Boss: A Novel

by Lauren Love

  Did I just sleep with a rich, successful billionaire to help my own career?

  Was the sex just to ensure his funding?

  No!

  The sex was Kaden’s plan.

  As I remember the events of the previous night, I come to realize just how true that was.

  Right from the first moment I walked into his office, he’s been manipulating me.

  The fine atmosphere, the fine food, the fine wine…

  I remember how every time my glass was empty, he would refill it so fast that I barely even noticed.

  He’d lured me here, got me drunk, and then took what he wanted.

  I’m such an idiot.

  This was all some sick game to him. And he has won.

  Instead of securing the funding, it was likely that I have just blown it. I am not a piece of meat for him to chase anymore. He already owns me.

  He completely lost interest the second he climaxed, almost like he forgot I was there.

  My bottom lip trembles but I bite it hard, blinking back the foolish tears.

  I just want to go home.

  Trent was right. The bastard was right.

  New York chewed me up and spat me out like a piece of gum.

  If it hadn’t been the reclusive billionaire Kaden Blake, it would have been someone else.

  Carefully I slip out of the bed, immediately feeling the loss of his warmth, but I can’t care about that now.

  I snatch up my dress and boots, tiptoeing out the broken door.

  Seeing the splintered wood makes me pause as I remember the expression on his face when he’d seen me standing there naked.

  There was raw lust in his eyes…

  I suck in a breath and slip out of the room.

  He’s probably like that with all his conquests. He is desperate and eager when he’s hunting, when there’s a challenge, but quick to lose interest when he’s won.

  After quickly getting dressed, I pull out my phone and quietly call a cab, walking out into the early morning chill, planning to walk down the winding driveway and meet the cab on the road.

  Chapter 11

  Closing the door to my apartment, I almost scream when Olivia suddenly sits up on the couch, her blonde hair sticking out at all directions.

  “I’m awake,” she says, clearly just opening her eyes this second.

  Despite my internal anguish, I can’t help smiling, “Go to bed Olivia. It’s early and it’s Saturday.”

  She blinks and I almost groan when she becomes fully awake, taking in the fact that I’ve just now walked in the door still wearing last night’s dress.

  She sits up straighter and grins at me.

  “Would you believe me if I told you I just went out for an early morning walk?” I ask.

  “If you’re talking about a walk of shame from the bed of a billionaire, then yes. I would believe you,” she smiles.

  She jumps up and grabs my hands, squealing and jumping from foot to foot.

  “I demand details. Measurements, measurements—” she gives me a meaningful look, “Duration…”

  “Alright,” I cut her off, holding my hands up in surrender, “I will share all, but first I need a shower… I could really use some chocolate ice-cream as well.”

  Olivia’s face switches quickly from glee to concern. “This early? Why? Was he…”

  She holds up her little finger and gives it a wiggle.

  I laugh, “No. He was the opposite to that.”

  “A five second wonder?”

  “No! The sex was incredible. He was very good at the sex part.”

  She studies me for another moment and then pushes me towards the bathroom, “You. Shower. I’ll get ice-cream.”

  Chapter 12

  I strip carefully in the bathroom as all my muscles still ache, and I look at myself in the mirror, immediately noticing something different.

  I’m not sure what it is.

  It’s like my skin is glowing, my eyes are brighter, and my lips are fuller.

  I feel heat flushing up my body as I remember Kaden’s mouth ravishing me as he took my body hard and fast.

  I’ve heard about people having a look about them after amazing sex but I guess I have never had it myself.

  I notice a dark shadow on my throat and on my shoulder and run my fingers over the bruising, remembering the way it felt to have him sucking, marking me as his.

  Only I wasn’t his.

  The warm water of the shower helps me forget.

  After a long shower, I emerge from the bathroom under a veil of steam, wrapping a towel around my scrubbed pink body and another around my hair.

  Olivia is already on the sofa and holds up two tubs of pure chocolate sin and smiles.

  “Now come and tell Aunty Nic all the filthy details.”

  Laughing as I sit down, I take the offered tub of ice-cream and tell her everything.

  Between large mouthfuls, I start from the beginning when I first bumped into him at the gym and fell on my ass, and finish at how I had snuck out before he had woken up this morning.

  She stares thoughtfully into her own ice-cream tub.

  Finally she says, “So… If I were to hold out my arm, could you show me exactly how long…”

  “Olivia!”

  “Sorry,” she says, not really looking all that sorry, “Okay, exact measurements of his genitals aside, did he say anything, you know, after?”

  “Nope,” I reply, “He just looked up at his own reflection in the ceiling mirror.”

  Her mouth falls open.

  “There was a ceiling mirror…” her words fail on her lips and she waves for me to continue.

  I love Olivia and I know she’s trying to be sympathetic but I also know that it’s been a while since she’d been in a relationship too.

  I wish I could view sex the way she did - the way most guys did - as a fun and pleasurable pastime…

  But I’m not like that.

