Chapter Four
I barely get the “Yes” out before his mouth is on mine, crushing me in a
frantic kiss that steals my breath and my heartbeats. I revel in it, fisting his
wavy hair as his tongue dances with mine in a desperate way that I haven’t
experienced with him before. After the roller coaster of emotions I’ve
experienced since waking up on his rug last night, I’m likely just as
desperate.
I barely notice us moving, and then suddenly we’re in front of the
dining table and he’s releasing my legs and yanking my nylons and panties
down.
“Don’t rip them,” I warn. “They’re my last pair.”
“Fuck. I don’t have the patience for these damn things.”
“I’ll do it.” I reach for them but he growls, “No!” and seizes my
wrists, pinning them behind my back, confining me. I tug playfully against
the restraint, giggling. He pauses, a curious look on his face.
“What?”
In answer, he slides the loosened tie from around his neck. Winding
the silky material around my wrists, he secures my hands behind my back.
“What are you doing?”
“Trust me.” His mouth is on mine again, his teeth nipping at my
bottom lip. “Turn around.”
I do, without a thought, letting his fingertips coax me until I’m
bending over the table, my cheek resting against the smooth wood, staring
at my reflection in the giant wall mirror across from us. It’s positioned
perfectly to reflect the entire tawdry scene.
“You like seeing yourself like this?” Henry asks. I watch him peel my
nylons and panties down to my knees and push my skirt up to settle around
my waist, exposing me to the cool air and to him. He reaches forward and
runs a finger along my slit. A hiss escapes his lips. “Dammit, Abbi.”
I smile at my reflection. “I know.” I’m soaking wet for him, and
growing all the more so by the second, watching this all unfold.
He fumbles with his belt buckle and unfastens it. His zipper follows
quickly. He pushes his dress pants and boxers down to reveal his powerful
thighs, freeing his impressive erection. “I wish we could just stay here all
day. I would show you so many things,” he mutters, stroking himself
slowly, his eyes on my most private area, even as mine are locked on his
reflection.
“What do you want to show me?” I’m already tied up and bent over
the dining table. I’d say today’s lesson is quite robust.
His hands hook the front of my hips and he adjusts my body slightly,
angling my ass upward and pushing my thighs as far apart as my nylons
bunched at my knees allow, until I can feel my lips spreading apart and the
head of his hard cock nudging at the entrance. He hasn’t put on a condom
and I haven’t asked him to. After feeling him come in me yesterday and last
night, I don’t ever want to wear a condom with him again.
I woke up this morning after a day of incredible sex, sore. Now, I
clench my muscles with anticipation.
But Henry’s hips still, and he lets his tip rest against me, teasing me.
“Are you sure you want this?”
“Yes, of course,” I pant, my eagerness almost too much.
“I’m not forcing you, am I? I don’t want to be mistaken here.”
I hear the hint of sour humor in his tone and, given my current
vulnerable position, it’s annoying. I push back in answer, thrusting my hips.
His cock slides through my slit, coating it with me.
He groans, fumbling with the buttons of his dress shirt, getting them
undone and the shirt off in record time, leaving him in only a white v-neck
undershirt. His hard cock juts out just behind me, already lined up.
The anticipation is making me ache. I test the binding around my
wrists. It’s loose enough that my arms feel relaxed, but I won’t be getting
free.
“Are you watching?” He plants a hand on either cheek, grabbing a
firm hold of my flesh, opening me up, his thumb skating along my crack,
pushing against the tight hole.
I clench reactively. “Yes.”
“Good.” He sinks into me with one slow but forceful push, filling me
so completely, making me cry out from the pleasurable pain. Again, he
freezes. “Does this hurt? Are you sure you want this? I thought you did but
I could be mista—”
“Stop it.” He’s making fun of me and my body is pulsing with need.
“You want me to stop?” He begins sliding out.
I fight against the binding on my wrists, desperate to reach back and
grab his hard cock. “Please.”
