Maid for Him.

Chapter Six

Stretching her arms above her head, Tess blinked her eyes open. It was still dark in her room, and she had no idea what time it was. Reaching for her phone on the bedside table, she pressed the large, center button, lighting up the screen. 10 am. Oh my, God, she swung her legs off the side of the bed and threw on her robe. She couldn't believe she'd slept that long. She never slept that long. Those heavy-duty drapes let in no sunlight what so ever. Rushing into the shower she lathered herself up and rinsed herself off. 10 am.

Noticing it was the first morning she had risen, relatively pain-free, she dabbed at herself with the fluffiest towel she'd ever seen. She may live to regret moving from her apartment but she would never regret trading in her old mattress for that bed.

Wrapping the towel around herself, she made her way back to her bedroom, grabbed the bag Cole had brought for her and rifled through it. She pulled out a less than crisp, white shirt and held it up against herself. Picking up her discarded striped tights, she pulled them on. She really needed to do some laundry. She buttoned up the shirt and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

But first, breakfast.

Despite the large meal and the basket of cookies the night before she was ravenous.

She wasn't looking forward to joining Cole's mother and father for another family feast. Maybe she could sneak in the back door to the chef's kitchen. There was an old staff entrance that led out to the back of the property. Even if she could rustle up some cereal or a bagel or something.

Anything to dispel this unusual hunger.

She wandered down the hall to the guest house kitchen and her eyes were drawn immediately to the drying rack. The coffee mug had disappeared again. Her heart raced. She was certain she'd left it there last night, she knew it 100%. Rushing over to the cupboard above the sink she yanked the door open and there, taunting her was the damned unicorn.

AGAIN!

With trembling hands, she pulled her phone from the shirt pocket and scrolled down to Cole's number, when she noticed a serving tray on the counter covered with a silver dome.

Glancing around, she approached it and lifted the lid. Inside was a plate of pancakes, complete with a tiny decanter of golden syrup. Her breath escaped her lungs in a pounding rhythm. It was the staff; they'd brought her breakfast. Her hand flew to her chest where her heart pounded back at her.

Her imagination had run wild again.

She smiled.

Vanishing unicorns.

'Pft."

Wait until GG hears about this.

***

Tess enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, pottered around, watched some television and collected a load of dirty laundry from her few items that still fit her and shoved them into the machine and when they were done she threw them into the dryer and set it going.

On the dot of midday, there was a knock at the door. Flinging it open she saw Cole standing there. A gasp betrayed her, by escaping her lips and flying out into the air. The sun behind his head, giving him a halo of light and dressed in shorts and a short-sleeved, sky, blue shirt had her wanting to grab him by the hand and drag him into her bedroom and close the door.

The softer color looked good on him, it made his eyes twinkle and his skin appeared more tanned than usual. Seeing him like this, it would be easy to convince herself to forgive him. Pretend he didn't throw her away without a second thought.