The Royals Series

by Bay, Louise

  I pulled back for a second and a look of confusion passed over her face. It was just the encouragement I needed. I pushed her against the wall and dropped my lips to her collarbone.

  “I hate you,” she whispered.

  She wasn’t acting as if she hated me, wasn’t trying to get away. Had I read her wrong? I glanced up and she frowned.

  “Don’t stop,” she said.

  I grinned and bowed my head. She wanted this. “Don’t stop?” I asked against her neck. She threaded her fingers into my hair with one hand and smoothed the other over my shoulder. It was my turn to groan. A single touch from her and all my worst fears were confirmed—I wanted this woman. No, it was more than that. I’d found women attractive before, but I’d never had an overwhelming desire to be close to them, all the time. Not when I barely knew anything about them. Never found myself thinking about a woman when I was meant to be concentrating on a conference call or presentation. Never wanted to make them smile, find out all their secrets. I kneed her legs apart, and she ground her hips against my leg.

  This girl could end me.

  I’d suspected it the moment I saw her. Known it the moment I’d seen her work.

  Talented. Beautiful. Sharp. Sexy.

  I wanted it all.

  There were so many reasons this couldn’t happen. She worked for me. I only had sex with women; I didn’t do relationships. I’d recited them silently again and again.

  I pulled back and she looked up at me, mouth open. I placed my hands against the wall on either side of her head.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I’m your boss.”

  “Don’t worry. Whatever happens, I’ll be filing my sexual harassment claim in the morning.” She reached into my pants and wrapped her fingers around my hardening cock. “You might as well make this count.”

  I smirked. She was going to keep me on my toes.

  As I pulled open the tie of her robe, the silk slipped from her shoulders. Sweeping my hands across her skin, I avoided her breasts, then trailed down her stomach to her neatly trimmed pussy. I paused.

  She arched her back, pushing her body toward me, wanting more.

  “But you hate me,” I teased.

  “Let’s see what you can do to change my mind.” She pressed her hand against mine, pushing my fingers into her dampness.

  She had no idea what I had planned for her and how long I’d been planning it.

  An almost transient afterthought, I slid my lips against hers. And despite my fantasies, I found myself sliding to my knees. I needed to know I could make her as crazy as she did me. I tried to pull her leg over my shoulder but she resisted, encouraging me to stand up.

  “Did you forget who’s the boss?” I asked.

  “In the office, maybe.”

  Forcefully, I pushed her back against the wall and lifted her leg. I knew once she felt my tongue she’d relent. And I was right. I always was. She thrust her hips forward and slid her leg down my back as my tongue flicked over her clit, once, then twice. If she thought I wasn’t the boss in the bedroom, she was sorely mistaken.

  I curled a hand around one hip and with the other pressed my palm against her flat stomach as I licked from her clit down to the source of her wetness, enjoying her sweet taste. There was so much of it. As if she’d been wet for me since we first met. Her nails dug into my scalp as her pussy pulsed against me. I couldn’t remember the last time I went down on a woman, and right at that moment, I couldn’t remember it ever tasting this good, this warm, this wet.

  Despite my holding her, she seemed to be having a hard time standing up straight.

  “I can’t,” she cried out.

  I got the feeling there was nothing Harper couldn’t do if she put her mind to it, but I wasn’t about to argue with her. I stood and she looked at me, half dazed, half disappointed. Before she had a chance to tell me again how much she hated me, I hoisted her over my shoulder and carried her into my bedroom.

  I tipped her onto the bed, her chestnut hair splaying out around her. I grabbed her by the legs and parted her firm thighs, pushing my fingers into her while my tongue circled her clit. She cried out, lifting her hips off the bed. I grabbed her waist and pulled her toward me. She wasn’t going anywhere without an orgasm to remember me by. Jesus, just a few minutes ago I’d been coming up with strategies to spend less time with her and now here she was naked on my bed, coating my hand and tongue with her juices.

