Page 8 of Boss Level

Uh…no.

“It’s not bad.” Judith looked unfazed. “It might grow on me.”

“I’ll keep trying,” Dominic said.

I wanted to see that kiss for real. Why? Because I was a sadist, even when it came to myself. Besides, I might be conflicted about tonight, but the memory of the two of them together our first time here… That never failed to light my skin on fire. “That kiss didn’t sell me.”

Judith shook her head. “What kiss?”

Dom rested a palm on her cheek, and forced her gaze to his. She froze, eyes wide, when he dipped his head toward hers. The kiss was soft. Subtle. No tongue, just lips pressed to lips. But the way Dom’s mouth lingered on Judith’s, I swore I felt what she did, and speaking of sparks…

Egging this on was a bad idea. Jealousy muted desire, and that roar ofminewas louder than ever.

Yeah, Judith and I had fucked each other plenty over the years, but we’d never kissed. Not like that. It was one of those agreements we made when we were younger.No kisses on the lips. Because when you’re twenty and think you know everything, that’s the kind of thing you think keeps you from falling in love. So, yeah. I’d had my mouth pretty much everywhere on her body except her mouth.

If this was me on Engagement Day One, I was in trouble for the next few weeks.

Why hadn’t they pulled apart yet?

I summoned every ounce of self-control that I had, and forced it through my veins, until my blood ran colder than the melting snow outside. “I’m sold, and if you can convince me, you can convince any stodgy old colonel authority.”

“General authority.” Judith broke away to correct me.

It was impossible to miss the breathiness in her reply, or the way she had her fingers halfway to her mouth before she paused and dropped her hand into her lap.

Dominic gave a short, sharp jerk of his head. “We’ll be fine, and we’ll be done by Christmas and broken up by New Year’s.”

Percy returned with our food, but the interruption didn’t lift the heavy cloud at the table.

When he was gone again, I focused on Judith. “You ready for Monday?” I asked.

“I willneverbe ready. But of course I am. We’ve also never been more ready.”

This was better. Talking shop. Diving into our jobs. Being the forty-year-old workaholics we all were. This was more like it.

It didn’t erase the memory of that kiss from my mind, or the possessive, chanting voice roaring for me to remind Dom he was mine.

But it made both easier for me to ignore. At least a little bit.

4

judith

All around the world, kids—and adults—were counting down the days until Christmas.

Ever since I was in my late teens, Christmas had haunted me. My ex-husband had tried to help. Xander got close, but he hadn’t quite pulled me back to being able to tolerate the holiday.

But for me,todaywas Christmas morning. A Christmas I’d been waiting on for more than half a decade. I didn’t remember the last time I’d felt this kind of anticipation. Not even on my wedding day.

Then again, that ended in divorce a few years later. This was far more important. At ten in the morning, noon on the East Coast, our game would go live. It had been in early access for a short while, but we were officially opening the servers to the world in a few hours.

I had no idea how I was going to focus until then, but I didn’t have a choice. The rest of my work didn’t become any less important because this was the most significant Monday of my life. As I sat down at my desk, a message came in from Dom.

Stepping into a day of meetings. Wanted to tell you congratulations. No one deserves today more.

The words warmed me. I needed to remember that yes, I was doing him a favor, but there were worse things he could’ve asked than for me to pretend to be in love with him, and he’d done a lot for me and my people, especially over the last few years.

Muddling my way through any of my work proved to be as effective as the kids trying to stay quiet and not wake up Mom and Dad while they waited to open the presents from Santa.

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