Seduced by the CEO (10 page)

Micah reached out to her. “Come here.”

“I don’t need you to coddle me.”

He pulled her into his arms anyway. “You need to be
coddled and I’m the only one who’s going to do it.” He kissed her cheek.
“Forget I mentioned the family get-together. I’d probably punch the bastard if
he opened his fucking mouth.”

“I hit him once. The first time I caught him with
another woman.” She laughed. “I think he thought I was going to kill him.”

Micah kissed her face. Her nose. Her cheek. Her
forehead. “Sounds like you have some motive.”

He held her tight. Kristin tried to act tough, and
generally speaking, she was. But Micah saw a bit of vulnerability when she
spoke about the past, about her ex-husband and what she’d gone through with
him. She didn’t show it often, but he figured she felt it more than she let on.

Micah pressed his lips against her cheek. “You smell
good.”

She turned to meet his eyes. “I smell like the
office.”

“You smell like that damn lotion you favor. I smelled
it the first time you walked in my room. You’d make a terrible thief, you
know.”

She smiled. “I didn’t plan on stealing anything. Well,
maybe you…”

“How did you break into my house?”

She chuckled. “I think the better question would be,
how did I find it? It was harder to find than break into.”

Micah liked his privacy. It wasn’t a secret and
everyone around him knew it. His house was the one place where he could
literally escape from the rest of the world.

He narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m not going to either.” She stood and smoothed her
skirt down. “If you decide to get up and out of bed, I’ll explain the reports.”

Micah tossed the covers back and stood. “If I have to
tie you down to get the info, I will.”

He knew she understood he wasn’t talking about the
reports. He kept his house on secure lockdown. State of the art everything to
keep his privacy from the outside world. Breaking into his house couldn’t have
been an easy task.

“You left your keys in the door.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I wasn’t that drunk.”

He probably was, but he wouldn’t admit it. She pointed
to the dresser. “I set them right there. I really hope you didn’t drive home
last night.”

He glanced over and spotted his keys. “Roxy drove me
home. Do you make a habit of just walking into someone’s house?”

“And she told me she didn’t know where you lived.” She
rolled her eyes. “You are hardly just ‘someone’ after the naughty things we’ve
done. Why is this a big deal? You came in my house and made yourself at home.
In front of my son.”

He propped his hands on his hips. “Nobody has ever
been here.”

She glanced around. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you
don’t want me here.”

“That’s not it.” He pulled out a drawer and reached
for the top pair of boxers. “It is a big deal. To me anyway.”

She watched him gather clothes from his dresser. “So
you do want me here?”

He sighed. “If I wanted you gone, I wouldn’t waste
time arguing with you. I have a hangover. A little less talking and no more
thinking would be great.”

Micah crossed the room, heading toward the master bath,
with Kristin following closely behind, and set his fresh clothes on the counter.
He shouldn’t have had so much to drink the night before. He’d been too uptight
about Trevor and his MIA status that he didn’t think of anything else. And when
the Dom scheduled for the demonstration canceled, he needed something to loosen
him up.

“I only came to show you the reports.” She leaned
against the door frame. “I called you a few times, then went by the club. When
I couldn’t find you, I set out to find your house.”

She was worried about him. That realization was surprising.
He turned the shower on, not stepping inside yet, and faced her.

“Going over those reports is not the only thing we’re
going to do while you’re here.”

She shook her head. “I’ve already had my shower
today.”

“You’re going to need another by the time we’re
through.”

“You are in no condition…” She stopped when he propped
his hands on his hips. He watched as she took in his body, letting her eyes
travel down his neck, her gaze caressing his chest before drifting down his
torso to linger on his erect cock. The longer she looked the harder he got.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I haven’t fucked you in two days. What do you
expect?”

She didn’t respond. She met his eyes. He wanted to
kiss her so badly his entire body ached with need. Micah stepped closer to her
and she backed up against the wall.

He stopped a moment, taking in her reaction. After
their time at the club, she still didn’t trust him. That pissed him off, if he
was being honest. He reached out and brushed her cheek with his finger.

“You still don’t trust me.”

She swallowed hard. “Why do you say that?”

“Because you recoil.” He reached for her arms and
unfolded them. He pushed them to her sides. “You guard yourself. You try really
hard to remain professional but your interest shows. You want to fuck me as
much as I want to fuck you. Why don’t you trust me?”

