Boss with Benefits_An Office Romance Read online

  Now, here I was giving him a presentation that he trusted me to do, and my workspace has been temporarily relocated to his office, within his private space away from everyone else. Things had shifted in ways that provoked my body to thrum with anticipation.

  Warmth flooded through me when I glanced back at Seth once I reached the end of the PowerPoint. He sat back with an impressed smile, folding his hands behind the back of his head.

  “Impressive,” he said. “I like it. I like it a lot.”

  “Oh, good,” I said a bit breathlessly. “I was worried you might not like this strategy, but I do think it will work.”

  Seth rocked back in his chair with a smile that showed off his pearly white teeth. “I think so, too. Good work, Alisha. This is why I chose you to help me.”

  “The others have always thought you give me personal favors,” I said, fiddling with the projector remote. “I just happen to be good at my job, that’s all.”

  “Very good at your job,” he said seriously.

  A knock on the conference door interrupted us. One of the receptionists from down in the lobby, a young female with dark curly hair and an impressive bust, stepped in with a large bag in hand. She smiled charmingly in Seth’s direction when he twisted around in the chair to look in her direction.

  “Your lunch is here, Mr. Jackson,” she said. “I thought I would personally deliver it to you.”

  It took all my strength not to roll my eyes at the sultry tone of her words. The receptionist on the bottom floor of Jackson Finance was always young and always had her eyes on Seth, mainly because of his fit physique and big bank account.

  “Thank you,” Seth said. He turned to look at me as I closed my laptop, unplugging it from the projector. “Alisha, sit down. I ordered enough food for us both today.”

  “Oh,” I blinked in surprise at that as he took the bag from the young woman. “That’s quite all right. My Nana always packs me lunch.”

  The woman snorted under her breath, and Seth sent her a scorching look that had her scrambling for the doors.

  “Not to rag on your grandmother’s cooking,” he said, returning his gaze to mine. “I’m sure this is going to be better, though. Sit down, please.”

  Whatever was in the bag did smell amazing. I could detect the delicious aroma of seared meat and garlic. I sat down on the edge of my chair nervously while Seth pulled out a few containers. He pushed one across the table to me along with cutlery. I opened the lid to find myself blasted with the savory scent of lamb chops and garlic mashed potatoes. I looked up to find Seth’s eyes fixated on mine with an amused smile tugging at his lips.

  “Okay,” I said, a smile spreading across my lips too. “Much better than my Nana’s leftovers from last night.”

  “I figured that. No disrespect intended.”

  “None taken,” I groaned when I took a hefty bite of mashed potatoes. “This is so good. I won’t be starving at the end of the day like usual.”

  Seth chuckled.

  “I have to say,” he said, digging into his container. “Most women who eat in front of me don’t ever eat.”

  “I love food, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

  We fell into silence while we ate. Closing the now empty container, I tossed it into the trashcan next to the door. Nerves suddenly consumed me again.

  “I’m sorry about being late this morning,” I blurted out. “I had issues this morning. I know you don’t like hearing excuses, but it was my son. He’s at this awkward age of not being a kid, but also not being a teenager yet. There have been issues at school with some other kids being bullies, so he didn’t want to be dropped off early this morning.”

  Seth remained quiet as he wiped his hands clean and tossed his empty container into the trash can as well.

  “What time does school start?” he asked.

  “It starts at eight. I usually drop him off at seven-forty-five because these older kids are in early morning classes by then.”

  “Well, start at eight then,” Seth said, nodding. “Just roll your sleeves up in the morning to get caught up.”

  I sat back in my chair, surprised to hear the accommodation. I didn’t expect sympathy or for him to let me come in at my usual time.

  “Are-are you sure?” I asked. “I can still be here at seven. It’s just going to take—”

  “You have responsibilities outside of work,” Seth said, waving my protest away. “Tell your son to keep his chin up. Those bullies usually turn out to be real losers in life later on.”

  Warmth spread through me when Seth shot me a Cheshire smile. I gathered my laptop from the conference table and followed him back to his office. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was starting to believe the same thing that everyone else in the office believed: that Seth Jackson was a bit soft when it came to me. I didn’t want to admit what that did to my insides either.

  Chapter 5

  Seth

  I splashed cold water on my heated face to cool myself down. What the hell was I doing? My lunchtime was my private time to get away from work for an hour. Inviting Alisha into that time brought her into that time with me. Not because I felt obligated to share lunch with her, but because I liked having her around. The thought occurred to me when we were walking back to my office to resume the rest of the workday.

  I had left Alisha at her desk to start organizing the papers into their respective piles while I retreated to the private washroom to compose myself. Drying my face with a towel, I looked up to gaze at myself in the mirror.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered, shaking my head. “First lunch. Then, letting her come into work later.”

  Maybe the rumors were right about my feelings when it came to Alisha. Maybe I was soft when it came to her, but she never took advantage of it. The surprise in her eyes was the evidence of that when I told her to come in later to help out with her son in the morning. Bullies. I’d learned a thing or two about bullies when I was a kid.

