Boss with Benefits_An Office Romance Read online

  I helped Alisha slide into her jacket before nodding at Donna with a smile. “Maybe we can have coffee some other time.”

  “That would be lovely,” she said with a small wink. “Have fun you two. It has been a very long time since Alisha has been able to go out.”

  “Nana,” Alisha said harshly. “You don’t have to tell him that. It hasn’t been that horribly long.”

  “I’m sorry,” Donna said, with a shrug of her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to overshare. Alisha gets a bit exasperated with me sometimes.”

  “It wasn’t an overshare,” I assured, while Alisha rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I’m serious. It’s been a while for me too. For dinner at least.”

  Alisha gave me a skeptical look as she gathered her purse and phone from the small table next to the door. She glanced down the hallway in the direction of the living room before turning to look back at me.

  “I suppose you met my son,” she said. “I hope he wasn’t too rude to you. He isn’t very happy with me at all.”

  “Not at all. I remember being his age.”

  “It’s a horrible age,” Donna added. “I can’t remember Alisha being so moody as a teenager, but then again, that was years ago. She was raised a bit differently.”

  Alisha tugged on the edge of my coat sleeve to pull me towards the front door. “Just remember that he can’t stay up too late. He needs to be up early in the morning to do the chores that he didn’t do this evening.”

  “I’ll tuck him in,” Donna said in a tone that suggested otherwise. “Go on, my dear. Have some fun for once.”

  A blast of cold air greeted us when Alisha opened the front door to step outside. She tugged me out to the front porch as well.

  “We’ll be back in a couple of hours,” Alisha said. “If you need anything, call me. I’ll have my phone.”

  It took all my strength not to reply that it could possibly be longer than that. Maybe all night. I kept the hope to myself, though, while I followed Alisha down the cracked pathway, in the general direction of the SUV. I opened the passenger door to let her hop in before going around to join her from the other side.

  “I’m so sorry about all that,” Alisha blurted out when Billy pulled away from the curb. She gave me an embarrassed smile. “My son is upset with me in general, and I can’t seem to do anything right. I was hoping to catch you before you came inside to greet the chaos of my life.”

  I shook my head with an amused chuckle. “It wasn’t chaos, and don’t be so worried about what I think.”

  “Your life is completely orderly, though. You don’t have anything to worry about at home like I do.”

  Only for one reason though. I never had the time to let my life get out of control. My business kept me away from the chaos of a personal life, though at this point, I didn’t necessarily long to have it, either.

  “My job keeps me busy,” I said. “That’s the only reason why.”

  “Right.”

  We fell back into silence as Alisha gazed out the passenger window at the city lights. I took in the shape of her legs through the darkness of the SUV cab. This dinner date wasn’t just a break away from the apparent chaos of her personal life. It was a break away from our professional lives too. It was my only opportunity to propose the solution I had come up with to satisfy both of our urges.

  I was already stiff in my pants from just thinking about it. I only had to get through maybe an hour at the most of dinner conversation and dessert.

  “It’s beautiful here at night,” Alisha murmured, turning to look at me with a small smile. “I can’t remember the last time I was actually out in the city on a Friday night without my grandmother and son tagging along.”

  “You needed a break,” I said thickly. “You really do look beautiful by the way. I never see you dressed like that.”

  Alisha turned her head abruptly to hide her face. “Thank you. I don’t like to dress up if I’m just going to work. It just causes a hassle.”

  We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later. I instructed Billy to come back within an hour before leading Alisha inside the Italian restaurant. I curved my palm to fit perfectly into the curve of her lower back as we followed the host into the dining area. A large fireplace crackled over the tune of slow and sensual music in the background. Candles flickered on tables as we passed by them to the private booth near the window I had requested.

  “Very nice place,” Alisha said, slipping out of her coat with a small, shy smile. “I didn’t think we’d be going somewhere this fancy.”

  “You’re with me,” I said wryly. “What did you expect?”

  We handed our coats to the host to hang up. I ordered a bottle of wine for the table, and while a part of me tried to wait, I couldn’t do it any longer. I had to be honest about the real reason I had invited Alisha to dinner.

  “There’s something I have to talk to you about,” I said.

  Alisha glanced at me curiously. “I figured there was a reason you were asking me out for dinner. You could’ve asked me at work.”

  “There’s a reason why I wanted to ask you out to dinner,” I said, nodding in agreement. “It has nothing to do with work, per se.”

  Chapter 10

  Alisha

  “There’s a reason why I wanted to ask you out to dinner. It has nothing to do with work, per se.”

  I clutched the stem of my wine glass with trembling fingers. Coming out to dinner with Seth Jackson had been a mistake on my part. The chauffeured ride, the private restaurant, the smooth bottle of wine, the smoldering and patient look in Seth’s eyes. I knew that look had nothing to do with wanting to discuss work. Still, I had agreed to come out, so I needed to hear what he had to say. A small part of me knew that this dinner had nothing to do with work. Which was exactly the reason why I’d agreed to go in the first place. Everything about Seth was magnetic, and it took everything in me to resist that pull around him.

  “About what?” I asked, evenly.

