STAY

Nine

"Why? What did I do?" I asked sighing exaggeratedly and rolling my eyes. I knew I was being sassy but I was too drunk to care. "No alcohol, I couldn't be more firm on the matter" he said. "I wasn't at work, I had the afternoon off" I said, resisting the urge to poke my tongue out at him. "You're drunk" he snapped. "No I'm not, I barely had anything ...." I said airily, lying through my teeth. "Tell me Genevieve, why did you leave?" He asked. "I wanted to see my friends, I am entitled to an afternoon off and anyway, I didn't want to stay here. I didn't know anybody but you and Shannon" I said crossing my arms over my chest defiantly. "You should have stayed, I needed you" he said. I raised an eyebrow. "You had plenty of people here, I'm sure one of them would have been more than willing to help you out" I said. "But you're the one I wanted" he sighed. "Oh yes, sorry, I am the hired help I should have stayed to be at your beck and call" I said with an exaggerated tone of mock apology. "Genevieve! Stop it" he growled. I jumped in surprise at his tone. But the alcohol was making me reckless "What?! It's true, I'm here to do a job, not to socialize, I need to remember my position, I should have stayed up in my room until my services were required". "Stop being a smart ass. Your position is with me and unless I tell you otherwise, I want you around" he said, his voice was suddenly low and dangerous. "If you don't need anything else, I'm going to bed" I said haughtily turning on my heel. "Not so fast" he said attempting to sit up. I saw him grimace in pain. I spun around too quickly and felt dizzy, "sit down before you fall down" he said through gritted teeth. I stood there shaking my head. "What is it you need?" I said frowning. "You're not sober enough to be giving me medication" he said with an amused tone. "I'm plenty sober" I said indignantly. "Come closer" he said beckoning me to him with his hand. I leaned over so our faces were almost touching. He lifted his head ever so slightly and I closed my eyes in anticipation of his lips on mine. "I don't kiss drunk girls" he whispered and I heard him sniffing "you stink" he said. I opened my eyes and scowled, then I did poke my tongue out at him. He raised an eyebrow, "one of these days I'll show you what happens when you give me cheek" he warned. He passed me a bottle of water, "but for now, drink" he ordered. I took it reluctantly, taking a few large swigs.  He nodded, satisfied that I had done as he'd ordered. "Take it with you and go to bed, I'll see you in the morning" his tone was softer now. As I headed to the door I turned to look at him, the alcohol making me bold and said, "why were you calling out for me last night?" he looked momentarily confused then he remembered. "I was dreaming ... about you" he said. "What about?" I challenged. His lips curved into a sly, sexy smile and he raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell you, when you're sober enough to understand" he said cryptically. Huffing in annoyance, I walked out.
***
I woke up slowly, the previous evenings events flooding back to me. I sat up, thanks to the bottle of water I had swigged, I wasn't really hung over. What I was, was embarrassed. I had been a drunk, smart ass, sassy bitch to him. "Gigi!" I heard him call my name, disrupting my thoughts. I got up slowly and shuffled across the hall, poking my head around the door. He was already up and half dressed, if you could call bare chested and bare foot, wearing only pants dressed. "Hey, can you please look at this?" he asked turning to show me his back. I sat on the bed and putting my hands on his hips I pulled him closer. Reaching up, I gently took off the bandage. "It looks great, we can stop dressing it and leave it uncovered" I said inspecting it closely. "Great, thanks" he said turning to me, bringing me face to face with his firm, finely chiseled stomach, right at the spot where the V disappeared below his waistband. I exhaled, I was definitely not prepared for this first thing in the morning. His hand took my chin tilting it up to look at him. "Feeling okay?" He asked looking at me closely. "Yes, I'm fine" I said trying to keep the embarrassment out of my voice. He nodded. "I'm .." I started to apologize but he put a finger to my lips and shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, sorry you had to hear them insult you, I never want you to feel like the hired help, I think it's safe to say you are much more than that" he said, his hand gently cupping my cheek for a moment. I nodded. "Now, I have a business meeting, get dressed and come down with me, I thought I could do my exercises while they talk" he said with a sigh. "But isn't that kind of important?" I asked surprised. "Well yes and no, I don't have to give them my full attention" he said shrugging. I nodded and hurried off to get dressed. I found him waiting outside my door for me. "No meds today?" I asked as we walked down the stairs. "No, I don't feel like I need them just yet" he said sounding pleased with himself. "You won't need me soon" I said with a little laugh, but I felt inexplicably sad as soon as I'd uttered the words. He stopped and looked at me with a frown, "let's not get ahead of ourselves" he said. My heart lifted again.