She glanced away. “You’re wasting hot water.”

“Talk to me, Kristin.”

“I’ll tell you about the reports when you get out.”
She pushed at his chest lightly and moved past him.

Micah stared at her a moment before sighing in defeat.
He’d take his shower and then devote himself to figuring her out.

Chapter
Nine

Kristin sat on the couch in Micah’s living room when
he entered. Bare-chested with a white towel draped over his shoulders, the only
thing he wore was a pair of long, knee-length black shorts that hung low on his
hips. The obvious erection he’d sported moments earlier had disappeared and the
look on his face told her he wasn’t very happy about it either.

“I tracked down the off shores account. The money was
wired to the Netherlands.”

“I don’t want to talk about that right now.” He sat
next to her. “I’ve got a huge fucking headache and I don’t need to add to it.”

She closed the folder. “I’m not having sex with you.”

“Surprisingly, I don’t want to do that either.” He met
her eyes. “Are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to do
my own prying?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I want to know what your issue is with my lifestyle.
Every time I look at you, you all but cringe. It’s not that you’re not
interested. You are. I’m pretty sure you liked the orgasms I gave you, too. So,
I’m completely lost.”

Kristin stared at the folder in her lap for a while.
“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.”

She rolled her eyes and set the folder on the coffee
table. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me the truth.”

Kristin shook her head. “I haven’t lied. I don’t lie.”

Micah sat quietly beside her for a while. She didn’t
know what he wanted and what he was getting at by bringing up this topic. She
simply wanted to go over the reports and leave. Okay, maybe that wasn’t the
entire truth. She wanted him, just like he said she did, but nothing good would
come from it.

“You have issues with restraint. You claimed it was
claustrophobia. Is that it?”

“I don’t understand the point of this conversation.”

He huffed a breath. “Did your ex hit you?”

Kristin jerked her attention to him. “What? No.”

“Then what’s going on, Kristin? You don’t trust me.
You freak out about sex. You don’t like being restrained. You’re scared to
death I’m going to hit you. What the fuck did I ever do to you to cause all of
that?”

They sat in silence for a while. Kristin debated with
what she should tell him. He was still her boss. She didn’t know him well
enough to tell the deep dark secrets her ex-husband didn’t even know. Very few
people knew about the happenings of her early childhood and she didn’t care to
share the stories anytime soon.

“It’s not you,” she finally confessed.

Micah reached out for the folder on the coffee table.

“Who was it?”

Kristin’s lip quivered. From out of nowhere, the truth
slipped out. “My father. My real father.”

She turned toward him, unbelieving she’d said it.
Micah set the folder to his side and leaned forward, propping his elbows on his
knees. “You had flashbacks.”

It was a statement not a question, she realized.
Kristin moved toward Micah and reached for the folder beside him.

“I haven’t thought about it in years.” She collected
herself and sat down to open the folder. “He was abusive toward my mom and I
witnessed a lot of it. She finally divorced him and married Rory. He is the man
I’ve always considered my father.”

“You went through with our session though.”

“I couldn’t exactly stop, could I?”

“Yes!” Micah ran his hands through his hair. “You
could have told me to fucking stop. You could have told me all of this the
other night!”

“I did tell you to stop.” She narrowed her eyes. “You
told me to calm down.”

He sighed. “I thought you weren’t giving it a chance.
I didn’t want you to give up so quickly. If I had known, it wouldn’t have
happened.”

Kristin opened the folder. “It doesn’t matter. Can we
get back to business?”

Micah stared at her like she was crazy. She didn’t
care. She was still on the clock and she wasn’t going to waste anymore time.

“The off shore account was under the alias, J. Moore.
Not exactly a unique name, but not your accountant’s name either. I’m not sure
if it is the same person.”

“J. Moore is my financial advisor.” He grabbed the
folder from her. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I can do some more digging, but this could mean your
accountant isn’t involved.”

Micah tossed the folder to the coffee table and rubbed
his forehead. Kristin wanted to reach out and comfort him.

“I do trust you, Micah.” She shifted at his side,
facing him. “I think that’s what scares me the most.” He lifted his head and
met her eyes. “I trust you enough to do that kind of stuff to me and make it
pleasurable.”

He reached out to pull her closer. His lips pressed
against her temple and she closed her eyes. “I would never ever hurt you. That
is something I can promise now and keep forever.”

