The Boss (32 page)

Fucker didn't even ask me if I wanted
sushi.

He turned to me and flashed the big smile he
reserved for when he wanted something. When I’d first come to
Porteras
, that smile had given me a little crush on him.
Once I’d learned he had a girlfriend, I’d firmly resolved not to
crush on him. Now that I’d seen how moody and weird he could be, I
wasn’t as jealous of Amanda anymore.

His eyes dipped to my bare legs before
returning quickly to my face. "I just wanted to touch base with
you. Find out if you're still happy working for
Porteras
."

What a strange question. We'd always been
chummy at work, but he'd never seemed overly concerned about my
career. We usually always talked about his. "Um, I just got a great
promotion. Why wouldn't I be happy?"

He nodded, still smiling, and chuckled like
we were sharing some private joke. "Right, I mean. With all the
changes, I'm sure you guys are drowning in work over there."

"It's... been a little stressful," I admitted
cautiously. "How about you? Are you kind of over the whole
Versailles thing? I saw the layout, it looks amazing."

"No, it's definitely... It's something. It's
not what I wanted it to be, but it's still going to be good for my
portfolio." He settled against the seat. "I wanted to let you in on
something happening behind the scenes. But I need to know you're on
our side."

Ominous, much?
"Side? I don't - " I
stopped myself. Whatever he was going to tell me, it would be
something I wanted to know, either to protect
Porteras
or to
get ahead in my own career.

Not to protect Neil?
I asked myself,
in a voice that, again, sounded suspiciously like Holli. But if
Holli had been here, she would have wanted me to get some juicy
dirt. If she was going to be my really inept conscience, I'd better
do what she said.

"Of course I'm on your side, Jake. We're
buddies, right?" I smiled, imitating Holli's practiced expressions
for modeling. Obviously, I wasn't as good at it as she was, but I
didn't think Jake would notice I was lying, so long as it was the
lie he wanted to hear.

God, how did I not realize what a sleaze he
was? Had he been on good behavior when Gabriella had been around?
Or had I just been too swamped in her demands to notice anything
about the people around me?

"Absolutely." He adopted the tone of a
professional multi-level marketer, too earnest to be trusted, like
he would promise me anything to close the sale. "So, you didn't
hear this from me. But apparently Neil Elwood's daughter is an
animal rights activist, and that's why he's making all of these
crazy demands at the magazine."

My jaw dropped. First of all, at Jake's
concern that this was somehow confidential information. It had been
on Neil's Wikipedia page when I’d checked it yesterday. Second,
that Jake had no clue I might have already known. Which meant my
unethical, clandestine romance with the boss wasn't the object of
office gossip yet. That was a relief.

My phone buzzed. I couldn't resist checking
the message. I held up one finger. "Hang on, work text."

I kept my expression carefully neutral as I
read:
I'd like to push that skirt up and devour your
cunt.

"It can wait," I said, quickly turning off
the screen. "You were saying?"

"Well, from what we've heard, a lot of
designers were already giving him side-eye when he bought the
company, for exactly that reason. Apparently, Emma Elwood has her
father wrapped around her little finger. He'll do anything for
her," Jake said in total disgust, as if the very idea of a father's
love revolted him. "So, she decides to shun her daddy's offer of a
cushy job at his company in favor of pretending to have a real job
at Global Wellness, and now she wants him to take
Porteras
vegan or something."

I shook my head. "Mr. Elwood seems pretty
smart. I mean, he's run all those other magazines - "

Jake cut me off with a condescending laugh.
His teeth were so straight and white. He was like a snake wearing
dentures. "Yeah, car magazines? Housewife stuff, tabloids. He
doesn't know the first thing about what he's gotten into here, and
he's already pissed off a lot of the makeup artists doing the
shoots for February's issue. They have to use only cruelty free
products."

"Same edict for the beauty department, too,"
I pointed out. "So, you think it's his daughter behind all
this?"

