One Bossy Date: Chapter 14

The stars are twinkling for us again just like they did in Lanai, even if they can’t shine through Chicago’s cloud of light pollution.

I might give them more than a passing glance as we sit in a private room overlooking the lake—if only the vision in front of me wasn’t claiming all of my attention.

I’m convinced Piper Renee was sent to drive me stark raving mad.

Every movement.

Every laugh.

Every soft green-eyed glance and curve of her throat as she samples a high-end food selection she’s never tasted.

“Oh my,” she whispers, falling back in her chair with a mouthful of scallops. “You weren’t kidding. It tastes like butter.”

“Are you still pissed at me for ordering for you?” I throw back, tucking into my salmon.

“God, no. If the food is this delicious, you can be a huge overbearing pigman anytime.”

Pigman? I turn up my nose and let out a loud oink.

That gets me a startled laugh that sounds like music to my ears.

“Way to make zoo noises in a place this fancy.” Piper rolls her eyes but her smile says everything.

“You invited it. Don’t tempt me to try bird calls next.”

Slowly, she meets my eyes. “For the record, I think you’re right.”

“About?”

Her smile fades. “Not to keep bringing it up, but… Jenn and I think this isn’t a traditional smear campaign with nasty reviews. We thought it might be a competitor, but we had no guesses which one. If this Finch guy has a personal grudge, it makes sense why he’d throw so much energy into slamming you with crappy reviews.”

I sigh. I’ve been doing such a good job of not wasting any mental energy on that prick.

“I know,” I say, stuffing food into my mouth. “But we can talk about his shit at work, Piper. Let’s keep it focused on us.”

She smiles at me. “I like that idea.”

“Why did you quit your travel videos? Don’t tell me it’s just the job,” I say, taking a pull off my cocktail.

“But it kind of is. This job took over my life and there’s no time for anything else.”

I roll my eyes. “This is the first long weekend you’ve worked since you started. Don’t pretend you aren’t sitting on a mountain of content from old trips you can post.”

“Yeah, well, that’s pretty hard during the week. And I have other obligations on the weekend.”

“How old is your sister again?” I ask.

“Seventeen, but it’s my turn now. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

“I’ve been everywhere,” I say bluntly.

“So what was your favorite place?”

I pause, rolling the question over in my head.

“Cairo, maybe. The pyramids are impressive. The Australian Outback has its charm, too. My grandfather used to unwind from work on long hunting trips there. Or maybe I’d visit Lanai again since I’ve made a few fond memories there.” I look at her. “The place is a magnet for beautiful women.”

“Ugh, you’re too good at this. I bet you use that answer on all the girls you meet there.”

“Just you,” I growl back honestly. “Are you raising your little sister?”

“Nope. Maisy was always a good kid and she takes care of herself, mostly. She just comes to me when she wants typical boring big sister advice.”

We finish our main course making small talk about her sister’s habits. She barely mentions her father, which piques my interest even more.

The server comes to our table. “Have you two had time to look over the dessert menu?”

“I’ll have the vanilla bean creme brulee with sugar cookies and a double cortado,” I say.

“What about you, ma’am?” The server looks at Piper.

“Oh, no. I’m stuffed.” She holds up both hands.

“Bring her something good. If she doesn’t eat it, whatever.”

“He’s a keeper!” the waitress says with a smile. “Is there anything else you’d like?”

“Do you have a dessert coffee for my lady?”

“I do. I’ll be right back.” She walks away.

Piper stares at me, her green eyes dancing. “I can’t believe you ordered the sweetest thing in the place.”

“I didn’t.”

“There’s something sweeter than cookie dipped in creamed sugar with more toasted sugar on top?”

I hold her gaze like the devil I am. “The sweetest dessert isn’t on the menu, and it’s already in front of me.”

It takes a second to sink in before she grins and bites her bottom lip.

“Goddamn,” I mutter. “You know that drives me certifiable, right?”

“What?” she asks.

“You don’t know? The way you bite your lip. It makes my teeth jealous they’re not there instead.”

And she does it again, fully intent on turning my cock into a blue cucumber.

“I didn’t know, but I do now.”

“Brat,” I throw back.

“You asked,” she says matter-of-factly.

