The Big Boss

by Wylder, Penny

  She sighs. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s just…”

  “I get it,” I say. “He’s an important client. I won’t fuck up your relationship.”

  “Thanks.” Lila smiles and gives me a hug before heading to grab the cactus.

  And I will do that. I’m not going to fuck over my friend’s livelihood because some corporate billionaire is an asshole. But I’m going to make it clear what he can and cannot do while making assumptions about people he doesn’t know. That much is for damn sure.

  5

  Keenan

  I can’t focus on anything. This morning has been a complete loss waiting for the damn flower delivery. Or cactus delivery as today’s case may be. I made it clear to Lila that I wanted the new girl to make the deliveries from now on, but it’s possible that she might not be available.

  My entire body seems to be buzzing with energy. I can barely explain it, but every nerve is electrified waiting to see her, this nameless woman that’s taken hold of my imagination. I dreamed about her last night. Wanton, sexy dreams that had me out of bed and into the shower an hour earlier than normal just so I could jerk off.

  More than once.

  This limbo is maddening. This is why I try not to take chances with anything. Not in business, not in life. Chances mean there are possibilities for failure, and I don’t like that. This whole morning has been maddening with the idea that she might not show up. And equally maddening with the idea that she will.

  What will I say to her? “I’m drawn to you so impossibly and completely that I changed my entire routine to see you again?” That would sound at best desperate, and at worst entirely creepy.

  It’s a good thing that I didn’t ask for her name because I would have tried to look her up last night, and that would be even more creepy. I just want to see her again to see if the chemistry that I felt is real, and if it’s something that we should pursue. My gut tells me that it is. I’ve never felt anything like that before. Like lightning arcing between us.

  I want to know everything about her.

  There’s a knock at the door, and she doesn’t wait for me to respond before she enters, cactus in hand. And immediately she’s talking even though she’s pointedly not looking at me.

  “Listen, you’re an important client to Lila, and that’s the only reason that I’m not screaming at you right now. But you have a lot of nerve ordering me here like I’m some kind of servant. I actually don’t work for Lila. I’m her best friend and delivered your damn flowers yesterday because she was sick. I have my own job to worry about, let alone being bossed around by someone who thinks that he’s better than everybody else.”

  She puts the cactus down on the desk a little too hard, and I don’t even care. I’m drinking her in. Her hair cascades around her shoulder in dark waves, and her simple casual clothes highlight her form in a way that I hadn’t appreciated before. She’s definitely not the kind of woman I’ve tangled with in the past. And maybe that’s the problem. Maybe that’s exactly what I need.

  I stand up, trying to hold back the smile from my face. Her anger at me is a bit justified, and a bit not. But I like the irreverence. I miss it. Crave it. “If you’re going to tear me a new one, you should at least look me in the eye while you’re doing it.”

  I don’t care about the argument, but I want to see her eyes. That spark and fire that I can feel burning in my veins. She doesn’t look at me, so I circle the desk to her, the need to be close nearly impossible to resist, and I’m barely holding my body in check. “If you want to scream at me, scream,” I say. “I promise the soundproofing in here is good enough.”

  The innuendo is intentional, and she lifts her eyes to mine. Immediately the air in the room feels electric, and I know that she feels it too. This close, I can see the way her pupils dilate. This connection between us is raw and real, and like nothing I’ve ever felt.

  “What’s your name?” I ask softly.

  “Justine.” There’s that breathlessness again. The sign I’m hoping means that this is just as overwhelming for her.

  “Well, Justine, you were right. The cactus is a good choice. It’s something I’ll take home with me.” I see her swallow, like she doesn’t know what to say. Like she didn’t expect this kind of response. “And I’m sorry that I offended you by assuming you worked for Lila. I would like to know more about you so I don’t make that mistake again.”

  Anger suddenly flares in her eyes. “Are you toying with me?”

  I do smile now. “No, I’m not.”

