The Boss Read online

  “Please have a seat, Boss,” she said, courting and teasing, avoiding his advance and showing him his seat, the toilet. After this haircut, she’d call him by his name. No, she’d pant his name, in his ear, as he held her.

  “I still have no idea why you brought clippers. Unless you’re going for some crazy looking jagged effect on the ends, which I could also achieve with the scissors, with much better results I might add.”

  “Cherie.” He paused and against his better judgment, laid his hand over her forearm, bringing it down to stop her for a second. “I’m not having you trim my hair, sweet one.” She looked at him like he’d lost it. Her frown made him want to kiss her so badly.

  “I don’t get it. What’s going on?”

  All or nothing he supposed. “You’re going to shave my head tonight because tomorrow I’m heading out to basic training.”

  Her gray eyes grew so wide he wanted to brush his fingertips over her lids to ease them back to normal, but thoughts of touching her were driving him crazy as it was. He had to explain this appointment of theirs before he grabbed the clippers and rushed his own buzz job so he could be taken in so entirely he’d feel Cherie’s body pulsing and loving him for the year he’d be deployed.

  Her jeans rose up just enough to show him her dainty ankle when she sat on the tub’s edge and crossed her legs like a young lady.

  “Shave your head? All this gorgeous hair? Gone? Wait, did you say basic training?”

  He nodded yes. “I don’t want to look like Nick Phillips when I show up there. You understand. I don’t want to stand out. I just want to…”

  “No, I don’t understand. To what, exactly?”

  He could feel her emotion and the name on the tip of her tongue that would hurt too much to say. He would do it for her, and he hoped she’d understand his heart when he was done.

  “Cherie, Scott was my best friend, a brother. We made each other promises, and I’ll be damned if I don’t at least keep one of them.”

  “One of them?” She uncrossed her legs, which looked to be shaking, and planted her perfect feet on the tile floor. “You’re not making any sense. I’ve known you forever but apparently not long enough to understand any of this. And this whole past year … you know this is the first time we’ve even had a decent conversation, confusing as it is. So, Scott made you promise to stay away from me before he left, didn’t he?”

  Was that the promise Nick was keeping or breaking?

  Nick held in a chuckle at Scott’s mandate that last night at the pub, how red his friend’s face had gotten during the “don’t you dare fuck with my sister while I’m gone” segment of his speech followed by the “don’t you dare let anyone else hurt her either” part.

  “He asked me to watch out for you, as he should have. And yes, to keep my hands to myself. But that wasn’t all. We talked about why he was enlisting, and Cherie, it broke me down. Your brother was all heart.” Nick paused because her chest and nostrils quivered through the same shaky breath. He knew it wasn’t for him but for her brother. Still, he had to say this. He kept his hands folded in his lap, fighting the need to stroke her creamy skin, kiss her throat, for now. “He told me there was no way he could live with himself as a man if he didn’t join the fight. I didn’t realize what that meant or felt like until the day we lost him. I don’t want to be any other kind of man until I’ve been that man first. So please, do me this favor.”

  Chapter Three

  Lock by thick, shiny, cocoa brown lock, Cherie snipped large chunks of his hair until it was short enough that it wouldn’t snag in the clippers. She set the cut sections on the counter and stretched one out, pulling until the wave was straight. “Hey Boss, you’ve got about seven inches here. You should see about donating it.”

  “That’s a good idea, sweet one, but it’s not long enough,” he said, not looking her way, she assumed because he was avoiding the mirror behind her. He didn’t look bad. Just different.

  Cherie tried not to stare at his piercing eyes or his full lips, but she couldn’t help it. They were fascinating. When she forced her eyes away, they just betrayed her and latched on to his neck. It was thick and smooth except for the vein running up the side. A chill chattered her teeth and cooled her tongue as she gazed at how beautiful, thick, and smooth he was, even without all the hair. A sly little devil of curiosity made her wonder if he was that beautiful everywhere else. But of course he was. He had to be. Women lost their minds over him for a reason, didn’t they?

