by Marci Bolden
He nodded. She laughed a bit and did that shooing motion again. He didn’t move. This time, he held her gaze until she turned away from him and exhaled slowly in a futile attempt to calm her nerves.
“Annie, I’ve, um… I’ve been thinking about what I told you last night.”
She creased her brow. “Remind me.”
“About how it’s human nature to think about the chances we let pass. How I didn’t believe that you’d never considered what your life would be like if you’d made different choices.”
She shook her head. “What are you getting at?”
He bit his lip hard. As if trying to stop himself from saying what he was thinking. “Annie, I’ve been…”
Oh, God, don’t say it, she silently pleaded.
He tried again. “For the longest time…” A humorless laugh left him as he let his words trail again. Finally, he met her gaze again. “You’re probably going to fire me, but—”
She gave him a forced smile. “I can’t fire you, Marcus. You’re invaluable. Whatever it is, I’m sure you can work it out.” She took a step and tried to squeeze by him. “Just take a few days off or…” Great. Now she was the one who couldn’t finish a thought.
He dropped his hand to her hip, stopping her from leaving the tension-filled room. She closed her eyes. His touch sent volts of electricity shooting through her, lighting every nerve. She wanted nothing more than to lean up and kiss the life right out of the man. For some reason, though, putting herself in a position where she could be sued for sexual harassment didn’t seem like a wise business move. Not that she thought Marcus would ever go that far, but people changed. Situations got awkward and out of hand.
It was best to avoid the possibility of things going wrong between them and just ignore how much she wanted him.
“Marcus,” she whispered.
“I have been attracted to you for so long, Annie. I thought I was alone in this,” he said in the same hushed tone, “but lately I’ve started to think…you feel it, too.”
She licked her lips and lowered her face. Shit. He said it. The elephant in the room was out there now, and neither could ignore it any longer. “I’m your boss.”
“I know.”
“I can’t. We can’t.”
“I know. But I swear to God, I’m about to lose my mind from wanting you.”
Oh, damn.
Her knees actually went weak. She leaned back against the doorjamb to stay standing.
“I think about you all the time. I know it’s wrong. But all I can think about is how much I want to kiss you.”
A whimpering moan left her as he closed the distance between them. He stopped a fraction of an inch from her mouth, and goddamn it, the temptation gripped her so hard she could barely breathe.
“Tell me you don’t feel the same,” he whispered. “Tell me to stop. And I will.”
She should. She had to. But the words wouldn’t leave her.
“Tell me to go to hell, Annie.”
She wanted to, but her protest refused to form. She fought with everything she had but then slowly gave in to need and gently pressed her hands to his face. He exhaled slowly, pressing his face against her palm and closing his eyelids, as if relishing in her touch. His heat radiated into her, burned its way down her arms, and stole her breath. Her heart pounded so hard she barely heard the heavy sigh leave him as he opened his eyes.
“You son of a bitch,” she whispered, and he grinned.
She knew she shouldn’t, but with her hand on his face—his skin as smooth and hot as she’d always imagined it would be—she had no choice but to brush her thumb over the lips that had been taunting her for so long. As she did, he kissed her thumb, then her palm, and then turned his face and kissed the inside of her wrist. The sensation of his lips on her flesh was more than she could resist. She’d wanted him to touch her like that for so long. She’d fantasized about it more times than she could count. Seeing him kiss her, feeling his breath tickling her skin and his lips pressing against her, was more than she’d imagined it could be. Her resolve crumbled like a sand castle in a hurricane.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him as he leaned back enough to search her eyes. She could read what he was thinking. This was her last chance to back away. She knew she should.
Don’t do it. Don’t let this happen.
But then she did. She lifted her chin and put her lips on his.
Fireworks.
That was the only way she could explain what she felt in that moment. Heat erupted from their contact and engulfed her body. She was instantly dizzy. Her muscles melted. She dug her fingers into his hair, and his mouth moved over hers as he held her so tightly she couldn’t be sure he wasn’t trying to crush her. A moan filled her ears, and she realized it was hers. Fisting the collar of his shirt, she held him as she parted her lips and let him delve in. The sensation of his tongue sliding over hers went straight to her groin. She clung to him, holding him as tightly as he was holding her, as he kissed her until she was breathless. She gasped as she broke the kiss. He put his forehead to hers, panting just as heavily. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d been kissed so passionately or kissed someone else so passionately. The lust between them was palpable. She was certain if she asked him to make love to her right there, he would. And she would let him.
And that was a huge problem.
“Shit,” she breathed, pulling away from him. “I am so sorry. I should not have done that.”
He eased his hold on her. “No, I’m sorry. I instigated that.” He was saying the right words, but his tone conveyed disappointment.
“I’m your boss.”
“I know that.”
She pushed against his chest until he stepped back. “I’m not supposed to let things like that happen. It’s completely unprofessional. Goddamn it.”
“Come on, Annie. You’re only human. It’s not like you could resist my magnetic pull forever.”
