Beauty And The Boss (Happy Endings Book 4) Page 3

  My mind is dizzy from everything that has happened. I don’t know how to begin to process it all—especially the part where I have to admit that Stone likes me.

  As in really likes me.

  How did that happen? I had to have gotten on his radar at one point, or he would have never requested me to be his assistant.

  “You’re quiet,” Stone says, breaking the silence.

  It’s not an awkward silence. It’s been nice and we’ve been talking pretty easily amongst each other. I’ve learned he’s an only child, raised by his father because his mother died of cancer. He was in the military and came back to the states intent to build a company from the ground up. He’s fascinating and I want to know more, but I don’t want to question him to death either. I’m not good at dating, and that’s exactly what this lunch with Stone feels like.

  A date.

  “I’m just thinking of how beautiful all of this is. I wish my grandmother could see the ocean. I’m sure she would love it.”

  “Maybe we can bring her out here one day,” he suggests, and I can literally feel my heart stutter in my chest.

  “Are you for real?” I ask him, completely stunned. I look down at him. He’s got his arm under his head like a pillow. He’s wearing blue board shorts, and he’s not wearing a shirt or shoes. I keep trying not to stare at his chest, but I mostly fail. He has a six pack that I’ve never seen on a real man before, and his chest is lined by this fine sheen of hair that is showing a hint of gray. It’s sexy and tempting. I’d like to touch it, see how it feels against my skin.

  But I don’t do that—no matter how much I crave it.

  His dark hair is ruffling in the wind and like this he looks casual and relaxed and nothing like the persona he shows at the office—the one that garnered him the nickname Dragon. Like this, he’s much more human, more tantalizing.

  I watch his face as his lips twitch.

  “I think I am. You can touch me though, if you want to make sure.”

  Talk about temptation.

  “You can’t just talk like we’re…”

  “Like we’re what, Jessa?”

  I’m afraid to answer. I don’t want to make a fool of myself and I’m afraid of what he’ll say if I’m completely honest with him.

  “You’re very confusing,” I respond, instead.

  “I’m not trying to be. I thought I was being pretty up front with you about what I wanted.”

  “It just seems like…”

  “Like, what?” he prompts refusing to let me off the hook.

  “Like all of this has come out of the blue,” I finally say, exasperated.

  “Not for me. I took one look at you and I knew I wanted you, Jessa.”

  “But you don’t know anything about me.”

  “I’ve read your file—”

  “A file is just written words, Stone. It doesn’t mean you know me. You don’t know what movies I like, what makes me sad, what makes me grouchy, what weirdest habit is, none of that. You don’t know anything about me that would make us a couple.”

  “Isn’t that what dating is for?” he asks, being completely too rational.

  “We haven’t gone out on a date.”

  “That’s what this is, is it not?”

  I frown, casting him an annoyed look, which he completely ignores—if the satisfied look on his face means anything.

  “Fine, what’s your most irritating habit—besides being logical, that doesn’t count,” I huff.

  Stone looks at me and laughs, but it doesn’t feel like he’s laughing at me. It feels like he’s just happy and enjoying my company and I really like that.

  “I can answer your question,” he concedes.

  “So, what’s the answer?”

  “But, I’ll only answer if I get something in return.”

  “Like what?” I ask, eyeing him skeptically.

  “A kiss.”

  “A kiss?” I question, having trouble breathing.

  “One kiss,” he confirms.

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask him, the question almost painful.

  He moves up on his elbow, so that his upper body is bent and he’s eye level with me.

  “Doing what?”

  “This,” I respond, moving my hand around to take in the picnic basket that had the food we ate, the blanket, him, the ocean…all of it.

  “You’re going to have to be more specific, sweetheart.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re doing. Why are you acting like you want me when—”

  “I do want you. There’s no acting involved, Jessa.”

  “But you could have anyone,” I whine.

  Until that moment, his face had been easygoing and definitely carefree. Now I see a flash of something in his eyes that sets off warning bells, only their too late. His hand comes up, grabbing hold of my hair, pulling on the ponytail and causing a sharp sting of pain. I hiss in reaction, but that only makes him tighten his hold, pulling my face down to him.

  “Mr. Gre—”

  “Stone. You call me that fine until you get nervous, don’t change on me. I am Stone to you, a man, not your employer.”

  “Stone,” I murmur, as if in a trance, getting lost in his dark eyes as they look at me, seeming to pierce my soul.

  “Say that you understand, Jessa, because I’m not going to give you another chance. You try calling me Mr. Greer again, I’ll have to punish you.”

  “I…Punish?” I squeak.

  “Definitely,” he says and the way he says just that one word makes me think that he would really enjoy punishing me. He actually sounds so satisfied at the idea that I start to wonder if I wouldn’t enjoy it too. My body trembles at just the thought.

  “I…okay, you’re a man, not my boss,” I tell him, instead. I’m not quite brave enough to tempt him into showing me exactly how he would punish me.

  “Oh, no, sweetheart. I’m definitely your boss—just not your employer.”

  “That’s kind of chauvinist. I don’t think that’s how relationships work, Mr…Stone.”

