The Billionaire's Beautiful Mistake (Bold Alaskan Men Book 1) (6 page)

Violet woke to the sound of her cell phone beeping, indicating that a text message had just arrived.  She pushed her hair out of the way, searching for her phone on the bedside table.  Sure enough, she glanced at the screen and there it was.  Her body went from sleepy to wide awake in the brief amount of time it took to realize that the message was from Creek.  “What time?” was all it said. 

He was coming for dinner?!  Violet pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked down at the message again.  Her first reaction was a zing of excitement.  He was coming to dinner!  And maybe she would have the courage to entice him into more than a goodnight kiss! 

Her second reaction was the complete opposite.  Oh no!  He was coming for dinner!  What was she going to do? 

She looked around at her tiny apartment, her mind spinning with everything she would need to do in order to get ready for a night here, alone, with Creek.  A whole evening alone with him?  Violet wasn’t sure if she wanted to jump up and dance, or sink back into her bed and pull the covers up over her head to hide.  Excitement and nervousness vied for priority inside her stomach and the result was a sick feeling that shifted to hope, then back to nauseous. 

Her fingers shook as she typed out, “How about seven o’clock?  I have the ingredients for apple pie for dessert.”

She then dropped the phone, afraid she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.  Seven o’clock?  It was five o’clock now!  That meant she had only fourteen hours until Creek arrived!  She had too much to do! 

She called Kevin and asked him to cover the shop today.  After he’d agreed, she jumped out of bed and hurried into the shower.  Then stopped and looked around.  Without stepping into the warm water, she shut off the spray, shaking her head at how crazy she was acting.  She couldn’t take a shower now.  She would need to do her hair before Creek arrived.  And she’d have to wash it before she did something with it.  But she needed to clean her apartment and get things ready.  So shower later. 

Rushing out of the bedroom, she was pulling off her flannel gown when she realized that she was wearing only underwear and walking to her kitchen.  She almost fell over her own two feet as she ran back into the bedroom and pulled on a bra, sweater and a pair of jeans.  When she stubbed her toe walking back out to her kitchen, she hopped back into her bedroom, found a pair of thick socks and pulled on her boots, berating herself for being so clumsy. 

She ignored the throbbing pain in her toe and hurried back out the door.  She had to make the roast beef!  Wait!  It was five-fifteen in the morning.  If she started cooking it now, it would be leather by the time he got here. 

It suddenly occurred to her that she’d just called one of her employees at five o’clock in the morning.  And he hadn’t been annoyed!  Good grief, get a grip, Violet! 

“Slow down, girl!” she said to the empty room.  The sound of her voice soothed her and she looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, what she needed to do.  “Okay, so Creek is coming over for dinner.  This won’t be the first meal you’ve cooked.  You cook all the time for friends.  This is just another friend coming over for dinner.”

But deep down inside, she knew that Creek was not a friend.  And he wasn’t “just” anything.  He was special.  Every time she saw him, sat across the table from him, she knew that he was special. 

“Calm down.  He’s a gorgeous man who makes your heart go a bit crazy.  No need to cause yourself bodily harm though.”  With those words, she took a deep breath.  Then another.  She couldn’t go crazy.  Not with a sophisticated man like Creek coming over for dinner. 

Okay, what could she do now?  The grocery store didn’t open for another four hours.  Looking around, she decided that she would need to clean her apartment.  That wouldn’t be hard, since she had basically a bedroom, small bathroom, and a combination kitchen and den area.  There wasn’t much to clean, but within thirty minutes, every pot, pan, dish and glass were stacked on the counters so that she could clean everything and put it back neatly.  By seven o’clock that morning, she had her plastic containers sorted by color and size, with matching tops right next to each one.  Her glasses and utensils were polished, her plates washed by hand and all of her pots scrubbed thoroughly. 

By eight o’clock, her sofa had been vacuumed and all of her floorboards wiped free of any dust.  She’d also broken four nails and cut her finger on a splinter.  At this rate, she would be in the hospital by the time Creek arrived. 

