Falling For My Boss

by J. S. Cooper

  “Ooof,” said the man behind me as I bumped into him. His arms instinctively went around my waist as I stumbled back against his hard, warm chest.

  “Sorry,” I said and looked back to see his face properly. His azure blue eyes stared into mine as he looked at me with an amused expression. My heart jumped as I realized that I was standing in front of Scott Taylor. Only, I couldn’t tell him that I knew his name. If I did, he’d want to know how and I wasn’t allowed to tell him about the prank that his friends were about to pull on him.

  “No worries,” he said, his hands sliding off my waist slowly. “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I nodded and then we both looked back at Mike, who looked anything but fine.

  “Looky here, boy, can’t you see I’m on a date?” he said and it was then that I realized he was chewing tobacco. That was why I’d seen the saliva on his lips earlier, not because he was drooling because I was so hot.

  “You okay?” Scott Taylor ignored Mike and addressed me again. I shook my head slightly, not wanting to say anything out loud for fear of Mike doing something stupid.

  “She’s fine.” Mike took a step forward. “Get away from my lady.”

  “I’m not your lady,” I said finally and looked at him in disgust. “We barely messaged twice online and you were lying!” My voice rose. “You don’t look thirty and you don’t look like your photos.”

  “My photos say they were of me when I was in the marines.” He shrugged. “That weren’t no lie.”

  “But it also wasn’t yesterday, was it, sir?” Scott spoke up and stepped in front of me. “How’s about you leave the young lady alone. You’re obviously not what she was expecting.”

  “Hmmphm, damn Yankees,” Mike said under his breath and looked back at me. “You sure you don’t wanna learn how a cowboy moves his hips tonight?” He licked his lips again. “I might be older, but I make up for it with my tongue.”

  “What?” My jaw dropped as I stared at him.

  “I can’t last all night in the sack unless I take my Viagra, but my tongue can go for hours.” He flicked his tongue around. “If you know what I mean.”

  I turned away from him then, shuddering in disgust. Lacey was going to be in fits of laughter when I told her about my night. Only I was going to kill her before that. Never again was I going to take her dating advice.

  “Come, let me get you a drink,” Scott said and he guided me to his seat. I could feel Mike’s eyes on my back, but I didn’t care. I was sure that anyone else watching us was wondering what was going on, but it was none if their business.

  “Before I buy you a drink, I must ask you a question,” Scott said with a small smile. I wanted to pinch myself. Was I really here with the man I was hired to prank next week? Was fate playing a dreadful joke on me?

  “What’s that?” I asked him as I sat down, wishing I could check a mirror to make sure my makeup still looked good. My heart thudded as I stared at him. He was even better-looking in person than he’d been in the photo.

  “You weren’t on a sugar daddy website or anything like that, right?” he asked me with a cheeky grin.

  “No,” I said with a laugh and shook my head.

  “Or ‘get an old man now and take all his money in a few years dot com’?”

  “Ha ha, no.”

  “Good.” He smiled and held out his hand. “Then let me introduce myself properly. My name is Scott.”

  “Elizabeth,” I said with a smile. “Though my best friend calls me Eliza, like Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady.”

  “Because you’re a good girl?” he asked with a wink and I flushed as he laughed. “You didn’t think a man like me would know the movie, did you?”

  “No, yes, no.” I laughed. “But no, I didn’t think most people would really know that line where she says she’s a good girl. It’s so obscure and forgettable.”

  “But I’m sure you’re not forgettable.”

  “Are we talking about me or are we talking about the movie?” I asked softly, my face reddening.

  “Both,” he said with a smile. “It’s not often I get to flirt with a hot girl at a NASCAR bar.”

  “NASCAR?” I looked around and groaned out loud. “This is a country bar, huh? No wonder Mike invited me to meet him here.”

  “Yeah,” Scott nodded. “I was supposed to meet my brother Chett here for some drinks, but he got stuck at work.”

  “Oh, that sucks,” I said.

