Chapter Four
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Alessia
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Ah. I slowly stretch my limbs, which glide over the decadent sheets under me. I want to turn onto my side and snuggle up into a second sleep, but warnings are going off in my mind that I need to get up.
Oh crap. I was only supposed to sleep for twenty minutes, but it was such a luxurious sleep I feel as if I may have slumbering for a good ten hours.
Ten hours.
My brain screeches as that warning sign hits me in the head.
I spring up from the bed, wide awake, eyes wide open, ready to catch the time before I sprint out of the apartment, before anyone finds me.
Too late.
That unbelievably male scent, the smell of priceless cologne, is not coming from me. Oh no.
Hugging the sheet tightly to my naked chest—I was going to change their sheets before I left, and besides, it was their guest bedroom, so it's not like I was some sort of creepy stalker going into their bedrooms and running my hands down their suits and laying on their beds imagining them laying there next to me.
I did no such thing. I mean, I had to exercise a lot of control, but I did no such thing. They have to take that into consideration when they put me on trial. Which is going to be soon, seeing that they are already here. All six feet, four glorious inches of male specimen.
All that in the room with me.
I'm in such a catastrophic predicament, but I still find the time to totally gush over their gorgeous faces. My mouth won't close.
They are so exceptionally beautiful and I want to cry. Their eyes, the stark and sharp edge of their jawline, a sprinkling of dark hair turning them into pirates in suits just gives me butterflies.
What am I saying? What am I doing?
Layton is seated in a large antique chair. Garrison is leaning against a desk, and Jasper... was clearly standing over me because that's where I find him, at the side of the bed.
They were watching me sleep for God knows how long.
Oh crap. Crapsticks. I'm in a cradle of crap right now.
"I'm so sorry. I can explain..."
And that's when I realize I'm still holding onto the pearls. And no, they're not going to believe I was holding them because they're so pretty and remind me of a different time in my life.
"Also, no. No," I say with my entire breath and the full force of my chest as I jump up from the bed, fight a little with the sheet but manage to get it wrapped around my naked form.
"I had no intention of stealing this. Zero. None whatsoever. You have to believe me. I mean, what kind of a thief would strip themselves naked in the middle of a heist so she can take a nap?
“A stupid one, and I know I look pretty stupid right now, but I was not going to steal your pearls. Okay?" I say, nodding my head as I shove the pearls into Garrison's hands.
"I'm Alessia Hagen, and I'm with the cleaning company your PA hired. I... I... Umm, I spilled coffee on my uniform, I was drenched, so I decided to wash them in your laundry and then I took a bubble bath—"
I could have totally left that out. Good job, Alessia.
"But then I was feeling really tired... cleaning this apartment... it's so big, it's really tiring." I'm lying through my teeth and I can't stop.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. It was all just a very innocent mistake. Mr. Carr. Mr. White. Mr. Webb. My deepest apologies. This won't ever happen again."
They can't fire me. How will I be able to hold the pearls in my hand again? I can fix this. But from a different medium than right now, in person, when I'm naked, fresh from a nap in their bed and smelling like them from the bubble bath I helped myself to.
Ugh, if my hands weren't occupied trying to keep the sheet around my naked body—yes, my shamefully naked body—I would knock myself out for being this stupid.
One thing at a time. Apologize once more and get out of here.
"I'm so, so, so, so sorry. I'll just get my clothes then I’ll be out of your way."
Except it's at that moment when I realize they have my clothes.
Garrison has my dress. My bra dangles from Jasper's fingers, and my panties are resting on Layton's thigh.
All right then.
As clumsy as ever, I kind of hop, kind of walk toward Layton. Somehow in my haste to cover up, I've tangled myself up in the sheet, and I don't have the time to untangle myself right now. Also, I don't want to subject them to even a tiny glimpse of my nakedness. They’ve been through enough.
"Thank you," I say, smiling humbly at Layton as I reach out for my panties. But then he puts his index finger over the fabric, which makes me pull a little harder, and then a lot harder, and then I give up.
"Okay," I say, still smiling. Maybe he has a fetish. I don't judge. He can keep them. It's the least I can do to repay them.
I move onto my bra. And Jasper doesn't let go no matter how much I tug. I'm already breathless and I've probably stretched the thing to double its size. Fine. Layton likes panties. Jasper likes bras.
Surely Garrison will just hand over my dress. But I try a different tactic.
"Mr. White, please may I have my dress back? So that I can stop being a nuisance and leave your apartment so that you can get on with whatever you do," I finish off lamely.
"You're not a nuisance at all, Ms. Hagen," Garrison says, and my gosh, his voice, smooth as silk with just the right amount of husky roughness, sends my heart into orbit and my nipples on a mission to see how hard they can get to pierce through the sheet.
I open my mouth to speak, then I close it again.
Is he going to give me my dress back or not?