Page 15 of The Billionaire's Housekeeper

“Okay, good. Just don’t let your guard down.”

“I…”

“What is it?”

“Nothing.” Abbi wanted to tell Louisa much more, like she’d spent a wonderful evening stargazing with Chad under the dark sky night blanketed by shimmering stars. Oh, who was she kidding? If he found out her little secret, he’d stay the hell clear from her and who could blame him? She felt like a total fraud at times.

Grrh, that Eduardo. God, she regretted every minute of the day she’d first met him. But that was the past. She had to deal with it and make the best of it. Their pasts would ever be entwined because of their…little secret.

There Chad was, a nice honest, hardworking guy and she couldn’t even tell him everything there was about her. He’d see her in a different light for sure.

Abbi drew in a deep breath. “Anyway, sis, gotta go. I’ll talk with you later. Let me know how you do on your exam.”

“Will do,” Louisa said, cheerfully. “You take care and let me know if that creep-o tries to do anything to you.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll come over there on the next plane and really give him a piece of my mind.”

Abbi chuckled. “Thanks, little sis. But I don’t think that would be a good idea. Talk to you later.”

Abbi hung up the phone after Louisa said her good-bye, then frowned. She really wanted to try to get to know Chad Rivers much better. He seemed like such a kind, honest guy, but her sister had a point. Better to play it safe and keep her distance.

She really didn’t want to turn a bad situation worse. Sure they had shared a nice moment on the rooftop, but that was just it. A nice moment. It meant nothing. It couldn’t possibly mean anything else. Abbi knew just what she had to do and she was going to do it.

1. Watch her back while working there, knowing that Eduardo could be darn-right unpredictable at times. Though she figured, after his confrontation with Chad Rivers, he’d be crazy to try that stunt with her again during the duration of his visit at the ranch resort.

2. Keep as far away from Chad Rivers as possible and try to erase the sweet memory of his tender kiss last night. And that was going to be easier said than done. Her body still tingled in remembrance of the silky feel of his lips. But it wasn’t going to ever work out between them. For starters, he’d caught the love-struck eyes of every other female staffer there, she’d noticed, and Abbi really didn’t want to be in competition with her new co-workers. Not when she was trying to get her foothold in the company.

And, 3. Keep her nose in her job and focus on her housekeeping duties. Besides, she had to impress the heck out of Shirley, the housekeeping manager, hoping she’d hire her on full-time. Lord only knew, she needed this full time job with benefits and the work environment was a dream. She could work there for the next few years while she saved money to continue her sister’s college fees, pay off Eduardo and save up for her own B&B. She was already getting some good ideas from the Belmont Ranch Resort & Spa. What a wonderful concept for a hotel business.

Just think! She could be an owner of her own little hospitality business one day. A dream, yes. But it was her dream and she was determined to one day get out of this paycheck-to-paycheck existence and into her own dream business. And she absolutely loved hospitality and showering guests with a superior, relaxing experience so this would be right up her alley.

“I’m here to work, nothing more.” Abbi sighed heavily. And that was the truth.

Why did she feel so terrible then? It was just her luck to finally meet a potential soul mate with his sweet tender lips. Part of her fantasized about how great he must be in bed judging by the way he was able to pleasure her with his lips like that. Abbi felt as if she’d just met Mr. Right, but under the wrong circumstances.

Chapter 8

Three weeks later, Abbi couldn’t believe how fast the time flew—time did fly when you were either having fun or you were crazy busy. Her mind swirled with doubts about her decision to keep her distance from Chad. He was the one aspect she actually found most intriguing at the ranch resort. As she promised herself, she would work her butt off every single day of her contract and keep away from the politics and socializing as much as possible while still appearing polite, and she did. She had no choice. She had to. Besides, Jen could do nothing more than chitchat about and ogle Chad Rivers every opportunity she got. Jen and the other hotel maids kept trying to get glimpses of him while he worked on the cottages under renovation, and when he went for a swim in the lake. But Abbi tried to keep her discreet distance and say very little about him.