  “You’ve looked into donating it already, haven’t you?” she asked, admiration and surprise growing in her heart.

  He just nodded and gave her a half smile, like he’d rather not talk about it. But he didn’t look very happy. Man, she’d done a job on his poor hair. He was gonna be pissed if he saw this middle stage of the makeover. She turned on the unfamiliar clippers, making them hum and buzz in her clammy hand, sad to see his hair gone but anxious at how much hotter and dangerous-looking he’d already become.

  Standing meagerly at his side, suddenly aware her heart was pounding, Cherie made herself hold the back of his head firmly in her hand. Warm puffs of his breath so close teased through her thin top, and she hoped he didn’t see what she felt. Her nipples hardened and ached to be his. She expected to breathe in a whiff of his usual freshly showered and soapy scent, but a wash of sweat and salt left her even more intrigued. She had to focus. With her free hand, she shaved a strip and then another until he looked like the typical new recruit.

  By the time she was done, it was too much. She handed him the mirror while she looked away.

  “Wow,” he said low and cool.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t be. You did a good job. I like it.”

  Her shoulders began to shake.

  “Hey, really, you did good.”

  Cherie sat down on the edge of the tub, still gripping the clippers that had warmed her hands, ignoring the tiny dark hairs dusting the floor, her fingers, their clothes.

  “I didn’t realize how much you’d remind me of him like this.”

  They stared into the mirror together for a few seconds while Nick ran his hands over his new ‘do. Well, she’d done the requested deed. His silence must mean he was politely waiting for her to get a clue and leave him be so he could clean up and be on his way. This was apparently his last night of freedom for a while. Who was she to delay the company he probably had waiting up in his suite?

  “Well, I guess that’s it. Take care of yourself, Nick. Keep in touch.”

  “Do you really think I’m ready to let you go yet?” he asked her.

  “Um, yes, I did.”

  “Well, you are wrong, sweet one.”

  Yep, that was unexpected, but clear. She could see now how wrong she’d been. His shoulders spread, expanding his chest like a deadly cobra and the loose white shirt trying to keep it covered. “Let me stay here tonight?” he asked.

  He wanted her? To stay the night? With her? Here? Cherie’s thighs began with a new, slow burn, so she rubbed them, unsure of what else to do, while he watched.

  ****

  He should want her to stop touching her sexy legs like that. Instead he watched for a moment, admiring how tightly she held her thighs together, how protected she probably felt under her jeans, and how much he was going to savor peeling them off.

  “Are you cold?” he asked, unable to keep much distance in the tiny bathroom.

  “Hmm? Oh, no. I’m fine, just been a long day I guess, on my feet. Sore muscles.” She smiled but kept her mouth closed. “I should probably clean up,” she said, seemingly absentminded.

  Nick took his phone from his back pocket and woke it up so he could mute it, thinking all the while what a fool he’d been to deny his connection to Cherie. It could have helped them both this past year. But he’d been trying so hard to keep that promise. Yeah, tonight’s last minute timing sucked, but sometimes anxiety and loneliness combined into one hell of a fucking emotional nightmare, and he needed
her. He laid the phone on the counter and decided he’d wasted enough time.

  “What time is it, Boss?” she asked, startling him somewhat.

  “Almost midnight.”

  Her head bobbed down making her ponytail shimmy like she and her cocoa tresses were amused.

  “Hmm. Guess I could be spending my twenty-first birthday in worse company.”

  Her announcement spurred his memory. Nick was thirteen years her senior with more experience than she could dream up. It was okay for him to be asking this much of himself, but was it fair to ask the same of her?

  “Cherie, are you comfortable with me here?”

  “Mostly,” she said, angling her neck like she knew he now had questions about her response.