It’s damnably hard not to dive across this table and seize her lips.

The server returns soon and sets our dessert course on the table with coffee.

Soon, she’s focused on me dipping my cookie in crème brulee, and I feed her a few. There’s a smear of cream on the corner of her lip.

I can’t fucking not take the invitation.

I gently brush my thumb against the seam of her lips and she opens like a good girl.

Her lips draw me in for the fiercest second, sucking slowly, her eyes glued to mine.

Goddamn.

It’s like she’s trying to make me explode in my pants. I pull my hand away with a snarl, brushing my thumb through the cream on my plate before I hold it up and bite the tip.

Yeah.

I’m going to devour every fucking bit of her tonight, lips to tits to clit.

We barely speak until we’re piling in the limo again.

This time, I pull Piper onto my lap, making her feel how hard I am.

Her breath hitches when she feels it. And she presses her spine into my chest, her body arching with delicious tension.

“I guess you win. You really know how to pull off a perfect evening,” she whispers.

“You haven’t seen perfection yet, woman. Trust me.” Stroking her hair aside, I kiss the back of her neck. “Thank you for trusting me enough to hold your fire for one night.”

“I enjoyed it. Almost as much as Lanai,” she admits.

Almost?

Not good enough.

By the time I’m done dousing her in flames and sending her off sore the next morning, that Hawaiian kiss will be a faded dream.

Still, she makes me wonder.

Could we have more nights like this?

More days like Lanai?

I’m not cut out for serious relationships. Finding the perfect match like Gramps did early in life seems as alien as a week doing absolutely nothing. But an ongoing under-the-radar tryst?

That could work.

Possibly far too well.

My lips can’t stay off her, roaming up and down her neck with a deepening hunger.

“Oh, God, Brock.” She sighs.

Growling, I turn her in my lap so I can see her face.

Her cheeks are so red, her eyes narrow slits full of green witchfire.

I catch her bottom lip with my teeth, and she opens her mouth, sighing hotly into mine.

Goddamn, this woman.

My tongue goes to work, swiping deep, drinking her in so thoroughly until she pulls away, sighs, and lays her head on my shoulder.

“Are you tired?” I ask, threading her hair.

“No. Just comfortable.” She wraps her arms around my neck.

Maybe it’s just how keyed up I am, but there’s something wickedly erotic about her resting on me. Don’t ask me to explain why.

I close my arms around her, dropping a steaming kiss on her forehead just as the limo slows to a stop in front of the hotel.

“Time to go.” I tap Piper’s hip.

“What if I don’t want to?”

With a dark look, I bring my lips to her ear and whisper, “Then you’ll be missing out on an orgasm that splits you clean in two, Piper Renee.”

I love how she shudders, her eyes flickering with excitement.

And when she brings her lips to mine—begging without words—I’m hellbent on making good on that promise.

Her tongue leaps hungrily against my mouth, caressing my lower lip and then my tongue, goading me to give chase.

I pull her closer as I consume her.

Her grip on my neck tightens.

The kiss deepens until I’m fucking her mouth.

Too intense.

Too hot.

Too undeniable.

Piper trembles in my arms again as I clasp her chin.

She falls away with a ragged breath, her heated eyes slashing back and forth, beaming so much need into mine.

“You win this round. Now I’ll move,” she whispers.

My lip curls as she slides off my lap.

I don’t wait for the driver to open the door for us before we’re flying out together, her arm hooked in mine. I keep her near my side like she’s all too breakable as we walk together.

Dammit, she is.

Why else would I need to guard her this closely?

“Are you sure you want to walk in like this? Someone could see,” she says quietly.

“I’ll call down later to wipe the security footage. I’m walking you to the damned door,” I grind out.

“There he is,” she says with a buttery laugh. “My 1950s gentleman again.”

“Fuck no. I just can’t keep my hands off you.”

I don’t allow an inch of space between us as we march through the private entrance and beeline for the elevator.

She pushes the button and it dings open a second later.

No wait this time, thank God.

I turn her around, so we’re facing the mirror at the back of the elevator.

“Look,” I say.

“What am I looking at? Is there something between my teeth?”

I smile at how adorably clueless she is.