  “Not really.” He laughed. “I’d much rather save a hot girl from a creep than have to listen to my brother talking about Gordon and The King.”

  “I’m guessing Gordon is Jeff Gordon, but who is The King?”

  “Richard Petty, of course.” He laughed. “Do you follow racing?”

  “Not really.” I shook my head. “My best friend used to have a crush on Jimmie Johnson, so I know him, but not much else.”

  “Good.” He laughed. “I don’t follow it, either. My brother Aiden and my sister Liv always joke that my brother Chett must have been adopted because he’s the only one that cares anything about the sport.”

  “Sounds like you have a big family,” I said, wanting to pinch myself for my good luck. How was I so lucky that I’d gone on a crappy Internet date and met this hunk? The same hunk I’d been salivating to Lacey on the phone over a couple of nights before. What would he think if he knew that I already kinda knew who he was? Would he be freaked out? I so wanted to tell him that I’d been hired to surprise him, but knew I couldn’t spoil it.

  “Yeah, pretty big. We’re all pretty close.” He nodded. “But enough about them, tell me more about you, Eliza.”

  “What do you want to know?” I asked him softly as I flicked my hair back.

  “What do you want to drink?” he said as he leaned towards me. “And what is a good-looking girl like you doing meeting weirdos at bars?”

  “I’ll have a Malibu Sprite and are you calling yourself a weirdo?” I lowered my voice to sound as seductive as I could and he laughed as he stared at my lips.

  “I can be whatever you want me to be.” He leaned closer and I could feel his breath on my lips. “I can be a race-car driver, a football player—shit, I can even be a cowboy if you want.”

  “You’ll say ‘yeehaw’ for me?” I teased him as I batted my eyelashes up at him.

  “I’ll say ‘yeehaw’ and ‘giddy up’ and show you how to catch a hog with a piece of string if that’s what you want,” he said as he reached over and wiped something off of the side of my face. I wasn’t sure if there was really something there or if he just wanted a reason to touch me.

  “Quite forward, aren’t you?” My skin was tingling from the feel of his warm fingers and I wondered just how far he was willing to take this flirtation. Not only that, I wondered just how far I was willing to take it. Especially seeing as I knew that come Monday morning, I’d be in his office as his new assistant.

  “When I see someone I like.”

  “Like, or want?” I said breathlessly, not knowing where my bravado was coming from, but feeling quite proud of myself.

  “Would it be rude of me to say both?” His mouth shifted to my ear and he blew in it gently. “Would it be rude of me to tell you that I’d love to take you right here and now, on the bar?”

  I gasped and pulled away from him, my eyes flashing as I gazed at his laughing face.

  “I’m taking that as a yes,” he said as he sat back down and took a swig of his beer. “It doesn’t hurt to ask, does it?”

  “I’m starting to think you’re as bad as Mike.”

  “You mean Bubba?” he asked me with a grin.

  “You’re horrible, but yes.” I laughed.

  “I might be as bad, but at least I come in a nicer package, right?” He winked at me and then looked down at the front of his pants. “If you know what I mean.”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer him. All I could do was stop myself from looking down at his package as well.

  “Have I offended you?” Sco
tt said quickly, making an apologetic face. “I’m sorry if I did. My sister says I can be a bit out of control sometimes.”

  “Only sometimes?” I asked him with a small smile, looking into his eyes, but still feeling an urge to look south.

  “Well, she thinks it’s only sometimes.” He laughed. “But she’s one to talk, since she and her best friend, Alice, are super inappropriate.”

  “Sounds like me and my best friend, Lacey,” I said with a smile, knowing that Lacey was most probably staring at her phone right now, wondering what was happening on my date.

  “Oh, you like to be inappropriate, too?”

  “You could say that,” I said with a small smile, wondering what I was playing at. I felt like I was playing a game that I shouldn’t be playing. It just didn’t seem fair that I would meet and be attracted to Scott, just days before I was about to become his fake assistant for a week and give him an office lap dance. I squirmed in my seat as I thought about giving him the lap dance. That wasn’t going to be hard at all. In fact, it was going to be a fun experience. The only problem was I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep my hands off of Scott until then. Not that that was a problem, of course. At least it wasn’t to me.