“Please, what? Tell me what you want, Abbi? I need to hear it so I’m
sure I’m not mistaken.” There’s a touch of anger in his voice, but I don’t
think it’s directed at me.
“I want you inside me. I want to still feel you inside me tonight when
I go to—” My words cut off with a cry as he thrusts into me.
And again, and again, his fingers squeezing my hips so tight that I’m
not sure I won’t be bruised. I’m enthralled with the sight of Henry, his
powerful legs straining as he drives into me from behind, his fingers
digging into my flesh.
“You like watching, don’t you?”
My agreement comes out in a moan. I thought I’d be embarrassed,
witnessing something like this, but it only turns me on. Good God. A few
days with Henry and I’ve already shed all my inhibitions. I’m doing things I
couldn’t even imagine. Things I didn’t even know were “things.”
I can’t move much and so I don’t try, content to let Henry do the work
as I watch him pumping in and out of me at a deliciously hard, fast pace,
making my entire body rock and my breasts rub against the cold wood.
“I need to feel you.” His hands loose their grip of my hips to reach
over his head and grab hold of his undershirt. He yanks it off and tosses it to
the floor, revealing that perfect upper body of rippled muscle. Rough,
calloused hands slide over my curves to fit beneath me, one settling on my
clit, seizing the bundle of nerves between his thumb and finger; the other to
cup the front my neck, securing me gently as his body folds over mine, until
his chest meets my back, all while he continues mercilessly driving into me.
Somewhere overhead I think I hear a helicopter but I’m unable to
focus on anything but how incredible this feels, that tingling buildup at the
base of my spine beginning.
“This is different,” he whispers, pressing his lips against the back of
my neck.
My heart blips. “What?”
For a long moment, he doesn’t speak, and I begin to think I only
wished I heard him. And then.... “You. Me. This. It is different, Abbi. I can’t
explain how or why, but I need you to believe that.”
“I do,” I moan, blood beginning to flood between my legs, swelling
my flesh, my core begging for relief.
I do because I need to. Because Henry is quickly becoming
everything to me.
“You’re mine.”
“I’m yours.”
“I want this to work between us.”
“Yes!” I manage to get out through pants.
“You’re about to come,” he grits out, his cock swelling more inside
me with each thrust, telling me he’s not far behind me. His fingers, now
slick, work against my clit with a sense of urgency, hard and fast circles that
make me want to spread my legs wide for him.
The rush hits me and my muscles begin to contract. In answer, he
angles his hips to thrust harder into me, the sensation so overwhelming I’m
unable to hold back my cries of ecstasy as a mind-paralyzing, explosive
orgasm rips through my body, leaves me a quivering mess.
“Fuck!” Henry presses his mouth against the back of my neck to
muffle his cries. I can feel his cock pulsing inside me, spilling his semen
into me, leaving me slick and sore and so utterly satisfied.
Silence surrounds us as we lie on the table, limp, him draped on top
of me, his heartbeat pounding against my back. I stare at his handsome
profile as he catches his breath.
Finally he turns to meet my gaze in the mirror with hooded eyes.
“Every time we do this, I just want it more.”
I smile at him. “Me, too.”
“I think I should just keep you here and fuck you for the next three
months.”
“How is that any different than what’s happening right now?” I smile.
“I’d have to fire you.”
Oh. “I don’t think I like the sound of being fired.”
“You’d get over it.”
“And what would everyone say?”
“That you must know how to suck a mean cock.”
“Oh my God. No.” I giggle.
“I love your laugh.” He closes his eyes and heaves a sigh.
“I know. We have to go.”
“We have to go.” Laying a kiss on the back of my shoulder, he pulls
himself up and quickly unties my wrists, examining the creases in the silk
material with a frown. “Well, this one’s ruined.”
I peel myself off the table but have to lean against the table for
support momentarily, my legs wobbly.
Henry smooths my skirt down over my hips, then reaches up to fill
his hands with my breasts, running the pads of his thumbs over my nipples.
“You good?”
