Boss of Me (A Steamy Office Romance) Read online

  “My phone’s going to run out of battery soon,” I explain to her. “I better turn it off completely just in case.”

  The light of the phone is extra bright, and for a moment I can see a fleeting look of fear in Chelsea’s face before I press the power button. Could she be afraid of the dark? I didn’t want to ask and put her on the spot, but a minute later, her breath started to hike up. It would not be good to have a panic attack right about now, especially when we had no way of figuring out if we’d be in here for two minutes or two hours.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” I say loudly for her. It echoes a little, which I never noticed before. “There’s a night security guard. He’ll figure something out.”

  “Yeah,” she says slowly. “Clarence is pretty handy with his hands.”

  We lapsed into silence again. As much as I enjoyed looking at Chelsea, I had to admit that we never talked about anything other than work. All part of keeping my distance, but I do wonder now if maybe I came across as cold and unfriendly. Somehow I didn’t think a discussion on market strategy would ease her fears any at this time. The darkness is pretty absolute. In fact, it almost feels tangible. Even I’m unnerved by it. At night in my room, there is at least the light of the city filtering in through my windows. I was still trying to figure out what to do about it when she spoke up.

  “Do you think maybe we could talk? That way I know I’m not alone.” Her voice is uneasy and hesitant. Normally she’s the picture of confidence as she details out my day, so I’m surprised, and a little bit protective.

  “You’re not alone,” I reassure her.

  “I know it’s stupid to be afraid of the dark,” she rushes to say. “It’s not like I think there are monsters or anything like that.”

  “It’s okay Chelsea. You don’t have to explain it to me.” I pause. I’ve never shared this before, but I figure it might make her feel less silly. “I don’t like geese.”

  “Geese?”

  “Geese,” I say affirmatively.

  I hear that her breathing has slowed down a little, back to normal almost, and I smile.

  “You’re going to have to explain more than that,” she says. “There’s a story behind this isn’t there?”

  There is, but I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to tell it. Still, if it helps her, I had to.

  “Do you want to sit down first?” I ask. “In case we’re here for a little while?”

  “Sure.”

  I can hear her feeling around a little, so I take her arm before I can think too much about it and steer her down against the wall. She drops her coat and purse down on the floor on the other side. I can smell her perfume, something fresh and citrusy, and the cascade of her hair across my hand. We sit down, side by side, almost touching. I feel her shift a little further, then closer again as she settles in. It’s nice having her close like this. It feels cozy. Of course, I’ve been alone with Chelsea before. Once we were alone together in my car when I had to attend an all day conference and requested that she come along. And of course, the various times when I had to stay late and she had to work overtime until I was finished. But this was somehow different.

  “I was six,” I preface the story by saying. “I forget why we were at a farm, but it was a school trip and everyone was enjoying themselves, petting the cows, looking at baby chicks, that kind of a thing. Well there was a big old goose there too, and he got really mad at me. I figured out later that I’d gotten too close to his nest. But he chased me all around the farmyard. Everyone was laughing at me instead of helping, even the teacher. And geese are fast. This one bit me in the butt.”

  A laugh escapes out of her, the most pleasing sound I’d ever heard.

  “I give geese a wide berth these days. Are you feeling a bit better?”

  “Definitely. It must be hard to get through to the parking lot in the fall,” she says.

  We have a generous amount of greenery out front, as well as a water feature. The Canadian geese flying through on their migrations like to stop by.

  “It’s... a challenge,” I say. “At least they don’t stay all year round.”

  “And you’re big enough to outrun them now. You could even turn around and chase them.” She giggles a little, and I smile in the dark too. I’m glad she’s feeling better.

  “I’ve thought about that a few times in all the years I’ve been here. Never had to yet thankfully.”

  “How many years have you been here Mr. McAllister?”

  “Brandon. You can call me Brandon you know. Most of my old PAs did too. And I’ve been here almost eight years.”

