Icing on the Cake

EIGHT

Jaden was in his room. He had also gotten up early, washed up and had had breakfast, but not with the family – Wayne, Ashley and Sylvia. He had deliberately waited for Wayne to go to work first before going downstairs to eat. He had not wanted Wayne to ask him to join them for breakfast, since he did not want to eat with Sylvia. She had been the major thing on his mind lately and he did not like it one bit. He wanted to have this job without any attachment of any kind, so when it was time to leave; he could leave without any difficulty. And he was guessing Sylvia was going to be hard to forget if he allowed this thing he was feeling to continue. Even the very thought of her made him smile and caused his gut to tighten.

He got up from the sofa he was sitting on in his room, walked up to the room’s French windows, and opened them. The weather was not as hot and sunny as the previous day but was somewhat cool. He walked into the balcony and felt the cool breeze wrap itself around him. He leaned against the rail and looked down and saw Sylvia.

She was standing by the pool in a beach robe. Then she began to walk to the other side, obviously taking in the beautiful scenery. She stopped at a point and dipped one foot into the water as Jaden watched with fascination. Then, she started pulling her robe. He nearly gasped. Mercy. She had a body of a diva. He was about to go back inside and save himself the trouble of being caught when Sylvia – as if sensing his presence – looked up and saw him. He simply stared at her. She stared back before giving him a warm smile. He returned the smile.

Then, she put her palms around her mouth and shouted, “Are you busy?”

“What?”

“Are you busy?” she asked louder.

Jaden shook his head.

“Come down for a bit, please.”

He nodded and turned. He closed the windows and went downstairs. By the time he got to the pool, she was dipping her foot in the pool again. He got closer to her and cleared his throat. She turned and looked at him and grinned.

What a beauty! He thought as he stared at her face. He caught himself and silently admonished himself. He shouldn’t be having these feelings yet, and surely not for Sylvia.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself, you look better today,” Jaden replied.

“Really? How?”

“You’re brighter today, just as if you’ve totally forgotten about Dave.”

Of course she has forgotten Dave. Of late, she had thought mostly of Jaden. The more she tried to stop it, the more he filled her head. So she had given up and she couldn’t remember the last time she remembered there was someone called Dave. Up until now, that was.

“Yeah, it seems so.”

Jaden nodded.

“Why don’t you join me to swim, if you don’t mind?”

“Join you?”

“Yeah, we can do few laps together. Or don’t you want to?”

Jaden seemed to consider it.

“I could take offense if you say no.” Jaden didn’t still respond. “And I know of a path underneath the water from where I could run off.” She smiled teasingly. “Do you now want to swim or not?”

Jaden chuckled. “You sure are something.” He paused. “Sure, I’d love to.” He guessed workers also swam with their bosses.

Sylvia smiled. “Go on and change. I’ll be in the pool.”

He turned and went into the house. Few minutes later, he came back out and saw Sylvia swimming already. She dived in again and after a while, she burst out through the water’s surface.

“Are you just going to stand there? Jump in.”

Jaden dived into the water, splashing Sylvia with water. She giggled like a teenage school girl, scooped water, and threw it at Jaden.

“Hey!”

“Don’t you hey me,” Sylvia said, laughing.

Jaden scooped water too and threw it at Sylvia. They continued that way until he caught himself. Crap. Since when did he start playing like this? He sighed a little inwardly. Sylvia made him do things he never meant to do.

“Hey!”

It was Sylvia’s turn to protest as he’d thrown some more at her.

“Don’t you hey me,” Jaden mimicked.

Sylvia dived into the water and swam towards Jaden while he dived also and swam away. They pursued each other like that and then proceeded to do a few laps. When they were both exhausted, they came out from the pool and Jaden took the towels Sylvia had dropped there earlier. Jaden handed her a towel and while she smiled him a ‘thank you’, his heart did a back flip.

