In the Boss's Bed (Harlequin Blaze) (9 page)

Her eyes went wide as she disengaged from the drink. “Wow! That’s strong!”

Curious, he took a sip and was surprised when it felt like the alcohol overtook the sugar content. He wondered if the owner of the stand knew how strong the employees were mixing the daiquiris. If that happened in his bar, he would be livid.
Let it go, man. You’re not working. You’re on vacation tonight.
“You’re not wrong.” He took another sip.
Not bad, though.

They walked with their drinks in companionable silence. She drank some more, seeming to enjoy it more this time. “I’d better be careful.” She looked him straight in the eyes, her own blazing. “We both remember what happened the last few times we had a little too much to drink,” she said to him huskily.

His breath caught in his throat. She was alluding to their first meeting, when she had kissed him at his club, followed promptly by their brief hookup after the party. His head lowered slightly, not looking away from her. “Maya—” he cautioned.

She smiled and then laughed. “I’m kidding, Jamie!” she said a little too loudly. “That is all so in the past. You’re my boss. It’s not going to happen again,” she insisted. “Don’t worry.”

He shook his head and took another sip of his drink. She was trying to reassure him that
she
wouldn’t jump
his
bones? “That’s right. It can’t happen again.” Jamie needed to go back to his room. He needed to get away from her before his libido gained complete control over him and he took her right there in the middle of the Strip.

He looked at his watch. “Why don’t we head back to the hotel? We’ve had a pretty long day and we have an early flight tomorrow.”

He thought he saw something flicker, just for a second, in her eyes. Disappointment? He didn’t want to be the one to put that look on her face. But getting them both safely back to their rooms, fully dressed, was their only option.

“Yeah, sure.” Once again her gaze turned heated. “I think it’s time to get into bed.”

13

S
O
THERE
THEY
WERE
, walking to their hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, dressed immaculately in clothes that were far too expensive, in shoes that were far too uncomfortable and finishing their absolutely ridiculous yard-long frozen daiquiris that were far too strong, desperately tiptoeing around and fighting against the sexual tension between them that was far too obvious.

Maya’s legs quivered with her want for him. She covertly squeezed her thighs together in an effort to satiate the thrum at her core. It didn’t work. Jamie had already made it abundantly clear that he didn’t want anything to do with her, in a romantic sense. He flat out told her that their relationship could be nothing but professional from that moment on. And she had wholeheartedly agreed. She wasn’t about to jeopardize her name and reputation in a close-knit industry just because she was attracted to her boss.

But a girl can’t help but dream, can she?
She sighed, a little too loudly because it got his attention and he looked at her, in question. She ignored his gaze. If she chanced a glance at him, it would be too much. So she stared straight ahead and continued to drink her daiquiri. The rum was starting to affect her. She felt loose, languid, aroused.
I’ll have to take care of that later, too
, she surmised. She would no doubt be picturing Jamie above her as she pleasured herself later in her room.

He sighed next to her. She quickly glanced at him, as he brought his hand to his hair. He wore a scowl deeply etched on his handsome face, stubborn determination in his eyes. Was he possibly feeling the frustration and need that she was? It had never occurred to her that the want was just as hard for him to deal with.

When they arrived back at their hotel they looked out of place in the opulent lobby of the Bellagio, dressed in their exquisite clothing, holding the plastic novelty drinkware in their hands, but neither of them cared. They stood wordlessly. She was too focused on not ripping his clothes off to speak or make any sudden movements.

When the elevator opened before them, they entered, and Maya pushed the button for the twelfth floor. Jamie did nothing. He made no movement to push the button for his own floor.

When she looked at him quizzically, he responded curtly. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Thank you.”
Don’t read too much into this, Maya. He’s just being a gentleman to get you to your room safely. Just don’t pull him inside and ravage him.

In the silence of the elevator, the only noise was their breathing, as they climbed higher to Maya’s floor. They arrived, and the doors pulled open. Still not speaking, they exited together. Jamie placed a hand at the small of her back, escorting her into the corridor. His touch sizzled and she flinched slightly. He quickly pulled his hand away and put it back in his pocket.

As they turned the corner, Maya dug into her purse and produced her room key. “Well, this is me,” she told him, stopping outside of her room. It occurred to her that Jamie had not come to her room once during this trip. He always insisted that she meet him in the lobby, or in a nearby restaurant.

“Well...” She cleared her throat, moving to unlock the door. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning. I’ll call—” Her words were stopped in her throat when she felt Jamie grab her arm to spin her around to face him. The look on his face was animalistic, hungry. With a growl, he pushed her into the door and leaned in, his lips crashing violently against hers.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.
She didn’t imagine she would ever again have the opportunity to kiss Jamie Sellers. They had all but sworn it off. This man was outright devastating her mouth with his own. She tilted her head to allow him better access, and his lips slanted over hers, deepening the kiss, and she moaned into his mouth when he found her own tongue.

They both dropped their empty glasses on the floor, and her arms wrapped around his neck while his found her waist. They dipped lower, over her hips and down her ass.

