Page 17 of Marked By my Boss
I swallow hard, heart thudding against my ribs like it’s trying to answer for me. There are a thousand reasons this shouldn’t work, but none of them matter when he looks at me like that.
“I want more too,” I whisper, the words barely making it past the lump in my throat.
He doesn’t hesitate. His lips find mine again. This time with more hunger. It’s messy and breathless…and perfect,like nothing I’ve ever experienced in my life. His hands slide into myhair, tugging just enough to make me gasp, and I feel him smile against my mouth like he’s been waiting for that sound.
We stumble backward, tangled in each other, banging into the counter before there’s a heavy knock on the front door.
No! No! No! I don’t want anything to stop this!
He stares toward me with the same feeling tangled behind his gaze, then kisses me on the top of the head. “I’ll go see what’s up. You stay here. Keep everything warm for me.”
I nod and smile as he leans in and bites my bottom lip with a growl deep in his throat. Ugh, why am I just now feeling like I know what it’s like to be wanted, to be desired?
I watch him disappear toward the door, the warmth of his touch still blooming across my skin. But then the door opens, and the warmth I was feeling drains, replacing itself with cold blue uniforms and sharp white light that slices through the threshold.
Beau steps outside, the door left ajar, and I catch the edge of his silhouette against the pale morning.
I shouldn’t listen, but I do. I know these guys. It’s a small town, and we work with them all the time. I slide closer, quiet as a mouse, the warmth behind me fading into the shadows as I press my ear toward the crack in the door.
The older of the officers, the one with forty years on the force and a donut belly to prove it, speaks the most. His voice is low but concerned.
“We got a 911 call from a man living above the bakery on Main. He claims you’ve kidnapped his pregnant fiancé, a young woman that works for you. He says you have a thing for her and could be doing things against her will.”
My chest tightens.Kidnapped? What the hell is wrong with Dave? Oh my God!I want to push through the door and set the record straight, but Beau starts talking first.
“Kidnapped? No. They got into it, then he came to dispatch and threw his fist around. I sent him away and offered Delilah a place to stay for the night.”
The officer nods, his mouth pressed into a line. “I’m sure your offer was innocent, Beau. I’ve known you for a while now. You’re a good guy. You know this call is routine. But,” he leans in, his tone serious as he says, “if you did have feelings for that girl, you know it’d be career suicide, right? The county is really strict about dating in the workplace. You saw what happened to Charlie last year. He and Lisa kept their thing under wraps for almost six months, overlapping shifts, shared routes, even swapping call coverage. But when that violent overdose call went sideways and Charlie showed up instead of the assigned unit, the county flagged it.”
He pauses, letting the weight settle. “They said it compromised patient care and that his judgment was clouded. Internal affairs tore through their logs, found months of blurred lines. Charlie got pulled off his beat and reassigned to clerical. Lisa resigned before the review board could make it official.”
He leans in, eyes locked on Beau. “You think dispatch is any safer? One bad call, one hint of bias, and they’ll gut your career. The county doesn’t play with liability, not when lives are on the line. You’re so close to retirement, man. Don’t let something like this screw it all up.”
There it is. That was the stark smack of reality I needed to remind me how stupid it is to fall for your boss.
I step away from the door and grab my shoes, sliding them on one by one before clutching my phone to figure out what text I need to send my brother that doesn’t sound like I’m in desperate need of his help… while also being in desperate need of his help.
Beau walks in when I’m half through the message. “Where are you going?”
“Oh,” I sigh, rolling my shoulders forward, “I heard the guys. It makes sense. Also… Dave is such an asshole.”
“No,” Beau grips my elbows and helps me up from the bench, “it doesn’t make sense. In a year, you’ll be a paramedic, and I’ll be left behind in dispatch. There are plenty of cops married to folks in other branches. It’s fine. I like that cop, he’s good at his job, but he’s dramatic.”
“I can’t mess up your job, Beau. And honestly, I can’t mess up mine either. If the county fires me or reassigns me in another town, I’d be screwed. I don’t even know how I’m going to pay for this baby now. If I had no job,” I glance down, “I can’t do that to her.”
He leans in and kisses my forehead, the cop car just now pulling out the long driveway. “I’d quit before I let that happen. I’ve got plenty of money in retirement and savings.”
“We aren’t even official. I mean, I don’t think what happened in the bedroom is really official, is it?”
He tilts his head to the side, his rough hand on my cheek. “Yeah, kinda. I mean, I’ll check the rule book, but I’m pretty sure the second my DNA touches your skin, you’re mine.” His fingers grip my hips, and I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer,needinghim closer.
There’s no room left for doubt. There’s just heat, want, and the kind of certainty that lives in your bones when everything else sounds complicated.
He lifts me up onto the counter, his breath against my neck, my shoulder, the lobe of my ear as he lifts off my dress. For a moment, he admires my body, then leans into my breasts, suckling as though he’s walked across a thousand deserts and my milk is the first sign of liquid he’s found. Moaning and growling, he drinks me up like he’s savoring the taste and can’t get enough.
I run my fingers through his hair, tugging and sighing as he moves his kiss down over my stomach and onto my soaking pussy. A moment later, his tongue is inside of me, lapping at the sloppy, soaking mess I’ve made for him over the last few hours.
Maybe it’s too soon. Maybe I shouldn’t rush another relationship. I’m not just deciding for me anymore. Then again, maybe this time, I get to choose something good.