This is why I have to help her see it.

“I need you to see how balls-on-fire sexy you are,” I whisper, my grip tightening around her waist. “Need you to understand why my girl has me so obsessed. Do you see it now?”

“You said it again,” she says, her eyes so bright green and her face so pink.

“What?”

“Called me yours.”

I nod briskly. “I’ll keep on saying it, Sunshine. There’s no goddamned way I’m ever sharing. Earlier, when that clown tried to kiss you—”

I don’t finish that thought.

Apollo Finch is not worth the brain power when I’m staring at the living fusion of every ancient sex goddess combined.

“I think you worry too much.” Her voice is barely audible.

“And I asked you a question earlier. You never answered me.”

She closes her eyes and exhales slowly.

Her eyelids flutter open, and she stares back into the reflection of my eyes.

“Brock…”

I cup her chin with my hand and gently hold it firmly. “Tell me you see her. Tell me that woman isn’t too beautiful for life.”

Just when I didn’t think she can’t feel hotter, she does.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “But with this fairy-tale dress and the male model beside her, any woman could be runway material.”

“Male model, huh? And just what would I be modeling?”

She smiles. The rosy hue on her face sharpens to deep crimson.

Enough flattery.

I shift so we’re facing each other again, moving my hand from her chin to her cheek. Leaning down, I kiss her with the total reverence she deserves.

Fuck, if she still doesn’t understand that she’s meant to be savored—worshipped—she will by dawn.

She welcomes the invasion, matching my pressure with her own intensity, gasping against my tongue.

Goddamn.

I move my hand from her cheek so I can close my arms around her waist and draw her closer, pinning her to my body.

Any gap between us is too much.

My desire flares hotter by the second. My trousers strain to their breaking point.

Can she feel how hard I am?

How badly I need to fuck her to keep myself grounded?

The way her arms wind around my neck again and pull says yes.

She clings to me, this creature of pure passion, shifting one small hand from my neck to my shoulder.

Her palm glides down my chest, my stomach, and stops on my lower abs, lingering just above my beltline.

Every breath feels torn.

“Pippa, fuck,” I rasp. “You murder me.”

“Brock,” she whispers, struggling for her breath just as much as me.

This is new.

Intense.

Scary.

With all the women I’ve ever been with, I’ve never been unraveled by the slightest touch.

The hand resting on my abs slowly slides back up to my shoulder and dives underneath my jacket. Her free arm releases my neck.

Then her fingers move to the other side of my jacket.

She starts to lower it down my back, staring at me like she’s daring me to tell her no.

Sunshine, you’ve watched one too many old black-and-white movies, I think. This is happening. I’m not half the gentleman you think I am.

I shrug out of the jacket and drape it over her shoulders. I use it to urge her in tighter before I lean down and take her mouth again.

My tongue works deeper now, thieving another moan from her lungs.

Growling, I reach down, helping curl her leg around mine as her delicate fingers go to my tie, fighting to loosen it.

There’s a whooshing of metal doors closing.

Shit.

I didn’t even notice the elevator had already stopped on our floor, the doors hanging open so long they’re closing again.

With a dissatisfied grunt, I tap the button to open it again and break away from her, fishing the keycard to my room from my pocket.

“Let’s go,” I say.

But she pulls back with her hand still in mine as we step off the elevator, grazing her lower lip again.

“So presumptuous. Do I have a choice?”

“Not when you kiss me like that. Also, we both know your pussy will hate you for life if you back out now,” I challenge.

She gives me another smile that’s all emerald-eyed seduction.

How the fuck can a smile be erotic?

I decide I don’t care when my lips land on hers again, our tongues swirling like mad.

“Brock, I—I have concerns…” she whispers as she pulls away.

“What concerns?” I bite off.

I swear to fuck, if she’s having second thoughts—real ones—I’ll drop dead on the spot.

“What if someone saw us on the elevator? Or in this hallwa—”

“Private floor,” I growl back, cutting her off with a kiss.

She cups my face with her hands and sails back. “But the security footage… Someone could find out—”

“We’ll deal with it then,” I rush out.

And it’s my turn to bite her lips.

