Employed by the Boss (Managing the Bosses 7)

“Come on then, hot stuff.” She dropped her voice back down into that low, smoky register that’d had him hard before they even left the bar. “I’m right here, awaiting your pleasure.”

Mark didn’t need to be told twice. He crawled further up the bed, and tilted her hips up with his hands so he could slide in slow and easy. Her eyelids fluttered, and one of her long legs wrapped around his waist. He leaned down, bracing his weight on one forearm, so that he could kiss her as they moved together.

He wasn’t going to last long. The need was wound too tight after the wait. Mark let himself move a little faster, forehead resting against her shoulder. One of her hands slipped down between them so that she could stroke her fingers over her clit as he moved. The other was tangled in his hair again, nails teasing at the nape of his neck.

“You feel so good. Fuck.”

Her answer was to tighten the leg around his hip, dragging him in closer. The fingers working her clit moved faster.

Pleasure rocked through him. Through the rush of it, he felt himself follow her over the edge, her spine arching and her limbs pulling him close. He let himself sink down until his weight rested against her body, and they lay there together.

“So, I know we just woke up,” she said finally. “But a think a nap might be in order. Or,” she corrected as he shifted to roll over to the side. “A shower and then a nap. If I can stand up.”

Mark huffed a laugh. “Moving sounds like way too large a task right now.”

“Nap and then shower?”

He reached for the sheet, pulling it up over both of them, and rolled over again to wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her in against his chest. “That sounds like a brilliant plan.”

She snuggled into his hold, and lay one of her arms over his, threading their fingers together against the slight curve of her stomach. Mark let his eyes slide shut.

A minute later, the only sound in the apartment was the slow and steady breathing of sleep.

Chapter 3

The thing about babies and Mondays was that babies didn't generally understand the significance of them, which meant that they definitely didn't understand the fact that Jamie needed to get some work done if she was going to help Alex with the office stuff. She'd hoped to work through their nap, but so far that had been a bust. Lillianna was being less than cooperative about sleeping. Every time Jamie got her down to sleep, she was up again about ten minutes later.

She finally got both of them into their cribs, and quiet, and with a sigh of relief headed to the in-home office to do some of the paperwork that she'd been neglecting. She took the baby monitor with her, just in case.

It was strange to be looking down at paperwork again after so long away from the office. Jamie hadn't really meant not to go back after the twins had been born, but she'd just been too busy to be involved. She could have hired a nanny, but the thought left her cold. She'd had enough neglect from her mother. She wasn't going to do that to her children. Alex disagreed with her, but he didn't understand.

Paperwork, she reminded herself. There would be time to worry about the finer aspects of childcare later. She sighed, and opened her laptop. There were more unread emails than she was ever going to catch up on, let alone read through in time to do anything about half of them. The time-sensitive ones had hopefully gone to Alex as well, or they were going to have angry clients knocking on their doors before long. She knew they would have gone through the secretary, so hopefully he'd made sure they got to where they needed to go. It wasn't that Jamie didn't trust him. He was good at his job. But she always worried a little when someone else was doing the work that she was supposed to be doing. Alex had said that there was no one who could do what she did for him, but what if that meant that things weren't getting done?

She rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Explaining to clients that she hadn't answered their emails because she was still Alex's PA, but hadn't had time to do any real work since their children had been born wasn't exactly going to go over that well, she was sure. Most people in finance were still a little harsh on women in the field, she'd noticed. And they really didn't think that women should be raising children and working in investments at the same time.

Over the baby monitor, she heard the sound of one of the babies fussing, and her hands paused over her keyboard. It was silly, she knew; they couldn't hear her through the monitor. It wasn't two-way. But that didn't allay her fear that if she made any kind of noise they might wake up and demand to be held, or fed. She just needed an hour or two to get some work done. That was all. Was that too much to ask?

&nb

sp; Apparently it was, because she'd gotten three emails in when the fussing started up again, and this time it escalated to crying. She stood up from her chair and headed down the hall to the baby's room, where Benton was the one awake instead of Lillianna. Although, if he kept crying they were both going to be up, and she wasn't sure she could deal with that on her own. She leaned down to pick up Benton, cradling him close, and carried him out of the room in her arms, humming quietly. He quieted almost as soon as she picked him up, although he still squirmed, making little fussy sounds.

At least she didn’t need to change his diaper.

It wasn't that Jamie didn't love her children, although that was a thought that sometimes found its way into her head on bad nights. What if she got so frustrated with them when she was trying to work because she was a bad mother? Looking down at Benton, who had stopped whimpering and was halfway to sleep again, his eyes closed and his tiny hands curled against her chest, she didn't think that she was a bad mother after all. Because she loved him. Loved him with a fierceness that she was sure her own neglectful mother hadn't felt for either her or Christine. If she loved them that much she couldn't be a bad mother, could she? She couldn’t be a bad mother in the same way hers at been, at least, and that was a relief.

Moving carefully so that she wouldn't wake Benton or reawaken Lilliana, Jamie carried her son back into the nursery and laid him down in the crib. He didn't stir and she let out a silent breath of relief, making her way back to the office.

It’s going to be okay, she told herself as she sat down again. Alex would see. She could take care of them and still get work done. She was doing it right now. She knew her husband only brought it up because he worried, but she also knew what she was capable of, and taking care of two children while still working as a PA for Reid Enterprises was something she could do, no sweat.

Okay, well, maybe a little sweat, but it would be fine.

She opened another email, skimming over the contents, and started composing a reply. The phone rang.

Of course the phone was ringing, because if the babies weren't crying something had to be taking her attention away from work. Jamie swore under her breath and reached for it. At least she'd remembered to set it to silent. If it had woken the twins she wasn't sure she wouldn't hunt down the caller and kill them.

The caller, it turned out, was Christine. Jamie suddenly felt a little guilty for the thought. Her sister was doing better after three months, but she hadn't fully recovered from her bout of depression, and some days Jamie was afraid that she would relapse, and that she'd walk in to find her lying on the floor again.

At least Christine was living with her father, and not alone somewhere that she wouldn’t have any help if she did spiral back down. Their mother hadn’t been seen since she signed the divorce papers. Jamie wasn’t sure whether she hoped that the woman would show back up or not. She’d been nothing but mean, despite all of Jamie’s attempts to reconcile with her, and when she’d even abandoned her favorite child, Christine, Jamie had pretty much given up hope that her mother would ever act like a parent should. She didn’t know if she wanted her children subjected to that. Even if her mother did come back, Jamie wasn’t sure she would let her see the twins.