Emma
This was my chance. Abby was in bed, Ryan and I were alone in the house, and if I didn’t make a move now, I was going to chicken out. And while I was nervous as hell, I wanted this. I could do this.
But what exactly was one to wear when faced with the challenge of seducing one’s new boss? I pulled the suitcase out from under the bed in the room Ryan had put my things earlier—my room, for now, I supposed. But since I hadn’t exactly been packing with seduction in mind, the selection was slim.
I imagined showing up in lingerie to make my intentions perfectly clear, but each time I ran through the scenario in my head, I felt like an idiot, like a cheesy actress in a B-rated movie. I could always skip clothing altogether and scurry over to his office in the towel currently wrapped around me, but no—again, too cheesy. So, I settled on a light cotton summer dress that didn’t quite reach mid-thigh and draped open in the back to my waist. It was pretty and sexy—more than enough to get the juices flowing if he was interested—but casual enough that I could walk away with my dignity intact if I chickened out. Not that I was going to chicken out. But for all I knew, he’d asked to speak to me to let me know I’d done a terrible job with Abby and he wanted me to leave—not exactly the right time to be trying to get the guy into bed.
Tamping down the butterflies fluttering in my stomach, I dropped the towel, slipped into the dress and checked my reflection in the mirror. I turned this way and that, fully aware that I was, at this point, simply procrastinating.
But really, what the hell was I doing? I’d known Ryan Cade a whole day and a half. And I worked for him! He didn’t even know who I really was, and here I was planning on seducing the man in his home? This was crazy. Foolish. And this was not going to happen. I was not going to have sex with Ryan Cade.
It was time to talk to him and set the record straight—and nothing more.
My body seemed to groan in protest, but I grabbed a sweater from my bag and threw it on over the dress. Throwing my hair up into a ponytail, I squared my shoulders and started toward the door. I’d been trying to find a way to come clean all day, and this was my chance.
But as I opened the door and took a step out into the hall, I ran right into Ryan at full force. Colliding hard against his chest, my breath whooshed from my lungs and I stared dazedly up at him for one dumbfounded moment.
Caught off guard, I couldn’t think. All I could focus on was the desire blazing in his eyes and the heat of his body so close to mine. I had no idea what to do when his arms wrapped around me and pulled me even harder against his body. And my mind was still reeling when his lips swooped in and covered mine.
His kiss wasn’t gentle, but it made every nerve ending in my body tingle in anticipation. This wasn’t like the few, hopeful kisses I’d experienced before. There was no hesitancy in it, no question. He was a man who knew what he wanted, and right then he wanted me.
I realized at some point in the past few seconds, I’d wrapped my arms around him, and my fingers were grazing through the short hair at the base of his neck. This wasn’t supposed to be happening, but damn it, I wanted it like I’d never wanted anything before.
He pulled his lips away after a moment, and I almost whimpered at the loss, but he was back quickly, and this time his lips started a blazing trail of frantic kisses along my jaw, down my neck. By the time he reached my collarbone I was holding onto his neck in fear my knees would give out.
“I’ve wanted to touch you all day, Emma,” he said in between kisses. “You have no idea how difficult it’s been to keep my hands to myself.” As if to emphasize his point, his hands began to wander, grazing over my hips and up my ribs. When his hands moved higher and cupped my breasts, I couldn’t stop the quiet moan that slipped from my lips.
It was as if his hands knew exactly how to make my body respond, grazing back and forth across my nipples with just enough pressure to draw them into hard peaks instantly.
I slid my hands across his shoulders, feeling his muscles flex beneath my fingers as his mouth moved lower, kissing across the upper swells of my breasts. The thin fabric of my chenille sweater hampered any further descent, but it didn’t hinder him. He continued on, kissing my breasts through the fabric and toying with one nipple and then the other with his tongue.
“Ryan, I…” I didn’t know what to say, I only knew I never wanted him to stop. And I wanted him naked; I wanted to feel the bare flesh of his back, and his biceps, and everywhere else on his chiseled body.
“I know, Emma. I want it too. I want to strip you naked and kiss every inch of your body. I want to fuck you until you’re screaming my name,” he whispered ruggedly as a violent jolt of arousal surged through my body.
Abby’s scream sounded suddenly from down the hall and Ryan’s lips froze.
In a flash, we were both racing down toward her. He dashed into her room and I lingered back in the hall, not certain if I should go in as well, and happy to stay where I was to try to get the heat in my veins to cool to a low simmer.
“There was a monster, and it had humongous toes, daddy, and they were going to step on me!” Abby cried as Ryan gathered her up in his arms. I did my damnedest to focus on the situation at hand, and not think about how his arms had encircled me just a moment ago; how his lips had been blazing a fiery trail down my
body.
“It’s OK, honey. I’m the only thing with big toes here, and I promise I won’t step on you,” Ryan soothed, stroking his daughter’s hair.
“Can I sleep in your bed tonight, daddy?” Abby asked, and I heard the heavy exhale of his breath as what had started in the hall just a few moments ago had been conclusively put on hold indefinitely.
“Of course you can,” he replied as he stood up, carrying the small child in his arms. He walked toward the door and smiled ruefully to me as he started down the hall to his bedroom.
I stayed where I was, still trying to get my pulse to slow to something that resembled normal. My heart beat so loudly I could hear blood whooshing past my ears, and everywhere he’d kissed still tingled as if it were humming with the anticipation of more.
But there would be no more. There wasn’t supposed to be any at all. I’d been all set to explain who I was—not for the first time today—and once again I’d been thwarted by my own irrational response to a man who I was now quite certain had been put on this earth to be a living, breathing advertisement for sex.
I breathed a heavy sigh, promising myself once again to set things to right come morning, and walked back to my room. I flopped back on my bed and proceeded to toss and turn, hour after hour. I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, about what could have happened if Abby hadn’t come to the rescue and put an abrupt halt to a horrendous mistake. And it was a mistake. Ryan was way out of my league; he was more than just experienced, he was an expert. He’d known exactly how to make my body respond, and that kind of knowledge could only have come from plenty of practice.
Groaning inwardly, I tried to force my mind to go blank, willing sleep to drag me under.
I awoke incrementally the next morning, at first only vaguely aware that the scene playing out in my mind was nothing more than a dream. But as I pulled myself upward toward consciousness, I was aware of another presence in close proximity. I could hear the quiet inhale and exhale of breath not far from me, and the slight movement that lightly jostled the mattress made me wonder if I was merely pulling myself from one dream into another.