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“Don’t worry.” He shrugged, looking cool and unfazed. “It was just a suggestion.” He leaned in and kissed me. “We’ll catch up later?”
I nodded and jumped out of his SUV. As I entered my tiny flat, I dropped my backpack on the sofa covered with a blanket to hide the holes. I buried my head in my hands. I should have been elated, but instead, I wanted to cry.
His mother hated me. I’d fucked Orson. I could be pregnant. And now Ethan had offered to upgrade my living arrangements.
The nausea returned with a vengeance. I’d dropped into a chemist on our way back and bought two tests. When Ethan asked if I was okay, I told him I needed female products, which wasn’t entirely false.
Chapter 18
Ethan
Isthathorrororshock on Mirabel’s face?
I’d even surprised myself because that suggestion had come out of nowhere like some otherworldly force had taken possession of me. I didn’t want to just catch up when we were in London, and her flat, with that shower, which went cold after a minute, wasn’t going to work for me.
Perhaps I could sneak her into Merivale. Mother sleeps early… but do I want to keep doing that?
I knew I wanted to keep seeing her. The more I tasted, the more I wanted. I just couldn’t take my hands off her. I’d become greedy for her body. I loved her feminine scent and how she felt when I was buried deep inside her.
Then there was that cute, confounded smile she pulled whenever I talked shit. And I just loved looking at her gorgeous face. Little things like the way she’d flick that thick, silky hair away from her face. Those magnetic emerald eyes that I always managed to lose myself in. Even when I was a boy, she would transport me to places just with her eyes.
When I arrived home, I found my mother talking to a new staff member. I walked up to them and introduced myself.
“This is Bethany,” my mother said. “She’s taking over from Amy.”
“Oh, Amy’s gone?” I wasn’t surprised. I thought my mother would have fired the talkative maid long ago.
She held up her hand for me to wait before returning her attention to the new maid. “For now, she can stay. But only on the weekends. You should have told me. I don’t take kindly to anyone staying at Merivale without my knowledge.”
Somewhat cold and aloof, Bethany didn’t strike me as contrite, as she responded with a terse nod.
When the new maid had left us, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Good staff are so hard to find these days.” She sighed. “She’s a single mother, and she’s got an eighteen-year-old daughter who's been staying here without my knowledge.”
“Give the daughter a job. Bethany has a right to have her daughter close.”
My mother studied me. “You’re sounding more like your brother every day. We’re not social security. I already employ ten staff. And soon, we’ll be recruiting at least a hundred staff for the resort.”
I shrugged. “Then offer the daughter a gig until that opens.”
“I did.” She exhaled. “But she’s a training beautician who’s looking for an apprenticeship.”
A lightbulb went off in my head. “The spa. We need staff. We’re recruiting. It opens in two months.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll tell Bethany to have her daughter apply. In the meantime, I suppose I can offer her the odd job for some of our weekend functions.” She crooked her finger. “Come with me.”
I followed her into the library. “Where’s Will?”
“He’s meeting with the resort architects.”
“Has this resort got a name?”
“Elysium by the Sea.”
“That sounds overused.”
“Perhaps. But it works.” She settled down at her large desk. “Will arranged market research on the building design. While I’m more inclined to window-walled, super-modern chic, it seems that the groups favoured a more bucolic experience for their resort getaway.”