“I think so.”
I’m treated to one deep kiss, my head falling back as Henry plunders
my mouth with his tongue. “Thank you. For believing me, and sticking by
me.” He breaks free abruptly and, tugging his pants up, he heads for his
bedroom. “I have to be out there when my father lands or he’ll tear me a
new one. He’s going to tear me a new one anyway.”
The Mr. William Wolf, tearing Henry a new one. I can’t imagine that,
considering how daunting Henry himself can be. But I shouldn’t be too
concerned about that. Now that I’m no longer ensnared in Henry’s
overpowering haze, I remember the real issues at hand.
And the fact that I’ll be meeting very important people shortly, with
Henry’s cum running down my thigh.
There’s nothing graceful about this. I fish my blouse and bra from the
floor and walk awkwardly to the small powder room to clean up, my nylons
and panties still down at my knees.
We reappear in the living room at the same time, Henry looking
perfectly put together again, aside from the tie around his neck, which he’s
in the process of retying. The first time he’s ever done that himself in my
presence.
“So, your dad knows all about this already?”
“Yes. I had the pleasure of making that call to him early this morning.
I didn’t have much choice. I couldn’t have him hearing about the lawsuit
through our attorneys. It’s always fun to explain to your father that the
police have evidence with your semen all over it.” He stops in front of me,
holding the silky material out. “This is navy blue, right? It works?”
“Yes. You’ve guessed correctly this time.” I smile, reaching up to
finish tying it for my poor color-blind boss. My smile slips off quickly,
though. “And what about what she’s claiming you did to her? Does your
dad believe you?”
His gaze drifts to the window and water beyond, the tension radiating
from him again. “I think he does. I hope he does. But it doesn’t really
matter. I still fucked up.”
“Because you broke corporate rules and slept with your assistant.”
“And William Wolf is all about rules and leading by example.”
“Why does he care that much about who you sleep with?”
“Because it reflects poorly on the company. Because I’m in a position
of power and it’s wrong. Because it’ll muddy my focus on the company,
and risk the livelihood of the thousands of people’s lives who depend on
me.” A sardonic smirk curls Henry’s lips. “He’s probably afraid that I’ll
start cancelling important meetings so I can stick my face in my assistant’s
pussy.”
I roll my eyes. “You would never do that.”
Henry smiles, but there’s no mirth. “He warned me not to hire
someone I was attracted to. In a high-stress job like this, when you spend so
much time together.... He’s had to fire more than one VP because of it.” He
bows his head. “Clearly, I didn’t listen to him. And I sure as hell didn’t
learn my lesson.”
“So, what happened, exactly? Your assistant wanted a relationship
and you didn’t want to give it to her?”
“I’ve never been cut out for normal relationships.” He sighs. “That’s
always where things seem to fall apart with them.”
“With them?” I feel my eyebrows popping with shock. How many
other assistants have there been?
He waves a dismissive hand at me. “Women, in general. Kiera was
the first assistant I got involved with.”
I don’t know if that’s a comfort to me or not.
Either way, my gut tells me he’s telling me the truth. Or maybe it’s
my heart, because I want to believe him. And, while finding out that he
slept with his last assistant still stings, it’s a sting that will fade quickly.
After what Jed did to me, this is really nothing. We can get through this. To
what end, I’m not sure.
But Henry said he wants this to work out. He wants us to work out.
“So? Now what?”
“Now I get to listen to my father berate me for several hours, and then
kiss people’s asses for the next forty-eight hours so they’ll give Wolf Cove
glowing write-ups.” Cool, abrupt Henry is back.
“And what about the lawsuit, and the charges?”
He reaches out to flatten my disheveled hair. “Dyson’s going to
arrange a meeting with her to try and persuade her not to go through with
this.”
“And by ‘persuade’ you mean talk to her, right?” I haven’t forgotten
the conversation I walked in on.
