“That’s not the only thing pretty about you.”
Melody swallowed, her mind lost in the swirl of emotion.
Those eyes of his saw right through her, into her. Could he hear her heart beating?
“Pretty?” was all she could think to say.
“You’re beautiful, Melody. The first time I saw you, it took my breath away.”
“But you were so mean…”
“I have to be. A man in my position… I shouldn’t even be telling you this now.”
It didn’t slip past her attention that he hadn’t let go over her hands yet.
She whispered, “Then why are you?”
When he leaned in, his mouth only an inch from hers, she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Because I just can’t help myself anymore. I want you.”
“You’re the boss.”
Just like that, his lips pressed to hers. The file folder fell from her hands. His body pressed against hers and he pushed her backward toward his desk.
With a single sweep of his arm, all of the files he’d been working on were thrown to the floor. After all of the work they’d been doing, the fact that he didn’t care, that he needed her that much aroused her more than the kissing.
She moaned with desire, grabbing him by the shirt and kissing him deeper. Their tongues both explored the mouths of the other, massaging against one another.
As she unbuttoned his shirt, he pushed her up onto the desk. Fed up with the buttons, she just ripped his shirt open, the remaining buttons flying in random directions across the office.
When he put a hand on her chest and pushed her back, she didn’t know what he wanted until he dropped to his knees.
She felt his stubbled cheeks brush her inner thighs as he pushed her skirt up, and she gasped.
“You’re not… you can’t…”
“I’m the boss. You don’t tell me what to do.”
“Oh my God. Yes sir. Whatever you say sir.”
Suddenly, his hot mouth was around her pussy, his tongue licking her soaked panties. Melody moaned loudly, mouth open, and had to lean back on her elbows. It always felt better through the fabric.
“Yes, just like that,” she breathed.
His hands gripped her thighs, feeling the flesh of her legs. Heat deep in her tummy washed through her, and it only intensified when he pulled her panties to the side and sealed his lips around her clit.
The pleasure was so powerful that her arms slipped out from under her, and she flailed about to grab onto something for stability.
He licked wildly, made more enthusiastic by her reactions. Out of reflex, her hips moved up and down as if trying to get him deeper inside her, wanting to feel his tongue and his lips against her clit even more.
Strong fingers grasped her at the hips, holding her in place, and he worked his tongue around her clit. An orgasm swelled inside of her, and before she could think of what to do, it released.
Her back arched with the force of it, and knowing no one else was in the whole building, she let herself scream.
That amazing tongue of his somehow covered all of her, licking her from bottom to top. She reached out and grabbed his hair, forcing his face against her as she bucked against him.
When she’d finished, her body collapsing against the desk again, she didn’t even have a chance to breathe before she felt his thick, hard shaft stretch her open.
Richard had her legs held against his shoulders as he thrust deep inside of her. It was everything she could do to reach above her head to the edge of the desk and hold on.
They’d both wanted this for so long. Now that they were finally having one another, neither held back. Richard thrust deep into her, his skin slapping as it struck the back of her thighs.
Holding onto the desk, Melody pushed back against him. Finally, Richard groaned, thrusting wildly as his orgasm filled her, his erection pulsating raw heat inside of her.
She thought he’d be done, but instead he reached out, sat her up, and kissed her. In that moment, she knew this wasn’t just some fling. This was real.
After they’d cleaned up, he gave her a kiss and said she could go home for the night. Of course, there was no way she was going to leave him to organize the files all by himself.
Giggling and sneaking kisses in to one another, they set his office straight and got everything ready for the next day.
After a brief make-out session that turned into another quick lovemaking session in his office chair, Melody drove home.
Chapter 4
That night, as she settled in, she realized not only had she slept with the most gorgeous man she’d ever met. She’d slept with her boss.
For a quick, frightening minute, she wondered if she’d been wrong. What if it had just been a one-night stand for him? The intimacy they shared had meant something to her. Did it mean the same for him?
No nightmare haunted her that night, and she woke the next day surprisingly refreshed. It didn’t last long, unfortunately.
The memory of what had happened just the night before came back in a flood of images and hot sensation through her body. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel him down there. His tongue. His hands.
Melody swallowed and forced herself out of bed lest she lose an hour in bed reenacting the events in a solo performance.
After a long, hot shower, she felt better, yet still anxious.
How would he react?
An office affair regretted the next day couldn’t be gracefully managed. He’d fire her. There was no reason for him not to. He had what he wanted, and he owned the company. It’s not like he’d quit or anything.
That realization followed her as she dressed. As she drove to work. As the rode the elevator up to his office. When the elevator dinged, and the doors opened, she held her breath, unsure what to expect.
There, on her desk, sat a coffee cup from the local shop. Narrowing her eyes, but amused, Melody approached her desk. As she got closer, she saw there was a note under the coffee.
“Thought you could use the pick-me-up. I’ll be late. Push back my 8 o’clock.”
