In the Boss's Bed (Harlequin Blaze) (11 page)

17

T
HAT
NIGHT
,
WHEN
Maya entered her apartment, Abby was in the kitchen cooking a late dinner. “Maya!” she squealed, running to the door and enveloping Maya in a strong hug. “I missed you! How was your trip?”

Maya bit back a yawn. “It was really great.” She was exhausted from spending the previous night with Jamie, traveling and the time difference. She yawned, longing for her own bed. But she knew that Abby would surely keep her up for at least long enough to catch up. “We met with a bunch of very important people, and I sat in on some pretty interesting workshops—”

“And how was Jamie?”

Maya stopped, feeling the color fill her cheeks. “What do you mean?”

Abby regarded her carefully, her piercing eyes narrowed. “I meant ‘how was Jamie’ in a general sense.” Still looking strangely at Maya, she went on. “Like, how was it being with him 24/7? How did his meetings go? Did you guys get along?”

“Oh. Yeah. It was fine,” Maya stammered, moving past Abby to come farther into the apartment. “How was your week? How’s the job hunt going?” She hoped to distract her friend long enough so she could sneak to her bedroom and avoid the topic of Jamie altogether.

Abby was silent for a moment, before she followed Maya to her bedroom. “Pretty good. I’ve got some interviews lined up next week.” She stopped at the entrance to Maya’s room and crossed her arms across her chest as she leaned on the doorjamb, tilting her head to the side as she regarded her friend. “Maya, did you and Jamie have sex?”

Shocked, Maya’s mouth dropped open. “What?” And then she sighed, too exhausted to keep up the pretense. She never could lie to her best friend. “How did you know?”

“You’ve got this freshly sexed look about you. I’d know it anywhere. I can basically feel it coming off you. It’s like an aura.” Abby curled up on Maya’s bed and hugged one of her pillows. “So, how was it?”

Maya slumped down on her bed with a sigh. “It was incredible...” She trailed off for a moment to reflect on her night with Jamie, before grimacing at her reaction to him that morning. “But this morning I woke up in his bed and I freaked out.” She detailed her exchange with Jamie, beginning with not wanting to dress in front of him and ending with their completely uneventful, near-silent plane ride back home. Jamie had transitioned easily back into the role of her boss, as if he hadn’t sat naked at the table and offered her coffee just hours before. Had he been so unaffected that it didn’t even matter? That any desire he had felt for her had been completely purged from his system?

Maya continued. “And I’m not sure why I’m so upset about it. Am I upset because it was so casual to him that he just became my boss again? Or am I upset that I know it can never happen again?” She lay back on her bed. “This was supposed to be a one night thing, to get it out of our systems. But, I feel like I want him even more now.” She threw an arm over her eyes. “My God, how am I supposed to share an office with him, eat with him, travel with him, when I know so much about him now?” How his body, all firm muscle, looked beneath his suit. How his lips and warm, demanding hands felt all over her body. The look in his eyes, and his hoarse shouts when he came. How peacefully he slept beside her, before she jostled him awake, of course.

“What am I going to do?” she pleaded with her friend.

Abby rolled over to Maya and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a friendly, supportive hug. How many times had their current roles been reversed? When Abby had come home, devastated about some guy, and Maya had provided the comfort. “Well, hon, you have two options,” she told her, in a soothing voice. “You can forget it ever happened, how he made you feel all a-tingle. You can go about your business and just focus on work.”

“What’s the other option?”

“You can make it impossible for him to forget it happened, and what a complete smoke show you are in bed. And make it impossible for him to think about anything but you.”

Maya laughed. “I can’t do that to him. This is too important a time to throw him off his game. We can’t afford any distractions.”

Abby gave her a parting squeeze. “Well, the last time I saw the man up close I was painfully hungover and he was still one of the best-looking guys I’ve ever seen, so good luck with option one.”

* * *

J
AMIE
SAT
ON
his couch. He had not long arrived home. But instead of heading to his bedroom to unpack his bag, or to the kitchen to fix dinner, he dropped his bag at the door and headed straight for his liquor cabinet. He grabbed a very expensive bottle of scotch and a glass and slumped down in his living room.

What was I thinking?
He shook his head in disgust.
I wasn’t thinking, obviously. If I’d been thinking, I wouldn’t have gone to bed with my assistant.
In his effort to be taken seriously as a businessman, Jamie had been so good and on his best behavior the past couple of years. Not giving anyone—naysayers, competitors, bloggers—anything negative to write about. It had been going so well. Until he met Maya, that is.