  Even though I know I’ve been here a long while, it kind of surprises me when I say it out loud. Not just because most people like to hop from job to job, but because it means I’m older than I realize.

  “Wow. I hope I’m not still here in eight years.” She pauses. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just, I didn’t expect to end up in a corporate job. Or as a PA. I think my mom’s a little disappointed in me. You know, for going to college for four years and coming out with the same job I could have gotten without it.”

  Chelsea tries to say it offhandedly as though it doesn’t sting, but I can tell that it does. She and her mom must be close. I didn’t mean to bring her down again. It was the last thing I wanted. So I tried to keep it light too.

  “I can see that. You have a steady job, you’re making it in the big city, probably partying too hard on the weekends and doing lines in the club bathroom.”

  She laughs.

  “Oh no, that’s definitely not me. I don’t usually go out on Friday nights even. Last Friday with Steph was sort of out of the ordinary for me. I only agreed to go because she guilt tripped me about being the maid of honor and not doing all that boring stuff with her.”

  “You already have a man to go home with at night?”I’m surprised by how much I need to know her answer to this. My heart is even speeding up a little. It’s an unsettling feeling, one I haven’t felt in a long time, and I can’t decide if I like it or not.

  “Not so much.”

  “No?” I’m relieved.

  “Nope.”

  “How come?”

  We pause there, and I know what she wants to say is hovering between us. I haven’t forgotten her reaction on Friday night, the way she was embarrassed by her friend outing her. The way she kept sneaking glances over at me before I went over to her table. She likes me, and we both know it. And if I have to be honest, I like her too. I liked her from afar before, admiring the way her clothes hugged her body and her mile long legs. But now I was liking her for her too. She was candid and straightforward. And she was easy to talk to. The women I meet are always angling for something, agreeing too easily as if flattery is the only way to a man’s heart. She didn’t try to cover up her imperfections, or exaggerate them to play games.

  I really didn’t expect it. And I definitely didn’t expect how much I enjoyed liking her either.

  I want to kiss her, I realize. And inexplicably, in the darkness, it feels like we didn’t have to be boss and employee. We could just be Brandon and Chelsea. A man and a woman who happen to like each other. And the more that we talked, the more the need to touch her grew. Until the wanting grew to be too much to take, even if it would fuck up everything I’ve worked for. I wanted to kiss her, I wanted to fuck her, I wanted to hear her screaming my name as she came. In the moment, nothing else seemed important enough to deny the urgent want I had, so I leaned over and kissed her.

  Chapter 5

  Chelsea

  When Brandon first kisses me, I freeze up. My body is feeling a million different things, reacting to the way his lips are against mine, his hand on my cheek. I had just been sitting there, scared and yet giddy about having him beside me, and then suddenly I was wrapped up in his arms, strong and comforting and so masculine. It’d been a while since I’d been touched this way, but I definitely didn’t remember it feeling this good. For a second I just bask in this feeling of being
kissed, before I wake up and remember that I should probably be kissing back. And probably exploring that fine body of his while I can.

  And boy is it fine. Wow. His arms are sculpted, his stomach’s toned, and he’s got all these hard chest muscles that would be perfect for resting my head on. I know I probably should restrain myself a little, but I can’t help it. Who knows when I’ll get another chance to touch someone as fantastic as this? Brandon must be thinking the same thing, because his hands are running over me too, down along my body and then up, pulling my blouse out of my skirt. His hands are electric, sending jolts of pleasure everywhere he touches. His thumb reaches my breasts, circling the hardening nubs beneath the lace. I arch my back instinctively, yearning for more of him.

  It’s been too damn long since I’ve felt so good. Pleasure is pounding through my body, making me giddy and breathless. Even though I know we could take it slow, really enjoy it, I want to get to the good stuff. Judging by how hard he is as I scramble with his pants, he feels the same. Somehow I manage to work his belt out of the buckle, and then the button and zipper. I can feel his cock underneath, and it’s a big one. I can already feel my pussy tingling in anticipation. Our kisses get messy as we rip at each other’s clothes, feeding off each other’s frenetic need to press our bare skin together. His finger slides up between my legs and traces around my clit.