Jamie continued his exploration of her entire body. He groaned and ground his pelvis, his hard, rigid erection, into her belly. She thought she would fall over, if not for the hard body pinning her to the door.

As quickly as he had kissed her, he broke away. “Dammit,” he growled. He looked up and down the hallway, they were alone. He ran his hand through his hair and with his other hand he reached out and cupped her cheek.

At the gentle contact, Maya closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He pulled away and took her hand, leading her back down the hallway to the elevator. “Come on.”

14

“W
HAT
?” M
AYA
STUMBLED
on her words and her feet. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to my room,” he said, his voice gruff. He pulled her into the elevator. If he was going to take her to bed, it would be in his luxury suite like she deserved, not some normal,
typical
hotel room.

Jamie wasn’t sure what had happened. But when she’d turned to go into her room, he was like a man possessed. His dick was officially in charge. He had grabbed her arm and kissed her before he could even manage to stop himself. He knew he was making a mistake and that he shouldn’t take Maya back to his room. But it was too late now. He needed her like he needed air to breathe. At that moment, he didn’t care about tomorrow...or the next day. They had tonight, and that was it. Consequences be damned.

Back in the elevator, he looked at her. Like himself, she was breathing heavily, staring straight ahead. The expression on her face was unreadable.
What is she thinking?
He shook his head.
I should just tell her to go back downstairs.
He should. But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. His thoughts were interrupted when the elevator door opened with a chime. They were on his floor, but neither moved to get off.

“Maya,” he whispered. When she turned to him, he saw the same uncertain desire that he felt clouding her features.

Jamie was asking her. He was giving her an out. He was caught between the hope that she would either come to her senses, tell him that it wasn’t going to happen, or let him rip her dress off in the elevator. “It’s up to you.”

Maya nodded and she paused for a moment. “Let’s go.”

* * *

W
HEN
J
AMIE
TOOK
her hand and led her to his suite, she sighed softly.
Finally.
Finally she would once again feel those lips, those hands, on her. And this time, there would be no phone interruptions; she wouldn’t pull away from him. This was going to happen. She followed him blindly until they finally arrived to double doors that led to his suite.

He dropped her hand to reach into his jacket for his key card. She noticed a slight tremble in his hand and she relaxed a little, knowing that he was as affected as she was. He opened the door and ushered her quickly inside.

She inhaled sharply when she felt Jamie come from behind her and place his large hands on her shoulders. She felt his warmth through the material of her dress, and she closed her eyes and sighed.

He moved her hair away from her neck and bent over her shoulder. He placed his lips on the sensitive flesh where her neck met her shoulder, and she shuddered. “Jamie,” she whispered, and then hissed when his tongue traced a line on her flesh, across her shoulder until it met her dress. With an impatient groan, he turned her around so she faced him.

“Maya,” he murmured, his hands running down her ribs to rest low on her hips. “I want you so badly.”

She nodded and opened her mouth. She could barely form words. “I—I want you, too, Jamie.”

“Thank God.” His voice was low and he bent slightly and touched his lips to hers. Tentatively, at first. But when Maya parted her lips, his tongue surged forward and sought out hers. She placed her palms flat on his chest. Even through his shirt and jacket, she could make out the hardness of his chest. Her hands traveled south, to run over the firm bumps of his abdominal muscles. Before she reached the zipper of his pants, he took both of her wrists in the grasp of one large hand.

“Not yet.” He took her mouth once more, and it was his turn to run his hands over her dress. From her hips, he reached behind and grabbed her ass and squeezed. She moaned into his mouth and he continued his exploration. He brought his palms to the bodice of her dress and reached around her back and pulled down her zipper.

She felt the dress loosen around her chest and shoulders. He continued to kiss her, as each tooth in the long zipper unhinged, one by one. He clouded every one of her senses. He was all she could see, hear, feel, smell, taste. He was everywhere around her.

Jamie pushed the straps from her shoulders and let the dress fall to her feet. He stepped back so he could see her body, clad only in her bra and panties, made from a thin, filmy lace, which didn’t leave much to the imagination, and her black stilettos, with the red soles, for which she’d spent far too much money. Worth it. He looked her up and down. A wolfish smile playing on his lips and hunger in his eyes. “You’re perfect.”

Perfect.
Jamie Sellers said she was perfect. She moved her hands to her sides and stood tall, silent. Unfortunately, he was still plenty dressed.

“Let’s get rid of your clothes now. Shall we?” She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed his expensive gray jacket from his broad shoulders.

When it hit the floor, it seemed as if something in him snapped. He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he made his way down the hallway to the bedroom.

* * *

J
AMIE
STRODE
INTO
the room and deposited her gently on the fluffy white duvet on the king-size bed, and she leaned against the mountain of pillows, and she watched, with her clever eyes, as he walked across the room to a toiletry bag he kept on the dresser. He removed a handful of foil-wrapped condoms and deliberately put them on the nightstand.

He looked down at the woman on his bed. His assistant, his friend, the woman he had lusted over for more than a month, the woman he had vowed to himself that he would never have. Maya was lying on his bed in her barely there lingerie and those incredible shoes.

