Page 18 of My Boss's Sons

Bill laughed and held up his hands. “If the big man wants me up here, who am I to say no?”

Everyone laughed as a few other men jokingly held up their hands and volunteered to be stolen by Gerald. Gerald walkedover to me and lightly patted my shoulder. “I promise to come down and personally lend a hand if I have to steal anyone else away from your team.”

The energy in the room turned playful and went off track as a few of the executives teased Gerald about the idea of him going downstairs to work. With Gerald’s attention away from me and everyone else focused on him, I silently slipped out of the room. With my heart racing and my breakfast in my throat, I got in the elevator and jabbed at the button for the eighteenth floor. It was the records floor, but since focus had shifted to storing everything to the cloud, the entire floor was a graveyard.

One lone security guard sat at the front desk to make sure no one messed with anything, but I’d met Steve on my first day and we’d bonded over our love of Halloween. We’d been the only two people dressed up so we’d naturally navigated to each other. He was thirty years older than me but I considered him a friend.

Steve read my expression when the elevator doors opened and he quickly sat back down. “One private floor for the lady. I hear the back office is especially great for throwing fits of rage.”

I patted his desk and walked on shaky legs to the room I always went to when I needed to lose my composure. Steve and I had an understanding. He didn’t stop me from sneaking in to lose my shit and I sent him every Halloween costume tutorial that I found about Billy fromHocus Pocus. Steve was great at privacy but shit at the internet.

I closed the door behind me and let out a frustrated scream as soon as I did. I grabbed the stack of files next to me and threw them across the room. The next one felt even better. I ripped at the file folders and growled out my anger and resentment until I was breathing heavily and the room was destroyed. Unfortunately, with all the anger gone, I was left to face the crushing panic about the guys being Gerald’s sons.

I sank to the floor and started gathering the files to restack them. It was my process. Everything got put back in order, just not the correct order. I’d trashed and organized the same files for two years. Normally, it felt a lot better. Normally, I didn’t have to face a one-night stand at work.

I was almost finished when a soft knock on the door startled me. Before I could say anything or climb to my feet, the door opened and Alex walked in.

16

***Alex***

Itook in the sight of Sophia on her knees in the middle of a mess and reconciled the image with the goddess I’d fucked just a few days earlier. The Sophia on her knees in an abandoned floor of The Anderson Building was dressed modestly, like she thought the clothes would hide her body, and she looked like she’d just gone ten rounds with Foreman.

I closed the door and leaned against it, wondering how she would react. She was an enigma. She’d been soft and submissive in Noah’s bedroom, but I’d just watched her stare at my father like she would’ve loved nothing more than to castrate him. There had been no sign of the shy woman who took orders with a smile on her face.

“So.” I kept my face neutral, unsure of what to expect from her. “We meet again.”

She stood up and clutched a stack of ruined folders to her chest. “Did you have any idea?”

I shook my head. “Nope. We were just as surprised as you were, Sophia. I have a feeling we were happier about the surprise than you were.”

“This is a nightmare.” She dropped the folders to the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. “Happy? You’re happy about this? Did you really just say the word happy to me?”

I watched every move she made as she planted her hands on her hips and walked in tight little circles on top of the folders she’d just dropped. The pencil skirt she wore with the matching jacket might’ve hid her skin, but when she moved, the skirt hugged her ass in a way that made my pants tight.

“I’m going to have to quit.” She turned on me. “The orgasms were great, but they weren’t anything I’d give up my career for. I really wish I’d known who you were before I went home with you.”

I couldn’t help smiling at her. The motion felt foreign after being around my dad all morning. “That’s unfortunate. I guess we should’ve tried harder.”

She stopped and I saw her eyes dance over me, as if she was seeing me for the first time that day. For every bit of discomfort I felt at being in something remotely close to a suit, she made it all worthwhile when she licked her lips and blushed before looking away. “You can’t say that.”

“Say what? That we should’ve made you come harder?” I bit my lip and shrugged. “Sorry.”

She spun away from me and ran her hands over her hair, putting the pieces that were sticking out wildly back into place. “This is my job, Alex, and I’m a professional. I… This can’t happen.”

I pushed off the door and walked closer. I could see goosebumps break out across her arms when I stopped just a few feet away. “Thisis your job?”

I knelt behind her and dreamed of having her over my face again while picking up the files she’d dropped. She dropped to her knees and started grabbing the files faster than I could.

“This is part of my job, yes. I have to break things to be able to handle this job sometimes. No one knows and no one suffers because of this. I don’t even know how you found me. Did Steve let you by? This place is… It’s a secret.” She sat back on her heels and tilted her head at me. “Howdidyou find me?”

“You’re not the only one who knows a security guard, Sophia. I tattoo one of the guys who works security and he found you for me.” I shrugged, unapologetic for hunting her down. “Noah and Ethan are probably shitting themselves right now out of jealousy.”

She studied the tattoos that crept out from the high collar of my shirt and then dropped her eyes to my hands. I watched her throat bob when she took in my hands and drank in the way her chest rose and fell faster when I fisted my hands. “You tattoo people?”

I stood up and looked down at her. She was a test of my self-control with her big green eyes looking up at me. I offered her my hand to keep myself from enjoying the view for too long. “I do.”

She took my hand and gasped when I tugged her into my chest. “Alex…”

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