Free One Night with her Boss by Noelle Adams

that I have you like this, there’s no way in hell I’m ever going
to let you go.”
    She beamed up at him. “Sounds just about
right to me.”
    They kissed for a minute—emotional and a
little clumsy—until a voice startled them from the other side of the apartment.
    Meg called out, “I’m coming out. I’m
sorry, but I need to go to work.”
    “That’s fine,” Anne replied,
straightening up a little although Jake wouldn’t let her out of the circle of
his arms.
    “I’m closing my eyes so I won’t see if
anything untoward is happening in there.”
    Both Jake and Anne started laughing, and
Anne said, “Nothing untoward is happening. You can open your eyes.”
    Meg emerged from the hall, dressed for
work and grinning at both of them. “So you guys finally worked everything out?”
    “Yeah.” Anne was smiling just as broadly
as her friend was, feeling sheepish and giddy both.
    “Excellent. I’m leaving now, so you can
do whatever untoward things you’d like to do without being interrupted. Just
please tell me that I get to be the one to tell Raney.”
    “You can tell Raney.”
    Meg cackled as she grabbed her purse and
headed to the door. “She’s going to be so jealous that I knew before her.”
    Anne called out a laughing farewell as
her friend left the apartment. Then she turned back to Jake, who was gazing at
her with a softness that turned her into emotional mush. “So what now?” she
asked.
    “I don’t know. What do you think?” He
pulled her against him again, so she was leaning against his chest.
    It wasn’t a bad position at all.
    “You left poor Stew in a lurch. Will you
go back to San Diego to help him out?”
    “I don’t think so. I can talk him
through things on the phone, if he can’t figure it out on his own.”
    “Then I guess you should probably start
looking for a new assistant.”
    “I guess so. Although I’m not sure we
have to start that immediately. I mean, not right now.” He shifted their bodies
slightly so she could look him in the eyes.
    “What else did you have in mind for
right now?” she asked, although she was pretty sure she could read the hot
expression in his face.
    He leaned down and said against her
lips, “Right now, I’m going to do what I’ve wanted to do for ages, but didn’t
think I’d ever be allowed.
    She wrapped her arms around him. “And
what’s that?”
    “This.”
    He eased her down so she was lying on
the couch, and he showed her.

Epilogue
     
    Two
months later, Anne was popping up on a surfboard, early on a Sunday morning, trying
to get her stance right.
    She didn’t seem to be naturally talented
at it.
    The board wasn’t even on the water—it
was just on the sand so she could practice—but she still couldn’t seem to get
her feet placed right when she hopped up from the paddling position.
    Jake laughed when she tried to jump
again and ended up with one foot off her board completely.
    She groaned and glared at him.
    He walked over with a grin. “It’s not as
hard as you’re making it. Push with your arms and pull your feet up under you.
Don’t worry about doing it really quickly yet. Just stand up in the right way
and make sure this leg is out front when you do.” He patted her right thigh.
    She sighed and got down again on her
stomach on the board.
    “Don’t worry about being fast this time.
Just stand up.”
    Without the pressure of doing it
quickly, she stood up just fine.
    “Good,” he said, coming over again and
sliding his hand down her thigh to change her stance slightly. “Bend your knee
a little more.”
    “Like this?” she asked, looking over at
him. He looked gorgeous in the morning sun, relaxed, happy, and in need of a
shave. It had taken her a few weeks to convince him to teach her to surf—since
he knew exactly what her real motive was in the request—but he’d relented
eventually.
    He’d gone out on the water yesterday to
show her the basics, and she knew he’d go out again once she was ready to