***
I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation, it was business, shares and acquisitions. His manager and two other business partners. Funnily enough, things I'd been hearing since I was a kid. I was concentrating on his exercises and was more interested in what he was doing. Something one of the guys said caught my ear and I laughed. "Why did you just laugh?" asked Jared, lifting his head up off the floor to look at me. My eyes widened, I hadn't realized I'd even done it. "Oh, well, their new CEO wants to stop importing and source organically grown local produce, but the board is not in agreement" I said casually. "How would you happen to know that?" said one of the men, Jason I think his name was. "I was having dinner with my father a couple of weeks ago, he wanted to buy me some shares for my birthday and I asked for those, but he said we should wait, in case they get rid of him" I shrugged. They all looked at one another then back at me. "Gigi, who's your father?" asked Jared curiously, grabbing my hand to stop me trying to pull his leg back. "Gerard Taylor" I said slowly, the recognition in their faces made me frown. His name was quite well known in the financial world, working in medicine meant not many of my colleagues knew my background. I was surprised to find someone like Jared to have any knowledge of that world either, but it seemed he had his fingers in many pies. "Your father is Gerard Taylor?" he said sitting up. I nodded, motioning him back down onto his back. He grinned, "well, well, once again, full of surprises" he said then turned to look at the men. "Perhaps we should hold off too" he said with a laugh. They all nodded in agreement. I caught him eyeing me curiously, my cheeks going red under his scrutiny. "What else are you hiding?" he said to me in a whisper. I shrugged and turned away before he could see my smile. "Genevieve, what else can we pick your brains about?" said Jason amused. I turned sharply to look at him, "ouch!" said Jared, I must have yanked his leg a little too forcefully. "Nothing, I have no other information" I said shortly, Jared glanced at me raising his eyebrow. "I think we're done for today" said Jared, signaling the end of their meeting. They all started gathering up their laptops and papers. "Genevieve can I interest you in a drink, maybe dinner?" said Jason, coming over to me as I stood up. My eyes widened and I chanced a look at Jared who all of a sudden appeared mutinous. "No, thank you" I said sharply, turning my back on him and holding out my hand to help Jared up. "Oh, ah okay" said Jason, obviously surprised at my rude refusal, and he followed the others to the door. "Why did you say no?" asked Jared as soon as the door had closed behind them, trying to sound casual. "I'm not interested, business men aren't my style" I said curtly. Suddenly he was in front of me, his face an inch from mine. I closed my eyes as his lips met mine in a soft warm kiss. It was brief but full of promise. There's something about you ... it's ... I can't quite work it out" he said staring at me closely. I shrugged biting my lip, "you'll figure it out eventually" I said softly. He nodded slowly, "I hope so"
***
The rest of the day passed quietly. We had an early dinner and then he decided he wanted to lie down. "You can watch Netflix down here, or do whatever you like, you can ... go out if you'd like" he added somewhat reluctantly. I was usually a very social person and I liked company, but I had no desire to go out again, I'd had my fill. "I don't usually spend too much time alone, and well .... your house is big and ..." I was loath to offend him, I stopped biting my cheek. He laughed, "Scary?? Come on, you can come upstairs with me". I nodded gratefully. We walked slowly upstairs into his room. He flicked on his phone and some music started playing softly through some speakers in the corners of the room. It was so quiet and relaxing. I waited for him to get into a comfortable position and then I kicked off my shoes and sat at the end of his legs taking hold of his feet in my lap and started massaging them. "You don't have to do that" he said. "I don't mind, it's relaxing for me too" I said. "Thank you" he murmured a blissful look on his face. "How long do you think it'll be before I can really get back to normal?" he asked quietly. He sounded frustrated and from what little I knew about him, I sensed he couldn't sit still for long. "I guess it depends, from a medical standpoint, you'll be perfectly able to resume normal activity without worrying about doing any damage in another two weeks but then it also depends on your pain and your ... mental attitude" I answered. "Yeah, I'm so scared to do anything" he said. I could tell it took a lot for him to admit that, I stopped massaging.  "I can see, but you just have to trust your instincts, you'll know if it feels okay or not" I said patting his leg reassuringly. "You will be your old self, you'll be okay" I said with a smile. He nodded. My phone signaled a message, I carefully moved letting his feet rest on the bed and grabbed it to see who it was. I giggled immediately, he glanced over seeing the message preview. It was from Darcy, 'How's Mr Grey?' She'd written. "Who's Mr Grey?" he said raising an eyebrow. "Ah, that would be you" I said laughing. He looked surprised, "Why, may I ask am I Mr Grey?" "Well you see, they don't know who I'm working for and all I've told them is, that I've signed an NDA and you know that's from that book" I explained. He shook his head, "so you haven't told anyone?" he asked. I shook my head, "no, I told you, I'm very discreet" I said. "What if you had a boyfriend, would you have told him?" he asked. I shrugged, "I don't know, I guess I probably would, I mean, I'm working and living with a man, I guess I'd have to, right" it was more of a question than an answer. "So no boyfriend, or anyone you're seeing?" he asked casually. "No, no one" I said shaking my head. "I find that hard to believe" he said skeptically. "Well you can believe it or not, it's true, shift work makes dating, kind of difficult and well ... so many weirdos" I said laughing lightly. "Now that, I can believe" he said nodding. "So when was the last one, boyfriend, I mean?" he asked. I frowned at his question, not because it was bold, but just the straightforward, simple way he asked it. "Uh, a while ago, I guess, a while, do you want me to massage your back or shoulders" I said, trying to distract him from the topic, not really wanting to elaborate. "No, thank you, not right now. I'd like you to answer the question. What happened?" he pushed. Since he was insisting, "well, he was in finance, like my father and thought maybe I'd be privy to some inside information, I wasn't, I barely ever listen to what he says, with the exception of that little bit of information I gave you, and so there was nothing to be gained by continuing to see me" I said truthfully. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "oh now I get the reaction towards Jason" he said his eyes widening at the realization. "It wasn't just that, he's not really my type" I said quickly. He nodded, "so, the guy, you dumped him?" he prompted.  "Ah yeah, I did, he was, ugh, whatever, a creep, he was also pissed cause I wouldn't sleep with him" I said with a grin. "Really??" he said raising one curious eyebrow. I nodded. "Why not?" he asked. "You really have no boundaries" I said with a laugh. "Gigi, you were just massaging my feet, you've been in the shower with me, we're in a very intimate working relationship, I don't think there's room for boundaries" he said in explanation, as if it should be obvious. I laughed out loud then, "no, you're a busy body" I said. "Well, yeah, there's that too, so??" he insisted. "I don't sleep with just anyone, I'm not that way inclined" I said carefully. "What way inclined?" he asked. "The sleeping with someone on the second date inclined, I don't find it very easy to ... you know, you're way too inquisitive" I said shaking my head. "So you have to be in a committed, long term relationship? That's a little old fashioned isn't it?" he said. "No, no, that's not it, uh, I don't really want to discuss this any more" I groaned. He threw up his hands in defeat, "Fine, fine, don't tell me, it's fine" he said. "I think I'll go to bed" I said, I'd had enough of his questioning for the night, I slid off the bed and headed to the door. "I'll make a deal with you" he said, I stopped to look at him curiously. "What kind of deal?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest. "I'll tell you what I was dreaming about and you tell me why you're not inclined" he said with a questioning look. How could I resist?! I was dying to know what he'd been dreaming about, but was I willing to divulge my secret? "Well?" he prompted. I bit my lip and waited a beat before saying, "okay, go, what were you dreaming about?" I asked eagerly. "I was dreaming about you, naked, in bed with me, we were .... well I'm sure you can deduce what we were doing" he didn't elaborate further, but it was obvious what he meant. His eyes looked into straight into mine and his voice was low and seductive. I let out a small gasp, I was shocked, it sent a bolt of desire through me. I was suddenly on fire and I could barely breathe. "Now, your turn" he said with a smirk, knowing he had rendered me momentarily speechless. I took a deep breath, my hands were twisting and I was looking at the floor. "Come on, we made a deal" he said smugly, I nodded and finally spoke, "My first real boyfriend was, in college, I slept with him once, it was a total disaster so, well ... I've never tried it again" I said with a shrug and with that I turned and swiftly left the room, without waiting for a reply.