Bossed

by Sloane Howell

  Matt must have sensed this and backed up a step. “He didn’t go into detail. Just said that you kissed and things got heated. I swear.”

  I cooled a little. I just might die if he’d told Matt Stallworth about how I came all over his fingers in the back of his car.

  “So why are you telling me all of this?”

  “Because—I don’t know—because you’re good for him? I’ve always been able to get through to him outside of work, but not this time. Maybe you can. He can’t go on living like an animal and holing himself up in his house.”

  Jesus, what did I do to the guy? Not knowing the whole story, I worried about what kind of emotional baggage Ethan was carrying around. I’d have been lying if I’d said part of me wasn’t a little happy about him moping around. He needed to be reminded that he couldn’t treat people the way he did. I also knew that part of me was glad because it meant he had real feelings toward me. I wasn’t just some game to him—nail the vulnerable accountant and move on to the next conquest.

  Matt stood there and stared. What was I going to do? Should I let Ethan come to me? It didn’t seem like something he would do.

  “Do you think he would do that?”

  Matt started his pacing again. “I don’t know. I’m just worried about my friend. Maybe you can talk to him?”

  People in the office were starting to stare at us in the conference room. Ethan would know Matt had spoken to me soon enough, and it sort of forced my hand. That’s what I told myself anyway.

  “I’ll talk to him.”

  Matt’s eyes lit up, as if his genius plan had worked.

  “I swear to God if he sent you to talk to me for him, moping around will be the least of his problems.” I balled my hands into fists.

  Matt glanced down and held his hands up. “I swear.” He practically shook, trying to contain himself.

  I admired how much he cared about his friend. It was awesome that Ethan had someone like Matt looking out for him.

  “He doesn’t know. He’d kill me. Please don’t tell him.”

  “I might not. If—” I decided to mess with Matt, just for a little fun, since he’d backed me into a corner on purpose, forcing my hand with Ethan.

  Matt cocked his head sideways, puzzled. “Huh? What?”

  “I’m going to need a home run and some RBIs tonight. I’m up against my dad in my fantasy league this week, and you’re on my team.”

  He laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Nope.”

  He paused his laughter and grinned. “No wonder he fucking likes you. Ruthless.”

  My heart sped up at the thought. Ethan Mason liked me. My skin pebbled and tiny shocks of tingles fluttered through my body.

  “Anyway. Thank you.” He started to leave.

  “I’m serious about those numbers, Stallworth.”

  “Make my friend happy and you’ll get your numbers. Jesus.”

  —

  I sat in my car out in front of Ethan’s gigantic house. The last time I’d been here in a car, Ethan had owned my orgasm with two fingers inside of me. A slight shiver ran through me at the thought.

  “Don’t just let him off the hook, Jenny.” I routinely gave myself pep talks in the mirror. I wasn’t sure that they ever helped.

  My heels clacked on the pavement, my heart rate increasing with each step toward his door. I took a breath and schooled my features before knocking. I could hear what sounded like a television shutting off and then footsteps.

  Compose yourself.

  My fingers trembled as they approached. I took a few steps back. I couldn’t be so close to him when he opened the door. The fact he had a beautiful face and body couldn’t distract me from the fact he was acting like an idiot—it couldn’t make me forget about the dumb things he’d done.

  The door opened.

  Shit.

  Those brown eyes, staring me down. His face was peppered with stubble and he was in a V-neck tee and gym shorts, hair mussed. He was hotter in the wild than he was at the prison he called an office. How was that even possible?

  My skin crawled at how gorgeous he could be when he didn’t even try. Nobody should be able to look like that.

  “You coming back to work?” I crossed my arms and tapped my foot.

  Ethan looked to my foot, then back up at me. “Good to see you too. What do you want?”

  What the hell? I thought the asshole was pining over me? I made a mental note to strangle Stallworth. Not before the game though. I needed him in the lineup.

  “Thought you were out of town?”

