The Road to Price (5 page)

“Vanessa wait, I
would like you to meet Mia Dechino. She is the newest addition to our house
keeping family. She moves in tonight and starts on Monday.”

I stood up and
extended my hand to great Vanessa but she did not return the gesture. She
looked me up and down and turned back towards Nancy.

“She is the new
housekeeper? Your kidding right?”

Nancy’s
face-hardened. I could tell that she didn’t like to be questioned, especially
not from the woman that was standing in front of me.

“This is no joke
Vanessa. Mr. Price hired her himself. He seems very excited to work with her.”
Nancy then turned her attention back to me and continued speaking.

“Mia, this is
Vanessa. She is our indoor gardener. She takes care of all of the plants in the
home and any other things Mr. Price may ask her to take care of. You can ignore
her bitchy attitude. She doesn’t play nice when she feels a threat.”

A threat? What
could she possibly be threatened by?

The room became
silent so I decided to speak up.

“Well it is nice
to meet you Vanessa. “

Vanessa just
smiled and then spoke to Nancy again. “ Well I guess Mr. Price’s tastes have
changed. She is not the typical type of housekeeper he hires. I’m not quite
sure she will fit in.” She glanced at me one more time before she started to
leave.

Right as she
reached the double doors to enter the hallway Nancy spoke up.

“Oh I don’t know
Vanessa, I like her. I think she is just what Mr. Price needs in a…
housekeeper
.
She will be good for him. And you know what else?” She paused and gave Vanessa
a soft smile. “He demanded that Mia call him Sebastian.”

If looks could
kill I would be dead. Vanessa looked like she had seen a ghost. She stormed off
and out of our sight. Nancy looked as happy as could be. It was nice to know
that she could genuinely smile if she wanted to.

The conversation between
the two of them confused me. There was a lot of hidden meaning in their words.
I was in no mood to try to decipher the conversation because right now
Sebastian was walking towards me.

“Mia!”

I stood up to
greet him and extend my hand when he did something I wasn’t expecting.
Sebastian took a hold of my shoulders with both hands and slowly kissed my
cheek. He then went to the other side and kissed that cheek. Instead of backing
away, he moved his face in front of mine and stared into my eyes.

I was lost. My
body was unable to move.

His thumbs were
slowly moving back and forth across my shoulders. This was so unprofessional. I
was already uncomfortable around the man and now he had to make the situation
worse by invading my personal space. Even worse, I liked it!

I wish I could put
up some kind of fight but the truth was it felt good. His touch on my arms made
my entire body heat up. My face started to blush and my heart rate increased.
This man mesmerized me and I had no idea why. I just met him today. I know very
little about him and the little I do know I’m not sure I like.

One thing I know
for sure? This cocky, arrogant man is going to be my kryptonite.

Yes… I just used a
Superman reference and I don’t care. Miles would be so proud of my Superman knowledge
right now.

Miles. That
thought brought me back to reality. I took a step back from Sebastian and he
released his grip on my shoulders.

“Hello Sebastian.”
I needed to stay professional.

“I’m so glad you
were able to make this transition so quickly,” he said as his hands lowered to
his sides. “I want you to become familiar with the property. This will be your
home too so I need you to settle in before I put you to work next week. Why
don’t you follow me into the office and we can get your paperwork done.”

He turned and
walked back into his office. His backside was perfect too. Even in his suit I
could see the muscles in his shoulders and his tight butt. I needed to get it
together.

I followed behind
him but Nancy stayed in the room that I will permanently be referring to as the
lobby.

I sat down in
front of his desk while he walked around it and grabbed some paper work from a
drawer. Instead of sitting behind his desk Sebastian walked back to me, handing
me the paperwork.

“I can give you a
cliff note version of the employee contract if you like. That would save you
some time and all you would need to do is sign where the tabs are placed.” He
may be hot but that didn’t mean I trusted him. I gave him a look to show him as
much.

He raised his
hands in surrender. “Or if you prefer you can read all the boring terminology
yourself. My way would have taken five minutes but hell, if you want to waste
an hour of our time I won’t stop you.”

Instead of
acknowledging his sarcasm I decided to start reading the contract in front of
me. Everything seemed pretty fair and looked to be at the employee’s best
interest. All medical expenses covered… three weeks paid vacation…. retirement
plan… disability coverage. If everything I was reading was true, Sebastian
looked out for his employees. He was a great employer.

Great. I really
need to hate him but he is not going to make this easy.

I started to loose
focus around the sixth page. I wish I could say it was because of the legal
mumbo jumbo but that would be a lie. It had to do with the arrogant jerk that
was leaning against his desk. His legs crossed, his arms folded against his
chest, and his eyes glued on me. 

I could feel the
heat from his stare burning into my skin. Every few minutes he would adjust his
legs and his thigh would rub against mine. It was distracting. Especially since
an electric charge seemed to go off in my body every time we made contact.

I have never been
this attracted to a man before. The last time I had feelings even remotely
close to this was in sixth grade when Bobby Hall and I were locked in a closet
for Seven minutes in heaven.

My best friend
Chelsea arranged for it to happen because she knew I had a crush on him since
the beginning of the year. I thought those seven minutes were magical. It was
my first kiss and Bobby wasted no time getting his tongue in my mouth. Neither
of us knew what we were doing but I left the closet that day thinking Bobby
Hall was a God.

Shit! Now my mind
was on Bobby Hall who I hadn’t thought about in ten years. If I could just
focus on these forms I could get this over with.

A few minutes
later it was official.

I had read the
same sentence a good fifteen times. I should have just let Sebastian give me a
quick overview of what was on these papers. I wasn’t going to give him the
satisfaction of doing it now but I also knew there was no way in hell I was
going to be able to finish.

