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“Nah. I run hot.”
“Cocky much?”
I raise an eyebrow in a challenge, and, before she can react, scoop an arm behind her knees and hoist her into the air.
JULES
I shriek and kick as Dimitri picks me up, but I’m powerless to break his hold. The man hauls me into his arms as though I weigh nothing and smashes me against his hard muscular chest.
For a minute, I’m so taken aback that I stop fighting completely. Dimitri’s spicy cedar scent floods my senses, and my skin heats everywhere we’re touching. I can feel his strong heartbeat against my breast, and I have the insane urge to rest my head on Dimitri’s shoulder and let him take me wherever he wants to go.
His bed. My bed. The couch. The floor. Just as long as it’s warm and dry and I have this man.
Nope.
I can’t be having these thoughts.
Dimitri hauls me around the pond toward a small wooden structure on the lower deck. As we get closer, I realize it’s a sauna, and my whole body hums with relief.
“So this is your secret,” I say to Dimitri as he carries me into the enclosed space. The dry heat hits me like a wall, and I sigh against his body.
The sauna is a lot more spacious than it looked from the outside. There’s a wooden bench along one wall opposite a large window. Through it, we can see our frosty pond and the towering trees just beyond.
Dimitri sets me gently on the bench, and my towel rides down a bit. His gaze flicks rapidly to my breasts before casting around the sauna. It’s so quick I question whether I imagined it but hurriedly readjust the towel. It’s not large enough to cover my thighs, but with the delicious heat lapping at my body, I won’t need it much longer.
“Better?” he asks, perching on the bench beside me.
I sigh again and lean back, closing my eyes as my body warms. “Much better.”
I can still feel Dimitri watching me, so I pivot slightly to face him.
Big mistake.
He’s naked apart from a pair of boxer briefs, his muscular thighs on full display. His tanned olive skin is still glistening with water, errant drops sliding over his bulging pecs and down his delicious abs.
Leaning back with one arm thrown over the top of the bench, he looks like a fucking god.
“Do you make all of your maids jump in a frozen lake as a way to prove their loyalty?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but a dark look flashes through Dimitri’s eyes, and I wish I hadn’t said anything. He swallows twice, and there’s something about the hard set of his jaw that makes me think I’ve said the wrong thing. “No.”
I clear my throat to break the tension and quickly avert my eyes.
“You are the first.”
My breath catches in my chest, and I steal another quick glance. Dimitri’s expression has shifted from closed-off — almost angry — to something else entirely. He looks . . . thoughtful. And a bit nervous.
“What happened in Denver?” I ask quietly. Then, realizing it’s not the sort of question a housekeeper asks her boss, I add, “I know it’s none of my business — you can tell me if I’m overstepping. But you seem . . . different from how you were before you left.”
Dimitri releases a heavy breath, and for a moment, I see the weight he’s carrying. It’s written in the fine lines around his eyes and the tired droop of his shoulders.
I might not invest in the stock market, but I read those articles. I know enough to know that Nesteg is in trouble. And, from what I can tell, Dimitri is at least partially to blame for his company’s current woes.
His throat bobs as he swallows, and for an instant, I’m sure he’s going to shut me out. He doesn’t.
“There are people at my company who think that I should step down as CEO,” he says, dragging a hand through his damp hair. “It’s not the first time someone has questioned my leadership, but it’s the first time I’ve wondered if they’re right.”
I frown, blown away by his revelation. I’d been expecting him to brush me off or tell me something generic. For him to confide that the people around him doubt his abilities . . . I don’t take that lightly.
