Grumpy Boss

“Business,” I echoed, tilting my head. “Is that it, then?”

“Rees,” she said, her tone warning. “Come on.”

“You’re really going to tell me that’s it? Business?” I reached out then and put my hand on her thigh. She looked down at the touch, then back up to me—but she didn’t pull away. I lingered there, head tilted.

“I don’t know what Fluke was thinking,” she said, chewing on her lip. “Maybe she misinterpreted something.”

“What was there to interpret? It’s only business.” I moved my hand up her thigh, along her skirt. She shifted slightly, moving closer to me.

“What am I supposed to think?” she asked, her tone sounding angry, but also desperate and hungry. I liked the way her heat felt under my palm, and I stopped when I reached the crease of her legs. “You have this reputation— and our relationship is supposed to be professional—“

I leaned forward, moving my hand up from her thigh, and touched her cheek. She let out a breath and met my gaze before I let my lips move past hers, up to her ear. “Does this feel wrong to you? Tell me, and I’ll stop.”

“Rees,” she said, but nothing more. I pulled back, letting my lips brush against her cheek, to the corner of her mouth, then kissed her. I held her there, a small kiss, barely anything, before she pressed harder against me, sucking in a breath through her nose, and her mouth opened, her tongue touched against mine, and we kissed deeper, her taste flooding my own, pinecones and mint leaf, and I moved my hand back to touch her hair, but bit her softly—

Before a knock at the door broke us apart.

She blushed, cheeks pink, eyes wide. I smiled at her and put a finger to my lips, then stood and turned from her. “Come in,” I said.

Jack poked his head into the room. “I need you in my office,” he said, then looked at Millie. “You should come too.”

“On the way,” I said, and Jack disappeared again.

Millie moved side to side and touched her lips with her fingertips, then stared at me like she wanted to say something, then stopped and looked down at the table, jaw working.

“Come on,” I said, grinning, feeing my pulse in my throat, wanting to kiss her again, god, so badly it almost hurt. “Let’s see what he has to say.”

She stood and followed wordlessly. That kiss hung between us, heavy as a thousand year old glacier, deep and passionate, breaking beneath the surface, down into the crust of the earth. I wanted to study her more, to taste her again, slower, lips lingering on her throat, feel her hips under my palms, feeling her breath against my chest, hear her gasp and pant my name, but god, shit, this was what we were supposed to avoid, this attachment.

It was meant to be business, after all.

Jack’s office was several doors down, not quite as large as mine, but very well proportioned. Millie sat silently in a chair in front of his deck, and I leaned up against a filing cabinet.

“What’s up?” I asked him, taking all those feeling for Millie, the deep, dangerous physical need I felt for her, and packed it all away in some tiny hole in the back of my head, shoveling it all away into the darkness. If I didn’t do that, I’d never be able to concentrate again.

“It’s Desmond again,” he said, and I noticed a small bead of sweat run down the side of his face. “And it’s bad.” He stared at me like an entire herd of baby deer were just run over.

“Tell me,” I said, glancing at Millie, but she gave me nothing.

He sighed and turned his screen to face us.

The website was one of those business gossip blogs that plagued the financial industry. They weren’t as flash or exciting as their celebrity counterparts, and their readership was much smaller, but the stories could have massive impacts. It was like TMZ with a 401k. The headline was big and bold, black letters over a white background: REES COURT COURTS LADY FLUKE. Below was a picture of my meeting with her, Fluke sitting in the hotel restaurant, me sitting across from her, smiling like a sleaze ball, and Millie barely in the frame.

“Shit,” I said, because nothing else could sum up exactly what this meant.

“I agree,” Jack said, turning the screen back to him. “You probably don’t need to read the details.”

“The headline says it all, doesn’t it.” I looked at Millie then shook my head before I began to pace. “She’s going to be livid. Fluke hates scandal, but being involved in scandal is even worse.”

“This has to be Desmond,” Millie said. “Who knew about our meeting with her?”

“Nobody,” I said. “Her assistant. Lady Fluke herself. So unless Desmond had someone following us around—“ I stopped pacing and looked at Jack. He groaned and wiped at his forehead with his sleeve.