Page 81 of Forbidden Grumpy Boss

I’m not lying, though. There’s too much running through my mind. Harvey, the mess with Caleb at school, the rumors still swirling around us like vultures waiting for the kill. But mostly, I’m thinking about her. The way she looks at me, the way she makes me feel like I’m on the edge of losing control.

She taps her fingers on the glass, a rhythm starting to drive me crazy. I lean back, staring at the ceiling, but I can’t ignore the tension between us.

“Alright,” I say, breaking the silence. “What’s bothering you?”

“There’s nothing bothering me.”

“Really?” I glance at the glass in her hand. “You’ve damn near cracked the glass from tapping it. That’s a tell that there’s something on your mind.”

She stops tapping but doesn’t look at me. “It’s . . . something my father said.” Her voice is small, hesitant.

“What’d he say?”

“He thinks I’m a fool for trusting you,” she says, finally turning to face me, her brown eyes searching mine. “Do you . . . do you actuallyloveme, Silas? Or am I just some . . . distraction?”

Her words hit harder than I expected. Do I love her? I don’t know if I can say that. Not yet. But I know I’d never hurt her. Not intentionally.

“I’d never hurt you, Leah,” I say, my voice firm. “You know that.”

“That’s not what I asked you, Silas.”

“But that’s the answer I can give for now.”

She studies my face, then leans in closer. “The scandal. Is it getting to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, is it getting to you?”

I take another sip of the one-hundred-and-thirty-thousand-dollars wine and decide it isn’t worth the price. “Sometimes I wonder, if, maybe, I took advantage of you.”

Her hands are on my face now, gentle but insistent. “That night in Rome, five years ago . . . I was an adult, Silas. I knew exactly what I wanted. And what I wanted was you.”

Her words are a balm, soothing the guilt gnawing at me. We’re so close now, her breath warm against my skin, our faces inches apart.

“I don’t want to feel like I took advantage of you,” I whisper.

“You never have to feel like that,” she whispers back, her lips brushing mine. “If I could go back to that night, I’d make the same decision all over again.”

I can't tear my gaze away from her. The scandal has already cost me a lot—Caleb’s respect, my reputation, and the last threads of my so-called friendship with Harvey. But none of that seems to matter right now.

Not with Leah so close.

Her dress’s material clings to her breasts when she moves, and every time she shifts, I catch a glimpse of smooth, porcelain thighs. It’s torture. Beautiful, delicious torture. I lean back, taking another sip of the wine I poured for us, but it doesn’t do much to drown out the growing need inside me.

“You don’t know what you do to me.” The words come out rougher than I intended. She blinks, caught off guard for a second, and then something shifts in her expression. A flicker of surprise, quickly replaced by something else—something darker, more dangerous.

"You don’t know whatyoudo to me, Silas," she says softly, and there’s no hesitation in her voice, none of that uncertainty I half-expected.

She stands up and reaches underneath her dress to slowly pull off her panties. When she does and drops the black lacy fabric on the couch, I swear the temperature in the room rises ten degrees.

My gaze falls to her lips, slightly parted as she waits for me to make the next move, but I’m frozen for a moment. All I can think about is how this will look and play out once the world finds out—because they always find out. How much worse will it get when they see us like this? But then she leans down, placing her hands on my chest, and every rational thought slips away.

“Silas,” she whispers, her voice barely audible, “kiss me.”

I don’t need to be told twice.

I pull her onto my lap, and the second our lips collide, it’s like a dam breaking. Her hands are in my hair, tugging, while mine move down her back, gripping her hips, pulling her closer until there’s no space between us. The taste of the wine is still on her tongue, sweet and sharp, mixing with the heat of her breath, and I can’t get enough.

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