  I can’t help it. I moan into his mouth. I’d forgotten just how much better it feels when it’s with a man that I want. He deftly maneuvers me so that I’m falling back slowly onto the floor, his body sliding in between my legs. I can feel his cock in his boxers, hard as steel and just as hot against my thigh. His lips move down, nibbling against my neck and I gasp, my hand reaching up to his head to thread through his thick hair. The sharp bites are just painful enough to make the pleasure his hands are giving me that much sweeter. It makes me wet, so wet that my panties must be soaked. I shift, and there he is, his cock pressed up against my pulsing slit.

  “Yes,” I whisper against his ear. “Please.”

  He’s about to say something, or at least I thought he was, when the lights come on and we spring apart like we got electrocuted. The elevator groaned, and then it slowly started to move. My face is flaming, and I grab onto the bar on the wall to pull myself back up to my feet. My blouse is completely pulled out, and one of my breasts is about to burst from its bra cup. I quickly adjust myself, yanking hard on my skirt to pull it down. Thankfully the elevator doesn’t have mirrored walls. I reach up and try to tame my hair, which has definitely got the mussed up sex hair going on. I run my fingers through it, working out a knot. Thankfully it’s so late at night that there shouldn’t be a surprise stop on the way down to the lobby.

  Once I’m somewhat presentable, I sneak a look over at him. Brandon is dusting off his coat, his eyes focused down on it as though it was some kind of complicated task. He’s already buckled his pants back up, and as far as I can tell, there isn’t any smudges of makeup on him. Thank god I switched over to lipstains a year ago. Suddenly I touch my own neck, my cheeks burning with how much I liked what he did. I quickly pull my hair from behind me to either side behind my ears, hopefully disguising the love bites. And not a moment too soon because a second later, the doors open, and there’s Clarence, the night guard standing in the lobby. I quickly grab my coat off the floor, hoping that it didn’t look like we were doing anything. Because we weren’t. We definitely weren’t.

  “Mr. McAllister,” Clarence says with relief, “Chelsea. I’m so glad you two are both okay. I couldn’t get the back up generator working. I’m sorry.”

  Brandon lets me out of the elevator first, and I try to stay calm and not look like I was twenty seconds away from fucking my boss just now. One thing’s for sure, he did a fantastic job at keeping me from thinking about my fear of the dark. I was worried that it would make me sound like a child, but he didn’t seem to think so. In fact, he was really nice about it.

  Still, I’m so glad to be out of that little box. And I am extra glad that I wasn’t alone in there. I would have had a panic attack, I’m sure of it. He really made me forget about the dark when he kissed me though. In fact, I might be cured of that phobia altogether as long as he was around. Who knew that that’s all it took?

  The lobby is beautifully bright, and I find that I’m shaking a little bit. I guess it was all that fear coming out of me now that I can look back on what just happened. What if we were stuck there all night? No amount of kissing could have made me feel better at that point. Just thinking about that near miss makes me a bit queasy. I quickly make my way over to one of the low cushioned seats and sit down to gather my breath. Focusing on my shoes helps.

  “What happened to it?” Brandon is asking, all calm and collected. How does he do that? The man has an incredible amount of self control.

  “I’m not sure to be honest. We’ll know in the morning.” Clarence shakes his head. “I’m just glad that you weren’t in there all night.”

  I feel another wave of relief. I don’t think I could have lasted all night in that elevator, not even with Brandon there. I’d have fallen apart for sure. The two men chat for another minute, and then he comes over, his steps loud in the spacious lobby.

  “Chelsea,” he says, “do you need a ride home?”

  His voice is stiff and overly formal, like he’s putting on a show for Clarence. I hate it. I much prefer how he sounded before when we were all alone. I look up, but he’s absentmindedly fiddling with a button on his coat. I turn and look out the lobby doors. The storm seems to have died down now. There isn’t even rain.