  She let out small whimpers and incoherent sounds about noise and neighbors and chandeliers. I couldn’t follow what she was saying. All I cared about was her sweet, hot pussy around my tongue. Her breaths grew sharper and her whole body began to shudder, her movements becoming wild before she cried out, “Max!” Hearing my name on her lips while she climaxed pierced a hole in armor I didn’t realize I wore, and suddenly I didn’t care that I was her boss or that I had a reputation to protect, a family to focus on. I was so overwhelmingly attracted to her and right then it was the only thing that mattered. I nearly came right with her.

  Her panting slowed and she reached out. I should ask her to leave, stop this before it was too late, but instead I took her hand and climbed up next to her.

  I rolled to my back, needing to focus on something other than the swell of her tight breasts, the way her body sank against my bedsheets, on my bed, in my apartment.

  She was here. Exactly where she shouldn’t be.

  “Oh my God.” Her arm flopped onto my chest. “Forbes was right when they said you were talented.”

  I couldn’t stop the chuckle that rose from my throat. I turned to see her rolling to her side, apparently oblivious of how bizarre this scenario was. She kissed my jaw, and I tried not to look at her, afraid I’d never be able to look away.

  Her fingers wrapped around my still rock-hard cock. Jesus. So much for me telling her to leave. She dragged her hand up over the crown. There was little hope of me getting rid of her, not while she was so expertly squeezing and pulling. I gave in and glanced over to find her staring back at me, studying me as if she was trying to work out a crossword clue.

  “Got a condom?”

  This was a bad idea. “Yes,” I said as I reached across to my night table.

  She straddled me and took the latex from me. “This is Vegas, right?” she asked.

  “Vegas?” I asked as she sheathed my cock, squeezing tightly as she reached the bottom.

  “This room. It’s Vegas. What happens here, stays here.” She positioned my cock at her entrance. “You agree? Maybe if we do this, I can stop hating you. You can just be my boss.”

  At the moment I’d have agreed to cut off both my legs with a blunt knife, but I liked what she was saying. That after whatever it was we were doing, everything would go back to normal or better than normal—how things should be.

  “Vegas,” I replied and she sank onto my dick, inch by inch. I squeezed my hands into fists to stop myself from grabbing her hips and slamming her onto me. My jaw tightened as Harper threw her head back and steadied herself. Using her hands on my chest, she sank down a little more.

  “So good,” she whispered. “So, so deep.”

  Jesus, how was I supposed to just lie here and take this? It was too much. I needed to be the one who set the pace, or I’d be coming in less than ten seconds.

  Her hair fell around her shoulders, and I reached up, pushing it behind her back, wanting nothing to interrupt my view of her high, tight breasts or her pink, swollen nipples jutting out, begging for attention. I pulled at them, one then the other, and she quivered before crashing down on me as far as she would go. She was perfect, far better than I’d imagined and I’d thought about her plenty, wondered what she’d look like above me, naked, legs open, eyes hazy with lust. She was so tight around me that instinct took over, and before I gave her a chance to ride me I flipped her over onto her back and pushed in farther.

  “No more,” I said. “I’ve had enough of your constant daily teasing.” I didn’t know if she meant to be provo
cative. She wasn’t obvious about it in the way a lot of women were. Her clothes weren’t flashy or particularly tight; she didn’t flirt or even try to make conversation with me. I pulled out and started to fuck her now that I finally had her under me, naked. Each time I thought pushing in would get easier, that she wouldn’t be quite so tight, so delicious, but every time I was wrong. She was exceeding each one of the fantasies I’d had about her.

  Her hands wrapped around my upper arms, her fingers so tiny they were fascinating. I wanted to pause for a second to ensure they were real, but my headboard smashing against the wall pulled my focus back to wanting to make her come. She looked so perfect, so completely beautiful and if we only had tonight, I was going to have to make it count.

  I wanted to go farther, deeper, faster.

  I needed to mark her, own her, climb inside her.

  It was as if every inappropriate image I’d buried deep in my brain had escaped and come to life.