  “You must think I’m some kind of circus act or something parading around for your amusement. Or someone that you can walk all over. I know men like you. Obsessed with status and wealth and the size of their office and their bank account. You’re not interested in me. Not really. I’m too down to earth for you. I’m nothing more than something different. A new flavor. That’s it. You can’t change my mind and I’m not fooled.”

  She raises her hand like she’s thinking about slapping me, and I catch her wrist. For a moment, my gaze focuses on her hand. There’s dirt there—maybe from working with the flowers. And calluses. She’s worked hard.

  Looking back, her eyes are wide open on mine, and none of the anger that was there just seconds before is visible. Justine’s chest rises and falls faster. She’s right here with me in this moment, and it feels like we’re hanging in the balance. We’re going to fall one way or another. I want to fall into her.

  “You’re right,” I say quietly. “Nothing I say right now will change your mind.”

  She makes a small sound, maybe a word, but I don’t hear it because I am already kissing her. Nothing I said would have convinced her. Maybe my actions will. There was nothing in the world that could have kept me from kissing her, and as soon as our lips meet, the world explodes into fire and color.

  Justine comes alive in my arms, kissing me back. A groan is torn from my throat. She tastes like mint and strawberries and everything sweet. But more than that, that undercurrent of electric fire.

  Our tongues tangle together, and I’m blind with it. My cock is so hard that it’s aching even after coming twice this morning with thoughts of her mouth. I need her. A blind need driven by passion and connection that I can’t name.

  We barely rise for breath. “Someone will come in,” she says.

  “Not a problem.” I don’t stop kissing her as I move her across the room, flipping the lock on the door before pinning her against it. I run my hands down her curves and she moans into my mouth. Just that sound drives all the rest of my blood south. I want to hear it again, and louder.

  I wasn’t joking. This office is perfectly sound-proofed. It was designed to be protective of sensitive phone calls, but it will work equally as well now.

  Justine’s body is soft against mine, and I press my hips into hers. She gasps under my mouth, eyes suddenly flying wide as she feels my erection. God, yes. Everything about her is open and vulnerable and hungry. I want to taste her. Be inside of her. Consume her.

  I kiss her again, running my tongue along her lips until she opens and surrenders again, exploring every inch of her that I can reach. But Justine is exploring too, and I have to break off our kiss when she touches my cock. Even through my pants, I see white.

  Fucking hell, I need to inside her.

  “Yes,” she breathes, and I realize with shock that I whispered the words. I need to be inside you. And she said yes.

  My brain is an entirely different kind of blank as I haul her off her feet and into my arms. I carry her across to the desk and set her on top of it, only to hear too late the sound of scraping. I lunge for the cactus and catch it, luckily not impaling myself on the spines. Even if nothing else happens between us, I need it as a reminder that she is real. That it happened.

  Setting the cactus aside, I catch Justine watching me. Her eyes are still wide and dark, but I can’t help but wonder what she thinks of me saving the plant that she told me to buy out of spite. And I can barely believe that
I already have an attachment to the tiny green thing.

  And then I don’t care, because she spreads her legs. Even still clothed, it’s an invitation. One that I take. I consume her mouth again, this time lifting her shirt over her head and tossing it aside. Her bra follows along with my suit jacket, and I stop her from unbuttoning my shirt to taste her perfect pink nipples, already hard under my tongue.

  I savor the tiny moan that breaks away from her when I suck harder, for a moment wishing that I could take my time and worship this woman with everything that I have. But we’re far too desperate for that.

  Stripping off my shirt, I undo my belt and shove my pants down while Justine does the same. I grab the condom from my wallet and stroke it on, gritting my teeth. I’m so hard that I feel like a goddamn teenager about to blow his load.

  Justine’s pussy is glistening between her spread legs, so wet and inviting. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen anything that hot. Reaching out, I hold both sides of her face, kissing her as gently as I’m able before it once again dissolves into nothing but us clawing for more.