  “I was—” He stopped himself.

  God, he was about to lie again.

  “Why are you here?” he asked.

  Confusion was an understatement. Even alone, in his disheveled state, he had the walls up like we were at the office. “Are you going to make me stand out here on the porch all day?”

  He sighed in exasperation, but opened the door and motioned me in.

  I blew past him, convincing myself I wasn’t leaving without some kind of closure or an explanation. I’d promised Matt I’d talk to him after all, though I had some choice words stored up for Matt.

  The house was beautiful with a huge open floor plan and modern fixtures. Decorating was minimalist, like I’d expected. Ethan was all about efficiency and little waste.

  I walked into his living room. Maybe Matt was telling the truth after all. There were a few Chinese food containers and empty pints of Ben & Jerry’s on the table. Ethan didn’t strike me as the type who ate carbs and sugar on a daily basis.

  “You going to tell me what you’re doing here?” His cocky voice didn’t match his unkempt appearance.

  My nails dug into my palms. I spun around. “Why aren’t you at the office?”

  “I’m working from home.” He said it like I was a small child at school. “Is that what you came over to ask?”

  “You really are infuriating. You know that?”

  “Oh please, like you’re one to talk.” He put his hands on his hips.

  I tried not to focus on him below the waist, though my eyes still wanted to wander. “We’re not talking about me. I went to work today.”

  “Shouldn’t you be there right now? Or am I paying you to sit here and talk shit to me?”

  What a prick. He did have a point, but that was neither here nor there. We were talking about him, not me. “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

  Ethan walked over to look at something on the wall. I assumed it was to get away from me. “I’m going to kick Matt’s ass,” he mumbled.

  “Matt didn’t—”

  Ethan whirled around and flashed his cocky, arrogant smirk that did things between my legs. “Oh, please. You two would be the worst poker players alive. You know that?”

  I hemmed and hawed for a second. “Well, I didn’t say anything. You just figured it out, okay? I promised him I wouldn’t rat him out.”

  Some of the tension left his face for a moment. He still tried not to look at me every chance he got and kept a safe distance between us. “It’s fine. I’m sure he’s just worried about me.” He nodded toward the coffee table. “The place doesn’t usually look like this. Sorry for the mess.”

  Finally, a little bit of civility. It’s not like our conversation was a screaming match, but everything was always heated between us. I still couldn’t figure out how he could get under my skin so damn much, and yet still make me melt in front of him.

  “It’s fine. I’m surprised you don’t have a maid.” I looked up and took in more of the house. The ornate spiral staircase that led to the next floor looked like it cost more than my whole house.

  “I told her not to come today.”

  Of course he had a maid. What was I thinking? I walked over to pick up the trash off his table. His jaw nearly fell to the floor.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Picking up your mess. It’s what us poor people do when we order takeout and can’t afford to pay someone to carry our
containers twenty feet away to the garbage.”

  He grinned and he walked over to the table to grab a few things at the same time. “I didn’t grow up a spoiled rich kid.”

  “How would I know? You don’t tell the truth much.” It was a low blow. A truthful one, but I regretted it as soon as I said it. He’d just started to open up and give me the slightest peek into his past, and I slammed the door shut on it.

  “I said I was sorry. I’m not a liar. I’m a lot of bad things, but not that.” He yanked the containers from my hand and went to the cupboard to toss them in the trash.

  I stood there with nothing much else to say. Actually, there were a lot of other things I wanted to say. I wanted to apologize, but truth be told, deep down, I think a part of me liked it when I kept him on the edge of a blowup. His irritation and intensity stole my breath, the way he’d look at me, like he wanted to take all of it out on me in the bedroom. He was a ticking time bomb and I wanted to be in the room when it exploded.

  “Get your shit together and get back to work. You’re acting like a child.”

  His chest heaved up and down. Though he tried to calm his voice, his words were tipped like a sword. “It’s a good thing you aren’t the boss.”

