Quitting the Boss (3 page)

Jenna’s stiff posture matched Alec’s, but she had shed her suit coat hours ago and was glad she had the foresight to wear a capped-sleeve blouse and linen slacks. The firm leather of the chair was cool beneath her, but seeing Alec in full control mode set her body on fire. With her legs crossed, hands folded loosely on her lap, she made an effort not to fidget or grind her teeth. There were times when she was happy to give up control, particularly in Alec’s bed, but facing off with him like this was not one of those times. “Jalen has been anxious to take over Westville and anyone can handle the European clients.”

“Jalen Foster is too green for Westville.”

Jalen wasn’t too green. He was actually a very efficient project manager but Jenna’s attempt to date him had triggered Alec’s jealousy. She suspected Alec still harbored some animosity toward his subordinate.

“Then give him Europe and give Westville to Cash or Elisa.”

“No, I won’t approve a transfer.”

“You can’t control my career, Alec,” Jenna barked, pushing back from the desk and standing to leave. “If I can’t advance here, then I’ll start looking for a job outside the company.” The job search she’d started weeks ago resulted in nothing that even remotely interested her. Fortunately, a position that suited her opened at Logicesse. She liked the company and wanted to stay if she could, but she wasn’t opposed to leaving if it was necessary.

Before she realized he was moving, Alec had her pinned against the wall. His eyes were dark, intense, and they would have held her in place if he wasn’t using his body to stake some sort of claim. “I don’t want you working for Gavin.”

“He’s your best friend. Don’t you trust him?”

“This isn’t about trust.” He reached for her belt, tugging at it with a desperate need.

“It’s the middle of the afternoon, Alec. We can’t do this.” Even as she said it, she didn’t fight him off. Her body was tingling with anticipation. Maybe it was the threat of being caught or maybe it was just the man, but Jenna wanted his hands on her.

“Why didn’t you wear one of those damn skirts today?” He cursed, fumbling with the belt until it was open. She had no doubt if she’d been in a skirt he’d be inside her already. He made quicker work of the button and zipper on her slacks and slid his hand inside her panties.

“Damn, Jenna. You’re so wet.”

“Alec–”

“Don’t tell me to stop.” His voice was commanding with a hint of desperation she felt all the way to her core. She wasn’t sure why, but he needed this and even though it was a tremendous risk, Jenna needed it too.

Her hips started moving in rhythm with his hand. Two fingers moved inside her, his other fingers applying firm pressure to the outside of her pussy. “Say my name when you come,” he whispered and she bit her lower lip to fight back the pleasured cry.

He pushed harder and faster, his thumb applying pressure to her clit. Jenna squeezed her sex around his fingers, pulling him deeper and desperate for more. His other arm still held one of her hands against the wall, their fingers entwined. The heat of desire burned through her skin, making her wish she could strip naked and let Alec take her all the way. His breath was warm on her cheek as he silently demanded she keep her eyes open and on him. “Fucking come, Jenna.” His voice was low but the command was as powerful as if he had bellowed it. “Come now.”

She wasn’t sure why her body always responded to his commands, but as though he’d pressed a button, her orgasm exploded, sending a flurry of sensations racing through her body. She whispered his name, doing her best not to cry out so loudly that the entire office would hear them.

Alec pushed and pushed, not letting up until after the final aftershocks had subsided. He withdrew his fingers and licked them, his tongue dancing around before he submerged them both deep in his mouth and sucked her juices off. Then thumped his fist against the wall.

“What was that?” Jenna asked, a little dismayed by the caveman antics.

“Nothing,” he murmured, moving to his chair and dropping in it like he was carrying the weight of the world.

“Wait,” she realized the wall he pounded, the one she’d used for leverage as he made her come, was the wall that separated his office from Gavin’s. “Was that some sort of code for Gavin?”

“No.”

“Alec!”

“No, it wasn’t a code.”

“Oh my God. You just staked your claim on me for Gavin’s benefit, didn’t you?”

“You weren’t complaining about what I was doing a minute ago.”