  What pushed a man to make the decision to take his best friend’s baby sister in the ways he’d been imagining the past few weeks? He’d thought of that several times. Because this wasn’t something he’d taken lightly. Watching her and the way she was with people. The way she reacted calmly in crazy situations. The way he could tell it irked her to be set aside and not considered one of the adults around the crew. She had a way of dealing with Scott’s loss that shook him and made him jealous. He was dying to share himself with her because he knew she’d share back. Nick needed to stock up on all her goodness to last him however long he was gone, whatever hot spot he found himself in. And post-performance, he was as usual, hornier than shit. God, her jeans were so damn tight and her top so loose. She wouldn’t need to clean up if they simply got naked and left their hairy clothes in a neat enough pile on the floor.

  This underwhelming bathroom reminded him of the old days. Shit, he realized she had barely been born when he’d had his first fuck.

  Cherie sat watching him, playing with the embroidery of her loose, cream and teal peasant top. She fingered a colorful pair of beads hanging from ties at the neckline. He couldn’t help it. He reached and tugged the ties loose.

  Tiny goose-bumps came alive when he petted the skin right there at the keyhole opening of her blouse with the outermost edge of his pinky finger. He noticed she pushed her chest out when he did so, letting him see how taut her nipples had become. Using the tiny strings to pull her closer, he wanted to taste her mouth while he explored her perfect firm tits with his hands.

  She spoke before he could capture her lips. “Don’t go. It’s still so dangerous over there.” It was the softest spoken demand he’d ever heard.

  “I have to.”

  Nick’s face was inches from her soft jawline. Her breath came out loudly and made him want to cry her name now, not later when he was pushing himself so deep inside her.

  “I know. Just like him,” she whispered.

  “Shhh, Cherie.”

  “You said we would talk. But you know what? I don’t think I want to talk about this,” she said, sounding like she might need physical love the same as him.

  “Okay. But just one thing. My apology for this past year.” It was instinctual. He ran his fingers down further, noticing how big they were resting there between her breasts.

  “Fine, say it quickly.”

  Nick came off the toilet seat and kneeled before her, feeling like mercy’s most unlikely recipient. “I’d rather show you. Can you handle that? Hmm, sweet one? I know it’s a lot to ask.”

  ****

  What in the—? Cherie sat there and planted her two feet on the ground as best she could to indeed check her balance and the earth’s axis. She half expected to float to the bathroom ceiling any second. In truth, Nick Phillips had starred in nearly every dream she’d had since getting her driver’s license, but Cherie knew it was only because she was compensating for the complete lack of acknowledgement from him in her real life. “Nick, it’s just, you know, there’s been nothing for so long, and now you’re saying these surreal things to me. It’s just hard to believe.”

  “I’m not wasting time being an idiot anymore,” he whispered with his hands now on her thighs. “And, you’re finally legal. It’s not against the law for me to want you this way like it was a few years ago.”

  She’d never seen him this sensual, dark but open. And she’d definitely never had a man on his knees in front of her before. She didn’t know what it was, but Cherie felt like she could open up with Nick like this. For God’s sake, there was no question, it was going to be an emotional night, if her thumping heart was any indicator. She bit her lip at how hard he pressed his fingers into her thighs, massaging them up and down, dipping them and spreading them. He’d be amazing, just as she’d always dreamed.

  “That’s it?” she said out of nerves.

  “Guys do some really stupid things, Cherie, for a lot less. I know I shouldn’t have come to you like this. The thing is…” He trailed off.

  “You don’t want to be alone tonight.” She finished the sentence for him, hesitated, and then took his beautiful head in her hands, feeling the tiny soft prickle of his buzzed hair. He moaned.

  “No, I don’t want to be alone tonight, sweet one.”

  So that’s what this was.

  Cherie knew she had to make a decision, and she knew she had to do it with the inexperienced heart beating in her chest. Either blow off this man who’d crushed her pride night after night the past year or act on the intense pull she felt to soothe him right now. Oh how she’d wished Scott had had someone special to send him off to war.

  You want him, Cherie. Your brother loved … loves him. What that had to do with her bare toes inching their way closer to the large tops of his kneeling thighs, she had no idea. But in a weird way, there was a bit of truth to it. Sitting there, staring at him as he studied her every move, it was as if he’d left the stage each night and walked straight into her arms. Like they were close. Maybe it was the connection Scott had left.

