Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Really?”
“Really,” I nodded, and we stepped out of the elevator. “If anything, your dad was kind of a dick. Sorry.”
“Oh man, I wish he could hear you say that!” he laughed, then added, “He isn’t really, you know…” but he kept laughing.
I was glad to see him laugh properly, and as we approached my room door, he gave me a spontaneous hug, saying, “I’m glad you were there, but I’m sorry it was such a fucking awful night!”
“I’ve had better,” I said into his chest as he hugged me.
He pulled away and held me at arms’ length, giving me a look of mock outrage. “Better hugs?”
“Better nights!” I corrected, laughing.
“Ah, it’s just,” he paused, biting his lip, and looking down for a second, “I can do better hugs…”
“I know you can,” I replied, meeting his eye. I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t that I couldn’t fight the inevitable; I just didn’t want to fight it anymore.
He stepped forward and put his arms around me again, holding me tighter this time, his arms wrapped around me. “See?”
I exhaled. “That’s a little better…”
He laughed. “A little!” He held me even tighter, pulling me even closer to him. I closed my eyes and breathed in his cologne. I could already feel myself relaxing in his arms and getting aroused.
We stood there, neither of us wanting to break it off, but neither wanting to be the one to make the decision to open my room door and go inside. It was him who broke away from me in the end, stepping away almost violently.
“Effie, you should know I have a rule never to get involved with employees, and I am really struggling right now,” his voice was husky.
I thought for a moment and then said, “I’m going to go into my room now, and I will see you tomorrow,” smiling at him to show there were no hard feelings, even though everything inside me was screaming to just take him with me.
He stepped forward, raised my face to his and kissed me softly. “I’m so sorry.”
His lips were soft, and his rough hands were pressed into my clothes. My body instantly reacted, and the flush of desire made me want him more than I’d ever wanted another man, but Keegan was my boss.
I broke the kiss and stepped into my room and leaned against the door. So close. But this was better, right? I did not need to complicate things further by ending up in bed with him, and I knew that was where this was going if we didn’t stop it now. I was grateful to him for being a sensible adult and stepping away. I respected him for it. Anyway, I told myself, I was fairly sure that I would have stepped away. Wouldn’t I? I stayed there, leaning against the door wondering whether I would have had the strength to step away if he hadn’t.
I wanted him. I needed him as my hand went to the door handle to open it to go to Keegan, I heard him outside the door, and then a knock. I opened it, and Keegan was holding out his phone to me.
“Hello?” I said into the phone, searching Keegan’s face for an explanation, but it was blank.
“Effie? Hey, listen, Mick here. I want to offer you a job working for me at Clover House. However, you’d still be based in the Boston office, same package, same job description, but, erm, I’d be your boss instead of Keegan…” he lowered his voice. “I don’t know what’s going on, does this make sense to you?”
“Yes thanks, Mick,” I said, my eyes firmly on Keegan, who was smiling a wicked smile. “I would be very, very happy to accept.”
I hung up just as Keegan stepped through the door, slamming it behind him and stepping towards me, commanding me. “Come here.”
“I don’t have to do what you say, I’m not your employee,” I said boldly, stepping backwards.
“Exactly,” he growled, taking my head in both hands as he kissed me, and pushing me backwards onto the bed.
I fell onto the huge hotel bed and pulled him onto me. He kissed me until I could barely breathe, and I wrapped my arms around him, meeting his urgency by biting his lower lip while I gasped for breath. He had pulled the straps of my dress down so that he could kiss my shoulders, and I fumbled with the buttons of his shirt until he tore it off and threw it away. His chest was smooth and slightly tanned. I sat up so I could run my hands over it, kissing his shoulders as he had kissed mine. Reaching around, he undid the zipper of the dress, and it slipped easily down and pooled around my waist where I sat. He made a small groaning sound as he realized I hadn’t been wearing a bra, and my breasts were now revealed to him. He sat a foot away from me, looking at me in the warm lamp light until I smiled shyly at him and crossed my arms, hugging myself for a little modesty.