Part 1
Gia did a double take at the paper in her hands. The directions that her employer had given her must have been wrong. She got out of her red Ford Focus and walked up to the small building next to where a speedboat was docked.
“Excuse me but is this, uh Wyndemere?” Gia looked down at her paper and nodded her head to confirm her question. The man smiled at her. “Yes it is. Do you need a ride to the island?” Gia’s eyes widened. Ride to the island. “Sure.” She shrugged. This was a first. She walked over to her car and got out her cleaning supplies and walked back over. She boarded the boat, and was soon heading for a castle that she could just make out in the distance.
She knocked on the door and a woman with curly dark hair greeted her. “Oh good you’re here. That was our problem with our previous cleaning crew. They were always coming late. Where’s your crew?” the woman asked, curiously looking on either side of Gia. “I’m it.” Gia smiled.
“Well the staff has the day off on cleaning day so I’m heading off. Mr. Cassadine should be home in a couple of hours and he can take care of your payment.” Gia nodded her head.
Gia said bye to the woman and stepped inside as she went out. She put her supplies down and took in her surroundings. The place was old; she wondered just how old it was. The décor wasn’t really her taste, too dark and gothic, but for some reason, the place fascinated her. She realized that she was wasting time by looking around and needed to get to work, the place was huge. When she walked into the kitchen with her supplies in her hands a note on the counter caught her eye. She sat her things down and picked it up.
The handwriting was beautiful, she noticed. Mr. Cassadine wanted her to clean the kitchen, the bathrooms and his bedroom today. Then the next time, she would need to dust, vacuum, clean the windows, and polish the silverware. It also said something about feeding a horse, if that was possible and he would pay extra.
“Yeah right.” Gia said aloud when she read this. She sat the paper back down, thinking to herself that this guy was not only very rich, but also a bit anal-retentive. She went to work on the kitchen, which was massive. But thankfully, it didn’t seem like this Mr. Cassadine guy was much of a cook. The job of cleaning the kitchen was relatively easy.
She went out in search of all the bathrooms. The only one downstairs was pretty clean as well. But still, it was a bathroom. Gia never thought that she would find herself on her hands and knees cleaning as a job. But she needed the money, and her mother wasn’t about to support her if she wanted to live in PC. So she didn’t have a whole lot of choice. But still, she didn’t like cleaning and she never would.
Gia pulled her braids up in a high ponytail as she got up; she had slipped her shoes off and was in a pair of short denim shorts and a gray tank top, a typical look for her while she was cleaning. She was done with the bathrooms and was now headed upstairs where the master bedroom supposedly was. First door in the west wing, this place was unbelievable.
When she turned the knob, and then opened the door to the master bedroom, she was consumed by a smell. She decided that it was pleasant, almost familiar. Her earlier analogy of this man was rethought as she stepped inside. “Ugh, he’s a slob.” Gia made a face as she looked around the room. She shrugged and went to work picking up his clothes that were on the floor.
Gia then tackled the unmade bed, which was a nightmare. It was huge and she had to climb up on it. She made the bed, and smoothed out the comforter with her hands, his strong smell invading her nose again. She smiled as she wondered what kind of man he was. She made a face, suddenly realizing that he was probably an old man, an old rich and powerful man. She shook her head to shake away these crazy thoughts of the man who’s home she was cleaning. A picture on his desk caught her eye as she tidied it up. She picked up the silver frame and looked at the image. It was of a rather attractive blond guy, with a cute little drown haired girl on his knee. She thought that it might be Mr. Cassadine’s grandkids. She shrugged and put it down.
Gia padded back downstairs and decided that since she still had some time to kill, that she would get a head start on the chores for the next day. She brought out her radio that she took with her on all her jobs, put some music on, and started to clean again. She pulled out one of the chairs that was around the table and climbed up on it, to dust the top of one of the china cabinets.
Nikolas was exhausted when he came home, all he wanted to do was eat his dinner and then go to bed. He was surprised to hear music playing when he walked in. He was immediately annoyed by the racket and walked towards where it was coming from. He stopped dead in his spot as he stepped into his dinning room. There, in his home, was the most amazing woman he had ever seen. He could only see her from behind; her sexy legs were flexed as she reached forward, her arms stretching above her. Her shorts were so short, that his throat tightened as his eyes roomed her body.
“Hi.” His breathless voice was lost over the blaring music. His lips curled into a smile as walked up behind her, never taking his eyes off of her as he moved. He reached next to her and switched off the music. Gia was startled by the sudden loss of her music, she gasped as she spun around, letting out a scream as she saw Nikolas. She lost her balance and went tumbling down. Fortunately, Nikolas caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.