She laughed softly. However, her amusement faded quickly as her guilt returned. “I’m sorry, Marcus. If you weren’t my employee…”
“I’ll quit.”
“No, you won’t. I can’t lose you. You’ve got connections that I don’t. You carry more than your fair share around here. I’d be lost without you. You can’t leave me.”
“And you can’t date an employee.”
She sighed and looked away. “No, I can’t.”
“Look, Annie, I know some people would see it as disreputable—”
“Because it is.”
“This isn’t a large corporation where favoritism could be an issue.”
“I still have standards and principles.”
“I wasn’t implying that you don’t. I’m just saying, maybe…” He brushed his hand over her arm again. “They could slip a little.”
She looked at him, licked his kiss from her lips, and then shook her head. “No. It’s a risk I can’t take. I can’t. I’m sorry.” She brushed by him and went into her office, where she grabbed her purse from the desk and left before he could convince her to break every rule she’d ever put into place.
Chapter Two
Annie barely glanced at the man standing in her office door as she finished typing, but that quick look was enough to send her heart into excited flutters. She hated that about him. How could barely acknowledging his existence send her into a tailspin? Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for that inevitable feeling of freefalling that came with hearing his voice.
“Need something, Marcus?”
“It’s almost seven.”
“So why are you still here?”
“I just closed the Portman deal.”
“Good. They’ve been dragging their feet.” Never in the twenty years that she’d owned her real estate business had homeowners seemed less interested in actually selling the house they’d put on the market.
He crossed the room and took his customary seat. “You should buy me a drink to celebrate.”
She stoppe
d her fingers mid-stroke on her keyboard. She’d been avoiding him all week. Ever since they’d shared a kiss in the storage room, she couldn’t look at him. She shook her head and refocused on her computer monitor. “Marcus—”
“A drink, Annie. Co-workers still do that, you know. I had a drink with Dianna last night. Actually, we ate an entire meal together. And we were still able to look at each other this morning. It was quite refreshing.”
Annie tried not to laugh, but a chuckle slipped through her lips. “I imagine it was.” She sighed, giving up any hope she had of finishing the report. Leaning back, she tossed her reading glasses on the desk and forced herself to meet his gaze.
He stared at her as if he were analyzing her innermost thoughts. She reached for her glass of water. The cold drink did little to quench the heat that had burned low in her belly ever since she’d given in and kissed him.
“Dianna did ask if I’d be escorting you to the wedding,” he said.
The idea yanked her from the memory of that kiss, a memory she relived far too frequently. Annie shook her head without taking a moment to even consider the possibility. No, he wouldn’t be escorting her to her brother’s wedding. “That’s not a good idea.”
“I accepted their invitation months ago, Annie. I’ll be there, whether you’re at my side or not. And just so you know, there will be plenty of room. We won’t be bunking together.”
Annie’s mind spun. The lake house. Guests staying all weekend… She and Marcus under the same roof morning and night for an entire weekend… There would never be enough space to keep the tension between them from overflowing again.
She was going to kill her brother. And Dianna.
She wanted to close her eyes to break Marcus’s intense stare, but she needed to get her point across. “We can no longer deny that there is an attraction between us, Marcus, but I can’t put myself in a position that could cost me everything. I need you to understand that.”
“I do. And I respect it.”
“So please understand that it’s best to keep some distance between us.”
He opened his mouth to speak, and she lifted her hand to silence him.
“Go home, Marcus. I’ve got work to do.”
He stared at her for another few long moments. “If you don’t want me to go to the wedding, I won’t.” His smile returned. “I mean, if you honestly can’t control yourself around me, then I’ll gladly remove your temptation so you don’t accidentally throw me down on the aisle and tear my clothes off.”
She scowled and tossed a pencil at him. “Go home.”
“Pack it up for the night. If you won’t let me take you out, the least you can do is let me walk you to your car.”
“Mmm, such a gentleman. I’ll be done soon, and my car is about twenty yards from the door. I think I can manage.”
“Spoilsport.” He winked and stood. “Don’t stay too late, and text me when you get home. You may not want me to, but I do worry about you.”
Annie gnawed at her lip as she listened to him moving around in his office next door. A minute later, his footsteps echoed through the foyer and the front door closed. She fought the urge to peer out the window and watch him leave. She directed her attention to the monitor, but her mind kept wandering back to that damned kiss.
It’d been a long time since a man held her like that. Too long. She’d wanted nothing more than to lose herself in him. A thousand scenarios had played out in her mind since Sunday, and she could certainly imagine how easy it would be to give in to her desires after a few glasses of champagne and a couple of slow dances at the reception.
A humorless laugh left her as she realized she’d once again let Marcus distract her from her work. And he wasn’t even there. With a shake of her head, she clicked to save the document and gathered her things. She’d never get anything done now. With nothing to divert her thoughts, Marcus filled her mind as she drove home.
