Free In the Boss's Bed (Harlequin Blaze) by J. Margot Critch Page B

think we’re done.” He rubbed the back of his neck. He was suddenly exhausted. His fatigue was probably a combination of the sun he’d got earlier, the few beers he’d had and the fact that he had spent several hours staring at his computer screen.
    There had been a problem with one of the sections of his presentation. Some numbers in his projections didn’t add up. It was something that had to be fixed right away, before his presentation in Vegas. He couldn’t afford to look like a fool, and he was glad that his team had caught it in time. And thank God for Maya . She had agreed to stay and work with him. She didn’t have to stay, but she didn’t hesitate in saying yes.
    “Your neck okay?” He looked up and found Maya looking at him. She was still wearing her bathing suit under her sundress, and the smell of her coconut sunscreen hit his nose. He could see red on her cheeks and nose; he assumed that she must have gotten a little too much sun that afternoon.
    He smiled at her concern. “Yeah, I’m just a little stiff from sitting here.” He winced. “I might be tempted to get in the hot tub later.”
    “That sounds like heaven,” she commented absently, thumb swiping across the screen of her phone.
    He looked at her beautiful form sitting across his desk. A terrible idea occurred to him. “Why not join me?”
    That got her attention. She looked up. “I’m sorry. What was that?”
    This was his opportunity to take back what he’d said. To offer to call her a car and get her safely out of his condo before he made a mistake. But instead, he couldn’t help but repeat the same awful, terrible, so-bad idea. “Join me. In the hot tub.”
    “Are you sure?” Maya sounded skeptical. Jamie regarded her closely. Was she just as worried as he was about the sexual tension that bubbled so closely to the surface of every interaction they shared?
    “Yeah,” he answered nonchalantly, mentally slapping himself. “Yeah, it’s a big tub. I think we deserve to relax a little, don’t you?”
    She visibly exhaled. Jamie watched her breasts rise and fall with her breath. This is a bad idea, Sellers. What is the matter with you?
    “Sure. It sounds great. Let’s do it.”
    * * *
    W HEN THEY WALKED back out to the terrace, the sun had fully set, and the automatic timer had turned on the exterior lights, so that the night was now cast in a yellow-orange glow. He had also forgotten to turn off the music. So now, instead of the pop and dance music that had been playing earlier, it had since slowed to R & B. Nice romantic setting. Jamie frowned. It was as if the Fates had conspired to usher him and the assistant he couldn’t ever have into bed together.
    This is such a bad idea . But it was too late to say anything. He couldn’t invite her to relax with him and then turn around and kick her out. He took a deep breath. Keep it in your pants, Sellers. That’s all you need to do. You’re a grown man. Act like it.
    The hot tub bubbled away furiously, steam rising into the chill of the night air. It looked as inviting as all hell. He watched as Maya pulled her dress over her head, and he shuddered inwardly as most of his blood rushed south. He turned away quickly, lest she see the effect she had on what was inside his shorts, and he busied himself at the bar.
    “You want a drink or something?”
    “Yeah, some water would be good,” she told him, stepping into the hot water.
    He opened the refrigerator to look for drinks, bottles of water, cans of soda— anything!— but he found nothing but a bottle of cold champagne. It seemed as if his guests had cleared out all of the nonalcoholic options.
    “Are you kidding me?” he muttered at their only choice of beverage.
    “Everything okay?” she asked, settling in the water and sitting back, closing her eyes.
    “Yeah, but all I could find was this,” he explained. Knowing that he was probably making yet another colossal mistake, he pulled out the bottle and held it aloft.