One Kiss: An Office Romance

“That’s so beautiful,” Clarissa sighs and I glance at her, alarmed.

“What,” she sniffs defensively, brushing the tears from her cheeks. “That was amazing!”

I realize I’ve never seen her cry. And she’s never been more beautiful.

“It was beautiful,” I agree, looking straight at her. “Really, really beautiful.”

Our people continue to revel in the music and champagne, gradually filtering away to go home for the weekend, to go back to their families.

“So, we did it,” Clarissa smiles.

“We certainly did,” I agree. “Only one thing left to do…”

She holds her hand out, flexing her fingers. The diamond engagement ring sparkles as I take her hand in mine.

“What about an early summer wedding?” she murmurs.

“Really?” I answer carefully. She has been dodging this question for months. “I was beginning to get the feeling you were still on the fence.”

“Well, you know I don’t like to be pushed,” she smirks, reminding me yet again how stubborn she can be.

“Sometimes being pushed is not such a bad thing.”

“Sometimes,” she smiles, turning to me, finally allowing me to put my arms around her here in front of everyone, in the company that we own together. “Sometimes it’s not such a bad thing. Not with the right person.”

No longer constrained by protocol or procedure, I dare to kiss her, right here under the sign with both our names on it. She melts into me, draping her arms over my shoulders, any concern about us being seen in public gone, for good.

EXCERPT FROM BOSS DADDY

Sawyer

It's been two days since that night in Tokyo. Two days since the long flight home, since the lengthy discussion we'd had that day about what had happened between us.

Was it a mistake?

Yes, it was. There was no getting around that.

But it was one of those mistakes that I couldn’t make myself feel bad about. One that I certainly didn’t want to make Mia feel guilty over. One that we’d repeated over and over again since then—in the car, in the office, and very nearly in the first class sleeping pods of our flight back home.

I couldn’t quit her. I didn’t want to, not even a little.

Even now, just knowing that she is so close—in her little workspace right around the corner—is enough to get me hard as granite.

It’s not a relationship, though. No matter how much fun it might be, no matter how badly I want to lose myself inside her every minute of every day, it’s not anything more than a special secret between two adults.

And even though she’s perfect in just about every way, it can never be anything more than that.

Still, I can’t seem to stop letting my mind wander to that place. That place where she’s not my employee, not my best friend’s daughter. Not the most delicious kind of trouble I’ve ever gotten myself into.

In that place, she's something more. Something I don't have to share with the world or make any excuses about.

In that place, she’s mine.

My office is too quiet. I shove a hand back through my hair, then glance at the clock on the wall. I can practically hear the seconds ticking by. This is why I can't stop thinking about her—I'm not busy enough. I'm still on the high of scoring a great deal for the company and from… everything else that happened in Japan.

I need to focus on today, and today's business if I'm going to have any hope of getting her off my mind for long enough to be productive.

As if on cue, she pokes her head in the door, her warm smile making my dick twitch as I sit up straight in my chair.