IN BED WITH THE BOSS

“Scott,” From the depths of some heavenly dream, Scott made a little moan of protest. From some dreams you never wanted to waken.

“Scott!”

He felt himself stir inside her sweet, wet warmth. He was still asleep! He moved his body luxuriously against the soft, giving flesh which enfolded his.

“Will you wake up?”

Okay, he was awake, but the reality was even better than the dream. He smiled against her neck, realising that he was still inside her, and he began to grow hard once more, instinctively beginning to move.

She fought desire. Fought her greedy wish to have him do it to her one more time, but, oh, it wasn’t easy. “Scott!” she said, as sternly as an irate school­ mistress. His eyes opened, taking in his surroundings with a sense of disbelief. Here. In bed with Vivian. In Vivian.

He groaned as he withdrew, and looked down at her face, all rosy and glowing, dark eyes slit­ted by lids which were heavy and drowsy. She met his impassive gaze and in that moment she felt a million miles away from him-but then, she had to face it, she was.

Just because they still had that whatever-it-was which made them dynamite together sexually-well, it was nothing more than that. Chemistry. Attraction-call it what you wanted.

“Vivian” he said softly.

She was not going to be an emotional limpet. She was going to think like a man, even if inside she felt as vulnerable as any woman. “Mmm?” she replied.

“That was… amazing.” A tinge of hysteria nearly surfaced. She felt like asking him for marks out of ten, but she didn’t, just kept the dreamy smile of fulfillment pinned to her lips, which wasn’t exactly difficult. “Yes, it was,” she agreed calmly.

He levered himself up onto one elbow, and idly lifted a stray strand of damp hair from her forehead and that one gesture almost broke her resolve.

“So now what do we do?” he questioned.

“You mean, as of-right now?”

That had not been what he had meant, at all, and she knew it. Left to him there was only one thing he would like to have done after making love to her and that was to make love to her all over again. But he had to be sure of what Vivian wanted or expected-and she had to know what his own agenda was. If she was one of those women who had started thinking hearts and flowers and happy-ever-after just because he had given her a spectacular orgasm, then this would-unfortunately-be the first and last time, however difficult he might find it.

Usually, his demands were met because he stated them openly and honestly, but this was going to be more difficult. In truth, it felt different from usual, and he didn’t know why. But Vivian had to be certain in her mind that he couldn’t give her more. He bent his head to kiss the tip of her nose and saw her quickly shut her eyes.

“Vivian?” he called.

She opened them only when she had had time to compose herself. Whatever he said next she would deal with. She had no choice. She rubbed the tip of her finger along the outline of his mouth. “What?”

“Is it okay if… if… oh damn it! Shall we be lovers?” he asked.

Her heart lurched beneath her breast. “I thought we just had….”

“I mean again.” he cut in.

She knew that it would be uncool to ask for a timescale, but she needed to get things straight in her mind. “You mean while we’re here….”

Scott narrowed his eyes. “Yeah I mean that, and when we get back home.…just between the both of us…. We’re adults who want each other and I’m certain this one time won’t be enough… so why don’t we…. Be lovers. ”

“What about work?” Vivian asked. “Wouldn’t it be inappropriate?”

“Not if we both keep it to ourselves and Ermmm… we stick to rules and understand the boundaries.”

Boundaries….

Well, that told her one thing-he certainly wasn’t thinking long-term. He just wanted a sexual relationship. The only question was whether she wanted to be his lover, although it was a pretty academic question. Of course she wanted to be his lover, but could she do it and survive with her heart intact?

She gave him a considering stare.

“You’re saying that you want an affair?”

“Why not?”

She could think of plenty of reasons, but none that a man would understand, and especially a man like Scott. “With no strings?” she asked.

His eyes narrowed in a swift look of surprise. “That is supposed to be my line, Vivian,” he murmured.

She knew it was, but she had deliberately taken the initiative away from him. If she let him lay down all the guidelines that would give him a position of power and she was only going to allow this to happen if power were shared. As equals.

“That’s not an answer,” she pointed out.

He gave a soft, low laugh. “Strings are the very last thing I want, or need.”

With his appetite presumably satisfied, and with her left feeling… what? Regret? But wasn’t life too short for that? After all, she was a mature woman, and she wasn’t dating anyone.

Maybe an affair with Scott McCall wouldn’t be so bad. She wasn’t looking for love-and if she was, she certainly wouldn’t go looking for it with him. Neither did she want commitment-a man living with her, a one-on-one relationship with all the heavy demands that brought with it. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that either.

“What about that man I met at the party? He said something about you and his sister” she asked.

His face grew shuttered. “What about her?”

“Are you really with her? In a relationship with her?”

There was silence. “Do you trust me, Vivian?” he asked.

“…. I guess” she replied.

“You don’t have to worry about him or his sister. It’s totally about something else and I’m not in a relationship with her. It’s not just something I want to talk about.”

“Okay, but Scott -”

He shushed her by putting his finger on her lips and she answered by nibbling at it. He winced, but the slight discomfort turned him on.

“Vivian…” he soothed. “Let’s forget about every other thing. This is just about us… between us”

“You think I want to be hidden away, as if I’m something to be ashamed of! Maybe you should find someone else.”

“But I don’t want anyone else,” he said patiently. “You are all the lover that any man could want.”

“I sense there’s a ”but” coming.”

He nodded. “But you know you work for me and we both know how this could look like to the media and everyone else?”

Vivian understood but she still couldn’t stop herself from asking. “Do you usually keep all your lovers a secret?”

He shook his head. “I try to, but sometimes stuff gets out…”

Even his honesty about his other lovers hurt, when it had no right to hurt. What had she expected him to say? That she wanted him to show her off and not keep her hidden? That she wanted much more? And wasn’t that what she would have liked, deep down? Either she took what was on offer, or she turned her back on the proposal without another thought.

“I am a good lover, Vivian,” he murmured.

“Oh, the arrogance, Scott! The conceit!” she mocked back. And the total lack of comprehension that women didn’t choose lovers because they were dynamite in bed. Women chose men with their hearts, not their bodies-that was the difference between the sexes and that was where the danger lay.

But the flip side to danger was excitement, and excitement was what Scott was offering her. Yes, there was a risk that she would be hurt, but what was life without risk? A life lived safely to safeguard against possible hurt was surely no life at all.

His thumb began to stroke at the cool flesh of her inner thigh and Vivian felt herself squirm.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

“That isn’t fair,” she said weakly, feeling him stir in response, hard and pushed against the soft cushion of her belly.

“What isn’t?”

She licked the finger that she had bitten. “Using depraved methods to get me to agree to what you want.”

“Depraved? You think that is depraved? Vivian, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

With a smooth movement, he pulled her to lie on top of him and entered her when she wasn’t expecting it, and she sucked in an instinctive breath of protested pleasure.

“Scott!”

He began to move. “Mmm?”

“I haven’t given you my answer yet.”

He moved again, and he was taken aback by how good it felt, as good as before. No. He groaned. Better. Much better. With an effort, he opened his eyes, looking up at her to see her caught up in the rapture herself, her neck and breasts still rose-smudged from the time before.

“Then what is your answer going to be, Vivian?”