Boss Next Door

“But you don’t have to keep me in the office to make life easier for me. Bosses don’t do that.”

I reach across the table and she links her fingers through mine, giving me a second of hope. “But I’m not a normal boss, am I? Especially when it comes to you. I want you to be happy. I want you to work for me.”

Serena stares at me for a moment before she sighs and nods, before pulling back from me. “Then me and you can’t make it work, can we? I don’t think that you have really thought about how weird it will be…”

“Why do you think that it won’t work out?” My breath gets caught in my throat as I panic that she wants to break things off. “Are you telling me that you don’t want to be with me? That you don’t feel this connection between us?”

“I do feel it, I’m not saying that I don’t,” she stammers, getting caught on herself. Tripping over herself along the way. “I just keep thinking about how it will all blow up in our faces. How I will lose it all…”

I’m not having this. I’m not going to let her walk away from this just because she’s scared. The intense primal instinct inside of me is an utter killer. I scrape my chair backwards and stalk over to her, my eyes dancing with desire as I do. I might not be making Serena see how much I want her with my words, clearly I’m not as great at that as I should be, but I can show her with my actions that none of the outside noise matters. Not even work. When there is a chemistry and a bond that me and Serena share, nothing else should get in the way.

“What are you doing?” she rasps out, staring at me with wide shocked eyes. “Aren’t you listening to me? I don’t think we can do both. I don’t think that I can work for you and be with you. I have to choose.”

“No, you don’t,” I growl back. “You don’t have to choose anything. You can have it all.”

I grab her hand and tug her to her feet, she comes willingly, easily, making a bit of a racket as her cutlery clatters on the table. Some of the food is going to waste and the wine hasn’t been touched as much as I thought it would be, but none of that is important. All I can focus on is proving to Serena that this is going to work.

“I can’t… I can’t figure out how we can do it,” she whispers back, fear lacing her words. “I don’t know.”

I lean down and crash my lips to hers, showing her rather than telling her. She stiffens, her body reacts with panic, but like always she relaxes in to me. She can’t help herself, just like I can’t, and there has to be a reason for that. Surely Serena can tell that this is worth everything, that we should fight for this.

“Serena,” I whisper against her lips as we pull ever so slightly apart, although I don’t let her go. I keep my arms wrapped tightly around her, my body connected with hers, my forehead rested on her head. “We can make it work. What we share is strong enough to make anything work. Don’t fight this.”

This time, it’s Serena pushes herself up on to her tiptoes and she grazes her lips against mine. She isn’t kissing me as hard and passionately as I did, but that’s okay because I can enjoy the romance. I adore the softness.

“I’m just scared,” she admits. “I don’t exactly have much experience with this sort of thing.”

“Work place romances?” I chuckle. “No, I have to admit that I don’t either. You will be my first.”

I expect this to reassure her, but surprisingly this causes the color to drain from her face. “I don’t think you get it.”

“Then explain,” I beg. I need to understand because whatever this means I can sense that it’s important. “Tell me.”

“I’m really inexperienced. Like, you don’t understand how inexperienced I am.”

I take a step back from her, wondering if this is going to be the moment where she finally opens up to me and lets me see what she’s been holding back. If she peels back this final layer, then I will really see her…

“I haven’t… ever had a man in my life before.” She stares up at the ceiling, blinking away tears. It causes a giant lump to form in my throat. I feel bad for Serena and I don’t even know what’s going on. “You were my first everything. Not just office romance. But romance at all. Kiss… my first lover…”

Her words cling to the air and the tension thickens around us. It takes me a moment to absorb this. I kinda felt like I might be a little bit more experienced than her, but I never picked up on that. She has always been so hot and sexy.