Boss Next Door Read online

  I take her by the hand and pull her to her feet, wrapped in a keen sense of disbelief. This is something I’ve wanted for a long time. Something I’ve dreamt about. And something I never thought I’d get a chance to have again.

  “I do,” I whisper.

  I pull Chloe to me, our bodies and our mouths crashing together with the force of long held desire. Our tongues meet, and I feel an explosion of white-hot intensity that stretches from my head to my toes and back again. My cock is rigid, and I grind it against her as I push her back against the table. Chloe runs her hands up my arms and down my back, gripping and tugging at my t-shirt as I kiss her neck and slide the tip of my tongue down to her collarbone.

  Picking her up, I set her down on the table and step forward, forcing her to part her thighs for me. I grind my hard cock against her, and she draws a deep, shuddering breath. I work quickly to pull off her shirt and unhook her bra, stripping them off of her in record time. I slide my hands along skin that’s smoother than silk and lean forward, taking one of her breasts into my mouth. Cradling my head, Chloe whimpers as I lick and suck on one stiff nipple while I give a firm pinch to the other.

  Her hands are in my hair, gripping and pulling it roughly, fueling the fire burning in my belly. Chloe grips the back of my head and pushes me down as she parts her thighs wider, inviting me in. I give her a salacious smile and drop to my knees, pulling her to the edge of the table and pushing her skirt up around her waist. Chloe chews on her bottom lip, pure hunger in her eyes as I pull her panties down and toss them aside. In a soft, quick moment, I plunge forward, piercing her with my tongue.

  “Oh God,” she gasps.

  Chloe pulls my hair viciously at the same time she grinds her pussy, slick with her juices, against my face. I lick and lap eagerly at her wetness, savoring the scent and taste of her. I grip her ass, pressing my fingers hard into her flesh as I pull her even harder against my mouth, plunging my tongue as deep inside of her as I can get.

  She’s writhing against my mouth, spreading her juices all across my face, and I relish every drop of it. I drive two fingers into her, thrusting deep and hard as I suck on her clit. Chloe’s cries echo around the patio, and she grinds herself harder against me, taking my fingers even deeper inside of her.

  Chloe throws her head back and cries out as her body locks up. A moment later, her body twitches and spasms wildly as she comes hard. I keep licking, plunging my tongue into her as she rides out her orgasm.

  She grabs my head and pulls me to my feet, kissing me hard, her tongue dashing against my teeth. Chloe kisses me even harder, and the intensity of it leaves me breathless. Still holding my head in her hands, she looks me in the eye, her gaze fevered and chaotic.

  “I need you inside of me, Braxton,” she gasps as she reaches down and grips my cock through my shorts. “I need you inside of me right now.”

  I moan as she squeezes my cock harder, gripping it like her life depends on it. And it’s not until that moment, when the head of my cock is brushing against her pussy, that I realize I don’t have protection with me.

  “Shit,” I growl.

  “What is it?” she pants and runs the tip of her tongue across my lips.

  “Hold that thought,” I tell her. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Braxton?”

  I hold up a finger. “One – just one second. Promise.”

  I turn and sprint to the house, banging my way through the back doors and make record time up the stairs. I get what I need from my bathroom and dash back out to the patio, letting the door in the plastic siding crash shut behind me. And when I see Chloe perched on top of the table, her skirt up around her waist, driving two fingers into herself, again and again, I’m so turned on; I nearly come in my shorts there on the spot.

  “You started without me,” I say, slightly out of breath.

  “I told you I needed it,” she gasps.

  Tearing open the package, I quickly unroll the condom, sliding it down the length of my cock. I step between Chloe’s thighs, my mouth crashing against hers, forcing my tongue between her lips. Her hands are on my cock in an instant, gripping me at the base and squeezing it tight while she grabs hold of my balls with her other hand. She squeezes them and strokes my dick, pumping her hand up and down with an energy born of frustration and hunger.

