Forever the Boss: Billionaire Romance ~ Hot and Steamy (Managing the Bosses Series Book 10) (6 page)

“You are unbelievable,” Alex said as soon as they were out of hearing range. “Did you really just match up your sister with our new senior advisor during lunch hour?”

“I'm good, right?” Jamie grinned at him, and Alex couldn't help the smile that answered. She was infectious.

“You're something,” he said, voice pitching low. “And you owe me for dragging me out to a speed dating lunch when I could have been making you scream my name.”

Jamie made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded like she was trying not to moan out loud in the middle of the restaurant, and Alex wondered if he looked as smug as she had earlier.

“I'm pretty sure that qualifies as some kind of harassment,” she said, laughter slipping into the words.

“Oh, does it?”

She nodded, but her mouth kept twitching up at the corners like she was trying not to smile.

“Well, in that case I guess I'll have to refrain from telling you how much I want to get you in our bed tonight and put my hands—scratch that, my tongue—all over your body.”

“You will,” Jamie agreed. “Refrain, that is.”

“And I definitely can't tell you how much I want to feel you wrapped around me. So tight and perfect.” His voice had dropped to a whisper. “How much I want to get you riding me so that I can look up at your face while you lose yourself in pleasure.”

“You're a tease.”

“Your favorite tease,” Alex retorted. She glared at him, and he laughed as the other two showed up behind them. He turned to look at them. “It was good to see you, Christine.”

“And you, too,” she said. “All of you.” She glanced at Paul, smiling that shy smile again, and then hurried out of the restaurant.

“Thank you for introducing us,” Paul said, only half to Jamie, his voice distracted as he watched her go.

“Of course.” Jamie's smile as triumphant. “Let me know how the date goes.”

She didn't give the flustered man a chance to answer, just giving him a sweet smile over her shoulder and heading for the sidewalk.

The woman was a little evil, but Alex didn't exactly mind. It was hot.

Damn hot.

The past two weeks had passed in the blink of an eye, and Mark was starting to worry.

There was still so much to do for the course before it was ready for the tournament, let alone the wedding. Everything was on schedule, but that didn't stop the constant pressure of knowing that if anything went wrong they could fall behind and not have the renovations finished by the time the tournament started. He supposed they could forego the pool if they had to, but it was going to be one of the things that would really set them apart from other local country clubs and he would prefer to have that finished.

“Mr. Reid? We just need you to take a look at this and sign off on it.”

Sighing, Mark turned to take the papers that were handed over to him by the general manager, shuffling through them. Just basic stocking reports. He didn't know why they needed him to look at them. Except that, he remembered, he'd asked to sign off on any purchases that large. He glanced at them again, and then pulled out a pen and signed on the bottom line, handing the papers back.

“Thank you, Mr. Reid.”

The manager hurried off again, and Mark took a breath, trying to settle the whirl of thoughts. Erica didn't need him to go back to what he'd been before, stressed and snapping and tearing their relationship apart. He just needed to chill out. The contractors he'd hired were the best; they weren't going to let the place be anything less than exactly what he'd told them he wanted. He just had to keep remembering that.

“Mark?” It was Erica's voice that spoke, and Mark turned to look at her, forcing a smile to his lips.

“Hey, babe. What's going on?”

Her eyebrows drew together. Obviously the smile that he was wearing hadn't fooled her, which was just his luck.

“Just coming to see how you're doing. I know that you've got a lot on your plate right now.”

“Nothing that I can't handle,” Mark said, careful to keep his tone neutral even though the insinuation that he wasn't going to cope well with the things that he still had to do before the tournament irritated him.

But that wasn't what she was saying, was it? He caught the thought and pushed it away. She hadn't meant anything except that she was worried about him, which was fair. He did have a lot going on. If it was Erica running the business amid all this, he'd be worried about her, too.

She was looking at him with an expression that said she was waiting for a different answer than the one he'd given her.

“Okay, so it's kind of stressful.”

“I would think it would be,” Erica said. “I'm not even doing most of the heavy lifting and I find it kind of stressful.” She glanced around the nearly empty room. It was nearing closing time, and the rest of the patrons would be clearing out shortly, the employees with them. Her eyes lifted back to Mark's face. “Why don't you come with me for a minute?”

“Come with you where?” Mark asked, but she didn't answer, and he let himself be tugged toward the stairs that led up to their apartment. “I really don't have time for anything, Erica. There are some things I have to finish.”