  “It’s how ours will work, at least in the bedroom.”

  “Maybe we should talk about that…later.”

  “If you want, but you still owe me a kiss,” he compromises, staring at my lips.

  I put my hand against his chest to brace myself. His chest hair feels soft and springy under my fingers and I love the feel of it. They curl slightly on reflex.

  “You’re hurting me,” I tell him, trying to distract him before I do something stupid, like strip naked and beg him to make love to me here on the beach where anyone could see.

  It’s a private beach, but it’s not that private. There are houses close to Stone’s. There can be no public beach sex and that thought shouldn’t make me sad, but it does.

  “Don’t worry, Jessa. I’ll kiss it and make it better,” he promises, his voice hoarse, filled with desire.

  And then my eyes flutter shut as he pulls us closer together, his lips pressing against mine, kissing me.

  9

  Stone

  Kissing Jessa was like nothing I imagined it would be.

  It was better.

  I hold her face exactly the way I want it. My tongue plundering her mouth, my tongue finding her timid one and demanding more. It’s a kiss of passion and promise, desire and need. The kiss is hungry, desperate, and filled with the frustration I’ve had at not being able to possess her.

  When she moans into my mouth, I lose it. I pull her down over my body. My hand moving under her dress, sliding up her leg. Her skin is so warm it soothes me and makes me ache at the same time. I move up higher, under her dress, finally grasping the round globe of her ass, squeezing it.

  I hate the sweet little cotton underwear she has on. It keeps my touch from being flesh against flesh. We break apart briefly. I have to drag air into my lungs.

  She opens her dilated baby-blues to look at me, her lips wet, red and swollen from our kiss.

  “We shouldn’t be doing thi
s,” she says, her voice breathy, full of awe.

  “You want me, Jessa. You can’t disagree with that.”

  I’m not about to let her deny me. I press down against her ass, bringing out bodies flush. I let her feel how much I need her, my hard cock pressing against her stomach. She gasps, her body trembling in my arms.

  “You feel it, don’t you, sweet Jessa? You feel how much I need to be inside of you, how much I want to claim you.”

  She licks her lips and I’m lost. “Move your hips,” I demand.

  Jessa gives me this sweet little whimper as she rocks back and forth against my cock. I growl, as I put my hands on her hips, guiding her to the rhythm she needs most. My cock is weeping, wanting relief, but this time it’s all for her. I want her to know that I’ll always put her first.

  “I need help, Stone,” she moans. I take control, moving her body and showing her how to get what she wants. Every time the thick girth of my cock hits her clit, she grinds down, crying out, as her hands clench my biceps.

  “I’m going to watch you come apart in my arms, Jessa. I want to be the only one to ever see you this way,” I grunt.

  Her voice is uneven as she cries out my name. “Stone.”

  I dip my head down and take her nipple between my teeth, even through her bra and dress, I can see and feel just how pebbled they are for me. “Come for me, sweetheart,” I purr.

  Then, I bite down making her moan out, “Oh God.”

  I can’t take it anymore, I flip her onto her back, my hip thrusting back and forth. I’m going to come in my damn shorts like a boy, but I don’t give a fuck. My only goal is Jessa and making her come. She’s not ready for more, but soon, she will be.

  Soon she will be mine in every way possible.

  “Come for me, Jessa,” I groan out. I take in every nuance of her body, how she pulls at her own hair, the way she rocks her hips right along with mine, and even her sharp intake of breath.

  “Stone,” her whimpers, her voice soft as she shatters in my arms.

  “Jessa,” I croon in her ear as I drop down on my forearms, my lips find hers. I hear the hitch in voice, feel the way she’s still rocking against me.

  It takes everything in me not to tear our clothes apart and fuck her, bare, right here on the beach. To claim what has always been mine, even if Jessa didn’t realize it. The thought alone of my dick inside her bare pussy, watching my cum seep out of her long after we’re done, nearly undoes me. My hips move in time with hers, my lips latch onto the column of her throat and this time we come together.

  10

  Jessa

  “You need to let me down,” I tell Stone. I bury my head into his chest, so embarrassed that I think it’s beyond me to look at him right now.

  “Why would I do that?” he asks, a little bit of a laugh in his words. “If I had my way, sweetheart, I’d never let you out of my arms.

  Even embarrassed his words make me warm all over. To his credit, he doesn’t sound winded, but I’m not a small woman and I feel uncomfortable.

  “Stone I’m too heavy,” I protest.

  “Stop that crap before I spank your pretty ass, Jessa. You’re not heavy. You’re perfect.”

  “I’m not stupid, Stone. I know my own body.”

  He looks down at me, a fierce frown on his face. “What are you talking about?”

  “I look in the mirror, I buy my clothes. I know I’m too big. I hear the laughing behind my back in the break room at work, or at the office party. I even heard it from my ex-boyfriend. You don’t have to lie to me,” I respond with a huff of air, because it’s embarrassing to talk about my body, especially to Stone.

  “Your ex was a needle dick who fucked around on you and didn’t appreciate you. He had the faults, Jessa and didn’t have the balls to address them, so he tried to soothe his ego by tearing you apart. You do not take his shit into your head and definitely not into your heart.”