She sat down in her guest cottage by the cozy fireplace making notes in her diary.

Finally! A day off.

And how enjoyable to finally get to enjoy her staff suite at the ranch resort. Prior, she’d been way too exhausted to enjoy anything. Once her shifts had finished, she went inside, showered and hit the sheets, after writing in her diary, of course.

Abbi worked almost twenty days straight. Not that it was scheduled that way, but they’d had a few sick calls and another temp from the agency had an accident on the way that left them stuck, so Abbi volunteered to pick up extra shifts. It was no biggie. What else was she going to do? Besides stargazing at that hot maintenance guy.

Speaking of which, Chad had been so keenly observing her, she noticed. He’d even approached her after her first six days in row. “You had a day off yet?” he’d asked her, while she sat in the dining hall.

“Not yet.”

“Planning to?” he’d probed, arching his brow. His voice was stern and authoritative. It was more of a command than a question.

“Maybe.”

“Look, this is no joke, Abbi. You can’t just work like a dog around the clock. It’s not healthy for you.”

He cared. He actually cared about her overall well-being, even though she’d been trying to keep her distance as much as possible from him during the past few weeks.

“I know. I’ll take care of myself. I’m only here on a two-month contract, Chad. They’re short-staffed. Besides, I’m hoping they’ll take me on permanently in a full-time position.”

Chad had muttered something under his breath about making sure things were going to change around there soon, as if he could really do anything about it, she’d thought to herself at the time.

Still, that was really sweet of him to want to try.

Then, he’d confronted Shirley later that day, Abbi remembered, feeling so honored yet terrified at the same time. She’d overheard Chad telling Shirley to lay off pressuring Abbi. He’d almost accused Shirley of making Abbi feel obligated to work all the hours she did.

A tumble of confusion assailed Abbi at the time. She found it quite odd he’d take a stance and stand up to the management when he could very well jeopardize his own job. Wasn’t he a contract worker, like she was?

Still, she couldn’t believe how vehemently Chad had stood up for her. He really took a great interest in her. Abbi’s mind still reeled over that fact—but she knew full well, she’d still have to tread carefully around those waters.

Imagine that. Chad really went out on a limb for her. And all she’d been doing these past few weeks was trying to avoid him like an allergen.

Abbi sighed. He was right about Shirley though, but Abbi didn’t want anything to jeopardize her chances of getting on full-time at the ranch resort. It was the dream job she’d been looking for…and badly needed. Besides, it was nothing, right? She’d once held three part-time jobs at the same time while going to college. It happened. Sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

Abbi had pretty much gotten used to the housekeeping routines at the Belmont Ranch Resort. She kept her head held down to her maid cart and her hands fastened to her work. She barely took the time to socialize with the other staffers and that included Mr. Chad Rivers. As hard as that was. She’d pleasantly bump into Chad every now and then when she was moving from cottage to cottage to clean the guest rooms while he was busy fixing damages in the rooms or investigating any mechanical problems in the newly renovated suites. And every single time their paths crossed, her heart would do this flip-flop thingy in her chest. And truth be told, Abbi enjoyed their brief encounters but decided it was probably better to keep it as brief as possible.

Though she’d been so tempted to lean closer into his burly chest and lift her head to his, hoping he’d press his lips to hers again.

Yeah, dream on, Abbi.

He’d even brought in one of the high-powered telescopes from the resort to her on loan so she could get a better view of the constellations. To which she did and for which she was very grateful. She was also grateful for the better view she was getting of his abs during the daytime when she’d caught him stripping off his vest while working out near the ranch or going for a dip in the lake.

Talk about a drool-worthy moment. And Abbi wasn’t the type to drool over just any guy.

Still, it wasn’t all fun during the past few weeks. Her mind was also focused on keeping a safe distance from Eduardo. As Eduardo had promised, or threatened, he was still staying at the guest cottage and refused to leave. He was, however, not too thrilled about Chad and even tried to get him fired but thankfully, the owners and the management took Chad’s side and it seemed as if he was a favorite there—at least amongst the powers that be from the head office.

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