Bedded by the Boss (6 page)

When Renee continued to stand still, the words became deep and rough. "Get in the car, Renee."

She slowly made her way over to the car, and slid in the seat. He shut the door and she was inside, her nerves frayed. On the outside she was poised, calm and graceful. On the inside she was a mess. Beating herself up for letting him get her into his car. He walked around the front and slid into the driver's seat. His door closed with a subdued click, and she was enclosed in the small space with him. She jumped slightly when the doors automatically locked, and she felt a moment of hysteria from being at his mercy. A feeling of powerlessness washed over her and she took a tremulous breath.

He started the car, and pulled out onto the main thoroughfare. He reached in his pocket, and slipped her keys out. He held them out to her, never taking his eyes off the road. When she slipped her hand over to get them, his grip tightened and momentarily didn't release them. She raised her eyes to his, and he briefly took his attention from the road and looked at her, without releasing her keys.

It was a power play. She recognized it; he was trying to prove something. It was a not so subtle way of telling her he was the one in control. She lowered her eyes from his, and he released his grip on the keys and turned his attention back to the road.

The drive to the restaurant was accomplished in silence. There was an underlying layer of tension surrounding them, and Renee couldn't find the energy or will to try to take the edge off with idle chit-chat. Her nerves were stretched thin, and what started as a healthy hunger soon dwindled away to no appetite at all, induced by stress.

Her mind was in turmoil, her emotions in upheaval. If he tried to seduce her tonight, she didn't know if she could withstand him. And the fact he made sure she rode in his vehicle was telling, a foreshadowing of the evening to come and what she could expect from him. She wasn't ready for it to happen; it was too soon. Physically she was ready. Physically she'd been ready the day she met him. But emotionally and strategically, it was too soon.

While marriage and permanence were far from her mind, she wanted more than a brief affair and the consequences it would bring. It was a gamble, because there was no way she could continue to work for him after an affair between them had fizzled out. She needed to stay out of his bed for a few more weeks. It was probably old-fashioned and even manipulative on her part, but she needed to play hard to get, if she wanted to win in the end. But the problem was, she couldn't. He was too compelling, too sexy, and he went to her head like a fine wine. She needed to be careful.

When they arrived at the restaurant, he parked and walked around to let her out. She had already opened her door when he reached that side of the car, and he reached in and took her hand as she swung her legs around and got out.

He never released her hand, and soon Renee found herself sitting in a small, dark booth in a back corner of the quiet restaurant. The night was already dark, and the atmosphere was intimate, the lighting subdued.

Before she knew it, a bottle of wine sat between them, and their orders were placed.

A few small sips of the wine steadied her nerves a bit, and she found herself looking around. It wasn't a fancy place, and its clientele seemed to run to business people, mostly adults that appeared to have just come from work. She didn't see any children around.

Other than a few basic sentences when ordering their food, he hadn't made any attempt to talk to her. Renee swiveled her eyes from the room to look back at him. Her breath caught in her throat. He was watching her every move, his eyes feral with some indefinable emotion. She had a sense of being the meal, and he was the predator, just waiting.

She took another sip, and he reached for the bottle to top up her glass. It registered that he wasn't drinking much, but didn't think much of it since she knew he had to drive.

He seemed completely at ease, perfectly comfortable with the lack of conversation.

The strain was getting to her, and she needed to break the silence. "I've never been here before, but I guess the food is good?"

"It's not bad." His words were succinct, not much to go on.

She tried again to instigate conversation. "Do you come here often?" When Renee heard the words come out of her mouth, she almost cringed at the cliché.

He smirked. "I suppose so. Often enough, anyway. Why are you nervous?"

Her hackles rose. "Why am I nervous? I don't know. Let's see. You're my boss. You want me to quit my job. You told me you want to sleep with me, and I don't think you've forgotten about that. Why do you think I'm nervous?"

"I don't want you to quit your job anymore--"

"You don't?"

"No. Yes. Hell, I don't know what I want. I wish like fuck Mrs. Argenot hadn't hired you. I wish when I ran into you at the bar a few weeks ago, that it was the first time we ever met. I wish you had come home with me that night so all this bullshit would be over by now."

"Bullshit? I'm supposed to take that as a compliment? You wish we had met, slept together, and then you had moved on with your life so all this
bullshit
was over?"

"I didn't say that."

"You said exactly that, Robert. You're a pretty smooth talker, aren't you?"

"Quit putting words in my mouth, Renee. We need a time-out. Let's just forget for awhile that you work for me. Let's forget the antagonism between us and enjoy the evening, okay?"

"Fine. But I don't understand why. Why the hell can't you leave me alone and find another woman?"

"You don't understand? Bullshit. You understand, all right. You want to hear me say it. Fine. I'll say it." He reached over and took her chin in his hand. "
It has to be you. I'm not going to have a moment of goddamn peace until I sink into you."

Chapter Eight

Their food arrived in the tense atmosphere of that explosive statement. Robert reluctantly released her from his hold to move back for the server to put the food in front of them. His movements were abrupt as he continued to watch her. Renee saw the flare of his nostrils and the sexually menacing look in his eyes and knew she was in trouble.

She needed to be careful about the amount of wine she consumed. She raised her eyes and asked the waiter for a glass of water. She looked back over to Robert and inhaled deeply. They watched each other in adversarial silence until the waiter moved away.

