The frilly skirt she was wearing rode up the back of her thighs, as she stretched to reach a difficult spot beneath her boss' bed.
The final inspection of his room, after a thorough vacuuming and dusting, had left her satisfied with her job. She'd just started to make his bed, narrowly restraining herself from face-planting on the thousand-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets, when a gleam from the back of the headboard had caught her eye.
Being a maid this certainly wasn't the first time she was contorting into weird positions to keep her boss's humble abode spic-n-span. She had lost count how many times she had found rotting Cheetos behind his work desk or empty-condom-wrappers shoved into weird places in the guestroom. After finding pens inside the toothbrush mug in his bathroom she'd stopped asking questions. Not that he was there to answer for himself anyway... He'd never seen her in person, with her working her magic only on weekdays and only when he was out and about. She had received specific instructions from one of his security guards to try to avoid running into him. Emphasis on "try". Apparently, good cleaners work in silence and anonymity.
Finally, after doing some ninja finger-maneuvers, she felt the cold metal of the mystery object in her palm.
"Aha!" She shouted out in victory.
Big mistake...
"Is somebody in there?"
She snapped onto her back in shock, hitting her head on the bedside cabinet. A whine escaped her lips, as she rubbed her bruised head with her free hand, one arm still wedged beneath the bed.
"Jason, is that you?"
As her boss' voice drew closer, she panicked. Imitating a dead body was an option that crossed her mind, but before she could evaluate its pros and cons, the bedroom door was being pushed open. Her wedged arm coiled back like a spring in reverse and in the next instant she was on her knees beside the bed. The door thudded against the opposite wall.
"What are--" David froze, her alarmed eyes meeting his startled ones.
He gave her kneeling form an excruciatingly slow once-over.
"Who are you?" His gaze sliding to her right hand, perched atop his bed covers, and he raised a perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "Is that my Rolex?"
Her neck jerked to look at the mystery object in her hand.
"Oh shit!" She dropped it on the bed like it was a live snake about to bite her.
Rushing to explain to her oblivious employer, she failed to notice that he had stepped inside his room, now standing mere feet away from her.
"It's not what you're thinking! It wasn't... I wasn't..." She swears she saw a tiny, amused grin flicker across his lips for a second. She finished speaking, pathetically. "I-I wasn't stealing!"
"Who said anything about stealing?" He bit his plump bottom lip, giving her a look she couldn't quite decipher. "Don't put words in my mouth."
"I'm really sorry, Sir!" She spluttered out a quick apology, but he seemed to not be listening.
Extending his hand to help her get off the floor, she gladly accepted. Her palm tingling at the feel of his strong, firm grip, while she stared at his veiny forearm. Out of nowhere, her brain supplied lewd, X-rated images of obscene things those hands could do to her.
"Are you Giselle by any chance?" At the mention of her name, she glanced up at him in surprise. He smirked. "The cleaning lady that visits my place every week and makes my life a lot better."
"How do you know my name?" She was surprised and flattered.
"I have my ways..." He shrugged nonchalantly while giving her a wide grin. "Besides, we had to put a name to the cleaning fairy."
She scrunched her brows. "The cleaning fairy?"
"Jason, my secretary, came up with it. He really likes the elephant origami-towels you leave on his bed."
"Oh..." They knew her name. And appreciated her silly towel-art. She didn't know what to say. "Thank you, Sir!" She was really bad at accepting compliments.
"Call me David." His mesmerizing eyes peered down at her, betraying thoughts not quite as innocent as his eyes appeared to be. It made her heart do weird flutters inside her chest. "I have to say though, I was expecting an overachieving, uptight old lady and you are..." His hand slid down her arm with his appreciative gaze. She shivered. "...anything but that."
He was flirting with her. But she wouldn't take the bait so easily. "You think I'm an overachiever?"
He raised a brow, as if to test her. "You arranged all the books in my study alphabetically..."
"It's not a big deal." She shrugged.
"And Jason wanted to thank you for finding his missing Star Wars figurines."
"They were stuck behind the refrigerator. I couldn't just leave them there!"
He blinked slowly. "I'm not even gonna ask how they ended up there." Smiling mischievously, he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her heart going into overdrive at his unexpected move. "The mugs in the kitchen are all arranged according to our height. Jason was seriously offended when he found his' mugs on the bottom shelf."
She bit her lip in consternation. "I didn't mean to make fun of him..."
"But I do. Make fun of him that is. Don't worry, he's used to it."
The way he was talking, it seemed they genuinely appreciated what she did for them. She was glad, though. It was nice to know that her hard work was acknowledged, and her ego had seriously needed some well-deserved boost.
"Than--" Her words of gratitude died prematurely in her throat when she felt his thumb caress her cheek. Her eyes immediately snapped to his.
"You had some dust on your cheek."
Biting her lip to contain her smile, she gave him a skeptical look. "Did I now?"
It was dangerous territory she were treading on, but his words and flirtatious glances were roping her in. Silence and anonymity be damned!
Soft fingertips brushed down to her neck, after briefly detouring to the sensitive underside of her ear. Goosebumps broke out in places he wasn't even touching.
