Page 4 of Boss Level

After my father passed away, I decided the best way to honor him was to follow in his footsteps. Roger helped, pushing me through law school, making sure I had this job waiting for me when I graduated. More than a decade ago when he asked me to keep my sexual orientation a secret, for the firm, it was easy to sayyes. I didn’t need the world knowing who I was fucking.

As Xander and I had grown closer, he understood the request. The need for discretion. He had his own reasons it made sense to him. But the longer we’d been doing this, the more it wore on both of us. There were a number of days I felt torn between my loyalty to Roger and my desire to tell the world what Xander meant to me.

I pulled up in front of our house, and our own decorations twinkled at me. Xander had insisted we not go too tacky, so our lights were simple, white lights adorning the boxy house with floor to ceiling front windows.

Inside, the holiday lights from the living room reached into the dimly lit foyer, greeting me. I could hear the TV playing. I found Xander with his laptop in front of the TV. Which meant he was working, but he wanted to see me when I got home.

He looked up as I strode toward him. Unlike me, he didn’t have to hide his ink. The tattoos on his olive skin stretched up under the sleeves of his T-shirt, and seemed to grow from the collar. The tiny silver ring in his right nostril was subtle, glinting occasionally depending on how he turned his head. And his salt and pepper hair screamedexperienced, which only amplified the wholemature and wise, but also a bad-boylook.

Twenty-year-old me would’ve begged him to teach me all the things he obviously knew.

Who was I kidding? Thirty-five-year-old me had done the same when we first met.

I had his full attention the instant I walked in—he hadn’t been getting much work done.

“How’d it go?” His voice was hard to read. He wasn’t happy about this entire thing.

Not that I blamed him. Not only did we have to hideus, but now I was pretending withher.

I also didn’t see a way around this that wouldn’t destroy my law firm. Roger and I were picky about clients. Having a reputation for being ethical was important to both of us, and we turned down a lot of high-paying work because of it.

Of course, that one big lie both Roger and I told… I hated hiding how much I loved Xander, but the clients I would lose… It would only take two or three of the big ones walking away. It wasn’t about the money—not for me anyway. If the firm crumbled, a lot of people would be out of work.

I wouldn’t throw away all of Roger’s hard work for selfish reasons like love.

Besides, another thing I loved about Xander—career was as important as love. Something we had in common with Judith. Speaking of, “She saidyes.”

Xander let out a ridiculously high-pitched squeal of fake excitement. “Oh-em-gee.” He squealed again.

“Rein it in.” I rolled my eyes, but let my amusement peek through in a smile.

He leaned forward to set his laptop on the coffee table. “Seriously though? Good. I’m glad. But don’t think I want to stretch this out for any point of time.”

I crouched in front of him so we were eye-to-eye. “I know. Less than a month, and I’m all yours again.”

Xander gripped my chin tightly and his fingers dug into flesh. His touch both ached and enticed, and it sent a shiver of desire through me. He held my gaze. “You’re always mine.”

“Yes, I am.” And I always would be. I rose to crush my mouth to his, pushing devotion and need through the connection. Having Xander in my life was one of those things I’d never surrender. I’d remind him again and again how much I wanted and needed him.

And tonight, that meant driving home the physical.

I lowered myself to my knees as I glided my fingers down his torso. When I reached his waist, I undid his belt and trousers, never breaking eye contact with him.

He watched me impassively, expression blank except for the challenge in his single raised eyebrow.

Fine with me. The way his dick jerked when I brushed it through fabric, the sharp intake of breath he tried to hide, told me all I needed to know.

I slipped my hand inside his boxers to grip his half-hard cock. A low groan rumbled from his chest. I worked him free and stroked, pausing occasionally to draw my thumb over the head, smearing precum over the sensitive tip and bringing him to fully erect.

Never looking away from Xander’s face, I leaned in and drew him into my mouth. The flutter of his eyelids, the way he tilted his head back and let out a long groan, was something I felt through my entire body.

Now we could play. I traced my tongue along his shaft as I held him in my mouth. Pumping faster, squeezing tighter, and sucking harder in response to his movements and the intoxicating sounds he made. We’d been together long enough that I recognized his cues, but I still got hard from getting my husband off.

Our connection flowed between us, drawing my own cock to fully hard until it dug into my zipper. Should I work myself free and stroke both of us at the same time.

I ached at the thought. Would waiting be worth the reward?

“Stop.” Xander’s command was rough.

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