“Right this minute?”

Mark opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again, giving the question some actual thought. “Before tomorrow.”

“So we'll make sure that we get it done before tomorrow,” Erica answered.

In the apartment she shut the door, and then shoved him back against it with surprising strength. Mark's shoulders hit the wood, and he looked down at her with raised eyebrows. “Erica. What are you-?”

The words stopped in his throat as she dropped smoothly to her knees in front of him, reaching for the fastenings of his slacks. That made it pretty obvious what she was doing. She tipped her head back to grin up at him.

“Any objections?”

“Um. No. Not- Not at all.”

There wasn't a man alive who would have objections to the sight of Erica sliding his pants down his hips and pressing her mouth to the front of his underwear. Mark went from interested to painfully hard in a ridiculously short amount of time as she dragged an open-mouthed kiss down the length of him, her nails scratching lines down his thighs just hard enough to sting.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

She laughed, and the vibration of it made his knees almost buckle, the hot wash of her breath pulling a moan from his throat. Her eyes lifted to his again. “Good?” she asked, still close enough that she said the words against the thin barrier of fabric separating his skin from her lips.

“Yeah,” Mark answered, voice tight. “God. Yeah.” He swallowed. “Take off your shirt?”

Her lips curled into a smile that promised he was going to probably die before the end of the night, and that he was really going to like it. Pulling back just enough to give herself room, she pulled her shirt off, then her bra, tossing them both to the side. Mark groaned. She looked at him, her expression thoughtful, and then she rocked back on her knees and shimmied out of the rest of her clothes, naked in front of him.

“Damn, woman.”

“I thought you might like that,” she purred, rubbing her cheek against him like a cat. Mark's fingers curled against the door, and he was probably scratching up the finish but he really, really didn't care because Erica was finally pulling down his briefs, letting his cock spring free.

“You're so big,” she said, voice pitched low like it was some kind of secret. Like it really turned her on. “Can't wait to get you in my mouth.”

The sound that came from Mark's throat wasn't one that he would ever admit to if anyone asked him about it.

“Then do it,” he said. “Fuck. Erica. Get me in your mouth.”

“So bossy.”

She flicked a glance up at him again, and then she leaned in and licked him from root to tip with the full flat of her tongue. Mark's hips jerked, and she reached up and pinned them in place with surprisingly strong hands. He rocked against them as she licked him again, taking her time because she obviously wanted to drive him completely insane, teasing at the head with the tip of her tongue. He wanted to reach out and tangle his hands in her hair, but he didn't. This was her show, and he was going to let her have it. He really wanted to see where it went.

Where it went, it turned out, was her wrapping her lips around him and sliding all the way down to take him into her throat like she couldn't get enough. Mark's head fell back against the door with a
thunk
, and he was pretty sure that he was going to slide down it any second when his legs completely stopped working.

Erica pulled back, slowly, and then moved down again, getting into a rhythm. Mark tried to remember how to actually breathe. All thoughts of tournaments and renovations had flown completely out of his head.

“Erica,” he groaned, low and rough in his throat, the word catching.

She drew off him with a pop, and licked her lips as her head tipped back again. “Yes?” she asked, like she hadn't just left him aching with wanting her.

“Oh, fuck. Don't stop.”

“Say please.”

“You absolute minx,” Mark growled. She just smiled too sweetly up at him. “Fine. Fuck. Please.”

She went down on him again, picking up a faster rhythm the second time around, her nails digging into his hips. Mark moaned through clenched teeth and let his eyes fall shut, his breath coming in harsh pants.

When she pulled off again, he swallowed a noise that was more pleading than anything else, determined not to let her hear it. “Erica?”

Her tongue flicked out over the head of his cock. “What was that?”

“
Fuck
. Why are you stopping?” His voice came out rough.

“Maybe I want to see what happens,” she teased, licking him again and then reaching up to stroke her fingertips over his balls, sending shocks of pleasure through him that weren’t enough.

“If you don’t stop teasing me I’ll show you what happens,” Mark answered her, looking down into wide blue eyes that weren’t anywhere near as innocent as they pretended to be.

She leaned in slowly and breathed over damp skin, then pressed a kiss to the head of his cock, still looking up at him. It was more than any man should be required to take.

