Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Axe didn’t look away. Why did this man bother her more than anyone else? It made no sense to her. She felt her cheeks start to rise, and she was pleased she wore a padded bra, because he’d be able to detect the points of her nipples. Stupid body. Stupid hormones.
She shouldn’t be so affected by him.
He lifted his arm and wiped it across his brow, removing the sweat that had clearly gathered there. Such a tempting brow. Such a tempting man.
He made her ache.
This was insane. She shouldn’t be thinking about him in a sexual way.
Get a grip on yourself. This is the best job you’ve ever had, and you’re not going to spoil it now.
Clarissa would give herself the freedom to drool about him in the privacy of her bedroom, but certainly not now. Not when she was supposed to be cooking for him.
****
Hiring Clarissa West was a big mistake.
Axe knew it the moment she knocked on his door, but there was something about the sweet, tempting brunette. Even when he saw her walking obliviously through town, or at the diner, he was drawn to her. She was a beautiful woman.
That thick, luscious brown hair, which he wanted to see spread out beneath him. Clarissa had been in his thoughts for many years. He was forty years old, and he knew he shouldn’t even be thinking about the young woman. Clarissa should be dating men her own age, out partying, or at least living her life. She shouldn’t be stuck on his ranch, cooking and cleaning for him.
But he hadn’t been able to deny her.
He’d known his fridge had been empty those six months ago, and he’d been unable to stay far away from her, so he knew she hadn’t gone shopping to get food. He expected to have no meal.
When he’d walked into his home, the scents had made his mouth water, and if he was completely honest, a bit aroused, he’d been amazed. Then he’d tasted the chicken meatballs, and they were unlike anything he’d ever had.
There was no way he could let her leave. Clarissa’s cooking was out of this world. For the last six months, he’d been spoiled. His home was completely clean and his food was pretty special as well, each meal even better than the last.
He’d had everything from stir-fry to pies, meat dishes, pasta, massive filled sandwiches. You name it, she cooked it, and then, she also topped it off with sweet pies. Apple, blackberry, coconut, chocolate, and that was just a few flavors. She also baked large batches of cupcakes and cookies.
Axe did share them with his employees, but he didn’t allow anyone else to come to the house. He didn’t want to share his woman.
His woman? Clarissa didn’t belong to him.
He glanced across to the house and saw she was looking at him. Axe hated people, and he hated the whole social scene. He couldn’t deal with small talk or the sound of giggling women.
For a long time he kept to himself, and he didn’t have to go into town that much, so he planted this vegetable garden. Through the summer he had everything fresh, and through the winter he grew what he could, but most of the vegetables he got, he froze. They were not the greatest, but they served a need for him.
Wiping across his brow, he saw how her gaze dropped down to his chest. He’d never gotten a single piece of ink. There had been temptation to a few times, but he just wasn’t interested in wasting his money on ink, nor did he have the time. Also, he didn’t trust easily.
The few housekeepers he had before Clarissa had not hidden their attraction to him. Some of them had snooped through his home and tried to find out what he was worth, or how he was able to run the ranch. They hadn’t been very trustworthy.. Clarissa had stayed in the one room he asked her to clean, and then made him a meal.
He had his ways of knowing what was going on in his home. Mainly, security cameras hooked up to his cell phone, so he was able to keep an eye on the house throughout the day. Axe had lost count of the number of times he’d caught himself watching Clarissa as she bustled around his home. It didn’t take him long to realize she’d set up a routine of cleaning, and she kept to it. He loved watching her, even if it was just cooking or cleaning. Axe knew his obsession had reached new heights, because even though he really shouldn’t have done so, he had done so.
He placed a camera inside her bedroom and bathroom. Many nights he lay awake, watching her. He knew when she was touching herself, and he also saw his name spill from her lips when she came.