Boss with Benefits_An Office Romance Page 7
“I won’t lie to you,” I said. “I don’t get told no very often.”
Alisha snorted underneath her breath. “I don’t doubt that. It’s just complicated for me. You see, my ex-husband really messed up my view of men. I’ve been committed to my job and son for a long time without question.”
“I don’t doubt that you’re a good mother or a good employee. You’re fantastic at both from what I’ve seen over the years.”
“Thank you,” she said but didn’t sound too enthused with the compliment. “I just want some time to consider it is all. You’re asking me to have sex with you without any sort of commitment.”
“Why does that sound bad to you?” I queried in irritation. “We’re consenting adults here, Alisha. It’s not like you have to consider what your parents are going to think about this arrangement.”
“You’re not hearing what I’m telling you,” she said with a shake of her head. “I’m used to being on my own. You’re used to these sorts of things because you’ve been doing it for a while I suspect. I haven’t had any time to do this sort of thing.”
It hit me then that Alisha had truly lived a life of isolation for the past several years of her life. She had pushed aside her own needs to be there for her grandmother and son because she had no other choice. I had the luxury of being able to carry on with casual relationships while she had bigger responsibilities to tend to.
Shame stabbed at me then. I didn’t regret proposing the arrangement, but that I had pushed it too hard without regard for her situation. I knew that Alisha wasn’t the type of woman to just jump into bed with any man who offered to take her there. It was one of the appealing things about her that I truly did love.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Truly, I am. You’re right about me not giving you the time to think about it.”
“It’s fine,” she shrugged her shoulders with a tense smile. “I mean, I’ll think about it. I really will think about what you’re saying. I just need some time, that’s all.”
“I understand completely,” I said. “Think about it.”
The waiter returned with my credit card, bidding us both good night before bringing us our coats. I followed Alisha out of the restaurant in the direction of the luxury SUV waiting for us outside. I opened the passenger door to help Alisha inside before sliding into the back seat as well.
“Thank you for the lovely dinner,” Alisha said a few minutes later. She turned to offer me a small smile. “I really did need an evening away from everything. Thank you.”
I shifted in my seat anxiously. I wanted to kiss her. Badly. I wanted to show her how good everything could feel if she just gave herself the chance, but I didn’t want to push it any further.
“You’re welcome,” I said. “Tough night with your son?”
Alisha sighed heavily at the question. “Everything is tough with him right now. He has no one to help him get through some of the issues he’s going through. In his eyes, I can’t possibly get it because I’m Mom, you know?”
“Whatever it is, he’ll get through it. Don’t you remember being a teenager?”
“Ugh.” Her face contorted into a pained expression. “Unfortunately, I remember it more than I want to. I wouldn’t go back to those years for anything.”
“They were horrible years,” I said, chuckling. “My father used to beat the shit out of me if I came home crying about what happened to me at school. Taught me a valuable lesson.”
“What lesson was that?”
“That I couldn’t expect anyone else to deal with my problems,” I said. “I didn’t get it until I was an adult and had my own business. He was a mean son-of-a-bitch, but he never took shit from anyone.”
Alisha’s eyes studied my face. “I suppose that is where you get your attitude from. It’s gotten you pretty far in life.”
“I suppose so,” I said slowly, unsure if her words were intended to be a compliment. “I’m not saying you should do or not do something about your son’s problems at school; you have to decide that for yourself. I’m just saying that in the end, no matter how it goes, he’ll have to ultimately figure things out on his own.”
“Maybe. I may be holding on a bit too tightly to a lot of things. Trying to overcompensate, I suppose.”
Her eyes were wide and sad as she said those words. The city lights reflected off the watery surface of the tears that were brimming in her eyes. That urge to kiss her reared again. I didn’t care then that I had promised to let her think things through. I slid across the back seat without hesitation to cup her face tenderly in my hands. Her lips were soft and tasted faintly of honey when I leaned down to kiss her before she could protest.
Something sparked inside of me at the touch of Alisha’s lips against mine. Her sharp intake of breath followed by the stiffening of her spine didn’t detour me. I had read all those signs right. I knew it.
A few seconds ticked by before Alisha kissed me back with a soft sigh. I brushed my thumbs along the side of her neck while our kiss gradually deepened into something more intense. Her kisses were almost shy. Not inexperienced, or rusty. Just light and shy as she kissed me back with tentative passion.
I deepened the kiss then. Her lips parted without hesitation when I swept my tongue along the seam of her lips to dip in for a sweet taste. A groan rumbled in my chest when the tip of her own tongue snaked out to tangle against mine. It struck me hard, and I couldn’t believe that she hadn’t kissed or been with another man since her divorce years ago. It didn’t seem possible because of how sensually she kissed me back with a soft sigh of her own.
The sound of Billy clearing his throat interrupted the both of us. I pulled back to find the SUV pulling down the street slowly in the direction of Alisha’s townhome.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Billy said. “I just wanted to let you know we are almost back to Ms. Townsend’s house.”
