Mirabelle

Crushing on my boss is off limits. As the maid, I know he has rules.

But those dark sexy eyes of his haunt me and that hard, muscular frame os his star in my dreams.

No other man I’d ever met had made me dream of the impossible. 

He’s a billionaire. I clean his floors. We’re not from the same universe.

I had no idea one swim in his pool might change anything. He’d never even blinked at me before. But if I don’t stop what’s happening now, I could lose either my chance or my future.

Damon 

Mirabelle is sweet, and young and innocent. I never want the help, but her nearness makes me want to forget myself. I want nothing more than to taste every part of her body. One of my rules is to never get involved with a woman without setting boundaries.

Rules are made to reward good behavior.

And sweet girls like Mirabelle don’t fit into my life or go to my bed.

I don’t have a heart to give her.

Mirabelle

The white graduation gown and cap on my head meant I’d succeeded where my mother had not—earning a nursing degree. When I graduated with a bachelor’s degree, that would be an achievement. But I didn’t have anybody else funding my education, and since universities weren’t beating down my door to offer me a full ride, I would have to work for a while before I could start school again.

Besides, if I went to back to school now, I would be leaving my mother without heat in the winter. She’d done everything for me, and I’d loafed too long. As I crossed the threshold of our small apartment, I sighed, and she hugged me.

She had a cupcake for us to share as she said, “Congratulations, sweetheart.”

I blew out the small candle she’d lit, then I hugged her, saying, “Thank you, Mom.”

She took out the paper plates, and I shivered, noticing that the plastic over the drafty windows had snapped off. I turned toward her as she handed me the plate.

“So no more school means you can start cleaning full-time,” she said.

Right. With only an associate’s in nursing, I wasn’t likely to find a job that would pay nearly as well as my cleaning job did, not that I minded. Damon Dawes had hired me two months ago, after I’d overheard him talking to someone in my checkout aisle and say he was looking for a housekeeper. I’d lost my minimum wage job the same second he hired me part-time. But he’d let me work around my class schedule and mentioned I could go full-time once I was finished with classes.

My shoulders dropped. I’d hoped for at least a day as I said, “I wish I could afford university in the fall to get my bachelor’s degree. Hospitals respect that more.”

My mom worked at a superstore, but her benefits were as awful as her pay. Cleaning one house netted me enough to afford more for us, but not enough to pay for all of that and my nursing degree. At least the housekeeping job gave me a backup that wouldn’t land me in a grocery store if I failed the board exams.

She shrugged. “You know your other choice, until you find another job, or you…”

A chill raced through my veins. Eww. No.

Every girl at our small church hoped to be Brad Evans’s next wife. I didn’t understand his interest in me. So far, I’d avoided him by studying. I’d never even tried to talk to him. Besides, Barbara, Bernadette, and Bambi, the blond triplets, spent every hour trying to get his attention. Thinking about Brad asking my mom for my number made my stomach flip. Brad was a no-go.

Besides, cleaning the mansion and yacht full-time wasn’t that bad. No one was breathing down my neck, and it paid more than my mother ever earned in her life. Truthfully, Damon was sweet to me, and not demanding at all, as he’d pretty much signed off on whatever hours I needed for school. As long as he never married or brought a woman home, I would have enough money. And now I had a backup plan for myself too.

I picked up my fork and said, “No, that’s not a choice.”

My mom bit into her cupcake half and shrugged. “He says he loves you, and he has an in-law suite for me.”

I ate my cupcake. Brad was blond, blue eyed, and the opposite of Damon, my sexy boss, whom I would never really know. I’d never said anything about him before, but this time, I said, “No. He’s horrible.”

She finished cupcake. “I can’t afford the rent without you. With you working full-time, we might get a nicer place.”

Right. That meant that I would have to speak to Mr. Damon Dawes about starting full-time tomorrow. Mom would expect me to do it right away, but I knew he had a business party tonight, so it would have to wait. I would ignore how every cell in my body felt alive when I was near him.

I tossed my trash then held out my hands to hug her one more time. “I love you.”

She walked me to the door and said, “Try to finish early so we can celebrate some more.”

On my bicycle, I pedaled down the same streets. The trip took me twenty minutes. Coming home, the route always made me hyperaware of every sound or movement around me as fear rushed into my veins, but that was later, when the moon was out and I was alone.

I took out my keys to the mansion and let myself in. No one was home—as usual. I scrubbed the toilets, cleaned the office, and made his bed, which always smelled like toasted almonds.

Damon could never know about my little crush—or that his smell alone made me hungry for more. He was rich, successful, cool, and confident. And I was… me. None of those words applied to me or my life.