In Bed with the Boss Read online

  “Now,” he muttered. “Shelly. Now…”

  And she rose above him, sliding one of those smooth legs across him, giving him a glimpse of sweet pink as she straddled him. He looked up at her and she smiled down at him.

  “Now?” she asked, her face flushed with wanting, a knowing smile curving those full lips of hers.

  “I know you heard me. You know what I want.” He took her by the twin curves of each hip and pulled her down onto him, hard, rising up to meet her, filling her to the limit.

  They both groaned then.

  And after that, he didn’t think. He only felt. Every stroke, every pulse, drowning him, killing him. She was all around him, taking him so deep, all the way to the core of her.

  And he was lost. Out of control. Slam-dancing on the outer edge of the universe.

  He hit the peak, holding her hips tight as he surged up into her. Behind his eyes, sparks cascaded. She cried out and he felt her body pulsing around him. She was coming, too.

  Forever. It went on forever, that climax. Her body contracted around him, demanding all he had to give.

  And he gave it. Willingly. As pleasure exploded along every nerve and his body turned itself inside out.

  When it was finally over, they drifted, together, falling slowly, weightlessly, back into the world.

  He pulled her down, tucked her head against his shoulder, stroked her hair. And then he heard himself whisper, in a tone rough with more emotions than he himself understood, “I trust you, Winston. Who knew, huh?”

  “I’m so glad,” she whispered back, and lifted her head enough to press her warm lips against his shoulder. “Trust is important.”

  “Trust is everything. I need to know you’ll never betray me.”

  Her eyes met his directly. Honestly. “Never,” she vowed.

  He knew she spoke truthfully. “Good.” He tipped up her chin and pressed a kiss to her soft lips.

  Chapter Seven

  Their plane left early, so they had to be up and dressed well before dawn. They climbed out of the big bed at four.

  Shelly looked at the tangled sheets and wanted to climb right back in there—and drag Tom in with her. She wanted to wrap herself around him and drift right back into lullaby land.

  “Sleep,” she teased him groggily. “I didn’t get any. Not that I’m complaining—because I’m so not. I mean, other than the fact that I think I might have pulled ten or fifteen muscles in my back, I feel amazing.”

  “Hurts?” he asked in a tender tone.

  “I think I need to have sex more often, give those lazy muscles a regular workout.”

  “I’ll be glad to help you with that. Anytime.”

  “I knew I’d be able to count on you.”

  “You can sleep on the plane,” he promised her, and he kissed her.

  She savored that kiss, as she had every other kiss. As she would each kiss to follow. She hoped there would be many. Thousands. Millions. “Mmm. You are the best kisser. Do that again.”

  So he did. When he lifted his head that time, he said ruefully, “But we’d better get going…”

  She sighed. “Okay, okay. I’m on it. I’ll just limp on back to my room and jump in the shower. Ready in twenty minutes.”

  Helen and Mori were supposed to join them in the company jet, but Helen called Tom while they were in the car on the way to the airport.

  “Everything okay?” Shelly asked, when Tom clicked off the BlackBerry.

  “It’s Kimi.”

  “Mori’s daughter by his first marriage. Right?”

  “Right. Something’s gone wrong at school again.”

  “Again?”

  “Long story. Kimi’s been in a lot of schools.”

  “But is she okay?”

  “Helen says she’s fine. Just in another jam. Kimi’s continually trying to prove that the system favors the privileged. This time it’s an opinion piece she wrote for the college newspaper. The piece suggested that the dean of the business college there is on the take, accepting payment from students and giving out good grades in exchange.”

  “Yikes.”

  “Don’t worry. It’ll work out. Somehow, it always does. But Helen and Mori left for Pennsylvania last night to deal with the problem.”

  “So…we’ll have the jet to ourselves?”

  He nodded. “That’s right.”

  Having the jet to themselves…

  That could be interesting. Shelly had heard the stories of people who had sex in the air, the so-called Mile-High Club. She’d never thought of herself as someone who might someday be a member.

  The idea made her smile.

  But then they boarded and there was the pretty flight attendant, who would be right in the cabin with them through the flight. Even if they went into the sleeping alcove and pulled the divider shut, the woman wouldn’t have a lot of trouble figuring out what they were doing.

  Would that be…tacky? It would certainly be unprofessional. No question about that.

  Once they were in the air, Tom took her hand. “Come on.” He led her into the sleeping area and pulled the shades down over the windows. She sat on the bed and thought about making love with him, right there, with the attendant on the other side of the thin partition….

  And that got her thinking about the two of them, about how different their relationship had become in the space of one night.

  “I’ve never been the secretary of someone I was sleeping with before,” she told him.

  He knelt and slipped off her shoes. Then he rose and guided her legs up, onto the bed. “Lie down.”

  She stretched out on her back and he sat on the edge of the bed, beside her. His eyes had shadows under them. “You look tired.”

  “I’m fine.” He bent close, brushed a kiss against her lips. When he sat up again, he said, “Nothing will change at the office. I promise you. It’ll be strictly business there.”

  She reached for him. He bent closer and she touched him, caressed the side of his face, smooth now from his morning shave. “I think it has to change, at least in some ways.”

