Romance: The CEO Read Online Free Page A

secretly wish he hadn’t given me the choice.
    My pride says no way to sleeping anywhere near him tonight.
    But the humbler side of me, and probably also the wiser side, says I’d be crazy to ride out the storm alone.
    I really should’ve opted to stay in the main house with him.
    Good job, Claire. You’ve proven yourself to be a sagacious decision maker yet again…
    “As you wish,” Jackson states indifferently, gesturing with his arm to a wide staircase on our far right. “I’ll show you to your lodgings then.”
    I follow him slowly up to the second story and down a long corridor filled with antique furniture and more paintings.
    I can already feel the fear flushing through me again, images of Troy treading water in a raging sea searing through my mind.
    When a tree branch knocks against a window we’re passing and almost shatters it, I jump and instinctively latch onto Jackson’s arm, trying not to quiver.
    Get a hold of yourself, Claire. This place is built like Fort Knox. Just try and relax.
    “Wow. You sure don’t like storms, huh?” Jackson jests, peering down at me.
    I feel my cheeks redden under his solitary gaze. “No. It’s, ah, a…childhood fear I never quite got over,” I stutter awkwardly before letting go of his arm and stepping back away.
    I consider telling him about Troy, but the less personal information we share about each other the better.
    I’m not here to make friends and bond with the guy.
    I’m here for the story.
    Pure and simple.
    When he merely sniggers and continues down the corridor, I scold myself for even agreeing to come to this god-forsaken mansion in the first place.
    “This better be one hell of a scoop,” I scowl out of earshot from Jackson, and make a vow to myself that hurricane or no hurricane, I will get the truth about the mines out of him.
     

 
     
     
     
    The lights flicker out just as I finish settling into the guesthouse for the night.
    From my bedroom window I can just make out the ruby orange glow of sunset across the water, the teal blanket chopping ferociously as the hurricane gets stronger.
    I’m immediately regretting my decision again to be alone in the storm.
    The hurricane isn’t at its peak yet; I could make it over the air bridge easily.
    But before I have a chance to way up the pros and cons of where I should stay, I hear three loud bangs on the glass front door and nearly jump out of my skin.
    I rush over to open it and find Jackson half drenched and holding an umbrella, the water flowing off it torrents with the air bridge barely visible behind him.
    “You should really come back over,” he states sternly. “My backup generator won’t kick in. It’d be safer if we stuck together tonight.”
    His eyes linger on me, waiting for a response.
    After a minute of deliberating, I decide that he’s right.
    The smart thing to do is to stay together. Of course it is.
    Even if he is the man that I have attacked for two years…
    “Okay,” I say with a quick nod, accompanied by a rigorous rumble from my belly.
    I haven’t eaten anything today but the sludge they gave me on the plane.
    Flying first class isn’t all it’s cracked up to be food-wise.
    The extra legroom, comfy big seats, quick service and unlimited champagne on the other hand was quite exceptional.
    “I don’t suppose you have anything to eat over there by any chance?” I add.
    “I do, actually,” he replies, grinning deviously. “I’d just finished cooking when the lights went out. I hope you like oysters Kilpatrick and smoked salmon!”
    “Honestly, I could eat a horse if that’s what was going,” I tell him candidly, surprising even myself with my change of tone.
    On the plane I’d decided to remain short and sharp with him at all times.
    Strictly professional.
    And yet something in those deep, bottomless eyes is daring me to do otherwise.
    I think back to my conversation with Hank and the reference to me potentially seducing Jackson to get the exposé.
    Am I