Kristin hoped what he said was true. He kissed her
forehead and pulled back to meet her eyes. “I want something to eat. Are you
hungry?”

She shook her head. “No. I really need to get back to
work. I told Beth that I wouldn’t be gone long and I’m supposed to meet some
friends after work. They want to go to The Black Rose. I’m trying to talk them
out of it.”

“Have you got my entire office going to the club, now?”
Micah stared at her.

“No.” She sighed. “We were talking at lunch and I may
have mentioned something about my new lover … one thing led to another and now
I’m going to The Black Rose with my friends.”

Micah laughed. “I don’t know what I expected, but that
wasn’t it. Do they know it’s me?”

“What? No.” She shook her head.

“But you told them about me?” His grin widened. “Which
details?”

He was incorrigible. Kristin didn’t know why she told
him that bit of info but she wanted to take it back. When he realized she
wasn’t going to respond, Micah leaned in to kiss her. Kristin parted her lips
and tasted him. He was walking temptation at the office and she had thought
about more than once what it would be like to not care about her reputation and
let everyone know he was the guy she was fucking. To let them know that he was
hers.

He pulled back and smiled. “I won’t be there tonight
so have fun with your friends. Call me if anything happens.”

At least the mystery of him would remain a secret for one
more day. “Turn on your cell phone.”

He stood and grabbed it from the kitchen counter.
“It’s on. I’m only answering calls from you though.”

She watched him work on fixing himself something to
eat. If she survived the night with her friends, maybe she could eventually
reveal his identity to them. It was a big step and one she was excited about
eventually making.

****

“So this is the place where all the sex magic
happens?” Lyn frowned. “I’m not sure I want to go in there. It doesn’t look
safe.”

Jamie scoffed. “You are such a wimp. It is a fetish
club. I realize it’s no Rodeo Drive, but it’s hardly prison either.”

Sable laughed. “My boyfriend will kill me if I
participate in a scene.”

Kristin shoved her hands in her suit coat pockets. “I
thought you had an open relationship?”

“Yeah, but he gets mad if there are marks.” Sable
chuckled. “Mark gave me a hickey and Trey was pissed off for a week.”

Kristin shook her head. “I don’t know about this. It’s
been a long day. My guy’s not going to be here anyway.”

All three friends turned toward her with arched
eyebrows.

“You told your mysterious lover that we were coming
here, didn’t you?” Jamie asked with a smirk. “You told him to stay away so we
couldn’t meet him.”

Kristin glanced around, looking for Micah’s car. He
had told her that he wouldn’t be there that night but she had to double check.
She didn’t see it, but then again, he usually parked in the back. What would
they say if they saw him? Would he kiss her and possess her like before or
ignore her because of them? A million questions roamed through Kristin’s mind
distracting her.

“Kris, are you coming?” Jamie held the black metal
door open for her, their other friends waiting inside.

“Yeah.” She reached for the door and followed them in.
This would be interesting.

****

“Where are you, Trevor?” Micah breathed a sigh of
relief when his accountant finally answered his phone.

“Amsterdam.”

Micah rubbed his forehead. “What the fuck are you
doing in Amsterdam?”

“I found missing information in your financial advisor’s
reports. After a bit of searching, I discovered he’d been embezzling the money
from you, little by little.” Trevor’s tone seemed sincere. “He made an
unplanned business meeting to the city this week so I thought I’d tag along.”

Micah’s head buzzed. Trevor knew about Micah’s
financial advisor? “Fuck it. I’m going to have to fly over there, aren’t I? I
might kill the son of a bitch if I do.”

Trevor gave a throaty laugh. “Let me take care of it.
That’s what you pay me for.”

Micah felt like an idiot for not trusting the man.
They had known each other for years before Micah finally entrusted him to take
care of his accounting. His financial advisor, however, was another story.

“You know, Bosk, when I get back, I think we should
talk about my raise.”

“Get my money back and we will.”

The two disconnected and Micah sighed loudly as he
leaned back in his office chair. For the first time in a few weeks, he could
finally breathe without worrying about something. The Black Rose was doing
well. Bosk Enterprises was successful with the latest addition of all their
magazines.

And then there was Kristin.

She was something he never expected to want in his
life, yet his mind wandered and his thoughts drifted to her all the time. He
wasn’t a relationship kind of guy. Didn’t know the first thing about them
outside the bedroom, but damned if he couldn’t see that changing because of
her.