by Cari Quinn
The Boss Vol. 5
a Billionaire Serial
Cari Quinn
Taryn Elliott
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
The Boss
Also by Cari & Taryn
About Cari Quinn & Taryn Elliott
EBooks are not transferable.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
The Boss, Vol. 5
© 2016 Cari Quinn & Taryn Elliott
Cover by LateNite Designs
All Rights Are Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Rainbow Rage Publishing e-book edition: February 2016
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Damn you, Selena Gomez. “The Heart Wants” was on repeat approximately 8413 times in this book. Blake and Grace thank you.
We couldn’t do this without music, our moms, and midnight plotting sessions. Oh, and coffee. All of the coffee.
Thank you, coffee.
Chapter One
Ever have one of those days?
I definitely didn’t think this was going to be how my day started. A little breaking and entering—that was becoming pretty normal for me actually. Hmm, should probably work on that. Now, I was adding trespassing, and a dash of Nancy Drew shenanigans to my repertoire.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read one of those kitschy little sleuth books, but I seem to remember dear Nancy getting into more than a few scrapes. So, I guess maybe the moniker wasn’t that far off.
“You gotta be kidding me.” I stretched my arm as far as it would go. The tip of my finger brushed the corner of my phone, but instead of shifting it closer, now it was completely out of reach.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
I slid back down into the crevice. Exactly how I’d gotten into this predicament. The rocks were slick with moss and all manner of sea life I didn’t want to think about too hard. I tried tugging my foot out again, but my ankle was pretty much the size of a grapefruit. Oh, and wedged between two very stubborn rocks.
Obviously not as stubborn as I was, but definitely a contender for second place. Maybe even a tie.
I was currently trapped in the cove at the edge of my grandmother—no, Blake’s property.
Blake Carson, my…something. We hadn’t really figured out what to call our relationship. I’d dropped the L-bomb, then the center of our little universe had exploded. Now we were desperate hands in the night and all business by day.
However, I was fairly certain he’d be unbelievably pissed when he found out I was still breaking into his beach house.
Of course that might be a bit of information he received far too late. I was supposed to be at the townhouse hours ago to help for the party. At least I was pretty sure it was hours ago. I could only go by the tide currently rising.
I’d lost feeling in my foot long ago. It was December, and as far as I was concerned the ocean should be enjoyed from a window with a fireplace at my back, or way up on the beach with a parka, scarf, and possibly mittens.
Currently, my jeans were crunchy and I’d passed cold, only to come back around full circle. I cupped my hands around my mouth and blew on them to try and find some warmth, but I was pretty sure I was breathing out ice crystals.
At least that’s what my lungs were telling me.
The water lapped at my thigh. Hadn’t it been at my knee just a minute ago?
Had I slid lower? Or was the tide coming in farther?
Night had crept in before the water had risen. Winter. Short days and long nights.
Long nights with me wrapped around him.
Blake.
Deliciously warm. He warmed me from inside out with his body, and with the smoky words he only seemed to give me in the dark.
My eyelids were heavy. I fought against sleep just like I did every night. I liked the long nights. Long nights meant more time with him. More time with his lips on mine.
Taking.
Giving.
The sweet rumble of his groans into my neck—into my ear.
I hissed as a wash of cold water flooded between my thighs. So not where my thoughts had been going.
I’d been warm.
“Wake up, Grace.”
I shook my head.
“Wake up, Grace,” I shouted into the cave. The sound echoed and bounced around in the darkness.
I snapped into focus for a moment. I pushed up with my good foot. I had to get up just a little more. I had to reach.
Had to.
The face of my phone lit up the cave, then it vibrated.
Was someone calling me?
“Keep calling,” I said to the empty cave.
My iPhone didn’t have a good enough vibrate feature to actually help me. Why, oh why couldn’t I have one of those older smart phones that flopped around like a damn Mexican jumping bean?
I collapsed against the rock I’d been stuck to forever. It didn’t matter how many times he called me. If it was even Blake. He had a house full of people at the party.
Would he even notice I wasn’t there?
Would he care?
Would he look for me?
Maybe he’d go to the house. There was no way for him to actually know where I was.
No one would.
Secrets. Always secrets. My grandmother. My mother. Blake.
So many secrets.
I woke with a start. “No, Grace. Stay awake.” I didn’t even know what was a dream and what was reality. The dark was so complete.
The white flash of my screen made me blink. I slid lower on the rock, the surface scraping my back.
My back.
“Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
I wiggled down. I tried to grasp the hem of my hoodie, but my fingers just wouldn’t work. I pulled my arms through the sleeves. The clammy frozen skin started a chain reaction of shudders.
