Page 17 of A Billionaire for Christmas

‘Absolutely not. No way. Not in a million years. Like I said, I have zero interest in you.’ She was beginning to sound childish even to her own ears. She lifted her chin. ‘I’m still very upset with you about what happened,’ she blurted.

She had often wondered where this compulsion to blurt out her true feelings came from. It was quite an unappealing and decidedly unhelpful trait. Especially now. In this stifling hot sauna. Where, she supposed, she was baring everything, so why not her soul?

Levi raked a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah, about that. I don’t know what to say. Believe me, I’ve thought about nothing else since. I shouldn’t have left you while you were so upset. Then you disappeared on me. I tried to find you but… of course I was searching for a guest, not a member of staff.’

Molly took a beat to study him. He’d tried to search for her?

‘Apology not accepted. The way you behaved was very rude.’ She lowered her voice. The memory of her begging him to give her a second chance and him rejecting her outright burned to her very core.

‘Well, I didn’t mean to be rude. And you looked in no state to be doing whatever it is you wanted to do with me in the hot tub, anyway.’

How to answer? The words clogged in her throat. Molly decided on the truth. ‘I simply wanted to drink champagne with you while naked in the hot tub.’ Is that really too much to ask?

‘And?’ Levi asked. ‘I’ve never been naked in a hot tub and known it to stop there, have you?’

Did he have to give her such a visual? Molly felt a fluttering in her stomach. Any more of this talk and she would combust right in front of him. She stared down at her perfectly painted toes and wiggled them to check this was really happening. ‘If I’m honest, I did hope for a little more.’

Gross understatement. She had been hoping for the sexual Olympics of her dreams. A wild night of passion so incredible it would carry her through the rest of her life because she was absolutely certain of one thing: she’d never ever meet anyone as charismatic and attractive as this man currently sharing a sauna with her. Not in a million lifetimes.

She glanced up to look him in the eye. ‘But in hindsight, I can see why you might have had reservations about me. It wasn’t my finest hour.

I’m not usually that pushy or one to make such an exhibition of myself.

’ Practically begging him to put an end to her dry spell .

‘And to be fair, I haven’t drank in over a year.

It may have exacerbated my tendency to catastrophise. ’

Levi folded his arms, surprise etched on his face. Contrary to what she was saying, he had just found her naked and spreadeagled, and if memory served her correctly, she was quaffing back the booze as though her throat was on fire.

‘You’re really selling yourself, aren’t you?’ He was biting his lip to refrain from laughing. ‘It’s refreshing. You’re… very different to the women I’m usually introduced to, that’s for sure.’

And just like that, Molly’s pulse quickened.

She fought the temptation to follow the rivulets of water meandering across his broad shoulders and down his toned arms with her finger.

This was surely the height of unprofessional behaviour.

Could she not be within two metres of the man without wanting to throw her legs open wide?

She self-consciously scooped up her thick, long hair into a topknot and adjusted her towel to make it more secure.

Levi leaned back against the wood-panelled wall and casually swung his legs up to stretch them out along the bench. He continued to pin her to the seat with a penetrating gaze.

His long lean legs were tanned and muscular, his stomach taut, his biceps like small ripe watermelons, and his perfect symmetrical face with day-old stubble and eyes that were made for getting lost in seemed too good to be true.

In short, he was a human designed to make love.

Pure and simple. He was the very definition of sex and sensuality.

He raked his hand lazily through his hair again before raising his eyebrows at her.

Molly cleared her throat timidly. She wanted him.

Her chest tightened, making it harder to speak in a normal tone.

‘So I guess we should formally introduce ourselves. As you know, I’m Molly Johnson, chalet chef for the next week,’ she said, keeping her eyes on his. ‘And you are?’

Levi raised his eyebrows again in answer as though it was a rhetorical question.

‘After all, you could be any mass-murdering billionaire wandering in off the slopes for all I know, with your many names. Is it Angelo or Levi?’ Molly rattled on.