Henry gets my meaning right away. “Fuck, of course, Abbi! What do
you think I am, a thug?” He shakes his head. “If she wants to play hardball,
she’s going to have to deal with what I’m willing to pitch, and it won’t be
pretty, but I didn’t start this. She needs to realize the repercussions of her
lies. All the personal dirt that’s going to be revealed in court about our
relationship.”
“You’re hoping she’ll recant.” I lean into his chest to feel his warmth.
“I hope so, too.”
“Listen... I need you to do something for me.”
I frown, because I can tell this is serious by the stern look on his face.
“Of course, anything.”
“If we sort out this mess with Kiera, I’m in the clear. But, if my dad
then finds out that I turned around and got involved with you, it’s over. I’m
done.”
“He’ll give the company to Scott?” The monkey who weighs gold,
according to Henry.
Henry heaves a sigh. “He threatens it, but honestly I can’t see him
giving Wolf Hotels to Scott. If the police press charges, I’ll have to step
down immediately, leaving the CEO spot vacant. My guess is that he’ll
appoint someone from the outside and force us to offer an IPO. He’ll take
Wolf Hotels public. My brother and I’ll be able to cash in our 10 percent
each and walk away if we want, but the business will be protected. Our
family will no longer own it. My grandfather was completely against that.”
I shake my head.
“What? Why are you shaking your head at me?”
“Nothing. It’s just.... You know, you probably shouldn’t have slept
with me.”
He chuckles, bowing his head. “You know, you’re right. And if I’d
known what Kiera was going to pull, I probably would have tied my dick in
a knot to keep myself from using it. But I honestly thought she’d sign the
severance package, we’d go our separate ways, and what I did with my dick
while in Alaska wouldn’t be such a hot topic.”
“What you do with your dick is a very hot topic, for everyone around
here.” I hear the comments every day as we pass both staff and guests. Feel
the eyes. Henry is an enigma and everyone seems to want a part of him.
And I seem to be getting a bigger part of him now. An emotional part.
Henry’s opening up to me, showing me an imperfect, vulnerable, self-
deprecating side to him that I would never have believed existed.
It makes my heart swell. Even with the topic at hand.
And yet, something about this doesn’t add up. “If you’re charged,
why can’t your dad just take over again until you can clear your name?
Didn’t he run it for years?” He seems quite involved, still.
Henry’s gaze drops to the floor, a somber mask settling over his
features. “Because my father has pancreatic cancer and it’s terminal.”
“I’m... so sorry.” I wasn’t expecting that.
He nods. “They’ve given him three more years at most. He wants to
spend them relaxing on an island somewhere, knowing that he made the
right decisions about our family legacy. That’s why I’ve been acting CEO
for the last eighteen months.”
“That’s just.... I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine my dad dying.”
“You two are close?”
I smile. “Yeah.” He’s a man of few words, and he hates the phone so
much that I’ll be lucky to talk to him once while I’m here, but he was the
one who spent hours in the fields, teaching me how to catch a baseball. He
was the one who hugged me while I cried and told me that Jed doesn’t
deserve me, even as Mama chirped in the background, minimizing Jed’s
“mistake.” Even thinking about saying good-bye to him forever makes my
throat close up and my eyes water.
A sympathetic smile touches Henry’s lips as he peers down at me.
“I’m guessing your dad and my dad are very different. Still... it’ll be a
shock when he’s gone. But giving me controlling share of Wolf Hotels is
the right decision, and I know he wants to do it.”
“Well, I don’t plan on telling your father what we’ve been doing,
so....”
“I’m not worried about you telling him. I’m worried about him
finding out.” Henry’s chiseled jaw tenses. “I don’t know what’s going to
happen in the next few weeks, but I’m guessing there are going to be
lawyers asking questions, and if the media gets hold of the story, they’ll be
asking questions. There may be a detective calling. Staff.... They’ll all be
asking you. I’m going to be under a microscope, which means you’re going
to be under a microscope. If there’s anything at all you might have said
about me already, to anyone....”
“I haven’t told a soul.”
“Are you positive?”