“Oh,” she whimpers, her eyes fluttering as they shine up at me. “But if we keep this up, people will notice. They’ll talk. They’ll think I’m the office slut and you only hired me because we’re—”

“Wrong. Anyone stupid enough to pull that shit is getting a private meeting with me and Legal. No one will ever fuck with you, Piper.”

She giggles.

I steal another kiss before I search her eyes for an answer.

She grins.

“It’s cute how you get so protective.” Her fingers move to the top button of my shirt, and she pops it out of the hole.

“Only because we’re done talking.” I reach down and pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder.

She squeals, laughing and throwing her arms around my neck.

“Hey!” she says. “Who said you get to carry me off like a war prize?”

I chuckle.

“I just don’t want to walk into a wall with you. My patience is gone, woman.” I shift her weight so I can wave the keycard in front of the door.

As soon as the door pops open I ease it apart wider with my foot.

I step inside, kick it shut, flip the lock, and press Piper’s back against the door, pinning her between my bulk and the door.

I’m moving in for another bruising kiss again when I catch her jade eyes dancing in the dim light.

I’m frozen. Goddamned mesmerized.

Lost in a moment that’s greener than Rainier Park in the summer.

She sucks in a breath so hard her chest swells. “Well? Don’t tell me you’re bored with kissing me?”

Snarling, I take her lip between mine, and I hold on until she whimpers.

Her legs wind around my waist.

What little sanity I have left shatters.

The way her body grinds against mine tells me she’s ready.

Warm and wet and greedy.

Fuck, she’s pressed so needy to my shaft it’s a struggle not to dry hump her and blow myself up instantly.

Even through the layers of clothes, I feel her heat.

“Look at me, Piper Renee,” I order, my eyes blazing into hers as my hips lunge forward, making her feel every seething inch of me.

Her lips pull into a breathless O.

Her legs tighten.

And her fingers dance down the neat row of buttons on my shirt, shaking as they go.

She pulls my shirt from my pants where it’s tucked in. I have to help her undo the buttons, always a frigging chore when you’re too riled up to breathe.

Once my shirt hangs open, she reaches in, sliding her hand down my bare chest.

I’m fucking electrified, breathing so hard, my heartbeat roaring in my ears.

“You’ll be the death of me, Sunshine,” I say, meeting her eyes again.

With her eyes closed, she traces a finger up and down my chest to my abs. “Or I could be your spark of life.”

I grind into her again. “In case you hadn’t noticed, you’ve got me very alive right now.”

Her head bangs the back of the door lightly from the force and I shift my body so I can cradle her head in my hands.

“Sorry,” I mutter, even if everything in me howls to break her.

She pushes my unbuttoned shirt over my shoulders and it hits the floor.

“Oops.” She grins. “Me too.”

Little minx.

And I drink her in as she tilts toward me.

Fuck, it’s impossible not to grab fistfuls of that dress and start shredding.

I don’t want to ruin a four-thousand-dollar dress, but I can’t wait with her warmth blanketing my entire being.

My hips slash against her again.

This time, I’m careful to cradle her head, buffering it from the impact with my hands.

She starts moving her hand to the straps of the dress and pulls the bow—until my wrist pushes her away.

“Let me,” I whisper, waiting for her hand to fall.

I’ve waited too damn long for this gift and I’m unwrapping what’s mine.

Her halter top falls forward, revealing two round, pert, suckable breasts behind a red bra. Each one’s covered in the middle with a rosy flower.

I move one hand, leaving the other cupped behind her head. I trace the flower outline with my finger, inhaling slowly.

“You know the whole innocent girl-next-door look makes this worse, right? It also doesn’t fool me worth shit.”

She turns a new shade of flaming red and laughs. “Um… I didn’t have a bra that worked under this getup.”

Slowly, I continue tracing a petal. “She loves me—” I pause and peel it back. “She loves me not.”

Her eyes sharpen, pure green hellfire engulfing my soul.

I reposition us so her weight feels firmly supported, putting me in the perfect position to take a nipple in my mouth, sucking and licking.

She melts against the door, her hands above her head as I have my fill.

Every movement, every sigh, every sultry moan spilling out of her hollows me out.

I need to fuck this girl more than I need my next breath.