  “So he lies there, staring at the ceiling, not saying anything,” I try to remember his expression, “I mean if he looked exhausted or even if he just fell asleep, I could have understood but… he looked sort of angry or annoyed. I wanted to reach out and touch him but it was like a gap split the bed in two.”

  I take another mouthful but my throat feels swollen.

  The truth is sitting heavy on my chest and I can feel my eyes prickling with fresh tears.

  “I don’t think I was very good...”

  “At sex?” Olivia asks.

  I nod, “I don’t think I did enough… things. He did more things than I did.”

  “Did you let him do the things?”

  “Yes! He was really good at all the things he did. I get the feeling he does it a lot,” I expel a long sigh, “Maybe he thought I’d be more exciting or inventive. Maybe he has had so much sex that it’s boring to him.”

  Olivia doesn’t look convinced, “Did he seem bored while you were having sex?”

  “No, he didn’t seem bored and he came for a long time. But maybe that’s normal for him. I mean, he’s a handsome billionaire – he would have access to supermodels and actresses and…”

  Olivia slams her ice-cream tub on the coffee table, and then snatches mine to do the same. She slaps my hand when I reach for it.

  “Maybe he wasn’t bored or annoyed. Maybe he was confused. You said you felt like you two connected and not in the naughty sexy way.”

  When I open my mouth to argue she shushes me.

  “Maybe you’re right about the doing it a lot with supermodels,” she continues.

  “Not helping.”

  “But maybe he felt that connection too, maybe that’s something that he doesn’t get very often. Maybe sex for him is usually a fun distraction and maybe it was different with you. You’re pretty amazing, you know.”

  “What does that matter?”

  “I’m saying he was angry because he felt something.”

  “Feeling something makes men angry?”

  “Definitely,�
�� Olivia smiles, “He is a man that is always in control. He owns everything that happens around him. So when he can’t control how he feels, he becomes angry and confused.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely. But he wasn’t angry. He was scared.”

  I’m not convinced but I let her pull me into a hug all the same.

  We spend the rest of the weekend watching teary romance movies and consuming the last three bottles of wine in the apartment.

  Chapter 13

  I wake up on Monday morning feeling better. Ice cream and tears can cure a lot of pain.

  But I am still at a total loss about what to do with myself.

  Should I call Kaden to discuss our business partnership?

  Was there ever a deal on the table or was the whole thing a scheme to get me into bed?

  I wouldn’t be surprised if I never heard from him again.

  My mind runs over that first conversation in his office.

  He’d asked about my relationship with Dr. Henderson. I’d heard a few rumors about Dr. Henderson but then they were always rumors about the attractive students.

  Had he sent me to Kaden because he thought his friend might enjoy me?

  The thought makes my stomach turn and I immediately dismiss it.

  Dr. Henderson might engage in relations with some of his student’s and that’s not surprising. But he seemed honestly supportive and proud of my skills as a programmer.

  He couldn’t have missed the fact that I’m sort of geeky and definitely not billionaire mistress material.

  I reach for my phone.

  No missed calls. No texts.

  Maybe I should just call him?

  I’m a grown woman - I can have meaningless sex if I want to. It doesn’t have to ruin anything.

  It wouldn’t happen again.

  Which shouldn’t be a problem considering he forgot I was even there seconds after he got off.

  Did he even notice that I was gone when he woke up or was that how it usually worked in his world?

  I frown.

  That actually sounds kind of lonely.

  I make my way out to the kitchen and pour a coffee while my laptop works through the opening pages.

  “Morning sunshine,” Olivia croaks as she stumbles by and fills her own cup, “I have exactly two hours to make myself beautiful before the meeting with my agent.”

  “You’re always beautiful.”

  She looks at me and growls.

  Her hair is a blonde rat’s nest, her oversized white sleeping shirt is stained with chocolate ice-cream and red wine, and there are black mascara rings around her eyes making her look like a feral raccoon.

  I cough to cover my laugh and she flips me a harsh stare as she stumbles back to her den, coffee in hand.

  I take a sip of my coffee as I scroll through my emails.

  One from Joey, regarding my new workout app.

  He loves it of course.

  I wonder as I keep scrolling. People seem to really like those apps. Maybe I could start my own small app business. I needed a big start up to create Gifting Elf, but that wasn’t the only idea I had. Maybe I could focus on these smaller, easier to create apps. Surely I could find an investor once I have a legitimate business under my belt.

  There’s an email from my bank and I frown.

  Usually I only get emails when I transfer money or as it has been lately, I have insufficient funds to pay a bill. I’m pretty sure the rent isn’t due till next week.

  I open the email and have no understanding of what I’m reading. I blink and shake my head.

  Surely that is not right.

  I blink again.

  And again.

  But nothing changes. The email stays the same.

  It’s not possible.

  Dear Miss Snow,

  This is a courtesy email to inform you that the amount of $1,000,000 has been successfully transferred to your account and is now available…

  The rest of the email is the bank writing about how I am a valued customer and that I should call them if I have any concerns.

