Falling Under You: A Fixed Trilogy Novella (1001 Dark Nights) Read Free Page A

dropped his hand—I swear it was meant to torture me—and leaned against the railing with the panache of a man twice his age. “He tells you to make your way to conference room B. You’ll leave the light off, but the blinds will stay open so that you can see well enough from the moon. There you’ll take off your panties and your stockings and lay them neatly over the chair. You’ll put your shoes back on and roll the chair out of the way. Then you’ll bend over the table, your arms stretched out in front of you, palms facedown, your ass up in the air. And you’ll wait.”
    Each word scraped at my decorum, perking my lust like the ears of a dog when he sees the chains of his leash and knows he’s about to be walked.
    “What if someone came in?” But my subtext was, what do I have to do to get on the other end of that leash?
    “That wouldn’t be your concern.” Boyd practically tsk ed in his chiding. “You’d let him worry about that. You wouldn’t question him either. Once you gave the signal, you’d give him the power. He’d give the orders, no arguments, no hesitation.”
    I’d never had a lover that took charge. As in every other area of my life, I gravitated toward the alpha role and the men I’d dated fell contently into the opposing position. It wasn’t what I’d wanted—it was just how it was. It was just what men did.
    But what if one man didn’t? I wondered if the lilt in my voice betrayed how often I daydreamed about exactly this type of scenario when I asked, “What would happen then?”
    Boyd’s eyes narrowed, studying me, his gaze lingering so long on my lips I thought he might be considering kissing me.
    Finally he said, “What happens next would be better shown than told.”
    I straightened, putting distance between us. We’d suddenly moved from fantasy to possibility and were quickly skating toward probability. I was clearheaded enough to recognize that as inappropriate. This entire conversation was inappropriate. And dangerous.
    It was also intoxicating. Boyd seemed to know things about me that I’d only just begun to realize about myself. Things I needed desperately to explore.
    Still, I could be responsible. I had to be. “There are too many reasons why that would be a bad idea.” Enough said. Case closed.
    “Yes, there are,” he agreed. “Forget them.” The last sentence was a command.
    I fought against the order, wanting what he was suggesting with acute desire. “I’m not sure I’m the kind of person who can.”
    “You can.” He leaned in over my shoulder, his breath skating across the skin of my neck. “You just haven’t encountered the kind of guy who can help you do it.”
    I shivered from the heat of his insinuation. “And you think you’re that guy?”
    “I know that I am.” He moved his mouth along my jawline, never touching me with anything but the hot air that passed between his lips. “Let me show you who I am. Let me show you who you are.”
     
     
    Chapter Two
    The latest glance at my wristwatch said I’d been waiting for Boyd for twelve minutes. Stretching my arms out on the conference table in front of me had felt good at first, but it was unnatural, and holding the position was becoming difficult mentally, if not actually physically. Twelve minutes was a lot of time to think through the situation. The list of pros and cons had been thoroughly culled, and it was more accurate to call it simply a list of cons.
    Against company policy to mix management levels
    An eight-year age gap between us
    Nearly impossible to continue working with someone you’d screwed
    This was Boyd! The sweet kid who filtered through my calls and e-mails and got me coffee! How good could the sex be?
    Fooling around on office premises was a horrible idea
    The last item on the list had its own sub-list:
    It was irresponsible
    We could be caught
    There might even be security cameras
    It would be harder to forget it happened when I was in that same room for meetings at least