Saving the CEO (49th Floor #1)(58)

She turned to him then, and she smiled. Just a smile. But it made his chest tighten and his heart thump, because he thought it might be a different smile than the ones she gave everyone else. It seemed like a private smile. One that hinted at possibilities he hadn’t considered. It provided new information, variables that hadn’t ever factored into his planning.

It was a smile that promised love.

He decided right then and there, standing in the snow with Cassie James smiling at him. He’d always avoided women because he thought they distracted him from what was important. But this one, she was going to distract him no matter what, whether she was in his bed or someone else’s. Even if he never saw her again, he’d never be able to get her out of his mind. And the thought of never seeing her again, the image of her in someone else’s bed? He answered that question with another. There would be no Winter Enterprises to protect if he became completely unhinged, would there?

So screw the rules. He was going to take Cassie James back to her room and f*ck her all night long. Then they were going back to the city and he was going to take her on a proper date.



Jack’s little revelation scared him. But not enough to make him back down. Cassie deserved to be wooed. And the thought of anyone else doing that made his stomach churn. Still, there was no need to call attention to themselves here, so when she started yawning and announced her intention to call it a night, he said good night calmly and pleasantly, just like David and Tania did, and watched her walk away, pretending that his insides weren’t churning like an overflowing river.

He’d give her maybe a half-hour head start. And then she was his.

The longest thirty minutes of his life, it turned out. Wexler had had a few drinks, and was getting nostalgic about the early years of his career. Jack tried not to keep peeking at his watch. It didn’t do any good anyway. The damn minute hand might as well have been broken for all the progress he saw.

Thirty minutes was kind of arbitrary anyway. There was nothing wrong with giving her a seventeen minute head start. Surely that was enough to dispel any potential suspicions.

No answer to his knock again this time. Maybe she was back in the hot tub. “Cassie?” he whispered, slipping into the room.

He could hear the shower running in the bathroom. Hey, that worked, too. As he crossed the room, her phone, which she’d left on the bed, buzzed. He couldn’t help but glance down at it. A picture of Danny flashed on the screen. Had she forgotten to text him the latest update of her continued survival? It was actually kind of cute how Danny looked out for her. He was probably going to have to woo Danny a little bit, too, when they got back to Toronto.

He picked up the phone, intending to carry it into the bathroom to her. The phone beeped and he glanced down at an incoming text.

Gah. Glad it’s over, too. Come home ASAP.

Danny again, who must have texted when she didn’t pick up the voice call.

He could see the end of Cassie’s last text to Danny.

…it was awful.

He shouldn’t. He knew that.

But he did it anyway. He scrolled back.

He made me say please. He made me say his name. It was awful. I felt like a total whore.

What?? These rich mofos, they have no idea, do they?

Well, I’m done. Don’t have to pretend anymore. Can’t wait to get out of here…it was awful.

Air. Jack had no air. Couldn’t get enough into his lungs, and as metallic saliva flooded his mouth, he thought for one irrational moment that he might actually be drowning.

Then the sound of the shower stopped. The absence of noise spurred him to action. He threw the phone back on the bed and made for the door. He had to get out. He had to find something to hold on to.

He had to get back to the rules.

…

The next morning Cassie woke up confused. As the bright sun sliced in through the curtains she’d forgotten to close, she looked around the room.

She was looking for Jack, which was totally stupid. In all honesty, she had to admit that she’d fallen asleep waiting for him. She had no idea what was going on between them, but she’d felt fairly confident, given the epically spectacular sex they’d had earlier in the day, that he’d be back for more.

At the very least, she thought he would have wanted to talk about the deal. It seemed pretty clear from Wexler Senior’s behavior at dinner that he was going to sell.

But no Jack. She even got up and peeked out the glass door, hoping against hope that he’d snuck in without her waking up last night and was now ensconced in the hot tub. But that was irrational.

Stupid.

She didn’t really begin to worry in earnest, though, until she made her way downstairs and found David and Tania eating breakfast and reading newspapers in the enormous sun-filled breakfast “nook.”

“Ah,” said Tania. “My dear, you’ve been abandoned!”

Cassie felt her brow furrow as she tried to make sense of the disjuncture between what this woman was saying and the cheery tone she was using to say it.

Tania must have seen her confusion, because she laughed and handed Cassie a piece of paper. “Jack left a note. He had to leave in the middle of the night—some kind of emergency.”

Cassie scanned the familiar angular handwriting. Had to go. Didn’t want to wake them up. Could someone take Cassie to Gravenhurst where there would be a car and driver waiting for her at noon? Terribly sorry. Emergency. Happy holidays.