I had to get it off.
Had to do something to knock my phone down. It was my only shot.
I didn’t know if I had the dexterity to catch my stupid phone if I got it off the ledge, but I had to try. It had a Lifeproof case on it, but that was water resistant, not submersible.
My hoodie and thermal shirt under it were soaked through. I couldn’t take one off without the other.
Just the thought of it made my teeth chatter. The water was up to my hip now. The lapping water splashed against the rocks and there was nothing but cold and salt.
“Off. Off.”
I laughed. Madness creeping in. I’d said the same thing to Blake last night. I couldn’t get his clothes off fast enough. I couldn’t get him out of the stupid sleep pants he continually wore.
Naked.
Didn’t he know that night was naked time? Us time.
The only time I could touch and speak to the man I’d fallen for. The one who I wasn’t entirely sure existed outsi
de of my own fantasies.
I got my sweatshirt up to my bra. The rocks burned. Could cold burn? Was I just one big freezer-burned slice of Grace? My teeth were chattering so hard I was afraid I’d loosen fillings.
Tired.
My arms were tired. I couldn’t get it off.
I was going to die down here with my grandmother’s damning words swirling in my head. No answers. Just more questions.
Everyone lied to me.
Everyone kept their true selves to themselves.
Leaving me alone.
Always alone.
The water splashed against my belly. I wiggled and thrashed.
“Off, motherfucker.”
Finally, it came free and plopped into the water. I fished it out and wrung out the sleeves. I shook so bad I couldn’t get much of the water out, but enough.
It had to be enough.
I twisted.
“Call,” I whispered.
Nothing but blackness.
The moon had shifted, so I didn’t even have that light anymore.
“Ring, damn you,” I bellowed.
I needed to know where to aim.
“A text even. Something. I need that tenacious Blake right now.”
I stared into the darkness. At least I hoped I was staring. My night vision was blurry at best right now.
The bloom of white light startled me. I slapped at the wall with my sweatshirt. The sleeve thwacking against the rock.
I heard my phone skid over rock.
Had I pushed it deeper?
I aimed for the same spot again. My arms trembled as I held my arms over my head and slowly pulled the fabric down.
The case came down, nailing me in the cheek.
I caught it against my neck. “Yes. Oh, yes.” I could barely feel it in my hands. Frostbite.
God, please don’t take my fingers. Take a toe. Whatever. Just not my fingers.
I fumbled with my cell and the face lit up again. Blake.
I swiped to answer the call. Passcode.
I tried to press my thumb along the bottom but it didn’t recognize my waterlogged, pruny fingers.
“Code. What’s the fucking code?”
Chapter Two
The call dropped into voicemail.
“No.”
The screen went dark. No signal.
“Dammit.”
I tapped until the screen came alive again. Recent calls. I tried to get my finger in that corner. Finally.
Finally.
The call dropped again.
I dialed again and held the phone up. One sliver of a bar. Not even all the way into one bar.
“Please.”
“Grace!”
I almost dropped my phone. “Blake. Oh, God. Thank God.”
“Grace.” His voice was so far away.
“The cove,” I screamed into the night. “Blake?”
I pressed my thumb into the button at the bottom of the phone. The call was gone. No signal.
Had he heard me?
I couldn’t get my fingers to work. Text? Could I get a text out?
A wave crashed in and flooded up my back. I curled my fingers around the phone, but it was worse than a bar of soap. Even worse, soap I couldn’t see.
It dropped into the water and the face glowed with a green text bubble before it went out and sunk near my foot.
I ducked under the frigid water and searched around in the darkness. In the frigid water that reminded me of fire.
It fell into the crevice.
The water sucking it down to lodge above my foot.
The foot I could barely feel.
I pushed that thought aside and lifted the phone out of the water.
Black.
No life.
I slumped back against my rock.
Had he heard me? Had it gotten through?
The water was still rising.
Chapter Three
“Grace!”
I didn’t want to wake up. It was warm, and everything had soft edges. Best of all, it was warm.
“Ms. Copeland.”
I dragged open my eyes. Blake?
Was I still dreaming? I’d been slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness for what felt like forever.
He sounded…frightened? Not like my Blake.
“Really? Ms. Copeland now?” asked a second voice.
I turned away from the bright light flickering around the walls of the cave. The circle of light bounced around like a drunk lightning bug. Ceiling, ledges, and then back again.
“Gracie. Come out, come out wherever you are.”
“Jack?” I asked out loud.
“Here! Blake, she’s over here.”
“Get back.”
I frowned. The frigid water slapped at my chest.
Jack groaned. “What the hell, Blake?”
