Page 11 of A Billionaire for Christmas

THE WORST DECISIONS OFTEN MAKE FOR THE BEST MEMORIES

Levi hesitated as though momentarily startled. He shifted in his seat. ‘A hot tub?’

‘Erm, yes, that’s right. For warmth. To warm up. That I could use,’ Molly said hastily. ‘That we could use. While we wait for the gondola to start working.’

Levi jabbed at the remote. ‘I’ll turn the fire up.’

‘A hot tub would be better.’ She took a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly. Maybe she was reading the room wrong. She never was, and never would be, any good at being sexy. It just wasn’t in her nature. When she opened them, he was still looking at her.

‘You want to get in the hot tub right now?’ Levi glanced at the snow beating against the window.

Molly glugged her drink down. This was no time to play the shrinking violet. ‘Yes.’

‘Okay… if you’re absolutely sure,’ he said, getting up and backing out of the room. ‘I’ll see if it’s on.’

‘Please do.’

She’d never have another opportunity to do this.

She’d been stuck in the kitchen for months.

She’d not even so much as seen another human being that was remotely attractive, and here was a spectacular-looking specimen stood right in front of her, and she was all but chasing him physically from his own room.

She leapt up and followed him out of the patio door, over some decking, to a hot tub.

It was frothing and steaming away. It was partially sheltered from the snow falling and had the most breathtaking view across to the twinkling lights of the ski runs.

‘Wow. That view is incredibly… incredible.’

‘You should see it on a clear night when the sky is full of stars.’

Of course it is. That’s what you get when you’re a billionaire. A billion stars.

Molly felt a sudden urge to write a poem. ‘It’s magical.’

‘And you’re really sure you want to get in right now?’ Levi still seemed unconvinced. ‘You seem a bit…’

Pissed? Yes, she was. She was utterly shit-faced. But she was hiding it very well.

‘I want to get in that hot tub more than anything in the whole world.’ Molly smoothed her hair from her face, swaying slightly. ‘I love them so much.’

Levi let out a small laugh. ‘I think you are a bit too tipsy. Why don’t you come back into the lounge?’

‘Nope.’ She edged further away from the patio doors.

‘Besides, you can’t go in wearing that.’

Molly let his words sink in. Was she confident enough to suggest they strip off and go in naked?

The thoughts swirled intoxicatingly round her brain.

No. No, she wasn’t.

But she had it in her to be. She wanted to be daring and risk-taking. Molly scrambled around for a few words that would be suggestive without being too forward, but before she had a chance to collect them together, Levi spoke.

‘Just give me a second,’ he said, sounding exasperated, disappearing back through the door.

He returned moments later. ‘My sister often has swimming costumes and clothes sent over just in case she pops by.’ He handed her a bathing costume with an expensive price tag, approximately a week’s wage, hanging from it.

‘There’s a bathroom through the lounge. I’ll get you some coffee. ’

Maybe the chance to get him naked would come up later.

‘I’ll be right back. Don’t you dare go anywhere!’ Her sing-songy attempt at humour had red flags all over it.

With the sexual tension well and truly popped like a balloon, Molly slipped into the bathroom to change.

All of a sudden, she wasn’t happy with the status quo.

Here she was with a million-to-one shot of drinking champagne in a hot tub overlooking the Alps, practically word for word her friend’s dying wish.

And now, she had gone out of her way to turn him right off her.

Well , she thought determinedly, I’ll just have to think of a way to turn him right back on again.

Molly slid apprehensively into the bathing costume, which she was pleased to find fit her perfectly but was also depressingly modest for the activity she had in mind. Covering herself in a robe, she sauntered back into the lounge. She could do this. How hard was it to seduce a man?

Levi was waiting by the fireplace, fully clothed.

In fact, it looked as though he’d put on more clothes while she was getting changed.

A protective layer, a barrier if you will.

There were two mugs of steaming coffee in front of him as he finished up a call.

‘Good news. Reception reckon that the gondola will start running again soon. Very soon.’

Molly’s confidence drooped like a wilting flower. She was running out of time. She pointed to his many clothes. ‘Erm, I thought you could join me in the hot tub.’ Even to her ears her voice sounded faraway and lacking conviction.

‘I’d rather not. I’m expecting a call.’

She smiled uncertainly. ‘Please?’