  “You want this?” I gasp.

  “Yes,” Justine moans. “Fuck me, Keenan.”

  I don’t wait for her to tell me twice, I just kiss her, bearing her back until she’s flat on the desk and my cock is pressing against her heat. I line myself up against her before sinking in, and it’s like heaven. Pure pleasure and need spiraling through me.

  I will never be the same.

  6

  Justine

  Keenan slams home in one stroke, and I fall apart. This isn’t normal sex or a random hook-up. This feels like the coming together of two people who have been wanting each other and denied for years. Not two total strangers who met yesterday.

  When he touched me I swore it was like two magnets pulling us together, and I knew that I was fucked, both literally and figuratively. There wasn’t any turning back. All I could think about was Rose and the way she told me to go for it.

  I can’t explain the connection between us. It’s why I didn’t look at him when I first came into his office today. As soon as I saw him, everything snapped into focus, and I was done for. Now I’m on his desk, wetter than I’ve ever been in my life, and oh god he feels so fucking good.

  This is hard and fast and exactly what I need. I want more. I want it all. I want fast and slow and to explore everything that he can make me feel. Just his lips on my skin has me ready to come and I’m almost there now, biting my lip to keep myself from screaming.

  Keenan has a perfect, gorgeous rhythm, and I can barely see straight through the haze of pleasure flowing in through everything. I can see him over me, and through that delicious haze I realize that I was right. He has the body of a god, perfectly toned in all the right places, muscles tensing and releasing as he fucks me with brutal force.

  Pleasure gathers at my core, deep at the center in that place where his cock is reaching. He’s the perfect length for me, filling me up and stretching me full without any pain. Just decadent ecstasy that’s galloping at a million miles a minute.

  Keenan pulls back, standing straight and placing a hand on my chest, holding me in place as he works me with fast, hard strokes. I close my eyes, bathing in the pleasure.

  “Let me hear you,” he growls, voice low and desperate. “No one else can.”

  I don’t want to scream. It feels too fast and too vulnerable and too much of everything, but he shifts the angle of his hips and I lose control of my voice, a moan slipping past my lips.

  “More.”

  Everything coalesces as he drives into me, compressing and then exploding into nothing but light and sheer, utter bliss. I know I scream. I’ve always been loud in bed and this is the best sex that I’ve ever had.

  The pleasure rolls across my skin and sinks through it. The world fades to nothing but the movement of Keenan’s body as I ride out the orgasm. I’m blind with it. Shaking, groaning, begging. And then he’s gone.

  He’s pulled out of me entirely, and I open my eyes to nothing. Keenan isn’t standing there anymore…because his head is between my legs, tongue tasting my orgasm, dipping inside the space his cock just left. He groans. “You’re delicious.”

  “Fuck,” I say, covering my face with my hands. My body jumps in spasms, already overloaded with every kind of sensation, but he doesn’t stop, dipping and swirling his tongue up and over my clit until I’m once again on the edge of pleasure, so perfect that I can nearly taste it in the air.

  I reach out, burying my hands in his hair and pulling him closer before he pulls away with a feral grin and shining lips. He fits the head of his cock against me and thrusts once, burying himself deep. So deep it sends me over in one go, and I fall into the second wave of pleasure.

  This time I’m not entirely sure that I’ll come back up. His own efforts are hard and fast, and I feel it when he comes, rhythm faltering enough that he has to brace himself on the desk above me. One more thrust, and again, and he cries out his pleasure before going still.

  We both collapse into silence, hanging in the aftermath together. The air is thick with the scent of us together—and just of him. Rich leather and cedar.

  What the fuck just happened?

  I feel like I’m coming out of a trance as I look up at him, breathing hard above me. He is so fucking beautiful, and he is still inside me. Oh my god. I must have lost my mind.

