The Boss (The Boss 1)

He picked up speed, his hand reaching around to caress my throat. He didn’t exert any pressure, just left his hand there, possessive over the soft skin of my neck, his thumb brushing up and down in the curve below my ear. A thrill shot through me at the territorial nature of his touch. When we were together like this, I belonged to him, body and soul, though I knew that he would never seek to actually own me. I almost wept at the security of that feeling. Pleasure twisted through me like an arc of lightning, every muscle tightening as I panted and ground back on him. The feeling snapped and writhed, and I writhed with it, tossed in the storm of my own violent climax. It took me a moment to realize the hoarse, half-shouted moans were wrenching from my throat, not the actress on the screen.

My thighs trembled, as did my arms, from the strain of staying up. Before I could collapse, Neil pulled out and gently pushed me to the bed. He tugged down my pants, and I kicked them off with exhausted legs, turning to my back and reaching up for him. He settled between my legs, kissed me, kissed my jaw, my neck, as he sank easily into my body.

His hands found mine and brought them up to either side of my head, threading our fingers together as he moved. I rocked my hips in time to his thrusts, lifted my head to meet his greedy mouth with my own. When he came, his groan was muffled by my lips. His head dropped to my shoulder as his body jerked involuntarily against mine.

He leaned up on his elbows to kiss me, breathing hard, his weight still pinning me to the bed. I giggled, disentangling our hands so I could reach up and touch his face. “You know what would be a terrible obituary? ‘Twenty-four year old suffocated under billionaire boyfriend.’”

“Ha ha,” he groaned, grimacing as he slipped from my body.

The moment he rolled to my side, I got up and crawled toward the head of the bed. “Post-sex snuggle time?”

His eyes were closed, but he smiled. “Give me a moment to get rid of this.”

He ditched the condom in the remaining wad of pizza napkins and climbed beneath the covers. He used the remote to stop the video. I cuddled at his side. “This is basically a perfect Friday night.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” He hit a button on the remote, and the lights dimmed as he wrapped his arms around me.

An hour later, we still hadn’t moved. I lay sprawled over Neil’s chest, while he stroked my hair down my back with one slow hand.

“Do you want to go to the bedroom?” he asked, his voice rough from wine and drowsiness.

“In a minute,” I murmured. “I’m all snuggly.”

“We can sleep in here, if you like.” He suggested, and I heard it through his chest. “I stayed in here many a night while Elizabeth and I were having our differences.”

I lifted my head slightly. “Is the divorce final yet?”

“Mmhm.” His eyebrows rose. “It was final before I came to Porteras. But as per the terms of the divorce, she had sixty days to move out of this apartment and into the house in L.A.”

“Oh.” I had a sudden, burning curiosity about this woman I had been trying not to think of for so long. But trying to pretend she never existed wasn’t fair to Neil. He’d been through a divorce, very recently. That had to be traumatic. “I hope you don’t think that you can’t talk to me about all of that. I love you. I don’t want you suffering through a difficult time feeling like you can’t talk honestly with me.”

His hand stilled at my back. “You surprise me so much.”

“I’m not trying to surprise you. I’m just trying to be a good friend. Or a good girlfriend, I guess.”

He resumed his slow petting of my hair, and I laid my head back down. “Well, I suppose it’s only fair to tell you... Don’t expect Emma to be particularly warm when she’s here tomorrow.”

“I kind of considered that ship sailed when she accidentally heard us having sex,” I reminded him.

“She wouldn’t have liked you, anyway,” he admitted with some reluctance. “She doesn’t trust people easily. I think that’s my fault. She had a good relationship with Elizabeth, and she was hurt by the way the marriage ended.”

“That doesn’t seem very fair. You couldn’t have a baby just to stay married. Not if you didn’t want one.”

He wrapped his arm around me to give me a squeeze. “Are you sure you don’t mind talking about this?”

“Not at all.” I scooted up the bed to lie on the pillow and face him. “Am I supposed to be jealous of your ex? Sensitive about admitting you’ve been with other people? You’re with me now. What would be the point?”