Her New Boss: A Rouge Erotic Romance Read Free

handsome, he’d been charming and sweet, smelled of cologne and wore a nice black suit. And there had been something about his crooked smile. Zoe had been completely uninterested. All she could think about was how she would have made the shrimp puff hors d’oeuvre differently.
    ‘I should have gone on one date with him. At least he had a job and a car and was sober.’ Zoe turned, hung up the dress and opted for a T-shirt more suited to her new career. Her current dating pool consisted of men who reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. Even though cigarettes were banned from the bar itself, the specially ventilated room designated for their use tended to trap more smoke in than it let out. Not that she cared if someone was a smoker. Zoe could care less what someone else did to their lungs. What she didn’t like was the watery eyes and stuffy nose she got when exposed to it for hours a night.
    Throwing her T-shirt onto the bed, she walked to the folded pile of laundry stacked in the white basket on the floor. Her favorite pair of faded denim jeans was clean. As she picked them up, she again caught her reflection in the mirror. Maybe Kat’s constant teasing about her weight was right . Maybe Zoe was too skinny to be a chef. She’d gladly gain fifty pounds in order to live her dream. It wasn’t her fault that her metabolism paralleled that of a hummingbird, or that she had a natural abundance of energy flowing through her veins. Her normally thin frame was skinnier than usual. At least as a chef, she’d always had food to eat.
    The dusky hue of her nipples through the white tank top drew her notice. She dropped the jeans on the bed next to the T-shirt. Studying her frame, she lifted the tank over her head. Her small breasts were flushed with heat, the nipples peaked from the caress of the material running across them. Thin ridges pressed along the right side, indenting the soft flesh with the pattern of her ribbed tank top from where she’d lain against the bed.
    Taking a slow, deep breath, she ran her fingers along her stomach. It had been a long time since she’d had a lover. Sometimes she wished she was confident like her sister, Megan, or free-spirited like Kat, adventurous like Ella, even self-assured like Sasha who seemed to have both her love life and future under her own control.
    Zoe glanced at the bed, where the prince stared out from the book cover. Sadness overwhelmed her and she longed for his world, a magical world where there were always happy endings and true love existed. She closed her eyes, vividly imagining a palace bedchamber. He was there, a prince – perfect, built, seductively handsome and confident with a surprisingly tender side he would show to no one but her.
    Licking her lips, she lightly ran the pads of her fingers along them, imagining a kiss. It had been so long since she’d been touched in passion. She needed a man, someone to hold her and watch movies with, someone who smelled nice and knew how to kiss, who would laugh and look at her like she was the only one in the world.
    Moaning softly, she drew her fingers down her neck, rolling her head back slightly. Her pulse quickened and she clung to the image of a magical prince in her head. She wished it was his hands in place of hers, warm and strong. As she cupped her breasts, rolling the nipples delicately between her fingers, she moved to sit on the bed.
    She imagined green eyes, deep and penetrating, staring into hers. Naked muscles, glistening with exotic oils, would move in streamlined grace, crawling over her, forcing her back onto the bed so her limbs sprawled over the expensive silk comforter. Zoe rolled back, keeping her eyes closed, ignoring the stiff brush of her blue jeans against her bare leg.
    Her heart longed for this daydream to be real. She refused to open her eyes and return to reality. Running her hands down her flat stomach, she wiggled her hips. How would the prince smell? Sound? Spreading her thighs, she ran one hand down