Dear Grumpy Boss: A Brother’s Best Friend Office Romance (The Harder They Fall)
Dear Grumpy Boss: Chapter 25

I EMERGED FROM MY office at five thirty. Renata eyed me with suspicion as she packed up her things.

“Are you sick?” Her eyes narrowed to slits.

“I’m not. Why?” I looked down, checking if I was disheveled in any way. I doubted it. Disheveled wasn’t a state I normally found myself in.

“You’ve been leaving early the past several days.”

I checked my watch. Five thirty-one. “Are you leaving early?”

She crossed her arms defensively. “Of course not. I haven’t left early since—I can’t remember a time I left early. We’re talking about you, Weston Aldrich. I happen to know you’re in the office until seven on a good night.”

“I have somewhere to be.”

She cocked her head. “Or someone to be with?”

I nodded. “That too.” Then I decided I might as well tell her, since Renata was the person who kept my personal ship running. “I’ve been seeing a woman. Elise Levy. We’re serious.”

Saying that and having it be true sent a shot of adrenaline up my spine. I hadn’t gotten over the fact that Elise was mine. Willingly mine.

Something happened to Renata’s face. Her mouth morphed into a shape I’d never seen on her before. Was it a smile?

God, was it?

“That’s fine, Mr. Aldrich. Very fine news.” Then, under her breath, but barely, she muttered, “Much better choice than the last one.”

She hadn’t been a fan of Marisol and had never hidden that fact. Apparently, still wasn’t.

“I agree. So you understand why I’ve been leaving the office earlier than before. I have a reason to be home.”

The work was still there. Tonight, I’d have to spend a couple hours in my home office, most likely after Elise fell asleep. Having dinner with her and soaking her up was worth losing a couple hours of my own sleep.

I would adjust.

In the past, my relationships hadn’t worked because I hadn’t been willing or even had the desire to shift my priorities. With Elise, making space for her was an automatic thing, not a hardship.

The ease with which I was shifting my life around surprised even me.

Over the past week, we’d developed a ritual. I drove Elise home, then she’d go to her place for an hour or two to change and spend time with Saoirse. I’d attempted to protest, but she’d told me she refused to be a girl who disappeared on her friend just because she had a boyfriend, and I’d objected to the “just” in her statement.

There was no “just” about us being together.

Elise had chosen to laugh at how possessive I was over everything about her, including her time, so it was good she thought I was kidding when I told her I wanted her to move her desk to my office. If she had any idea how much it bothered me that I couldn’t witness every single one of her breaths, she would have run far and fast.

I was at the stove when I heard her letting herself in with the code I’d given her when she’d agreed to be mine. I was still working on acquiring a key to her place. Moments later, her pillowy breasts were pressed against my back as she wrapped her arms around my middle.

“Are you cooking for me, Weston Aldrich?”

She moved beside me, leaning her hip on the counter. I angled sideways, cupping her crown to draw her closer, touching my lips to hers.

“Don’t get excited. This is one of three meals I can make proficiently.”

“So, you didn’t learn any life skills when you were younger? Expected to skate by on your pretty face?” she quipped.

I pecked her again. “This pretty face landed me you, didn’t it? Which proves it was all I needed.”

“Flatterer.” She leaned her forehead against my arm, and I could feel her smiling.

“My mother isn’t much of a cook. She grew up with help so she never learned. Then she raised me the same way. I’m lucky I know how to do my own laundry.”

Her palm flattened on my back, running from between my shoulder blades to the base then slowly working back up again.

“With your three meals, and my four, we have an entire week’s worth of dinners. Elaine wasn’t raised with help, but she married my dad, who was a boss in the kitchen. He did all the cooking.”

In the silence after her words, I heard the rest of the story.

Her father had died.

Homemade dinners went with him, as did her chance at learning from him.

Elaine had never tried making up for his absence.

Everything Elise knew in the kitchen, she’d taught herself.

I turned off the stove and took her in my arms. “We’re two smart, self-starting people. We can teach ourselves.”

She bounced on her toes and cupped my nape. “We’re going to learn to cook together? I love this idea. I’m going to pin recipes for us.”

Her enthusiasm made me laugh. “Go easy on me. No more than ten ingredients, including salt and pepper.”

“I thought we were two smart, self-starting people? Where’s your confidence?”

“It went up in the flames with the lasagna I attempted to cook exactly once.”

She laughed, but I wasn’t kidding. A fire extinguisher had been involved, and I still had no idea what had gone wrong.

“But I wasn’t with you,” she pointed out. “It’ll be completely different this time.”

I believed her. With her, everything was different.

It was past two in the morning when Elise padded into my office. She’d put on clothing since I’d left her in my bed sleeping. A T-shirt that fell to the tops of her thighs and the underwear she wore that showed off the bottom half of her ass. They were plain cotton, but fuck, I got hard every time I saw her in them.

I pushed back so she could sit on the edge of my desk in front of me, her legs between mine.

She raked her fingers through my hair, slowly shaking her head. “What are you doing, sir?”

I caught her hand, bringing it to my mouth to nibble her palm. “Working.”

“When I fell asleep, you were in bed with me. I don’t like that you keep sneaking out and I wake up alone.”

“I didn’t realize you noticed.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I noticed.”

I pressed my lips to the inside of her wrist. “I’ve carved out time for you because I want to be with you more than I want to be doing anything else. But the world keeps turning, which means I have to catch up. I’m almost done.”

