Page 12 of The Boss’s Obsession
“Studies have shown how blocking sexual release can have negative impacts on mental health, as well as productivity and creativity. If you’re taking care of your body, and its needs like an adult should, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I wet my lips, my mouth suddenly dry and the movement drew his eyes. “Are you serious?”
“Indeed. It’s just like taking a jog or eating right. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it, losing my nerve.
“What? Ask me?” He prompted, dropping my hand and running his own through his thick, dark hair.
“Do you treat it that way? Like taking a jog? I just wonder because you don’t date much, you said the other day,” I blurted out. The air between us seemed to grow thick, and my pounding headache seemed to recede slightly.
“When I feel the urge, or need to release tension, sure, why not? I mean, it’s not as good as the real thing, but it’s less complicated,” he said.
I wouldn’t know, but there was no way I was confessing that.
“It’s just weird to imagine you doing anything so… normal and human,” I said, without thinking.
Ronan grimaced. “I’m not a machine, Sienna. I have needs like any other man.”
“And when you do, you – touch yourself,” I said quietly. Yikes, what was happening? I was letting my mind wander all sorts of places. It was clearly the illness. “Sorry, this isn’t an appropriate conversation,” I said quickly, blushing more than I’d have imagined possible.
“It’s no less appropriate than me kissing you last night,” he said flatly.
“Oh, so you remember that?” I was backing slowly toward the door at this point, sure I couldn’t stand the tension. I had no experience to deal with this. “It’s fine. You were drunk, so I know that it didn’t mean anything,” I stammered out. “I’m feeling a little worse now, so I’ll just close my eyes for ten minutes before I start work, ok?” I said, edging around the door.
Ronan was watching me with something like bemusement. He nodded. “Whatever you need, Sienna. I’m here.”
With those weirdly sexy words clanging around my aching head, I turned on my heel and scurried up the hall toward the spare room.
CHAPTER10
Ronan
Work became easier to focus on once Sienna was here, and sound asleep in the room down the hall. There was something comforting about knowing she was safe and sound, under my roof, and not out with anyone else, or doing anything I’d worry about her over, like drinking in noisy bars with her friends.
I lost myself in my work, and time seemed to fly by. At around eight, I realized my headache had completely subsided, and I was famished. Heading to the spare room, I knocked gently and opened the door, thermometer in hand.
Sienna was a lump under the heavy white comforter. Walking quietly around the bed, I tugged the cover back from her face and brushed her hair back. Her skin still felt hot, but not worse than before. I leveled the thermometer at her skin and waited for the number to flash. I was relieved to find that her fever had dropped a little. She was on the mend.
Just as I was deliberating leaving her to sleep all night, her eyes opened a touch and landed on me, crouching beside her.
“Hmm, hello Mr. Turner,” she murmured, a soft smile creeping across her face. I recognized the dream-like quality of her stare as someone who wasn’t quite awake yet.
“Hello, Sienna. How are you feeling?”
“I’m good, I feel better. I’ll get to work now,” she whispered. There was something unbearably cute about her expression and the soft, fondness in her eyes.
“You could, but it’s dinner time, so best wait until tomorrow,” I told her. I saw her processing that remark. Alarm suddenly shot through her sweet sleepiness, and she sat bolt upright, smacking me under the chin with her forehead as she did. My teeth slammed down on my tongue hard and blood filled my mouth.
Sienna’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes rounding with alarm. “Oh my god! Are you ok? Shit!” she pushed herself forward to kneel on the bed. She’d taken off her work clothes and hung them up, borrowing an old t-shirt from the drawer. As she knelt over me, the sight of her bare inner thighs sent the thought of my bitten tongue out my head. Her hands landed on my cheeks and she tilted my face back, peering into it.
“Are you really hurt? Open for me?” She gave a worried cry as I parted my lips. “You’re bleeding!”
“It’s fine,” I said thickly. “Don’t worry about it.”
One hand left my cheek, and I missed it immediately. She reached for the untouched glass of water beside the bed and brought it to my lips. “Drink something, it’ll help.”
“It’s fine, really,” I protested as she tilted the glass against my lips. I swallowed obediently, washing the blood down. I couldn’t stop my eyes from returning to Sienna’s body, covered only by my t-shirt, so large it looked like a dress on her. Hunger hit me hard, and blood rushed south. She twisted to put the glass back on the nightstand, the hem of the t-shirt riding further up her smooth thighs, and wobbled as she tried to straighten up, the bed dipping under her weight. She fell backward just as I reached for her.