  Funny, I didn’t seem that valued when my account was overdrawn last week.

  But it has to be a mistake.

  I bring up a new web page with trembling hands and quickly click the link to my bank.

  I have to blink again.

  What the hell is this?

  I know I agreed to become his business partner and he agreed to fund the creation of Gifting Elf but shouldn’t there have been a more formal meeting?

  Maybe one with contracts and witnesses?

  A cold, nasty thought creeps into my mind with an all too familiar voice.

  Maybe he’s paying me off.

  He used the excuse of discussing a possible business partnership to get me into his bed, but he doesn’t want or need the hassle of an angry ex-lover so he’s paying me off. After all, a million dollars is a drop in the ocean to a man like him.

  Something hot and deeply buried rears its head.

  How dare he just throw money at me like I’m some high-end hooker!

  That is not who I am.

  How dare he.

  What a bastard.

  What an arrogant, rude bastard.

  I logout and shut my laptop with a snap, then stomp into the bathroom to shower and dress.

  If he’s paying me off - fine.

  I’ll put the money to good use.

  But he can say it to my face.

  He have the decency to talk to me.

  I’m going to make it clear that I never had any intention of making trouble for him but neither am I one of his on-call easy lays.

  I am an intelligent professional woman and he will treat me with respect.

  I march out of the apartment wearing my scarlet red figure hugging business dress, which I had bluntly refused to even try on for my first interview with Kaden Blake.

  With matching heels and my hair pulled up into a tight but elegant knot, I feel stronger and more in control that I have in a long time.

  Watch out, Kaden Blake.

  You’ve made the wrong woman mad…

  Chapter 14

  The cab pulls up outside Blake Tower and I stride up to the glass doors.

  I almost falter when I spy the same doorman who met me the first time but I keep my pace strong.

  I have no idea what I’m going to say when I come face to face with that bastard.

  What can I say?

  There is no time to think.

  As I step up to the doorman, I’m prepared for the cold blank stare of an immovable force.

  Instead his hard face morphs into a wide smile when he spies me closing in.

  “Miss Snow,” he says and swings the door open, holding it for me as I pass through, “I see you managed to sidestep Rowe’s vehicle of horrors this time.”

  That earns a surprised laugh, “Good morning, Brock. I need to see Mr. Blake.”

  He gives me a nod as though he was expecting me.

  I ride the elevator full of rage and when I step out onto the top floor, I am a ball of fury.

  I trace the hall to the desk outside Kaden’s office but I bypass it, heading straight for the door.

  “You can’t go in there!” his assistant snaps. “Mr. Blake is in a meeting.”

  I look at her and I have no idea what my expression looks like but her eyes widen and she promptly snaps her mouth shut to sit back down.

  I push open the door and find myself in alone in his office. I instinctively look towards the window where I’d spotted him last time but the office is empty.

  I can hear voices coming from a second door on the other side of the room. That must lead to the meeting room.

  Taking a deep breath, I straighten my shoulders, march up to the door and charge through.

  I charge right Into a boardroom full of expensively dressed older men and women.

  All faces turn to me, all fourteen sets of eyes.

  Oh no.

  Kaden is standing in f
ront of a large screen and when he looks at me with his piercing eyes, I feel it.

  His gaze drops to my figure hugging dress and lingers at the spot on my throat where he’d marked me.

  I had to spend extra time covering and concealing the bruised flesh but he was looking right at the spot as though he remembered exactly where his mouth had been.

  His jaw tightens for a second before his face morphs into a wide grin.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I didn’t think I’d be able to introduce you to Miss Snow until later in the week.”

  He looks up at me again.

  What is going on?

  “Claire, I’ve been trying to explain your app design to the board but I don’t think I’m doing it justice. Would you mind…?”

  He waves a hand at the wide screen and I suddenly notice that it’s displaying the specifications of my app.

  What?

  I walk towards the front of the room but I have this funny giddy feeling like I’m in a dream.

  He introduces the nine board members then indicates to the three younger women and two similarly aged men sitting together near the front.

  “And this is your team: Danika, Robin, Morgan, Wilson, and Louis. They are each top of their field in marketing, programming, PR, art and design. If anyone is qualified to make this app fly, it’s them.”

  I smile at the table of experienced professionals, all of who are here for me and my new app.

  Kaden places a hand on my lower back and it sends electric heat through my entire body.

  He leans down to murmur in my ear and I feel the warmth of his breath on my throat.

  “You look incredible,” his gruff whisper feels so raw that I have to lock my knees to stop them shaking, “I’m sorry about this, I’d planned to have this meeting on Wednesday so you’d have more time to prepare but the board already had a meeting scheduled for today and they won’t be able to meet again for another couple of weeks.”

  “It’s not a problem,” I stammer.

  “I missed you when I woke up,” he whispers in my ear, “We need to talk after the meeting.”

  “Do we?” I level him with a cool gaze and he frowns at me.