Louis gave him a quick nod and went back to his own work of supervising the kitchen with an eagle eye.
When Joseph turned in her direction, Jewel felt suddenly nervous. He wasn’t smiling. After last night, she had felt things were going pretty well. She regretted slipping out without leaving a note, but she had to rush in order to meet Mr. Travis at school, and she didn’t want to wake him either. They had a long night and she didn’t know his home well enough to look around for paper and something to write with. She had meant to text him too, but then after dropping her brothers off, her grandmother called needing her to drive her to a doctor’s appointment as her car had stalled. Time had gotten away from her then.
By the time she got home, her brothers had arrived and she had been busy with them hearing about the test, and making lunch. When they asked about her date, she had gotten shy not wanting to share too much, and so instead of calling him with them around she had decided to wait on him to call her. And here he was. She let out the breath she hadn’t known she had been holding.
Joseph reached her position, saw her eyes dilate, and saw the rise and fall of her chest. It brought back memories of last night. The woman was a true beauty and she didn’t know it. Not wanting an audience, he could already feel the stares from the kitchen staff, he softly placed his hand on the small of her back and directed her to the office she and Louis used for keeping track of inventory and ordering supplies.
The simple act had Jewel’s heart racing. She could feel that hand guiding her, and it sent shivers down her spine. When she turned around to face him, that amazingly sexy smile of his that gave her goosebumps was in place, and when he shut the door behind him she giggled like a school girl.
“I have a bone to pick with you,” he teased like he had some kind of big secret. He pulled her towards him planting a kiss on her lips, and then pulled back his head so he could see her face.
“A bone, huh?” she remarked as he pressed her closer to his body so he could feel every inch of her.
“I know how busy you are, but damn I would have liked to wake up with you.” He tilted his head to the side and nuzzled her neck before planting a soft kiss there. He could feel her pulse beneath the skin. Her scent enveloped him and her nearness almost made him forget why he’d come. “I woke up so hard. I was hoping you could have helped me with that.”
“Is that a frequent problem?” she teased.
“Would you complain if it were?” he returned huskily, already feeling his cock swell in his pants.
“No, I don’t think so.” She sounded breathless as he felt her arms reach around him to return his hold. Her arms around him felt good.
“I’d like to try that with you, Jewel. Morning sex,” he nipped at her ear. “And with your brothers away, I was hoping you’d stay.”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I should have left a note or something. But I have responsibilities . . . ,”
“A note would be nice. Next time,” he murmured against her cheek before pulling back and looking down into her eyes. He didn’t want it to sound like a recrimination even though it kind of was.
“Yes, I should have texted, but like I said I had a bunch of stuff I needed to do.”
He wanted to ask what those things were, but didn’t want to come off as being nosy. “So you were busy?” he attempted to lead her.
“Yes, busy,” she evaded and gave him a perplexed look.
This was going to be harder than he thought. Perhaps a bit of the truth would help to get her to open up. “Well, I’ve had a pretty busy day myself. We are having some serious problems with theft. This morning when I came in we got some bad news.” This time he stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. He wanted to gauge her reaction.
“What was it?” she asked suddenly aware that the mood had shifted. His tone worried her.
“We have been having some problems with theft. Rooms getting robbed. Last night there was a robbery at The Mohegan Sun. We don’t have all our hallways video recorded yet, but they do. They sent us copies of the tapes. We are trying to see if the crimes are connected.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Robberies would be bad for the casino. It could ruin their reputation. But she thought it was strange, too, that he would be bringing that up with her. “That’s horrible.”
He nodded his agreement. “The only clues we have are that they seem to be working in a group of three. A triple threat. Three people, two tall, one short. We are assuming at least two are men, from the looks of it. But all wore masks, so we can’t be sure. The third person was the lookout and much shorter.”
“Okay, well that’s good. It gives you something to go with.” Jewel was a tad lost. It had been awhile since she’d been in a relationship. Perhaps he was just sharing his day with her.