  “Fuck me, Braxton,” she gasps.

  I take her head in my hands and look deeply into her eyes, a thousand questions suddenly popping into my mind. I want to kick myself hard and repeatedly for this sudden flare of morality. This is about as far from keeping things professional as we can get, and even though I desperately want to, before we cross that line, I want to be sure that she’s okay with this.

  “Are you sure?” I ask softly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Her grip on my cock tightens even harder, and I let out a small grunt, pleasure filling my body. She gives me a sultry smile as she runs the tip of her tongue around her full lips, making them glisten enticingly.

  “I told you to fuck me,” she growls.

  I roll my hips and thrust my shaft forward, piercing her deeply. Chloe leans forward, her fingernails digging into my upper arms as she bites my shoulder. The sudden pinch of pain makes me draw in a sharp breath, but that’s soon overcome by the wave of ecstasy that envelops me as I fill her up. I buck my hips, driving my staff into her hard and deep, making her call out my name as she digs her nails into my arms even harder.

  Chloe wraps her legs around my waist, squeezing me tight as she grinds her molten core against my thick staff. She reaches down and digs her nails into my bare ass, pulling me to her even harder. I pump my hips harder, thrusting my dick into her slippery wetness again and again.

  “Fuck yes, Braxton,” she gasps. “Oh Jesus, fuck.”

  I push her down onto her back and lift her legs, putting them over my shoulders. I wrap my arms around her thighs for leverage and start slamming my throbbing organ into her pussy, hitting that spot deep inside of her that makes her scream out loud.

  Chloe’s body tightens, and her nails dig harder into my skin as I thrust my cock into her, as deep as I can go. I hold myself there, against that sweet spot that makes her eyes roll into the back of her head. A cry fueled by years of longing tears loose from Chloe’s throat as she quivers and shakes, her pussy tightening around my cock, squeezing me tight.

  Chloe is breathless and shaking, but she looks at me with a bright-eyed smile, her cheeks flushed, satisfaction radiating from her every pore.

  “I want you to come for me, Braxton,” she pants as she pushes me back.

  Chloe climbs down off the table and turns around. She bends over, looking at me over her shoulder with a salacious smile as she raises her skirt up around her waist, exposing her perfectly smooth, heart-shaped ass and her wet, swollen lips. Her juices run down her thighs, and I move quickly, dropping to my knees and slipping my tongue between those soft folds. I lick her vigorously, unable to get enough of her. She whimpers softly as I work her pussy with my tongue.

  Needing to be inside of her, I stand up and slam my hard cock into her. Chloe’s eyes widen, and she gasps as I fill her up from behind. I grab hold of her hips hard, rolling my own as I slam into the hot, wet center of her. The pressure inside of me is building as she clenches her inner muscles, gripping my shaft with her pussy, making herself even tighter.

  My whole body tenses, and the pressure within me reaches its crescendo. I groan loudly and feel my release. My dick throbs and pulses as I shoot what feels like endless streams of come. My climax is more intense than anything I’ve felt in ages. It leaves me feeling lightheaded.

  Deflated, my cock slips out of her as Chloe stands up and turns around. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her to me, pressing my forehead against hers.

  “That was incredible,” she says, her breathing still a bit ragged.

  “Amazing.”

  My head is still buzzing with feelings of euphoria. I should be happy – this is something I�
�ve wanted for so long, and now I have it – but questions and doubts swirl through my mind. Did I just mess up and make things more complicated than they need to be? Or is this the start of something amazing? And maybe the most pressing – what in the hell am I going to do about the fact that we are still married in the eyes of the law?

  I know we need to have a conversation about the whole ‘we’re married’ thing. But it’s going to be a delicate conversation to have. It’s most definitely not going to be an easy topic to broach. I know I need to find a way, but not yet. Not right now. I’ll figure it out, but I’ll do it later.