  “Hey, if you want to act like a pussy and eat your feelings, have at it. I’m done here.” I turned on a dime, praying he’d come after me.

  His footsteps pounded behind me and I swear my heart fluttered. When his hand gripped my arm to stop me from walking away, nerves fired through my limbs. I felt the wetness in my panties, and the heat from my pussy against my inner thighs. God, his touch.

  “I’m sorry for lying.”

  I turned around to sincerity in his eyes. “I’m sorry for screaming at you. And making you wait so long to find out my dad was okay.”

  “Thank you.” His eyes went somewhere else.

  “Why can’t you look at me?”

  “I can.”

  “You don’t.”

  His eyes were now on me.

  Closer.

  He moved closer and I backed away from him. His eyes were on me like they were in the car. A moan nearly escaped my lips just from the sight of them on me.

  He took another step. My back collided with the wall and my eyelids fluttered closed.

  Can’t breathe.

  Can’t speak.

  Eyes.

  Shit.

  His mouth moved to my ear and his chest was so close it brushed my hardened nipples through the fabric of my blouse. Shocks of electrical pulses radiated straight to my buzzing clit. I was on the edge again, just from his presence.

  His palm struck the wall above me and I jolted against him, his chest keeping me pinned, his breath hot in my ear.

  “When I look at you, I can’t stop.”

  Double shit!

  Say something.

  Anything.

  I pushed against him, my palms on his chest, but they tightened against my touch and he didn’t budge an inch. “We shouldn’t do this. Your head’s not in the right place.”

  Yes, we should definitely do this, but I want everything from you, Ethan. And I’ll piss you off to get what I want.

  “Now who’s lying.” His laugh tickled my ear.

  My face heated up even as my legs threatened to crumble.

  His hand traced the curve of my breast. I shoved it away. “You need to stop pouting all alone in your house like a little boy.”

  I started toward the door. He gripped my forearm and spun me around.

  “What do you want, Ethan?” I glared.

  He let go of my arm and ran his hand through his messy hair. “I want you. It’s just—”

  “Just what?”

  “It’s complicated, okay?”

  “No it isn’t. You’re just being an ass. So fire me and fuck me, or let me go do my goddamn job!”

  Bam!

  My back.

  Against the wall.

  His mouth was on mine and my hands were pinned above my head. I moaned into his mouth and he swallowed it whole, along with my kiss. His chest slammed into mine and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see anything, vision blurry.

  He moved to my ear and his knee parted my thighs as he rubbed it against my crotch. My legs tried to close and his knee shoved them apart, spreading me wide open for him. “Is this what you wanted?” His words were like sex in my ear, gritty and raw. His grip on my wrists was tenacious, and his body was hard and powerful against mine.

  I nodded, finally giving in. I wanted every bit of him on me. Everywhere at once.

  “That’s what I thought.” He thrust his hips into me, his hard cock shoving against my clit and stomach through his gym shorts.

  I gasped, already on the cusp of an orgasm. My clit was electric at his words alone, and his touch was the only thing that could release it.

  “Don’t come until I tell you to.” He thrust his hips again and my clit ached for the tension to leave my body.

  He flipped me around so that my breasts were pressed into the wall. One hand gripped me by the hair, knuckles digging into my scalp. The other reached down and yanked my skirt up over my ass, then slid around my hip. He took his hand down and cupped my pussy over my panties, gliding his fingers across my heat.

  I nodded at his words once more.

  “You like being bossed around, don’t you?”

  I bucked my ass back into him, pretending to fight against his hold. His hard cock pressed into my rear as his hips surged forward, pinning my whole body to the wall. His hand sped up and he worked his fingers alongside my clit, barely grazing it.

  I fought back my orgasm and jumbled nonsense rolled off my tongue. It morphed into a moan at the end of my sentence.

  He bit my earlobe and released my hair, gliding his hand down and resting it on his hip while his other hand continued to work my pussy in shallow circles.