She was disappointed when she pulled into her driveway and found it empty. Mallory moved out when she turned eighteen, but she still stopped by for dinner several nights a week. Even a twenty-one-year-old needed real food every now and then. Tonight Annie really could have used the company. The quiet of an empty house didn’t used to bother her. Actually, she normally enjoyed it. Lately, however, the silence had a bit of a sting. She blamed Marcus for that. He’d disrupted her life with his “just a quick bite” invitations that always turned into long dinners talking about everything from work to politics to their childhoods.
His had been picture-perfect; hers had been a disaster. He’d had two wonderful parents; she’d had a mother who had worked herself to death to support her children while her father drank himself to death. He’d never had kids; she’d gotten knocked up and been abandoned to raise her kid all alone. He’d had a few serious relationships; she avoided commitment like the plague.
She didn’t regret that Mallory’s father left before she was born. In fact, Annie was glad he had. If he’d stuck around, she suspected she would have ended up just like her mother—primary caretaker for a bushel of kids and a drunkard of a husband. Instead, Mallory had two wonderful uncles who had stepped up and filled the father-figure role without hesitation, and Annie had been able to focus on building a real life for herself and her daughter. She couldn’t risk that for a man. Not even Marcus.
She dug her cell phone out of her purse and called Mallory. “Hey, kiddo. Have you had dinner?”
The door to Stonehill Café creaked as Marcus opened it, and he added oiling the hinges to his mental to-do list. When his sister had finally left her worthless-ass husband and come home to Stonehill last year, Marcus helped her buy the rundown building. It wasn’t much, but it had always been Jenna’s dream to own a restaurant, and she deserved for all her dreams to come true. Annie had tried to warn Marcus it wasn’t a good buy, but he wanted to give his sister a reason to stand on her own, and now they were stuck with the dive—the leaky faucets, creaky door, and all. Jenna loved the place, she loved everything about it, but every time Marcus walked through the door, he was reminded how much work it needed.
Even so, the food was good, the service was better, and once Jenna could afford to do all the things she had planned, the place would look amazing.
He didn’t need to read the menu, but he grabbed one so he’d have something to look at. He waved at his sister across the dining room as he sank into a table by the window. Skimming the selections, he tried to count how many times he and Annie had sat in this diner chatting about nothing for hours as Jenna refilled their coffee mugs. Too many to count.
But not as many as he’d spent sitting here alone.
Damn it.
Leave it to him to fall for his goddamned stubborn-ass boss.
“Only one thing makes a man frown that deeply,” Jenna said, sliding a glass of water in front of Marcus.
He chuckled. “Oh, yeah?”
“What’s happened with Annie now?”
Marcus sighed and pushed his menu toward his sister. “Got any roast beef left?”
“I do.”
“Extra potatoes.”
“Sure thing. Just as soon as you tell me what happened.”
“She’s still my boss. I’m still her subordinate. She still has more common sense than I do.”
She sat down across from him and crossed her arms on the table. “We’ve talked about this a hundred times. You know what you have to do.”
“Yeah, I know. I just haven’t accepted it yet.”
“If you want her as much as you say—”
“Roast beef, Jenna. Extra potatoes.”
She pushed herself up. “‘I quit.’ Two little words. That’s all you have to say.”
He frowned as she walked away. In his attempt to become invaluable to Annie over the years, he’d managed to do just that. If he quit, he’d be leaving her in a terrible bind. She would lose not only an agent but someone who had become an integral part of her business.
So he had a conundrum he hadn’t
quite figured out how to escape. Pursue his boss in a relationship that she rightfully pointed out was inappropriate or quit his job and put the woman he was in love with in a bind. Her office was small but successful in part because when she’d brought him on board, she’d done so because he had connections that she didn’t. Marcus had developed O’Connell Realty’s commercial sales. If he caused her business harm, she’d likely never forgive him, but he couldn’t very well push her to do something she told him she didn’t want to do. Both choices left him empty-handed, and he found that increasingly unacceptable.
What was a man to do?
“Must be serious.”
He looked up when Annie’s daughter sat in the chair across from him. “Hey, Mal. What are you doing here?”
“Well, I thought I’d adopt a dog,” she deadpanned, “but apparently the only ones they keep here are for the special.”
Marcus chuckled. Damn, she was just as sarcastic as her mother.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Long day.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Mom?”
He stared at her for a moment. “Why would you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not an idiot.”
He sighed. “No, you’re not. But I’m not talking to you about your mother. She’d appreciate that about as much as she’d appreciate eating dog.”
She watched him for a moment before sighing. “I’m just throwing this out there. Randomly.”
“I doubt it’s random, but go ahead.”
Something changed in Mallory’s eyes; she seemed a bit sad all of a sudden. “I know she doesn’t make it easy, but don’t give up on her, Marcus.”
He opened his mouth, denial on the tip of his tongue, but she lifted her hand the same way Annie tended to do when she didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“Like I said. I’m not an idiot. You’ve looked at her like she hung the moon for years. She finally seems to have noticed. Give her time to come to terms with that. Other than my uncles, she’s never had a man she could rely on. She’s not exactly comfortable putting herself out there.”