He started unbuttoning his shirt. And with every movement, he could feel his cock grinding against the zipper of his pants. He had never been so hard, or needed a woman as much as he needed her. He’d ignored this need, this obviously mutual attraction, for too long.
This feels right
. Being with Maya felt as natural as breathing, and he knew that he would have to have her again...and again...and again.

He pulled his shirt free from the waist of his pants and threw it to the floor, he unzipped his pants and allowed them to follow suit. He chuckled when her eyes locked on his midsection and his near-painful erection, as it was straining the elastic of his boxer briefs.

He kept the shorts on and kneeled on the bed, slowly making his way to her. He leaned over her, kissing her. She tasted so sweet, like the sugary rum of their drink, which remained on her tongue. He didn’t think he would ever get enough of kissing her.

When he reached her bent knees, Jamie placed a palm on both and spread them slowly. He was captivated by the look of her. They locked eyes and he moved closer. Taking her mouth in another tender, but demanding kiss. Her long legs wrapped around his waist, and he felt the stiletto heels dig into his lower back. He grimaced at the sharp pain, but he didn’t care. It was only a miniscule pain compared to the ache he felt in his dick.

Maya moaned when he pressed his engorged erection against her center, and it fueled him. Reaching behind her to unsnap her bra, he freed her breasts. They fell into his hands and he squeezed them. He lowered his face and feasted on one, then the other. He took them greedily, making up for the time in the hot tub when she’d pulled away from him. She wasn’t pulling away tonight. She moaned and held the back of his head and pressed it into her chest.

“Jamie,” she whimpered, as he pulled a nipple between his teeth.

He reluctantly released her breasts and began licking a trail down her middle. He passed her tight abdomen, dipped his tongue inside her navel and soon kissed his way to the neat triangle of hair of her bikini area as he tugged her panties off.

He brought his lips to her center and kissed her gently. Using his lips and his fingers, he parted her and swept his tongue up the middle until he reached the bundle of nerves at the top.

* * *

M
AYA
CRIED
OUT
in pleasure, and she clutched the hair at the back of his head and simultaneously pulled him closer and pushed him away. She was frenzied. Set adrift in a sea of Jamie. His touch, his scent, his sounds surrounded her as he brought her to climax. “Jamie, now. Please.”

When he ignored her, she scraped her nails across his shoulder in a sweet protest. He hissed at the brief pain and raised his head, looking at her with a question in his eyes.

“I need you. Now,” she sighed.

He chuckled against her skin, and placed a light, but firm bite on her thigh. It sent ripples across her entire body. He was so in tune with everything she needed, and he moved up her body until he lay over her, covering her, supporting his weight with his forearms and knees.

He kissed her sweetly. “All right. No more waiting.” She felt his words meant more than he had probably intended to convey. Was he talking about their weeks of playing off each other, their close quarters and the palpable sexual tension that tormented them on a daily basis? Or did he just mean tonight? She wouldn’t have to wait for him to make love to her?

Maya then realized that she couldn’t have cared less what he meant as she watched Jamie reach for a condom. Once he was ready, he returned to her, holding himself aloft at her entrance, and with one firm thrust, he was inside of her. She gasped at the feeling of him filling her entirely.

“Maya,” he whispered in her ear, before he began thrusting. Her own moans were drowned out by his, and soon waves of pleasure began to crash over her. Rising, rising, until they crested into another bone-shattering orgasm. Jamie gritted his teeth, staying with her until her pleasure had subsided and then took his own.

His comfortable weight settled over her. They were silent for a moment before Maya exhaled. “My God.”

Jamie chuckled and rolled away from her, onto his back. “Yeah.” He left the bed for a moment to dispose of the condom in a nearby trash can. He rolled back to her with a deep, low, satisfied sigh.

They both remained on their backs. Not speaking. Maya looked over at him and wondered if, now that it was over, Jamie had regretted making love to her. Had they crossed a line?

Suddenly feeling awkward, she turned to get off the bed. She realized that she was still wearing her shoes and they had tangled in the bedcovers.
Heaven forbid I should be able to display a little grace, here?
“Uh, I should go.”

He turned to her, brow furrowed. “Why?”

“Because, what just happened. I don’t think—”

Jamie reached over and touched her cheek. “Maya, stop. Us sleeping together won’t be a problem unless we let it be one. And what happened here tonight doesn’t have to follow us back home and into the office.”

She took a deep breath. Relieved that it wouldn’t put a strain on their working relationship, but also crestfallen that this wouldn’t go anywhere beyond this one night.

“We’re both adults,” he continued. “And I think we both needed to finally get that out of our systems before we imploded. Don’t you think?”

“Yes, I do think.” She had spent too many waking, and sleeping, hours lusting over this man. Her boss. They needed to get all of the feelings of arousal and desire out of their systems. Now they were free to carry on and work together in a professional manner, without all of the strain they had been under.

“And it’s just one night.” He looked at her, desire burning once again in his eyes. Her gaze trailed lower, to his cock, already once again hard. “But tonight isn’t quite over yet,” he said, before grabbing her waist and pulling her astride him. “Not for a few hours yet, anyway.”