Page 2 of Never Bed the Boss
But as he gently drags a finger across the side of my cheek, brushing away my hair, I know it’s not a dream. “Keep drinking because I want you to feel everything when I make you mine tonight.”
I hear his words less than I feel them. My nipples pebble beneath my dress and my skin hums with need. I’ve never felt like this before. And with someone I’ve hardly laid eyes on? Thisis unreal and I’m afraid if I take my eyes away from my glass and look at him it’s game over. There won’t be a chance to go back.
“Aren’t you the picture-perfect image of modesty?” I quip, hoping I sound more confident than I feel.
“Modest?” He says, erasing the small distance between us. His breath is warm against my skin. His lips graze my earlobe as he growls, “There’s nothing modest about what I’m going to do to you tonight.”
If I don’t grab onto the side of the bar I’m liable to slip right off it. Whoisthis man? When I finally hazard a glance, I can’t breathe. He’s the kind of beautiful that’s devastating. Brutal edges with soft lips. Haunting eyes so clear and blue that they pierce my chest.
He presses his thumb against my lips and drags it down my bottom lip. “I’ve never met someone with such kissable lips.”
I try to swallow, but my throat, along with the rest of my body, is cinched tight.
“I’ve never met someone so…”
Beautiful, charismatic, confident…forward.There are a number of adjectives that I could use to describe this man but I’m not about to stroke his ego, and I don’t think he wants that either. He wants me to stroke something entirely different. And as much as I hate admitting it, I want to. Badly. But with a face and body like his, I can’t help but wonder how often does something like this.
“Presumptuous,” I say finally.
He laughs, pulling his hand away from me. Inwardly, I can feel myself lunge for him and the single word that came out of my mouth. I want to take it back so badly.
He grabs my glass of water, eyes the lipstick-stained rim, and presses his lips against it, sipping. When he finishes, he sets the glass back in front of me, his lips stained from my color. He sucks in his bottom lip and the stain disappears.
“You have no idea how presumptuous I am.” He pauses for a few beats. “Finish your water and follow me to my suite. I want to taste more than the stain on your lips.”
I hold his gaze, mulling over the proposition. Am I really considering this? I shouldn’t. I should leave right now and never look back but for some reason, I can’t. I like the way he’s making me feel. I’ve never been looked at like this before. Desired. Wanted. Lusted after. It feels good to feel good after feeling awful for so long.
And coming from a man like this? It feelsreallygood. He’s in a league of his own. He looks like a billion bucks. Smells like it too. And the way he’s looking at me has me so disoriented and weak that I’m actually considering going wherever he wants to take me. And my bodyreallywants him to take me…
“Or I could taste you right here. Your choice. It doesn’t matter to me. One way or another, those lips will be mine.”
I stare at him for a few moments, his gaze never breaking from mine as his fingertips skim across my skin. Tingling.Burning. He’s hardly touched me and my body’s begging for more. A few more beats pass and neither of us speaks. He’s staring at me as though he already knows my answer.
And he’s not wrong. I need something different. I need a change to shake myself out of this funk. I need…
“Don’t make me regret this.”
One minute later, I’m standing side by side with a stranger, waiting for the elevator. Seconds creep by like hours as my heart pounds, blood thrumming in my ears as I still wonder if I’m actually going through with this. This is not like me at all.
But when I steal another glance at that ruthless jawline of his, the sloping curves of his face, and those lips, I don’t care anymore. This was not how I thought my night would go. But after a string of bad luck, this is exactly what I need: One night with…him.
“I don’t even know your name.” It’s less a question than a statement of fact. “You’re not going to kill me tonight, right?” I add a few seconds later, trying to cut the tension building inside me.
He almost cracks a smile before saying, “Asher.”
So that’s a maybe to the killer question?
“Iris,” I lie. I’m not Lilah, not tonight. Lilah would never do something like this, something so unpredictable. She’d never be in a situation like this to begin with. She’d be at home eating ramen, trying to figure out which bill to skip paying this month.
The elevator doors open. We’re hardly inside before he grabs my wrist and pulls me against his body. My arms press into his hard torso as my pulse skyrockets. “The only thing I’m going to kill tonight is your desire to be with other men. Iris, there will be no going back after tonight. I promise you that.”
The elevator doors shut and I’m pinned against the wall. He moans against my lips as I whimper against his, arching against the wall as he grips my hair with one hand while the other cups my breast.
I can hardly stand as my body melts into his. I’ve never been kissed like this before. Pure. Unadulterated. Voracious and savage.
“I’ve never done this before,” I rasp during the brief moment our lips become unsealed.
“And you’ll never do it again,” he groans into my ear as the weight of his body keeps me riveted against the wall.
