by Erika Rose
Jason coughed up the wine he had just sipped, his thoughts had gone in a whole other direction and if she was asking if she was hired for the job of kissing, his answer would’ve been the same, “Of course.”
“Good, I’ll be off then.”
“Wait,” Jason didn’t want her to leave just yet, and he didn’t understand why. He needed to phone Angelique and send her some photos but for some reason he wanted to spend more time with Mia. He knew this was a bad idea. He was thinking with his groin, the brain that had made him a ruthless businessman had temporarily abandoned him. “I owe you an apology.”
Mia sat back down at the table, she propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands. Feigning innocence she asked, “What on earth for?” Her large brown eyes looking at him.
Jason laughed, knowing she wasn’t going to make this easy, “For saying you couldn’t take care of my house. I’ve taken a look around-
“Was that before or after the ghost scared you?” Mia asked. She could feel the wine had heated her blood making her more outspoken that she would usually be, especially with a client.
“Before,” Jason said smiling. “The place is in really good condition. I want to make a few small changes while I’m here. I want the place to be ready for my honeymoon in summer, but overall I can’t complain.” The comfortable atmosphere that had been around all night vanished at the mention of his honeymoon. Mia stood to leave when Jason called out to her, “Although I do have one request.”
She turned and waited for his answer, “Please don’t put any more mints on my pillow.”
Mia wanted to come back with a witty reply along the lines of it was part of the service, but just talking about his pillow had the V of her thighs twitching, it was time to get out of his house and away from Jason Pike. She nodded and made a quick escape through the patio doors to the safety of her cottage.
It was past midnight and sleep had evaded Jason all night. He stood with his IPad in his hand making a list of things he needed to have done while he was in Hawaii. He had moved from room to room trying to see it through Angelique’s eyes. The problem was if he looked at the house and what Angelique would like, this wasn’t it. Short of gutting the place and remodeling it, she would see it as old. She wouldn’t appreciate the history and the handcrafted floors and moldings. It was after all her wedding gift from Jason and he had to force himself to think of what she would want. So far it was the whole kitchen, the master bathroom, the crown moldings, and he wanted to replace the sliding patio doors with glass folding doors. As for the furniture that was a whole other list. He needed a new dining room suite, a new master bedroom suite and a few other rooms also needed upgrades when it came to the furniture. He wanted to keep the cane furniture that stood on the terraces and the patio to keep the island feeling. He needed to replace both fireplaces with gas models. As the list grew longer and the night grew darker, he knew he wasn’t going to get some sleep unless he forced himself to. He switched off all the lights as he moved upstairs, and forced himself to close his eyes hoping for sleep to come.
In the early morning hours Mia could kick herself for forgetting to bring her personal groceries to the cottage. She was in such a hurry to get away from Jason after dinner she didn’t even do the dishes, she had turned tail and ran because of all feelings he had awakened in her since his arrival a few hours before. She stared at the little light shining from the depths of the empty fridge, hoping juice would magically appear. She had been rolling around since she had left Jason earlier that evening, but sleep was evading her. Every time she closed her eyes she kept seeing Jason smiling at her, Jason pouring her wine, Jason laughing, Jason Jason Jason. It was absolutely ridiculous. She needed to ask the local priest if he could exorcise Jason from her thoughts. The worst part was the aching throb she had between her legs pulsing along with her heartbeat. She knew her body was longing for something but she wasn’t completely sure what. She walked over to the window to peek at the main house. All the lights were out, which meant he was probably asleep. If she was really quiet she could sneak in and grab her juice without him even knowing she was there. She grabbed her kimono gown and slipped it over her naked boy, hastily tying it at the waist and tiptoeing her way to the main house.
Jason had just fallen asleep when he heard a noise coming from the kitchen, and felt his neck hairs prickle and rise. It was probably one of the noises Mia had described, but he had to check it out, otherwise he would never settle down again. Not that sleep was forthcoming. He grabbed a candlestick from a side table in the upstairs hallway and softly walked down the stairs. When he reached the arch leading to the kitchen, he had to force himself to close his mouth. If this was the ghost then surely he was the luckiest man alive. There was small figure standing in the kitchen, the only luminosity coming from moon shining through the window. Her silhouette displayed soft curves under a silk kimono. He felt his arousal stirring and didn’t know if he should run or approach the ghost. He quietly walked over to the figure, slipping his hands onto her shoulders to feel if it was real. Her shoulders were soft and warm under his touch, and the familiar honeysuckle scent made him realize it wasn’t a ghost he was holding onto. When Mia flung around to face him, his breath caught. The kimono had become untied and was hanging loose over her naked body. There was a small space between the two flaps, giving him a glimpse of her naked torso. As his eyes trailed down he couldn’t help focus on the small triangle of curls nestled between her thighs.