He wasn’t going to indulge her, so she could only assume he was someone she shouldn’t be mixing with.

She rubbed her throat with her hand. He was overwhelmingly attractive.

Knee-tremblingly gorgeous. Even the way beads of sweat trickled sensually down his smooth chest, over his defined pecs and down over his washboard stomach was like a piece of priceless art.

He was still making no attempt to tell her who he was. The conversation was going nowhere.

‘Well, that’s quite long enough in the sauna for me. Anyway, nice to have met you again. I know that staff and guests aren’t supposed to fraternise.’ She rose unsteadily to her feet. ‘I’ll try to stay out of your way.’

Silence.

Heavy silence.

Silence loaded with desperation to straddle him and avail herself of the pleasure she had ached to experience the very first time she’d met him. Molly gave herself a mental slap. He hadn’t told her a thing. She didn’t have the first clue who he was. She reached for the door.

‘Wait,’ he commanded, halting her with one word.

Oh my.

His gaze roamed the length of her body until their eyes collided.

She could barely breathe. She wanted him.

More than anything she’d ever wanted in her whole life.

He’d been in her thoughts every second since the moment she’d first seen him.

And now, here he was asking her to stay, his voice dripping with promise.

‘Don’t forget your phone.’ He nodded to the bench.

She’d never been so disappointed in her life, and it must have shown on her face. A half-grin tugged at his mouth. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t tried to get me in the hot tub. Or didn’t you notice it on your way in?’

Molly groaned. ‘Please don’t remind me. I’m already embarrassed enough.’

She waited a beat.

Was this him hinting?

Could the hot tub be an option? She was already naked under the towel. Practically halfway through the challenge already. ‘Unless of course you’d like to share a hot tub with me? I’m game if you are.’

She met his fiery gaze.

And like lightning, he was in front of her. His face was hovering close to hers. The electricity flying between them was unmistakeable. ‘Come with me.’ He reached for her hand and yanked open the sauna door, pulling her with him.

This was happening.

It was finally happening.

Molly followed him over to the shower. Yes, good idea , she thought.

A hot, soapy shower together before doing the deed.

Very spontaneous. Very romantic. Very hygienic.

As soon as they reached the mosaic-tiled open shower, overcome with excitement, she flung off her towel expecting him to do the same.

How had she ever had a problem with nudity?

She looped her arms around his neck, pressing her hot skin against him, and stood on her tiptoes ready for his hungry lips to meet hers.

There was a moment of confusion as she followed Levi’s gaze to the huge wooden bucket above them. Before she had time to protest, he’d pulled the cord and drenched them both in icy water.

‘Are you crazy? This is so not what I thought you had in mind,’ she said, shivering, every nerve in her body tingling.

‘We could both do with cooling off,’ he said sternly, taking two new, huge fluffy white towels from the rack nearby and handing her one.

Molly took it from him and wrapped it quickly around herself as he did the same.

He was still looking at her with an intensity she’d never experienced before.

She bit her lip, thinking of what to do.

What to say. Her mind was a complete blank.

Slowly she came to her senses. ‘So, about the hot tub. Are we… Does this mean… Do you…?’

As she tried and failed to form a coherent sentence, her teeth still chattering, Levi put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Look, I don’t want this to sound rude but…’

He was giving her the brush off. He was giving her the brush off !

He was giving her the brush off! Her whole being drooped.

‘Oh, you are way past rude, mister. Way past. You’re doing it again, aren’t you?

OH. MY. GOD. What is wrong with me?’ She stepped away from him, her eyes full of fire.

‘How dare you! Can’t I have just one magical bloody moment in an effing hot tub to treasure without you ruining it? ’

‘You work here. You’re off limits. Okay? It’s very simple.’ He looked her dead in the eye.

His words felt like a slap.

They stood staring at one another, neither speaking.

A disturbing pattern was beginning to emerge. Had he forgotten he’d already humiliated her, leaving her naked in his other hot tub? And now here he was, doing it all over again.