Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (71 page)

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I
spent the weekend
waiting for another message from Dr. Powell and worrying about Ryan. I'd texted
him once, but gotten no response, so I did what Cece had suggested and gave him
space. The problem was that I didn't want space. I wanted Ryan back in my
apartment, preferably in my bed.

I couldn't stop
wishing that he'd touched me and thinking how badly I wanted him to do more
than just fall asleep. I wanted more; so much more, but all of that was going
to have to wait until Ryan turned up. So, I shifted my focus and tried to
figure out what Dr. Powell's messages meant. I'd done what he'd asked and
downloaded the files before transferring them onto a hard drive for
safekeeping, but I had no idea who the files should be turned over to or what
he wanted done with them.

The next message
arrived on Sunday evening, but this time it contained encrypted files that I
was unable to open and more detailed instructions about what needed to happen
next.

Dear
Ms. Frost,

By
now it is probably fairly certain that I am not going to be returning to
TriCorp anytime soon. This set of files contains essential elements in my
research project and, as a result, I have encrypted them so that they cannot be
read or accessed without the hard drive in my lab.

If
you are receiving this note, then you will need to get to the seventeenth floor
and use the keys I've left you to access my lab. I know that I never allowed
you to see my lab, and this is one of my biggest regrets; however, you will
have to overcome the lack of familiarity with my lab and find the drive so you
can deliver these documents to the proper people when the time comes.

I
cannot tell you exactly where the hard drive will be because by the time you
get this, I will have moved it again. However, I have faith that your eagle
eyes will have little trouble narrowing down the field in which the drive
resides.

Be
cautious as you explore the lab, and do not let Julian Baines know what you are
doing or have access to the key!

Regards,

Dr.
Alan Powell

"Great, just
great," I muttered as I tried to open the files and found them securely
locked. I kept talking to myself as I tapped the keyboard and tried to find a
way around the security, "Now we're going to have to figure out how to get
back into the building, find the lab keys and then get into the lab so we can
find a hard drive with all the files on it! Could this be any more difficult or
complicated?"

I texted Ryan
again telling him that it was imperative that he head back to my apartment, but
I didn't want to say anything that would give away any information. I was
growing more wary of the TriCorp team leader every day, and now I really
wondered if Julian Baines had had Dr. Powell murdered. The only problem was
that I couldn't come up with a valid reason why he would have wanted to kill
him. However, I knew that if I could translate these files and get them into
the right hands, chances were good that I'd probably understand what had
happened.

"Ryan, where
are you?" I said out loud as I sat back and stared at the computer.
"How am I going to break into TriCorp and do what your father asked?"

When there was no
reply to my question, I got up and walked to the kitchen, pulled a beer out of
the fridge and walked out to the balcony where I sat and drank until the stars
came out over 13
th
 
Street.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE

Ryan

In
the early hours of
Monday morning, I quietly slipped back into Echo's apartment without waking
her. It had been a long weekend spent doing surveillance on several people
associated with TriCorp, not the least of which was Eva, but she'd somehow
managed to slip away on Saturday afternoon and I'd spent the rest of the day
trying to figure out where she'd gone without luck.

I headed over to
the funeral home where Eva had said my father was being kept before we buried
him, but the funeral director had no record of him being transferred from the
morgue, and when I visited the morgue, the doctor in charge refused to answer
any questions without proof that I was the executor of my father's estate.
Everything about this felt wrong, but I couldn't find any evidence of anything
and it was frustrating.

I sat heavily on
the couch and leaned forward as I dropped my head in my hands. It had been
forty-eight hours since I'd last slept and I was exhausted from being
constantly on the move, but it felt good to be doing what I'd been trained to
do instead of sitting around doing nothing. I wanted answers, but I wasn't sure
how I was going to get them when the people who had them refused to talk.

"I'm just
going to have to go see Julian," I mumbled as I rubbed my head and thought
about taking a shower before I laid down.