Robert saw the emotion in her eyes she couldn't hide. She was in a panic, her body trembling. It only added to her allure. Her beauty surrounded him, teasing his senses. Her eyes were wide, her face ivory, blanched of color, except for her lips, which were a deep, dark pink. She was beautiful.

And he wanted her.

The waiting was over.

His words were short, direct. "Eat your food."

****

After dinner, Renee found herself efficiently herded to the car, buckled in and driving down the interstate at a fast clip before she even realized which direction they were driving. Butterflies churned in her stomach.

"Where are we going?" The distress in her voice was haunting.

He reached down between them and entwined her hand with his. He squeezed it slightly and continued to drive.

"R-Robert. I want to go home now, please." Her voice shook.

"All in good time. We're just taking a drive. It's a pretty night. Look at that moon out the window." His voice was smooth, soothing, seductive.

She lapsed into silence and the drive continued. She wanted him to take her home, but she knew that wasn't going to happen unless she threw a screaming, hissy fit. She didn't want to do that. It was too embarrassing to contemplate. And there was another reason she didn't do it. She wanted to be with him so desperately. She didn't really have the will or the desire to fight him any longer. She was fighting herself more than him.

Minutes later, he pulled into a gated, suburban community and lowered his speed to a crawl. He pressed a button on his dash and the garage door of a large, brick house began to go up.

Her nerves shot to hell. "Robert--"

He cut her off. "Nothing's going to happen that you don't want to happen," he said as he glanced at her. "Or is that what you're afraid of? Afraid you want it to happen?" He turned his focus on pulling the car into the garage.

Renee didn't answer. The engine was cut and she waited for him to open her door. He ushered her into his home through the backdoor and Renee found herself in a large, spotless kitchen. It was decorated in the Tuscan style, with lots of black wrought iron and stone in the floors and backsplash. Bright, earthy colors in dark blues and greens dominated the color scheme. It was beautiful, and any woman who liked to cook would love the room. She was no exception, but didn't have time to appreciate it as his hand landed on the small of her back and guided her through to the living room. He turned on a dimmer switch, creating soft, subdued lighting. His hand dropped from her back to entangle her fingers as he faced her and started walking backwards, pulling her over to the couch while his eyes held hers.

She felt it all the way to her toes. She had no strength to try to stop him, and made the unconscious decision to follow his lead.

"Do you know how many days, Renee?" His voice was low and raspy as he sat on the couch and pulled her down beside him.

"H-how many days, wh-what?" She tried to control the trembling, but was totally conscious of the fact that she had never wanted another man in her whole life as much as she wanted this one.

"How many days I've wanted you. How many days you've driven me crazy." His hands tangled through her hair and lifted her face to his. "It's been fifty-three goddamn days. I give up, sweetheart. I surrender." His mouth came down on hers, his lips firm and caressing.

A delicious feeling of irresistible craving consumed her, and she forcibly shut her mind down on anything that would take that feeling away. This was all she would think about right now. She very well knew it had been fifty-three days since they had met, and the realization that he knew it too, for whatever reason, only compounded the emotions sliding through her. She had been on a precipice all that time, and she was going to let go. He wanted control; she wanted him to take it.

Her mouth opened more fully under his. He lifted her chin and drank from her, took deep kisses that tormented them both. His manner of kissing was intoxicating, leaving her on a knife's edge. He would take soft kisses, gentle whispers of flesh touching, then would plunge his tongue in and devour her like he needed her mouth for sustenance. And then it would start again. His fingers speared through her hair, he held her captive in his hold while his lips touched hers lightly, softly, their breathing harsh and difficult.

Through a haze of desire, Renee registered that he was trying to go slow, trying to maintain control. The provocative image of an out of control Robert Thibodeaux danced through her mind. The image was unequivocally addictive. She wanted that someday. It never occurred to her to be afraid he might hurt her; he was too in command of his own body for that.

Renee surfaced from her thoughts when he slid his arms under her knees and stood all in one smooth motion. He never staggered under her weight, far from it. He had the physique of a linebacker, the steely strength of an athlete, and it allowed him to lift her body without even a mild display of exertion.

He immediately turned and made his way down a darkened hallway.

Renee's brain scrambled with dizziness from the speed of the movement and she clutched him around the neck and closed her eyes against his chest to lessen the whirling in her head. The light-headedness left her abruptly and a delicious languor filled her senses.

His scent was all around her. She took deep, steadying breaths as he moved unhesitatingly down the dark corridor. His masculine aroma filled her nostrils, she didn't want to move away from him.

He shouldered a door wide, and backed into it, carrying her over to a large bed and dropping her to her knees on its edge. A faint stream of light came in from the moonlight through the windows.

His hands moved down to the buttons on her blouse and swiftly opened them. He pushed the shirt from her shoulders and divested her of it completely. Her white bra glowed in the darkened room. His inhalations became ragged as he unclipped her bra and pulled it from her arms.

He wasted no time, and his hands moved to the snap of her pants and he flicked the button and slid open the zipper. He pushed them down her hips, drawing her panties down with them. His hands were firm and sure and he pushed her to her butt as he stripped the garments from her body, taking her high heels with them.

She was naked on his bed. She quivered when a low growl rumbled from his chest.

Robert fought through a black haze of pure lust as his eyes fell on her naked form.
Jesus Christ.
Finally
. Had he ever waited this long for a woman? Fuck, no. Women fell into his arms, fell into his bed, and then wanted to stay there.