His Glorified Maid

Twenty-Eight

Michaela snuck back into her room in the early morning hours. As much as she wanted to stay wrapped in Carlos' arms, she didn't want to get caught doing the 'walk of shame' in the morning. She wished she had thought to bring her uniform with her yesterday.

Showered and dressed, she went into the kitchen and hunted down the sugary breakfast cereal she'd bought and poured some into a bowl. She had seen a note from Lawrence and brought her laptop out with the memory stick. He had agreed with her findings and made some notes on some other suspicious payments that he added to the spreadsheet she'd put together.

She looked at the time and chewed her lip over whether it was too early to call Paul. She decided he would forgive her if it was. Unable to find her phone, she swiped Dan's. She found Paul's number under the name 'Knobhead' and couldn't suppress her chuckle.

"Michaela?" Paul asked sleepily when she spoke.

She heard the concern in his voice but dismissed it. She let him know that she'd found some 'anomalies' in the accounts and had put together a spreadsheet. She emailed it through to his personal address rather than his work address as they talked.

She didn't outright accuse Simone but let him know the anomalies were directly related to the handling of the accounts. He could draw his own conclusions from there and she trusted he wouldn't shoot the messenger.

She washed up her breakfast plate and set about carrying out her early morning chores.

She felt a tingle of excitement and nerves travel along her arms, her shoulders, where Carlos' fingers had trailed her delicate skin only hours earlier. She had a spring in her step and a smile on her face, even while washing windows and cleaning the exterior despite Dan and Carter's teasing.

"Did you sleep all right?" Jenny asked Michaela over her shoulder, causing her to jump.

"It was just fine, thanks," she mumbled lowly.

Jenny and Lawrence laughed at her. Their teasing was worse than Dan and Carter and it only intensified when Carlos joined them. His morning kiss lingered on her lips, while his hands remained wrapped around her waist.

"We asked her if she managed to sleep well, and she said it was 'fine'."

"Just fine?" Carlos asked in mock offense.

She cast her squinted eyes at him before the littlest Everton made his entrance and saved her from any further comments that she saw behind the eyes of the adults present.

For her midday break, she stole away to Carlos' room with a small picnic basket. Jenny had put it together before she and her family headed out on the jet skis she'd set up that morning now that Tyler had fully embraced life at sea.

When she stepped into Carlos' cabin he was sitting at his desk. She took a moment to wonder at the fact this handsome, passionate man whose mere presence could make any woman's pulse race, wanted her. How did she get so lucky? She felt so ordinary next to him until he rested those steel-coloured eyes on her own with such warmth and desire that she felt extraordinary.

"Carlos," she said somewhat dreamily, his name spoken like a lover's caress. When he didn't respond she took a moment to study his profile. Here he was, on holiday, with paperwork fanned out in front of him, looking - angry. She felt a light warning, a prickling sensation under her skin but shook it off.

"What's troubling you?" she asked crossing to him with concern, laying a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of intimacy based on their newfound status.

He didn't look up immediately and she no longer felt so sure of her place. When he did look at her, her smile faltered, and that prickling sensation stabbed at her heart. She pulled her hand away instinctively and began to smooth down her uniform.