  “You’re not fired.” He smacked my ass with his left hand and squeezed.

  I jolted against the wall. “Fuck!” My legs quivered, and I squirmed at his touch.

  “But I am going to fuck you.”

  He cocked my panties to the side and slid his middle finger across me, parting my slick folds. I pressed the side of my face against the wall and his mouth was against my ear. The warmth from his breath played against my nose and cheek.

  “Don’t come yet. You’re going to come on my mouth.”

  Triple fuck!

  “And then my cock.”

  Before I could give him affirmation, his fingers dipped inside the waistband of my black lace panties, and yanked them halfway down my thighs. He dropped to his knees behind me, and his hands spread my ass.

  I’d never been so exposed to someone in my life. I could practically feel Ethan’s stare as he examined my pussy from behind. He worked his hands around my hips and yanked my ass closer to his face, bending me over. I splayed my fingers out on the wall.

  He cupped his hands under my ass and used his thumbs to spread my entrance.

  “Fuck. Let me come, please.” I’d never begged for anything in my life, but I’d never had Ethan Mason on his knees about to lick my pussy from behind either.

  He smacked my ass with both hands, kneading my soft flesh in his palms. “Don’t come until I put my mouth on you.”

  The momentary reprieve from him spanking my ass disappeared, and all the sparks shot straight between my legs when he worked my clit with his thumb. His breath heated my pussy when he spoke. “So. Fucking. Wet.” He sped his thumb up on me and I squirmed.

  His arms hooked around my legs, his fingers punishing my hips. I kept my balance, barely, with my hands on the wall. A light squeal escaped my lips when he yanked me back to his mouth.

  I glanced back and saw his eyes over the top of my ass, staring me down, watching every reaction of mine. Fuck!

  My body was wound tight like a spring, compressed and threatening to rocket out of the atmosphere. His mouth was the spark that would send me into orbit.

  I reached bac
k and grabbed his hair, trying to push myself onto him, barely able to restrain from taking the plunge. He resisted—totally in control, dangling me off the edge.

  “Don’t move.”

  I nodded at his intense stare.

  He released one of my hips and worked his hand to my front, circling my clit with two fingers. I bit down on my arm and moaned, everything in me fighting it back.

  Ethan leaned forward, his forehead pressing against my ass. The second his tongue flattened across me, I exploded, my orgasm cresting and rolling through my limbs. My brain shorted out and my vision blurred. The tip of his tongue flicked my clit and I convulsed against his face, my hand gripping the back of his head.

  One lick. One touch of his tongue and he’d unraveled me.

  I panted. Everything started to come into focus when his hands took hold of my breasts, and he was sucking down my neck to my collarbone. He kissed back up my throat and my eyes closed. I focused on his touch. Every sensation was amplified times a thousand. I could get used to it.

  He brushed my hair away from my ear and leaned in. “How was that?”

  I was too spent to goad him on, even though I wanted more.

  More of that.

  Yes, please.

  He got a nod, that was it. It was all I was capable of.

  “Good.” He yanked me up, so that I was bent over his shoulder at the waist. He had an arm hooked around the middle of my thighs, my skirt was still at my waist.

  I yelped out an excited squeal.

  He smacked me on the ass, but this time in a playful way. “You’re about to do that again.”

  I chewed on my lip, and watched the stairs below as he carried me up them. He pulled my panties from my legs, and I watched him shove them into his pocket.

  Oh my God.

  I didn’t know sex could be like this, that these guys existed in real life. Ethan Mason may have been an asshole, but he did things for my nether regions. He carried me down the hall, so primal, like a caveman taking what was his.

  His free hand slid onto my ass and his fingers glided across my pussy. “Still wet for me. Good.”

  I bit the side of my cheek so hard I thought I might taste copper. He was relentless.

  I leaned down and smacked his ass as hard as I could. It was tight and hard, almost enough to break a nail on. I gave it an extra squeeze, for no other reason than I wanted to feel it.