One Night with her Boss Read online

  She gasped in outrage. “You have to accept it. I’ve never known you to be a bastard before. Don’t start now.”

  He glared at her, his hand still planted beside her. “We have to go to San Diego tonight,” he said, evidently putting the previous conversation behind him, at least for now.

  It almost hurt—that he’d moved on so quickly. She was clearly irrational at the moment. “And you need me to go with you?”

  “Of course I do. I have two weeks left, don’t I?”

  “Yes. I just wasn’t expecting to go out of town.” She never would have complained or even questioned a trip before, but she didn’t have anything to lose here, and she really didn’t want to go. “I have plans.”

  “What plans?”

  “If you must know, I have a date.”

  He dropped his hand and stepped back, tension radiating from his big body. “Is he proposing or something tonight?”

  “No! Of course not. I just…” She trailed off, not finding any words for explaining why a first date would be important enough to miss a work trip for.

  “You just what?”

  “Nothing. I’ll be ready to go. What time are we leaving?”

  “Not until five.”

  “Okay. I’ll run home to pack and be back soon.”

  “Good.”

  He obviously wasn’t happy. He was standing in the middle of the floor, glowering at her.

  “Okay.” She turned away from him, telling herself this was for the best and she wasn’t losing anything she’d ever really had.

  Even though that was exactly how it felt right now.

  She glanced back before she walked out. “Thank you for the book.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I’ll be back soon.” She’d already told him that, so she wasn’t sure why she’d felt the need to say it again.

  “Okay. We’ll leave at five.”

  He’d already told her that too. They both seemed to be in a strange sort of daze. She really needed to snap out of it.

  If anything, she should be angry with Jake for his response just now. She shouldn’t be ready to cry.

  Three

  Jake drove a three-year-old Mercedes SUV, and Anne was sitting in the passenger seat at seven o’clock that evening, on her way with him to San Diego.

  It wasn’t a long drive down the coast, but there was always a lot of traffic so it was slow going.

  Particularly slow today.

  Jake had been on the phone the whole time, and Anne had been taking notes and drafting up emails she would have to send, based on the phone conversations she overheard.

  He’d just disconnected with Max about next quarter’s budget and was obviously thinking through who else he needed to call.

  Jake hated wasting time—even driving in a car.

  Anne finished the email she’d been drafting and glanced over at him. “Anyone else?”

  After a few moments, he shook his head. “I don’t think so. I need to talk to Michael Palmer, but I haven’t been able to reach him in two days.”

  “He just got married. He’s on his honeymoon until next week.”

  “Oh. I guess he’s out then. Why didn’t someone tell me?”

  “I didn’t know you were trying to reach him. If you’d put all your calls through me like I’ve suggested, I could keep track of them for you.”

  He angled her a very particular look.

  “I’m not bossing,” she said, hiding a smile at his expression. She’d felt awkward and tense before—after their conversation in his office—but they always seemed to fall back to their familiar rhythm once they got back into work. “Just giving you options that might help.”

  “Your options are always much appreciated,” he drawled.

  She was about to reply but then noticed him shifting in his seat and readjusting one of his legs. “Is your knee bothering you?”

  His expression tightened immediately. “It’s fine.”

  “We should stop so you can walk around and stretch it out some. It always gets stiff when you’re in the car a long time.”

  “I don’t need to stretch it out. It’s fine.”

  She felt a familiar rise of frustration. She hated when he did this. Acted like he was invincible. Refused to admit his knee was a physical weakness that he needed to accommodate.

  It might just be some sort of macho pride, but it felt to her more like he didn’t think his physical discomfort was important enough to stop working for.

  She bit back the response she was close to snapping, about how he would end up back in surgery if he didn’t take better care of his knee. Instead, she said lightly, “Well, I need to go to the bathroom. So can we stop for me?”

  He shot her a suspicious look but didn’t object. He pulled into the next convenient stop they passed, an open parking lot near a beach entrance with a small strip of shops and food stands.

  Anne didn’t really need to go to the bathroom, but she made a trip to the ladies’ room anyway, since that had been her excuse for getting him to stop.

  She glanced at herself in the mirror over the sink as she was washing her hands and was surprised by how nice she looked.

  Every once in a while she had that experience—seeing herself and being surprised in a pleasant way. Her dark hair was windblown but framed her face nicely, and her skin looked particularly fresh.

  She’d thought she looked so frumpy this morning. She wasn’t sure how she turned pretty over the course of the day.

  But she was feeling more attractive than she usually did as she left the restroom and glanced around for Jake.

  She found him leaning against a railing that overlooked the boardwalk. He’d spent half of his life on the beach, but he looked out of place right now in his expensive gray suit. He was particularly incongruous with two lemonade slushes in his hands.

  She perked up even more as she walked over to him, accepting the one he handed her.

  “Thank you. I love these.” She smiled brightly at him as she tasted it.

  “I know.” He gave her a slightly dry smile in return that made her grin even wider.