“You needed to blow off some steam. I figured that was better than having you chase me out of the office and take me up against my car.” Which was exactly how they’d been caught months ago, prompting their short break up. Jenna recalled how he’d reacted when she went out with Jalen, how Alec still treated Jalen, and wondered if there was more to Alec’s attitude. “You’re not jealous of Gavin, are you?”

Alec laughed without mirth. “I am not jealous of Gavin Hastings.”

She wasn’t sure she believed him. Alec was a furiously jealous man. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother her. In fact, she thought his possessiveness was sexy.

“I’m going to be working for him, not fucking him.”

Somehow that didn’t seem to reassure Alec. His clenched jaw twitched and his eyes smoldered with anger. She knew he was going to be mad about her leaving the department, but she had no idea it would go this deep.

“Why does this piss you off so much? I’m not going far. In fact, I’ll be closer since my office will be right on the other side of Gavin’s.”

“We are already short-staffed, but because of budget constraints, I can’t hire another project manager.”

“You’ll be able to fill my position,” she said, hoping that was true.

“Most likely with someone less experienced and even more likely with someone who doesn’t share your work ethic.”

Jenna had no problem working sixty hour weeks if there was a need. Everyone else on the team did too, but not without griping.

“No one else has your skill with acquisitions, either.”

“So you’ll mentor someone.”

“I don’t support this, Jenna. I need you here.”

“And I need a change,” she argued. He was being ridiculous. While she knew he would be, all of her arguments were valid. She had hoped he wouldn’t be this stubborn, but deep down Jenna knew it would be a battle. That was reason enough to avoid telling him.

“Why?” The angry bark was back, but Jenna couldn’t answer him honestly, at least not here in the office.

“Because I do.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Jenna moved toward the door. There was no point arguing this with him. When it came to Alec Winter, it was his way or the highway and this wasn’t something Jenna was willing to give up. She just hoped when she found the courage to tell him why she needed to find a new job, he was more open to it.

“I’ve given four years to this team. I’ve never once complained and I always meet my deadlines.” She realized she was making a case for why the team needed her. “I need this, Alec.”

With that, she left, pounding her three inch heels on the floor as she made her way outside.

“You’re a son of a bitch,” Alec announced as he sat on the bar stool next to Gavin.

The pub was busy, a full house drinking beer and eating the grub while the Red Sox made an attempt to beat the Yankees. He scanned the large, open room, hoping to find Jenna but the search came up empty.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Gavin responded, putting his hands up in surrender.

“Jenna applied for a job with you, went through the interview process, and you offered her the position, all without telling me. That makes you an asshole.”

“I thought I was a son of a bitch?”

“You are.”

Alec ordered a beer and focused on the screen over the bar. Red Sox were up in the second. At least something was going right today.

“We’re obligated to maintain applicant confidentiality. I couldn’t tell you without violating policy.”

“So instead you violate our friendship.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake Alec, it’s a goddamned job. It’s not like I’m fucking her.”

Alec felt like Darth Vader in that moment, mentally lifting and choking Gavin just as the dark lord had done to his commander when he found his lack of faith disturbing. Except this had nothing to do with faith and everything to do with Gavin using the word
fuck
in context with Jenna.

“I said I’m
not
fucking her,” Gavin said again, clearly reading Alec’s angst. “You need to get that giant stick out of your ass.”

The bartender delivered his beer and Alec took a long drink. It was cold, but didn’t cool his temper. He needed something, but hell if he knew what it was.

He liked having Jenna on the team, working under him. He knew where she was, what she was doing, who she was meeting with, and when she left work. Their secret relationship had been going for the better part of a year and his lust for her had a longer history than that. Her lack of explanation as to why she wanted a new job made him suspicious. Whether that was reasonable or not, he didn’t know, but he couldn’t help his suspicious nature. He had his mother to thank for that.

“The Sox suck this year,” he groaned, but today he couldn’t really bring himself to care. Jenna had left after their heated discussion in his office. She hadn’t even logged off the damn computer. No one seemed to know where she had disappeared to and it took all of Alec’s willpower not to bang down her apartment door.

