A half-hour later, at 6:30am, Beth was dressed in boxers and a fresh t-shirt and was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Gabriel told her the night before he wanted something nice and simple so she was to prepare eggs over-easy, toast with strawberry jam and bacon. Easy enough right? She hoped it would be as easy as it sounded. She always had a tendency to overcook bacon. Okay, that was a lie, she burnt bacon. Always. She crossed her fingers that wouldn't be the case today.
As it turned out, this morning was no exception.
The sound of Gabriel clearing his throat sounded just as she was about to scoop the bacon from the skillet. Her breath hitched as she spun around and laid eyes on him dressed in a black suit, tie yet to be tied and hanging loose around his neck and the top two buttons of his light blue shirt undone. He was sex personified. The feel of his lips on hers came rushing back to her and the throbbing between her legs began.
"Morning," he greeted sauntering into the kitchen and seating himself onto a bar stool at the breakfast bar across from her. "Something smells... burnt."
Oh dear lord! In the seconds that it took to turn and smile at him the bacon had went from nearly cooked to burnt. She counted backwards from ten slowly trying to calm the frustration welling up within her as she flashed Gabriel a smile and tried to make light of her first failure in the kitchen. "Good thing I'm taking lessons from Peter right?"
"Yes, it's a good thing," he replied, his tone solemn. While his tone may have been solemn, she was relieved to see amusement dance in his eyes.
Her nerves began to calm. At the very least he wasn't angry. Which lead her to the question... Does this man ever get angry? She'd never met someone so easygoing in her life. It was as though he didn't have a single care in the world.
She salvaged his breakfast as best she could as she thought back to her daily encounters with him and couldn't think of a single instance where she'd seen him in a bad mood. With the breakfast plated she was thankful that at least she managed to not screw up the eggs. The toast, was yet another failure. Too dark. She growled to herself as she turned and with a great deal of embarrassment presented him with what he had described as an easy "no brainer" breakfast. "I'm sorry."
He laughed out loud as he looked at her pathetic attempt and then up at her. "Looks... great..."
With a loud huff, she planted a fist on her hip and cocked her head, "Don't lie."
Picking up a piece of charcoaled bacon he took a bite and it crumbed.
She cringed. What in the hell was she thinking taking this job. She blew at a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail and fallen over her left eye and grimaced.
Putting the bacon down, he looked up and met her gaze. "Alright, I... Your cooking skills need some work." he held a hand up when she started to protest. "But, I was aware of that and I take full responsibility for this. So don't worry, I expected a learning curve."
A learning curve? He had to be insane if he thought she was getting any better anytime soon.
''Listen, there was something I wanted to talk to you about." The kiss kept coming to the forefront of her mind and she felt she needed to at least apologize for her behaviour the previous night.
"Oh," he cocked a brow at her and gave her that patented Gabriel sex smile that sent her stomach fluttering.
"I'm sorry if I consumed a bit too much wine and then when we got back here, when I-…"
Gabriel placed his elbows on the counter, and steeped his fingers. He leaned over keeping his dark eyes glued to hers, his expression suddenly heated - intense. "Attempted to seduce me?" he offered.
Beth could feel the colour draining from her face as she began to recall the events of the previous evening. Did she really come on that strong? She didn't think so. Sure, she kissed him, or kissed him back, or... Oh God! She remembered the kiss vividly and if she concentrated on the encounter hard enough she could still taste to wine on his lips. The kiss had just happened, she was sure of it.
Upon seeing her distress his face broke out into a grin. "I'm teasing Beth." he reached across the counter and gave her hand a light squeeze. "I kissed you and you responded. It's not a big deal. Okay?"
Not a big deal? She wasn't sure if it was or not. She was slightly disappointed he said it like that. It stung that what would qualify as one amazing moment to her was "no big deal” to him. Well, she decided, at least I know where I stand.
Slowly she nodded. "That's what I was going to say." she shrugged to accent her point. "No big deal." Their gazes continued to hold and her body continued to sing with need for him. Damn it, to her it was a big deal!
Chapter 5
Peter had turned out to be an amazing teacher and an extremely likeable and patient man. Beth was already looking forward to the next lesson, however, being that today was Friday the next lesson wouldn't be until Monday morning. She was confident she'd be preparing gourmet dishes for Gabriel in no time with Peter's tutorage. She still had a few hours before Gabriel was due home so she decided to get some laundry done and was now standing in the middle of Gabriel's massive bedroom and heading for the large mahogany dresser against the back wall, by the door that led to his massive walk-in closet.
The dresser had three columns of four drawers. Sitting the white plastic laundry basket filled with clean, folded clothing in it on the top of the dresser she decided to start with the top left hand drawer and work her way though. It occurred to her for a second that perhaps he wouldn't want her going through his drawers, but it was what she had been hired to do. I'm his cook/maid/personal assistant and anything else he needs and right now he needs his clothing put away, she reasoned, besides, he had no problem sending Gerald rummaging though my stuff.
Opening the first drawer she was confronted with ties. The second made her gasp, her eyes widening in surprise, quickly followed by a grin spreading across her face. Gabriel Reynolds just got a lot more interesting.
She grabbed a thick pink vibrator from the drawer and flipped it on, it buzzed softly in her hand. Giggling softly, she turned it back off and tossed it back in. "Well, well Mr Reynolds you have been a very naughty boy," she said out loud with a chuckle as she then pulled a soft brown leather flogger from the drawer and ran her hand down the length of it.
"Indeed I can be."
Her grin immediately faded as she spun around, her hair fanning out around her head and colour draining from her cheeks. The flogger slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor at her feet. She quickly bent, not taking her eyes off of her new boss, retrieved it and then straightened back up. Before her stood Gabriel, his tie loosened leaning his shoulder against the door jab, one foot crossed casually over the other and regarding her with raw desire. He was pure sex in a tailored suit if she'd ever seen it.