  “Nick? Tell me just one thing first, okay?”

  “All right,” he said, but stayed planted before her on the floor.

  She didn’t know why she’d expected him to soften. She’d never observed that to be his nature.

  “Are you happy with your decision to enlist?”

  His eyebrows hiked up to show he was actually taking a minute to think about it.

  “I am.”

  “And being here with me tonight? I mean out of all those beautiful women.” Her ego whimpered at four sets of full, perfect, heavenly boobs he could no doubt send someone to track down and have waiting up on the top floor. “It’s obvious what you need tonight. Why me?”

  ****

  Nick swallowed. Hard. Her powdery smell was intoxicating, but she needed answers. Rightly so. He dragged a hand over his scalp and then rubbed his throat. Major decision time.

  Fuck it. He peeled off his t-shirt and let it fall to the floor by her bare feet. “I’d like to enjoy my last private shower for a while, and there’s no one else I’d rather do that with.”

  She nodded yes, eyes widening with each dip of her head. On the last dip, he kissed the tip of her nose and then her chin. He wanted those lips so badly.

  “Sh-should I call for more towels, or wash cloths, or soap?” she asked blinking.

  Shit. She was nervous. But that innocence was exactly what he craved. “The only thing I’m missing right now, Cherie, is you.” He couldn’t help it. Nick took her hand in his and placed it on his chest, holding it there. His cock jerked at the attention happening in such close proximity. Her fingers spread under his hand, and he sucked in a breath.

  Don’t hurt her. You promised.

  Within seconds of seeing her lips make the “oh” in okay, he tugged her from the tub ledge into his arms and held her captive to his chest. From his knees, he tucked her beneath him on the bathroom floor, protecting her head with his one hand. When her eyes opened back up, he slowly lowered himself down for a kiss, and then they closed their eyes together. Sweet Jesus, she tasted like heaven. A heavenly body he wanted to fuck over and over and come inside all night long. “I’ll take the very best care of you tonight, sweet one,” he whispered.
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  Chapter Four

  Cherie lay all the way down and pulled Nick even closer. She needed to feel his weight bearing down on her. If not, she feared she might float to the moon, if she didn’t explode first. The tile floor was probably cold and hard at her back, but with his arm under her and his nose nuzzling her neck, it felt like fine luxury. His kisses were hot, and he took his time. This patience was a new concept to her, and she appreciated his skill. She’d stopped worrying at disappointing Nick when he pinned her like a tiger against the floor for a minute and then predatorily sat back on his haunches to undo his belt.

  What in the world were they about to do? No, aside from the amazing sex she could probably count on with a man as thick and muscled as he was. What would happen in the morning? Or next month when she knew she’d be worrying like hell if he was safe. Why wasn’t she pissed at his presto-changeo act like she should be? A memory answered that question for her. A vision of Scott shoving his way through her seventh grade Sadie Hawkins dance to get to her date made her smile. She supposed Nick had had his reasons. She knew how close a bond he’d had with her brother.

  He raised himself up while still straddling her from his knees and undid the buttons of his fly, leaving them hanging open just enough so she could see his thick trail of dark curly hair and the obvious bulge he somehow kept pushed to the side. New sensations swirling around between her legs made her want to rub herself on one of his thick thighs just to ease the ache in her wet pussy. God, she’d never thought anything of the sort, but that’s how he had her, desperate as all get out to feel his thickness prodding inside her and massaging this ache away.

  “You want me, too? Just as much as I want you?”

  “Um, you could tell?” she said shakily.

  He chuckled darkly like he knew they were up to no good and scraped the backs of his knuckles over his lips, smearing them for a second out of their natural pout. He then pulled his dick out, holding it in his hand. Fortunately, her hands didn’t fly up to cover her eyes at the sight of him, so hard and massive. This wasn’t just any guy she’d messed around with. This was Nick. And she couldn’t stop staring.