I frown, racking my brain for anything I may have said about Henry
that could be misconstrued. “Oh my God.”
Henry’s eyes flash. “What?”
“That text to Jed, the one when we were in the boat. You know, about
you staring at my breasts?”
“Shit. Right. That was my fault.” He pauses. “Okay. Text him back
and tell him you were just kidding, trying to make him jealous. Tell him I’m
a dick but I don’t pay any attention to your boobs or any other part of you.”
“Okay.” I groan, remembering the e-mail to Lucy. “I also told my
friend over e-mail that I thought you were really hot.”
He smirks. “Don’t worry about that one. There are plenty of those
floating around about me. Doesn’t mean I slept with all those women.”
I roll my eyes. “What do I say if someone flat out asks me if we’ve...
you know.” Good grief. The man just had me tied up and bent me over a
table and I still can’t use the actual words?
Henry doesn’t seem to notice. “Then you honor the confidentiality
contract that you signed on your first day working for me.”
“But that’s not....” I frown. Does sex with Henry fall under that
contract?
“Listen to me very carefully, Abbi. No one can know about us. You
tell anyone who asks—anyone, including my father—that you are my
assistant and I’m your boss, and we have a professional relationship. You
know nothing about my previous assistant or anything that may or may not
have transpired.”
“You expect me to outright lie to your father?”
He smirks. “Why not? You lied to your own mother.”
“This is different.”
He heaves a sigh and, while he’s being patient with me, I think his
patience is running out. “Do you want everyone on this resort and your
family and friends at home to know how much you love fucking your
boss?”
He knows the answer to that as well as I do. “But what if the police
ask me?”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get that far.” He sounds much more calm about
the whole situation than he was twenty minutes ago.
But I’m not. “But what if it does get that far?” I press.
“Then you tell them that you’re my assistant and you have signed a
confidentiality agreement that keeps you from discussing me at any length.
I can hire a lawyer to protect your rights. And if they ask whether I’ve ever
forced myself on you, you say no because that’s the truth. Anything beyond
that is none of anyone’s fucking business as far as I’m concerned. My
relationship with you has no bearing on what happened between Kiera and
me.”
“I’m a terrible liar, Henry.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” he mutters wryly, adjusting the front of my
blouse and holding out my blazer for me. “Come on. We need to go.”
I barely have time to grab my iPad. With one hand at my back, he
gently herds me toward the door as my mind still churns with all the fears
and worries that were suppressed for those brief stolen moments of
intimacy, all the more potent now that I know the truth and my heart has
nothing but affection for this man once again.
Henry’s touch disappears the second we step outside. He enacts the
unspoken two-feet-at-all-times distance rule between us, that’s intended to
steer people clear of any suspicions of inappropriate behavior between boss
and assistant. It’s so much harder when I’m so desperate to reach out and
touch him, to hold on to the private connection we shared for a little while
longer.
I sigh.
“What now?”
“Nothing. Just preparing for the asshole version of you again,” I
mutter, steeling myself.
He chuckles, but I’m not laughing.
Will two feet be enough? If Kiera’s claims get out in the media, and
people start looking at us under a microscope, it’ll be impossible for me to
hide the way Henry stirs my blood and makes me hot, how I’m hyperaware
of where he is in the room at all times, how I’m constantly checking my
phone to see if he has messaged, how I can’t keep the stupid grin off my
face when I think about him unzipping his pants in front of me, of how hard
he gets for me.
They’ll know right away.
“I can hear you thinking,” he grumbles under his breath as we make
our way along the covered path.
“I can’t help it. I’m overwhelmed. This all has me frazzled.”
“I can’t have you frazzled right now. I need you levelheaded.”
“Levelheaded. Right.” If I were levelheaded, I probably wouldn’t
have let my boss under my skirt. I surely wouldn’t be fantasizing about life
with Henry after Wolf Cove. Will I visit Henry in New York? Will he visit
me in Chicago for my last year of college? I won’t be a Wolf Hotel
employee by then, so we can make out in the middle of the street and no
one can say a word.