  “And that upsets you?”

  “Funny. But it doesn’t. Not anymore. You said you trust me….”

  “I do.”

  “I trust you, too. Whatever happens with us, I know you’ll treat me fairly. That’s the kind of man you are.”

  He frowned. “What’s going to happen? Please. Tell me now.”

  She chuckled. “Nothing but good things, I’m sure of it.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” He bent close again, kissed her forehead. “Now, get some sleep.”

  She offered her mouth and he brushed his lips across it. “And here I was picturing myself joining the Mile-High Club.”

  “Next trip.”

  “Well, all right.”

  He rose and stared down at her, his gaze soft and warm. “You can hardly keep your eyes open. Sleep.”

  “Mmm…” She let her eyelids drift shut. Sleep crept over her. She surrendered to it.

  If they stopped to refuel in San Francisco, Shelly slept right through it. She didn’t wake until they’d landed in Chicago and she found Tom leaning close again.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead. We’re home.”

  Groggily, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. “Uh…what time…?”

  “We gained several hours. It’s a little past noon.”

  “Still Sunday, right?”

  “That’s right. Hungry?”

  “Very.”

  “Let’s eat. I know a great place….”

  So they collected their bags and headed for the waiting car. Tom directed the driver to a place he knew in the Loop, not that far from his apartment. Inside the restaurant, it was all Formica and chrome. Retro modern.

  The diner offered breakfast all day and the coffee was excellent. Shelly chowed down with enthusiasm.

  “Come over to my place,” he said when they were done eating, sitting there in the blue vinyl booth savoring a final cup of coffee.


  “I’d love to. Truly.”

  “Am I hearing a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”

  “I need to get home, get groceries, do the laundry…”

  “All that can wait.”

  “No, it really can’t. Max is coming home on Tuesday. And the sad truth is, when he’s gone I let the fridge go empty a lot of the time. Right now, half a bottle of cranberry juice is keeping lonely company with a bunch of celery and a carrot or two.”

  “Your refrigerator sounds like mine.”

  “I need to stock up, get the house in order. Tomorrow’s a workday. If I don’t do it now, there won’t be time. Unless I stay up all night tomorrow night dealing with it.”

  “All right, all right. I get it. You should go home. How’s Max getting here?”

  “My mom will drive him up. Another reason I want the place in order. She’s staying for the week.”

  “I get to meet your mother?”

  She beamed at him. “I like how you seem so happy about that. I already invited her to the big company picnic on the Fourth.” The picnic, which Verna had said was an annual deal, would be held in Grant Park, near the ball fields south of East Balbo Avenue, where they wouldn’t be competing with the Taste of Chicago festival happening all week in the northern half of the park.

  “Can’t wait,” he said. “I mean that.”

  Shelly reached across the table. He met her halfway. They sat there, hands clasped, gazing into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two people in the world.

  Shelly was barely in the front door when the phone started ringing.

  Max. She listened to a detailed report of his activities in the past few days and he told her that he was going to miss his Granny’s house, but he was okay with coming home. His friends at KinderKid Daycare would probably be missing him. She told him she loved him and couldn’t wait to see him. Her mom came on at the end and asked her how the trip had gone.

  “Mom, it was amazing. I didn’t get to do much sightseeing. It was work and more work. But we had the company jet all to ourselves both going and coming. And Tom took me out to dinner with Helen Taka-Hanson and her husband.”

  “You sound so happy, honey.”

  “Oh, Mom. I am. I love this job.”

  “I’m glad,” said Norma. “Life is best when you’re in love.”

  “Wait a minute. I said I love my job.”

  “I’m your mother. I can tell there’s something going on.”

  “Oh, Mom. You’re a hopeless romantic.”

  “I am and proud of it.”

  Shelly floated through the day on her own special cloud. Doing laundry, dusting the furniture and buying groceries had never been so much fun before. Her mind was filled with Tom and that made even the most mundane chores a joy.

  In the morning when Tom arrived at the office, she was at her desk and had been there for an hour, catching up after Thursday and Friday away.

  “Shelly,” he said with brisk a nod.

  “Tom.” She gave him her most businesslike smile.

  “Fifteen minutes. We’ll go over the calendar.” He disappeared into his office and she realized she was staring dreamily into space. She shook herself and told her mind to behave.

  The display on her phone lit up. It was Tom. She punched his line. “Yes?”

  “Shelly, could you come in here, please?” His voice did the naughtiest things to her nerves.

  “Sure.” She rose and went in.

  He stood behind his desk, wearing a dove-gray shirt she particularly admired. Already, he was out of his jacket, in his shirtsleeves. She thought he looked handsomer than ever. If such a thing was possible.

  “Close the door, please.” His deep voice vibrated with sensual promise.

  And though she’d only been his lover since Saturday night, she knew that look in his eyes. It made her stomach all fluttery and her knees go to jelly. With great care, she turned and pushed the door closed. The latch clicked.

  He said, “Come here.”

  She faced him again, but didn’t move toward him. Instead she hung back at the door, her hand on the knob behind her. “I don’t know. Something tells me what you’re planning to do next won’t be the least bit professional.”

