Falling for the Boss (24 page)

“What makes you think I haven’t experienced it before?”

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled.  “
Victoria
, you’ve never found satisfaction in bed before, have you?”

“Well, not in the physical sense.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve never been with anyone that makes me feel comfortable.”

“And I do?” he watched her face and loved the beauty of her eyes.  “I’m not sure I like the fact that you’re saying I’m a comfortable lover,” he teased.

She laughed at his joke.  “There’s no way I’d label you as a comfortable lover.”  She searched for the words that would describe what she was feeling.  “You just overwhelm me with feelings other than shyness.  You don’t really leave any room for anything but making love,” she said finally.

“Would you mind if I overwhelmed you again?” he said, his mouth moving to nibble on her jaw, her ear, moving lower. 

Victoria
gasped, her body instantly reacting to his again.  This time the feelings were more intense, more immediate.  Also, this time she wanted to participate more.  She wouldn’t let him hold her hands.  If he got to touch, she wanted the same privileges. 

They made love two more times that night.  It was dawn before she finally got to sleep and sh
e slept curled up in his arms, barely moving because of her exhaustion. 

The next morning, she woke up alone
in the large bed,
but heard the shower running.  She
disentangled her legs from the sheets and
walked into the bathroom in her robe, intending just to say good morning.  But when she saw his body, lathered in soap, she couldn’t move. 
The next thing she knew,
the door to the shower opened up and he grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her into the shower with him.  She quickly disca
rded the robe she’d just belted
only a moment before the water hit her. 

They made love in the shower, then again on the bathroom floor outside the shower. 
Victoria
had always thought that the bathroom floor would be a very bad place to make love because of the cold, hard tiles underneath.  But Thomas heated her up and never gave her a chance to think about the hard tiles beneath her. 

Once their passion had waned for the moment, she looked up at the bathroom ceiling.  “I guess I’d better take another shower.”

Thomas rolled over to her and kissed her neck.  “I’ll join you.” He said. 

“No, you won’t.  I’ll never get showered,” she said, laughing as she pulled away from him. 

She managed to jump away from his hands moments before they almost closed around her ankle and slammed the door shut quickly. 

“Fine, have it your way.  But I won’t always be a gentl
e
man about the issue,” he said
, opening the shower door and leering at her naked body. 
Victoria
watched him walk out of the bathroom with just a towel around his waist and wanted to call him back but controlled herself.  She felt wanton and a little concerned over the fact. 

Since it was their last day alone, they spent the morning sitting on the balcony sipping coffee, eating croissants and reading the newspaper.  The afternoon was spent going through more museums and walking along the
Seine
.  Dinner was spent in bed, making love and feeding each other as they talked about whatever came to mind. 

On Wednesday, they were back at work.  Thomas met Bob and Mike at the airport and brought them to the
Paris
office then distributed the assignments. 
Victoria
threw herself into the project Thomas assigned to her and thrived.  She worked later than the others in an effort to make sure Thomas didn’t allow her any partiality. 

She worked hard all day but each night, Thomas came to her room and they made love until dawn. 

That
pace
kept up while they were in
London
so by the end of the second week, she was exhausted and slept the whole flight back to
Washington
,
D.C.
 

Victoria
arrived back at her apartment, dropped her bags near the sofa and fell into bed that Friday night.  She slept all the way through until Saturday
evening
when someone started pounding on her door. 

She pulled herself out of bed, not bothering to pull on a robe since she assumed it was Laci who was coming over to study later that day. 
Victoria
knew her sister
had finals coming up soon and was nervous about some of her classes. 
Laci had asked if she could come over to
Victoria
’s apartment to study and get away from the crowds at the library and the noise in the dorms where she was a resident advisor to an entire floor of university freshmen. 

Victoria
unlocked the door and opened it up
, not really opening her eyes because she assumed her sister would just come in and make herself comfortable. 

“Where the hell have you been?” Thomas asked, storming into her apartment behind her. 

Victoria
jumped a foot, partly because he sounded so angry and partly because she had been wondering where he was and what he was doing.  It was very odd to hear his voice right after her mind formed the thought about him.

“Thomas, what are you doing here?” she asked, pulling at her tee
-
shirt and immediately wishing she had a
comb
for her hair
and a toothbrush
. 

“I’ve been trying to call you for the past twenty four hours.  Where have you been?”
he demanded, his hands on his hips as he waited for her answer.

“I’ve been here, sleeping,” she said, becoming def
ensive at his accusatory tone. 

“Why?  Are you sick?” he said, the sarcasm in his tone confirming his disbelief. 