"No, don't do
that," Echo said quietly. I looked up and saw her descending the staircase
with a frown on her beautiful face. She was wearing a long white robe and it
floated in the breeze from the open balcony door as she crossed the room and
sat down next to me asking, “Where have you been, Ryan?"

"You don't
want to know," I said rubbing my eyes.

"Actually, I
do," she said as she took my hand and looked into my eyes. "I think
we need to start being completely honest with each other."

"Yeah, sure
we do," I said looking away as I pulled my hand back. "You go
first."

"Don't hide,
Ryan," she said softly. "It's like you let out a little before you
pull back and hide."

"Me?
Hiding?" I retorted. "Ha! That's a good one."

"Don't hide,
Ryan," she repeated.

"I'm
not," I grumbled.

"So, where
have you been?" she asked as she took my hand. I could smell her flowery
scent and I tried to banish the image of her naked body laying in front of me.
Her voice broke through the silence, "Ryan?"

"Huh?" I
said as I realized she had moved closer enough to touch my arm as she spoke.
"Oh, sorry. What was the question?"

"Where have
you been?" she asked. All I could feel was the warmth of her fingers as
she rested her hand on my arm. I shifted to try and cover the bulge in my pants
as I fought to keep from pulling her onto my lap and kissing her hard. "I
just want to know where you've been."

"I was
tailing my stepmother," I blurted out as I shifted away from her hand.

Echo's face was completely
serene as she stared into my eyes. It unnerved me how calm she was, so I kept
talking, "There's something going with her, but I can't figure out what it
is."

"What do you
mean?" Echo asked as she reached out again and rested her hand on my thigh.
"She's grieving the loss of her husband, and she's just been evicted from
her home. I'd say that she's a woman with a lot on her mind."

"Maybe, but I
have the nagging feeling that there's something else going on with her," I
said swallowing hard to try and keep my voice from cracking as she slowly
stroked my thigh. "Though, it could be the fact that I haven't trusted her
from day one, so there's that."

"Where did
she go, Ryan?" Echo asked as she pressed her own thigh against mine as she
slid her hand between my legs, and I knew that if she kept going, I was not
going to have the power to stop her.

"Echo..."
I said as I looked down at her intending to ask her to stop tempting me, but
those blue eyes drew me in and I couldn't look away. She closed the gap between
us and pressed her lips to mine as she stood up long enough to turn and
straddle my lap.

"Tell me
where she went," she whispered. One knee was pressing against the outside
of my thigh, while the other rested snugly between my legs. I could feel the
heat between her legs radiating outward as she leaned in and pressed her body
against me.

"The gym,
the...salon, and the..." I groaned as she ran her fingers through my hair
and when she urged my lips apart with her tongue, I gave in and wrapped my arms
around her as I returned her kiss. Our tongues probed and teased as we let our
hands roam free over each other's bodies. I could feel her leg pressing against
my stiff shaft as she rubbed her barely covered breasts against my chest.

She pulled back a
bit, let go of her grip on me and quickly pulled her nightgown over her head
exposing every inch of her soft warm skin. I groaned as I leaned forward and
gently licked a circle around one of her already erect nipples. She moaned
softly and sunk her fingers back into my hair as she pulled me against her
breast. I looked up at her as I closed my lips around her nipple and began
sucking.

"Yes, oh yes,
that's it," she whispered as she looked into my eyes. I gently nipped at
the hard nub and smiled when she groaned with pleasure. I let go and traced a
line across her chest with my tongue before giving the same attention to her
other breast. I could feel her rocking her hips as she pressed down against my
thigh.

"Ryan,"
she moaned softly as she slipped her hand between us and unzipped my jeans. I
knew I should stop her, but I didn't want to and it was obvious that she didn't
want to stop either. She quickly stood up and I braced my feet on the floor so
I could lift my hips as she yanked my jeans down and off.

