by Emma York
She stopped and looked back at me. “Excuse me, Miss?”
“Am I just supposed to sit in my room until he wants me?”
“I will fetch Gwyneth. She’ll be able to answer.”
A minute later Gwyneth walked in, looking harassed, notepad in her hand. “What is it?” she asked. “I’m busy.”
“What am I supposed to do while I’m here?”
“Anything you want. Just don’t leave the house. Mr Stempel was very specific about that.” She turned and was gone before I could ask anything else.
“Whatever I want,” I said out loud before picking up my mug of coffee and sipping at it. I knew exactly what to do. I was going to explore.
Once I’d finished breakfast, I tried every door I could find. Most of them were locked but some opened in rooms straight out of period dramas. There was a billiard room, an orangery, a drawing room with fainting couch. I found the staff quarters, the kitchen, then a bedroom in the far corner that smelt as if no one had been inside it for years, the shutters closed, the room itself in darkness.
I found a set of stairs leading down and took them, wondering if I’d travel back in time and find Victorian servants down there having a Downton Abbey style meeting.
Instead, I walked through a door into a corridor and found myself stepping out into a huge open space. The space was filled with a swimming pool and at the far end, Mr Stempel was cutting through the water, his head emerging with a twist to take a breath before vanishing again.
I stood watching him for a moment as he swam towards me. He reached the side and was about to turn when his eye caught me and he stopped himself, catching the edge of the pool and coming to a stop. He didn’t look as if he’d exerted himself at all, barely out of breath as he lifted himself up onto the tiles. I tried not to look at his taut arm muscles but I failed.
“Good morning,” I said as he continued to look at me. “Nice place you’ve got here.”
“What are you doing down here?”
“Don’t you ever get lonely? Great big pool like this and only you to enjoy it.”
“I’ve got everything anyone could ever want. Why would I want to share it?”
“Because it’s hard to play Marco Polo on your own?”
“I’m not a team game kind of person. Get a bit too competitive.”
“But that dining room. You eat alone in that every day? This huge pool just for you?”
He nodded. “Do you want permission to swim? Is this your roundabout way of asking me?”
“No.”
“You can swim if you want to.”
“I’ve just had breakfast.”
“That waiting an hour thing is a myth. Jump in.”
“I don’t have a costume.”
“So? Why not skinny dip?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
He looked at me coldly. “You agreed to obey my every command. Strip and get in this pool.” He only paused for a second before roaring with laughter. “Go on, go away you shy little flower.”
Before I could reply he was back in the pool, his head underwater, gliding away from me.
I turned and headed back up the stairs and into the hallway I’d come from. I felt angry but not with him, with myself. What was wrong with me? I had to fight his command when he told me to strip.
I wanted to do it at once but at least I had enough control left to know it was a bad idea. Being naked in the pool with that God of a man would leave me nowhere but in trouble. Nope, better to walk away.
I marched around the house until I calmed down, exploring the first floor and then the second, losing count of the amount of bedrooms the place contained.
I ended up back in the kitchen around half ten, wondering if there was some way I could make myself a coffee. I found the cook emptying a paper bag on the counter top. “What’s that?” I asked as he pulled out a baguette filled with chicken and salad. “Is that from Pepe’s?”
“Your favourite lunch,” he replied. “I was told to collect it. Me with a Michelin star and I’m told to collect your lunch from a bakery. Why not just call me an errand boy and be done with it?”
“Who told you to collect that for me?”
“Mr Stempel of course, who do you think?”
“How did he know that was my favourite?”
“He’s worth billions. Do you not think he has people who can do things for him. He probably knows your blood type, your worst fear, and your favourite childhood shampoo.”
“Really?”
I didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand it was invasive of my privacy but on the other hand, that was my favourite lunch and it did look good.
“I’ll take that now,” I said, taking the baguette from the cook and heading through to the dining room. “Any chance of a coffee?”
“Sure, it’s not like I worked in Paris for four years in the best restaurant kitchens you’ve ever seen. I’m just a glorified barista, that’s all I am. Anything else? Want me to post a letter for you? Buff your shoes?”
“I can make my own coffee if you like.”
“No,” he said with a sigh. “It’ll give me something to do. I’ll bring it through, go on.”
As I walked into the dining room, I could hear Mr Stempel yelling at someone in his study. Glancing out into the hallway, I could just see through the door to where he was standing dripping in a towel, phone clamped to his ear.
“Don’t you even think about it,” he screamed, his face turning red. “You get that sorted by the end of today or I cut you loose. How do you think your board will take it if they know I took forty percent and sold it back for pennies? Don’t you talk to me like that. You do as you’re bloody told, you little piece of shit. I don’t care if I’m shouting, that’s what happens when I deal with incompetent…”
I left the baguette on the table and walked through to him as he continued shouting. He looked on the verge of a heart attack. I took one look at him and then his phone and then I pressed the disconnect button.
“You shouldn’t talk to people like that,” I said as he looked from the phone to me and back again, trying to process what had just happened. “Try being nice to people from time to time. You might get used to it.”