He put a hand to his stomach, where the scotch burned his insides. The scotch? Or was it Maya? It had been near impossible for him to not touch her during their five-hour flight. He had resorted to pretending to be asleep. All the while, he was aware of every move she made. When she ordered tea, when she got up to go to the lavatory, when she sighed in disappointment at every selection on the in-flight entertainment system.

Her reaction to waking up in his bed had shocked him. It had
hurt
him. While they were making love, he’d had a revelation. He knew that he wanted to be with Maya. He wanted to forge a relationship with her. And that morning, he had been prepared to tell her that he wanted more. He had been prepared to put himself out there and put his feelings on the line. He felt that they had formed a real connection in the early hours of the morning. And he wanted her more and more as each minute passed.

How am I going to get through this?
How would he be able to focus on the important work they had coming up? If his next few steps were not successful, he could be ruined, as everything was riding on the success of the expansion. He had work to do. And he definitely couldn’t be distracted by mooning over a woman. Especially not the most beautiful, dynamic, sensitive and giving lover he’d ever had.

Jamie took another swallow of the scotch, and its smooth heat enveloped him like her touch, and it triggered memories of being with her. He could feel himself start to harden.
So it’s come to this again, has it?
He sighed roughly and closed his eyes, resigning himself to spend a lifetime taking cold showers.

18

F
OR
WEEKS
AFTER
returning from Las Vegas, Jamie and Maya worked tirelessly, day in and day out. Because Jamie was such a control freak, he liked to keep his work close to him. Sure, he could have hired out the hotel construction projects, but he didn’t want to do that, so he and Maya shouldered most of the load of the projects.

They were busy first off, arranging contractors both in Montreal and in Las Vegas to begin working on building hotels in both locations. Sure, Jamie reckoned, it was very risky to start such huge projects at the same time, in different countries, but he was anxious to get it underway. If there was anything he loved, it was the challenge, the time crunch and fitting as much work into a weekday that he could. The time difference between Quebec and Nevada ensured that he often stayed at the office until midnight most days.

Jamie looked across the office and found Maya at her own desk. He admired Maya’s need to mirror his own unhealthy work ethic. She was eager to impress. Many assistants would have definitely called it a day by 6 p.m. But not Maya. He looked at his watch as the time approached ten thirty. He watched her type furiously on her computer. In between words, she would take gulps from her coffee cup.
She must be exhausted
. He’d already suggested she go home, but she had refused. As long as Jamie was in the office, she would be, as well.

She brushed her long hair from her shoulders and used a pen to secure it in an updo, which revealed the delicate lines of her neck and throat. It had been weeks since they’d slept together. While they hadn’t let themselves get too close to one another, the energy that crackled between them constantly had considerably ramped up since that night. Sometimes all it took was the sound of her voice, or a whiff of her perfume or the way she stretched at her desk to turn him on completely.

And then her clothes were another issue. While they were conservative in nature, they also fueled his dirtiest thoughts. The slim fit of her skirts and blouses only worked to highlight the exquisite body that he knew lay beneath. From time to time,
actually
all the time
, his mind would stray to that night in Vegas. He pictured the lean muscles of her arms, stomach and legs. He could still feel her heat and smooth, flawless skin below him. Involuntarily, he cleared his throat to keep from moaning.

The noise caught her attention, and she looked up from her laptop and at him. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everything’s fine.” That small break from work to think about Maya had reminded him of another of his basic needs. “Are you hungry?”

She paused, as if realizing as well that she was. “Yeah, I could definitely eat.”

“Mary’s gone. But we can order in. What would you like?”

She took another sip of her coffee. “It doesn’t matter. I’m pretty easy.”

They both caught the meaning behind her words. He cleared his throat again. “Pizza?”

“That sounds great.”

“No pineapple?” he asked her, recalling her usual pizza request.

“You got it.” She smiled at him as he picked up the phone to call for delivery.

* * *

A
KNOCK
CAME
on the door a short time later. Both Jamie and Maya were still at their desks, working, and Trevor walked in holding the pizza that had been dropped off downstairs.

“I should have assumed that you were both still up here,” he remarked, putting the pizza down on a coffee table. He held up a six-pack of beer—a Belgian wheat beer that Maya had grown to love. “And I brought this up from downstairs. I figured after all of the hours you’ve both punched this week, you guys would need to unwind a little,” he finished with a wink.

