Page 6 of My Forbidden Boss

She fidgets. “Are you sure?”

I come out from behind the desk and put my hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me in a way that makes me take my hand back and step away. I recover. Walls up, never give more than is strictly professional.

Except for Adeline.

I fight the urge to glance through the windows to her slight figure sitting at her desk and concentrate on my loyal employee. “Andrea, you are my most loyal employee, but I’m a capable man. I’m sure I’ll be fine on my own tonight. See to your sister. Family’s important.”

Her gaze steals to Adeline outside, hesitant.

“I’ll take care of Adeline,” I say.

I’d be put behind bars in the way I really would like to take care of Adeline, but what takes place in my mind is just that. It will never be reality.

Apparently I’m great at fiction writing now, only there’s one plot in my head.

Andrea turns her troubled gaze back on me, and I know she doesn’t like me saying that. I grip her elbow and guide her to my door. “I’m lucky to have you, Andrea. You give so much to Blue Sky and now it’s time for Blue Sky to give back.”

Andrea is more dedicated to my company than I am. She’s good for Blue Sky.

“Thank you, Mr Chandler.” She nods, casts a look at Adeline, takes her purse and coat from her desk, and marches towards the elevator.

The elevator doors close and I turn to Adeline. Her guileless gaze is on me. Her kissable plump lips fall apart and a frown forms on her smooth brow. “I hope she’s all right.”

She’s hopelessly under-qualified, but my mouth doesn’t care. Neither does my mind. The endless hours of the night loom and I want to fill them with something warm. Something hypnotizing.

Something I shouldn’t want.

But do.

A naked flame to a lake of gasoline.

I never thought I was a masochist, but if it means spending time with Adeline for a few more hours, then give me a match.

The words flow out of my mouth before I have a chance to stop them. “It seems your attendance is required tonight, Miss Rayner. Seven pm at the Manhattan Center. Come into my office and I’ll brief you before you leave.”

Chapter 3

Adeline

I’m propelled onto the busy sidewalk by feet that seem to know where they’re going, which is good because the other half of my consciousness is still upstairs, tacked to the desk of David Chandler and it doesn’t care how many pins hold it down. It wants to stay there, crucified and bleeding to death beneath those paint-stripper eyes.

Eyes that see me.

I’m not used to that. Being overlooked is my MO. Stay in the shadows and stick close to the ground. I could teach Rambo tactics on subterfuge. Being nailed by a machine gun is easier than meeting up with the doll-faced bullies in the school hallways that give me the same sort of attention at Bob’s Burgers five years later. There’s no time stamp on being a target.

There’s no hiding on the forty ninth floor either.

I press my back to the brickwork, out of the way of people scuttling out of the cold and drizzle, and just breathe. I need to pull back the strands that unraveled all day. Parts of me that went further than they ever had before.

I knew he watched me. Felt his eyes burning my skin all day. The subject of his undivided attention.

So much attention.

Attention that makes me notice things my body shouldn’t be capable of. Makes me think things I’ve never thought before. Like how his lips would feel on mine. How his skin would glide over me. How his cock would slide into me.

I can only imagine those things because I’ve never done them before. After that kiss in grade six from Toby Wellburn ended in class ridicule, I hadn’t wanted to. Toby kissed me and cracked up straight after, thanking me for winning a bet he’d made with Becky Myers. I should have known I was being set up. Toby was the most popular boy in school. There was no way he’d be interested in me, but I’d been fool enough to believe differently. I never made that mistake again.

There weren’t a lot of options in a small town, so I’d opted for no one. Not that I’d had a plethora of options or a willingness to be the brunt of a practical joke again.

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