Boss: A Novel Read online

  I’ve always loved building things, and creating something from nothing never ceases to amaze and excite me. I haven’t felt like this since I signed the non-compete clause.

  I turn the sketchpad to show Damon the results and he actually laughs and claps.

  “That’s perfect!” he says, jumping up on the couch beside me. “But how long would it take to make?”

  I shrug. “Couple of hours.”

  “Hours?” He looks at me like he thinks I’m joking and I just look right back.

  “Yeah,” I say. “There are loads of code scripts that can handle what you want. They’ll just need some tweaking then I’ll make a custom theme for it. All you’ll need to do is add your content.”

  He looks at me, suddenly serious. “You know you don’t have to do all this for me? I know you’re sort of on holiday.”

  That makes me laugh. “I’ve been sort of on holiday for months now.”

  The rest of the afternoon passes in a blur as I get to work creating his new virtual portfolio and he makes me snacks and drinks. It’s funny how much I love creating this stuff. Doing this work feels right.

  Damon and I are sitting side by side in front of his laptop as I show him the finished product.

  “This is so amazing,” he says, still laughing and grinning like it’s Christmas. “Thank you so much for doing this. It is amazing how you have taken a thought and created something out it. You are amazing at this stuff.”

  “I forgot how much I love this kind of work.”

  “Well you’re remarkable at it.”

  He shows me his latest commercial about toilet paper with kittens fighting gladiator-style on a mat made of the product to show how strong but also how soft it is. It’s easily the silliest ad I’ve ever seen.

  We’re still laughing as we pack up and Damon puts away his laptop when the door opens and Kaden walks in.

  “Kaden!” I spin around and grin at him before he pulls me into his arms and kisses me. It’s an act of possession, ownership, and I like it.

  “I was just going,” Damon says, clearing his throat. “Thanks again, Claire.”

  I manage to disentangle myself just long enough to walk him to the door.

  “Hey, don’t forget to call Carmen. I’ll show her the portfolio you made for me. I think you’re exactly what she’s looking for.”

  I promise to call, and watch Damon walk down to his car before closing the door.

  I turn to find Kaden’s large frame standing right behind me.

  He’s not smiling and I remember that it was my friendship with Damon that made him so mad the other night. But I fully intend to show him that he is the only man I need.

  “So,” I say smiling as I look up at him. “Shall we go out for dinner or order in?”

  Kaden grabs my wrists and pulls them above my head, pinning me to the door with his larger body.

  He overwhelms me.

  His aftershave is sharp and spicy, his hands are huge over mine, and there’s wine on his breath as he brings his mouth close.

  “I’m hungry now,” he growls.

  Chapter 17

  “Go into the bedroom and strip,” he murmurs against my lips. “Don’t turn the light on.”

  His tone makes me shiver.

  Kaden backs up and goes to make himself a drink. I can hear ice tinkling in the tumbler, but I don’t wait for him.

  Instead I do as I’m told.

  In the darkness of our bedroom, I feel myself trembling at the possibilities.

  What does he have planned?

  How angry is he at me?

  I know Damon was the reason he got so angry last time, but surely I’ve shown him that he’s the only man I want or need...

  Would I understand if Kaden had spent the day with Melinda?

  I sigh.

  Probably not.

  Just the idea that he might have even spoken to that bimbo today makes my blood boil.

  I pull my blouse over my head and throw it in the direction of the hamper, then my shorts, bra, and panties follow.

  I’m starting to wonder if I should call out, let him know I’m ready, when I feel the air shift behind me.

  Hot breath gusts against the back of my throat and I whimper when Kaden’s mouth kisses the tip of my shoulder, the junction between my shoulder and throat, the side of my jaw.

  “Kaden...”

  He shushes me, the tips of his fingers grazing down my arms and over my elbows, and finally he grabs my wrists and holds me in place.

