Blackmailing The Billionaire(18)

Chapter Seven





Max walked into the bedroom and sat on his bed. He was filled with a  mixture of emotions. He'd never felt anything like that before with any  woman he'd been with. She was sensual, funny, and full of life. The sex  had been fantastic. Never had he left a woman's bed without saying  something first. He wasn't known for his after sex bedroom talk, but he  still felt horrible for slinking away when she went to the bathroom.

He laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to justify his  actions to himself. After an hour passed he had to fight not to go to  her. He couldn't turn it into something emotional. They were both  consenting adults. They'd had sex - it was nothing more than that.  Finally, he managed to fall into a restless sleep as dawn approached.

Max woke, surprised to see his clock read eleven. He'd never slept past  seven. He figured he could give himself a break, considering he hadn't  gotten to sleep until at least six. He stumbled to the kitchen,  immediately heading for the coffee pot. He prepared the coffee and  watched the machine drip. There was no sign of Cassie. He was getting  ready to approach her door, when he heard the familiar creek of the  hinges. He breathed a sigh of relief. He tensed, waiting for her to step  in the kitchen. She went straight to the bathroom, and he heard the  tale-tell latch of the lock.

He grabbed his coffee and waited, leaning on the counter. He heard the  shower start and smiled. She took her time and he waited, though grew  impatient as the shower seemed to never end. He had their business  meeting in a couple hours and he wanted to try to get some items  straightened out before they left.

Finally, the door opened and she made her way toward the table, this  time fully dressed in a silky looking blouse and slacks. She was  avoiding eye contact. He never took his eyes off her, enjoying the sight  and smell of her as she passed him and reached into the cupboard for  her own cup. He noticed the slight shake in her hand as she set the cup  on the counter and lifted the coffee pot.

"We need to talk," he finally said, causing her to jump.

"Really? What about?" she asked as casually as she could manage. Max  felt like throwing something. So, maybe it hadn't been the best idea  he'd ever had to walk away without saying a word.

"Look, Cassie, I'm sorry about last night. I didn't know what to say. I  don't normally sleep with employees. I just … " he trailed off.

"I'm not your employee, Max. Secondly, I'm a big girl and make my own  decisions. You didn't force me into anything. It was fun, but it's done  with. Let's not act like little girls and chat about our feelings,  okay?" she told him. He knew she was putting up a wall, but her cavalier  attitude got under his skin.         

     



 

"Whatever the lady wants," he sarcastically replied. He was going on a  walk. He threw on his coat and marched to the front door. He got a very  unwanted surprise when he opened it. There was no opening where it  should be. In front of him was nothing but a solid wall of white. "What  the hell?" he muttered, shocked out of his anger.

He poked his finger at the snow and found it wouldn't budge. Attempting  to dig at it, he found it didn't even make a dent in the solid wall.  When he figured out he was getting nowhere, he shut the door and walked  to the living room window and pushed the curtains aside. How had he not  noticed there wasn't any natural light coming into the cabin? Probably  because he was used to waking before dawn, so a dark room seemed like  the beginning of his daily routine.

"What's going on?" Cassie asked, staring at the white nothingness out  the window. Max immediately went to his phone, flipping it open. He then  tossed it on the couch and spoke a few choice words.

"No service. I have no idea what's going on, and it looks like we're  trapped, at least for the moment," Max said, running his hands through  his hair.

"What do you mean we're trapped?" she almost shrieked. Cassie was  starting to panic as she realized her situation. She was stuck in a  cabin, behind a wall of snow, who knows how high, with a man she'd just  slept with, who regretted it. Just her luck, she thought as her lips  twitched.

When she looked at Max's incredulous expression, she lost it. Cassie  doubled over as she began laughing so hard she could barely breathe. She  couldn't stop, though her stomach and sides were killing her. It was  just such a typically awkward situation for her and she should've seen  it coming the moment they hopped on the jet for Alaska. Heck, she was  surprised the dang thing didn't land in the middle of a snow covered  mountain, leaving them stranded for weeks.

"What's so damn funny?" Max demanded through gritted teeth. His hands on  his hips and the tone of his voice sent her into another round of  giggles. She dropped to the floor, her sides hurting so bad she couldn't  stand up any longer.

"Pl … please … d … don't … say … anything … for … a … a … moment," she managed to get out  between fits of laughter. He made some kind of grunting sound, before  turning away and stomping into his room. She managed to calm down after  about ten minutes, and pulled herself together. She had tears streaming  down her cheeks.

She knew the situation was anything but funny, but there was nothing  they could do about it, so why not just let go and laugh? It could be  worse. They could be stranded with zero food and no shelter. She finally  realized there was a humming noise, and that's why they still had  power. There must've been a generator hooked up that automatically  turned on when the power went out. It must be something that occurred  regularly in the area. At least they had hot coffee. She didn't know how  long it would last so she had no choice but to talk to Max.

She sat on the couch and waited for him to come out. What seemed like forever, in actuality, only took a few minutes.

"Have you finished?" Max asked in a deadly serious tone, which almost  made her lose it again. When her lips twitched he glared, effectively  cutting her off.

"I'm sorry, I know none of this is amusing, but I … this is just so … I don't know what else to do," she finally finished.

"I have enough to deal with, without having to deal with a hysterical  woman, too," he said in his most authoritative tone. His words angered  her enough to stop any thought of laughter from erupting again.

"You have no right to speak to me like that, Max. I understand the  situation is serious, so tell me, Mr. have-it-all-together, what's going  on?" she said. He turned and paced the small room. He didn't have much  space to do it.

"This must be some kind of freak storm. They know where we are, so it  shouldn't take them long to dig us out," he said optimistically.

"Sounds like a great plan," she said in all innocence. She knew she was getting under his skin, but he deserved it.

"Obviously, a generator is running. I'm going to try and figure out  where it's running from so we can conserve energy. I also need to check  the stack on the wood stove to see if it's safe to use, not that we have  much wood in here. The good thing with the snow is that it works as  insulation so the cabin won't get too cold, even if we lose power. Why  don't you do a full check of supplies. I don't think there's a need to  ration food, but we don't want to be fools," he said, immediately going  into commander mode.         

     



 

They both went to their tasks. He found the generator was stored in a  cubby underneath a closet. It was large, and full, thankfully. If they  used it moderately, they'd be okay for about a week. Cassie found at  least a month's supply of food in the house, and plenty of water. They  would surely be rescued within a few days. Most likely by the end of the  day. They had nothing to worry about.

"We'll be fine. Plenty of fuel and food. We can't use the fireplace. I can't verify if the stack is clear," Max said.

"I'm going to start some breakfast," Cassie said to fill the silence.  She wasn't going to be so petty she wouldn't prepare him a meal at the  same time as her. They had to limit the amount of resources they used.

"Fine, I'm going to take a quick shower," Max replied. He left her alone  and she put together eggs, bacon and toast. She had to go through the  fresh supplies before getting into too many of the canned goods, just in  case it took them longer than she assumed to get rescued.

Cassie took her few minutes alone to figure out how she was going to act  for the day. It would be next to impossible to avoid him in the small  space. There were some good books she could read, but she was sure she  wouldn't be able to concentrate with him so close. She could stay mad  the entire time, but that just made things miserable for her, and he  most likely wouldn't care. She decided to just pretend the other night  hadn't happened and get on with her day, make the best of a bad  situation.