Mia could feel her blood heat as Jason’s gaze travelled over her. She vaguely remembered that she was naked underneath the kimono that had slipped open, and knew she should tie it again; her body didn’t seem to respond. She was caught up in Jason’s ice blue eyes that were travelling over her body. Underneath his gaze she felt beautiful; she could see the desire in his eyes. For a second the thought entered her mind that it had been a bad idea to come into the kitchen at night, but as Jason’s eyes returned to hers, she could think of nowhere else she’d rather be. She allowed herself a lingering gaze at his naked torso and as her eyes travelled down she could see the arousal in his boxers. She didn’t have a lot of experience when it came to men and their anatomy, but from what she could see he was quite gifted. She felt a corresponding twitch between her legs, and wondered what it would feel like if Jason touched her. As her eyes travelled back up and met his icy blue stare, she knew she had never been closer to being burnt before. When she tried to speak her voice was hoarse and soft, “I came to get some juice,” her hands were still hanging by her sides, no move had been made to retie the kimono.
Jason was fused to the spot. He knew he should leave Mia in the kitchen and head back upstairs, but something about the way she was looking at him kept him there. He had retrieved her credentials from his laptop earlier this evening and knew now that she was twenty-four years old. A fact he found hard to believe when he watched her sensual mouth, lips slightly parted, and her sensual curves. But the innocence in her eyes and the curious way she looked at his arousal had him wondering if she had ever been with a man before. Twenty-four was young, but most women had at least a few partners by that age. He knew she would be soft to touch, and if her body reacted to him just looking at her, he would have her trembling in minutes if only he could touch her. He thought of Angelique in the Mediterranean with her long legs and blonde tresses, he was engaged to a woman millions adored and most men only dreamt about, yet he was standing in his kitchen in the middle of night fantasizing about a girl that wasn’t even in the same league as Angelique. She was more cute and feisty than she was sexy and beautiful, and yet the more he looked into her soft brown eyes the more he wanted to see them close from passion.
Mia watched Jason, wondering what it would felt like to have her soft curves rest against the hard plains of his body. His jaw was twitching and ice blue eyes were fixed on hers. If she didn’t feel desire sparking in the air between them, she would’ve sworn he was furious. How did this happen, she couldn’t help but ask
herself? She had been on the straight and narrow ever since that night long ago when she lost her virginity. She went on at least three dates before she’d even kissed a guy good night and had only bothered twice to even go on a fourth date, and yet she was standing here barely covered allowing a man that was basically a stranger to look at her most private parts. The strangest part was that she could feel her body react, if she felt this turned on from just watching him look at her, she couldn’t help but try to imagine what his touch what do to her. It must’ve been the magic time of night that happened after midnight, she could almost feel his fingers circling her navel. She had read a lot of romance novels and what she had experienced with her boyfriend when she was sixteen was nothing close to what her books described, she had only fantasized about what it would really be like with a man. Not a boy who was fumbling to get himself off. One who valued your pleasure as much as their own, one who took the time to excite you, to cherish you and seduce you before entering you? She looked down at Jason’s hard length pressing through his boxers and tried to imagine what it would feel like to have him deep inside of her, the thought made her gasp. Mia glanced at Jason to see if he noticed, he did. His jaw was set with determination, she heard him say “Fuck” under his breath before he reached for her. Mia wanted to stay; she wanted Jason to make slow love with her, but fear and the niggling reminder of his fiancée in the back of her mind, had her running for the patio doors before he could touch her.
Chapter 4
“Oh boy, this is bad,” Alana said as she sipped on her glass of chilled wine.
“What do you mean it’s bad?” Asked Mia innocently. It had been a week since Jason had arrived on Oahu and it was time for her to discuss her body’s random reactions with a girlfriend. She had driven over to Alana’s small apartment after preparing Jason’s supper. She hadn’t dared to eat at the same table as him since that night in the kitchen. Apparently all the thoughts and tingling she was experiencing was bad.
“Mia, you’ve been with one guy.” She reached over the table for Mia’s hand, “And I’m sorry to say this but he was a dick. You have never taken the time to see what the whole sex thing is about. You don’t even know the difference between casual sex, one night stands, anger fucks and making love. How on earth am I supposed to teach you which tingle goes with which over a glass of wine?”
“You mean each tingle goes with a different type of sex?” Mia asked confused.
“No honey, I just mean I don’t want you to get hurt. And from what you’re telling me you’ve got it bad for Mr. Mogul. I hate to be the voice of reason here, but honey he’s engaged to the super model Angelique.”
“Angelique?” Mia asked dumbfounded. As she was able to place a face by the name from her memory of magazines, she knew she was screwed. Angelique was on the front page of the swimsuit edition she had to get for Jason. How on earth was she supposed to compete with her?
“Yes honey, Angelique. I’m not saying she’s better than you; I just don’t want you to get hurt. With men like Jason it’s mostly about having a trophy wife, they don’t tend to look much deeper than the looks.”
Mia laid her head back against the sofa and closed her eyes, “This is bad.”
“Yes it is. What did he do?” Alana asked about the night in the kitchen. Mia had given her vague details at best.
“He looked at me.” Mia said off handedly.
“Oh boy,” Alana sighed, “Okay let’s try and figure this out together. How did he look at you? Was he upset that you were in the kitchen? Did he look hungry? Was he drooling?”
Mia sat up again, “Now that you mention it, he did look hungry.”
