I shook my head and forced myself to relax. Just breathe, I told myself. He’s only a man, after all. He’s not some powerful god descended from the heavens. And besides, you’re his boss!
“No plans,” I said. “Just getting a drink with my best friend.”
“Oh, girl time,” Justin said. He nodded and smirked. “I get it. Cool. You gonna tell her all about your awful new employee?”
I blushed. “No,” I lied. “Of course not.”
Justin grinned. He leaned even closer and a wave of musky, heady cologne washed over me. I felt dazed, like I suddenly wasn’t getting enough oxygen.
Just as I thought Justin was about to sneer in my face, he closed his eyes and dipped his mouth to mine. At first, the kiss was mechanical – almost chaste. But after a few moments, the heat from his lips transferred to mine and I felt a delicious rush of arousal wash over my body. My knees went weak as Justin’s warm tongue slipped between my lips and danced in my mouth. I’d never been kissed like this before in my life, and I was finding it hard to breathe.
Justin reached forward and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me into the kiss. His strong hands gripping my body made me feel delicate, like a real lady. Lust and desire swarmed through my belly as the kiss grew more intense, and I found myself moaning softly into Justin’s mouth.
Justin pulled back and grinned. “Have a great night, Boss,” he said with a smirk.
When he was gone, I sank back down into my chair and groaned.
Working at Creovation, Inc. was going to be a real education, all right. And the way things were looking now, I was suddenly wishing that I was all done with my schooling.
An hour later, I pushed my way through a crowd and hopped onto the lone free barstool, next to my best friend Susan. She wrinkled her nose at me, then leaned in for a hug.
“God, could you have been any later?” Susan teased. “I thought someone was going to murder me for this spot.” She pointed to her big black laptop case. “If it hadn’t been for this, I’m sure someone would have actually tried pushing me out of the way.”
I laughed. “I know, it’s a real vicious crowd here,” I said. “But they have the best happy hour in town. You can’t ignore that.”
Susan smiled wanly. “So, tell me about work.” She sipped her drink – it looked like an orange crush, with orange soda, rum, and vanilla. “Is everything going well?”
I rolled my eyes and groaned dramatically. “It’s a nightmare,” I said. “Honestly. I have no idea how I’m going to manage to keep working there.”
Susan narrowed her eyes. She handed me her drink and I took a long, greedy swallow, enjoying the way the rum seemed to melt right into my tongue.
“Why? You were so excited when you got hired,” she said. “They hired you on the spot, didn’t they?”
I nodded glumly. “Yeah, but I didn’t know what I was getting into until today,” I said with a sigh. “The CEO’s son is working under me. Like, right under me.”
“Oh god,” Susan said. “That sounds like an HR nightmare.”
“It is.” I blushed, thinking of the steamy kiss I’d shared with Justin at the end of the day.
“So what’s he like? Frat boy nightmare?”
“Bingo,” I said. “He’s got to be older – maybe twenty-eight or twenty-nine – but it’s like he’s never had a job before. He showed up looking like he’d just come from a night out with his buddies. And he hates me,” I added, swirling Sus
an’s glass around in my hand. “I didn’t even do anything, but I can tell he feels resentful about having to work with a woman.”
“What does he look like?” Susan raised her eyebrow. “Is he hot?”
I frowned, then pulled up my phone and quickly typed Justin Williams into the search bar. Handing the phone over, I tapped the first photo that came up.
“That’s him,” I said. “Although he looks younger here.”
“Oh my god, he’s gorgeous,” Susan gushed. “Jesus, those eyelashes! You think he’d let me borrow them?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t count on it,” I told her. “He’s selfish and greedy and a huge jerk.”
“Still, he’s rich,” Susan said. “I mean, right? William Long is like the most successful businessman in New York. You’ve heard the joke about Long Island, right?”
I nodded. “He’s wealthy, yeah,” I said. “But I mean, that doesn’t make working with him any better.