I picked up the
pen from his desk and started to sign by the tabs on each page. Sebastian stood
up straight and watched over me while I signed my life away.

Okay maybe that
was dramatic. This was just a job. The minute I let a job be my life there will
officially be no hope left for me.

When I got to the
pages I hadn’t looked at Sebastian spoke up. “Don’t you want to read over what
you are signing?”

As a matter of
fact I do but your presence is distracting me!

“From what I have
read so far this seems like a very fair employment contract. I have decided to
trust you as my employer and sign the rest under good faith. I don’t believe
that you would stir me wrong.” Sebastian smiled at my words.  I wasn’t
about to tell him that I actually had no trust in him but his presence alone
made my mind turn to jelly.

When I finished
signing the final page I handed it over to him. Our hands touched and I felt
the tingles that were becoming more familiar to me. Sebastian’s eyes looked
towards our hands and then he looked up to me. He was quite for a few moments
and then he spoke in a low voice.

“You felt that
too. I know you did.” His hand lingered on mine and he had no intention of
removing it.

This was the
moment of truth. My acting abilities needed to come out right now because I
could not show him that he affected me.

 I took a
deep breath before responding, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Liar. I’m
officially the biggest liar.

I dropped my hands
from his and waited for him to move. He smirked at me and then went back around
his desk and placed the papers back into his drawer.

“I will have Nancy
make copies of the contract and give them to you. If you ever decide to finish
reading it and have questions just let me know.”

“I will, thank
you,” I said to him. I was grateful he changed the subject.

“Nancy will show
you to your room. I want you to get to know the other ladies you will be
sharing the employee quarters with. Everyone gets along for the most part. Just
beware of Vanessa because she can be difficult. Most of the girls just ignore
her the best they can.”

Huh. So everyone
was aware of her bitchy demeanor.

“I can see that. I
caught that from my brief encounter with her before I came into your office.”

“She started with
you already?” Sebastian did not look pleased.

“Oh yes, she was
darling. She made it clear she didn’t want me here. She was pretty shocked that
you hired me as a housekeeper. Apparently I am nothing like who you usually
hire… like I said, she was darling.”

“Well just ignore
her and eventually she will forget that you are fresh meat.” He paused briefly,
looking at me like he was trying to decide something. “I will be eating dinner at
eight pm tonight and I would like you to join me.”

I guess I know
what he was trying to decide.

He must be on
something because I am not having dinner with him. I already feel like my body
wants to cross lines that cannot be crossed. Being in a room with him for a
long amount of time would not be a good idea. I will end up doing something
I’ll regret.

“Mia? You zoned
out there for a minute.”

I looked back up
towards him to show him that he had my attention.

“Like I was
saying, I want to get to know you a little more. I need you to be comfortable
with me once you start working here. I look at my employees as my family. I
like to treat my family well.”

He started walking
back around his desk until he was a few inches from me again. He was still
wearing that smirk and I was dying to know what was going on in that head of
his.

He lightly ran his
tongue across his lip and I swear I let out a moan. A moan!!!

Please, God please
don’t let him have heard me. How embarrassing. If he only knew how
inexperienced I was. How screwed up my sexual past was. I can tell you one
thing, he wouldn’t have asked me to join him for dinner if he knew.

That could be the
key to get this back on track to a professional relationship. He wouldn’t show
any interest in me if he knew my past.

Wow I am full of
myself. He was just being polite by asking me to dinner. I was a new employee.
He just wanted to get to know me because he looked at me as family. He said so
himself.

I am trash… I am
dirty… I’m used goods. He can probably see right through me.

Get. It. Together.

“Dinner would be
nice. Will your wife be joining us?” Short and sweet, keep it short and sweet.

“No Mia. Darcy is
my wife on paper only. She broke our union long ago. You may see her
occasionally and if she needs something you will do it for her, but I am your
employer. She has nothing to do with us. Understand?”

Us… two letters…
one word. He meant nothing by it but I liked the idea of it. I shouldn’t like
the idea of it.

“I understand,” I
said timidly.

He cleared his
throat, “Okay it’s settled. Nancy is waiting for you on the other side off the
door. Once you’re in your room you should unpack your things and relax. Someone
will be down at eight to get you.”

I nodded and
turned to leave when he spoke again. “And wear a dress Mia. I will always
expect you to dress your best when I request your presence.”

I wasn’t even
going to acknowledge that one.

One minute
Sebastian has me melting at his feet, the next I was ready to wrap my hands
around his throat. He is a control freak. That is the only way to explain it.

I met up with
Nancy and she gave me a quick tour of the employee quarters. When we parted
ways I went back to the room she had assigned me. I guess it was my room now.

I still had an
hour and a half before dinner so I decided to pull my book back out and start
reading. I needed something to distract me from the potential disaster of a
dinner that I was going to tonight. One thing I knew for sure, I was wearing a
pantsuit.

I wish I could say
the only reason I was wearing pants was to prove a point. I wanted to tell
Sebastian I had a beautiful dress hanging in the closet that he would never
see. The truth was I didn’t even own a dress. I had two nice outfits and I wore
one of them this morning to the interview.

I was standing in
front of the bedroom mirror in my only other nice outfit. I wore a low cut
black blouse that put my breasts on display, tight grey dress pants that made
my butt look amazing, and finished off the look with my black pumps. The only
jewelry I had on were the cubic zirconia studs in my ears. I had a suit jacket
that went with the pants but I decided to leave that hanging in the closet.

I was never the
girl who thought of herself as beautiful but l definitely knew I looked good
tonight. My hair looked fantastic, which was rare. My face looked flawless and
my skin glowed. My light tan from living in Miami did wonders to my appearance.
I shouldn’t be happy about looking good for Sebastian but I was.