Maya watched as a strange look passed between Jamie and Trevor. She had trouble determining if the good-natured look was full of meaning, or just a friendly way to sign off as Trevor left the room.
Does he know? Did Jamie tell him?
She was almost offended, but then she realized that she had told Abby immediately when she’d arrived home. Maya tried to put what had happened between them out of her mind. After seeing the amount of work that lay before them, she should have easily forgotten about making love with Jamie. “Who has time for that?” she had asked Abby earlier. So, she had intentionally left her makeup and hair understated. And she had worn her most conservative outfits. Knee-length pencil skirts, long-sleeved blouses, jackets. All in an effort to not distract or entice the man she wanted more than anything. She would wait him out. If they were meant to be together, it would happen. If not, that was okay, too. Or it would be okay.
Once I get past the crushing heartache
, she told herself.

Trevor walked out without another word, leaving Maya and Jamie alone with the pizza and beer, all of which made her mouth water. She stood and straightened her skirt. She opened the pizza box, removed a slice and put it on a paper plate Trevor had also brought up for them. She took a bite and savored the taste, realizing that she hadn’t eaten anything else since a muffin she’d grabbed on the way to work that morning. She was ravenously hungry and quickly took another bite and then another.

She looked over at Jamie. “You better get over here and get some of this before I eat it all.”

Jamie laughed and pushed himself up from his desk. He stopped at the beer and snagged one each for both of them. He twisted the top off the bottle and passed it to her. She raised an eyebrow at his implicit suggestion that they drink while working. “Trevor’s right,” he told her. “We’ve earned it.”

“Thank you.” She accepted it, and drank greedily to wash down the mouthful of pizza. “Mmm, so good.”

Realizing that there was nowhere to sit but on the couch with her, he dropped down next to her and helped himself to a slice. “Thanks for everything, Maya. You’re an incredible assistant. And I know that I wouldn’t be able to do all of this without you in my corner.”

She flushed under his praise. It was incredible to hear those words. She was the lucky one to have scored such a great position with such an influential man in so short a time. “You know, if you weren’t such a micromanager, we could probably get home at a decent hour,” she teased him.

“But it’s much more fun this way, isn’t it?” he joked. “And I really appreciate you staying so late with me every night. Not everyone would do that.”

“Jamie, your success is my success. And I’m really proud to be a member of your team.” She held her bottle to his. “To Swerve Hotels and Nightclubs.”

Jamie smiled and clinked his bottle to hers. “To hard work paying off.”

* * *

I
T
WAS
AFTER
one in the morning when Jamie and Maya finally called it quits. They had finished the pizza and beer and got back to work. Jamie stifled a yawn and escorted her out the front door. He was going to walk her toward her car, but realized that his was the only one in the lot. “How are you getting home?”

She turned to face him. “I’m just going to walk. It isn’t far and I don’t have a car and the buses don’t run this late.”

Jamie’s mind raced.
She’s walking? No way is she walking home.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s so dangerous.” He put a hand on her elbow and turned her slightly in the direction of his car. “You aren’t walking. I’m driving you home.”

She opened her mouth to argue but he waved her off. “Don’t argue. I’m not letting you walk home alone in the middle of the night.”

“All right, then.” She got in his car and gave him the directions to the not-so-great neighborhood where her apartment building was located.

As he sat next to her in his car, Jamie was completely aware of her. He was exhausted, and he felt his resolve crumbling. He wanted this woman again. He’d never stopped wanting her. His hands shook with the need. He gripped the wheel tighter and looked straight ahead. But first, he needed to get her home safely.

When he parked outside her building, she was staring out the windshield. She hesitated before she turned her head and cast a look in his direction that told him that she wasn’t ready to get out of the car. But when she looked away from him and muttered a quick goodbye, she reached for the door handle. With one foot outside of the car, she turned back to him.

“Jamie,” she whispered, putting a hand on his arm, reminiscent of the night he had touched her as she tried to enter her hotel room in Vegas.

“What?” he asked her, his breath hushed in the small confines of his car.

In response, Maya sat back in her seat and pulled the door closed. She leaned over the console, and with a firm hand on the back of his head, she moved toward him and kissed him deeply. It was as if every emotion, every desire from the past few weeks since Vegas, had come tumbling out.

Jamie helped her over the console, while she yanked up her skirt so she could sit astride his lap, sandwiched between the hard planes of his chest and the steering wheel.