  My father had been the typical mean alcoholic who told me to either suck it up or fight back when a couple of older kids on the block had beaten the shit out of me over a bike. It was a damn harsh lesson to fight for what I wanted. I had taken that lesson all the way throughout my life while building up Jackson Finance. I still remembered the day I had crawled home with tears in my eyes and a bloody lip, only to have my father slap me even harder. “Find your balls now, Seth,” he had spat. “If you don’t, you’re going to be a damn wuss for the rest of your life.”

  I tossed the towel into the hamper next to the bed before exiting the private room. The nice sight of Alisha bent over her desk rifling through a couple of pages greeted me the second I opened the door. My mouth went instantly dry as lust spiraled right through me. Her taut bottom was perfect. I could imagine myself gripping those sensual hips while I rammed myself into her repeatedly—

  Alisha turned around to give me an odd look. “Is everything okay, Mr. Jackson? You look a bit flushed.”

  My cock twitched inside of my pants. I hurried over to sit down at my desk before Alisha could spot the real reason why I felt flushed. Nothing about being sick.

  “I’m fine,” I said, a bit harsher than I intended. “Carry on. Don’t let me distract you.”

  Alisha chewed on her bottom lip as she slowly turned back around to sort through the piles again. I glanced down at the bulge in my pants with an aggravated sigh. There was no way in hell that I could get up now, and judging from the painful ache in my crotch, it would take a lot of willpower on my part to keep myself under control.

  I diverted my attention to my computer screen and scrolled through a few emails that needed replies. That did little to keep my attention away from the sight of Alisha constantly bending over her desk to go through the piles. The three upper buttons of her cream-colored blouse were undone, giving my greedy eyes the opportunity to take in the little bit of cleavage visible. I wanted to bury my teeth there to nibble and suck.

  “Fuck,” I muttered under
my breath, running a hand through my hair. “I can’t keep this up.”

  “Can’t keep what up?” Alisha asked curiously. She finished organizing a pile of papers while watching me with a frown. “Are you sure that you’re all right, Mr. Jackson?”

  I flipped my wrist around to glance at the time on my watch. Four-thirty. I only had thirty more minutes to suffer through before Alisha would take off for the day.

  “I’m fine,” I said again. “Are you done with the papers?”

  “I just finished the last stack,” she replied. “I hate to ask this, but I need to go pick up my son from practice.”

  “That’s fine,” I said, shortly, seizing the opportunity to get her out of my office so I could breathe properly. “Go on. You’ve done a lot of work today. I’ll see you in the morning at eight tomorrow.”

  I clenched my teeth while Alisha powered down her computer. She pulled out her purse and car keys from the desk drawer before nodding goodbye to me. Closing the doors behind herself, I sat back in my chair to let out a jagged hiss. I reached down to adjust my rock-hard erection that refused to go away. I didn’t have time to stroke myself, and I wasn’t craving that type of release anyway, but I needed to get laid. I needed to do something before I acted out on my desires.

  I pulled out my phone and scrolled through until I found the last time McKenzie had texted me a few nights ago, asking if we could meet up and talk. I was stooping to a new low by dragging her back in for one night of intense fucking, but I needed to do something.

  Do you have any plans tonight? I texted quickly.

  It didn’t take long for a response because McKenzie lived on her phone. It was her gateway to being a socialite in Boston.

  I can make room for you, baby. Where do you want to meet?

  I sighed inwardly as I texted directions to a restaurant twenty minutes away from here. After powering down my computer as well, I went back to my private suite and washroom to shower off the stress of the day. I blasted myself with icy cold water to cool my body down before slipping into another suit for the night.

  Boston was alive with traffic when I stepped out of the lobby to find my driver, Marcus, already parked at the curb in front of the building.

  “Evening, boss,” he said when I climbed into the back seat. “Where am I taking you this evening? Back to the penthouse?”

  “DeVinny’s,” I replied, pulling out my phone. “I have a dinner date waiting for me there. Afterwards, the penthouse.”

  Marcus pulled away from the curb to merge into traffic. “You got it, boss. We’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

  I read through a few emails throughout the quiet drive. Marcus was one of my favorite drivers; he knew to keep the music off, and he never asked questions either. He pulled up to the curb of a tiny Italian restaurant where only reservations and VIP guests were allowed.

  A slinky blond-haired woman in a mini black sequined cocktail dress greeted me in the small lounge. McKenzie offered a sultry smile full of temptation and promise as she reached up to press a sticky kiss to my cheek. She tossed a blond curl back over her shoulders as she gazed up at me through thick lashes.

  “I’m glad you finally got back to me,” she said. “I was starting to wonder if you were ignoring me.”

  “Busy with work,” I replied tightly, and it was only a partial lie. “Let’s get some food; I’m starving.”

  “Of course.”

  She looped an arm through mine possessively as we followed the hostess into the dining area. I didn’t miss the way that McKenzie raked her eyes over the occupied tables, judging every single person in there for their appearance. Everybody had money in this restaurant. It was only a matter of how much.

  A smug smile spread across McKenzie’s glossy lips as she took a seat across from me in a small booth tucked away in the corner. I ordered a glass of whiskey on ice to curb a headache now pounding in my temples.