Mark caught her by the biceps just roughly enough to let her feel his grip, not hard enough to hurt her, and pulled her to her feet. She moved willingly under his hands, a smile on her lips, and he growled as he guided her backward toward the bed.

“You know, I think I ought to tease you more often,” she said as the backs of her legs hit the mattress. She collapsed onto her elbows, looking up at him with that same wicked grin. “You're kind of hot when you're all worked up.”

“You don't know the half of it,” Mark said, crawling onto the bed after her.

He slid two fingers between her legs and found her wet and ready, her hips hitching up into his touch. They stroked over her clit and it was her turn to moan, her spine arching into a graceful curve that made him want to bite his way up the line of her torso. Later, though. He wasn't in the mood to wait.

Wrapping his hands around her hips, Mark dragged her down against him, her legs spread on either side of his, and just like that he was inside her, filling her up and making both of them gasp with the pleasure of it.

“Yes,” she hissed. “Fuck. Mark. Yes.”

He started moving, then, rocking into her and back out again, her body slick and hot around him. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her hands found his arms, holding tighter than he'd held her, clutching at him.

“This what you wanted, baby?” Mark panted as he moved over her. “Me? Filling you— Fuck. Up, like this?”

She nodded a little frantically, beyond words, little sounds of need escaping her with every thrust. She always knew exactly what to do to get him so turned on he couldn't think straight. Mark moved faster, deeper, and she moaned his name. He dropped his head to rest against her shoulder, nipping at her collarbone. Later, he promised himself, he was going to drive her as crazy as she'd driven him. Make her beg him to have her again. But that was later. Right now the only goal was pushing them both to orgasm.

“Mark,” she gasped.

He rolled his hips against hers, and she arched up to meet him, one of her hands letting go of his arm to slip down between them and rub her fingers over her clit.

“Going to come for me?”

She nodded, teeth digging hard into her lower lip, and Mark felt his own pleasure rising to a crest, sweeping through him with the promise of release.

“That's it, baby. Come on. Come for me.”

Her fingers moved faster, and her body rocked against his, and then she was coming, rippling around him. Mark followed her over the edge with a low groan, pleasure exploding in his veins.

He carefully lowered himself onto her, weight resting on his forearms, and her hand slid into his hair, stroking through the tousled mess of it. He could feel the quick rise and fall of her chest against his own, her legs still wrapped around him.

“Wow,” she said, a little laughter in the word. “I expected you to want it, but I have to admit that was way hotter than I'd imagined.”

Mark laughed against her skin, body shaking. “Oh, really?”

“I've got to work you up to releasing your pent-up frustrations more often,” she said, and there was a definite promise in her tone.

“You're going to be getting your own share of them as soon as I can move again,” he answered, voice low.

He felt her pause, just for an instant, and then her hand was moving through his hair again. “That a threat, baby?”

“Not at all.” Mark pulled back to look at her, lips curling into a smile. “In fact, I think you're really going to like it.”

She opened her mouth to answer, and he silenced her with a kiss, long and slow and deep. The hand that had been in his hair slid down to cup the back of his neck, and Mark wrapped his arms around Erica, lifting her close against him until both of them were short of breath and they had to break apart.

Gently, he laid her back down. “Time for your comeuppance, lover,” he said, looking up to meet her eyes and finding her looking back at him expectantly.

He pressed his lips to the space just between her collarbones, then under that, slowly moving downward. Erica shifted like she wanted to press up into it but knew that if she did she would be giving away too much too soon. She moaned softly.

“That's it. Feel for me.”

Mark kissed farther downward, and she started to writhe then, tiny motions that weren't enough to interrupt what he was doing, but obviously wanting. Obviously hoping for more. If she thought that he was going to give in that easily, she was going to be sadly disappointed. Mark didn't intend to give her what she needed until she was pleading for it, and even then he might make her wait a little longer.

“Mark,” she breathed when his lips found her navel and he paused to tease it with his tongue before moving downward.

“
Shh
,” he answered. “I've got you, baby.”

She had made sure that he wasn't thinking about anything but her, and now he was going to return the favor.

Another kiss, and another, and he followed the curve of her mound with his lips, down until he almost brushed against the place that she wanted him most, and her hips were rocking up for it. He flicked his tongue out over the little button of nerves, and listened to her whimper. His hands closed around her upper thighs, pulling her legs open and holding her in place.