Victoria
squared her shoulders and confronted him head on.  “I think you’d better spell out exactly what you are thinking.”

Thomas closed the distance and looked down at her.  “Who was here last night?  Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

Victoria
poked a finger in the middle of his chest, emphasizing her words, “I was here, alone, exhausted because you and I have been up each night making love until morning.  So I’ve gotten a total of about six hours of sleep in the past three days.”

Thomas looked shocked.  “You weren’t with Barry?”

Victoria
’s eyes narrowed.  “
Again I ask, w
hat exactly are you thinking?”
She wanted to hit him, she was so furious at his unspoken accusation.  “I told you two weeks ago that we broke up.  Do you really think I’m the kind of woman that would lie to you?  Was there any moment during the past two weeks when you had any doubt about me?” she demanded.   She no longer cared that she looked like a mess.  She was too furious with Thomas. 

Her anger defused his.  He lost his angry stance and stared at the furious beauty standing in front of him in pajamas that turned him on just as much as her sexy underwear. 
Thomas put his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders.  “I’m thinking you walked away from the plane yesterday without saying anything to me.  Then you avoided my phone calls
all night
.”  He smiled sheepishly.  “I’m sorry.  But our last conversation about your fiancé was after he called and I stormed out of your hotel room.”

Victoria
tried to remain angry but he was basically admitting he was jealous.  That had to mean he felt something other than jus sexual for her, right?

Her anger left her body, the tension draining from her shoulders. 
“Thomas, I broke up with Barry that night,” she said, folding her arms across her chest,
trying to hold
onto her anger
despite his repentant attitude
. 

Thomas shrugged again.  “Well, you didn’t say anything
more about it other than
the fact that
i
t
was over
.
”  After a pause he said, “
I’m sorry.”  He pulled his hands out of his pockets and reached for her arms. 

“No, I’m still mad at you,” she said and slipped away
, moving across the room and out of his long arm’s reach
. 
“You have some explaining to do, buddy.
  If you’ll look behind you you’ll see my luggage still sitting where I left it.  I think my suit is on the floor of my bedroom.  You’re wearing me out with this pace of yours,” she said, her face turning just a slight shade of pink when she talked about the number of times they made love each night. 

H
e stalked her slowly
, challenged by her avoidance tactics
.  “Didn’t you say you were exhausted?  I think you should go back to bed,” he
said, leering at her slim body clad only in one of his tee shirts she’d borrowed and forgotten to return to him
.
His h
and
s
reached for her again.

Victoria
yelped and jumped away, unable to contain her laughter.  Thomas in a playful mood was too infectious.  “Thomas you leave right now.  I know that look in your eyes and we won’t get any sleep.”
  She moved so that a chair was between the two of them, thinking the furniture would slow him down.  She was wrong. 

“I promise I’ll let you sleep,” he said and grabbed her arms
in one swift movement
.
  She wasn’t really sure how he did it but she found herself on the other side of the chair suddenly. 
He was so strong he flipped her into the air, then turned her around so he could kiss her, still holding her gently in his arms. 

Just as she knew would happen, at the first contact
with his body
, she was lost.  When his lips found hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck
and her legs
held him
around his waist.  She finally
gave in to the passion that was always just below the surface whenever he was near her. 

Thomas stood there kissing her in the middle of her family room for a long minute
, holding her suspended in mid air
. 
Eventually,
he moved to the breakfast bar that divided her family room from the kitchen, placing her on it and moving between her legs.  From this position,
Victoria
was finally at eye level with him and she threw herself into the kiss, knowing and already
prepared
for where it would lead them. 

“Oh, my
,”
a female voice said from the doorway.  “
I th
ink I’m interrupting something. 
Perhaps I should
call before coming over next time,” Laci said, a huge grin on her face as she witnessed her sister kissing a tall, gorgeous man that looked suspiciously like the picture from an internet site she’d seen several months ago. 

“Laci!”
Victoria
gasped,
her legs dropping from his waist and her arms
pushing at Thomas’s shoulders so she could jump down from her countertop. 

But her sister was already out of her apartment
and he didn’t move fast enough for
Victoria
to catch up to her sister
.  “Wait, I need to talk to her.  She probably has the wrong idea.”

Thomas laughed but stepped back and lifted her
gently
down to the floor.  “I doubt she has the wrong idea, but try and convin
ce her otherwise,” he mumbled to her departing back. 

Victoria
ran out of her apartment and down the hallway, catching sight of her sister
just as the elevator doors closed
on her
and
she waived happily.  “Laci, come back!  I can explain.”