Business Scandals

Chapter 9: Lovely Explorations

Sorry for the delayed update! This is quite THE chapter. Please enjoy, and REVIEW! :) ~Serena

Annabeth's POV –

The doorbell rang just as I carried my lightweight suitcase down the apartment stairs, rolling it towards the front door. I pull it open and see the one and only Percy Jackson, grinning. He grabs my suitcase out of my hands and starts pulling it towards the elevator. Deciding that it would be useless to protest, I let him take it and keep my purse over my shoulder, ensuring he wouldn't take that either.

"Thals, I'm leaving!" I call over my shoulder.

"See ya, Annie!" she calls back from her room, where she was working on some case.

I follow Percy down the corridor and to the elevators located at the end. Pressing the down button, I peer up at him and manage a smile when I saw him looking down at me. "You know when I applied for this job, I didn't expect to be travelling the world."

"I didn't know you were going to be this good at your job. If you weren't, I would've taken someone else from your department with more experience," he responded, jabbing the elevator button again.

I frown. "Are you saying that I don't have much experience?"

His eyes widen. "What? No! I meant experience here."

I nod and we hear the elevator ding, signaling its arrival. Hopping in, the elevator doors closed before us and we stood side by side, our shoulders touching, making me flush with heat. I quickly ran my hands through my curls to shield my face from him.

By the time we got outside, Percy's driver was already out by the trunk, and he took my bag from Percy, placing it in. Once we got into the car, I sat on the very right whereas he sat on the very left. Suddenly, I hear his deep laugh and I turn my head to face him.

"You know we'll be together a lot this trip, right?" he says, a small smile still plastered on his face.

I nod slowly. "I know that. Why?"

"You're going to have to talk to me more. It's a great work relationship bonding time. From personal experience." He gives me a wink.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm just saying that I want this trip to be something memorable."

xXxXxXx

"You paid for first class seats? Are you kidding?" I exclaim, staring at the two first class seats Percy ordered. Our plane was divided into 3 sections, separated by restrooms. Section one was first class, section 2 was plus, and section 3 was economy.

He chuckles from behind me, ushering me to file in. There were 2 seats in each group, and we had selected two seats on the left side. He allowed me to get the window seat where as he took the aisle seat. "You really underestimate my job, Annabeth."

He settled in his seat, clutching his office laptop as well as a file. The seats were as plush and comfortable as my couch at home. The leather material was blue and impeccably clean. Wow. This is what first class feels like.

We arrived at the airport twenty minutes before nine, just catching the boarding line before the entrance closed. I lifted the window just as the speaker came on and the pilot announced, "Welcome to Grace Airlines. It is a pleasure for us to be flying you today. Our destination is London, England, and we'll arrive at around 9 in the morning in London time. Please fasten your seatbelts and call for our flight attendants for any assistance. Thank you, and enjoy your flight."

The both of us fastened our seatbelts as we heard the engine roar to life, and I stared out at the airport, admiring the city glows of late New York City. I feel Percy stiffen beside me, and I shift my body to look at him. His hands were clutching his right arm rest as well as our shared middle one. His eyes were clenched tightly closed and I could see beads of sweat along his forehead and the side of his face.

"Percy, what's wrong?" I used the back of my hand to feel his forehead, checking if he had a high fever or if something was happening. Before I could return my hand to my lap, he grabs it from his forehead and intertwines our fingers, placing our hands on the middle armrest. I look down at our hands and back up at him.

"What are you doing?" I whisper.

He opens his left eye and looks at me. "Annabeth, I'm afraid of planes. It's a secret of mine."

My eyes widen. The billionaire Percy Jackson was afraid of something as small as planes? I understand his fear, empathizing with him. I squeeze his hand and he squeezes mine in return. Our hands seem to perfectly mold together…

The plane continues to run down the trackway, and before we knew it, we were off from the ground and in the air. The weird stomach drops made me excited, but I knew Percy was freaking the hell out. When the plane steadied, Percy opened his eyes to catch me staring at those green, deep orbs. He kept his hand wrapped around mine as he tapped some buttons on the side remote controller and started a movie. We didn't use earplugs so we just watched the movie in silence, our hands the only things touching.

"I've always wanted to go to London, you know," I began, looking at him and not the screen.

He tilted his head to look at me, smirking. "I guess I made your dream come true."

"Have you been? Well, you probably have."

He thinks about it for a moment, his eyes turning back to the screen. "Once. When I was ten."

"Did you like it there?" I question, adjusting my gaze as well.

"It's nice. It's not my favorite city, though. Miami is."

I smile and don't reply. Two hours later, I feel my eyes growing heavy as Percy scrolled through the other movies, our previous one finished. I hear him say something to me, but I'm too tired to respond or even comprehend what he said. My eyes flutter closed as I lean my head against his warm shoulder, our hands still entangled together, and I drifted into a deep sleep.