  A corner of his mouth quirked up. “You’re right. It’s not. Come here.”

  “We agreed to keep things professional here at work.”

  “You are so right. Come here.”

  She just couldn’t resist him. She let go of the door-knob and raced to him on feet that hardly touched the hardwood floor.

  He stepped out from behind the desk and gathered her close. She buried her head in his shoulder. He felt so warm and strong. And he smelled so good.

  “You make me crazy, you know that?” His voice vibrated with longing.

  She tipped her head back to look at him. “I so relate. I truly do. Because I feel exactly the same about you.”

  “I want to kiss you.”

  She reminded herself—again—about the whole sticking-to-business-at-the-office thing. But all she said was, “Oh, yes…” on a heartfelt sigh.

  His mouth came down and settled on hers in a kiss that swiftly turned blazing hot. He speared his tongue between her eager lips and she wrapped hers around it. Oh, he tasted as good as he felt…

  It took just about all of her swiftly fading determination to pull away. “I’m serious.” She put a whole lot of effort into trying to sound stern. It was wasted effort. She didn’t sound stern in the least. She sounded breathless and hungry for another kiss. “We shouldn’t…”

  “Yeah,” he said gruffly. “We should.” He tried to claim her mouth again.

  She turned her head so his lips brushed her cheek instead. “Tom. I mean it. Here at the office, we need to stick to business.”

  “This is business. Serious business.”

  “This is risky business, that’s what this is.”

  “Look at me.”

  “Tom…”

  “Look at me.”

  With a sigh of surrender, she turned her face to his.

  “Much better.” And he kissed her again, a kiss that lasted even longer than the first, long enough to melt her midsection and turn her mind to mush.

  When he lifted his head the second time, all she could do was whisper, “Please…”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “Oh, Tom…” She stroked his broad shoulders, ran her hands up to clasp him around the neck.

  “Do you know how much I’ve missed you since you left me yesterday morning?”

  “I can guess. Since I missed you, too.”

  His lips were a breath’s distance from hers. “You didn’t happen to lock the door, did you?”

  “Oh, well. I…No. No, I didn’t. Because I thought, at the office, we were keeping it strictly—”

  “Shh…” His lips met hers for a third time and he waltzed her backward to the door, kissing her passionately the whole way.

  When they got there, she heard the lock click behind her as he engaged it. And then he was turning her, guiding her to the caramel-colored sofa along the wall. He edged them in, between the sofa and the coffee table, and then he was guiding her down onto the caramel cushions.

  She lay there, pliant, yearning, as he began to undress her.

  He had her sleeveless dress unzipped and falling down her arms when he said, “I like this dress. I’ll like it off you even better….Lift up.”

  With a sigh, she lifted her arms and rose up enough that the dress freed itself of her hips.

  And all of a sudden, she was sitting on his office couch in her underwear and her low-heeled pumps. “I don’t believe I’m doing this,” she whispered, as he smoothly unclasped her bra and took it away, as he dispensed with her half slip and her panties. She hadn’t worn pantyhose that day, so she was left sitting there naked, in her shoes.

  She said, “You know, you’ve got a meeting with Helen at ten.”

  “I know. Shh…”

  “But yo
u should—”

  “Shh…”

  He slid a hand down the back of her calf, causing goose bumps to flare behind her knee and making her exclaim breathlessly, “Oh!” He removed her left shoe and repeated the process with her right.

  She looked down at herself. “All of a sudden, I’m totally naked.”

  “Yeah. You look great this way.” He sat back to admire his handiwork. “Maybe we’ll start doing the calendar with you naked, put a whole new slant on the workday.”

  “You are a bad man. A very, very bad man.”

  He laughed, and took a condom from his pocket. “You have no idea.” He set the pouch on the edge of the coffee table. “Since about the third day after you started working for me, while Verna was still here, I’ve been picturing you on this couch, naked. The fantasy was incredible. The reality? Better.” He reached for her.

  She put up a hand. “Wait.”

  He groaned. “I don’t know if I can. And don’t forget, I’ve got a meeting at ten.”

  “My turn.” She reached for the knot of his beautiful tie.

  “Fine. All right. Do it. Fast.”

  So she undressed him. She unknotted his tie and slid it from around his neck, unbuttoned his shirt and took it away to reveal his sculpted chest and that glorious trail of silky hair pointing downward to the tempting bulge at the front of his blue pinstripe slacks. She removed his shoes and his socks.

  By the time she got to his Italian leather belt, he forgot all about his promise to wait and reached for her again and started kissing her wildly, so she was forced to get his belt off and his zipper down while he was busy licking his way along her neck and capturing the hard nipple of a breast.

  She moaned as he suckled her. His tongue stroked her. She let her head fall back with a hungry cry and tried her best to keep focused on the task at hand. Determined, she eased a hand under the elastic of his boxers and found him.

  He was the one who moaned then. She wrapped her fingers around him and stroked him, but his slacks and underwear were in the way. So she urged him to lift up and he did, enough that she could ease his boxers over his lovely, thick arousal, and get everything past his hard hips and halfway down his thighs. He did the rest, shoving them to the floor and kicking them away.