Page 10 of Thankful for My CEO

It was so strange watching him act like this after getting so used to that cocky demeanor he’d kept up since I met him.

The moment ended. He stood and matched my detached tone, the moment of weakness gone from his face.

“My apologies. We don’t need to discuss it further. I’ll speak with Mrs. Taylor and see if she can find you a space in a cabin with a fireplace.”

Why was his calm tone pissing me off even more? As if I was the one who overreacted? He’s the one who had kissedme. What was I supposed to do? It didn’t matter how badly I wanted him. I didn’t have a choice but to stop it.

Admitting that I wanted him made me want to get out of there even faster. I couldn’t be near him anymore. I was scared I would run back into his arms without a thought for the consequences. It was true. It would be better if I left right away.

I imagined him fighting the storm to find Mrs. Taylor, then dragging her back here, making this a much bigger deal than it had to be.

“I’m going to go back to my room,” I said, grabbing my work bag and suitcase and putting my shoes back on. The bag slipped off my shoulder in my rush. “Please don’t help me,” I snapped as he approached. He froze and said nothing.

I hoisted the bag back onto my shoulder and opened the door to the wall of sleet. My instinct was to slam it back shut and lie back down on that couch in front of fire, inviting Kit back to keep me warm. Instead, I pulled the door shut behind me without another look at him.

The shock of the cold immediately helped clear my mind. Talk about a cold shower.

I shook away any thoughts of him and pushed out into the rain. Water immediately soaked through my shoes and socks as I stepped through the roiling mix of gravel, hail, and rain that covered the path back toward the main buildings.

I only turned back once to see the firelight flickering in the windows of the cabins, blurry through the rain. Past the cabins, I could see the pines whipping back and forth wildly in the wind. I wiped my face and kept moving.

It was an eternity before I reached the row of rooms by the pool. At least the outdoor hallway had a roof. Even so, I was drenched and shivering as I pulled my bag down the relatively protected concrete path. My hand felt frozen to the handle.

180… 190.

I rubbed my hands together, trying to regain some warmth before delving into my bag for my key.

Fuck.

This was going to be a nearly impossible task. I should have taken it out when I still had the light of Kit’s fire. I knelt down and opened the bag wider, sliding my hand through each pocket.

Even under the overhang that covered the walkway, sprays of rain and hail kept hitting me whenever the wind changed. Droplets kept falling off my freezing hands and into the bag, probably getting my laptop and all the accessories wetter than they ever should be.

It was all too much.

I hadn’t signed up for this.

I’d been holding so much in, trying to remain professional in front of Kit, but this was an absolute fucking nightmare. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Where was that goddamn key?

“Lena!”

A now familiar deep voice called my name, just barely audible over the storm.

I stood up and saw Kit running toward me. No jacket, no hat, just that beautiful cashmere sweater being soaked through and his hair plastered to his face.

As if this couldn’t get any worse.

He reached me and held out my key in his hand. “I wanted to return this,” he said. “It fell out of your bag when you dropped it.”

Even when I tried to get rid of him, here he was again.

To think that twenty-four hours earlier, he’d been standing here in his towel and a bemused smirk, handing me my card in just the same way.

I took it from him and slid the card with some difficulty as it tried to slip through my fingers. After what seemed like an eternity, I managed to open the door. I knew I should close it on him. Send him back to his cabin through the storm and pretend this had never happened. But something made me linger in the doorway and I looked up at him.

I could tell by the tension in his brow that he had something he wanted to say.

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