“Maybe with the new trades they can pull something together. Not the world series, but at least a respectable season.”

Alec grunted, less interested in baseball talk and more interested in what Jenna was doing right now. He pulled out his phone, hoping he’d missed a text, but the damn thing didn’t show him what he wanted.

“That woman has a lot of something to stay with you for this long. I hope you being an asshole about this job doesn’t blow it for you.”

Gavin was the only one who knew about him and Jenna, for which Alec was grateful. He didn’t need to talk about their relationship, but not keeping the secret from his best friend seemed to be less of a burden than him not knowing.

Jenna did have a lot of something, and though Alec couldn’t define it, it was the something he needed. He’d never met a woman like her, so in control in every aspect of her life, yet letting all that control go with reckless abandon when she took her clothes off. Her sexual preferences were so in tune with Alec’s that they seemed to be the perfect match. Add to that the fact neither of them were interested in anything permanent, like marriage or children, and the match was perfect. Hell, Alec didn’t even mind her defiance since it gave him an excuse to smack her ass and do all those other things that qualified as punishment. In reality, he knew there was no such thing. Jenna craved his discipline as much as he needed to exert it over her. Their relationship didn’t qualify as an actual D/s or BDSM arrangement, but there were definitely perks to her giving up control.

Right now, though, Jenna had all the control. Alec didn’t know where she was or when he’d see her again and that stirred up the insecurities he fought hard to keep locked up tight. At least he was here with Gavin, so he knew for a fact Jenna wasn’t fucking her new boss - at least not at the moment. She could, however, be fucking anyone else. Maybe she’d sought out one of her colleagues. Alec wasn’t dumb. Cash Damiano was a good looking man with a love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation. He’d be happy to help Jenna blow off some steam. Alec knew for a fact that Jalen Foster had a thing for Jenna. Even though she’d claimed she didn’t fuck Jalen when they’d dated months back, there was nothing keeping her from fucking the little prick now.

“You’re going to break that if you don’t ease up,” Gavin warned. Alec furrowed his brow in question. When Gavin nodded at Alec’s hand, he realized his knuckles were white from gripping the damn phone.

He pulled Jenna up in his contacts and pounded out a message, demanding to know where she was.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Gavin warned.

“Censoring my messages?”

“Trying to keep you from losing a good thing.”

Alec erased the
where the fuck are you
message and typed in
I need to see you
. He showed it to Gavin - not that he needed approval but simply to prove he wasn’t a complete asshole - and hit send after his friend gave a quick nod.

He had to set the phone on the bar because if he continued to hold it, he was bound to unleash his inner Hulk on it before long. Three innings later, the Sox walked away with a loss and Alec left the bar still not hearing from Jenna.

“Maybe she’s waiting at your place.” Gavin patted him on the shoulder but the gesture offered no reassurance. Jenna knew he didn’t like surprises, but hope still bubbled in his chest that Gavin was right.

“I need a good stiff drink,” Carly sighed as she sipped her ice water with lemon. “And I really need a big, stiff man, too. I haven’t had sex since I found out I was pregnant.”

“I hear ya. I’ve got cobwebs down there,” Elisa added.

Then they both looked at Jenna. What could she say? Elisa already knew she had a “mystery man” and even though Jenna was hoping to come out with Alec soon, today was not the day.

Jenna was aware of the side glances from the older women at the next table over. She didn’t like to air her dirty laundry in public, or in private, but she was in a good mood despite spending the night away from Alec and didn’t care if the ladies overheard. “I don’t have cobwebs, but I’m always ready for a stiff one,” she joked, holding up her lemonade to air toast her friends while hoping there wouldn’t be any further inquiries.

“You suck. You have a great job. You’re obviously getting laid regularly. Your mother lives in a different state. I hate my life.” Carly banged her head on the table a couple times, drawing more curious glances from the women who now seemed to be eavesdropping. “Ow. Except Abigail. I love her so much.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t give yourself a concussion,” Jenna suggested.

“And you always have such great advice. I want to be you when I grow up,” Carly crooned.