“I can get her.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Get back. Grace? I’m here.” His voice was reverent. Soft and hoarse with a touch of the steel I knew so well. Hands slid under my armpits. “Where’s your shirt? Grace?”
His hands were too warm. They were painful. I hissed. “Wait.” My voice was a squeak. He tugged and I pushed at him. “Blake, wait.”
“Shh. I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”
A shape loomed over me. The light was back. I held my hand up. “Stop.” All I could see was a head.
“Blake. Jesus, stop.” Jack’s voice was harsh.
“Don’t touch her!” Blake snarled.
I tried to catch his hand, but my arms wouldn’t work. “S-s-stuck.”
“What?” He cupped my face. So warm. The light threw his angular face into slashing shadows. His eyes were wild. The light making his green-gold eyes shine like a cat’s.
“Foot. C-c-can’t.”
“Shit.” He looked down into the water.
Then he was gone. Smart move. He should go back. No. Wait. He should totally be—he splashed into the tide pool with me.
“Fuck.” His eyes went wide.
“C-cold, huh?”
He dragged in a breath. “That’s one word for it, Ms. Copeland.”
My mind drifted as water skimmed my shoulders.
“Grace. Stay with me.”
Jack’s voice startled me. I started to thrash.
“Grace. Honey, stay with me. We’re going to get you out of there, all right?”
Blake waded in against me.
I pushed at him. I couldn’t breathe. So close. I wanted to curl myself around him and beg him to save me, but I pushed against him instead.
He wrapped his arms around me, dragging me into him. “She’s fucking blue.”
“As a Smurf,” Jack said with a wide grin down at me. “But we’re going to get her out of here and warm her up until she’s pink as a newborn baby, right, Gracie?”
I nodded, pressing my nose into Blake’s neck. I tried to grasp his lapel but my hands wouldn’t work. Suit. He was in a suit—no. Better than that. Tux.
Figures that my first time seeing him in a tux and he’d be soaked in salt water. His shoulders were massive though.
Jack reached into the water.
Blake pulled me closer, crowding me into the rock even more. I didn’t think that was possible.
“Come on, asshole. I’m not trying to feel her up. I like my women warm and willing.” Jack smiled down at me. I could see the worry creeping into his gaze, but he was playing Mr. Charming for all he was worth. “I bet you’d be willing with a little time by the fire, right, Gracie?”
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.
Blake stiffened. “Now you’re making jokes?”
Jack kept on smiling. “Now is the best time.” His fingers slipped around my shoulders and down my back. “What’s stuck, honey?”
“Foot.”
Blake reached down into the water with a hiss. His fingers coasted down my belly to my hip and lower. He kept his gaze locked on me as he bounced twice bef
ore disappearing under the water.
He pulled at my foot. I screamed as pain flared over my ankle and up my leg. Not so numb after all.
He came up, whipping his hair back as he exploded out of the water. “The top of her boot is wedged under a sharp piece of rock. Laces are tangled.” He swiped his hand down his face to wick the water away. “Ankle’s pretty swollen.”
“Can you cut it off?”
I pushed at Jack. “No.”
“Not your foot, Gracie. Just your boot, baby.”
“If you use one more term of endearment with my woman, I’m going to gut you,” Blake snarled.
“Dream on,” Jack said with a laugh.
“Your what?” I asked incredulously.
Maybe the combination of their hot breath in my vicinity was giving me a little clarity. Or maybe I was just living in Bizzarro World. Better yet, I was probably still dreaming.
Of course my nightmare would include two gorgeous men rescuing me, only to bitch at each other until I ended up drowning anyway.
Blake reached down into the water again and came out with a tool in his shaking hand.
“You sure you can do this, son?”
“Just pull her up when I get her foot free,” Blake said with a growl.
Jack inclined his head. “Go cut the damsel free, James.”
“Fuck you,” Blake said before gripping the tool between his teeth.
I laughed. How could I not? Blake’s hair was slicked back and he was wearing a full tux. My very own James Bond.
He slipped under the water. His hand was firm on my thigh. I could barely feel what he was doing, but the tightness around my ankle and calf suddenly let up.
Thank God.
Then there was nothing but white hot pain. I thrashed, but he held me still under the water, and there was no forgiveness in his grip.
“Gracie. Honey, stop.”
I couldn’t stop. Just let me free. Please, let me free. The water was up to my chin. I didn’t remember calling his name, but Jack’s wide-eyed gaze dragged me back into myself. Blake’s name still echoed in the cove.
He’d been down there too long.
Suddenly my foot was free. I shot out of the water like a cork. Jack dragged me out of the water. He stripped out of his tux jacket, then pulled it around me. “All right. There’s a girl.”