Gemma couldn’t hide her disappointment. She would find a way to make him want her again.
***
When Gemma came down from the sundeck with a towelling robe draped around her, Jason waited at the bottom of the stairs. She had taken the opportunity for late evening sunbathing in the dregs of the day’s heat, while he had a post-meal coffee and chat with McKenzie regarding the route for the next few days.
Jason needed to work. An unfortunate necessity, as one of his favoured acquisitions had reached a critical stage of the negotiations. E-mails flew around, and meetings were happening in his absence. Reading between the lines, he had a sense of foreboding.
The sun had set, and the stars had come out in abundance.
“I love it up there,” she told him. “I could spend hours looking at the constellations, drifting between the stars like a comet in space.”
Not a surprising admission for Jason to hear, her love of open, stark places was entrenched in her bloodstream. He suggested she check the Internet for maps of the stars and try to spot the major constellations.
She shook her head. “I prefer to make up my own names and designs in the sky.” She stretched a hand above her head, drawing lines in the air.
He caught a glimpse of her breasts as she painted her imaginary lines, the henna tattoo made them pert and gloriously enlarged. He adored the delicious curvature of each breast. Jason headed to the office, and he backtracked to fetch a large, thick blanket from the storage box.
“Come with me.” He waved a finger, and she arched her eyebrows in response. “Actually, go find something to entertain yourself. I don’t want you bored.”
Gemma returned with her Kindle. Greatly to his pleasure, she had removed the robe to reveal her nudity. Jason laid the blanket out on the floor of the office and pointed to it.
“Help yourself to cushions. Stay down there. At my feet.”
She grinned at the request. Jason booted up his laptop and began the laborious task of sorting through his e-mail by prioritising and dismissing irrelevant messages.
Gemma wriggled about, reading her novel, distracting him. Eventually, she seemed to find a comfortable position, lounging on her belly. She kept her legs parted, showing her glistening pussy. He ignored her and shifted his eyes to the monitor of his laptop.
Two of the e-mails caught his immediate attention. One from Philip, his right hand man, and the other from Anna, a senior lawyer with the company. The contents of the messages were laced with the nuances of frustration and ill-ease. Neither of them had been explicit in writing with regard to problems, knowing Jason had been receiving copies. He fancied they did not want to rile him during his holiday.
A sensation distracted him. Gemma kissed one of his bare feet.
“Sorry, Sir. Need to pee. Please, may I use the bathroom?” she said sweetly—almost too angelically, he thought.
She fluttered her eyelashes at him. He shooed her away. When she came back, Jason had managed to contact Philip by instant messenger and suggested they speak on the phone. Jason switched the call to speakerphone and leant back in his chair.
“Jason. Sorry these issues are flaring up on your holiday. Bloody typical.”
“These speculations of undisclosed assets, what have you found out?”
Philip revealed, hesitantly, that the company at the centre of the acquisition had unlisted assets. More worrying, they had declared assets they no longer held or had sold off previously. Jason could imagine Philip’s troubled face back in London.
“Go back to the due diligence, every inch of it. Check we haven’t missed anything. I don’t want to blow this open without evidence.” Jason flicked a pencil across the table. “Don’t rush, I want this done carefully.”
He glanced down at Gemma, she cocked her head to one side. The word asset had caught her ear.
“Hopefully, we’ll find an error in our figures. I would rather it came from our end,” said Philip, echoing Jason’s thoughts. “You should set Gemma to work. Why should she have all the fun! Plug in her laptop and let her check our figures!” Philip chuckled.
“She didn’t bring it. Sensible girl.”
“Shame. She should be slaving away for you, not basking in the sun.”
Jason laughed at the euphuism. Philip didn’t know she was slaving away for Jason for the duration of the holiday.
“I should put her to work at my feet!” Jason gave Gemma a poke with his foot as she rolled her eyes at him.
“Cruel man!” said Philip. “Say hi to her. Tell her she should chill out and ignore you!”
Jason rested his feet on her bottom and earned a look of mock indignation. “She can try, but she is a very dutiful wife, Philip. She wouldn’t dare ignore me.”