  There are just so many questions firing through my head, and although I’m a man who doesn’t like not having the answers, I push all the questions away for now – especially the last one, since that’s the most complicated. I resolve myself to focus on the here and now – on relishing each and every second I have with Chloe, simply because I don’t know how long it will last.

  Based on our history, she could get pissed off and storm out at any moment, and maybe I won’t hear from her for another decade. Who knows? What I do know is that I want to do things differently with her this time. I want to do things better. I want to make her want to stay and see where things between us go.

  Maybe we eventually end up in the same place – cut off from one another for years. Maybe permanently this time. Or maybe, we end up building something special together. Something real and lasting.

  I don’t know how this will all play out or where we’ll end up after the fact, but I think we owe it to each other to find out.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chloe

  “Oh my God, what in the hell did I do?” I moan. “What in the hell was I thinking?”

  Amber sits across the table from me, an amused smirk on her face. I managed to talk her into sneaking out for a bit tonight, letting her husband take care of the little one while she counsels me on my colossal screw-up.

  We’re sitting in the same pub around the corner from her place we’ve been coming to since I got back to the States – the one purportedly owned by some distant relation of Al Capone.

  We’re sitting in one of the snugs, and I’ve just confessed my sins to her – my sin being that I’d slept with Braxton. She took my confession with a glint in her eye and an air of amusement about her. Despite the fact that my elbows are up on the table, and my face is buried in my hands, with equal parts of guilt and fear coursing through my veins.

  “Why are you even stressing about this, girl?” she questions. “You had an itch, and you scratched it. The only question I have is, was that itch scratched well?”

  I raise my head, a lopsided grin on my face. “Really well.”

  “Good on you, baby,” she laughs. “You needed it.”

  “Maybe,” I admit. “But I don’t need the complications of having just slept not just with my boss, but with Braxton freaking Voight.”

  “And what’s so wrong with Braxton freaking Voight?”

  I roll my eyes and drain the last of my martini, then signal for another. Amber just sits there looking entirely amused.

  “You know my history with him,” I attempt.

  “Yes, and from what you’ve told me tonight, he’s changed,” she notes. “To use your words from earlier, he’s a completely different man than the one you left in the hotel room almost a decade ago.”

  “Stop throwing my words back in my face, dammit,” I laugh.

  She shrugs and finishes off the last of her drink, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “What better way to get my point across?”

  Amber has been trying to marry me off for forever – or at least trying to find me somebody who can please me until she can marry me off. I’ve never been great about meeting men, and I’m even worse when it comes to dating and relationships.

  After Braxton and I had our – thing – I saw a few guys back in London. I dated around a bit. But every time I got involved with somebody, I knew it had a shelf life. A few months, tops. For a long time, I had no idea why I couldn’t settle into a relationship, or why I was never satisfied with anybody I went out with. It took me a long time – and some good therapy – to realize it was because none of them were Braxton.

  I don’t know; I had to have suspected it on some level, I suppose. Maybe I just didn’t want to let myself see it. But I’ve never had a successful relationship for the simple fact that none of the men I dated measured up to Braxton. It sounds cheesy and corny as hell to say, but even back in the day in New York, I knew there was something special about him. Something different. Something that I’ve never found in another person before.

  Oh, he can be infuriating, there’s no doubt about that. He can be cocky, arrogant, and completely insufferable at times. But what I’m seeing now is that he’s changed. Dramatically. He’s mentoring Javi, helping lead him from a troubled beginning onto the right path in life. He apparently volunteers in soup kitchens and helps the less fortunate. He still has that cocky edge to him, and I’ve seen flashes of that temper I knew so well – which still frightens me. But there’s a humbleness about him today that I never would have guessed existed in the man I knew back then.

  I don’t know what spurred this change in him, but even I have to admit, it’s made him even more attractive to me. And that scares me.

  “You two seem to belong together,” Amber says. “Two halves of a whole.”

  I laugh. “Let’s not be too dramatic about this.”