I mentally debated on the merits of telling Billy to keep driving to give us more time to kiss, but Alisha drew back from me as she cleared her throat uncomfortably.
“Thank you,” she said. “Just pull up to the curb like last time.”
Settling back in my seat, a moody silence overshadowed the moment. I couldn’t handle these mixed signals any longer, but I didn’t want to push Alisha away by being too persistent. I had to handle this as carefully as possible.
Alisha opened the passenger door when Billy pulled up out front of her townhouse. She glanced over at me briefly with flushed cheeks. “Thank you again. It really was something that I needed.”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” I said, quickly jumping out, unwilling to miss another chance at one last kiss. “I won’t come inside this time if that makes you uncomfortable.”
“Christian’s already upset about me going out. It’s probably best you stay outside.”
The night air was chilly as I walked behind Alisha down the pathway to the front door. A dog barked faintly in the distance. All the lights were clicked off downstairs except the front porch light. Alisha stuck a key in the door to jiggle it open.
“Can you not afford to pay someone for repairs?” I asked, helping her push the door open. “I know how much I’m paying you.”
“It’s a bit embarrassing,” Alisha said. “I’ve been meaning to fix things for so long, but I barely have enough time on the weekends to get ready for Monday, much less think about repairs to the house.”
I reached forward then to place a hand on the side of her neck. Much to my pleasure, she leaned into the palm of my hand with a small sigh.
“Which is why I want you think to about what I offered. I want you to have enough time to give some thought,” I said softly. “If the answer is no, then I will back off respectively. I won’t mention it again.”
“I know that. I just need some time to think. Being around you can be a bit overwhelming.”
A feeling of smugness filled me at her whispered admission. She took a step back then to stand in the doorway. Shadows fell across her frame.
“See you Monday morning.”
The door clicked shut, followed by the sound of the deadbolt sliding into place. Thankful for the cold air to help will my rock-hard cock away, I walked back to the SUV to hop inside the passenger seat. I sat back in the warm leather while Billy pulled away from the curb without saying a word. The whirl of the engine when we hit the freeway didn’t help ease any of the tension inside of me.
I hadn’t expected it to feel that damn good to kiss Alisha. Too damn good. Way too good to go home tonight to a cold bed without her in it with me.
Sighing in frustration, I shifted again. It looked like it was going to be a cold shower to hold out until I knew what Alisha’s answer would be. I prayed that it was yes because I had no idea if I would be able to handle working alongside her every single day with the sensation of her lips on mine still playing out in the back of my head.
For the first time since receiving that damn disclosure, I felt a trickle of regret for bringing Alisha into my office. It isolated her from distraction, but now I was the one distracted.
Chapter 12
Alisha
I sat down on the small bench we used for shoe storage with a shaky sigh. My lips were still tingling from Seth’s kisses in the SUV on the drive back from the restaurant. The entire night felt like a surreal dream. Any moment now, Christian would be yelling at me that he needed help with something, and I would wake up. Seth Jackson, my boss of all people, wants to have a casual and sexual relationship with me. On company time, too.
Pinching the sensitive skin of my wrist hard only caused reality to come back sharper. It was dark inside the house. Even a bit chilly from someone turning down the thermostat. I slid out of my heels and dumped them into the bench with the mound of shoes already there. The floorboards were cold beneath my feet as I walked into the living room to the thermostat.
“Mom?”
“Christian,” I exclaimed, clutching at my pounding heart. “Why are you sleeping down here, honey?”
A tall and slender figure shifted around on the couch with a pile of blankets and pillows. The flash of a phone screen followed.
“I wanted to make sure you got home okay,” he said. “How was your thing?”
“It was fine,” I said guardedly. “You should be upstairs in your room. What makes you think it’s okay to hide in dark rooms like that?”
“I wasn’t hiding in a dark room, Mom. I was sleeping down here, waiting for you. It must’ve been bad if you’re already back home, huh?”
A headache pounded in my temples at his snarky tone. Not in the mood for yet another argument, I turned the furnace back up to a reasonable temperature.
“Well, I’m back home now,” I said. “You can go upstairs to bed.”
“Why aren’t you answering my question?” Christian asked suspiciously. “Nana said she hoped you would be out late and have a good time.”
“I’m back home because we finished our dinner,” I said, shooing him off the couch in exasperation. Who is the parent here anyway? “I’m an adult, by the way, Christian. I can stay out as late as I want.”
“Yeah, yeah. You never did stuff like this before, until your boss asked you to come in early to work with him.”
I stiffened at those words. Glad it was dark so Christian couldn’t see my flaming cheeks, I placed my hands on Christian’s boney shoulders to direct him in the direction of the stairs.
“Where is your Nana?” I asked. “Does she know you’re down here?”
“I came down after she fell asleep,” Christian said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I really just wanted to make sure you were okay, Mom. That’s it.”
We started up the stairs in the direction of Christian’s bedroom. A smile graced my lips at the concern, but I quickly wiped it off my face when he turned to face me in the dim light of the hallway. Smiling tended to bring out the moodiness in Christian. Gone was the sweet and affectionate boy who would do everything in his power to bring a smile to my face.