Nikolas smiled numbly as he held Gia in his arms, seeing her face was something he could have never prepared himself for. Her big grown eyes connected with his and he felt like he could stay there forever, lost in the intense gaze. Unfortunately he saw that he was starting to lose the connection as she started to blink her eyes, and look down.
“Hi there.” Nik said in a whisper. “I’m so sorry.” Gia moved to get down from his hold and looked away shyly. Nikolas removed his hold on her but stayed as close as he could to her. Gia unconsciously tried to fix herself a bit, touching her braids and smoothing out her clothes.
Out of a nervous reaction to his intense staring, Gia glared at him. “You could warn someone before you go and turn off their music like that. And have you ever heard of personal space?” Nikolas smiled at her, slightly taken aback by her accusations.
“You know maybe if you didn’t have the music up so loud you would have heard me come in?” Gia glared at him again.
“Who are you anyway?” her arms were crossed over her chest. “Who are you? Nik questioned back. “Gia Campbell, now answer the question.”
Gia thought that maybe he was a friend of the family’s or something. Her stance was hostile, her hand now on her hip and her head cocked to the side. This intense, and incredibly attractive man flustered her as she stood in his presence. She watched him extend his hand out to her, and with a fluttery heart, she took it within hers.
“Nikolas Cassadine.” His answer was smooth and confident. Gia’s jaw dropped. This was Nikolas Cassadine?
“You, your Mr. Cassadine?” Gia stammered as she removed her hand from his. Nikolas chuckled slightly. “It’s Nikolas. And what, you think I come into people’s houses and shut off their music at random?” Gia looked away shyly, feeling foolish suddenly. Nikolas found this incredibly sexy and bent down to look at her. “Now who are you? Besides Gia Campbell. I want to know why you’re in my house.” His voice was a whisper and it sent shivers up Gia’s spine.
Gia was suddenly feeling very sorry that she had yelled at her employer. Even if she hated this job, she needed it desperately. “I work for Smith’s Cleaning Services. I’m so sorry that I got so snippy with you. I just get so tired with this job and I took my frustrations out on you. I really need this job. I just can’t get fired. I’m really sorry, please except my apology.” She looked up at him with wide eyes, which were filled with hope.
Nikolas was staring at her, fascinated by her personally and her charm. He heard the desperation behind her plea and couldn’t help but feel for her situation. He took a moment to contemplate why a girl like her would be working cleaning houses in the first place.
“It’s all right Gia, you’re not going to be fired. You’re right, I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that.”
Gia looked at him. She shrugged her shoulders. “Well it’s your house and I probably shouldn’t have had the music up so loud, but yes maybe you should work on it a little, it is pretty creepy.” Nikolas snorted at her comment. He watched her as she walked over to her cleaning supplies and gathered them into a box.
Gia could feel his eyes on her body and she turned around to glare at him. “Can I help you?” Nikolas blushed as he looked away slightly. “I don’t know, can you cook?” Gia laughed. “Probably better then you can seeing as how your kitchen is practically spotless, why?” Nikolas smiled at her. He bit his bottom lip slightly, not sure if he had the guts to ask his question.
“Well I’ve had a long day and I’m not in the mood to cook, that’s all.” He said shyly. Gia smiled at his adorably shy mannerisms. “I’m not really in the mood to cook either but how bout I whip us up some PB&J?” Nikolas made a face. “What, are you too good for that?” Gia cocked her head to the side. “No it’s just I didn’t know that anyone past the age of five ate that stuff.” Nikolas was quite honest with his words.
Gia laughed incredulously at him. “Well you have the stuff for it, I saw it when I was cleaning.” Nikolas nodded his head. “Lucky.” He said. Gia looked at him confused. “My brother must have brought it in here when he watched my little sister, who is eight by the way.”
Gia opened her mouth wide in shock, nodding her head slowly as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Well fine, you don’t have to eat it. I guess you’re on your own for dinner though.” She turned around to walk out. “Wait Gia, OK fine, it sounds good, will you make it for me please?” Gia softened at his adorable smile. “Prepare to be amazed Mr. Cassadine, because you’ve never experienced a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich until you’ve tried one of mine.” She walked into the kitchen.
Nikolas stood where he was for a moment. He didn’t know what had come over him, inviting this girl he just met to make dinner for him. One thing was for sure, this woman intrigued him and his heart did funny things when he was in her presence. He cleared his throat and forced his body to move to fallow her.