  Chapter T

  hree

  “Another drink?” Scott asked me with a lazy smile as we sat at the bar talking about movies.

  “No, I should get going,” I said, though I didn’t really want to go. I was really into Scott, both physically and mentally, and I really just wanted to spend the next few hours talking to him, but I didn’t want to look too eager. It was weird that I was enjoying his company this much. I was usually too scared to let my guard down with a new guy, but there was something about Scott that just made me want to be with him.

  “Aw, do you have to work tomorrow?” he asked as he gazed into my eyes, his right hand on my knee.

  “No,” I said softly and I could feel my skin tingling as he ran his hand up my thigh. “No work tomorrow.”

  “Oh, that’s good.” His hand felt warm as it moved farther up my thigh and I was about to slap it away when he lowered it back to my kneecap. “What do you do, by the way?”

  “I’m an actress,” I said softly, hoping he didn’t ask too many questions. I didn’t want to talk about either of our jobs. I didn’t want it to get messy. Which was a bit of a joke because it was going to get messy when I showed up at his office the next week. Hopefully¸ he would think it was a cool coincidence.

  “Oh?” He looked surprised.

  “I know this isn’t Hollywood, but there are a lot of jobs here,” I explained, almost defensively. No one really understood why I hadn’t moved to Los Angeles when I’d decided to pursue my acting career. Not my mom. Not Shane. No one, but Lacey had been supportive of my move.

  “Well, that’s good,” he said as he put his arm around my shoulders. “Want to leave this joint and check out my apartment?”

  “To see your art etchings in your art studio?” I asked him lightly, teasing him to see how he would react and I was surprised when he burst out laughing.

  “Something like that. Too forward, again?” His expression looked worried as he stared at me and I did something next that shocked both of us. I leaned forward and lightly pressed my lips against his and kissed him. I wasn’t sure what had come over me and was about to pull back when he deepened the kiss and pulled me towards him. I felt his hand at the back of my head, running through my hair and tugging it slightly roughly. He groaned against my lips before slipping his tongue inside of my mouth. His tongue tasted like a pecan-flavored pear and I kissed him back eagerly, throwing all caution to the wind. A voice in the back of my head was cheering me on, as my own body couldn’t even believe that I was making out with a strange guy in a bar. I moaned slightly as Scott stood up and pulled away from me. I looked up at him with hazy eyes and pouted.

  “Don’t pout, beautiful,” he said as he grabbed my hands and pulled me off of my stool and into his arms.

  “I’m not beautiful,” I mumbled, but the top of my ears were burning in joy as I stood there.

  “And modest, too.” He grinned and pulled me towards him even more, so that my body was pressed firmly against his. “You sure wore a sexy outfit to a blind date,” he said as his hands slid to my ass.

  “What are you doing?” I gasped as he squeezed my butt cheeks.

  “Feeling up on your butt,” he said huskily, his eyes burning into mine.

  “Don’t you think that’s inappropriate?” I said and then gasped even louder as he pushed my butt, so that I was pressed up against his hardness.

  “This is inappropriate,” he said as he turned me around so that my back was against the bar. He grabbed my legs and lifted me up slightly. “Put your arms around my neck,” he whispered into my ear.

  “No,” I said, but my arms didn’t listen as they curled around his neck and played with his hair.

  “Good girl.” He pushed himself into me. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”

  “Yeah, right.” I laughed and pushed him away. I could feel his heart beating from his chest and he stepped back with a wry smile on his face.

  “Aww. I was hoping this would be my lucky day.” He winked at me and then leaned down and gave me another long and lingering kiss. “But maybe it already has been,” he said as his fingers played with my hair.

  “You’re a flirt.” I shook my head and smiled up at him lazily. I felt like I was in some sort of romance movie and I loved it.