Maybe I should let him fire me so I can just stay in his cabin, ordering
room service and having sex with him for the rest of the summer. Sure, it
might get kind of boring, and I wouldn’t be earning any money, and I’d be
the talk of the entire hotel, but....
Suddenly, I notice that Henry’s not beside me anymore. I stop and
turn to find him just standing there, watching me, a strange look on his face.
“What the fuck am I thinking, bringing you with me to meet my
father?” He glances at his watch. “I need you to make yourself scarce.
Parading you around will only irritate him right now.”
“Okay?” I’m not going to take offense to that. Honestly, it’s a relief. If
Henry’s nervous to see him, then I shouldn’t be there.
His jaw clenches. “And do me a favor; stay the hell away from Scott.
He’s a fucking weasel, but he’s slick and perceptive, and he’s probably
sharpening his knife to plunge it into my back. He’s been waiting for
something like this to happen since my dad appointed me CEO and not him,
and he’ll want to make sure he has plenty of ammo. He’ll lie and
manipulate and interrogate you until he gets the answer he wants.”
I feel my face blanch. “Interrogate?”
Henry drops his voice to a low murmur. “Hell, he won’t even need to
interrogate you. One look at those big golden eyes and those plump lips and
those fucking beautiful big tits, and he’ll know there’s no way I was able to
resist you.”
His words pull a soft gasp from my lips. “Okay. I’ll keep away from
him.”
“I should have hired a male assistant. Or an elderly woman.” He
sighs, his gaze skating over my body. “You know, one day, when this is all
over and I officially control the company, I’m going to strip you down and
fuck you right here.”
Blood rushes to my head with the abrupt change in subject, and his
flash pan change in demeanor. Private Henry is back, but we’re not in
private. “Here?” I look around. It’s a secluded path, screened from bugs,
shielded from the elements above, surrounded by dense bush and only used
by the three Penthouse Cabins’ guests and the staff catering to those guests.
I rarely ever pass anyone on my way to and from Henry’s place. It’s quite
peaceful and private. Still, just beyond those trees, maybe a hundred feet
away and definitely within earshot, is a resort full of people.
What Henry’s talking about is basically exhibitionism. Is he serious?
One glance at the hard look on his face tells me he is.
My body, which can still feel him inside me, responds immediately.
But this isn’t good. The lines between Private Henry and Public Mr. Wolf
are beginning to blur for him. “I think you need to focus on your various
serious problems at hand,” I warn him in a slow, careful voice.
His jaw clenches. “Believe me, those problems are still very much in
the forefront of my mind. I’m just setting something to look forward to
once they’re all resolved. You know, goals.”
“Goals.” I drop my gaze to the front of his pants, to the bulge
forming. Goals for his dick, apparently. Which is exactly what got him into
his current problems. I do believe that Henry is a smart and shrewd
businessman. He’s just not thinking clearly right now, and he has a lot to
lose by not thinking clearly. He does need me to be levelheaded because he
can’t seem to be. “Okay, how about we focus on more responsible goals for
now.”
He closes the distance, breaking the two-foot rule.
“What are you doing?” I hiss, glancing around.
“Trying to hold on to what we had back there for a little longer.” He
jerks his head toward the cabin. “Trying to avoid reality.”
So, he felt the deep connection too. My heart swells. “I didn’t think
Henry Wolf avoided anything.”
“That’s because you haven’t met my father yet.”
This must be what Belinda was talking about when she said Henry
gets reckless with his father’s imminent approach. Only, I think it’s been
amplified by the Kiera mess. The combination seems to have really thrown
Henry for an emotional loop.
And I have the overwhelming urge to hide him from the world until
he can get a grip on himself because this version of Henry should not be
talking to anyone. “Why don’t I grab the truck and an ax, and we can drive
out to that spot to cut some wood.”
His brow arches with playful curiosity. “Right now?”
“Right this instant. Just say the word.”
