The Boss's Baby

Olivia discovered a primitive sense of rhythm she hadn’t known she had, her body taking on a life of its own, undulating with all the grace and sensuality of a belly dancer, her arms reaching up above her head like two cobras under the hypnotic influence of a snake charmer’s music.

The realisation that Lewis’s narrowed blue gaze was riveted to her suddenly sinuous body did not go unnoticed by Olivia. Instantly, she became very conscious of her femininity: the way her full breasts were swaying beneath her blouse; the sensual swing of her womanly hips; the heat being generated in her secret places. It was a most exhilarating and arousing experience.

Olivia felt so sexy, it was sinful! She could have danced for ever, displaying herself shamelessly in front of the men’s gawking eyes.

But especially one man’s.

Shocking her boss out of his complacent attitude towards her was giving her a real buzz. It felt good to have him look at her for once as a woman capable of attracting men, maybe even capable of attracting him.

Actually, it felt more than good. It felt ... thrilling.

The music, however, came to an end, and the disc jockey announced he was having a break.

‘I had no idea,’ Phil murmured as he guided her from the factory floor, ‘that you could be like this.’ Picking up a frosted glass of champagne from a nearby table, he pressed it into her hot little hands.

‘Like what?’ she asked in a breathy voice to rival Yvette’s.

Phil’s leering smile sent warning bells ringing faintly in her fuzzy brain. The realisation of where Phil thought their flirtation was heading brought a momentary jab of conscience, but she easily brushed it aside. That was another thing about being deliciously drunk, she realised. You didn’t fret over things. So Phil was going to be disappointed at the end of the day. So what? No real harm done.

Sipping her drink, she glanced idly around to see if Lewis was still watching her.

He wasn’t. In fact, he was nowhere in sight.

Perversely, Olivia felt quite put out.

‘Another dance?’ Phil suggested.

Olivia was startled to find that the prospect of dancing without Lewis watching her held no appeal at all. In fact, all of a sudden, she’d lost interest in staying where she was.

‘Sorry,’ she said abruptly, ‘but there’s something else I have to do right now.’

Leaving Phil gaping after her, she strode across the factory floor to where the champagne was chilling in a huge vat. Extracting an opened bottle from its bed of ice, Olivia collected two clean glasses and set off in the direction of the main office block.

She found Lewis not in his laboratory, but in his office. He was standing at the window which had a view of the rolling front lawns, but not much else. His grey suit jacket had been discarded along with his tie, both thrown carelessly across the black leather chesterfield standing between them. Staring through the window, he absently undid his cuffs and began rolling up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt.

Without making her presence known, Olivia stood in the open doorway and just stared at him.

He was an exceptionally good-looking man, she finally conceded. A fact she’d always known but which she hadn’t faced before with such honesty. That was another fringe benefit of being tipsy. Smiling ruefully to herself, Olivia decided to call it alcoholic enlightenment.

‘So there you are!’ she exclaimed gaily, and launched herself towards his desk, kicking the door shut behind her.

He whirled, then frowned at her. ‘What in hell do you think you’re doing?’ he said when she set the glasses up on his desk and slopped in some champagne, spilling a little on the black lacquered top.

‘Bringing the party to you, boss.’ She threw him a saucy smile as she weaved her way over to him, thankful that the glasses were only half full. ‘This is the one day in the year when we don’t work around here. And that includes you. If you think you’re going to hide yourself away in that infernal laboratory today, then you can think again. Here. Take this!’ Having deposited one glass into his reluctant grip, she clinked her glass to his then lifted it to her lips, her eyes dancing at him over the rim. ‘Merry Christmas, Lewis.’

‘Olivia,’ he said drily, making no attempt to drink. ‘You’re not just merry, you’re sozzled.’

She laughed. ‘I am, aren’t I?’

‘You’re going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning,’ he warned.

‘I’ll worry about that in the morning. Meanwhile, I’m having fun.’

One of his dark eyebrows lifted in a sardonic arch. ‘So I noticed. You haven’t forgotten Phil Baldwin’s reputation with women, have you?’

‘No.’

‘For pity’s sake, Olivia, if you must have revenge on Nicholas then pick yourself someone with a little more discretion. I really don’t want the likes of Phil going round boasting that he had sex with my secretary at the Christmas party, all right?’

