Page 9 of Misadventures With My Billionaire Boss

All excitement drained from me. It felt like coming down on Christmas morning to see a full stocking hanging from the mantel, then looking inside and finding it stuffed with coal.

“I didn't want to, but I did.” He squeezed my hand and I looked at him. Even in the darkness I could see the paleness of his eyes, the seriousness there. “For you.”

I opened my mouth but nothing came out at first. “You walked away…for me?” I repeated, completely confused.

Sam nodded his head. “Emma, you have no idea, do you?”

His eyes searched over my face seeking something. What, I didn't know.

I just shrugged, so he continued. “You were up for promotion. I knew it because I was your boss. But I didn't want you thinking you got it because you'd slept with me.”

Headlights glared brightly behind us. We'd completely forgotten we were stopped at an intersection. It was late, the roads were quiet, but we were definitely in the way. Sam headed toward town.

I sat there, staring out my side window, the holiday lights on houses a blur as I thought about his words. He had wanted me after all! The coal might have been in the stocking, but there was a big gift from Santa under the tree. Phew. I felt better. Confused, but better. “You wanted to sleep with me?”

Sam darted a glance at me, both hands firmly on the wheel. “If you weren’t able to tell, I wasn’t doing it right,” he grumbled. “And it's not just past tense.”

“Oh,” I whispered. He wanted me.Now.

“Why didn't you tell me?” I wondered. “All of this. The wanting, the walking away. The reason.”

“I thought I just did.” He laughed. “Okay, I'll try to make it a little more obvious.” We pulled up to a red light and Sam turned to look at me. This time I was pinned in place by the seriousness of his gaze. He moved our entwined hands to his lap, the chain of the handcuffs rattling. “That's not a gift in my pocket, but you can definitely unwrap it later.”

I whimpered. I actuallywhimpered. Who wouldn't? I felt all of his very large manliness beneath my palm, and I had no doubt.He wanted me.Right now.

The light changed to green. I stayed quiet because I was a little afraid of my feelings for Sam. We didn't know each other that well, and we hadn't even seen each other for a long time. Regardless, I felt like Iknewhim. As if the months apart fell away, as if I'd known him forever.

Sam moved our hands to my thigh and left them there until we pulled up in front of a small house downtown, which I assumed was his. We were north of Main Street, only a few blocks from the fairgrounds. There were no holiday lights up, but a lamp shone warmly in the front window.

“Since you didn't answer, I picked my place. I hope that's okay,” he said.

“Sure,” I replied. “I would've understood, you know, if you'd just told me. That night, in the elevator, you could have explained. I'd like to think I would have understood.”

“What, having my tongue down your throat one minute and then gone the next?” Sam's lip turned up at the corner.

I smiled, too. “Something like that. I've just always wondered. Thought the worst.” I put my free hand on top of his, making a hand sandwich.

“The worst is knowing the person you're kissing is going to hate you. I've spent all this time wanting to tell you, but I was sworn to confidentiality. Then, walking past you at work before I left, knowing you thought I was scum?—”

“Not scum, exactly.”

Sam smiled. “I'm sure you've come up with lots of words for me.”

I pretended to consider. “A few.”

He lifted his hand to run gently over my hair. “I quit. To be with you.”

My mouth fell open. “What?”

Sam leaned in, his mouth hovering over mine, looking at me so closely, and whispered, “I want you, Em. I've always wanted you. I signed papers, legal papers that kept me from being with you if we worked together. So I quit. I made sure nothing could stand in my way.”

He didn't lower his mouth to mine. He didn't have to. I stretched up so our mouths met in a kiss filled with desperation, with yearning to make up for all the months we'd lost.

This kiss, as the coldness seeped back into the car, was like none other. And I wanted more. “You've got me,” I said, breathless. I lifted our joined hands and we both couldn't help but laugh.

4

We stumbled into Sam's house. As soon as the front door closed behind us, I was pressed up against it, Sam pressed up against me. We kissed as if our mouths were locked together, not our wrists, eventually coming up for air. Long enough to strip out of our one-armed coats and kick off our shoes and boots. Sam took my bag and dropped it onto a couch.