Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (120 page)

“Thank you,” I said and stepped back to
allow him in as I went to put the flowers in a vase. “You look very nice,
yourself. Where are we going?”

“To a little Italian place I found
downtown called Romaletti’s.”

I turned to look at his face. I wasn’t
sure if Adam’s suspicions were playing on my mind or if in fact Jack knew way
too much about my movements since he had been in town.

“Romaletti’s?” I repeated. “What made you
decide on that restaurant?”

“I asked the concierge at my hotel for a
recommendation,” he said. “He recommended it highly. Is there a problem?”

“No. No problem. Romaletti’s is a
wonderful place. I’ll just get my coat.”

I grabbed my coat and bag and as I started
to lock the apartment door, Jack took the key from my hand and locked both
locks. He gave the knob a shimmy to make certain and then handed the key back
to me. When I gave him a quizzical look he said,

“I just want to make sure you’re safe.” I
didn’t say anything, but definitely we needed to talk. I allowed him to open
the elevator and push the buttons and then open the car door for me when we got
downstairs. He tried to lean across me to buckle my seatbelt also, but I
thought that was going too far.

I took the belt out of his hand and said,
“I got it, thanks.”

Jack only nodded, and then closing the
door, he went around to the other side. Once in and buckled up himself he hit
the automatic lock buttons on the doors. I looked at him strangely again.

“This is kind of a scary city, I want to
be sure no one sees my gorgeous passenger and tries to jump in the car with
us.”

Weird. I thought this was my opportunity
to talk to him.

 
“Jack,” I started, “I’m not complaining that
you’re so thoughtful of me. I’m afraid though that I’ve maybe led you to
believe there could be more between us than is possible.” I looked at him, and
couldn’t quite decipher the look on his face in the dark car. He didn’t say
anything, however so I went on,

“I’m in a relationship. I didn’t tell you
before because I hadn’t really seen it as being significant in our relationship
since we have been only friends for a very long time now. I’ve just started to
get the feeling the last few times that we’ve talked that you may be looking
for this to go further?”

I said the last sentence like a question.
He glanced over at me, and then putting his eyes back on the road, he said,

“Honestly, I had hopes. I’m a little embarrassed
to say it now. I had just seen you so many times and you had been alone always,
so I assumed that you weren’t seeing anyone seriously right now. I suppose it
was wrong of me to assume. I should have asked.”

“I’m sorry, Jack. I never meant to lead you
on. My relationship has been really complicated lately and difficult to explain
to anyone.”

He didn’t say anything, but as he pulled
into the parking lot and the lights illuminated his profile I could see that
his mood had drastically changed since we had left my place. He parked the car,
then looked over again.

“You don’t have to be sorry. You haven’t
done anything wrong. I suppose I also just imagined myself as not ‘just anyone’
in your eyes. At the very least, you are my best friend. I feel like I can tell
you anything, even after all of these years. I was sincerely hoping you at
least felt that much for me, as well.”

“Oh, Jack, I do think of you as my dear
friend. It’s not that I felt I couldn’t talk to you about it. It’s like I said,
it’s just all so complicated that it’s not a conversation I wanted to try to
have over a fifteen-minute coffee ‘catch up’ session. Maybe we could talk about
it tonight, if you’d like.”

He nodded and got out of the car. I waited
and let him open mine for me and then I took the arm he offered and let him
lead me into the restaurant. Marco was at the front desk and I could tell by
the look in his eyes that he recognized me right away. I smiled at him and
said, “Hello again, Marco. This is Jack. He’s a friend from my childhood that
is visiting New York from London.”

I was afraid that he’d think I was
cheating on Adam. Marco didn’t let on if he did, though. He gave Jack the same
welcome that he had given me the first time he had met me. After our boisterous
greeting, he upgraded the table Jack had reserved for us to one that he
referred to as his “first class, VIP tables” and a complimentary bottle of the
best house wine was sent over, as well.

“Wow,” Jack said. “This guy you’re in a
relationship with must be really something to merit all of this attention just
by knowing him.”

I smiled. “I think he’s really something,
and apparently so does Marco.”

“So tell me about him,” Jack said as he
poured us both a glass of wine.

“Well, he’s the owner of the firm I work
for, for starters.”

“Adam Hanson?” Jack asked with a raised
eyebrow.

“Yes, you know of him?”

“I think anyone who is connected to the
law in this town, or who picks up a newspaper, knows of Adam Hanson. He’s
currently representing the most infamous billionaire in the country, is he
not?”

“Yes, which is part of the reason you have
been running into me alone so often. Adam has been up to his eyeballs with this
case.”

“And the other part,” Jack asked, after
the waiter had taken our orders.

“Well, that’s the complicated part. Adam’s
in the midst of a messy divorce. His soon to be ex is being extremely
difficult, and has even recently moved back in with him, claiming she’s staking
out ‘her’ home so that Adam doesn’t take it from her just by virtue that she’s
not in residence.”

“Hmm, actually that sounds like a smart
move on her part.”

I gave him a look that I hoped conveyed I
didn’t appreciate him defending Marjorie in any way before saying, “It was
actually her lawyer who gave her the idea. Adam thinks she’s sleeping with
him.”

“Alicia, you do know that you deserve
better than part of a man’s affections and all of this drama, don’t you?”

“It’s not like that, Jack. Adam is
entirely devoted to me. This will all be over soon. I find him to be worth
waiting for.” Jack didn’t respond to that, so trying a shot at changing the
subject I said,

“Is there anyone special in your life
these days? My mother mentioned not long ago that she heard you had gotten
engaged.”