  “So are you.” He stroked my hair. “So what do you say? Want to go back to my place?”

  “Hmmm, but I barely know you.”

  “My name is Scott Taylor. I’m single. I think you’re cute,” he said with an impish smile. “I’d like to have my wicked way with you.”

  “I can’t believe you just said that!”

  “What can I say?” He winked. “I’m honest as well.”

  “I don’t know what to say to that.” I bit my lower lip. “I’m not really a one-night-stand kinda girl.”

  “Neither am I.” His eyes glowed. “But then again, I’m not a girl, either.”

  “That’s good.” I laughed, my heart racing as we just stood there staring at each other, waiting to see what the other person was going to do next.

  “You don’t have to come home with me,” he said finally. “I mean, you can also come and we don’t have to have sex.”

  “We’ll just watch movies?”

  “Yeah, or play board games. I have Twister.” He grinned.

  “Naked Twister, right?”

  “I could be persuaded,” he said, his voice husky as his fingers played with mine. “So what do you say, Eliza Doolittle? Are you going to come home with me for a night of debauchery?”

  “I shouldn’t.” I shook my head, my heart pumping rapidly.

  “Do you always do things you should do?”

  “I don’t know you.”

  “You said that already.” He leaned down and kissed my lips. “And you know me a little bit.”

  “I’m not that kind of girl,” I said again, being repetitive in my words and thoughts.

  “I’m that kind of guy.” He grinned and then ran his fingers down the side of my body. “Spend the night with me, Eliza Doolittle. Get to know me. Let me get to know you. You might find that we like each other.”

  “There’s something I should tell you,” I said and took a big breath. “Something you should know—”

  “Unless it’s you telling me you’re married or in a relationship, then there is nothing I need to know.” He shook his head and kissed my lips hard before pulling back. “The only other thing I need to know is if you like it slow or fast.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling my face going red as I gazed back at him in shock. I didn’t know what else to say. In fact, I remained silent as he dropped some cash on the bar and led me out of the restaurant and to his car. I knew I was being incredibly stupid by going with a strange man, but in that moment I didn’t care. In that momen
t all I wanted to know was just how fast was fast and just how slow was slow.

  Chapte

  r Four

  I felt like a giddy schoolgirl as I entered Scott’s house. I looked inside eagerly and was surprised to see that it was clean and tidy. In fact, it was in immaculate condition and I wondered at how a guy could be cleaner than me. It was a bit embarrassing to admit that his house was better put together than mine, but then he looked like he had a lot more money than I did as well.

  “Welcome to my humble abode,” he said with a grin as he closed the door behind me. “Would you like another drink?”

  “No, thanks,” I said and stared at the photos on the brick mantelpiece. “Are these your brothers and sisters?” The photos were surrounded by little souvenirs from what I assumed were his travels. I looked down and saw some dark spots in the fireplace and realized that it was a working fireplace.

  “Yes.” He nodded. “That’s the entire clan: Chett, Aiden, Gabby, and Liv.” He pointed them out in the photo and smiled lovingly as he looked at his family members.

  “Who’s the other girl?” I asked, slightly jealous as I wondered if that was Scott’s girlfriend. “There are three girls in the photo.”

  “That’s my sister’s best friend, Alice. She’s like my sister and may very well be one day.” He grinned then.

  “Oh?”

  “She and my brother have a thing for each other.” He walked over to his big white couch and sat down. “If they ever figure it out, that is.” He rolled his eyes and waved me over to him.

  “They don’t know?”

  “My brother is waiting for her to grow up or something before he makes a move.” Scott rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t know how to just go for what he wants.”

  “Unlike you, right?” I grinned as I walked over to the couch and sat next to him. It was soft and comfortable and I leaned back into the soft cushions and gazed in front of me. He had a big reclaimed wood coffee table with some magazines on it. I could see GQ and some car magazine. There was an old beer bottle on top of the GQ and some peanut shells on the table. I grinned to myself as I realized he wasn’t a total clean freak.