“So the key to making a good sandwich Mr. Cassadine, is to make sure that you have just the right peanut butter to jelly ratio. Not too much of either.” Gia stood in his kitchen, an apron wrapped around her. Nikolas scrunched his nose at her. “Will you stop with the Mr. Cassadine thing? It’s making me feel old.” Gia looked up as she spread peanut butter on a piece of bread with a knife.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “But you’re my boss remember?” Nik frowned. “Right.” He said. Gia’s lips slowly curled into a smile and Nikolas sucked in a breath at the sight of it. “So Nikolas, what’s a guy like you doing living in a place like this?” She stuck a peanut-buttery finger in her mouth and cleaned it off with her tongue. Nikolas’ mouth dropped open slightly, forgetting the question she just asked him.
“W..what?” his eyes were still glued to her mouth as he stuttered this in a low voice. Gia blushed as she realized what he was looking at and put her hand down to her side. “I said what’s a guy like you doing living in a house like this? If you want to call it a house.” Gia laughed slightly. Nikolas grinned at her, he couldn’t help it, he was completely captivated by her.
“I uh, I’m a prince.” Gia started to laugh again but stopped herself. She looked at his face and something about the way he looked made her believe him. “Wow.” Her statement was simple. “Are you ready to try this?” Nikolas was slightly stunned by the little attention she paid to this news. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Gia laughed at him, hearing the doubt in his voice. “You’ll live Nikolas.” She brought the food over and sat down across from him at the table.
Nikolas was a bit embarrassed as he brought the food to his mouth; Gia was watching him so intently. He bit down on the soft white bread that was wedged between his teeth, chewing and tasting it with an odd expression on his face. Gia looked at him oddly. “You’re acting like you’ve never eaten peanut butter before.”
Nikolas smiled as he continued to chew the thick gooey substance. He found it annoying that he had to chew so long before he was able to answer her. “I wasn’t aloud to have junk food when he I was younger.” He was still swallowing when he said this. “Junk food? This is not junk food!” Gia was shocked at this. Nikolas shrugged.
“Well what do you think?” Gia asked. Nikolas thought about it. “I like the taste, it’s the texture I’m going to have to get use to.” Gia smiled brightly at him, and Nikolas couldn’t help but be excited by her excitement. “See I told you that you would like it.” Gia was cocky when she said this. Nikolas chuckled. “OK you were right, I like it.” He held his hands up in surrender. Gia chuckled giddily as she began to eat her own sandwich.
Nikolas sat across from her, sneaking quick glances at her that he hoped she didn’t notice, but she did. Having Gia in his house, one of her bare feet tucked under her thigh as she lazily swung her other foot, felt so natural to him. When he glanced up at her again, his eyes caught on something, the slight smudge of peanut butter on her upper lip. He smiled as he cleared his throat.
Gia looked up at him. “What?” Nikolas gestured to his own lip. “You have a little..” Gia laughed as she blindly tried to wipe her mouth. Nikolas shook his head. “Still there.” He said. “Uh, can you help? Obviously I’m having problems.” She laughed. Nikolas’s heart was pounding as he reached over and wiped off the now crusty peanut butter.
Gia’s lips curled into a smiled under his thumb and Nik licked his own, suddenly dry lips. Gia’s eyelashes fluttered at the sight of his tongue darting out and slowly leaned forward. Nikolas quickly pressed his lips to hers and Gia melted against them.
She moaned as he teased her lips, nipping and licking at them. He pulled back slightly and then thrusted his lips towards hers in a coaxing manner and Gia gasped, her soft breath dancing across his opened mouth. Gia parted her lips, and Nikolas accepted her invitation, pushing his tongue into the warm depths of her mouth. Gia sucked, desperately tasting his tongue and relishing in his unique flavor. Her hand reached up to touch his face, and she felt his do the same. When she felt him try and pull her closer to him, she suddenly pulled back.
Watching his mouth that lingered open, unconsciously tug towards her lips again as his eyes fluttered open.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what just happened.” Gia stood up and rather dumbly pressed her clothes flat with her hands and then fumbled with straightening her hair. Nikolas was still dazed as he continued to look forward in the spot she was previously sitting in; he blinked a few times to snap out of the trance he was in. “I think we just kissed.” He turned to face her as he said this.
Gia glared up at him as she went to work removing her apron and then placing it on the counter. “I mean we shouldn’t have done that. We just met and you’re my boss. I, I have to go.” Nikolas stood up. “Where?” He asked. “Uh home, that’s what I was thinking anyway.” Gia joked. “But I uh, the house.” Nik stumbled. “I’ll be back tomorrow to finish the job.” Gia smiled as she made her way out of the kitchen.
“Thanks for the sandwich.” Nik muttered as he watched her swiftly leave. He sat down when she left, the effects of the excitement that he had felt in her presence hitting him heavily. “She’ll be back tomorrow.” He smiled as he said this aloud and nodded his head lightly.