  Seth set his wine glass down on the table. “I promise it’s nothing that requires you to sign your life away to me.”

  “That doesn’t help my nerves,” I said, laughing nervously. “Not at all, Mr. Jackson—”

  “Seth when we’re out in public, come on,” he corrected with a small grin. “You don’t have to be so formal with me, Alisha. We’ve known each other for a long time now.”

  “A few years to be exact.”

  “Right, and throughout those years, I’ve noticed something about you that we have in common.”

  I shifted anxiously on the edge of my chair, seriously doubting we had anything in common. His life was put together and orderly. He didn’t have a fraction of the worries I had to think about in a day. As far as I knew, he didn’t have any children to look after, and his ex-wife called the office only rarely.

  “Such as?” I asked curiously.

  “We don’t have time for a relationship,” Seth stated plainly. “Neither one of us can make the proper time to commit to any relationship at all. Am I right?”

  “Maybe,” I said, slowly, unsure of where the hell Seth was going with this conversation. “I don’t understand, Seth. What are you trying to get at here?”

  “A common problem I seem to encounter over the years is my lack of time to carry on a relationship. My previous girlfriends and ex-wife all have complained about me never being able to commit the time that they want. My business is first and foremost in my life.”

  “That’s all understandable, but I’m still confused about where this is going.”

  “I meant that I think I have figured out a solution to both our problems here,” Seth said. A seductive grin spread across his lips then. “I’m just a man who enjoys a company of a woman at the end of the day. Especially an attractive one.”

  Heat scorched through me all over again. This time, it wasn’t from Seth’s proximity. It was the husky tone of his voice that was unnerving me. I picked up my wine glass with trembling fingers to take a long and de
ep sip of wine. I had no idea where this conversation was going, but my body seemed to have some knowledge of where it was going to go. Anticipation bubbled inside my skin while Seth’s eyes darkened through the dim lighting of the restaurant.

  “You’re a very attractive woman, Alisha,” he continued on, his voice growing deeper. “I’ve thought long and hard about this situation. We could take advantage of working so close together to satisfy our urges while getting to know one another. All without leaving the office.”

  My jaw dropped open in sheer surprise to hear those words tumbling out of Seth’s mouth. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or horrified by his suggestion. To take advantage of our closeness to satisfy our urges? I had so many of those urges, it was embarrassing to even admit to. It’d been far too long since I had enjoyed a man’s touch, so Seth’s proposition didn’t sound as awful as the logical part of my mind wanted it to be.

  It took me a long moment to compose myself enough to finally speak again. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking me?”

  “Suggesting,” Seth said airily. “What do you think I’m suggesting?”

  The center of my cheeks burned as I tossed a furtive glance over my shoulder to make sure there wasn’t anyone else hearing this conversation. I took another sip of wine to calm my unraveling nerves.

  “That we—” I swallowed the knot in my throat, “have sex with one another without any commitments?”

  “Yes,” he murmured, gripping the edge of the table suddenly. “Do you have any idea how much you have turned me on all week?”

  My eyes widened in alarm at the thought. I mentally wracked my brain to try and pinpoint a time when I had done anything seductive. Nothing. I hadn’t even worn anything sexy all week, either.

  “I had no idea,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. I can move out of your office if you need me to. I don’t want to distract you from your work.”

  “You’re not getting my point,” Seth said, chuckling. “My point is that I’ve enjoyed the show quite a few times. I moved you into my office for a reason.”

  “What reason was that?” I asked. “Because you needed me close by?”

  “Because I didn’t want Jim Chambers drooling over you anymore,” Seth said coolly. “I don’t like the way he’s been lingering about your desk lately. I don’t trust him.”

  I arched an eyebrow at him. The wine was starting to have a dizzying effect on me. Which was dangerous. Very dangerous considering how sexy Seth looked tonight in his cream-colored shirt with the three upper buttons undone to reveal a small glimpse of dark chest hair that shimmered in the low-lighting whenever he shifted. He smelled of delicious temptation, too.

  “He’s your employee,” I pointed out, grabbing ahold of my water glass nervously. “Why did you hire him if you don’t trust him?”

  “He’s good at his job,” Seth said with a shrug of his strong shoulders. “There’s no harm in hiring people who are good at their job. They might be questionable on personal levels though.”

  “Sounds like you were just jealous.”

  The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could think them through. The waiter arrived with our plates of pasta that smelled so amazingly of garlic butter. I didn’t wait for a response and quickly picked up my fork to fill my mouth with food, combatting the wine’s intoxicating effects, but to also keep it occupied.

  “Perhaps I was,” Seth said, picking up his cutlery as well. “I know you’ve never mentioned your ex-husband to me before, but where is he?”

  “In the middle of Arizona somewhere with his family,” I said as evenly as possible. “I never bring him up because he doesn’t exist in our life. He signed his rights to Christian away when he left the both of us.”

  “You mean, he doesn’t even help you pay for anything?”

  The angry question caught me off guard. I twirled my fork absently in the garlic noodles on my plate.

