But Emerson Watson was one of the ten wealthiest men in the world. He was a legend in the investment community with a reputation for being ruthless in business. The man had built up his investment corporation, luring the wealthiest clients from all over the world, and compounding their wealth several times over with his secretive investment strategies. The Securities and Exchange Commission had investigated his accounts five years ago as a possible Ponzi scheme. Agents were suspicious of his investments because they consistently made money and earned returns significantly higher than the average funds could even dream of achieving. He’d been completely exonerated, and the investigation, which normally would leave some investors doubtful, had instead only added to the Watson legend.
Now Rachel wanted in. Emerson Watson chose one stock broker every year as an intern, teaching that person his secrets. Rachel wanted to be that person this year. She was sick of being an insignificant fish in a large ocean of stock brokers. Every intern Mr. Watson selected went on to gather even more clients. No one ever left his employ, they simply moved from being an intern to an employee who worked out of whatever Watson Investment office in the world they chose.
She was determined to do everything in her power to become his next intern. She’d psyched herself up to not allow any of his reputed grouchiness to hurt her feelings. She was tough and impervious to insults. She bit her lip nervously as she considered that claim…she could be. In truth, Rachel admitted to herself that she might be a wee bit too sensitive, but she could learn to be tough and impervious. She could learn anything. And Emerson Watson was the man who was going to teach her!
She was no longer playing it safe. She was going to get out into the world and push herself out of her comfort zone. Even this little weekend adventure to search out the elusive Emerson Watson was a huge stretch for her! She pretended that her knees weren’t shaking with fear and her hands weren’t trembling. This was how successful people became more successful!
She was intrepid!
Okay, so she wanted to be fearless. Just “fake it till you make it” was her new motto.
Turning around, she looked down the driveway, gearing herself up for another long hike, biting her lip in indecision. She looked down the gravel road, trying to calculate in her mind how far she’d walked already, and how much further the main house might be.
Because her attention was diverted, she didn’t see the movement to the left of her until it was almost too late.
Emerson Jackson Watson almost fell off of the ladder on which he was working when the gorgeous woman emerged from the around the corner. Where the hell had she come from? He hadn’t heard anything a moment ago! She’d just appeared with her sexy red shoes and full, luscious lips that she was nervously mauling with her pretty, white teeth.
He steadied himself and leaned his arm against the low roof of the cottage, his eyes taking in the strikingly beautiful mystery woman with the incredible legs and impossibly high heels, teetering on her toes as she walked down the driveway. Her black suit cinched in at the waist, giving him a perfect view of her sexy figure. Did she have any idea how feminine she appeared? He suspected she’d chosen that black suit and those smoking hot, red shoes as a power play, but it had backfired because her breasts were too full, pressing against the black fabric of her suit jacket and her waist seemed tiny in comparison. Those heels only made her legs look like a stripper’s although he suspected she’d paid four or five hundred dollars for those killer shoes.
His eyes traveled back up her figure, appreciating all the delicious, appealing details until his eyes reached her face and he couldn’t stop the punch to his gut when he took in her full lips and almond shaped eyes surrounded by thick, black lashes. There was barely any gloss left to shine those lips which only allowed the beautiful, natural color to come through. And those pink, luscious lips were enticing enough but her eyes! Those green eyes were startling!
He wanted to stare into those eyes with the long, thick lashes while he filled her up. He wanted to see what those eyes looked like when she was smiling or sad or, even better, when she was….
He shook his head and tried to remove the erotic images from his mind. Women were a distraction he didn’t need. When he needed a woman’s touch, he had several lady friends in town who were more than accommodating. He definitely didn’t need a wannabe power woman.
“Can I help you?” he asked, enjoying her surprise when she saw him.
Rachel’s eyes snapped to the right and she couldn’t stop the gasp that blew from her lungs when she looked over at the man standing on the ladder by the house. As an avid gym-goer, Rachel knew what a buff, male body looked like. But this man’s physique was beyond anything she’d ever seen. She wasn’t sure how tall he was since he was standing on a ladder, but she suspected that he was taller than the average man. But what was extraordinary were the rippling, amazing muscles that covered his body. It wasn’t like he was a body builder with bulging muscles all over, although there were plenty of those. It was more that there were just muscles….everywhere! He was tall and lithe with those sumptuous, extraordinary muscles covering every part of his body. Her eyes did an inventory of all those muscles, irritated when she couldn’t see past the low riding, well-worn jeans that were just a little bit loose around his hips.
She swallowed painfully when those muscles flexed and she looked up, suddenly realizing that he was moving. Towards her! All those lovely, glistening muscles were descending that ladder, his strong hands flexing as he grasped and un-grasped the ladder while he climbed down and her eyes were drawn to the appearing and disappearing muscles along his arms and back. Everything glistened in the sunshine and she felt like she was going to pass out from the blood rushing through her body at a crazy, pulse pounding rate.
That was when she realized that she’d stopped breathing and she took a gasping breath, trying to quickly regain her equilibrium. She was just starting to find her balance when she realized how tall he was. As he approached, she had to lean her head back farther and farther until he was standing about a foot away from her, towering over her with crystal blue eyes that were so startling, she thought she might just melt into a pool of lust right there on the gravel driveway.
When she realized she was just staring at that gorgeous expanse of tanned, muscled chest with her fingers and palms itching to touch all that glorious skin, she closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her embarrassment painful.