The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 50

After raiding the pantry and fridge and discovering Ambrose was far more into east Asian cuisine than Jove had realized, he had prepared himself French toast while Kat whipped up a soft tofu scramble, working from memory to prepare it exactly as Andy did.

They ate their breakfast, their perpetual easy, semi flirtatious banter making the usually quiet house ring with laughter. They sat in the raw wood chairs for hours, their conversational journey meandering and doubling back on itself just as it had the day before.

Finally Jove sat up.

"You wanna go outside?" he asked.

Kat nodded eagerly and stood, anxious to explore the woods that surrounded the house, but most interested in the waterfall.

"Let's go," said Jove, leading the way.

They nodded to Ambrose, who was sitting in the main room with a thick book in his lap and nodded back to them seriously before returning his attention back to his Dostoevsky.

Kat and Jove explored the surrounding forest for hours playing like children, Kat climbing into the boughs of low trees despite her pantsuit, and letting strange, bright green, beetle-like bugs crawl onto the back of her hand. They listened to the bird calls, Jove attempting to identify them from his bird watching days with his grandmother, and Kat turning her face to the sky and letting the sun cover it in gentle, warm kisses.

She couldn't remember feeling so free with someone, having so much fun, and she now reached for his hand as easily as he reached for hers, grabbing him to point out something beautiful or interesting.

As the light faded to dusk they found themselves back in front of the house, sitting at the edge of the lake as the fall roared pleasantly in their ears. They had been sitting in silence for a while, angled so closely together they were just not quite touching.

"Maybe it was here," said Jove, breaking the silence.

Kat looked up at him, trying to ignore how close her face was to his.

"What was?" she asked, confused.

"My first memory. Of being in the water. Maybe it was here." He looks out at the rippling surface of the lake. "It was always my favorite place to swim."

He gave Kat a playful grin then popped up, reaching down to pull her to her feet.

"C'mon, before it gets dark," he said.

"What?" asked Kat, but she stopped short as Jove began to shrug off his already unbuttoned suit coat. "What are you doing?" she asked quietly, her mouth suddenly feeling a bit dry.

Suit coat off, Jove was now unbuttoning his crisp, starched white shirt.

"Can't swim in this, can I?" he asked.

Kat opened her mouth, but before she could answer Jove had shed the button up and was now in just a short sleeved undershirt and trousers, Kat finally seeing the fullness of the tattoo she'd noticed for the first time. He had two full sleeves winding intricately up both arms, symbols and artfully shaded geometric shapes rippling in movement as the tight muscles in his arms bulged and flexed.

Kat was frozen in place, speechless. All she could think about was the dream she'd had, the way his toned, powerful body had looked on top of hers. What he had done to her with just his hands, how he had made her feel, made her scream.

He looked at her, noticing her watching him, and laughed.

"I don't have a swimsuit for you, I'm sorry," he reported. "We never bring anyone out here, so no backups. But you can have this if you want it," he offered, pulling off his undershirt in one fluid motion and extending it to her.

Kat's arms stayed at her sides, frozen in place.

"What?" Jove asked with a knowing smirk.

Every inch of his torso was adorned with well sculpted muscle, his rock solid abs a traditional 6 pack. Seeing his body only furthered the impression that he looked like a statue, like art, and Kat couldn't image a sculptor more committed, more detailed. He was clearly the work of a sculptor that truly loved his subject and whose only desire was that the rest of the world do the same.

Jove was still extending the shirt to her and she had yet to speak or react, yet to even blink.

"Kat," he called teasingly as if she were far away.

She snapped back to reality, mindlessly grabbing the t-shirt on offer.

"Thanks," she murmured, still taking him in.

"The suit pants are done for I guess," he said casually, bending down to roll them up. "I'll change when we leave. C'mon."

Kat looked at him, dumbfounded.

"You said you wanted the t-shirt, right?" he asked, pointing to the evidence of his statement's truth she was still clutching. He held up his hands. "I won't watch," he said, spinning to face away from her.

Kat realized too slowly what she'd done, that in her stupor after seeing Jove's body she'd accidentally accepted both the t-shirt and the implication that she'd swim. She couldn't explain it away without confessing that Jove's simple words had confused her in her distraction. Then she'd have to explain her distraction, not a choice she was willing to make.

"You almost done?" said Jove.

Kat realized she was still standing stock still and bustled to quick activity, momentarily feeling strange to be changing in public like this.

It's not public, she reminded herself. This may be pristine, practically untouched nature, but the property? The property is private, solidly so.