  “I’m okay,” I say. “Thank you so much for... for everything back there. I don’t know how I would have gotten through it if you hadn’t been there. You really saved me.”

  I want him to insist, to say that he’ll wait for me, but he nods and turns to go. It’s like the little world we’d built together in the elevator is mist, burned away by the light. It sucks. My sudden good mood deflates a little, but then I realize it’s just because of Clarence hanging around in the lobby. Brandon has got a reputation to uphold, and besides, he would get in trouble. HR would probably scream about sexual harassment even if I was totally willing about it. I watch him go, and despite my rational explanation to myself, I keep willing him to pause and turn around, but he doesn’t. Finally I stand back up once he’s gone through the doors into the night.

  “Clarence, I have to go and get my phone,” I call out. “I’ll be right back.”

  “You’re not taking the elevator again are you?”

  My stomach knots up in fear again. I guess it was Brandon who got rid of the fear of the dark for me. Without him there, I was still afraid. Clarence couldn’t pay me to go in there right now.

  “No, I’ll walk. It’s only five floors up, and I could probably use the exercise.”

  The first two flights were pretty easy, but I start to puff halfway up the third. I really should trade in my late night Netflix binges for an early morning run. I know that Casey the receptionist has been raving about this air yoga thing that’s supposed to really work out the core. Maybe I could take up running too, though it’s pretty rainy most days to be running outside. I don’t want to catch a chill.

  I push open the stairwell doors and enter into the office. It’s not completely dark, but almost. And I’m nowhere near the light switches either. Computer screensavers cast huge shadows over everything, and I’m getting jumpy about every little sound. Finally I’m back at my desk. My phone’s lying right on the table. I pick it up and call Steph immediately. Not just because I’m terrified, because I have to tell her all about the kiss, and figure out exactly what it means.

  “Steph,” I say as soon as she picks up. “Guess what?”

  “You took my advice and got out there for once?”

  “No! I made out. With Brandon. In the elevator.”

  There’s a pause, then a shriek.

  “Seriously?! Like in the movies?” I can hear Michael complaining i
n the background, but Steph ignores him completely. “Tell me everything!”

  It takes me a little while to explain everything while walking back down the stairs. I pause as I run through the lobby, waving at Clarence again, and then continue as I walk to the subway. I finally finish just as I’m about to go down the stairs.

  “This is wild,” she says. “Wow. It’s like a movie or something. Go Chels!”

  “Right? I can’t believe it. All this time I’ve been mooning over him, and it’s like he feels the same way! I mean, he kissed me. That’s sort of a good sign right?” I’m struck by uncertainty.

  “Yes, yes it is you dummy. This is fantastic. Should I put him down as your plus one?”

  I blush furiously.

  “I don’t think we’re that far yet,” I say. “Nothing’s actually happened you know.”

  “Yeah but it could have. I say that counts.”

  I let Steph’s confidence wash over my doubts. Surely this is a sign? We weren’t able to talk about what happened, but even before we started kissing (okay, more than kissing) I really felt like we connected a little. Maybe there was a chance that this could work out. Maybe this wasn’t some silly fantasy I was harboring in my head. My best friend gets a little carried away sometimes, but tonight, I’m more than happy to follow along with her. Because for once, maybe my love life will turn out just like the movies.

  Chapter 6

  Brandon

  Even though Clarence is watching, it takes everything in me not to wrap my arms around Chelsea’s slim body and hold her. I can see the way her hair is mussed from my hands cradling her head. The way her shirt’s still half pulled up before the power came back on and we got interrupted. It seems obvious to me, but the night guard doesn’t seem to notice at all thankfully. Still, I find myself becoming stilted and formal in front of him, playing a role I suddenly have no desire to play. Chelsea doesn’t seem to notice though. She’s grateful and bubbly and warm. That’s Chelsea though. She’s always genuine and happy, bouncing around the office. Nothing and nobody could get her down.