Page 51 of Boss Me
At last, as I knew he would—as he should, for his own preservation—he pulled away, gusting heavy breaths into my ear. “God. Damn.”
I wiggled, trying to sit up straight, but when he kissed my jaw, I froze.
“You’re so hot,” he murmured, “and wild.” His lips descended to my neck, and chills raised goosebumps on my skin.
I released my hold on his hair and clamped my fingers onto the pool step.
“No, no.” He licked my earlobe and sucked it. The sensation went right to my balls, drawing them up tight. “Pull my hair again. I liked it.”
I lifted my trembling hands to his hair and stroked the curls. “I—I shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t you?” he breathed into my ear.
My dick turned to steel.
“Shouldn’t you—instead of always doing what’s right, just for once, do what feels good?” He nuzzled against my neck and gently sucked on the pulse point.
I couldn’t help it. I curled my fingers into his hair. His mouth on me, the weight of his body on mine, felt so fucking good. I was losing control, and it was amazing.
His breath hitched as I tightened my grip, and he shifted into my lap, his hip just grazing the tip of my dick in my shorts. A desperate urge seized me, and my fingers were already tugging him toward the side so I could reverse our positions, so I could be in control, so I could make him feel as good as he was making me feel.
Then I sucked in a breath, and the oxygen reached my brain at last, reminding me that Ben was my assistant, and I shouldn’t be making out with him. Not even on vacation.
“Cooper?” His voice sounded just as drugged as I’d felt a second before.
“We have to stop.”
“You should stop thinking. Just feel.” He swayed toward me.
“I can’t.” As gently as I could, I shifted him to the side and scooted a few feet away on the step. I leaned my elbows on my knees and scrubbed my face. “I need to—”
“Process this?” His voice caressed my taut nerves.
My hands still covering my face, I shook my head. “I need to call Human Resources.”
“The fuck you do.”
Had Ben ever cursed at me before? “Of course I do. I just kissed my assistant.”
“No. You kissed me. Ben.” He touched my hand.
Shivers rocketed through me. I was a hair’s breadth away from kissing him again. And I couldn’t. For more reasons than I could tell him. I had to shut this down.
I lifted my face to look at him and gave him my hardest stare. “This is a pattern of behavior for which I should be disciplined.”
“A pattern?” He scrunched his nose.
I kept my voice diamond-hard as the stars glittering above us. “Did Marlee tell you I kissed her last year?”
That was the day I’d realized Jackson wasn’t mine anymore. He and I were drunk at his annual Halloween party, the one that differed from all the rest because he’d cohosted it with Alicia, not with me. And then he’d told me he loved his unborn fetus more than he loved me.
When Marlee had rubbed my back and tried to make me feel better, I’d taken advantage of her kind heart and tried to take the comfort I’d needed from her.
I was a fucking asshole.
And here I was, doing it again.
Ben’s face went comically slack. I’d have laughed if I weren’t drowning in a tarpit of my own self-loathing.