  For a long time he drives me crazy, kissing and nipping at my sensitive flesh. I am naked and open to his needs.

  I want to touch him too, feel and taste every inch of him.

  I tell him so and he just chuckles and tightens his grip around my wrists.

  “I want to do very bad things to you, Claire,” he murmurs. “I’ve been going mad with wanting you today and now nothing is going to stop me taking what I want.”

  That makes me giggle. “Have I ever said no to you yet?”

  His fingers tighten on my wrists almost painfully and I gasp.

  I know it shouldn’t, but the edge of pain sends hot shock waves to my already soaking pussy.

  He pulls my arms back and takes both my wrists in one hand, leaving his other hand free. He pulls me back sharply, forcing me to fall against him, then his hand is on my breast.

  I gasp at the sensation of his strong hand squeezing my breast, his thumb tweaking and circling my erect nipple. The deep darkness is just intensifying everything.

  Every touch, every kiss sends tantalizing thrills through my whole body. I now understand why blindfolds are so popular.

  Slowly, so slowly his hand slips down my front, teasing the sensitive flesh around my belly, then exploring lower.

  His fingers reach my tender mound and he gently parts my folds and settles two fingers either side of my clit.

  “So wet,” he rasps. “I adore how responsive you are.”

  He starts moving his fingers in tight, wicked circles and my legs turn to jelly.

  My head falls back against his shoulder and I let out a moan from somewhere deep in my chest.

  His fingers feel incredible, his movements slow and strong, and sure.

  I’m so close I can taste it.

  My moans of pleasure feel like they’re coming from someone else. My toes curl. So close... So close...

  He suddenly pulls his fingers away and I nearly scream. I’m literally on the edge, my pussy pulsing with heat, my heartbeat pounding in my veins so hard I think I might erupt.

  He blows warm breath over my earlobe then flicks his tongue out to lick it before blowing gently again. All it does is intensify my need to have him touch me again.

  I struggle against his grasp but he holds tight.

  “You’ll come when I’m ready to let you,” he says, the pure dominance in his words making me flush with raw molten desire.

  He picks me up effortlessly and carries me to the bed. I hear a match striking and all at once the room is dimply lit by a single flickering flame.

  “Get on your hands and knees,” he says, his voice gruff and dangerously quiet.

  I do as I’m told.

  His breathing is rough and I can feel him just watching me.

  I can only imagine how I look to him.

  On my hands and knees, light from the candle flickering and dancing over my naked flesh.

  Why isn’t he touching me?

  I feel the sudden urge to fidget or at least turn to look at him.

  But I don’t.

  Last night he let me have control, something he doesn’t do very often, something I know he finds difficult.

  But he did it for me, because he sensed that I needed it.

  Now I’ll do it for him.

  I’ll be still for him, I’ll do whatever he tells me to do, and I’ll trust him to not hurt me.

  But every second without his touch is torture.

  I can actually feel the slight heat from the flic
kering candle. I can feel every goose bump rising on my flesh, every breath and every heartbeat seeming to come in slow motion as the seconds tick by.

  When finally I hear him shift behind me I almost whimper with relief, and when he starts running the barest fingertips over the back of my thighs I feel it like bolts of hot energy coursing through my veins and flooding into my already soaking core.

  He slowly, deliberately, drags his rough fingertips over my thighs, up over my sensitive buttocks, then reaches up to the spot between my shoulder blades and strokes the side of his hand down the line of my spine.

  “Kaden...” I moan, my voice cracking.

  He moves up behind me and I feel the length of his rock-hard shaft resting against my butt. He shifts and I feel the length of him pushing between my soaking folds, dragging across my swollen clit.

  “Is this what you want, Claire?”

  He pulls back and rocks his hips, stroking my clit with his rigid length.

  I clasp the sheets with my hands and feel myself rocking with him, forcing my pussy harder against his solid shaft.

