Page 17 of Dating the Boss

“Food.” She laughs and spins in my embrace, throwing her arms over my shoulders.

I kiss her and gently run my hand between her legs, rinsing my come from her inner thighs. Then I quickly run soap over my body, rinse off, and am wrapping her in a thick, plush, terry cloth robe before she can ask me again. “I had them bring us steak gorgonzola with roasted broccolini and garlic potatoes. Sound good?”

“I’d be happy with peanut butter and jelly right now, but yes, that sounds amazing.” She giggles and twists her damp hair up in the clip she’d had on earlier today.

I don a matching robe, and we walk down the stairs to the kitchen. The place settings are already set, but the food is in the warmer. “Sit down and I’ll bring you a plate.”

She grabs the bottle of wine that they opened to aerate. “Do you want a glass?”

“Yes,” I call over my shoulder, walking back in seconds later with two plates. Setting one in front of her, I smile as she immediately digs in. She radiates beauty sitting across from me in her robe, hair messy, mascara smudged, mouth full of food. “I could get used to this.”

She glances up and puts her hand over her mouth. “What?”

“You and I enjoying domesticated bliss.”

Through narrowed eyes, she takes a drink of her wine. “Are you making fun of me?”

I shake my head and shove a forkful of mashed potatoes into my mouth. “Not in the slightest.”

She glances down at her plate and then sets her fork down. “Now that we’ve both come multiple times, I’d like to revisit the conversation in the car.”

I cut a chunk of steak and pop it into my mouth, watching her thoughtfully as I chew. “You mean the whole ‘this is Day One of forever’?Or the part where I declared you’re going to write a canned text message to all the hopeful bachelors from yesterday and tell them ‘thanks, but no thanks’.”

“Day One of forever?”

“I didn’t send you a note lightly last night, Brooklyn. I didn’t play with you all day in the office or bring you to my home without knowing exactly what I want.”

“So, what? We’re in a relationship?”

I reach across the table and offer her my hand, which she thankfully takes. “I don’t want anyone else. I knew enough about you to know I wanted you—and now that I’ve touched you, tasted you, and fucked you in only a couple of the many ways I plan to fuck you, I have no doubt that I want forever with you. I love you, Brooklyn. There’s no other way to explain it. I have for a long time.” I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her fingers. “What is it that you want?”

Her lips part as she watches me nibble on her fingertips. “I want you because I also love you, and I have for a long time.”

I stand up, move behind her, and wrap my arm around her midsection, burying my face into her neck. “I’ll make you happy, baby. I promise.”

“I know you will, but what about the office?”

“It’s up to you. We can send out a company-wide announcement tomorrow, or let people figure it out on their own. Our personal relationship doesn’t change our working relationship. And it’s not like there’s a promotion or position that sleeping with me would get you—you know?”

“True. I’m already the CEO’s right hand. There’s really nowhere else to go unless I become a VP of one of the departments.”

“Is that what you want?”

She turns her head, her eyes bright blue and sparkly. “You know what I want.”

I smile because I do know. She told me that night out on the deck under the snowflakes and stars. “You want to get your master’s degree, and then you want to start a bookkeeping business working from home so you can start a family. But before all that, you want to spend a couple weeks riding the trains throughout Europe, specifically hitting Amsterdam, Prague, Venice, and Rome—which sounds like a perfect honeymoon to me.”

“It would be a perfect honeymoon,” she says with a grin.

“Now that that’s settled.” I kiss her neck and retake my seat. “Eat your dinner so we can enjoy our dessert.”

“Have you always been this bossy?” She picks up her fork and shovels a huge helping of potatoes into her mouth.

“Oh, baby, you have no idea.”

EPILOGUE

COULTER

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