  She looks at me, a small grin quirking her mouth upward. “Seems like there’s something out there that keeps leading you two back to each other.”

  “Yeah, it’s called a job,” I say. “I knew there was a possibility I’d see him again – it’s his company.”

  “And yet, you took the job anyway.”

  “I need a job,” I point out. “My father didn’t exactly leave me wealthy.”

  “True, but you could have gone almost anywhere. Done almost anything,” she adds. “Why did you take that job, specifically?”

  I let out a long breath as the waitress arrives and drops off a fresh round for us. I remain silent as she picks up the empty glasses and then turns and walks away. I pick up my glass and take a small sip, still trying to organize my thoughts and feelings – which has been a fruitless task since the moment I slept with Braxton again.

  “Because honestly, I’ve always wanted to be an architect,” I tell her. “I never got the chance before, and now that I’m totally free, I thought it was time to start pursuing my dream. And his was the only firm looking for a designer.”

  “Yet another argument for the hand of destiny bringing you two together again,” she grins. “As if you moving in right next door to the man wasn’t enough of a clue.”

  “It’s a strange string of coincidences; I’ll admit,” I laugh wryly. “But that’s all it is.”

  “If you say so,” she chirps. “But why are you freaking out about this so badly? I mean you slept with the guy. What’s the big deal?”

  I sigh. It really shouldn’t be. I’m probably blowing this up bigger in my mind than it needs to be. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve made a mountain out of a molehill. And yet, even knowing that, I feel like there’s something different about this.

  “I don’t know. Maybe I’m afraid the old Braxton is still in there just waiting to come out again,” I start slowly. “Maybe I’m afraid of getting involved with him, and the guy he was that last day together will reappear.”

  “You’ve said there are still elements of that guy in him,” Amber notes. “But it’s been a long time since you last saw him, and people grow, Chloe. People change. And from what you’ve told me, it sounds like Braxton has. Doesn’t he deserve the benefit of the doubt?”

  I take another sip of my drink, then raise my eyes to her, and when I speak, my voice is little more than a whisper.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I admit.

  “I think the bottom line here is that you’re scared,” she presses. “Terrified, in fact. You�
��re one of the most closed-off people I know, honey. And I think that comes down to your control issues.”

  “My control issues?” I arch an eyebrow at her, earning a wicked smile from Amber.

  “Please, like you don’t know you have them,” she jabs at me. “You have an absolute, iron clad need to be in control. Of every situation. The mere thought of you not being in control of something is enough to send you into drooling, screaming seizures.”

  I laugh out loud. “Shut up, that’s not true.”

  She gives me a lopsided grin. “It is true. I’m not saying being a woman in control is a bad thing. Quite the opposite, actually,” she goes on. “But when you’re in total control like that, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for anything else. Especially somebody else who’s got the same sort of control issues.”

  I laugh. “Braxton most definitely has control issues.”

  She arches her eyebrow at me again, and I sigh. She’s not wrong. I guess I do have control issues. It’s a natural byproduct of how I grew up and my former career path. And I suppose my reactions to Braxton are so extreme because he makes me feel so totally out of control. I don’t feel in control of myself at all when I’m with him – not my heart, my mind, my thoughts, or my emotions. When I’m with Braxton, I feel totally and completely scattered, and that scares the hell out of me.

  “Maybe that’s a sign that we shouldn’t pursue anything,” I say softly. “How could we coexist, let alone have a healthy, thriving relationship when we both have these horrible control issues?”

  Amber takes another sip of her drink. “Because when you love somebody, you find a way to make it work.”

  “Whoa, whoa, slow that pony down,” I laugh. “Nobody said love. I never said that I love Braxton.”

  She holds my gaze, her expression suddenly serious. “You didn’t have to, honey,” she tells me. “I know you’ve been in love with him for a long time.”

  I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s true,” I reply. “I’m pretty sure I’d know if I was in love with somebody.”