  I keep quiet while he walks us into the house. He takes us straight to the bedroom—only his, not the one I’m staying in. It’s a beautiful room with a huge king size bed and dark wood accents, but I don’t have time to look around. I’m too busy trying to catch my breath.

  Stone lets me down. The minute my feet touch the floor, I have the urge to take off running. I don’t, however. I don’t get the chance. Stone puts a hand on either side of my face, forcing me to look him directly in the eyes.

  “Stone—”

  “You do not let his poison infect you, sweetheart.”

  “You know about Grayson,” I whisper, utterly embarrassed. My head drops down, despite his hold. I can’t stand to look him in the eyes. I heard the rumors circulating. I know everything that Grayson said. The thought that Stone heard them is humiliating.

  “Fuck, yeah I do.”

  “How?” I ask him and when I bring my head back up, I know he can see the tears. I can’t try to hide them—I’m too upset.

  “It’s my company, Jessa. You don’t think I know everything that goes on in it?”

  I frown. I mean that makes sense, but I didn’t think he would hear office gossip that easily—or even care about it. It’s just my luck that I was wrong.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does. He hurt you. The asshole is lucky I only transferred him to Alaska. If I had a job in Iceland or the Antarctic, I would have sent him there in a heartbeat.”

  “You transferred Grayson because of me?” I gasp, trying to figure out what that means.

  “Damn straight I did. He hurt you. I’d do it again if I could.”

  “But, why would you do that, Stone? You didn’t even know me. You had no idea—”

  “Because you’re a good woman who deserves respect and affection, not the shit he was trying to dish out. I’m never going to let anyone hurt you, Jessa. I promise you that. If they try, I will get them. Nothing and no one touches you from now on. No one but me, that is.”

  He adds that last line with a cocky half-smile that makes his eyes warm like melted chocolate. Memories of what we just did out on the beach come rushing back.

  “I can’t believe we did that,” I mumble under my breath.

  “I can and in case you couldn’t tell, I loved every minute of it.”

  “But, I mean, you didn’t…we didn’t…”

  “We brought each other pleasure and you may not believe me, Jessa, but what we shared together was better than anything I’ve ever experienced before in my life.”

  I study his face and he does look serious, but I shake my head no, just the same. “You’re right. I don’t believe you,” I admit with a self-depreciating smile, feeling melancholy.

  “Then, I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you,” he says, bending down to kiss me.

  I close my eyes, taking his kiss, my body leaning into his, letting him take my weight. I lose myself in the way he’s kissing me, the soft hold he has on my body and all of the pleasure that Stone can pull from me with just a single kiss. I thought I’d been in love before, but every single time Stone kisses me, it becomes clearer that I never did.

  When we break apart, Stone is smiling down at me and I smile back, dazed from his attention. His hand moves up my back and a second later I feel the zipper on my sundress slide down. My hands go up to hold my dress, not wanting it to fall and reveal my body and its imperfections to him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to take my woman into the shower. We’re going to clean up and I’m going to show her just how much I adore her body,” he says, his voice so filled with hunger that I can feel the insides of my thighs getting wet all over again, my nipples hardening. I’ve never been a very sexual person—which is probably why I’m still a virgin. I’ve always had too many hang-ups about my body and revealing it to others. But, it’s amazing just how easy Stone can excite me, make my body awaken and crave his touch.

  “Stone, I mean, I know we… We kind of got carried away…”

  “What we shared was perfect and just the beg
inning, Jessa.”

  “It was, and I hope so,” I respond, feeling self-conscious and blushing so much that it feels like my face is on fire. “But, I don’t think I’m ready for us to...”

  “Do you not want me, Jessa?”

  “Of course I do. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you.”

  “Then, I don’t understand. Are you having second thoughts?”

  “I know it’s silly, but I’ve never…I mean I haven’t…”

  God I’m making a mess out of this. I can’t get my words out and I’m so scared that I’m going to upset him and make him leave me alone and that’s not what I want.

  Not at all.

  “You haven’t what, Jessa?” he asks, clearly confused.

  “I haven’t let another man see me naked,” I huff.

  God, I’m lame.

  “I don’t understand, Jessa. I know you have issues with your body, but surely you haven’t kept your clothes on when you… Jesus, it hurts to even say this,” he growls, and now I’m the one confused.

  “Hurts?”

  “I don’t like the thoughts of you sleeping with Grayson, Jessa. I don’ t like the thoughts of you sleeping with any man but me. I know we weren’t together, that you didn’t even know me back then, but anytime I think about it, I want to fucking kill him for putting his hands on you—for touching what is mine.”

  I can’t catch my breath. What stone is saying is…huge.

  “But, I haven’t.”

  “How is that even possible?” he asks, raking his hand through his hair. “Fuck, I don’t want to hear about this. I don’t care what you did with anyone else in the past. You’re mine now and you will show me your body. You won’t be afraid to, and I’m going to prove to you that I love every single thing about you, Jessa.”

  I frown at him. No matter how happy he’s making me, his words are annoying, so I address them first. I might be shy, but I won’t be bulldozed.