The Beauty and the CEO

Thinking of her made him stiffen all over. He needed to splash some water over his face. Will moved over to the door he assumed would lead to the bathroom and yanked it open; a scream came from the other side. Upon further inspection he groaned. There stood Zoe with a fluffy blue-flowered towel wrapped around her silky dark brown skin. The sun filtering through the white-lace curtains highlighted the gold undertones of every curve.

“I guess Lexi forgot to mention the shared bathroom.” Zoe recovered with an airy laugh.

Damn, this was going to be the longest week ever.

* * *

No amount of hot water could wash off the humiliation of her potential boss walking in on her almost naked body. How was she going to look him in the eyes now in a potential board meeting? After a disastrous moment before her after-travel shower, Zoe changed into black leggings and a black-and-white-checkered T-shirt long enough to cover her behind. She headed downstairs to the patio with her tablet in hand, hoping to take some amazing photographs of the setting sun. Because she and Will had gotten there early, the other guests hadn’t arrived yet. Dinner was in an hour and a half, giving Zoe much-needed time to get reacquainted with the pier. She trotted barefoot across the grass to the dock, where the afternoon sun warmed the wooden planks.

Bright shades of orange, red and yellow smeared the horizon. With her breath caught in her throat, Zoe stood at the curve of the railing, in the same spot her father had knelt to propose to her mother. With the Magnolia Palace reopened, this would be the perfect spot for her father to re-propose to her mother. Zoe smiled at the horizon with excitement. She snapped a few pictures before deciding to return to the back porch.

The oversize white swings—and the fact that a producer friend had just sent her an advance copy of a superhero movie she’d worked on—helped put pep in her step. There was nothing better than the good people winning.

Zoe turned to head back to the porch, but she careened into a hard body. As she bounced backward with a prolific apology, the wooden rails creaked. The last thing she needed to do was fall into the water with her tablet. She hadn’t even sent any of the files to her Cloud. She welcomed the strong arm around her waist and reached for the impeccably muscled arms.

“Whoa,” a deep and now-familiar voice said into her ear.

“Mr. Ravens,” Zoe gasped. Once her eyes began to focus, she narrowed in on his lopsided smirk.

“Let’s see, we’ve shared a plane, shared a seat on a plane and I’ve walked in on you taking a shower.”

Heat burned her cheeks. Zoe held her index finger up to stop and correct him. “Almost in the shower.”

Will inclined his head. “Okay, almost. However, I do believe we are beyond the formalities. Please call me Will.”

Zoe bit the right corner of her bottom lip. “Alright, Will. You have to call me Zoe.”

“It’s a pleasure, Zoe.”

He had no idea what a pleasure it was to still be in his arms. Zoe cleared her throat. No matter what, she was going to be the Creative Design Director for Ravens Cosmetics. She needed to stop these romantic fantasies about her future boss. Taking a step away, Zoe waved her right arm at the water.

“What do you think of the view, Will?” Zoe asked with a shaky voice. “Beautiful, right?”

“You’re absolutely right,” Will said.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed he hadn’t stopped looking at her. She bit her bottom lip again to keep from further blushing. The tactic didn’t work and the heat from the sun was nothing compared to the flush on her face.

Will’s brows rose, his left eye half winking. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Zoe recovered quickly. “Were you just on an evening walk?”

“Sort of. I came to tell you your bags arrived.”

“Thank you.” Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. “Dare I ask how you managed that?” Zoe had been concerned about leaving her bags on the scheduled flight. But Will had said he’d take care of it and clearly he had. She’d expected to have her bags by tomorrow. This was better news. Zoe didn’t like to be away from her makeup for too long.

“You don’t want to know.”