  “So,” she started, once the waiter disappeared to retrieve our drinks, “How is work going? I’m assuming that is why you never texted back a few nights ago.”

  “I’m busy at work. You know that.”

  McKenzie rolled her eyes at that. “You don’t have to tell me how busy you are. You spent more time at that office than in our townhome.”

  “Your townhome now,” I reminded her with a stab of bitterness. “I have to work to make money. I didn’t marry for money.”

  The insult didn’t slip past her, and her eyes narrowed in displeasure at the comment. After three divorces from wealthy men, it was fair to say that McKenzie’s wealth came from her charms. Her family was dirt poor in Alabama, and they were still dirt poor because McKenzie refused to share anything she had accumulated over the years.

  “Don’t entertain me with your childhood story again,” she said crossly. “We all know that your father taught you a few lessons. Let’s talk about something else.”

  I swiped up my glass of whiskey when the waiter returned with our drinks and took a large sip with a relieved sigh.

  “Fine,” I said. “What did you want to talk to me about originally? You texted me about wanting to talk about something.”

  “And I can tell you are in no mood to do a lot of talking,” McKenzie commented slyly, bending forward slightly to give me ample view of her large breasts that wanted to spill out. “I’ve been thinking, honey, about the reason why we filed for divorce last year.”

  “We filed for divorce because we never saw each other. That was your excuse at least.”

  “I regret that excuse,” she said. “I regret everything I’ve done since our divorce. I want you back, Seth. I want to be the one in your bed at the end of the night.”

  “You know that my business always comes first,” I said darkly, not buying her words just yet. She was up to something. “I spend a lot of nights in my office. You know that because you constantly complained about it. Relationships are last on my list.”

  “I know that. I didn’t mean getting married again. I meant something else entirely.”

  The tips of her toes grazed the back of my calf. She rubbed there, a sensual smile spreading across her lips. I stared across the table at her while disgust bubbled in me at her crass behavior. I had asked for her to meet me for this exact reason; I knew she would be willing to slip into my bed without question.

  Instead of that searing lust I had felt with Alisha in my office all day long, I felt nothing but coldness in me. I drew my leg back with an aggravated sigh.

  “I’m not interested in that,” I said. “I came here to talk because you asked for it.”

  Irritation skittered across McKenzie’s face. She swiped up her wine glass to glare at me over the rim before taking a sip.

  “I’m not a fool,” she said heatedly. “You asked me here for a reason, too. I’m offering myself to you here. You’re now deciding to act like a noble gentleman?”

  “I’m not pretending to be noble,” I snapped back at her. “I just know that you aren’t asking me to come back for sex. You want money.”

  “Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes at me again. “You have sex and money. Why can’t I have that, too?”

  “You can have it,” I said. “Just not on my time and bank account is all.”

  McKenzie lowered her wine glass to gaze at me. “There’s someone else, isn’t there? I can see it on your face.”

  I refused to break eye contact because I didn’t want to give McKenzie the satisfaction of knowing the truth. There was someone else that I couldn’t have. I wanted Alisha. That was it.

  Chapter 6

  Alisha

  “You have to understand, Ms. Townsend. There is only so much that we can do here at school without the parents’ cooperation.”

  I clutched the arms of the ugly brown chair I was seated in, the principal and school counselor seated across from me. Anger burned the inside of my chest when I glanced over my shoulder at Christian, who sat slumped over in the chair outside of the principal’s office. My eyes settled on
the huge wad of bubble gum nestled in the fair blond locks of Christian’s hair.

  “You need to suspend them,” I said angrily. “How is this okay in your school? These boys are bullying my child because they are the stupid jocks, retaliating against him because he refused to do their homework. He refused to let them cheat off of him! That’s what this is all about.”

  “We take cheating allegations seriously,” Principal Myers said gravely. “We disciplined these young men for it, too. It didn’t set very well with their parents either. My hands are tied, Ms. Townsend.”

  “What about a meeting with their parents?” I asked. “I’d like to talk with these boys’ parents about their behavior.”

  The counselor, Margie Collins, nodded in agreement with the idea. “I think it would be a good idea,” she said. “The parents are encouraging this behavior by either not saying a word about the bullying, or they just aren’t seeing the other side of it.”

  Principal Myers sighed in exhaustion. “These young men are the star athletes here in the school. Their parents are involved on many of the school boards and fundraising events our school has. It’s not going to go over very well if we bring them in here for this issue.”

  “So my son has to bear the brunt of their bullshit?”

  Tears burned the back of my eyes as I twisted around to find Christian pulling at the wad of gum in his hair. Within five minutes, five fucking minutes of dropping Christian off at six-fifty-five, he had called me in tears. I had wasted at least ten minutes already arguing with the principal over it all. It was clear then that my words wouldn’t do a damn thing to save my son from any of it.

  “We will pull their parents in for a meeting,” Principal Myers said. “I think a meeting will help them understand that their children are on the verge of suspension. Maybe we can do that this morning if—”

  “Don’t bother,” I said, shortly. “I have work that I can’t afford to take time away from. I’m already late dealing with this issue that should’ve been dealt with when all of this first started.”