Love Outside my Reach

“They sent you here?”

Lina Cavanaugh's gaze moved slowly from Chloe’s shoes to her face, lingering just long enough to make the assessment sting. “Pathetic. What’s your name?”

She sounded quite haughty.

Chloe felt really nervous under such look.

The agency she applied to for a house keeping job had said the position was urgent. A last-minute replacement. Good pay. Accommodation included. She had clung to that promise all the way down here, through the long drive and the knot of fear in her stomach. Standing now in the vast luxurious living room of the Cavanaugh mansion, she wondered if desperation had made her careless.

“I am...” she began, clearing her throat.

“Chloe Carson.”

The voice came from behind her.

It was masculine. Deep and cool.

Chloe turned.

He was leaning against the banister like he belonged nowhere else in the world. Tall and broad-shouldered. His brown hair sat carelessly on his head, ruffled as though a whirlwind ran through it. Chloe could not stop her eyes from wandering down to the mass of hair that sat on his bare legs as he was on denim shorts. He held an apple in one hand, biting into it with lazy indifference as his eyes settled on her.

Their eyes met.

Chloe felt the moment stretch, uncomfortable and intimate all at once. He did not look away, he rather studied her curiously.

“You know her?” Lina Cavanaugh asked coolly.

He shrugged, chewing. “No. You asked her twice already. And she answered.”

The woman drew her lips into a thin line. “Jordan, must you speak with food in your mouth?”

“When is she starting?” he asked instead, nodding slightly toward Chloe.

She noticed it then, he had not looked away from her once.

“I haven’t decided,” Lina replied. “I don’t hire strangers blindly.”

Jordan took another bite. “You trust the agency enough to invite her into your house.”

“You think I trust paperwork,” she snapped. “And not people?”

Chloe stood silently, her hands clasped in front of her, resisting the urge to apologize unnecessarily. She reminded herself she had done nothing wrong and rather focused instead on breathing, listening and observing.

Jordan finally pushed away from the banister and dropped onto one of the couches, stretching his legs out casually. “She looks harmless. Besides, what's the point? The agency sent her here, they sent you her papers and documents too, didn't they? All they need from you is to go through her details, see her face, which you have, and approve her. Easy peasy. I mean… you trust them, they have been doing this for a long time and they don't ever just send anyone, plus…"

Lina Cavanaugh sighed as she glared at her son. “You would not teach me how to run my household.”

He smiled faintly, unfazed. “Just saying.”

The sound of heels interrupted them.

Chloe turned as a young girl descended the stairs. Elegantly dressed in a tight sleeveless red glittery gown that stopped right below her butts, heavy red