  I lifted one of her legs higher, desperate to be closer. I could tell by the way she opened her mouth slightly wider that the change in angle ratcheted up the pleasure for us both. I dipped my head down to kiss her, and she greedily took my tongue. Despite giving me no sign in the office, she touched me as though I’d lived in her fantasies just as she’d lived in mine. There was a knowingness between us, a familiarity that was unnerving but at the same time I wanted to savor it.

  She reached between us and squeezed the base of my cock. I almost exploded. I had to pause.

  “You’re such an asshole.” She grinned and wiped sweat from my brow with her fingertips.

  “You seem obsessed with that concept. Perhaps we should try your asshole out next and see if it cures you.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” She pushed her hips up to meet mine, and I raised my eyebrow.

  “Wouldn’t I?” I asked. “This is Vegas. Anything goes.”

  “Shut up and concentrate on fucking me.”

  I loved that mouth, the way it called me names, the way it called my name.

  She needed to be taught a lesson.

  “I’m thinking about nothing else.” I pushed into her and her eyes half shut. I started thrusting deeper and deeper, nailing her to the mattress, wanting to make it good, needing to feel her around me. I sat back on my knees, pulling her up onto my thighs, taking the opportunity to watch her breasts bounce with every thrust.

  “You think I hate you now?” I asked. Didn’t she feel the chemistry between us and understand I had to keep my distance otherwise something like this would happen?

  “I don’t care. I’m too . . .”

  She trailed off and squeezed me harder, creating friction between us that heated the blood in my veins. She gave me a small smile and I wanted her closer. I pulled her up, bringing us face to face, her legs around my waist, and lifted her up and down on my cock. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine. It was such an intimate gesture, so normal, so right, as if we’d been lovers for some time, as if we’d known each other for years.

  Harper increased the rhythm, her hips lifting easily in my hands and slamming down on my cock.

  “Careful,” I warned. I wouldn’t last long like that.

  “I can’t stop,” she whispered, her fingers running across my shoulders. “I can’t stop, don’t want to.” Her movements grew bigger, wilder, and I used my hands over her hips to keep our rhythm steady and her pussy full of me. Her fingernails dug into my shoulders as she pulled back to look at me and screamed, “Max. Yes, Max.” Her pulsating muscles drew me in and in two sharp stabs of my hips I was pouring into her, watching her orgasm seep away as mine took over.

  * * *

  I woke to traffic noise and the sun pouring into my window. Was it Saturday? No, Thursday.

  Fuck. Harper.

  I must have blacked out.

  I bolted upright, but I was alone. Had I dreamt what had happened last night? The ache in my muscles, the bedsheets crumpled at the bottom of the bed, the tug in my stomach—no, it had happened. “Harper,” I called out. She’d gone. I scrubbed my face with my hands then glanced at the clock. Fuck. It was eight thirty. I was usually knee deep in paperwork at my desk by now. I bounded out of bed for the shower.

  It was only a few minutes’ walk to the office and I went through the sliding doors to the King & Associates office at two minutes to nine. My hair was still wet from my shower.

  I had no idea how I was going to handle Harper in the office today. I had a hundred and one things to do and no spare brain space. But the gathering gloom in my head said last night had been a bad idea—the worst idea. I couldn’t have casual sex with an employee. It blurred too many lines. Having sex with women I’d see outside of the bedroom had never been an option for me. There were enough women in my life. And Amanda deserved my full attention when I wasn’t in the office—it was the deal I’d struck with myself as soon as she was born. Just because I was a young father didn’t mean I’d be a bad one. She would always be my priority.

  As much as the night with Harper had been everything I’d fantasized about, it had been a stupid idea.

  I kept my head down as I strode to my office, but I couldn’t resist glancing over to Harper’s desk. She’d made it in on time. Her hair was up, folded somehow against her head, revealing her long neck.

  “There you are,” Donna called. “I’ve been trying your cell.”

  Harper turned toward me just as I looked at Donna. Harper hadn’t left a note this morning. Had she stayed the night? Did she regret what had happened?