"Oh, most definitely." We'd come to a stand
still in traffic, and he looked out his window, as if he would be
able to see the cause of the hold up ahead. Distractedly, he added,
"Oh, you'll like this. His business partner, Valerie Stern? Emma's
mother. Apparently, Elwood can't keep it in his pants at work and
has to give out companies like hard candy to cover up his mistakes.
But seriously, you didn't hear all this from me."

I hadn't, so it was easy to cross my heart
and promise, "You didn't tell me any of this."

My phone vibrated again. "Hang on, maybe it
can't really wait."

I pretended to look concerned while I read:
If we were alone together right now, I would push you over my
desk, wrap that cute little ponytail around my fist, and pull your
hair while I fucked you.

I cleared my throat and checked out the
window. The traffic was still snarled. I eyed the sidewalk on the
other side of the street. "Um. I guess it's kind of an emergency. I
should get back."

"In beauty?" I was beginning to really hate
Jake's derisive laugh. "Do you guys even have emergencies
there?"

"When lip gloss calls," I offered
apologetically. I wasn't running back to the office to have sex
with Neil. That just wasn't a smart idea, and the last time we'd
done anything there it had been a disaster. But I couldn't sit and
listen to Jake's bullshit for another second without screaming and
ripping out my hair. "I can't screw this up right now. You
understand, right? Here, let me give you ten for the cab - "

"No way, no way," Jake said. Never once, in
our entire office friendship, had he let me pay my share of
anything. Because female dollars are apparently worth less than
male dollars. "Go get your eye shadow emergency under control."

Ignoring the driver's protest, I got out of
the cab on the left when the opposing traffic let up, and darted
across the lanes to the sidewalk. I hurried back in the direction
of our building, and when I knew I was out of Jake's line of sight,
I ducked into a Starbucks and ordered a skim-milk latte and one of
their plastic-wrapped sandwiches. While I waited, I checked my
phone and considered Neil's last message.

Even though what he was saying to me was
pretty tame compared to what we had been getting up to in private,
seeing those words on my phone's screen had the same effect on me
as if he'd whispered them in my ear. My pulse pounded in my clit,
and I knew my panties would be sopping if I kept thinking about
this. Still, I thought I should probably say something back.

And then I would get on my knees and suck
the taste of my pussy off your cock
, I typed, hoping none of
the other customers would peek at my screen. I mean, if they did,
it was their own fault if they got a shock. They shouldn't be
reading over a stranger's shoulder, anyway.

I hit send, then grinned to myself and
started a new message:
I'd suck you off until you exploded, then
I’d swallow your cum. Maybe I would use your little platinum friend
on you while I did it.

There, that should have done it.

I got my order and headed back to the office.
I figured my cover story was safe, since the department had been on
the edge of crisis ever since my very first day. I walked through
reception, shooting a casual glance at the glass doors to Neil's
office. Rats. He wasn't where I could see him. Deja looked up, and
I waved with the three fingers I could spare while still carrying
my lunch.

I'd just settled in at my desk - okay, not my
desk, a corner of a worktable that had been designated as my desk -
when a new text came in. I grinned to myself. It was just one word:
Jesus
.

* * * *

At around nine
o'clock that night, my phone rang. It was Neil.

Shamefully, I had given him his own ringtone,
Feist’s “Leisure Suite.” The sexy bossa nova beat purred from my
phone’s speaker, and I scrambled to answer it, moving from the
living room to my bedroom and closing the door behind me.

I hadn't heard from him since his last text
at lunchtime, so I figured I knew what this call was going to be
about. "Hello?" I purred innocently.

"You saucy little tease, I had to hide an
erection from the photo editing department."

"I'm sorry, who is this?” I asked with a
giggle. “I give so many men erections while they’re in the photo
editing department.”

"I should take you over my knee," he said, a
mock threat, since he knew that wouldn't be anything like a
punishment for me.

"Look, you're the one who started it," I
reminded him.

"That I did. And I'd like to finish it."

I looked at my alarm clock and sighed. "I
couldn't tonight. I have a really early meeting. Besides, staying
over on a weeknight? That's a little too close to domestic for my
comfort."

"No, you're right, and I've got a big day
tomorrow, too. But I assume you have Skype on your laptop?"