Melody laughed and picked up the coffee. It was still warm.
He was going to be late, but he found the time to bring her coffee? Shaking her head, she chided herself for being so paranoid and settled in for the day.
Over the next week, their relationship only blossomed. He found reasons for her to stay late. They took special meetings to discuss business. Meetings, of course, that required the door to be closed and locked.
For fear of a scandal they had to keep things under wraps, but she was fine with that. Melody was quickly falling for him hard, and was pretty sure he felt the same.
She was satisfied being this happy with someone. To feel this way, and to know they felt the same.
After a few days, they started going on actual dates. They spent nights at his lavish apartment, watching movies and ordering takeout on the weekend. An entire week passed, and she was once again snuggled with him on his couch.
It’d been a long day at work and they were both grateful for the time to just be calm in the company of one another. That night they weren’t watching anything in particular. A sitcom, the news, whatever was on.
When he’d flipped the channel and landed on a documentary about bears, flashbacks from that night in the alley came screaming back.
Melody closed her eyes and turned her head away.
“Change it please.”
“What’s the matter? You don’t like nature shows?”
“No it’s fine, just please change it.”
“All right, all right,” he said, and changed it to some obscure cooking show.
“What’s the matter? You’re shaking.”
Melody hugged herself, rubbing her arms to try and calm herself down.
“Before working for you, I saw something. Now I have nightmares almost every night.”
Richard adjusted himself on the couch so that he could see her more clearly.
“What’d you see?”
Melody shook her head. “You won’t believe me either. No one does.”
“Won’t believe what?”
“Forget it, okay? I tried to tell a couple people, but they just laughed. Said I was drunk. I wasn’t drunk though. I wouldn’t have been driving if I was drunk.”
“Melody, what did you see? I’ll believe you, but you have to give me something to believe.”
Melody sighed and fixed her eyes on the cooking show without watching it. She couldn’t see the look of disbelief come over his eyes. Not him.
“You remember Kristi? That friend of mine I said threw great parties? She had one. This was before I started working for you. This is actually why I got the job working for you.”
“Oh, well, I should be grateful,” he said and kissed her shoulder.
Despite her anxiousness about telling him, she couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m trying to tell you a story.”
“Sorry,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
“Anyway,” she continued.
“I was driving home from one of her parties, and my car stopped. When I went to check it out, I heard noises coming from an alley. You’re not going to believe me, but I know what I saw. A man turned into a bear.”
“A bear?”
“Yes, okay? A bear. I saw it happen right in front of me. And then he chased me, and I was barely able to get back in my car in time before getting away. It almost ate me.”
“Hmm.”
That was it. She expected skepticism, or dismissal, but this wasn’t even mild interest.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
Richard shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”
“I,” she started, but didn’t know how to finish. When he didn’t say anything else, she let it drop, but the comfortable peace that had existed now felt like a crushing silence.
The rest of the night was spent in an awkward lack of conversation and his normal affectionate playfulness was gone.
The plan had been for her to stay the night, but with how things developed, she didn’t want to be there any longer. The cold way he treated her made her think maybe he thought she was crazy.
She knew how it sounded, claiming to see a man turn into a bear. But it was true! She knew what she saw.
Excusing herself, she left and went home. He didn’t even put up a fight about it, but just wished her a good night and saw her out.
Chapter 5
Nightmares ruined her entire night.
Talking about it brought everything back to the fore and that bear chased her through her dreams.
When she woke the next morning, she felt like she hadn’t slept in days. All her body wanted to do was close her eyes and make her exhausted mind get some real sleep. Unfortunately, she had to work.
Tired, dreading what Richard would say or how he would act, Melody forced herself into a decent outfit and went into work.
As she rode the elevator up, she reminded herself about what had happened the last time she was so worried about coming into work. That time she’d gotten a coffee and realized she’d been silly to be so scared.
The memory perked her up, and she told herself she was being silly. There was no way her telling him about what had happened to her would…
The elevator doors opened, and there was no coffee. Not only that, but the lights were out.
Taking her phone out of her purse, she used the display for light as she found her way to the wall and flicked on the light switches.
Now more unsettled than ever, Melody booted up her computer and prepared for what was sure to be an awkward day.
A full 45 minutes after he should’ve been in, without any warning that he’d miss his early morning meetings, Mr. Drysdale strolled in. This wasn’t the Richard she’d come to know.
This was Mr. Drysdale. It was in his eyes, the way he didn’t look at her when he said, “Oh. You’re here. Push back my 9 o’clock to 9:30.”
“You could’ve let me know you were going to be late,” she said as she wrote a note about the meeting.
Mr. Drysdale stopped and looked at her with eyes as cold as the dead of winter. The warm affection he’d had for her was gone.
“Do I answer to you?”
“No,” she said, looking down.
“Do I answer to you? Do you pay my salary? If you don’t walk through that door, does the company lose money?”
