Chapter 34 ,__ Lust, Desire or Fall

Chapter 34

Lust, Desire or Fall?

[Xavier’s POV]

“Come on, Xavier. Live a little! It will be fun, trust me.” Daniel beamed excitedly while he sipped on his lemonade.

Remaining unfazed by his irritating words, I continued to flip through the magazine I had picked up from the reception desk. We were sitting out on the terrace as the weather was, in short, perfect. Not too warm to where a person would be sweating bullets and not too cold to where someone would be grumbling for the staff to set out the heaters. I picked up by black coffee and enjoyed the weather—all the while wishing that Daniel would shut up. He was ruining my morning.

After breakfast, we headed towards the pool. Daniel flopped into a lounge chair, which was situated under a large umbrella, and continued his incessant chatter about how much fun the beach was going to be until I felt my head ache. It’s not like I had a problem with the beach. I just didn’t like being forced or coerced into doing something I simply had no wish to do. Always being busy with thoughts of business or how to gain the upper hand over another opponent, I was never one to socialize or act like a deranged teenager jumping in and out of the ocean. I was just about to tell him where to shove all of his enthusiasm when he suddenly got up and starting furiously waving his hands over his head like an idiot.

“Miss Young! Miss Young! Over here!”

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t see her at breakfast. Did she eat? Knitting my brows together, I tried to think of the reason why she wasn’t there. Was she too uncomfortable to be around me now? It’s not like I would blame her. Dismissively, I shook my head. Why should I feel concerned about this? Her feelings were none of my business anyway. I looked back down at my magazine, refusing to look up as she came forward.

“Hello again, Mr. Daniel,” she said and I could hear the smile in her voice. Apparently, she felt comfortable around him and I was surprised at how irked I felt with that realization.

Daniel plopped back down in his chair and patted his hand on the seat next to him. “Please, just call me Daniel. Take a seat and for the love of heaven tell your stubborn boss to come with us to the beach.”

She sat gracefully down and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nervously glance over at me. Avoiding Daniel’s plea all together, she asked, “Is everyone planning to go swimming?”

Daniel nodded and his eyes glinted mischievously as he said, “You’re coming with us, aren’t you Miss Young? It would be much better than being stuck inside all day.”

She shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she looked over at me with a questioning expression. However, I kept silent. Not feeling particularly inclined to give my permission for her to go out on the beach and be surrounded by men all day.

Daniel looked over at me with an impatient look as he nagged, “Xavier, are you blind as well as deaf? She is waiting for your answer, damn it! Give her leave for the day. Just because you don’t know how to have fun, doesn’t mean that you should drag Miss Young down as well.”

Shrugging while I flipped over to the next page of my magazine, which I had actually stopped reading ages ago, I said, “We are not on a business trip. Therefore, Miss Young doesn’t need my permission. If she wants to go, she can just go. I don’t have anything to do with the decisions that she makes during her time off.”

Iris smiled widely and Daniel jumped to his feet while offering his hand to her.

“Well then, let's go! We will tell the others to get ready on our way to change.”

Hearing the silence, I looked up. They were both gone and I was alone. I gripped the stupid magazine, making it crumple in my hands. Irritated, I tossed it to the side and downed the bottle of water I had brought with me. Why didn’t I just say I would go? Why was I waiting for her to ask me to come along as well?

“Fuck!” I mumbled as abruptly jumped to my feet and headed back to my room.

I should have just accepted Daniel's request. Feeling annoyed, I began to distract my thoughts with planning our upcoming collaboration with a foreign company. They had approached me a couple months back and we had a meeting scheduled for today to talk about the business model. Climbing the stairs, I noticed that everyone was coming down wearing bathing suits. They all said their greetings in passing, but not one of them had extended an invitation for me to join them. I guessed that they had all figured out that I didn’t enjoy such things. Reaching my room, I realized that I hadn’t seen Iris on my way up. I shoved my door open and made a conscious decision to not think about her for the remainder of the day. I told myself that I had other things to worry about as I stomped over to the desk, picked up my laptop and went to sit on the bed.

I was about five minutes into typing out my business plan when Scott called. He informed that we needed Miss Young to complete some documents for the meeting. After detailing what she needed to include in the paperwork, I disconnected the call and dialed Iris’s number. It went straight to voice mail. Twice. Was she avoiding me? Aggravated, I hauled up from the bed and stormed out into the hallway. I knocked on her door. No answer. Putting a little more force into where the knock was a border line bang, I waited for her to open the door. But, she didn’t. Did something happen to her? Was she feeling unwell?

Frowning, I reached out and twisted the handle. It opened. Why hadn’t she locked her door? I called out to her from the entryway, but she didn’t answer. At this point, I was growing uneasy and stepped into her room. Scanning the area, I didn’t see anyone. Making my way further into the room, I heard water noises coming from the bathroom. The door was slightly ajar and I peered in as I carefully called, “Miss Young? Are you al—”

I froze. She jumped in surprise while gripping the straps of her bathing suit as she turned around with wide eyes.

“P-President? W-why are you here?”

She was wearing, or trying to wear, a red bikini. The top was barely able to do its job of covering her well endowed breasts. For a moment, my gaze unabashedly roved over her. I couldn’t seem to stop myself and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted too. As I took in her visage, I noticed that she had a tattoo situated on the curve of her hip. It was a small butterfly. My mind went blank and my breathing hitched.