Oh. Oh, that naughty bastard.

"I do." I reached for my laptop and pulled it
onto the bed with me. "What are you suggesting?"

"Meet me on Skype in ten minutes," he
instructed. "I've just sent my username to your email account."

My heart fluttered. Okay, so did another part
of me. "Yes, Sir."

"See you in ten."

I hung up and looked around my room. I locked
my bedroom door - not strictly necessary, Holli never barged in
without knocking. But I'd never done the internet sex thing before,
and the extra measure was going to go a long way toward making me
comfortable. Then I looked down at my jammies. While I love my
froggies, they had to go. I found a pair of sexy black lace panties
in my clean laundry and pulled them on. I fluffed my hair and
positioned myself against the pillows. I dotted on some quick lip
gloss - I didn't have time for full makeup, and I was way too
tired. Besides, he'd said he liked me any way he could have me, and
I was holding him to that.

When I positioned the laptop between my feet,
I was shocked at what the camera showed me. I looked pretty
awesome, for someone with no makeup and hair that had been in a
ponytail all day. The angle would give him a clear look at my whole
body; my spread thighs, my panty-covered crotch, my tummy, my tits,
my shiny, pouty lips, the entire package. I was already growing
aroused at the thought of being displayed like this for him.

I sat up and checked my email, then typed his
contact into Skype.

Within seconds, I had a call. I hit accept
and the video icon, then hastily reassumed my position.

When the call connected, I saw Neil, sitting
on the sofa in his bedroom. His computer must have been on the
coffee table in front of him. He was still wearing his shirt and
trousers from work, though he'd lost the jacket and his sleeves
were rolled back. He was also wearing a pair of glasses. I'd never
seen him wear glasses before. It was unbearably cute.

"Well, hello Poindexter," I teased. I rested
one hand on my stomach, just above my panties, and the other on one
thigh.

"For Christ's sake, Sophie, you can't spring
such a sight on a man. We need a little warning.” He chuckled, and
pushed up his glasses. "Don't tease me. My contacts were giving me
a dreadful headache. Consider my nerdy appearance the price you
must pay for the wisdom and experience of an older suitor."

"You're in your forties, not your eighties,"
I scolded. "Did you like my text message?"

He reached for something off camera, a rocks
glass with amber liquid in it. He took a sip, made a noise of
approval, and answered, "Only if you mean ‘like' in the sense that
I spent the entire day fighting the urge to find a quiet place to
jack off."

I giggled. "Don't start nothin', won't be
nothin', you dirty old man."

He took another drink from his glass before
setting it aside. "I assume you're alone, then?"

"I am. And I assume the same for you?" I
lifted my head slightly, pretending to peer around him into the
room.

"Alone, locked door. Though I would much
rather have you here than all the way down in Chinatown." He looked
fleetingly sad.

"Well, not all of us can afford Fifth
Avenue," I snorted. "Are you going to feel sorry for yourself, or
are we going to have sex?"

He grinned at me, settling back on the sofa
and tilting the screen so I could still see his face. "All right.
Why don't you... play with your nipples."

I lifted my hands to my breasts. "Like
this?"

"No hard touches yet. No pinching. You're
going to tease yourself, the way I would tease you," he
instructed.

"Wait!" I remembered the cooling gel that had
come with the sex toys he'd bought me. I leaned over to my bedside
table, opened the drawer and found the small compact. "Might as
well try this stuff out."

"Excellent idea," he agreed with a slow
smile.

I dipped my fingers into the gel, then slowly
drew them around the nipple of my right breast. I was shocked at
how well the stuff worked; the moment it touched my skin, I felt
like the standing air was a cold breeze. My nipple and aureole
tightened into a hard peak, and goose bumps stood out on my firm
skin.

"Very nice," Neil complimented, and I turned
my attention to the other breast, repeating my actions from
before.

I swirled my fingers around the pink tips in
wide circles that narrowed with each pass. My breasts felt heavy
and full, my nipples stood tall, practically begging for attention
from my hands. I skimmed my palms over the sticky gel, my breath
catching.