by BWWM Club
And that frightened him.
*****
"Chris."
Christina looked up from the book she had been reading Jack. Nathan stood in the open doorway to her bedroom, hands shoved in his pockets. His collar was undone and he had lost his tie somewhere. Christina felt her pussy clench. He looked good disheveled with his hair mussed up. She itched to run her fingers through his locks.
Nathan glanced at his son, who had just fallen asleep, snuggled up to his cuddly monkey. He beckoned Christina to him.
"Can I see you in my office when you're done here?"
"Sure."
She wondered if it had something to do with Jane. The woman had stormed out of Nathan's office earlier, giving her a deathly glare that had Christina uncomfortable before grabbing her purse and coat and banging her way out of the house. A moment later her car had roared away. Something had happened between the siblings but it wasn't Christina's place to ask. She simply focused on getting Jack to bed and reading him a bedtime story.
Nathan nodded once and hung around in the doorway a moment longer, his face bathed in shadow so she couldn't see his expression. Then he left, closing the door behind him with a gentle click.
Swallowing, Christina finished reading the story to the sleeping boy, aware of the discomfort from her hardened nipples rubbing against her bra. Her body's reaction whenever Nathan Gilmore was near was not good. She shouldn't be feeling like this about him. He was a billionaire. Well out of her league. She was a computer geek, a widow who lived in a two-bedroom house she was just about hanging on to.
There was no place for either of them in each other's worlds. So she had better stop wondering.
Putting the book on the chair, Christina stood and placed a gentle kiss on Jack's head. Leaving the night light on, she left and went downstairs. The lights weren't on in the hall but there was a light from under the door of Nathan's office. Christina knocked twice before entering.
Nathan was sprawled on one of the couches, a whiskey glass in his hand. He had kicked off his shoes and was staring up at the ceiling. Christina adjusted her shirt, biting back a wince from the rub of cotton against her nipples, and folded her hands in front of her.
"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Leo informed me of what Jane said to you."
Christina closed her eyes. Of course Leo would tell him. She knew Nathan would do something about it once he knew what his sister had said so she had kept away. There was no way she was going to split up a family because of something she had heard before.
At the same time, she didn't want to be around Nathan and give Jane any more ammunition.
She opened her eyes and focused on him, trying not to notice how devilish he looked lounged out on the couch, legs apart and stretched out, with his collar undone to show a triangle of flesh at his throat.
"It's nothing I haven't heard before. I can handle it."
"Maybe you can but I'm not dealing with it." Nathan looked tired as he focused his gaze on her. "Jane's behavior was unacceptable. I've fired her. She's not going to be bothering you anymore."
Christina had wanted to avoid this. But it had happened anyway. She glared at him.
"I said I could handle it." She said stiffly. "You didn't need to do anything."
Nathan sat and closed his eyes.
"Jane's not just an employee, Chris. She's also my sister. I won't have her bringing down the Gilmore name and my company just because she's being a bitch. If truth be told, she's been toeing the line for a long time."
"I just don't want to be seen as the perfect excuse to get rid of her." Christina protested.
"Jane will make an excuse out of anything slight. She doesn't like the women in my employ. Any of them." Nathan chuckled wryly and took a sip of his drink. "Thinks they're all out to sleep with me for my money."
Christina's heart went out to him. It must have been hard to tell his sister to leave when she was, in her own strange way, trying to protect his name from any woman who came along looking for money on tap.
"And what do you think?" She asked.
Nathan opened his eyes and stared at her. His expression said no one had asked him that before. He sighed.
"Arrogant I may be, lothario I may be but I don't sleep with anyone who works for me." He shifted along the couch, patting the leather beside him. "Please sit. It's too bright with you standing there."
Sit next to him? That was asking for trouble. But Christina found herself moving to sit beside him, placing herself on the edge of the cushion and making sure there was space between them. Nathan chuckled.
"I'm not going to bite. You can sit back, you know."
"I'm fine like this, thanks."
Christina wasn't but she was so tired if she sat back she would fall asleep. So she stayed where she was. Nathan grunted and swigged another mouthful of whiskey. Then he spoke.
"Why didn't you say you were Leo's sister-in-law?"
Christina guessed that Jane had said something. She looked at her hands in her lap.
"We don't like name-dropping. People treat us differently if we do."
"But you did it when Jane was sneering at you the first time you met."
"We only do it when someone is appearing to undermine me or threaten me, physically or otherwise. One look at Leo and people back off."
"I can imagine." Nathan sat up, putting his glass on the coffee table at his elbow. "So you were married to little Clint. He lived with his dad after the divorce so I never got to meet him but I heard about him. Leo spoke about him in glowing terms. Bright child. Good-looking little lad."
In spite of the sad memories that came up whenever her husband was mentioned, Christina managed a smile.
"He was."
"How long were you married?"
It had been a long time since she had spoken about her marriage and what happened. Something about Nathan had Christina wanting to tell him everything, including the accident. Apart from her therapist for three sessions and Leo, she had never told anyone about it. She kept it locked away.