"Wait,
wait..." I breathed heavily as I grabbed my pants and pulled a condom out
of the back pocket. I quickly rolled it on before grabbing her and pulling her
back down to straddle my lap. She looked like an erotic fantasy kneeling above
me as I slid the tip of my shaft between her lips coating it with her wetness.

"Ah yes,
that's it," she smiled as I found her sensitive opening and teased her a
bit. She leaned forward and kissed me, moaning into my lips, “All the way.
Please, all the way."

"Are you
sure?" I panted knowing that it was unlikely I was going to be able to
control myself once I slid inside her warm wetness.

"Never been
more sure of anything," she whispered as she lowered herself so that I no
longer had a choice in the matter. I could feel her taking me inside and I let
out a long low growl as I felt my entire length buried deep.

"Oh
God," I groaned as she began slowly rocking.

"That feels
so good," she said breathlessly as she leaned down and kissed me again. I
followed her lead and tried to hold back, but when she pushed herself up and
braced her hands on my shoulders so that she could slowly pull herself up
leaving just the tip of my rock hard erection inside of her, I shot her a
pleading look.

"I can't,
Echo," I groaned as she quickly dropped back down taking me all the way
inside again. "I can't..."

"Then
don't," she urged me as she rose up again and dropped down. That was all
the urging I needed, and I slipped my hands under her thighs as I lifted her
enough to be able to pull back before slamming my hips upward. She cried out as
slipped my thumb down and stroked her clit as she rode me hard and fast.

I watched her as
she threw her head back and pushed her hips down to meet my upward thrusts. I
felt the sweat dripping down my face as I slammed up into her pushing closer
and closer to the edge as I felt her begin to spasm around me.

"Ryan,
Ryan!" she cried as I stroked her harder and faster. She was grinding down
on me with an urgency that told me she was close to orgasm. I was far to close
myself and I clenched my teeth as I fought to hold on long enough to get her
there first. And then, in an instant, I felt the wave begin and her muscles
contracting around me as I continued pulling back and pushing up.

She cried out and
I felt her wetness flowing onto my thighs as she ground down harder onto me,
and an instant later I felt the surge begin and I let go and joined her in the
release.

"You feel so
good," she murmured as she kissed me again.

"Oh God, you
feel amazing," I groaned as I reached out for her and suddenly found
myself with my arms wrapped around a corpse. I shouted, "What the
fuck!"
 

I pushed it away
only to find myself lying on a sandy hillside next to a SEAL aiming an
automatic rifle at the buildings down below.

"Don't shoot!
Don't shoot!" I screamed. "Stand down, SEAL! STAND DOWN!"

I heard my name
being called from somewhere inside the compound. It was a woman's voice, and it
was familiar.

"Stand down,
SEAL!" I shouted as gunfire erupted and I watched person after person
being mowed down outside the compound. "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

And then I heard
it, clear and loud, "RYAN! WAKE UP!"

I felt hands
shaking me as I rose up out of the depths of sleep.

"Ryan, Ryan!
It's me, Echo. Can you hear me? Wake up!" she called.

"Huh?" I
opened my eyes and saw the wood floor and wondered how I was hanging in
mid-air.

"Ryan? Sit
back," Echo said as she lifted me up from the pretzel position I'd bent
myself into. She laughed lightly, "How did you fall asleep like
that?"

"Huh?" I
said, slowly unbending myself and wincing as I felt my muscles stretch. I
mumbled, "I've slept in far weirder positions in the field."

"I can only
imagine," she said as she helped me straighten up and then perched on the
edge of he couch as I tried to get my bearings. She looked at me with great
concern, "Where have you been?"

"Watch out,
loaded question," I grinned.

"Why is
that?" she asked confused. She reached out to touch me, but I pulled away
not wanting to feel the softness of her touch and be tempted, again.

"Never
mind," I said shaking my head. "Long weekend. It's all good. Is there
anything to eat? I'm starving."