She swiped her thumb under my eye. “You’re tired. You can’t burn the candle at both ends.”

“I am tired, but my body is trained to run on little sleep. I’ll turn in soon.”

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I don’t like this, West. Maybe I should spend some nights at my place so—”

“Absolutely not. Don’t suggest it.”

She huffed. “Then you’re going to have to replace a way to delegate. I need my man to be energetic. What use are you to me if you’re running on fumes?”

She was working me, and she was doing it right. If she’d just pleaded for me to turn in, I might have been able to resist. But implying I wouldn’t be able to satisfy her…that got me out of my chair.

I pushed her legs apart, stepping between them. “Do you know it’s now officially your birthday?”

Her breath caught. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Happy birthday, baby. I’m glad I get to be the first one to say it.”

“Thank you, Westie. It’s going to be a good year, I can feel it.”

Her lids were heavy. She needed rest. So did I. But I wasn’t quite ready for sleep yet.

I took her mouth with mine. She was warm in my arms, her lips soft and pliant. The kiss was a slow, languid slide.

Her hands slipped under my shirt and up my back. Elise had a thing for my back and always found a way inside my shirt. I’d taken to untucking them as soon as I got home to make it easier for her.

“Lie back.” I helped her ease back on my desktop. She stared up at me from under her thick lashes, and my heart did a wild thump in my chest.

I gripped the hem of her T-shirt and gathered it in my fist until her breasts spilled out. Saliva pooled in my mouth. My cock thrummed. “Christ, you’re gorgeous.”

Her lips tipped, then she hooked her thumbs in her panties, arching her hips so she could tug them off. I helped her, tossing the navy-blue cotton to the side and falling back in my chair.

I lowered the chair to the right height and leaned in, kissing her slick core.

“West,” she cooed. “Don’t tease me.”

“I won’t.”

My palms were on her inner thighs, holding them apart. My face was buried in her sweet cunt. She was wet and soft, except for her little clit, which was a hard bead under my tongue.

She was the sexiest woman I had ever seen. Her pussy, the best tasting, the prettiest. I thought about it in meetings. I wanted to be angry with her for making me want her this way, but it was impossible when she let me have her despite my irrationality.

My tongue made wet, lapping sounds through her arousal. Fingers slipped through my hair, gentle but insistent.

“That feels so good, West,” she breathed out. “Don’t stop.”

Never.

For the rest of my life.

Let me die eating this pussy.

Everything about this woman was decadent. Her natural scent was rich and creamy. I buried my nose in her flesh and inhaled as I licked her. I stroked her inner thighs, smooth and silky, and reached up to play with her breast.

She arched when I rolled her nipple between my fingers. She was close, rocking her hips, pressing into my mouth.

The bottom half of my face was coated in her, and my cock throbbed with jealousy. I went deeper still, my scruff scratching against her. I needed this.

The gentle fingers in my hair curled, tugging at me to bring me closer. My lips closed around her clit with firm suction, and I plucked at her nipple.

Her hips rose and fell in waves while shaky breaths pushed through her parted lips. She moaned my name and yanked my hair. Her orgasm was pretty and desperate. I lapped up every moment until she was limp and her cries faded into soft whimpers.

I stood, pulling her to a sitting position. “You need sleep.”

“You do too.” She slipped her hand into my joggers, pressing against my erection. Then she wrapped her fingers around me, pumping me slowly. “It’s my birthday.”

I took her face in my hands, my forehead against hers. “Does my baby want a birthday fuck?”

She nodded. “Please.”

We pushed my pants down together, and within seconds, I was gliding into her soaked pussy. She leaned back on her hands, offering a view of her rounded curves that drove me out of my mind.

I shook my head. “This is going to be fast.”

“Because you want me so?”

Pushing into her until our pelvises were flush, I ground against her swollen lips, rotating my cock inside her. Her head fell back, and she let out a long, ragged sigh.

“I don’t want to tell you how badly I want you. It would scare you.”

Instead of answering, she hooked her hand behind my neck and brought my mouth to hers. We kissed, breathing each other in as my movements picked up speed. She held on to my neck, nipping at my lips, and I kneaded her tits, her stomach, her hips. My hand roamed, needy for more of her, while my cock powered into her again and again.

I wanted to hang on. God, did I want to last. But I was so fucking desperate for her.

In the back of my mind, I knew why, but I shoved the reason aside and focused on my beautiful girl. Focusing on Elise was all I could do, and it was my downfall.

Her parted lips.

Breathy sighs.

Thick thighs squeezing my hips.

Bouncing tits each time we collided.

Sinking into her soft flesh.

I told her she undid me, and I couldn’t think of anything that had been more true. My control, my thoughts, my convictions, they all unraveled around her until I was living and breathing for the sole purpose of belonging to her.

One last thrust, then I held myself deep inside her, spilling everything in me. Her lips hovered over mine as I grunted and panted, then she sat up the rest of the way, holding me in her arms.

“Everything’s right,” I said.

“It is.”

It wasn’t until we were back in bed together, Elise drifting off to sleep, that I let the worries about tonight creep into my head.

Her party. We’d be seeing Elliot. Pretending we weren’t together, right in front of him. I was uneasy about lying to him. But Elise wasn’t ready to tell him, and her birthday party wasn’t the place.

One more week, it would be out in the open.

We just had to get through tonight.