Now it all wanted to come out. She took a breath and released it.
"Right out of high school. I joined in our junior year and we were together from then on. We went to Seattle University together and I had Alex shortly after finishing my Masters."
"So Alex was your son." Nathan paused. "How old was he when he died?"
Something about the way he said it told Christina he somehow knew about her accident. She stiffened, guessing the source.
"Leo told you, didn't he?"
"He told me the reason you were so hard on me for my driving and that your child died along with your husband."
Christina didn't want to tell him. Something about the incident had her wanting to tear up again. But she somehow decided that Nathan deserved to know. She gulped.
"He was three. It was his third birthday when it happened. The car hit the center barrier on the passenger side. Clint didn't stand a chance and died on impact. Alex hung on for a little longer but...there was no hope. He was dead before he got to the hospital." The memories came flooding back and Christina tried to push them away. "He would've turned six three weeks ago."
"Did they catch the driver?"
"Yeah." Christina swiped at the tears trickling down her cheeks. "He didn't have a scratch on him. Stank of booze and had been smoking cannabis. Plus he was showing off to his friends after passing his test a few weeks before. He pled not guilty but he got twenty years to life. He'll be out in seventeen years." The knowledge left a nasty taste in Christina's mouth. "Then he'll be allowed to enjoy his life and my husband and son will still be dead."
There was no stopping it now. The tears came thick and fast, Christina burying her face into her hands as she tried to hide from Nathan. She had thought things had been buried a long time ago. But the slightest mention of what happened and she was a wreck again.
"Hey, easy there."
Nathan slipped his arms around her and moved he
r so she leaned against him. He rubbed her back as she sobbed into his shirt.
"It's okay. It's okay, honey."
Christina didn't think she had any tears left. But they kept coming. She clutched at Nathan's lapels and sobbed until she had nothing left. Taking a few shuddering breaths she sat up, wiping at her eyes. When she looked up her breath caught.
His arms still around her, Nathan was looking at her with a heated look in his eyes. Christina had never seen that sort of desire before, not even from her own husband. To see it from this man had Christina wondering what it felt like to have all that desire all to herself. From what she had heard about him, Nathan's desires could keep a woman going for weeks.
She licked her lips and Nathan's eyes zeroed in on them. Reaching up and brushing a thumb across her lips, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Christina allowed him, feeling his soft lips moving over her mouth, the kisses sending warm shivers down her spine. The man knew how to kiss and he hadn't even started yet.
She came back to reality with a bump when Nathan managed to pry her mouth open with his tongue and plunged it inside to touch hers. Christina pushed him away, cheeks flaming as she realized what had happened.
"Oh, God, I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?"
Christina swallowed. She couldn't believe it. She had told herself not to get close to Nathan Gilmore and that was exactly what she was doing.
"I told myself not to get involved." She glared at him. "And you said you'd never get involved with an employee."
"I'm making an exception here." Nathan growled. He tried to pull Christina into his arms again but Christina pushed him away and stood up, stepping out of reach.
"No. I'm sorry, Mr Gilmore, but no."
She could hear him calling out for her but Christina didn't look back as she ran from the room.
*****
Christina managed to get to her room without meeting anyone and closed the door, leaning against it as humiliation burned. She had kissed a client! The one thing she had told herself not to do and she had gone against it. And the embarrassing thing was she hadn't immediately pushed him away.
Even now, she could feel the taste of his lips on her mouth. Against her will, she licked her lips, closing her eyes as she remembered the feel of his mouth, the feel of his tongue against hers and the way he nibbled at her lips. He was a connoisseur at kissing. Christina didn't want to think how many women he had kissed to become that. It didn't settle well with her.
Christina pushed away from the door and steeled her resolve, going towards the bathroom as she unbuttoned her shirt. She was going to get undressed for bed and she was going to sleep through the night as best she could. It would be nice to sleep on a bed and not on a mattress on the floor. In the morning she would focus on Jack and ignore his father. No way was she going to give him any encouragement.
She had a job to do and she wasn't going to jeopardize it by sleeping with the boss.
Christina opened the door to her en-suite and reached for the light switch. Then something her hit full in the face and she momentarily saw stars before she blacked out.
Chapter 5
It took Christina a long time once she woke up to open her eyes. The action made her eyelids feel heavy and her head hurt. For a moment, she wondered what she had drunk the night before to have such a hangover.
When she finally opened her eyes, Christina wondered how bad she was. She wasn't in her own bed; it was a hospital bed. Somehow a night out had ended up with her in hospital. She must have done something really bad to end up here.
"Hey."
Christina blinked. A dark shape moved to block the light shining in her eyes and she saw Leo smiling down at her. He brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
Then it all came flooding back. She hadn't been on a night out. She had been on a job, going to her room after kissing Nathan Gilmore. Then she had been hit in the face and everything was a blank after that.