Sylvia wrapped her body with the towel and toweled her hair dry with another one. Jaden began drying his body too. Then, he blinked. Were workers really allowed to swim with their bosses? Even though the household was as hospitable as this, was it ideal? He blew out a breath. What had he been thinking? Wayne surely wouldn’t like it if he heard that Sylvia had swum with her supposed bodyguard.

“What’s wrong?”

Sylvia’s voice cut into his thoughts. He looked at her and shook his head. “I’ll just sit down.”

He walked to the patio and sat on the bench there. He would just thank Sylvia for the swim and go inside. He hoped she wouldn’t make him stay outside longer. But Sylvia was coming towards him and he hoped, strongly, that she was not going to sit next to him.

Sylvia got to the patio and did exactly what he hoped she wouldn’t. She sat right beside him. He groaned inwardly. He would have to refuse anything she said now.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re suddenly quiet, and you’re frowning.”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

She nodded and relaxed back on the bench. “Are you still not going to tell me about whatever happened on the night I came home drunk?”

He glanced at her. Hasn’t she forgotten about that yet? He cleared his throat. “Nothing much happened, just...”

“I said you shouldn’t lie.”

He didn’t reply immediately. He’d just have to tell her. “Well, you were drunk,” he began, “and you wanted to drink more so I decided I had to take you home. I looked for Dave and told him. We got you into the car and on our way home I had to stop. He got out of the car and I drove you home. I took you upstairs to your room, end of story.”

Sylvia didn’t talk. She just stared at him. She knew he had omitted some parts of the story. “You were the one who gave him that injury right?”

His head shot up. He looked at her. “What injury?” He wanted to play dumb but it was in her eyes that she suspected something. He shrugged. “It’s part of the job, I guess.”

“What happened exactly?”

He didn’t reply.

“Or better still, why did you stop and why did Dave go out of the car?”

He waited. Darn, she was smart; he’d give her credits for that. “He was plastering kisses all over your face and I couldn’t take it, so I had to stop the car. I told him to get out and he was proving stubborn. When he started insulting me, I couldn’t stop myself from punching him. That’s exactly what happened.”

Sylvia was angry, well alright, but that wasn’t the most of her emotions right now. This man was something. He looked like the type to do exactly that to all women he met but he had hated it when he saw Dave doing it to her. Maybe he wasn’t totally dumb anyway. Well, she owed him her thanks.

She looked at him and her heart swelled with emotion while butterflies fluttered at the pit of her stomach. Crap. Whatever attraction she had been feeling for him now doubled. And while her mind knew she shouldn’t be attracted to him, her heart just didn’t listen. She was really in deep guano.

Jaden stood up.

“Thanks for the swim, Miss Browne. I’ll be going inside now.”

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

He simply shrugged.

She stared at him. He stared back. The air was silent now and was sizzling with their attraction for each other. She broke the eye contact after a while and let out a breath.

“Thank you.”

He was about to ask for the reason but he knew why. He nodded and asked, “Are you still staying here?”

She shook her head and stood up. She noticed she was so close to Jaden, muttered a ‘sorry’ and stepped back, embarrassed. “I’ll just swim again.”

“OK. Just don’t turn into a shark. Being a dolphin is much better,” Jaden said, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

She smiled and he turned and walked back towards the French doors. He wanted to spend more time there but he knew it wouldn’t be wise. Plus, he didn’t want any complications. He had seen the way she had looked at him and the embarrassment on her face when she was so close to him and he guessed she still felt the same way he was feeling. Now, that was what made it dangerous. Knowing that she was attracted to him would be difficult for him to refuse any of her offers. And it would also be difficult for him to resist touching her, or better still, kissing her.

Urghh! Just don’t go there, he silently admonished as he climbed the stairs. He did not want to risk falling in love with his boss. That could just cost him his life.

Meanwhile, Sylvia had gone into the pool. This time, she was not doing it for the fun of it but to clear her head and drive away any thought of Jaden. But it only worsened. She couldn’t think of anything else. After doing a few laps, she got exhausted and then laid down on the sun lounger. She was there for few minutes before she entered the house to shower and change for her outing with Sandra and Sally.