Creek felt like a fool.  He’d gotten her flowers!  Hell, he should just dump them in the trash.  This was a business transaction.  Her stepfather had already dropped by The Rotten Apple and picked up the check, given him directions to her house, as if Creek hadn’t picked her up for dinner several times over the last week, and whistled as he left Creek feeling like a complete idiot for actually purchasing sexual favors for the night. 

Now Creek was standing out here in front of her house, debating whether to walk away or get his money’s worth.  This was ridiculous!  He never paid for sex!  Sure, he bought jewelry and various trinkets for the women in his life, but never anything this blatant. 

It felt wrong.

“Oomph!”

Creek spun around and caught Violet only moments before she almost tumbled to the ground.  “What the…?”

“You’re early!” Violet gasped as she dragged the grocery bag back into her arms.  “Or am I late?” she glanced down at her watch.  “Oh no!  I’m late!  I just rushed out to the store to grab some cream, just in case you wanted cream in your coffee, and then I realized that I was out of coffee because I’d spilled it all over the kitchen floor this morning.  Then in the process of cleaning that up, I broke a bottle of vinegar.  It crashed everywhere and, on top of four broken nails, a stubbed toe, a splinter I still haven’t been able to get out, I sliced my finger on the broken glass and…”

“Hey,” Creek said, touching her arm gently to stop her.  Despite his reservations about the money, he was still charmed.  She looked beautiful, he thought.  Her hair was a wild mess of curls all over her shoulders, like she’d curled it earlier, but the humidity had caused it to look a bit more wild, her lipstick was smeared ever so slightly, drawing his eyes to the fullness of her lips, and there was a sheen of tears in her eyes. 

He liked this nervous side of her.  He was pretty sure it was all part of the act, part of the date night experience she’d perfected with the other men, but he didn’t care.  It eased a small part of him that had been twisting around in his gut all afternoon at the way this transaction had gone down. 

“You look lovely,” and he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, soothing her as well as himself. 

“You brought me flowers,” she whispered and the tears increased until he suspected one was going to spill over onto her pale cheek.  “I love flowers.  They’re so hard to get during the winter.”

Creek looked down at the colorful bouquet.  “I thought they’d be a nice touch.  Sort of add a bit of romance to an otherwise…” he didn’t have the heart to degrade this night.  She looked so frazzled.  And beautiful.  He pushed aside all of the disgust he’d been feeling over his need for this slender woman.  She was standing in front of him looking adorable and sexy at the same time, a potent combination. 

“They’re beautiful,” she sniffed, blinking her eyes rapidly to try and keep the silly tears from falling over her lashes.  She already looked ridiculous, but crying at this moment would really shoot her over the edge from frazzled to looking like a crazy woman. 

He realized she might truly be on the verge of tears.  He pulled back her hair and bent lower so he could see her eyes.  “Hey, you okay?”

Violet felt his gentle touch, and her nervousness settled down.  It was still there, but not as overwhelming. 

This man was nice and hot and sexy as sin, she reminded herself.  She couldn’t believe he would be interested in her but here he was, standing outside of her apartment because she’d rushed out to get things for him, and hadn’t been home in time to greet him with a smile. 

“Let’s go upstairs and just…talk, okay?” she offered. 

Creek had to tamp down the raging lust that he was feeling but her words obviously helped her gain control of her nervousness.  “Sounds like a good plan.”

They walked up the wooden stairs to the apartment and, as soon as she’d opened the door, Creek knew that something wasn’t right.  Something was obviously burning in the oven.

“Oh no!” she gasped, and dumped the grocery bag onto her countertop, rushing to the oven.  “No!  This is not happening!” she cried, as she bent over with hot-pads to pull something out of the oven.  Whatever it used to be, it was now black and unrecognizable.  Charcoal would be a better description for it at this point. 

“What was it?” he asked, looking down at the black mess. 

Violet sniffed.  “It was an apple pie.  It was supposed to smell amazing when you walked in and you’d be so impressed with my cooking that you wouldn’t notice how nervous I was and I was going to make mashed potatoes but I forgot to turn on the water to boil so the potatoes are still raw.  The meat is…” her eyes widened as she realized that she’d forgotten to put the roast into the oven with the apple pie!  She’d thought to cook them at the same temperature, and pull the apple pie out when it was done.  “I forgot to put the roast into the oven!” she gasped. 

