mother.
She had dark brown eyes and they looked so happy. She had no idea the fate that was in store for her while giving birth. A weight of sadness fell heavily on my heart.
Liam slowly walked toward me and stood by my side. “That was the last photo of my mother before she died.”
“What was she like?” Mia asked as she glared at the photo. I hadn’t realized that she’d come into the room and was standing by his side.
“I don’t know. She died before I was born.”
“How sad,” Mia said as they walked in the same rhythm to his sofa in the corner of the room. He led her and they sat side by side. Exchanging words about their day, their lives, and their loss.
“I know how it feels. My dad died,” she said, looking down at the floor avoiding eye contact. I stifled a small laugh when I looked at the two of them sitting on the couch together. They were worlds apart. Mia, with her Mickey Mouse T-shirt and matching pink shorts and shoes. While Liam was dressed like he was going to a business meeting, in a blue polo shirt, matching pants, and smart shoes.
I immediately felt an urge to bring some childhood back to Liam. I asked him where he was going today, and he told me that he had no chores today or lessons planned. I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Ms. Johnson and Mason, saying that I was going to take him to the zoo. It was one o’ clock and no kid should spend their day in their room alone, surrounded by child-minders and a housekeeper.
I knew then that I was going to change Liam’s life. Bring him down to reality, out of the adult world and into the real kid world. All of a sudden, the old me appeared, and it felt so good.
CHAPTER 22
Emma
My first duty in the house was to check the schedules. Call me old school, but all the training I’d had on my new Mac couldn’t compensate for some good old-fashioned wall charts. As soon as I took Mia to school, and set Liam up with his lesson plan for the day, I was in the house piecing it all together. I checked my watch and calculated that I should have enough time to finish organizing before Liam was ready for his next lesson.
After organizing and color coding, I logged on to the Mac, to see if Mom or Sis had sent me an email or something. Instead, I had a nice surprise to find one from Mason.
Emma,
1. I will have you only call me Mason. I want you to be as comfortable as we are in our home.
2. Do not let Sis bully you. She is good at that. I am not saying you should not respect her, but please do what you feel you are comfortable doing in and out of our home.
3. I am flying in, in the afternoon as you probably know, and will be there Monday night. I expect you to be at the house at seven for dinner. Mia and Liam will be eating in another room together.
Yours sincerely,
Mason
&nb
sp; I read it, and all I could think about was what I was going to wear. It was almost like I was going on a date. I shook my head at the thought. I was at work. I wondered why he wanted Mia and Liam to eat in a different room.
I glanced at my watch, I couldn’t believe it was only ten. I felt that I had achieved so much, yet so little in that time. I had just enough time to give Liam his next lesson and wait for his piano teacher to arrive at one. Then I needed to go and check on the penthouse—the crystal was being cleaned and there was a new maid starting and I needed to make sure she did it perfectly. Or so Ms. Johnson had described in her instructions. All new staff should be monitored their first month and thereafter once a week to keep them in line.
What did I know about cleaning crystal? Apart from what I’d learned the first day on the course: the material that should be used, no smudges should be present, and everything should look like it just came out of a box. With only two people officially living in the house, it was hard to be certain who would be using the crystal. Yet, instructions were instructions.
As Elizabeth had said, what they wanted, the Johnsons got. I should keep my personal opinions to myself. I wished I could, but it felt so hard, especially when I felt like Liam was lonely. I wanted to bridge that gap. He didn’t have a mother, and with the old tutor gone, he probably felt more lost than usual.
My phone beeped and I checked my pocket. It was time for Liam to receive his next lesson. I grabbed my laptop and quickly ran up to Liam’s study. It was a room filled with books and a table in the middle with two chairs. Liam sat there, quietly waiting for me, and I was forever thankful that he was well-behaved.
“You ready for your next lesson?”
Liam slowly nodded. I sat down next to him and opened up my laptop. Earlier we had been working on math, and now we were starting geography. I paused as I pulled up the assignment. I was expecting a map key assignment, or maybe directions one. However, in front of me was a complete worksheet covering all fifty states and their capitals. I pursed my lips together in thought and I heard Liam wiggle a bit in his chair beside me.
“Liam, have you learned all fifty states?”
“Of course, I have. With my last tutor, I was just learning the capitals.”
I racked my brain trying to figure out if Mia was working on the states and their capitals yet. The last few of her homework assignments in public school had never looked like this. A small knot formed in my stomach as I worried that Mia wasn’t prepared for her new, prestigious private school. Liam cleared his throat and I was brought back from my train of thought.
I printed out the worksheets from the printer on the opposite counter and placed them in front of Liam. He grabbed the papers in front of him and quickly started to read. The first worksheet would help him fill out the larger map of each state and the capital associated with it. As he worked on the assignment, I couldn’t help but stare in amazement at how smart he truly was.
As I worked with Liam on the assignment, the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood up. I felt a familiar strong presence behind me and I knew right away that it could be none other than Mason. I slowly turned in my chair to face the door, but as the doorframe came into view, there was no one there.
CHAPTER 23
Mason
I quickly moved around the doorframe so that Emma would not notice that I was watching her. I had originally walked down the Johnson to check how things were going and I stopped short from going inside when I saw her working with Liam.
