Page 17 of Sutton's CEO

Martha let out an indignant huff. “What else would you call a single woman who is entertaining two men overnight?”

“Lucky?” I ventured for amusing, but the joke fell flat for two of the three people in front of me.

Earl, however, snorted with laughter. It quickly changed it to a cough when he saw Martha’s thunderous scowl.

“I was thinking along the lines of compassionate,” Mr. Williams said through gritted teeth. “She allowed your husband to stay in the guest room because he is an elderly man that didn’t have a place to stay. At his age, a night on the street would kill him.”

Martha looked affronted. “How could you possibly know that? Earl was welcome to come home at any time. Besides, I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

I was starting to get cold and I knew that the longer I stayed out here the worse it would be. “Listen, I am going to get dressed now and then I will be fixing breakfast. If you want to stay, then do so. If not, please close the door on your way out.”

I walked back into the bathroom, turning to close the door when someone bumped me from behind. Strong arms caught my body before I fell. I heard the bathroom door closing, shutting us both inside.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, desperately holding onto my towel.

Mark released me and I looked up to see that he was staring at the bathroom ceiling. My eyes automatically went up there as well. But I couldn’t see anything wrong.

Mark, however, seemed to want to take this moment to tell me what to do. “You cannot allow these people to take advantage of you like this! Good grief, woman, this is beyond ridiculous.”

That hurt a little. I knew that Martha and Earl were a bit quirky, but over the years he had become like a second family to me—at least Earl had.

“You wouldn’t understand, Mr. Williams,” I bit off. “Are you going to leave?”

I could see the frustration and anger still written on his face. But in his eyes, something else lingered: lust. Mark Williams wanted me.

The imp inside of me moved a fraction of an inch closer to him. “I need to put my clothes on. Are you staying or going?”

The lust in his eyes flared and I felt a recklessness race through me. In what could only be described as stupidity, I allowed the towel to drop. His gaze snapped to my breasts and hips as it dipped lower and lower.

With a muffled curse, Mr. Williams yanked open the bathroom door and slammed it behind him.

I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. It wasn’t as if anything could have happened with Earl and Martha on the other side of the wall. But I wanted it to, and I knew that he wanted it every bit as badly as I had.

Chapter Seven

Sutton

Over breakfast, Mark glared at Martha like he wanted to knock her flat on her backside. It was endearing that he was so defensive of me. After all, we had only met the day before. That thought was completely lowering. How was it that it seemed I had known Mark for ages when, in actuality, it was merely twenty-four hours?

Am I making a mistake trusting this man?

When he had returned from his shower, he looked every bit of the impressive Wall Street mogul that he undoubtedly was. I had just finished brushing out my long dark hair after applying some light makeup.

He stared for a moment and I felt my cheeks heat before he said, “I shall arrange for us to fly home in a few hours. Would that be sufficient time for you to make arrangements?”

I felt a slight moment of panic. What did I really know about this man? “You want us to leave today? What about my job?”

“You are a wealthy young woman, Sutton. You don’t need to work for a bastard with tiny dick syndrome.”

That caused me to snort with laughter. Without a doubt, Gabriel had to have the tiniest dick around. “Mark, what about my friends? I will need to say goodbye and make some arrangements to be sure that Earl, Alice, and Reena are taken care of.”

His jaw ticked again. I wondered how irritating this all had been to him, coming to Otterville Falls and telling me personally about this inheritance. I know that this wasn’t anything like the life he left in New York.

“Listen to yourself, Sutton! Damn, do you take care of the entire town?”

I bristled at his statement. “No, just a few friends.”

“Fine,” Mark snapped. “If you wish to make arrangements for yourfriends, we could leave tomorrow. Will that be enough time?”

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