Page 195 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Why not?” I purred, lifting up onto my toes to nip at his ear. “We’re alone. Everyone else has gone home.”

“Because…it’s…This is headquarters.”

“And you’re the CEO,” I said, dragging my lips across his jaw to kiss him. “I’m not seeing the problem. You’re the boss.” I kissed him again. “Mr. Cocktail King. Haven’t you ever thought about this? At least once? Haven’t you wondered what it would be like to fuck me bent over a work bench, Your Majesty?”

He groaned into the next kiss, his hands shifting around my waist and dropping to cup my ass as he ground himself against me.

“That’s it,” I said as hormones and relief flooded my veins in a heady combination.

The next kiss was frenzied as I palmed his cock through his pants. He was already getting hard, straining against the zipper. I popped the button open, getting the zipper down, and reached into his pants, taking his length in my hand.

He moaned, clenching his eyes as my hand moved up and down his cock, the pad of my thumb toying gently with the head.

“Fuck, Cora!”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” I said, squeezing gently. I rubbed him, back and forth, taking my time, listening to his breathing grow more ragged.

“Stop.” He reached down to interrupt my hand. “I want to hear you moan,” he said, pulling me in for a searing kiss. “Condom?”

“In my bag,” I said, breaking away from him long enough to dig the condom from my purse.

He tore the wrapper open with his teeth, and I squeezed my thighs together.

“Turn around,” he said, rolling the condom down his length.

I unbuttoned my pants, getting them down to my knees as I twisted, practically moaning in anticipation. It was the thrill of potentially being caught, of doing something we weren’t supposed to do, of Aiden touching me the way he did. I was already beyond wet, and as I leaned against my workstation, he pressed up against me, moving my panties aside with his fingers as he slid inside. Moaning, I took all of him, again and again. Aiden thrust into me, clutching my hips for leverage, and I bucked back against him, crying out. With one hand I reached down, rubbing at my clit, almost dazed by the sensations before he took over so I could brace my forearms against the table, struggling to stay upright as my legs started shaking, my whole body overwhelmed.

He didn’t last long, exploding with a cry, and I followed him into oblivion a moment later.

When we’d caught our breath and cleaned ourselves up, I blinked up at him with a satisfied smile. It felt like we’d finally reconnected after the days of stilted texts and weird excuses. Maybe we’d go get dinner now or head back to his place for a less frenzied round two.

But before I could even make the suggestion, his phone rang.

“Hey,” he said, pressing his phone to his ear as he finished buckling his belt. “Yeah, now’s good. What do you mean the colors seem off? I approved those weeks ago.” He made vague noises of concern. “You know what, why don’t I just come down there to check it out in person?”

My face fell. It sounded like he was on the phone with the venue that was hosting the launch event. Did he really need to be there to see if the color scheme matched? Couldn’t they send him a picture for that kind of thing?

“Sorry,” he whispered to me while backing away. “It’s the event planner. She’s got some last-minute things she needs help with. I’d better go.”

I nodded along, not wanting to make a fuss, but inside, I felt a little sick. He wasn’t exactly making excuses to get away from me…but it didn’t sound like the kind of thing that needed him there in person. And even if it did, couldn’t he have invited me along? I was about to offer to come with him, but I never got the chance.

He gave me a wave from the door. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, we—” I started to say. But he’d already stepped away, leaving me behind in the lab that felt very cold and empty now. It was like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough, and not for the first time in days, I found myself wondering if I’d done something to chase him away. Had I screwed this up? We’d both seemed to enjoy the sex, so that couldn’t be it. I drummed my fingers against my lips as worry twisted in my gut. My mother’s words resurfaced.

Be careful.

Nothing was wrong though. Aiden was simply busy. He was the CEO of a successful company with a massive product launch coming up. These were all valid reasons for him to be too busy for me at the moment.

But if that was all that was going on, why did I feel like I’d just been abandoned?

23

CORA

“Idon’t know if strapless was the way to go with the dress,” I said, pulling the silky material up—a sparkly green thing that showed off an obscene amount of thigh. “I feel like I’m going to sweat this off.” It had been a ridiculously humid July day, and even with the sun setting before the launch party, the air wasn’t cooling off much. Our tiny A/C unit was struggling to keep up, and I was already dreading the short walk from the building to my ride.

“There’ll be A/C inside the venue,” Jennifer reminded me, coming into the room with a hairbrush. “You’ll be fine once you arrive.”