I was taken aback at how amazing she was with him. In the past, other tutors had found working with Liam difficult. He would get distracted, or be so disinterested in his studies that the lessons would never go as planned.
For years, my mother claimed that I had not picked the correct woman to be Liam’s mother. For some reason, she believed that wealthy people were smarter and therefore we should only stick to wealthy families.
Watching Emma with Liam, I knew all of my mother’s claims were wrong. Liam just needed the right tutor to work with him, and for some reason, Emma was it. She was patient with him as he worked through his assignments. When she noticed he was getting distracted, she would switch up the assignment in some way in order to make it more engaging for him, through visual methods like blocks or puzzles.
Seeing Emma with Liam warmed my heart, and made my need of claiming her stronger.
CHAPTER 24
Emma
I glanced at the clock and realized that it was almost seven. I had just finished pinning my hair to the side, allowing my light curls to cascade over my shoulder. I smiled at them, thinking of Mia’s ringlets. I sincerely hoped she kept those tight curls as she grew older.
I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled brightly. I was in my favorite black dress that cinched in at the waist, accenting my curves in the best possible way. I loved this dress because it could be seen as both sexy and professional. I knew I had to look professional at this dinner with Mason, but I also knew that a part of me wanted his eyes to take in my curves.
I finished putting on my lipstick and left the bathroom in our small bungalow. I walked the short distance across the lawn to the main house, and pulled the sliding doors that entered the kitchen. I glanced around the darkened kitchen and was momentarily confused. Did I get the time with Mason wrong? A staff member of the mansion walked into the kitchen and greeted me.
“Hello Ms. Jackson. Please follow me to the dining room. Mason is waiting for you in there.”
I slowly followed behind the staff and tried as discreetly as possible to take in the mansion around me. I looked into the other rooms, thinking that I would see Mia and Liam, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Do you know if Liam and Mia have eaten?”
“Yes, we served them an hour ago, and they are now upstairs in the play room, being watched by another staff member.”
Well, that was unexpected. I guessed the Johnsons had other staff to watch the children when I was off the clock. I followed the staff member into a large dining room and almost stopped in my tracks when I saw Mason’s large frame standing over at the bar, along the wall, with his back faced to me. The staff member nodded and then disappeared back into the kitchen. I let my eyes trail over Mason’s frame and then linger on his shoulders and his butt. Damn, he looked good in a suit. I cleared my throat, and Mason turned around and smiled brightly.
“Emma.” He walked up and kissed me lightly on the cheek. “Thank you for joining me for dinner. Can I get you a drink?”
I looked over at the expansive bar behind him. There was so much to choose from.
“I’ll take a dirty martini, please.”
Mason smiled and turned back toward the bar. “Please sit while I make us some drinks.”
I walked over to the end of the large dining table, where two place settings were set up. I pulled out the heavy chair from under the table and sat down. A moment later, Mason set my martini in front of me and sat down at the head of the table.
I grabbed my glass as Mason held his up.
“I wanted to make you a special dinner to officially welcome you to your new position.” We clinked glasses and I brought the glass to my lips. Part of me wanted to down the drink as quickly as I could to help ease my nerves from being around Mason, but instead, I took a respectable sip and placed the drink in front of me.
I looked at Mason and tried to figure out what exactly was going on here. Did he invite me to dinner to celebrate for work? Or was this his big gesture after kissing me passionately on my mom’s patio? I hated that my hopes were slowly rising for the latter, because I knew exactly what was at stake if this ended badly. I grabbed my drink again and took a small sip.
“So how are you finding things so far?” Mason asked. I stifled a cough. Was he really trying to initiate small talk with me? Was our kiss truly that unimportant to him? Anger slowly started to fill my stomach. I placed my drink down and folded my arms across my chest.
“Everything is fine. Your
sister has filled me in on all of the tasks that I am expected to complete, and I look forward to working more with your son. He really is quite fantastic.”
A small smile spread across his lips. “He is pretty wonderful. I know with you that he is in good hands.”
Anger continued to bubble inside my stomach. With each passing moment, it looked as though Mason was going to ignore what happened the other night. My frustration started to build as I realized that he probably did this with a lot of women. He was a shifter billionaire after all. He had so much power that I was sure that women threw themselves at him all the time. I let out a loud huff and looked away from Mason. He cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Is there something wrong, Emma?”
I debated in my mind to tell him how I truly felt. The anger boiled harshly and I opened my mouth to say something, but suddenly, several large dishes of food appeared at our table. I watched the wait staff as they brought out plate after plate. My anger subsided a bit at the sight of food and my stomach slowly started to growl instead.
“Forgive me for all of the different plates and kinds of food. I just didn’t know which was your favorite, so I had our chef create all of his specialties.”
A small smile spread across my lips as I dove into the food. There was Italian, French, and even Asian fusion. I practically inhaled the food that was on my plate, and all of a sudden, heat rose inside of me when I realized that Mason was staring at me while I ate. He had a small smirk on his lips and I had to stop what I was doing.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I can’t help it,” Mason said. “I love it when a woman isn’t afraid to eat in front of a man. It’s such a turn on.”
With those two words, the anger bubbled up inside of me again and I couldn’t stop my lips from shouting out.
Hunter (The Bad Disciples MC Book 2) Page 21