Creek couldn’t stop the amusement that burst out of him.  What had started off as a truly horrible evening had devolved into an adorable peek into this woman’s mind-frame.  And he liked it.  She might have the most delectable body a man could imagine and sold her body to whoever could afford it, but he could sense that she was genuine at this moment. 

He lifted his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.  “I need a large pizza with everything,” he said and told the delivery person the address.  When the guy had given him the price, Creek ended the call and looked back at Violet who had placed the blackened mess on the stove and was looking down at it with defeat.  And those tears were just about to fall, something he couldn’t let happen. 

“Hey, I appreciate the effort,” he told her.  “The pizza will still be great.”  And he turned her around.  With a finger to her chin, he lifted her face up so that he could look down at her.  With a tender gesture he’d never thought he would ever feel, he wiped a lone tear away with his thumb even as he bent down to kiss her. 

Just like all the other times that he’d kissed this woman, what had started off as a gentle caress, a kiss that was meant to soothe, morphed into something significantly more passionate.  Her trembling lips kissed him back even as his hands pulled her closer.  The oven mitts fell to the floor as her hands touched his arms.  But it wasn’t enough, he wanted her closer, her soft body pressed against his. 

He couldn’t get enough of her!  His hands slipped under her soft sweater, feeling the delicate skin underneath, and he groaned with impatience.  Forgetting that dinner was about to be delivered, he pulled the sweater over her head, unconcerned that it landed in the middle of her kitchen floor.  All he wanted, needed, was this woman naked and in his arms. 

Violet couldn’t believe how incredible this man’s touch felt.  When the cooler air touched her skin, she didn’t care in the least.  In fact, her whole body felt overheated as his fingers skimmed across her stomach.  She arched into his hand, needing more, needing all of him.  She wasn’t aware of her fingers moving higher along his arms, sliding underneath his suit jacket so that she could feel the muscles in his chest and his warm skin.  All she knew was that this man was making her crazy for more.  Her nervousness disappeared as quickly as her bra, landing on top of her sweater. 

Before she had a chance to become self-conscious, he’d lifted her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, laying her down in the center and following her down.  His mouth latched onto her breast and she just about screamed with the newest sensation.  The heat!  The power as he teased and pulled at her hard nipple with his hot mouth.  That heat was a sensation she’d never thought possible, didn’t even know existed! 

With deft fingers, her jeans slid off of her legs and she squirmed for a moment as he stood up, still fully clothed, and looked down at her in only her white cotton underwear and wool socks. 

“Creek, I can’t…” she started to say as her hands drifted to cover herself, but Creek shook his head.  “Don’t do it, Violet,” he commanded, slipping his suit jacket off of his shoulders and tossing it over a chair.  His fingers moved to the buttons of his shirt and rapidly dispensed with that article of clothing as well.  When his hands moved to his belt, Violet lifted up on her elbows, her shyness completely gone as his magnificent body, packed with muscles and covered with tanned skin and a light dusting of dark hair, was revealed to her.  Unknowingly, she licked her lips, catching his attention and making his urgency stronger. 

“Open yourself to me, Violet,” he ordered when his body throbbed to the point of pain.  That tongue…the things he wanted to do with that tongue!  Damn, he hadn’t felt this urgency since his first time.  Maybe not even then, he thought with self-derision.  His pants were gone in moments, his boxers flying over the top of his clothes and then he turned back to her.  When he realized she was staring at his erection, he almost groaned with the need to bury himself inside of her.

A part of him wanted to do just that, knowing how much he’d paid for this pleasure.  But that wasn’t all he wanted.  He looked down at this incredible beauty, who was practically writhing in anticipation, her eyes still nervous but then her tongue darted out again.  Was she doing that on purpose?  He thought to tell her that he didn’t need more provocation, that he was already there, but the words wouldn’t come out.