  I feel the familiar tingles spreading up my thighs, down my back – all my nerves are focused on that one spot where he’s dragging his cock back and forth over my clit.

  “Kaden... yes, Kaden...”

  I’m so close again.

  Closer.

  Ooh closer.

  My whole body breaks out in goose bumps. I feel my thighs tensing, my toes curling.

  “No!” I do scream this time when he suddenly pulls away, leaving me hanging on the pinnacle of climactic bliss.

  “You’ll come, when I say,” he growls and I feel the same frustration radiating off him.

  “Move up the bed and lie on your back,” he says and I do as I’m told. “Now link your wrists above your head.”

  He opens a drawer and pulls out a set of pink, fluffy handcuffs, and my eyes widen as he holds them up. We’ve played with a little BDSM before and I know how much it turns him on to dominate me in the bedroom.

  But we’ve never used actual restraints before…

  He gives me an inquiring look, and I nod and let him cuff me to the bed. The fluffy covering feels sort of tickly around my wrists.

  He climbs onto the bed, his shaft standing to full attention and the candlelight shifting and dancing over his incredible body.

  Is this what it felt like for him when he was just looking at me?

  Kneeling between my thighs, perfectly naked and muscled, brings to mind an ancient Viking or pirate coming to claim his prize.

  In that moment I’m truly his, body and soul.

  His mouth drifts over my leg, up my thigh.

  His hot breath and flicking tongue forces me to tremble.

  His mouth lingers a bare inch from my soaking pussy and his breath feels cool on my heated flesh as he blows gently.

  My hips rise of their own volition, urging him to taste me.

  But he doesn’t. Instead his mouth moves higher, kissing up my belly, pausing to flick his tongue around my sensitive navel before kissing up over my ribs.

  With a growl that seems to come from somewhere deep and dark in his chest, he lifts up onto his knees and hooks his arms beneath my thighs, spreading me wider, lifting me till my ready opening is level with his erection.

  With a grunt, he thrusts forward and drives his cock deep into my soaking pussy.

  “Yes, Claire!” he shouts out, holding himself deep, breathing through clenched teeth.

  And just like that his control snaps.

  I watch it happen.

  One second his eyes are clamped shut, his teeth clenched, his whole body rigid and shuddering, then in the next second his eyes flick open.

  His expression is hard, his eyes nearly black with arousal.

  And he’s taking me.

  Hard.

  I’m completely at his mercy as he thrusts hard and fast, growling his pleasure, his eyes never leaving my defenseless body.

  Handcuffed to the bed and held in place for his violent, unrestrained thrusting, I am his, spread and eager for his pleasure.

  And he takes me.

  All I can do is feel.

  Part of me wants to hide but there is nowhere to hide. I’m trapped in his gaze as he watches me, feeling every thrust of his powerful body into mine.

  “Come for me.”

  It’s not a request. It’s a demand.

  I want to hide.

  I want to close my eyes – I’ve never felt so exposed before.

  But I can’t stop it.

  I feel my climax building in my lower belly, every thrust compacting the growing heat, building, building, closer, closer.

  “Don’t stop...” I moan.

  The words are sobbed pleas as my toes curl and I feel my whole body tensing and clenching around his pounding cock.

  “Never,” he grunts. “Let it go. Let me see.”

  The rush of heat is so hot, so fast it blazes a trail through my veins and blooms and spreads and finally explodes like a volcano bubbling over.

  I’m almost afraid of the intensity - the heat’s going to burn me alive.

  I want to scream but my breath catches in my throat and all I can do is feel as the hot rushes of sweetness flood my body in crashing waves of pleasure.

  I open my eyes just in time to watch him find his own completion.

  Every muscle in his body flexes, glimmering in the candlelight.

  He is so beautiful.

  Head back, biceps bulging, hips rocking till finally he stiffens and roars, his cock swells and flexes as his whole body shudders.

  “Fuck!” he breaths as he falls next to me on the bed.

