Page 11 of The Boss

That was not the sort of reputation I wanted in the industry, or in my personal life for that matter. Even if it wasn’t true, people would think it was. I’d never get past it. And it wouldn’t end at this company. People in the industry knew Mr. Lexington and his reputation. Even if they didn’t hear the rumors, they’d made the same assumptions Flora had, with or without knowing about this particular incident.

I didn’t usually care what people thought about me, but there were a couple people who were important to me, and I didn’t want them to think that I’d gotten my most recent promotion because I’d had sex with Mr. Lexington. Or that I’d gottenanythingfrom him for any sort of favors at all. I’d never taken the easy way, and it irked me to think that people would think I had simply because Flora hadn’t taken responsibility for her behavior and told Mr. Lexington that I was innocent.

This wasnotthe way I’d wanted to start this week.

Eight

Nate

This was nothow I’d expected my day to go. The discussion with Finley hadn’t been too out of the ordinary, but when I’d headed for the A&R department to speak with Suzie, I hadn’t expected to hear two women talking about my sexual preferences. And Icertainlyhadn’t expected to be so interested in one of those women.

Granted, I hadn’t specifically heard that one talking about me, but she hadn’t told Flora to stop. Still, I knew making her go this Friday in exchange for not being suspended could get me in some serious trouble with HR. I didn’t intend to take things any further than that, especially since I wasn’t going to force her into any sort of physical contact. A date was one thing. Anything else would be wrong.

Well,completelywrong instead of just a little gray area sort of wrong.

That didn’t, however, mean that I was going to try to get her to agree to some physical contact.

I could still picture the way she’d looked at me, that combination of submission and defiance. She’d wanted to argue with me, but she’d held back. I hadn’t seen fear, though. It’d been more like watching someone think through a list of pros and cons before making a decision. But she hadn’t held onto that insolence though, not like Flora had. The way she’d looked down after meeting my eyes. How she’d held back her arguments even when I’d pushed her.

When she’d left, I’d waited until she disappeared to give in to all of the possibilities that had flooded my mind. And there’d been a lot of them. Possibilities and fantasies galore.

The curvy red-head tied up in my bed –abed.

Pale lace lingerie that enticed.

Her eyes nearly black with desire.

Those legs wrapped around my waist.

Lips swollen and begging.

It had been that last one that had gotten me out of my chair and into the private bathroom connected to my office. Despite the thoughts that had just raced through my mind, thinking about sex during work wasn’t my thing. Usually. I didn’t seem to be doing anything my usual way today.

Including the fact that I was getting a massive erection in the middle of a workday thanks to intimidating an employee into going on a date with me.

As much as I tried to shame myself into losing my hard-on, it didn’t appear to be working. Probably because I couldn’t stop thinking about Ashlee. She was an assistant in the A&R department, which meant she had to have been here for a while, but I had no recollection of seeing her before, let alone meeting her. If I had, I probably would have already pulled up her employee file and learned everything I could about her.

I leaned down and splashed cold water on my face. Refreshing. Did jack-shit to stop the stream of pornographic images starring a certain curvy employee of mine.

Baseball statistics.

Mud.

Nothing.

Okay, maybe I needed something that wasn’t just unsexy. I needed something gross.

Hairy, obese men in towels.

Oozing open wounds.

Blood-soaked bandages.

That stuff turned my stomach, but my cock was standing strong. Impressive, even for me.

I supposed that left only one option.

I didn’t do this at work. Ever. But since I was breaking all sorts of rules today, what was one more? I needed to make this quick and efficient. It wasn’t about pleasure, or even about getting out of my head for a while, but rather about me taking care of a physical necessity so I could get back to work.

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