“What?” he roared at the top of his voice, his face turning from red to purple. He looked like he was about to explode as he stormed over to me. “You hung up my phone?” He took a breath and I braced for the explosion. He grabbed my arm and twisted me onto his lap.
His hand was already flying down towards my squirming ass when Gwyneth appeared in the doorway, hissing, “Tomlinson is here.”
SIX - NICK
I was used to controlling my emotions but it took some effort to not spank her. I couldn’t believe she had just done that.
I was dealing with a man on the phone who’d tried to sell my shares out from under me to improve his own holding. It wasn’t quite illegal for him to pretend to be me because my people had caught him before he did too much damage. I was simply informing him in no uncertain terms that he was going to pay for what he’d done and what did she do? Walked in and hung up my phone.
Gwyneth threw a suit onto the desk before running off towards the front door.
“Get ready,” I hissed, lifting Jodie back onto her feet. I threw the towel on the floor. "You might want to turn the other way," I said, already sliding my trunks down.
She blushed bright red as she spun to face the other way. I dressed quickly. “Act happy.” I said as I stood next to her, laughing loudly as if she’d just told the funniest joke. The towel and trunks were hidden behind my chair. Now I looked like the serious businessman I was.
“What?” she replied as I heard footsteps in the hallway. Tomlinson appeared a second later, hand outstretched towards me. “Nick…oh I’m sorry, am I interrupting?”
“Not at all,” Jodie said. “I was just going. Thank you for that, Nick. I needed cheering up.” She kissed my cheek and I felt a shiver deep inside me. Then she was up walking aw
ay as Tomlinson took the seat opposite mine.
I was impressed by her acting skills. For all the world, she’d looked at me just then like she adored me when seconds earlier I’d been about to spank her for hanging up my phone.
“You’re early,” I said to Tomlinson. We’re not supposed to be meeting until Friday.”
“I know. I just had a window and thought I’d call in, see how you’re doing. I heard you had a guest. Was that the one they told me about?”
“Jodie? Depends on what you were told.”
He crossed his feet at the ankles, sinking into his chair like it was his office rather than mine. “I have to say, I didn’t think it was true.”
“What?”
“That you’d suddenly decided to start mentoring the underprivileged and impoverished. What made you want to do it?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I thought it was about time I did some good in the world. I’m helping fund her…oh, what was it? Jodie?”
She appeared in the doorway a second later, her head sticking round, looking eagerly at me. “Yes, Nick?” She had a broad smile on her face as if she’d known me for years. It was very convincing.
“What was that thing you wanted to do again? The thing you needed the money for?”
Her brow wrinkled for just a second. “My educational tour company?”
“That’s it. Tell Charlie here what it’s about.”
“I want to set up a company to get disadvantaged children interested in history and culture. After all, this country belongs to everyone, not just the rich. I want to fund tours for them of the museum where I work, show them that it’s not just there for people who can afford it but for everyone. That way they might grow up to love it as much as I do. It’s been my dream since I was a little girl to make other people as passionate about our culture as I feel and-”
I waved her into silence. “And I told her I’d be fully paying for the whole thing. Putting a bit back.”
“Anything else?” Jodie asked. “Only I’m about to have the wonderful lunch you bought for me. He got my favourite, Mr Tomlinson. All the way from Pepe’s.”
“No, off you go and enjoy it.”
“I will, Sir.”
She vanished and Tomlinson looked closely at me. “I have to admit it, you’ve changed. Keep this up and you might lose your Mr Scrooge reputation.”
“What do you mean?”
“All these years I’ve known you, all you’ve been interested in is profit. If anyone wanted something from you, I thought they’d have to get it out of your coffin. What happened?”
“I realized that life’s too short to only think of money.”
“It’s not just a way to get me to like you again? I already like you, Nick. We used to be best friends. You remember?”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Only if you count in years. I still remember you falling into that quarry, right in the mud.”
“You pushed me if I remember rightly.”
“Well, you’d stolen my best football stickers.”
He smiled. “I’ve missed this. You know I had five different offers for that land just this week but I turned them all down and you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to see for myself if the rumors were true. I see the way she looks at you. She dotes on you, Nick.”
“Does she?”
“Clearly. Look, I’ve got the paperwork here about the land. How about we try and iron out some of the terms if you’ve got time?”
“Of course I’ve got time.”
We spent about half an hour running through the most important clauses before we were interrupted by his phone ringing.
He frowned. “Excuse me a minute. Forgot to silence it.” Digging it out, he stuck it to his ear. “Hello. What? The whole shelter? But those poor cats. All right, I’ll take in as many as I can. Hang on.” He muted the phone before looking at me. “I don’t suppose you can look after a couple of cats for me, the new shelter’s just burned down. Something about the electrics.”
“Of course I can,” A couple of cats for a few days until the paperwork was signed was nothing.