  Suddenly washed with self-consciousness, she glanced away, toward the beach. It was a warm day with a blue sky and a strong breeze. The beach wasn’t particularly crowded, though. Not on a Tuesday evening.

  When she looked back, she saw that Jake was discreetly stretching his bad knee and wincing very slightly.

  She knew his knee was really bothering him today, and the stubborn idiot refused to admit it.

  “Let’s walk a little,” she said mildly. “I don’t feel like getting back in the car yet.”

  He frowned, little lines appearing between his dark eyebrows. “I told you my knee is just fine.”

  “I didn’t say anything about your knee. Don’t be grumpy. It’s so nice here, and we’re not in any sort of hurry to get to San Diego this evening. Why shouldn’t we take a fifteen minute break?”

  “Because I know exactly why you’re suggesting the break. You’re not as subtle as you think, you know.”

  “So you’re saying you won’t let me take a fifteen minute break before we get back in that car?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

  Feeling irrationally victorious, even over such a little thing, she grinned again. “Let’s walk on the beach.”

  He was shaking his head as they walked down to the boardwalk and then onto the warm sand. She had to take off her heels and carry them, which was a little awkward with her slush, but she managed.

  They didn’t talk as they moved down to the damp sand that was easier to walk on, but she liked Jake’s presence beside her. He felt strong. Solid. Really there.

  She tried not to think about what it would be like two weeks from now, when he wouldn’t be there anymore.

  It hurt so much she couldn’t breathe for a moment, but she pushed through it until her mind was clear again.

  “I didn’t know you were dating someone,” Jake said out of blue.
/>
  She was so surprised she stopped walking to stare. “What?”

  He looked slightly uncomfortable, but he repeated, “I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Oh.” He frowned. “You said you had a date tonight.”

  She realized then where the topic had come from. She wasn’t in the habit of talking to Jake about her dating life, but there was no reason not to tell him the truth. As she started walking again, she explained, “It was a first date. I haven’t even met the guy yet.”

  “Oh.” His tone sounded different now, and his eyes were on the horizon. “Sorry you had to postpone.”

  She shrugged. “No big deal.”

  She wished she hadn’t even brought it up earlier that day. She’d just been so frustrated with Jake in general that she hadn’t guarded her words as much as she should have.

  Her personal life shouldn’t get in the way of work. Not even her feelings should. She’d always made sure they didn’t.

  They walked in silence for a few minutes until she stopped again when she saw a lone surfer in the distance on the water. He was obviously a newbie, since he got himself upright for just a few seconds before he wiped out.

  “Poor guy,” she murmured, watching as he ended up in the water a second time.

  “He’ll get it.”

  She turned to look at Jake’s face and surprised an expression there that almost looked like hunger. Before she could think through the wisdom of the question, she heard herself asking, “Do you think you’ll ever surf again?”

  His whole body stiffened as he turned his head to meet her eyes. “You know I can’t—”

  “I know you can’t surf professionally anymore. But the doctor never said you can’t get on a surfboard again. Surely you could surf now and then, just for fun.”

  As far as she knew, he hadn’t gotten out in the water in ten years.

  He looked back to the surfer, who was paddling toward his board. “Why bother?”

  “For fun? For enjoyment? You loved it, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah.” He let out a long sigh. “I did.”

  She watched his expression for a minute, suddenly realizing something new about him.

  He didn’t want to give himself to surfing again—in any way—since it had already been taken away from him once.

  “I know it was really hard,” she murmured, feeling like she needed to respond to her revelation somehow. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have anything now.”

  Her words were soft, strangely gentle, even to her own ears, and she was suddenly afraid that they revealed too much.

  Especially when he stared at her in naked surprise for a moment.

  She swallowed hard and glanced away.

  Jake cleared his throat and started walking back the way they’d come.

  When she fell in step with him, he replied to her earlier comment, “I know it doesn’t mean I can’t have anything. I’ve got the business, right?”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also—”

  “I don’t want to surf anymore, Anne. I don’t want to do it.” His voice was low, guttural.

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath and focused her eyes on her bare feet stepping on the sand. “Okay.”

  She knew he wasn’t telling her the truth. Or not the whole truth anyway. But there was no reason to expect him to.

  They weren’t lovers. They weren’t even friends. They were boss and employee.

  And she wasn’t entitled to the secrets of his soul, no matter how much she wanted to hear them.

  No wonder he was a workaholic. He’d learned to channel all of his passion, enjoyment, and feeling into his business—since he’d lost what had satisfied him before.

  The one loss seemed to have reshaped his whole life. Now the only thing he was willing to genuinely invest in was his work, his company.

  He wasn’t even willing to invest in an intimate relationship.

  She’d sensed this in him before, but not with such clarity. It made her feel heavy, poignant, aching.

  It was just wrong for him to cut himself off from everything else, even something he loved to do as much as surf.

  He took her half-eaten slush from her hand when they reached the boardwalk again, so she could brush off her feet and put her shoes back on. Then they walked silently back to the car.