A dark cloud passed before Jack’s eyes.
“That was a mistake. Alicia, promise me something. If the drama doesn’t stop
soon with this man, you’ll reevaluate what you want and need out of a
relationship.”

“Jack,” I said, trying to choose my words
wisely, “I am quite capable of looking out for myself. This will be over soon,
but even if it’s not, I do have the right to choose what I do and do not wish
to deal with. I feel that I’m level-headed enough to make that decision on my
own.”

Jack nodded. He looked about to say
something else when our dinner arrived and interrupted him. By the time we
started eating, his mood seemed to have changed again. He was back to being the
old witty Jack, telling jokes and funny stories to make me laugh. I wrote off
his moodiness to the residual feelings he still harbored and let it go at that
for the time being.

The rest of the evening was spent on light
conversation and I really enjoyed myself. By the time Jack dropped me at my
apartment and gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek goodnight, the uncomfortable
feelings about his earlier behavior had all but gone away.

CHAPTER
FIVE

ADAM

  
I
made time Saturday afternoon to go pick out a Christmas tree with Alicia. I
didn’t really have the time, but I had barely seen her all week and I was
having withdrawals. I also knew she’d been out with her “friend” the night
before and shamelessly, jealousy was eating away at me.

I picked her up in the morning and we
walked to a nearby coffee shop. We started our day out with hot chocolate and
warm croissants before walking to a nearby tree lot. At the sight of the trees,
Alicia’s pretty eyes lit up and I watched her in awe as she went from one tree
to the next examining them like she was making a lifetime purchase.

“This one is nice and fat, but he has a
hole on the other side.”

“Put that to the wall,” I told her.

“No, I’d rather find one full all the way
around.”

I tried not to laugh at her as she went to
the next one and the next. I saw one that I liked and said, “What about this
one?”

She came over and walked a circle around
it. “He’s kind of skinny.”

“Maybe we could feed him and fatten him
up,” I said with a grin.

She stuck her tongue out at me. “I just
want it to be perfect. It will be our first year celebrating together and Mum
and Dad will be here, too.”

“I know, baby, I’m just teasing. Pick
away.”

An hour later she’d finally picked out the
tallest, fattest one on the lot. Thankfully, they delivered. After paying for
it, we walked hand in hand back over to Central Park and had lunch. There were
a lot of holiday kiosks set up around the park, and Alicia bought some
Christmas decorations. We had another cup of hot chocolate and sat on a bench
to watch the ice skaters while we sipped it. She slipped her hand into my pocket
and laid her head on my shoulder. I watched all of the children playing on the
ice, imagining what it might be like to have a child someday with her. I’d
never wanted kids before, but I think Alicia would make a wonderful mother and,
maybe because I was getting older, I thought I might enjoy being a father
myself.

After another hour or so, we walked back
to her place. Luis met us at the door and told her that the tree had been
delivered. He’d had them set it in the hallway just outside of her apartment.
When we got upstairs, I dragged it inside. We set it up…and watched it fall
over three times before it was stable enough to decorate. She brought out a pot
of coffee and Christmas cookies to enjoy while we dressed up the tree. It was
something I hadn’t done since I was a kid, and I had a great time with her
doing it.

When she was finally satisfied with it, we
lay back on the couch and she snuggled into the crook of my arm while we
admired our work. It only took fifteen minutes before we were kissing and my
hands were roaming around underneath her clothes.

“Do you want to take this to the bedroom?”
she asked with a grin.

“Nope.”

Looking confused she said, “No? You want
to do it here on the couch?” I was obviously aroused so there was no denying I
wanted to “do it,” as she had so cutely put it.

“Nope.”

“You don’t want me?”

I laughed. “I want you all the time, too
much. I walk around with a semi-hard cock all day just thinking about you. I
want you, baby. You owe me a shower, though, remember? Or at the very least, a
bubble bath.”

She smiled. “A bubble bath would get my
vote.”

“Okay, why don’t you go fix it while I put
these cups away and pour us a glass of wine.”

She giggled like a little girl as she
headed down the hall to the bathroom. I heard the water running as I carried
the wine glasses down the hallway toward the bedroom. When I made it into the
bathroom, the first thing I noticed was that she’d stripped out of her clothes.
I hardly noticed anything else but that. She took the wine glasses out of my
hands and instructed, “Strip.”

Laughing, I did as I was told. She watched
as I peeled off each garment and once I was fully naked, she sat our wine on
the wide edge of the now bubble-filled tub and climbed in.

She turned off the water and I watched her
sexy body disappear down into the water. I stepped in behind her and she leaned
back into me. She had pulled her hair up into a messy bun and her gorgeous neck
and shoulders were bare. I kissed across one shoulder and then up her long
graceful neck. Then I started massaging them. She moaned and leaned forward
slightly. I ran my hands down her spine, massaging with my fingers and when I
reached the bottom of it, I slid them up her sides and brushed my fingers
lightly against the sides of her breasts.

She shuddered and tipped her head back. I
put my mouth to her ear and slipped a hand around her waist. I sucked the
delicate lobe in between my lips and used my tongue to tantalize her as I slid
her up into my lap.

  
I
used the hand on her waist to caress her stomach and then slid it up to her
breasts. She let out a little cry as I pinched one nipple firmly between my
thumb and forefinger. I moved my hand over and did the same to the other one
and then I slid my hand down between her legs. She squirmed against my hard
cock, which she was sitting directly on top of, as I put my fingers against her
clit and began to rub it in small circles. She had her head all the way back and
pressed into my shoulder and her breaths were coming in short gasps. I rubbed
hard and fast and loved the way her sliding against my cock felt as I did.