Percy's POV –

I scrolled through the various new movies with Annabeth's tiny hand snuggled in with mine.

"So do you want action or sci-fi?" I ask, contemplating between the two genres. She didn't respond, and I tilted my head sideways to look at her.

"Annabeth?" I ask again, unsure if she was asleep or not. She didn't reply again. Her head fell against my shoulder, the top of her head touching the left side of my chin. There, I concluded that she drifted off. Selecting a random movie, I let it play in silence as I struggled to find my place with Annabeth.

Damn Annabeth with her strawberry smelling hair and tiny hands and beautiful grey eyes and her tan skin. She was too gorgeous to be ignored. But hell no, I did not get hung up over a single girl. No more of that.

But this is different. I could date her. I could. But that would ruin her. More her, less me. I couldn't hurt her. But I can't deny it anymore. I have feelings for her. Inevitable feelings.

I look down at Annabeth, her blond curls scattered over my shirt. Our hands stayed locked on the middle armrest and I watched her sleep, peacefully. Before I knew it, I was dozing off.

xXxXxXx

"Excuse me sir, but we're 10 minutes from landing."

My eyes pop open and stare up at a woman with red curls, smiling at me. I took my right hand and rubbed my eyes, clearing my vision.

"And if you could wake your companion, as well. I hope you had a nice flight," the flight attendant placed a hand on my shoulder before walking down the aisle. Based on the light streaming through the window, I could tell we were in London. I looked down at Annabeth sleeping soundly on my shoulder. I smiled, and in that moment, I knew that I had feelings for her.

I straighten and yawn, wiping my mouth. Our hands were still entwined together, and I squeezed gently. I leaned down and whispered, "Annabeth, wake up."

She shifted, muttering some random words and licking her dry lips. Darn, was that hot. I said her name louder, and I used my right hand to shake her shoulder.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." I saw a hint of a smile on her face and I knew she was awake. "We're landing."

Annabeth sat up, removing her head from my shoulder, but keeping our fingers latched. She used her left hand to wipe her eyes. "You okay?" she asked.

I didn't feel a thing this entire plane ride. I was asleep the whole time. "Yeah, I'm fine now."

She smiles. "Oh. Okay." Suddenly, she removes her hand from mine and turns to the window, staring at the rainy clouds and glancing down at the city. So I guess the hand holding was all part of my comfort.

Even during the descent and landing of the plane, I kept my eyes trained on Annabeth and the window, staring outside, fears forgotten. When we arrived at the airport, Annabeth started ranting about everything her massive brain knew about London.

"So London is England's capital and it's set on the river Thames and it has history stretching all the way back to the Roman times for two millennia-," she starts ranting before I gave her a look.

She raises her eyebrows. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I chuckle. "You're such a smartass."

She grinned triumphantly. "I'll take that as a compliment, dummy head."

I frowned. "You do know I'm your boss, right? And I'm not a dummy head. It takes effort to be this good looking." I wink at her.

She rolls her grey eyes at me and I resist the urge to just kiss her straight on the mouth.

We checked in at the Landmark Hotel, one of my very favorites. It was rather low-priced, but the interior was classy. I had booked a double suite for us, giving us each some privacy.

"Dear gods," Annabeth whispered as I swiped the card and pushed the door open. The double suite had two bedrooms, a dining room, a lounging room, and one master bathroom. When we entered, we were immediately welcomed by the fairly huge lounging area, the windows giving us a perfect view of the river, whatever the name was.

The door closed behind us, our only source of light coming from the windows that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. Seeing the grin on Annabeth's face made something beat furiously in my chest. She stepped to the right and flicked on the lights.

We walked to the left and into the kitchen and dining room, only separated by some translucent blinds that hung from the ceiling. We walked back down the hallway to the right, past the lounging rooms and into the bedroom area. The two bedrooms were quite similar, except mine a white color and hers a blue. At the end of the hallway was the bathroom that we shared.

"Wow, Percy, this is amazing," Annabeth thanked me, heading inside her room. "Thank you for all of this."

I smiled broadly before entering my own room, throwing my bag down on the bed and flopping down on my back and onto the bouncy bed. "Annabeth, we're going out in 20 minutes."

She calls out from her room. "Okay!"

xXxXxXx

Thirty minutes later, I threw on some clothes and walked out with the key card tucked in my jean pocket, and stuffed my hands into my navy hoodie. Annabeth walked out, pulling the hood of her white sweatshirt over her head.

"It started raining, Perce."

I raised an eyebrow. "Wow that just ruins my day."

London generally had mild weather, ranging from the low 60's to the high 70's in the summertime. There were frequent showers and the winter was excruciatingly cold. Most of the time, the sky was grey and dark, much to my resentment.