“I’ll be right down,” he said into the phone before hanging up. “Sorry to cut it short, Nick. Duty calls. I’ll reschedule as soon as I can.”
“No rush,” I said. “Let Gwyneth know and I’ll get the beers in.”
“Sounds good, just don’t let my mom find out I’m drinking with you.”
“God, I’d forgotten about that. Didn’t she ground you for like a month over that bottle of cider?”
“Two months.”
“Wow, two months.”
He pushed the papers back into the briefcase. “I’ll catch you later. Don’t bother getting up.”
I watched him go, listening for the sound of the front door closing. As soon as it did, I relaxed. I wanted to find Jodie and thank her. She’d done better than I expected. He’d been completely fooled.
I went looking for her in her dining room but she wasn’t there. Nor was she in her bedroom. I thought hard. The place was only so big. Where was she?
“Have you seen where Jodie went?” I asked Terrance, finding him sitting by the front door, monitoring the CCTV to check Tomlinson’s car left with no problems.
“In the pool. She asked to be left alone for a while.”
“Did she?”
I headed down there. She might want to be alone but it wasn’t her place to give orders and I wanted to thank her for what she’d done. She might have already helped seal the deal.
Reaching the end of the basement corridor I stopped dead in the doorway. I understood at once why she’d asked to be left alone. Not only was she swimming but she was swimming naked. I stood looking at her. She hadn’t noticed me yet.
She was floating on her back and she looked like a siren, emerging from the water to lure sailors to their deaths.
I felt like I was spying on something private. No doubt she thought I’d be talking to Tomlinson for hours and she had time to relax. No swimming costume but if she was alone, where was the harm? She was bolder than I thought.
I stared at those glistening wet breasts of hers, the taut stomach leading down to where her hips sank just low enough in the water for me to be tantalized by what I couldn’t properly see. I was hard in an instant at the sight.
She glanced up towards me and I ducked back out of sight. I didn’t want her to catch me spying on her. I’d thank her later. The deal was on, I needed to focus on that. She could wait.
I headed quietly back upstairs and told Terrance to guard the top of the steps, make sure no one went down there until she came back up. Once he was in place, I went back into the study and got on the phone. I had a lot of calls to make.
Twenty minutes later I was on to the lawyer’s office. “Get it all up and running. I don’t care how many hours they need to put in, they were supposed to be ready for this. What? Overtime? No they can’t have overtime. Do they think I’m made of money?”
I glanced up as something moved in the hallway. It was her walking past with a towel wrapped around her chest. I sighed, the sight of her doing things to me.
“Mr Stempel?” the voice on the other end said from a long way away, dragging my attention back to work. “Mr Stempel?”
I sighed again, needing the call over. “If the deal goes through, they can have all the overtime they want,” I said. “Just do your job and we’ll all be happy.”
I hung up and moved over to the window, looking outside. Maybe an afternoon picnic would be a nice way to thank her for what she’d done. That and asking her to marry me and have my children. Just as an afterthought.
SEVEN - JODIE
He found me in the library. I wasn’t sure how I’d missed it the first time I went exploring. After the exhilarating freedom of swimming naked, I wanted something a bit more calming. I’d just fulfilled a fantasy I’d had for as long as I could remember, Swimming naked. More daring
than I'd ever been but it was safe. He'd be talking business for hours.
I headed to my room afterwards. Wearing the towel as I went past his study had been a deliberate decision. I hoped he might see me, might even command me to drop the towel. He didn’t, too busy on his phone.
I kept walking, hearing him giving overtime payments as his voice faded away. He clearly wasn’t as rough and tough as he was making out. There was a heart in there somewhere and I got the feeling I might be able to find it given enough time.
Time wasn’t on my side though. I only had six more days with him. That was nowhere near long enough to even crack the surface of the man.
Even when I was swimming, I wasn’t really thinking about living my dream of floating naked without a care in the world. I was thinking about how I wanted him to finish his meeting and come downstairs to find me and then join me in the water.
As I dried my hair upstairs, I imagined what life might be like with him. How good would it feel to live somewhere like this? To never have to cook for myself, to start every single day with a swim in that pool. To wake up next to him.
It was a dream I’d never achieve. I knew that. I could buy my own place with a pool but would that be the same? It would mean spending the money on me instead of the company and that wouldn’t be right.
One million pounds. It was such a lot of money. How much had I earned already. I came here at nine o’clock yesterday morning and it was heading towards noon. Twenty-six hours. More than a day gone already. Was the money worth it when the price was never contacting him again? Never seeing that body again? Never looking into those eyes that seemed to see straight through my clothes and through my skin into my soul.
Once I was dry and dressed, using the underwear I’d found neatly folded in the chest of drawers near the bed, I headed downstairs. I made a mental note to ask him how he’d known my exact bra size but then I remembered what the cook had said. He was rich enough to have people find out everything about me. I shouldn’t have liked that but something about it made me feel special, like he’d taken the time because he personally wanted to know more about me. It might not have been true but there was always the chance. What was the harm in being optimistic?