  “Did you come in from Connecticut?” Donna asked as she followed me into my office.

  “No, I just had some things to sort out.” Like washing the smell of sex and Harper off my body. I needed to get my head on straight.

  “Okay, well Amanda called. And don’t forget your lunch.” I nodded and Donna left.

  I put my phone on speaker and dialed the house while I took off my jacket and hung it on the back of the door.

  “Hey, peanut. Donna said you called. Are you not at gymnastics today?” I took a seat at my desk and turned on my laptop.

  “Um, no. It got canceled.”

  Odd. I was pretty sure Marion would have told me. “It was?” I asked as I scanned my emails.

  “Yeah, so I thought maybe I could come into the city tonight and we could go dress shopping tomorrow?” Her tone was bright and matter of fact. She knew I couldn’t say no to her I’m-such-a-good-girl voice. “I thought you might help me shop?”

  “Did Marion say she’d bring you on the train?” I hoped she didn’t think she was coming on her own.

  “Aunt Scarlett said she’d bring me, then I could come home with you tomorrow.”

  “Did Scarlett say she was staying over?” The last thing I wanted was my sister in my apartment meddling.

  “No, she has a date.”

  Dating? She hadn’t shared that with me. I’d thought she was still sworn off men after her divorce.

  “You should take a leaf out of her book, Dad.”

  Harper’s satisfied smile ran across my brain. Maybe dating would help get her out of my system.

  “You keep me plenty busy,” I replied. “What time are you planning to arrive tonight with Scarlett?”

  “I can come?”

  I could hear Amanda’s smile, and I couldn’t help but grin. I was a sucker for that smile.

  “I’m not going to let my little girl go shopping for her eighth grade dance on her own, now am I?”

  She shrieked and I turned down the volume on my phone, wincing. “You’ve got a key, so just let yourself in if I’m not there.”

  “Can we get takeout?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Maybe.”

  “And watch a mob movie like we did last time?”

  I chuckled. Because Amanda didn’t have a lot of her stuff in the apartment, when she visited we usually ended up hanging out, eating takeout and watching movies. I loved it.

  “No promises. I want you to swear
you’ll do your piano practice before you leave. If you don’t pass the exam, your mother will move you to Zurich.”

  “It’s a deal.” The piano began to chime in the background. “You hear that? I’ve started already.”

  I shook my head. “See you later, peanut.”

  “Love you, Dad.”

  The three best words on the planet.

  “Love you, Amanda.”

  As I hung up, Donna walked in.

  “If you’re leaving early tomorrow to go shopping, let’s do a quick walk-through of your schedule for today and tomorrow.”

  I leaned back in my chair. “I see the women in my life know what I’m doing before I do.”

  “Did you ever have any doubt?”

  I sighed. “I guess not.” It was days like this when I felt as though my life didn’t belong to me. Having my own business was tough and took up almost all my energy, but usually the rewards of working for myself outweighed the disadvantages. Today the scales were tipping in the wrong direction. I just wanted to shrug off the constant demands on my time, to check out for a day—fuck around on the internet, go ride my bike, speak to Harper. Though I had no idea what I’d say. Apologize, maybe.

  “Do we need to cancel anything?” I asked.

  “No, but the meeting with Andrew and his contact at JD Stanley is at ten, and I’m guessing you won’t want to miss that?”

  She was right. I didn’t want to miss it. I was hoping for a little inside knowledge about JD Stanley, the only major investment bank King & Associates didn’t work with.

  “No, Amanda can hang out at the apartment until after lunch tomorrow. Do we have anything in the afternoon?”

  “A meeting with Harper at three, but I can push it to next week.” As Donna said her name my face heated and the blood in my veins seemed to speed up.

  I ran a finger around my collar. How was I going to approach her? Should I say sorry? She’d been just as up for things as I had, but I was her boss. I didn’t want her to think it could happen again. Maybe I should be upfront with her, tell her she was great, but it was a one-time deal. Or should I just pretend it hadn’t happened? I had no idea.