Page 17 of Sending Nudes to My Boss

My brain immediately replays the scene from his office earlier. His powerful hands, his hips thrusting against me, his tongue on my breasts…

I don’t have to look in the mirror to know I’m turning red.

“I want to figure this out,” he says. “I considered referring you to someone else for a job, but that felt wrong. Like I was punishing you for my own sin.”

“What sin?”

“Crossing that professional boundary,” he says.

“I think we both did that, not just you,” I tell him.

“Yes. But I am your boss. Which makes it my responsibility,” he says. “But I don’t want you to quit, Dot. And I sure as hell don’t want to give you over to someone else. You’re too good at this and…I think I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”

“What?”

“Who did you take those photos for?” he asks me, his eyes fierce. “Who is he? A boyfriend?”

“No,” I say quickly. “I took them for myself. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“But you said you didn’t mean to send those photos to me,” he replies. “They were meant for someone else. Who?”

William looks absolutely murderous right now. As though, if I gave him the name of a man right now, William would bolt out of the door in search for that man, ripping him apart for daring to be the object of my desire.

Could he really have such strong feelings? How long has he felt like this?

“The photos were supposed to be sent to my friend,” I say quickly. “Mystraight, femalefriend. She knew I was doing self-portraits and wanted to see how they turned out.”

William’s shoulders relax a little.

“So there’s no man?”

“Sadly, no,” I reply flatly. “There’s no man in my life. Hasn’t been one in quite a while. I’m not sure why you care, though. Since you’re always going on dates with that blonde.”

“What blonde?”

“You know. She came by the office a few times. I see her name on your calendar all of the time. I don’t know why you’re acting jealous that I might have sent my photos to a different man, when you’re clearly involved with someone else.”

William shakes his head, a small smile on his lips.

“Jessica is my sister,” he says.

I blink.

“Your sister? But she looks nothing like you!”

“Well, she’s not my biological sister. Or even my adoptive sister. We were…in the same foster home at the same time, for a while. She’s a few years older than me and when she turned eighteen and moved out, she stayed in touch with me. Just checked on how I was doing from time to time. She’s…the closest thing to any real family that I’ve got. I make a point to see her whenever she’s passing through Wild Bronco.”

“Oh,” I whisper, trying to absorb this information even though my brain has gone mushy with a mixture of embarrassment and need.

“Wereyoujealous?” William challenges me.

“No,” I say quickly.

“Did you know I’m an excellent lie detector, Dot?”

“So I’ve noticed,” I reply.

It’s true. One of William’s gifts as a lawyer is sniffing out dishonesty. Both in his own clients, and the other side. Rhonda, the paralegal, once accused him of having psychic abilities.

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