  Jake threw away his empty cup, while Anne tried to finish her slush quickly.

  He stood watching her with a sober expression, a sheen of perspiration on his skin and his tie just slightly loosened.

  “I didn’t mean to be rude back there,” he said at last, as she finished her last sip.

  She tossed her cup in the trashcan. “I know. I didn’t think you were.” She sighed as she walked back to the car, where he was waiting by the passenger door. “I just thought you didn’t want to talk to me about it.”

  She wasn’t looking at his face, since she was feeling self-conscious again. She was staring at his tie.

  It bothered her unduly. Why the hell did he have to wear a tie on a road trip, anyway? Couldn’t he at least have taken his jacket and tie off on the way to San Diego?

  She heard him let out a hoarse breath. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you, Anne. It’s that it’s hard for me to talk about it at all.”

  “I know.” She was so full of emotion and so aware of his presence, just a few inches away, that she was almost shaking. She was still staring at his tie. “I just don’t like for you to not have the things you love in your life.”

  She didn’t phrase that quite right. It sounded far too intimate. She felt him stiffen, although she still couldn’t bring herself to look up at his face.

  She added, “Surfing, I mean.”

  “I know what you meant.” His voice was very low now, very guttural.

  She wanted to look him in the eyes, touch him, kiss him. She wanted it so deeply that her hands were trembling with the urge. Because she was so overwhelmed, she couldn’t think clearly. She just needed to distract herself.

  So she started to undo his tie, loosening it enough to unknot it. “There’s no reason for you to wear the tie on this trip. It has to be uncomfortable.” She was babbling, but she couldn’t stop herself. “And why don’t you take off your jacket, too?”

  He didn’t resist as she slid off his tie and then reached for his suit jacket and pulled it off his shoulders. But he said, “Anne, it doesn’t really matter—”

  “It does matter. You don’t have to be uncomfortable on the whole drive. I don’t understand why you think you do.” She opened the back door of the SUV and spread out of his jacket so it wouldn’t get too wrinkled. Then she laid his tie on top of it.

  She was aware that he was staring at her, but she still couldn’t stop rambling on. “You’re allowed to be comfortable, you know. You don’t always have to wear this stupid—”

  “Anne.” Just the one word. Not even loud or authoritative. It was almost gentle.

  But it stopped her completely.

  She straightened up again and tilted her head to look him in the eye.

  She was already breathless, but she stopped breathing completely when she saw the look in his eyes.

  Understanding. Hunger. Need. Desire. Passion. All of it. Palpable in his eyes.

  She reached out for him without thinking, responding only to what she saw in his expression.

  Then he was kissing her. And she was kissing him back.

  He pushed her backward against the car, protecting her with a hand spanning the curve of her head. His mouth devoured her—nothing gentle or mild about the passion with which his lips and tongue moved against hers.

  All of her trembling confusion transformed into heated excitement. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, opening her mouth to the advance of his tongue.

  And she wanted him so much. All of him. Exactly like this.

  This was the Jake she’d always wanted.

  His
body was hard and hot as it pressed against hers, and then his free hand slid down until it was cupping the curve of her ass.

  His hand in such an intimate place fired up even more of her senses, and her whole body started to throb with growing arousal.

  He was getting turned on too. She could feel a hardness building where his groin was pressed against her middle.

  He tasted faintly of the lemonade slush, exactly as she did. And he smelled just like Jake. He filled all of her senses.

  She moaned low in her throat as pleasure and desire flooded her body, and she dug her fingers into his back, trying desperately to feel as much of him as she could.

  Then suddenly he was releasing her, jerking away, stepping back awkwardly.

  Leaving her limp against the car, shaking and bewildered.

  “Oh, damn,” he muttered, turning away from her abruptly and bracing himself with one hand against the front of his SUV. “Oh, fuck. What am I doing?”

  She’d known what she was doing. She’d been finally taking what she wanted.

  And now she couldn’t even speak after how jarringly it had been ripped away from her.

  They both just panted loudly for a minute. She stared at his tense back, and he stared at the pavement.

  There was a spot of perspiration on his shirt, just between his shoulder blades. She wasn’t sure why she kept noticing it.

  She really should have known better.

  Miraculously, it seemed like he might be attracted to her. At least a little. Surely he wouldn’t have kissed her like that otherwise.

  But attraction was never the strongest thing.

  It was more than clear—it had always been more than clear—that, even if he wanted her, Jake was never going to take what he wanted.

  “I’m sorry,” he said at last.

  “It’s fine.” Her voice was soft, slightly resigned. Exactly as she felt. “Sometimes things like that just happen.”

  “It shouldn’t have happened. I know it was…entirely inappropriate.” He still wasn’t looking at her. “It won’t happen again.”

  Well, that made it even clearer.

  She only had two more weeks to work for him, and she was at least going to hold onto her dignity. She wasn’t about to let him know she’d been so foolish as to fall for him. She would protect herself at least that much. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just pretend it never happened. I’m not going to be working for you much longer anyway.”