“I appreciate it,” I said. “I’m fine though, Christian. Get some sleep. We have a school project to do tomorrow that’s due on Monday.”
Christian’s face contorted in the dim light. “Don’t remind me. I hate that class, too.”
“All the more reason to do it tomorrow to get it over with. Get some sleep.”
I waited until he closed the door with a soft click before retreating to the privacy of my own room. Clicking the lamp on next to the bed, I shimmied out of my nylon stockings to rub the bumps out of my skin. Bumps that didn’t want to go away since the kiss in the car.
Nothing would be the same now. Seth had proposed something far too tempting for me even to consider. A small part of me fluttered at the thought of him finding me not only attractive enough to kiss, but to actually desire me too. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d even felt that attractive since Todd. There was the occasional whistle in my direction, I suppose, and Jim Chambers asked me out to dinner every week. That was something, I guess.
None of them had made me feel the way I’d felt when it came to Seth asking me to cross a few lines to experience lust and pleasure. I entered the small, detached bathroom while undoing the clasp of my dress. The soft green fabric fell away from my body as I stood in front of the mirror dressed only in my underwear with a bra that didn’t even match.
I didn’t know what Seth found so attractive though. Keeping my blond hair back in braids, I wore a minimal amount of makeup, and I never dressed provocatively. Not even on a dinner date. Keeping up with a twelve-year-old seemed to keep my body somewhat in shape, but I spotted cellulite on the curve of my thighs. A handsome and wealthy man like Seth could have any woman in the world. Why me?
Nothing had prepared me for the way it felt to be kissed so passionately. My lips were still swollen when I leaned into the mirror to inspect them before grabbing a makeup wipe. It didn’t matter though. Any sort of relationship with Seth Jackson would spell only heartache and trouble. The last man I had let my guard slip for had done exactly what everyone said he would: wreak havoc on my heart. I couldn’t afford to have that sort problem while working alongside Seth every single day. There were bills that needed to be paid, and I couldn’t afford to let myself go down a path that would end up in an unprofessional train wreck.
My dreams were haunted by Seth the entire night. I was in the middle of a particularly hot scene involving Seth between my legs on the edge of his desk when the door of my bedroom opened.
“Mom!”
I jerked awake at the sound of Christian’s voice. My heart pounded hard in my chest while I tried to gather my bearings quickly. The core of me throbbed, still in a state of arousal.
“Mom!”
“What is it, Christian?” I quipped in irritation, pulling the blankets up to my chin to cover myself up all the way. “What time is it?”
“It’s nearly nine,” Christian said. He appeared at the side of my bed with a scowl tugging at his lips. “Are you planning to wake up at some point this morning? Nana sent me to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“I don’t even get to sleep in,” Christian grumbled on his way out of my bedroom. “I don’t see why you get to sleep in just because you had a dinner.” The snarky emphasis he put on the word irritated me no end.
“I work a full-time job to pay for your things!” I yelled at him when he closed the door. “That’s a little bit tiring.”
It hadn’t helped that a majority of my dreams throughout the night had involved Seth. Exhaustion and pent-up arousal tugged at me as I kicked back my tangled sheets and blankets. There was no point in trying to get a few extra hours of sleep now.
My grandmother was sitting at the kitchen table, as usual, a cup of coffee in hand while she scanned the newspaper laid out in front of her. No one was dressed for the day, including Christian, who
was glued to the television in the living room. We were all still in our sweatpants and sleeping shirts.
“Morning,” she said when I shuffled into the kitchen to grab some coffee. “I was beginning to get worried about you up there. You never sleep in.”
I grabbed a coffee mug from the cupboard with a grimace. “I didn’t sleep very well last night is all.”
“Why is that?”
“No reason,” I said tightly, pouring myself a full mug of hot coffee. “Has Christian started on his project yet?”
“He was waiting for you to wake up,” Nana said. She folded her newspaper with a curious frown. “Was your night okay? You look like you’ve caught some sort of bug that is making you all flushed and sweaty.”
I sat down in the chair across from her with a relieved sigh. “It’s nothing. Did Christian give you too much lip last night?”
“Same amount as usual,” she replied absently. “I’m curious about this Seth Jackson who came to our house last night.”
“Curious how?” I asked, sipping my coffee. “He’s my boss. It was a business dinner. There was nothing to it.”
“There’s more to it than that. I saw how he looked at you when you came downstairs.”
“That would be your overactive imagination, Nana.”
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I may be old, Alisha, but I’m not senile just yet. You may have been at a business dinner, but that man, he was on a date. No doubt about it.”
“It was just a simple dinner, that’s all,” I replied defensively, shifting in my chair. “I don’t want to talk about it, Nana. It’s complicated enough just working with him already.”
“Ah,” she said, with a knowing smile. “So there is something more to the story than you are letting on.”
“No, there is not.”
“Well, I am all the more certain that there is. You just don’t want to talk about it because that is exactly what you do when you’re afraid of something.”