  “The only thing he does is call Christian every year on his birthday,” I said, thankful for the topic change, even if it was about Todd. “I didn’t fight him to stay though. I was glad he left. We got married for all the wrong reasons in the first place.”

  “Right out of college?”

  “In the middle of college. Worst mistake of my life to be honest with you. Never marry your college sweetheart.”

  Seth’s lips thinned into a tense smile. “Or fashion models who are hungry for money and fame. That was my ex-wife.”

  “What happened there?” I asked. “I know you said it was a lack of time on your part, but there had to be other reasons, too. Marriages don’t fall apart because of one thing.”

  “She wanted more than what I could give,” Seth said. “That’s really all it was. McKenzie doesn’t need much in life besides access to a cushioned bank account. We rarely saw each other except for the social events that she put on.”

  “Time seems to be the key to all great relationships,” I muttered cynically. “Time that neither one of us had to give.”

  “What do you think about my suggestion?” Seth asked then. “My proposal of sorts for our little problem.”

  Nerves crashed over me again. The proposal was indecent. Not to mention highly inappropriate, even if it was sorely tempting to agree. I set my fork down on the side of my plate, my appetite for food suddenly gone.

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” I asked. At the amused look crossing his face, I continued hastily, “I mean, I’m not doubting you. I’m just surprised by this suggestion, is all.”

  “I’m not a man who makes rash decisions,” he said. “You know that, Alisha. I’ve thought it through. What’s holding you back?”

  “Plenty of things are holding me back,” I remarked uneasily. “It’s not that I don’t trust you as a person. I’m just worried about if it got out to everyone at the office. I don’t want them thinking that I don’t work hard at my job.”

  “Ah, I see.” Seth smoothed a hand across his jaw with a knowing smile. “I can assure you that this would be kept private. No one else would know about it, and should anyone find out, I’d make sure to take care of the problem.”

  “There is also my morals and my son to think about,” I scrambled on with excuses. “I don’t want him to ever find out about any arrangement. Parenting him is already tricky enough right now.”

  “I’m not asking to step into your life, Alisha. Neither one of us have time outside of our jobs to carry on a relationship.” He leaned across the table then to hook me in with those magnetic blue eyes. “I’m saying that you are a beautiful woman. You have desires that are surely going unfulfilled that I would gladly take care of for you.”

  “I-I have no idea if I could fill yours,” I whispered. “It’s been so long for me, Seth. I can’t even tell you when the last time was. That’s how long ago it’s been.”

  Seth’s warm and strong hand slid across the table to rest over mine. His deft fingers grasped mine in a firm grip that had my pulse racing. This was any woman’s ultimate fantasy. To give into a sexy multi-billionaire who desired them in return. I couldn’t help the sense of dread crawling over me. Even if Seth wasn’t saying it out loud, his words implied that he didn’t expect, or intend, to let this type of arrangement turn into something more serious. He intended to keep it behind closed doors.

  “You’re conflicted about it,” Seth observed, with a small smile. “I can see it in your face. Don’t think too much about it. It’s okay to have desires, Alisha.”

  “I never said it wasn’t. It’s just—”

  I stopped talking when our waiter appeared to remove our plates from the table, and I declined the idea of dessert.

  “I wouldn’t ask anyone to do this,” Seth continued. “Tonight is a rare exception for me, having or making the free time to do something just a little bit romantic. That’s how busy it is for me.”

  “I understand that.”

  “And you’re busy with your own life, too. You’ve made that clear several times. You can trust me, Alisha
. You know you can.”

  It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him. I trusted him more than I should have. But I didn’t trust myself to keep things commitment-free the way that Seth would. I looked up to find Seth’s eyes tugging at me again. He wanted an answer. He wanted an answer now, judging from the hungry look apparent in his eyes again.

  Chapter 11

  Seth

  The wine had brought out a pretty red color in Alisha’s cheeks. Or was it the proposal I had thrown out to her? I studied the nervous looks she sent my way from across the table while we waited for our waiter to return with the check. Impatience tore at me while I waited for an answer.

  “I know you want an answer right now,” she said eventually. “I can tell you were expecting me to give you one tonight.”

  “Well, I was hoping for one,” I said with a small smile. “I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time.”

  Alisha fiddled with the intricate tablecloth. “But I haven’t had any time to think about it at all.”

  Disappointment washed over the core of me. I couldn’t remember the last time I had to work so hard to get a woman to return my affections. I had offered a tempting deal to the both of us. Neither of us had the time for a committed relationship. It only seemed like the right thing to offer, because Alisha needed a man who could be there emotionally at the end of the day. I had a tendency to bury my emotions into work rather than a wife or girlfriend.

  “You have to give me some time to think about this,” Alisha continued, glancing up at me. “You couldn’t honestly expect me to just jump all over this offer—or all over you—tonight?”

  “I was hoping you would,” I replied, wolfishly. The combination of wine and Alisha were a dangerous combination for me. “You were considering it. Weren’t you?”

  “I won’t lie to you. It’s a very tempting thing to think about because you have some good points.” She sucked in a deep breath, “You’re also very attractive. I’m sure a lot of women would jump all over this sort of opportunity to be with you.”