One Night with her Boss Read Free

amused. The transformation
of his expression left her breathless, as did his proximity.
    Her eyes were right at his chin level,
so she had to tilt her head up to meet his eyes. “I’m not trying to be the
boss.”
    His mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
“You’re pretty bossy, to not be trying to be the boss.”
    She swallowed hard, clenching her fists
to keep herself from putting her hands on his chest. When he was like
this—clever, dry, focused on her—she always seemed to want him the most. “Well,
I’m the boss of this room. You’re the boss of everything else.”
    “Is that how it works?” He braced his
other hand on the cabinet, trapping her between his arms.
    “Yes.” She was flushed all over and
suddenly conscious of the ache of arousal between her thighs. She had no idea
when that had happened. “That’s how it works.”
    She could see that he was breathing
quickly too, and he looked as hot as she felt. Something new had blazed up in
his eyes, and for a moment she was sure he would kiss her.
    But he didn’t.
    Of course, he didn’t.
    She was his assistant. Not his
girlfriend.
    “Okay then,” he muttered, dropping his
arms and stepping back.
    “Okay.” She was almost shaking, her body
primed and ready for something to happen. When clearly nothing was going to
happen.
    Not at nine o’clock in the morning in
the file room of the office, when all Jake would ever be to her was her boss.
    He turned abruptly and walked out, and
Anne leaned back against the file cabinet and tried to pull herself together.
    Could she be any more foolish?
    She’d never thought she was weak and
spineless, but maybe she really was.
    Spending two years of her life wanting a
man she could never have.
    When she returned to her desk, Jake’s
office door was closed. He closed his door when he was having a private
conversation—either on the phone or in person—or when he was in a bad mood. He
never closed it at any other time.
    She wondered what he was doing in there.
    She sat down in front of her computer
and tried to make herself finish reviewing the marketing proposal.
    No reason to think about Jake. He was
nothing but her boss.
    An hour later, her personal phone rang.
    She’d gotten her dream job with that
marketing firm.

Two
     
    Later
that day, Anne was running late for lunch with Meg and Ranie, her two best
friends and roommates.
    Jake had emerged from his office a
couple of hours ago with half a dozen projects that needed to be completed
today, so she’d been too busy to think much about the job offer or what she was
going to do about it.
    She also ended up fifteen minutes late
for lunch.
    “You look gorgeous,” Ranie said, when
Anne finally collapsed in a chair at their favorite lunch bistro. “If Jake
didn’t want to rip your clothes off in that skirt, then I don’t know what’s
wrong with the man.”
    Anne rolled her eyes. “He didn’t want to
rip my clothes off.”
    “How do you know? Maybe he was manfully
hiding his raging desire.”
    Anne couldn’t help but laugh at Ranie’s
wry tone. “There was no sign of raging desire. I’ve pretty much given up on
that, you know.”
    “No, you haven’t,” Meg put in. “No use
to lie to us.”
    “Maybe not. But I should have. A long
time ago.” She smiled at the server who came over with a glass of water for her,
and then she ordered a Greek salad.
    “Well, you have that date tonight. He
sounded promising.” Ranie was pretty, blonde, and tiny. And the loudest person
Anne had ever met. “Maybe he’ll sweep you off your feet so you forget all about
Jake.”
    “Well, he might not be sweeping me off
my feet tonight. I might have to go to San Diego.”
    “That’s ridiculous. You weren’t supposed
to go out of town again until next week.” That was Ranie again, sounding
outraged, although Meg was frowning at the news too.
    “I know. But something came up, and we
may have to go. It should just be for the night, but I’d have to reschedule the
date.