  This wasn’t why I came here today. I came here to preserve Lila’s business relationship and tell him what a vile, despicable human being he is. And I let him fuck me on his desk.

  And deep in my gut I know that if he turned me over and took me from behind, I wouldn’t say no. I squeeze down on his cock inside me and watch as those already dark blue eyes grow darker again. One eyebrow rises. “Do you want more?”

  Yes. Fuck yes.

  But I don’t speak those words. I just stare at him for a moment, and slowly, he slips out of me and away. I hear his voice speaking but I can’t focus on his words. Everything is distant. I can’t seem to make sense of any of it.

  I’m no prude. I love sex, but this—this isn’t something I normally do. Ever. Do I regret it?

  No.

  Rose was right, I won’t ever regret it. I can’t. It was too good and too perfect and everything inside me feels calmer. I wish that it just wasn’t with Keenan Silverman. I did more research on him, and he’s exactly the type of person that I need to stay away from. Overwhelmingly rich, cocky, and everything that comes along with that.

  Glancing over, he’s silhouetted against the windows as he dresses, and I get a glimpse of a perfectly muscled back and a tattoo. A gorgeously rendered flock of birds swooping across from one shoulder to the other. They disappear as he shrugs the shirt over his shoulders.

  “Justine?”

  I shake my head. “Yeah?”

  He smiles. “Did you hear what I asked?”

  Biting my lip, I shake my head.

  “I asked if you wanted to go to dinner with me tonight.”

  Suddenly everything shifts. I feel exposed and bare—which I am. I slip off the desk and pull up my underwear and jeans, redoing my belt before hunting for my bra and finding my shirt. I’m not a self-conscious person by any means, but now I feel out of place. Shabby in comparison to everything shiny in this office. Even the desk that he just fucked me on. Everything I’m wearing is…normal for me. Plain underwear and fraying pants. Second-hand t-shirt.

  How could I possibly go anywhere with him? I barely fit into his office here, if I showed up at some fancy restaurant I would be laughed out without a second thought. I’m sure that the offer to take me out is genuine—I know that he can feel this thing between us as well as I can, but we’re from two completely different worlds. And sadly, I can’t ignore that.

  “I—” The words on my lips are about to be an excuse. Some lie about how I have to help Lila again or that I have a late client to see, but they stop dead on my lips. After what we just happened—what we shared—it feels wro
ng to lie to him.

  My eyes catch on the cactus at the edge of the desk. He practically dived to the ground to save it. I straighten it so it looks better, and give him a small, polite smile. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  “Why not?” `

  “I just…I can’t see you again,” I say firmly, even though I’m regretting the words as I’m saying them. But it doesn’t make them any less true. “Especially not in public. You are who you are, Keenan. You’re from this world. You belong in your thousand-dollar suits and among your daily fresh flowers. You’re everything that I’m not.

  “And even if that weren’t a problem, the very thing that I do is basically stand against you every day. You’re the kind of person that makes my life difficult. You wanted to know what I do? I work for a non-profit that assists elderly people. People forgotten because their neighborhoods are changing so much that people don’t even notice when they need help. Because they’re all filled with luxury apartments and high rises and people who are too rich to fucking care that their neighbors can’t walk down the stairs for groceries. All thanks to people like you.

  “I know what you do,” I say, ending my sudden rant with a release of breath. I didn’t expect for that to all come out at once. I wasn’t planning on it at all. Shit. I didn’t actually want to insult him that much. Especially because of Lila.

  But he doesn’t look insulted. He barely looks phased. Just assessing me with a cool glance as if he hadn’t just fucked the shit out of me five minutes ago.

  “So,” I say. “Thank you, but—”

  “Thank you for what?” he asks with that devastating smirk. “The sex?”

  A blush creeps up my cheeks. I guess that is what I am thanking him for. “Goodbye, Mr. Silverman.”

  I make it halfway to the door before I hear his voice behind me. “I think you’re making a lot of assumptions about me, Justine.”