His hands ran up her thighs and she whimpered. A sound that fueled him and urged him to go further. His tongue found the sensitive spot he had previously discovered on her neck and she cried out, reaching for the buttons of his shirt. But when she got impatient, she tore at the buttons, ripping the shirt, and soon her cool hands were on his heated skin. He forced her skirt higher up her hips and ground his pelvis against her, letting her know exactly how much he needed her.

She writhed above him, telling him that her need was just as great. She reached down and ran her fingers over his hard length, before tackling his zipper.

“Oh, God,” he breathed into her hair. The feeling of her fingers on him was almost too much for him. He reached into the backseat for his shoulder bag. He always kept a condom or two stashed in there. Not that he used them often. But a man had to be prepared. Blindly, and thankfully without much struggle, he reached in and located one.

In a matter of seconds, she had pulled his erection free from his boxers, and he rolled a condom over it. He slipped her panties to the side and he was inside her. Liquid heat surrounded him. Nothing had ever felt this good. Not since the last time he’d made love to her. Until this moment, he never dreamed that he would ever get a chance to be with her again. What a fool he’d been. How could he deny himself the sweet pleasure of being buried deep inside of her?

She was still. His eyes captured hers for a moment, and both sat silent, not moving. He looked into her eyes and saw wonder. He felt it, too. After what felt like an eternity she began to move above him, her hips sliding up and down, over him, sheathing him with her body. She grasped his shoulders; he could feel the pressure of her manicured nails even through his jacket.

Jamie moaned. When he began to move his hips in time with hers, he knew he wouldn’t last long. He had one hand at the small of her back, and in a moment of inspiration, he brought his thumb to her lips and slipped it inside her lush mouth. He allowed her to suckle it and swirl her tongue around it for a moment until he removed it, brought it to the little knot of nerves at her center. At the smallest touch, he felt her tense around him. He knew she was close. He circled her clit with his thumb until he felt her contract around him, and she cried out loudly in the closed confines of her car. Finally, he felt himself push over the edge. With a hoarse shout of his own, he came.

The windows had long since fogged up, but neither had noticed. Jamie could only see and feel Maya above him. The air from his lungs puffed out loudly and he breathed in the intoxicating scent of her hair. The smell mixed with the smells of sweat, sex and unadulterated lust. He focused only on breathing her in.

Maya was the first to come to her senses, and she carefully disengaged from her position straddling Jamie’s lap. Moving gingerly away from the steering column, most likely bruised and something she would definitely be feeling for the next few days, she came to rest in the passenger’s seat.

With a sweet smile that just about made him melt, she looked over at him. “Would you like to come up for some coffee or something?”

It was almost 2 a.m. and he knew that neither of them would be drinking coffee. But there was no way he would refuse an invitation like that. “Yeah.” He smiled back. “I’d like that.”

“We have to be quiet. Abby’s home,” Maya whispered, leading him into her apartment.

“I think we can manage that,” he whispered back, his lips pressing into her hair.

When they got to her apartment, she walked to the kitchen and paused. “I don’t really want coffee. It’s like two in the morning. That would just be silly, wouldn’t it?”

Jamie feigned shock and put a hand to his heart. “Did you use coffee to lure me into your apartment under false pretenses?” He snickered.

“Kind of. Do you want to go to my bedroom?”

“I would like that very much.”

She extended her hand, and he took it, and she led him into her bedroom. Maya prayed that she remembered to tidy up before she left for work that morning. She hoped that there weren’t any bras or undies left on her floor, or empty Doritos bags on her dresser. Her small bedroom, while never actually dirty or too messy, was generally quite cluttered. She blamed it on the lack of space, but in reality she often let it get messy. She’d spent so much of her childhood trying to be perfect for her parents that not cleaning her room was her small form of rebellion. She was often most comfortable when it was untidy.

When she opened the door, she said a silent prayer in thanks that her room was mostly clean. She turned to him. “Sorry it’s so small. Probably smaller than you’re used to.”

He cast an appraising look around and smiled. “It’s fine. It’s great.”

Suddenly her space seemed way too small. Jamie’s huge frame seemed to take up the entire room and she noticed the temperature had risen at least twelve-hundred degrees since they’d entered. She could smell his cologne and wondered if, hoped that, the intoxicating scent would seep into everything she owned.

He interacted with the things in her most private space. He looked around. He touched the spines of the books on her shelves. He smoothed his hand over her dresser, grazing her hairbrush. He picked up a stuffed moose that she had picked up at a gas station while on a road trip with Abby.