She had kissed a client. Christina knew she shouldn't be feeling anything beyond professional courtesy towards a client but Nathan set things off in her that threw all of that out the window. All she could think of for those few moments was climbing onto his lap and finding out how good his cock felt rubbing up against her.
Thankfully, reality had come crashing back in time.
She swallowed, her mouth feeling dry. Leo reached for a cup of water at her side and helped her to drink. Christina downed the contents before pulling away.
"How long was I out?" She croaked.
"Only the night." Leo sat on the edge of the bed. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I think so." Christina shifted gingerly to sit up further. "Nathan wanted to talk to me. I left him and went to my room. Then something hit me." She closed her eyes. "It's a bit fuzzy after that."
"I heard a thump from my room and went to check in on you. I was barreled into by a big guy wearing all black and he took off towards the stairs." Leo pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Nathan's furious."
"You mean he wants to know how the guy got in."
Christina was thinking that herself. They were very thorough and checked everything. The only way anyone could get in was if they knew the codes for the alarms and knew the weaker areas in the house. That spoke of an inside job and that didn't sit well with Christina.
Immediately, she thought about Jack and she wanted to jump out of bed and rush back to the house. Jack needed her.
That was a lie. She needed to hold Jack and see that he was all right.
"You need to come off this, Chris. I'll replace you with an agency nanny."
Christina stared at Leo. She shook her head.
"No. I'm doing this. I won't let you down again."
"It's not a case of letting me down. If you're a target you shouldn't be there. You could get others hurt."
"You're joking, of course." Christina muttered. Aloud: "I'm not going anywhere, Leo. You won't be able to shift me."
Leo watched her thoughtfully for a moment. Christina stared back, trying not to flinch and look away. Leo could read people easily and Christina was always an open book. She hoped he wasn't seeing the real reason she wanted to go back to the house.
"Does this decision have anything to do with Nathan?"
"Leo."
"I have to ask. You know that." Leo sighed. He didn't look happy. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Christina hoped she did as well. Somehow refusing to come off a case so she could drool over the boss didn't bode well for her. If she wasn't careful something was going to happen.
Like she could fall for him.
*****
Nathan woke sharply when someone shook his shoulder. Blinking his sleep from his brain, he rolled onto his back and looked up at Clive, who put a finger to his lips and pointed at the door.
Thinking he had news about Christina, Nathan slipped out a bed, careful not to wake Jack. His son had woken shortly after Christina had been attacked and went into her room. He had screamed and cried, trying to get to her as Leo and the paramedics checked her over. It had taken nearly all of Nathan's patience to calm him but eventually Jack had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Not wanting to leave him alone, he had taken his son to his bed and held him until he fell asleep.
Pressing a kiss to his head, Nathan followed Clive out the room and shut the door behind him.
"Well?"
"Leo just called." Clive smiled. "Chris has regained consciousness. She's got a headache but she's grouchy so there's no possible damage."
Relief flooded Nathan and he sagged against the door.
"Thank God for that."
Seeing Christina unconscious on the gurney, an oxygen mask on her face and a cut over one eye, had sucker punched him in the gut. She looked so fragile. Nathan had had to turn away and focus on his son or he would have gone mad wanting to know about her condition. He wasn't family so he wouldn't ha
ve been allowed to sit with her.
That had stung but Nathan wasn't going to argue with it. He made a mental note to pay for the medical bills.
"You're computer's been bleeping with incoming mail." Clive added. "There's a lot of it and I don't think it's to do with work."
Nathan sighed and straightened up. Back to the real world.
"Show me."
They went downstairs and Clive entered the office first. He slid into Nathan's seat behind the desk and clicked open the email. Leaning over his shoulder, Nathan saw the two hundred and sixteen messages in his inbox for that day. And it was barely seven-thirty in the morning. He whistled.
"Someone didn't waste time." He commented.
"It doesn't stop there." Clive said grimly.
He went to a message that had been sent fifteen minutes before and clicked on it. A picture flashed up and Nathan's heart stopped. It was Christina in a hospital bed, her eye covered with a dark bruise. She looked so peaceful asleep but it was hard not to notice where she was.
The only way someone could take a picture like that was to be in the room with her. The person threatening him had sneaked into Christina's room and taken a picture. If it was to scare him, just like when he found Jack's picture by his bed, then it was working.
"What the...? How did they get a hold of that?"
"I don't know." Clive's expression was grim. "We need to give this to the FBI, Nate."
But Nathan was already shaking his head.
"No. No way."
"Nate, you were told to give anything threatening to the FBI in case it related to the bombing last week."
"I'm sure it is related but I'm not giving anything to the FBI. Not yet." Nathan stood up and began pacing. It was either that or he would punch something or Clive. That certainly wouldn't do him any good. "I want to find this bastard myself instead of sitting here twiddling my thumbs. The FBI won't work fast enough."
"It's the right thing to do."
"That may be but you're on my payroll so you do what I say." Nathan stopped, realizing what he had said, and closed his eyes with a frustrated sigh. "Sorry, Clive, that was uncalled for."
