AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before I can respond, some coworkers from my department come over, and we start chatting. Dave, the head of strategy and my boss, is obviously curious about this development but doesn’t ask. He’s eventually swept away by an investor and Jenson leans in again.
“Why don’t we go get an appetizer?”
“What? Why? They said dinner is in ten—”
Then I see his point; Liza, Dave’s assistant, is standing near the long table of appetizers they’ve set out. My heart thuds in my chest. This is harder than I thought, “outing” us.
I walk over alone and pick up a plate, filling it quickly with two lox hors d’oeuvres. “Liza, how are you? I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Her glance is quick, narrow, a look of betrayal. “Dave wanted me here. Just in case.”
“Mmm. Um, is he actually planning on working, or…? Please tell me you get to enjoy some relaxation, at least.”
“Lord knows that’s whatwe’vegot planned.”
The words startle me, but this time I don’t jump as Jenson’s arm settles around my waist. It’s comforting, actually, and I lean back into him. Liza’s eyes are wide, looking back and forth between us.
“I—I didn’t realize you two were—”
Her face turns bright red, then white, at the realization of what she’s just said. I give her a small encouraging smile.
“Oh, yeah. We didn’t want to say anything until I was settled in. But, you know, it’s all sorted out with HR. Aboveboard.”
Liza still looks suspicious as she sneaks a crab cake off the table. “I didn’t know it was aboveboard to date your boss.”
Jenson stiffens just slightly behind me and I put a placating hand on his thigh, trying to ignore the shift of muscles beneath my palm.
Before either of us can respond, a staff member thankfully announces that dinner is served. In a trickle at first, and then a chatty group, we all head inside.
* * *
“What the hell.”
“What the hell, what?”
Jenson catches me as I spin. Back in our room—our suite—he’s just as worked up as I am. I can feel the tension in the air between us, the annoyance at how this first night went.
“Are you trying to come across as a possessive, sex-obsessed fiancé?” I scoff.
His eyes darken. “Excuse me?”
“You were practically groping me all through dinner!”
“And it wouldn’t have seemed so scandalous if you hadn’t been practically flinching every time I touched you.”
Another scoff, but I can’t really deny that. I underestimated how hard it would be to act natural, as if we were intimate all the time outside of work. Or maybe the real problem is that itistoo easy to act natural…too easy to let him touch me that way.
“We have to be believable. They have to think we’re in love.”
“Right—in love. Not fucking our way through a company retreat!”
His jaw works, the tendon shifting tantalizingly. My chest heaves and a triangle slides to the side a bit, exposing the curve of my breast. Jenson’s eyes lock there.
“So what do you want?” he growls, stepping closer. “You want me to not touch you? You want everyone to think we’re in a sex-starved relationship?” His gaze finally meets mine, full of dark fire. I can feel it mirrored inside me—a heat that can’t escape.
“Why would they think otherwise?” I taunt. “From what you’ve said about your dating history, women aren’t exactly falling all over themselves to get to you, are they? You have to order them to be into you instead of satisfying them yourself, huh, big shot?”
And just like that, Jenson snatches my wrist. It’s not painful, not crushing. Just firm.