She scrunches up her eyebrows as we exited the room. "Why? I like the grey skies."

I pressed the call button for the elevator. "I hate rainy days. I like sunny days at the beach, in the water, the sun."

The elevator dings, signaling its arrival. The golden doors pull open, and both of us step in. Annabeth says, "I've never taken you as the guy to take time off at the beach."

I smile grimly. "I have a beach house in Montauk. It's a pretty great place. I take two weeks off every summer to go there. But not much these past years."

She nods in consideration. "So where do you want to go?" she questions as we hopped into the car that I called for.

I shrug. "You know. It's your first time, so we could just go everywhere."

I could sense the excitement radiating from her as she scooched closer to me, beaming. Her eyes glittered just like they did when her blueprints were approved, or when she discovered something that made her happy.

We toured the entire city of London. First we went to the Tower of London, then to the Palace of Westminister, and to the London Natural History Museum (Why go to this one when there's one in Manhattan?) and the Big Ben.

The best part was when we went to the aquarium.

We had stopped for lunch at a café named Kaffeine, where we ate mini sandwiches and drank English coffee. It was starting to be a pretty damn memorable trip for me.

It was 8 o'clock when we arrived at the London Eye, which was quite near our hotel, and we got onto our own cart once I paid for the tickets. The city lights flared onto the water, giving off reflections. Other people crowded into the same cart, the conversation increasing by the minute. I kept close to Annabeth at all times.

The ride lasted for about twenty minutes, giving Annabeth and me perfect time to admire London.

"It's so beautiful at night," she comments, her palms pressed against the glass, her eyes facing the city. You're beautiful.

My hand grabbed the back of my neck nervously, and I said, "Yeah."

When we got off the London Eye, I took her hand immediately and lead her to the railing, facing the water. She followed me, her lips in a smile and her hair flying all over the place. I thought she never looked more beautiful.

She looks confused for a minute. "I thought we were heading back to the hotel afterwards."

"I have to tell you something," I say while she stares out at the river. She turns towards me, and I take that moment to strike.

I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her to me, smashing my lips against hers. At first, she was stiff and unresponsive, but I kept my lips on hers, praying that she would do something.

Finally, she responded. Annabeth tasted like coffee, the taste so magnificently alluring. My arm swooped around her waist, pulling her tighter to me. Our mouths seem to mold so perfectly together, and I felt her luscious hair around my fingers. Her arms reached around my neck, and she pulled at my hair. Her lips were as soft as I pictured. Everywhere in my body tingled.

But then, Annabeth pulls away, and my arms are empty.

I allow my arms to drop to my side, and our gazes meet.

Annabeth's POV –

I was mesmerized by the flowing water of River Thames, awed at the sight. Percy was, god, he was amazing. Throughout the day, my undecided feelings for him grew. He was just so freaking gorgeous, with his green eyes and his black hair. But then I shut those feelings away for the hundredth time. Annabeth, boss-employee relationships are strictly prohibited.

"I need to tell you something," he states, urging me to look at him.

I turn my heads towards him, and before I knew it, he captured my lips in a swift movement.

My heartbeat rate instantaneously raced, stunned and ultimately shocked. But as if something took over me, my lips naturally responded to his passionate kiss, my body releasing its tension. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close as his arms sprayed around my waist. I smelled his cologne, which was like a fresh breeze at the beach. The scent was even more pronounced now that we were kissing.

One of my hands slid down his right bicep, and I felt his muscular arm flex from under my arm. My mouth was synchronized with his, and he tilted his head to kiss me deeper. Only when he did that, did I realize what I was doing. I completely forgot that he was my boss, someone that I worked with.

Reluctantly, I pulled away from me, staring up at his eyes.

"Percy-," I started, wanting to explain.

He holds a hand up, stepping back and releasing his hold on me. "I'm so sorry."

His voice struck me. "It's not your fault. I didn't stop you."

Avoiding my gaze, he states, "We should go back."

The tension on the way back to our suite was painful. In the elevator, we stood at the opposite sides, and I took a deep breath. Ruining my relationship with my boss was unacceptable and seriously stupid. Once we returned to the room, he was the first to talk.

"Do you need the bathroom first?"

Seriously, that was what he had to ask? "Um, yes, I'll let you know when I'm done."

He nods and walks into his room, pushing the door almost closed as I walked into my room and got my pajamas and my bathroom things.

Inside the shower, I replayed the entire kiss in my head. Regret, affection, and confusion hit me. What could I possibly do to fix this? My mind raced with different thoughts and scenarios. The way the kiss felt…I couldn't deny it.

I couldn't deny that something was happening between us. And it was inevitable.

WHAT'D YOU GUYS THINK OF THAT? First of all, a BIG thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapter. We got to 36 reviews!

Do you think this story is worth getting to 42 reviews by the next update? If so, REVIEWW! :) ~Serena