Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I can’t see Maja, though if she stepped into his office or looked around the door, she’d see me. She tells him that Clara is requesting a bedtime story from him.
He nods, tells her he’ll be right there. Then he leaves the door open and comes over to me.
He stares down at me with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I have to go do this,” he whispers. He gestures to the door. “Wait a few minutes and then sneak out. I’ll make sure no one sees you.”
Sneaking out. Oh my god, the reality of what we’d just done, what almost happened, hits me like a sledgehammer. I’m speechless, breathless, watching as he strides back toward the door.
“Wait,” I squeak.
With one hand on the door, he glances at me expectantly.
“Am I still fired?” I ask.
Another quick smile. “Fired?” he repeats. “No. You’re not fired.”
And then he’s gone.
I hear him walk down the hall.
I spend the next few minutes counting down and trying to calm my racing heart.
When I’m sure enough time has passed and that my knees aren’t shaking anymore, I check that the coast is clear. Then I head out of his office and to my room, closing the door.
I immediately go to the small bottle of medicinal Underberg Schnaps in my room and down it in one go, then sit on the edge of the bed and try to think.
What have we just done?
What does any of it mean?
And what the bloody hell happens next?
Chapter 15
Aurora
The next morning my alarm goes off and I feel as if I could sleep forever. It doesn’t help that it’s chilly outside the blankets, my nose practically frozen.
“Can’t you afford heat in this damn house?” I grumble to no one in particular before closing my eyes and trying to go back to sleep. For a few moments I’m lulled back into oblivion until I remember.
Aksel.
Last night.
Everything.
My eyes fly open.
Holy shit.
That actually happened.
I mean, it actually happened.
It wasn’t a dream.
Those were actually his lips against mine.
That was his cock pressed against my hip.
Those were his rough words, calling me a rare and beautiful thing.
I’m breathless all over again, my heart doing flips at the memories I still feel on my skin, forever imprinted.
I can’t go back to sleep now. Even the cold doesn’t bother me.
I get out of bed and grab my robe and shuffle into the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror, to see if I look any different. I feel different in every way, like something inside me has been unlocked, a lock I’d been unsuccessfully trying to pick for a very long time.
My skin is pale, though there are more freckles because of my week in the Canary Islands, but my eyes seem brighter and darker at the same time, my hair has knots in it from when he fisted it, and my lips are this roughed, bruised pink, the kind of pink that comes from too much kissing.
I run my fingertips over them, staring at my reflection in awe, a smile slowly stretching across my face.
My heart bursts.
It happened.
I let the feeling wash over me, electric, because I know that soon reality will rear her ugly head. It will remind me that though Aksel kissed me, nothing else has really changed.
And yet everything has changed.
Still, I aim to keep that lightness in my heart. I refuse to let my thoughts get too serious, refuse to have anything diminished.
How often do people get to feel like this?
I want to hold the feeling close to my chest and never let it go.
I practically skip around the room as I get ready for the day, unable to keep from giggling and smiling and blushing at what happened.
The taste of his lips.
The feel of his back beneath my hands.
The way he went from sweet and poetic to rough and passionate.
That probably surprised me most of all, seeing that wild side of Aksel, a man I couldn’t imagine letting loose before.
But now I know better and yet I still think he was holding himself back with me.
The thought of what he could have done makes the heat flare up between my legs, makes me ache inside for him. Now that I know what it’s like to almost have him that way … I want nothing less. The bruise on my shoulder is a constant reminder that my boss actually bit me, just before he was about to fuck my brains out.
Yet, I’m still the nanny with a job to do, so I do my very best to keep the dirty thoughts at bay and just get on with the day. I take Clara to school with Freja coming along for the ride, then I play with Freja and Snarf Snarf as we teach the pig how to shake a hoof, then I read some stories to her.