  He uncuffs my hands and rubs my wrists, kissing each in turn…

  Chapter 18

  His phone vibrates on the bedside table and he rolls away so suddenly, I feel a chill.

  Snatching his phone up, he puts it to his ear and answers, his voice completely calm and businesslike.

  “Yes?” he walks out of the room without a single look back over his shoulder at me. “No, I’m not busy.”

  I feel myself frowning.

  Couldn’t he sound at least a little out of breath?

  Or better yet, have turned his phone off?

  Is it unreasonable to want to be the center of his world, at least some of the time?

  I understand his job is demanding and I honestly don’t mind the long hours or frequent business trips.

  But even when he’s with me, he’s only half with me.

  If the phone had gone off while we were having sex, would he have just dropped me and answered it?

  The fact that I don’t know the answer to that bothers me. I just submitted myself completely to him and he couldn’t even give me an hour of his precious time.

  I get up on shaky legs, start to dress, and pack my things into a bag.

  I can hear him laughing and chatting into the phone.

  It doesn’t even sound like an important business call.

  Bastard.

  It is clear now that he doesn’t want me for me – he only wants me to fulfill his desires.

  Bastard.

  I swipe the tears on my cheeks and head for the door.

  It doesn’t matter anymore.

  What happened in that bed had been something new for me. I’d never experienced anything like that before - I’d never seen him like that, so wild and unrestrained.

  But it clearly didn’t mean as much to him.

  In the second after he finished, he was on the phone, talking and laughing like nothing had happened.

  He did pull those handcuffs out of the bedside table drawer, so maybe that kind of sex was normal for him before he met me.

  Submitting to him so completely had been mind-blowing for me, but as usual, he’s only half with me.

  After being so close to him, I feel alone again.

  I nearly make it to the door when Kaden spots me.

  “Claire?” he calls after me, telling whoever was o
n the phone to wait. “Claire, where are you going?”

  “Clearly, you’re on an important call,” I say, hearing my voice crack. “You’ve already gotten what you wanted out of me, so I’m just going to go now.”

  I turn to open the door and hear him swear behind me, telling whoever’s on the phone that he has to go.

  “Claire, wait.” He grabs the door before I can open it. “Let me explain. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to just leave you like that. I’ve been waiting for this call for a long time.”

  I give him a look and he swears again, shaking his head.

  “What can be more important than us?”

  He doesn’t answer.

  “I can’t be second all the time, Kaden. That’s not how I want to live my life. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I need to be with someone who cares about me.”

  He stares at me blankly.

  “I’m leaving,” I whisper as I turn away.

  “I’ve sold the corporation.” His words stop me. “I’m not CEO anymore. I’ve been neck deep in negotiations these last six months, that’s why I’ve been so busy and stressed out. But that’s all over now. The phone call was to confirm that the deal has gone through.”

  I just look at him. “You sold the corporation? Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you’ve been doing?”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise,” he says. “I thought it would be romantic.”

  “Romantic?” I almost spit the word at him. “How is it romantic?”

  “I thought we could spend more time together.”

  “You unbelievable bastard!”

  His eyes get wide and whatever it is he sees in my face makes him back up a step. I don’t care. I can’t remember the last time I felt this angry.

  “Six months!” the words explode from me. “For six months you’ve shut me out of your life. Working all hours, away on business for days on end, and when you are home you’re in your office or on the phone.”

  He opens his mouth to interrupt but I hold up my hand, stopping his words.

  “Six months of barely acknowledging my existence in your life unless you’re horny or unless you think someone else might take a second of my time away from worshiping at your perfect feet!”

  “Claire, that’s not fair.”

  “Not fair?” I might have laughed at that if I wasn’t so shattered. “Did you even notice how unhappy I’ve been these last few months, how empty and alone I’ve felt? I signed that No Contest contract because I thought I’d still have you. But then you were gone too and I didn’t have my passion to fall back.”