Melody worked her tongue around. If she opened her mouth, she’d cry. Instead, she just shook her head.
“Push back my 9 o’clock. If that’s a problem for you, there’s the door.” Without waiting for her to reply, he walked back through the double-doors to his office.
Melody, not knowing what else to do, picked up the phone and dialed the client.
When the man answered, Melody said, “Hello. This is Melody calling on behalf of Mr. Drysdale. I’m calling to inform you that your 9 o’clock meeting with Mr. Drysdale has been pushed back to 9:30.”
“He’s postponed our meeting for three weeks now,” the man answered angrily. “
What possible reason could he have for pushing it back half an hour? It’s a bit early for the day to have gotten out of control. This is just an insult at this point!”
Melody closed her eyes, the tears that had welled in the corners sliding down her cheeks.
“Sir, I agree. It’s insulting. There’s no good reason for it. He’s an ass. Come in or don’t, but either way he’s going to be double-booked for 9:30 because I’m leaving. Good luck.”
As the man started yelling about the double booking, Melody slammed the phone back on the base. Shoving all of her things into her back, she closed out the computer. That was it, she couldn’t do this anymore.
Before she left, though, she was going to get an answer out of him. Setting her bag on her desk, she marched through the doors to his office.
“I’m working,” he said before she’d even started speaking.
“What is wrong with you?”
“I’m working. Do you see the pen in my hand? See these? These are papers.”
Melody shook her head, unable to believe what was happening. “I quit. I’m leaving. I never want to see you again.”
“Good,” he said and looked back to his paperwork. “Nor I you.”
The tears came fast, stinging her eyes. Refusing to cry in front of him, she ran from the office, taking her bag on the way out.
Chapter 6
The next two days, Melody stayed in her apartment, heartbroken. She wasn’t sorry for what she’d seen that night, but she hated that it had somehow ended a relationship with the most amazing man she’d ever met.
None of her friends supported her, all of them saying she shouldn’t have told him that stupid story. But it wasn’t stupid! She knew what she saw.
The night of the second day, there was a knock on her door. Richard stood there. Richard, and not Mr. Drysdale.
His face was puffy, his eyes red and swollen. Had he been crying?
“No matter how much I try, I can’t stay away from you. I should never have slept with you that night, but I just couldn’t help myself. I shouldn’t even be standing here now. You have this hold on me. I can’t think. I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. I shouldn’t have gotten involved. I shouldn’t have gotten so close to you… not without telling you the truth about me.”
He looked away as his face twisted in anguish.
“Richard, what are you talking about?”
“It was me!”
Melody’s mind froze. There was no telling how long it had lasted. All sense of time was gone. No thoughts, no function. She stood, dumbfounded.
What did he mean? What could he possibly mean? She didn’t need to ask.
“I was the bear you saw in the alley. It was so dark, I didn’t see you. Sometimes I lose control of the shift, but it’s still me. When you screamed and ran, in my mind… I still feel like a man, sometimes. I ch
ased after you to tell you it was okay, not to be scared. It wasn’t until you were gone that I realized what had actually happened and how it must’ve looked. I’m so sorry. After we were together, I knew you’d never accept me in my real form.”
“Richard,” she said cautiously, “this isn’t funny. I was serious when I told you that story.”
“I’m being serious,” he shouted, grabbing her arms.
Then without warning, he pushed her into her apartment and turned into a bear. Melody fell back onto her couch, staring up at the beast before her.
Instead of feeling afraid, she looked up into its eyes and saw Richard staring back. As quickly as he’d changed, he was back to his human form.
“I know we can’t be together. I’m a monster. But I had to tell you. You had to know that I didn’t think you were crazy. You’re not crazy.”
Richard turned to leave, but Melody jumped to her feet and grabbed his arm.
“Don’t go.”
He swung his head to look at her, the same way the bear had done that night.
How had she missed the similarities before?
“I love you. Don’t go. That monster I’d been so afraid of, I didn’t know him. I know you. The bear I saw just now was you, not a beast. I’m not afraid of you.”
Richard swallowed and turned his body to face her.
“Really?”
To answer his question, she reached up and pulled him in for a kiss. Richard returned the kiss with a burning passion. They’d been away from one another for only a couple of days, but it felt like an eternity.
To be together in one another’s arms again, for everything to suddenly make sense, they couldn’t touch one another enough.
Their clothes were off in an instant, but this time she pushed him down to the couch and straddled his lap.
They kissed deeply, full of love and affection. Reaching down, she guided his hardness inside of her and lowered herself onto him. They moaned together and resumed kissing.
She lightly caressed his cheek as she moved her hips in a gentle rocking motion. The slow rhythm built rapidly. Under her, he bucked up into her, thrusting deeper inside as she pressed herself down.
Romance: My Bear Boss: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance, Paranormal Shifter Romance) Page 2