Holding the scant material over her breast, she looked up at me with a horrified expression and I belatedly realized that I needed to turn around. Forcing my feet to move, I reluctantly turned away from her. Clearing my throat to cover up my embarrassment, I leaned against the door frame to steady myself and fought for a controlled voice.

“Miss Young. I apologize for the intrusion, but you should have picked up my call or at least answered the door when I knocked. Considering recent events, I was worried that something might have happened to you.”

Her voice shook, clearly losing her battle to sound indifferent as she replied, “T-that's okay, sir. I was in hurry to get ready and meet the others that I didn’t hear you and I switched my phone off last night. I am so sorry to have troubled you. Uh, did you need something?”

Pushing myself off of the door frame, I crammed my hands into my pocket. “Yes, I am going to need you to type up a few documents for the MLT project plan. Could you do that right quick? It shouldn’t take long.”

Awkwardly, she stammered, “Well, uh, Mr. President? Could you first call a female staff member to assist me? I need some help with my bathing suit straps.”

I nodded and went to look out into the hallway for a maid. However, as it was nearly lunch time, all of the staff were more than likely downstairs prepping for the meal. Walking back into Iris’s room, a thought came to my mind and before I could think twice about it, I suggested, “I didn’t see anyone since they are all getting ready for the lunch hour and I really need those documents, Miss Young. If you don't mind, how about I help you?”

Jesus! What did I just say? I looked down at her and I saw her fidgeting with her fingers as she seemed to be in deep thought.

“Alright.”

I gulped as she turned to bare her back to me and I felt my mouth go dry. Breathing heavily, I slowly stepped towards her. I continuously told myself not to pay attention to her figure as I reached down and grabbed the straps. My hands were shaking. I have never felt anything like this before. What was this feeling even called? Was it lust, desire or was I actually falling for her?

[Iris’s POV]

Sensing him coming closer, I grabbed onto the counter for support. I couldn’t look up at the mirror. I was fairly certain that my calm façade would crumble as soon as I saw our reflection. The moment his fingers brushed against my back, I jolted slightly. They were cold, just like yesterday. I let out an unsteady breath and tried to settle the nervous feeling that was rising inside of me.

His hands skillfully picked up the straps and slowly he began to tie them securely together. Goosebumps rose up all over my body as I felt his hot breath on my back. Did he always breathe this fast? Noticing this, I wanted to look up and see what sort of expression he was making. My heart flipped in my chest when my eyes met his. He was looking at me intently. Immediately, I jerked my eyes back down to the floor.

“Don't you think this is a little too revealing?” he asked.

He sounded… displeased? Looking back up at him, I chewed on my lower lip while thinking of how to respond. Why was he so concerned with how I looked?

“Well, Mr. President, this is a bikini.”

He was quiet for a moment and I took the opportunity to try and escape his scrutiny. I turned and brushed past him as I left the bathroom.

“Change it to something else,” he said harshly.

I spun around and blinked up at him.

“Excuse me, Mr. President. But my bathing suit has nothing to do with my job, does it? In any case, what else would I wear to the beach other than a swimming suit? Now, they must be waiting for me to come down so let's finish our business quickly.”

I began to walk towards the nightstand to grab my laptop when I felt a hard grip on my arm. He pulled me over to stand in front of him and I saw that his eyes were blazing with rage. Applying a bit more pressure on my arm, he said emphatically, “You will change your clothes and that’s final.”

I was shocked at his behavior and jerking my arm out of his hand, I shot back, “Why should I? You said earlier that you had nothing whatsoever to do with my decisions.”

That seemed to do the trick. He gaped at me as if he couldn’t believe that I had the nerve to defy him. However, he recovered quickly enough and straightened himself and said through gritted teeth, “Because I'm coming with you. Do you want rumors to spread of how you were walking outside on the beach with me so scantily clad, Miss Young?”

Was he threatening me? I raised my brows in question.

“Didn't you say that you weren’t coming with us? And didn’t you also just say that you needed some documents for the MLT plan?”

He tilted his head ever so slightly to the side and smirked. “I changed my mind.”

Oh, how I wanted to land my fist on that well defined jaw of his. Why was he acting this way? I glared up at him. But before I could retaliate to his overbearing behavior, I heard my door open. Didn’t anyone knock anymore? We both turned to see Daniel standing in the doorway with a lopsided grin plastered on his face.

“Well, what do we have here? If you two wanted to be alone, you should have locked the door.”

The president shot Daniel such a look that his smile faltered a little.

“Don’t speak nonsense!” He barked. “We were just discussing some business.”

Daniel chuckled clearly not believing what the president said. “Uh huh… and do you normally discuss business in front of the bathroom with your secretary wearing a bikini, Xavier? I see I have been conducting my meetings all wrong.”

Mr. President’s face flushed and he said through clenched teeth, “You say one more word and I will be looking for another business partner.”

Daniel took a step back as if struck by the harsh warning. Quickly turning towards me, Daniel said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “Hmph! Well, if you two are finished with your business, I have come to get you, Miss Young. We have been waiting for you.”

I nodded slightly and started to walk towards Daniel. However, I froze as I felt Mr. President’s eyes boring into the back of my head. Should I change? He wouldn’t fire me over this, would he?