Page 44 of Assistant to the Billionaire CEO

By the time I sat in my helicopter seat, my creamy-white dress had turned almost see-through. And I wasn’t wearing a bra. My nipples were poking right through the material.This see-through business is becoming an unwanted theme. Can I have one day? Just one day…

I couldn’t believe I was reliving my worst nightmare. Quickly, I tried to cover myself with my hand, fully expecting to hear Ace laugh.

He didn’t.

He quickly reached for his silver-gray coat that he had left in the helicopter earlier and placed it around my shoulders, making sure to fully cover me.

“You all right?” he rumbled.

“Uh-huh.” Sitting in the helicopter with his coat all around me and the beautiful manly scent enveloping my mind and body, you’d think I was going to do just fine and relax. You’d be wrong.

Even though the pilot waited for the rain to pass before initiating the start, it still felt windier, and the start was way wobblier than the first time around. By the time we took off, Ace had removed his wet suit jacket and relaxed into his seat. I watched him run a hand through the wet hair that hung into his face. His perfect hair that looked perfectly sexy, no matter what. He put his headset back on and made sure that mine was sitting properly. It was still set to private.

When he realized that I hadn’t loosened up even after we reached altitude, he smiled and scooted closer. I thought it was sweet of him to try and comfort me, but somehow, the sudden closeness made it worse.

“Hey, hey, relax.” He leaned in and pulled me closer.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“It’s just that my heart is pounding really fast,” I admitted.

“Yeah? You’ll be fine. I promise.” He leaned even closer. “I’m right here.”

Thump-thump-thump.

My poor heart. At this point, I was unable to think, let alone calm down. “It might be getting worse.”

He chuckled. Judging by his facial expression, he didn’t believe me.

In a moment of rebellion, I took his hand and placed it under the coat, right on my breastbone so he could feel my heart. “See? Feel it?”

His eyes darted to my chest, pausing for several seconds, trying to feel my heartbeat with his strong manly hand.

Those were the sexiest seconds of my life, and they made my pulse speed up even more—so much so that I heard my heartbeat in my ears.

Thumpthumpthump!

He gazed up at me and nodded. “It really is beating fast.”

There was a cute smirk tipping the corner of his lips, and he didn’t remove his hand. His smile stopped my breathing, it made me melt, it made the world around us stop. He scanned me with his icy blue eyes, causing the tingling feeling in my chest to migrate downward. Seconds seemed like minutes. His manly scent of cider and sandalwood invaded my senses. Suddenly, his hand moved. It slid tenderly across my breast, and my heart nearly stopped. His hand remained on my breast while his thumb brushed my nipple softly (that made it way too obvious that I wasn’t wearing a bra), causing me to gasp. A million electric currents rushed through my body at once. My nipples grew so hard that the one left untouched rubbed painfully against the cloth of my dress, and the other against his thumb.

“You have gorgeous breasts. I’ve always thought that,” he murmured softly.

Did he really say that? No. There was absolutelynoway I would be able to hear that through all the noise.

His hand slid back up my chest to my neck, and from beneath the coat, then across my cheek. There, he softly caressed my jaw, looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world. He released my face and rumbled, “We’re almost there.”

Ace made sure the coat was closed and then cast his eyes toward the window, indicating that I watch the landing. Everything had happened so quickly that I wasn’t even sure if it hadreallyhappened or if I had just imagined it.

I hoped I hadn’t.

But I thought I probably had.

Shifting my gaze, I stared out the window and started breathing again. The rain had completely stopped, and the sun was shining. Nothing made sense. All I could concentrate on were the crazy butterflies in my belly that were still flying around in circles unwilling to land, and the dampness between my legs.

18

STELLA

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