“All right, now we’re getting somewhere. Was he looking around in the kitchen for something to eat, or was he looking at you?”
“He was looking at me.” Mia thought of how to describe it to her friend. She pursed her lips before answering, “His eyes were sort of focused on my hmmm….”
“Your what?”
“My private parts.”
“That’s weird, especially since you were wearing a kimono, that doesn’t show much.”
“It had become untied sometime between leaving the cottage and Jason walking into the kitchen.
“Oh…this is good. So you were showing some flesh?”
Mia blushed profusely, “A bit more actually, I was naked underneath.”
Alana laughed, her voice sounded like she smoked a pack a day and in fact she had never even lit a cigarette. “You mean he could see…” She twirled her fingers over her vagina and cocked her brows.
“Yes, okay he could and seemed to enjoy looking.”
“So he didn’t reach for you as if to throw you out of his kitchen? It was more a reach as in, come here you sexy thing.”
“I think so?” Mia said uncertainly.
“Well if I understand correctly Miss Kanu, you have one of two options.”
“Which are?”
“Well, option one: you keep flirting and allow yourself to be ravished by Mr. Mogul, whilst remembering you’re the other woman and that’s he’s getting married in a few months.”
“I don’t like that option, what is option two?” Mia sat up hoping her friend would say something she’d like.
“You avoid him completely, keep doing your job and find some nice guy on the island to fool around with to get him out of your system.”
Mia frowned. Alana poured them both more wine and sat down again watching her peeved friend with a sinful smile, “Did I mention option three?”
“No, you said I had two options.”
“Well, option three is a bit farfetched, but what the hell. You go for it with all your heart and see where it leads. Maybe miracles do happen and he falls in love with you.”
Mia sighed contentedly, “I like that option.”
“Just remember honey, it’s farfetched and might leave you nursing a broken heart when he leaves for San Fran in a couple of weeks.”
Mia smiled acknowledging her friends words, but deep down she knew that was her only option. Jason was the first man she had felt this way about and she wasn’t going to be able to ignore him. She also wasn’t the type of girl that slept around; she knew her heart would get involved inevitably. She might as well give it her all.
The water rushed by him as he propelled himself through the pool stroke by stroke. There was something extremely calming about swimming in a pool by the beach. He lifted his head for another breath and caught sight of Mia watching him from the side of the pool. He dipped his head back into the water and kept swimming. At this moment he felt like the famous little blue fish from the animation his nephews watched. He couldn’t remember her name but he remembered her mantra, just keep swimming. Can’t resist your caretaker, just keep swimming. Want to see her naked, just keep swimming. Haven’t spoken to your fiancée in a few days and it didn’t bother you, just keep swimming. He found Angelique’s conversations shallow the past few times he had phoned her. Every time she just spoke about the amount of money floating around on the Mediterranean. Just keep swimming. How much property this one model owns, the size of investments another man had, and how much the wedding was going to cost him. He had never been worried about the cost of the wedding, but the fact that the wedding seemed to be planned around the expectations of her model friends were starting to bug him. Why would he want a seven foot ice sculpture of David in the middle of summer? What difference did the type of fabric for the tablecloths really make? No one was going to sit down at the table and do a thread count. Just keep swimming. For some inexplicable reason every time Angelique went on about money, Jason found himself thinking about Mia. She drove an old, beaten up Jeep, lived in other people’s houses and seemed happy. Why did Angelique need to impress her famous friends, wasn’t she supposed to be happy because she was getting married? When she complained about gaining a pound, he would think of the few extra pounds Mia had around her waist that made her seem more sensual to him even though he had never touched her. Just ke
ep swimming. He rushed towards the wall of the deep end and came up sputtering as he grabbed hold of it. He really needed to get her out of his system. His thoughts had barely left his mind, when she bent down in front of him with a towel giving him a peek of the swell of her breasts where the fabric dipped. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” Jason all but barked. He pulled himself out and sat with his feet in the water waiting for his breath to return.
“I’m sorry, I was worried,” Mia threw the comment over her shoulder as she walked towards the patio doors.
“Shit,” Jason kicked the water, furious with himself for about the millionth time that week. He had tried paging through Angelique’s swimsuit edition every time he thought of Mia and that didn’t help at all. For some reason he ended up comparing their bodies. Mia’s small and sensual, Angelique’s tall and sexy. At least he was making progress on the house. The construction crew had started a few days ago. He was impressed with the progress they were making; he was even more impressed with the result. They had fixed all the crown moldings on the second floor, and it was now restored to its naturally beauty. Next came the bathrooms, the fireplaces, and the kitchen. He dried himself off, and walked around the house to another entrance. There was no way he was walking through the kitchen with Mia standing there. Not when he was slightly wet and bare-chested. If he had learned anything from that night in the kitchen, his hormones were out of control when it came to her. He slipped in through the side door and made his way up the stairs. He walked into his bedroom, kicking the door closed behind him. He could hear the construction crew was already busy somewhere in the house. As he turned to retrieve some clothes before heading for the shower, he saw Mia standing in front of his cupboard dumbstruck. She was looking at him with those soft brown eyes, like a trapped doe.