But first, I pull her bud between my teeth, lashing my tongue against it again and again, mauling her other tit with my hand.

Somehow, she manages to find her bra clasp. When I come up for air, the shell falls to the floor.

“Stay,” I whisper, circling her other nipple.

“Brock… Brock!”

My name becomes a slow, rising mantra.

My cock feels like a loaded weapon, jerking angrily every time she whimpers my name.

Unholy fuckery.

Nothing else she’s said all night affected me like this.

I’ve reached my limit.

I want her so badly I’m crawling out of my own skin.

I could end the anticipation right here, right now.

As much as we’re starving, though, I can’t take her against the wall like some crude bar hookup.

Not Piper.

Not our first time.

I need this woman bedded down properly so I can appreciate her and explore. So I can find the spots that make her sing and take her through every level of heaven and hell.

Breathing raggedly, I press my forehead to hers, beaming a question into her eyes.

Are you ready for me?

It’s like she reads my mind when she nods so slowly.

So I grab her again, carrying her through my suite like a bride in my arms.

The second we arrive at the bed, I toss her down, loving how she laughs. I set to work unzipping her dress.

Her hands move to my belt and I push them away.

“Patience.”

“But why?” she whines.

I answer by yanking her dress to the floor, exposing those long sleek legs and a pair of panties redder than her face.

“Sweet payback,” I whisper.

“P-payback?”

“You remember the night we met?” I kneel on one leg, slipping a finger down her waistband, inhaling her scent.

“How could I forget? You were naked in my room.”

I hook my fingers through her panties and start pulling. She makes no struggle as I remove them, angling up. “Yeah, you got an eyeful. Now, sweetness, it’s my turn.”

I tumble her back across the bed with her pussy exposed and waiting.

Of course, it’s beautifully pink and enticing, a tight promise already hounding my dick.

She squirms back, grabbing at the blanket and trying to pull it over her.

“Fuck no. This is not the time you get to be shy.”

She’s so red it makes me want to sink into her even more as she says, “No fair. It’s not the same and you know it. We were strangers. It wasn’t intimate like this…”

“So this is intimate?” I echo, grazing the back of my fingers down her bare belly, teasing her as I hover just above her clit.

“…don’t make me answer that.”

“Tell me, Sunshine. Not with words.” I cup her mound and stop, leaving her wanting.

“God. You make me crazy,” she forces out between searing breaths.

Crazy? You have no earthly idea, lady.

Eventually, she scrambles on her knees and crawls toward me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I whisper.

She doesn’t answer, just smiles as her hands reach for my belt. Before I can say anything, she starts working it loose.

“I’m squaring us up. I need another eyeful of the man I met in Lanai.”

I should stop her, stick to my guns, but she’s too good at brushing my dick through my pants as her nimble fingers work.

Soon, I’m unbuttoned. I let my trousers fall to a heap around my ankles.

The man she met. I think I like that.

“You remember what that man looked like naked?” I ask.

“God, yes.”

I step out of my shoes so I can get my pants fully off.

For a hot second, she grabs my boxers at the waistband, her eyes searching the massive bulge poking through the thin fabric. Then her hand flicks down, freeing the hard-on from hell.

“Holy…”

She stops and stares at me in full salute.

Her cherry-tinted face goes a little pale.

It’s not the first time I’ve had a woman wondering if they can handle me, but when it’s Piper—fuck.

“What are you thinking, Sunshine?” I demand, grabbing my cock at the base and squeezing.

She traces her finger over the tip and shudders.

I steady myself, gritting my teeth at the sensation.

She won’t unravel me now.

Not before I’ve fucked her through the floor.

“I’m thinking that I hope this doesn’t hurt.” Her voice is barely audible as she licks her lips.

She cups her hand around it—rather, she tries.

I smile when I see her fingers won’t fully close around my girth.

Hell, I want to wreck her in all the best ways, but pain is one thing I’ll never give this woman.

“I won’t let it hurt,” I say, grabbing one of Piper’s legs with each hand to angle her back down on the bed.

She collapses on her back with a soft laugh. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure you’re ready for the most magnificent fuck of your life,” I say.

And I sink to my knees, crawling forward, spreading her open so I can bury my head between her thighs.