He frowns. “You’d actually go back there?”
“Yes.”
“Even with the grizzly bear lurking around?”
A shiver runs down my back at the thought of those beady eyes and
sharp claws. “Even with the grizzly bear lurking around.”
“He could be more aggressive this time around.”
“Then we’ll get eaten. That’s a really good way of avoiding reality.”
Henry’s head tips back and he belts out a deep, hearty laugh that
makes me smile wide. I wish he laughed more. With a deep groan, he
continues walking along the path. “Thank you. I needed that.”
I fall into step with him again. “So, do you want me to just go back to
my cabin?”
“No. He’ll know I’m hiding you. Fucking suspicious old man,” he
mutters.
“Sounds like a smart suspicious old man,” I correct. “So, where do
you want me?”
When I glance up to see the smirk on his face, I immediately hear the
potential innuendo in my question. “Stop it!”
“Okay. Okay. You’re right. You need to start behaving, Abbi. This is
getting to be too much.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m suddenly feeling very ill. I should go rest for the
day.”
“Or, you know what? Better yet, get one of the Outdoor crew guys to
drive you over to the old cabin.”
I frown. “Your grandparents’ place?” The one we were at just
yesterday?
“Yeah. Some of the media wants to see the original Wolf family cabin
that inspired all this, so Paige sent a team over this morning to clean and
stage it for tomorrow. Make it look less abandoned. I want you to head over
there to keep an eye on things.”
“Until when?”
“Until you hear from me. Stay until the last of them leave. If they’re
done early and you have to come back, you can take the rest of the day off.
I’ll be holed up with my father until late tonight, anyway.”
“And tomorrow, for breakfast and the entire morning,” I remind him.
I’m the one who slotted that into Henry’s calendar.
“Fuck. I can’t wait until he’s back on his helicopter and gone,” he
mutters as we round a bend in the covered path.
Two stone-faced men are strolling down the path toward us.
I hear a quiet hiss of “shit,” under Henry’s breath. He speeds up to
meet them head-on, leaving me in the background.
“I hope you’ve been more cordial to your guests than you have your
own family.” The older man, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Henry
only with silver hair, calls out, his strides toward us measured and
purposeful, his suit falling gracefully with each step. It’s Mr. William Wolf.
I recognize his voice from the phone call, and he sounds no less annoyed
now.
“You’re early.” Henry reaches out to clasp hands with his father
before shifting his attention to the younger man standing next to him. “And
you’re not supposed to be here yet.”
This has to be Henry’s brother, Scott. Aka the weasel. Aka the
interrogator. Aside from the same chestnut-brown hair, they bear no
resemblance to each other. Scott is attractive in his own right, but it’s more
of an average boy-next-door appeal, his jawline less pronounced, his eyes
more sloped, and his nose daintier.
Scott smiles easily up at him, as if the noticeable height difference—
at least six inches, I’d peg Scott at five foot eight—doesn’t bother him in
the least. “I wasn’t going to, but with the nightmare our company is facing
thanks to you, I thought it would be wise.”
“Right.” Henry’s tone drips with irritation. “Belinda has you both set
up in the main lodge. We need the cabins for media this weekend.”
“Is that where you’re staying?” The scornful smirk on Scott’s face
tells me he already knows the answer and is just trying to stir the pot.
Henry simply glares at him.
God, the tension radiating around these three men is enough to choke
a horse.
Henry turns slightly toward me. “That’ll be all, Abbi.”
Up until now, I’ve felt like an invisible bystander. Thankfully. But
now two fresh sets of eyes have landed on me and are sliding over my body,
scrutinizing every curve.
“Yes, Mr. Wolf.” I dart around them, happy to get far away.
From behind me, I hear his father ask, “Who is that?”
“Her name is Abbi Mitchell,” Henry answers calmly.
There’s a pause and then, “You’re kidding me. Right? Is this a joke?”
I’m around the bend and, thankfully, out of earshot of Henry’s
answer.