Levi rubbed the back of his neck as he regarded her.

She would have to be far more convincing. ‘I might drown.’

‘Sorry?’ he said, alarmed. ‘Did you just say you might drown?’

‘No. No. Not drown. I mean, what if it gets too hot? Too cold? Won’t I need supervision?’ She was flailing, drowning in a sea of unnecessary details. Fully aware that she was making a bad situation worse, Molly continued. ‘You should come in with me in case I break it or something.’

Levi tilted his head as though asking himself, Who is this imbecile? Didn’t they do a full background check before letting her in to this exclusive club?

Before he could answer, Molly clarified, ‘Not that I’d touch anything. I’m just saying, rather badly, that I’d like you to stay and keep me company. Please.’

Levi took forever and a day to reply. And even then, it was extremely half-hearted. ‘Okay. I guess I can spare half an hour. But you need to drink this first.’

Under normal circumstances, she’d back down and run a mile at how embarrassingly forceful she was being.

But these were not normal circumstances.

She had a business to save. Years of hard-earned profit to claim.

And a promise to keep. Plus, she was drunk, and she’d never fancied anyone in her entire life like she fancied Levi.

She held out a hand gratefully, taking the coffee from him. ‘Thank you. I really appreciate it.’

‘Give me a second,’ he said resignedly, quickly disappearing down a hallway into what she presumed was the bedroom.

She heard the clicking of a door. He really wasn’t taking any chances.

She would have to tread very carefully with him.

He seemed conflicted. Within minutes he was walking back through the living room towards her.

She took one look at him, his robe hanging open to reveal a pair of neatly fitted swimming shorts, his muscular legs tanned and lean, his smooth torso bare, and went immediately to pieces.

He stole her breath away, and the excitement she felt racing through her veins could not be hidden.

Desire must have been shining from her face like a Belisha beacon.

Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, and yet she was powerless to stop it.

Outside, Levi lowered himself gingerly into the hot, steaming water, while Molly tried and failed not to gawp at his muscular, toned physique.

He busied himself pressing buttons. Music flowed out of the speakers, decking lights glowed brighter, flames sprang from patio heaters dotted around and an awning stretched out above them.

‘Well?’ He was right to wonder why, after all the nagging, she was still standing, ogling him from the decking.

She threw her dressing gown over the nearest chair and clambered into the hot tub as quickly as she could.

She slipped on a step hidden beneath the foamy surface and promptly sank, gurgling, to the bottom.

Sweet baby Jesus. It was as though she had suddenly developed severe dyspraxia whenever she was within a hundred yards of Levi.

‘Well, that’s one way of doing it,’ Levi said as she resurfaced, gasping for breath. ‘Anyone would think it was your first time in a hot tub.’

Wiping foam from her eyes, Molly appreciated that this was very much the right circumstance for sarcasm.

After a brief calming down period, where Levi outlined the rudimentary basics of how to step carefully into and out of a hot tub using the handrail provided, Molly inwardly cringed, her entire body rigid despite the relaxing heat of the silken water.

She forced a laugh. ‘I’m not normally this clumsy, I assure you.

I have a reputation for being notoriously precise when it comes to my craft.

I’m a perfectionist in the kitchen.’ Molly’s staff used to joke about her being unnaturally lifeless at times.

Every movement purposeful. Often studying her work for hours on end to get it just right.

‘And breaking the priceless camel?’

Ah. He was making a very valid point, but still. ‘That wasn’t entirely my fault.’

‘It survived over a hundred years and probably generations of entertainers, film crews and circus folk before you came along.’

He was teasing her. And she liked it.

‘I’ll have you know I was once described in The Great British Sausage Weekly as a cooking robot so… I’m far from clumsy.’

Levi suppressed a smirk. ‘A cooking robot? You must be so proud.’

‘The British Sausage Bureau gave me an award and everything. It was a big deal. A huge deal in fact.’

It wasn’t, but her parents had framed the article anyway and hung it above the fireplace.

‘I don’t know what to be more surprised at. The fact you were in a magazine dedicated entirely to sausages or that it comes out weekly.’

Cheek.

She flicked some foam at him. ‘Do you have an award for inventing a sausage?’

‘Do you always fidget with your hair when you lie?’

Like a rabbit caught in the headlights, Molly’s eyes widened. ‘Yes. Always.’