‘You think I’d let him do that?’

‘I don’t know what to think.’ His eyes carried a strange confusion as they roved over her, taking in her wild tumble of hair before dropping down to the shadowed cleavage between her breasts. ‘When you let your hair down, Olivia,’ he muttered tautly, ‘you really let your hair down.’

The air was suddenly thick between them. Thick and hot and electric. The storm which had been brewing in Olivia all day gathered intensity. Lightning licked along her veins. Thunder roared in her temples. Her heart began to pound. Her eyes flashed and glittered.

‘At least you noticed I was a woman,’ she said huskily.

‘Hard not to.’

‘Would you like to have sex with me, Lewis?’

He was shocked, she could see. Yet along with the shock lay a decided fascination. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She took advantage of his momentary stillness to close the distance between them and press herself against him, oh, so lightly. His nostrils flared with more shock.

Olivia was beyond shock; beyond everything but having Lewis look at her as he had out on the factory floor. A blistering desire was inflaming her senses while obliterating her conscience. All she could think of was having her boss admit he wanted her, having him powerless to resist her incredible expertise.

Boring, Nicholas had called her. If only he could see her now. Lewis wasn’t looking at her as though she were boring.

Reaching up on tiptoe, Olivia brushed her lips tantalisingly against his.

He froze. But only for a second or two. When she kissed him a second time, more firmly this time, his lips softened against hers, parting as hers parted. When her tongue-tip darted forward to flick over his, he gave a low moan of sexual surrender.

A dark triumph filled her soul. Smiling, she drew back to survey his flushed face and startled mouth with a wicked satisfaction. ‘I’ll just be a moment,’ she murmured.

She sipped her drink all the way to the door, finishing it by the time she reached to snap on the deadlock. Turning, she arched a naughty eyebrow at him. ‘We don’t want to be disturbed, do we?’

Somewhere, in the furthest reaches of her mind, she knew she was being outrageous. But nothing was going to stop her. Any qualms were ruthlessly buried underneath the roller-coaster excitement of the moment.

His eyes never left hers during her slow return across the room. They glittered and flashed, telling her of his own excitement.

She deposited her glass on the desk on the way, but made no attempt to relieve him of his, taking his free hand in hers and drawing him round to the roomy leather chesterfield.

He sat down in the middle where she directed, hot blue eyes burning into her while she kicked off her shoes and curled herself up next to him.

‘Now,’ she breathed, and took the untouched drink from his hand, ‘we’ll finish this up together, shall we?’

When she pressed the glass to his lips, he drank obediently, saying nothing when it was her turn. Determined not to be unnerved by his silence, she drained the glass, then dropped it over the back of the chesterfield onto the plush carpet Cupping his face, she kissed him, at first lightly, then more deeply, making him moan.

With surprisingly nimble fingers, she managed to undo his shirt as she kissed him, pushing back the sides and smoothing her hands seductively over his bared chest.

He felt marvellous. Firm and muscular, with just enough body hair to exude a masculinity which was decidedly arousing. Lewis had a great body, she decided, probably because he balanced his sometimes sedentary lifestyle with rigorous workouts in the gym.

Olivia’s primary goal of seducing him began to blur as her own desires kicked in. Her head spun and she dragged her mouth from his to lick and kiss where her hands had been. When she grazed over a nipple, he sucked in sharply, tellingly. With a teasing wickedness she hadn’t known she possessed, she deliberately avoided his nipples after that till they grew erect on their own, only then doing what he obviously craved.

‘Oh, God,’ he groaned aloud when she tugged on one of the tight little buds with her teeth.

The naked passion of his outburst thrilled her, making her torment him further till his chest was rising and falling with a raw ragged panting. When her kisses travelled down towards his navel and her hands found the zip on his trousers, his hands clamped down shakily over hers.

‘No,’ he protested. But unconvincingly, she thought.

Smiling seductively, she took his hands and stretched them up and out, spreading them wide on the back of the chesterfield. Her own body had to practically lie on top of his to do so, her breasts squashing against the hard expanse of his chest. The feel of his impressive erection pressing into the softness of her stomach was both reassuring and arousing. Somehow, she didn’t think Lewis would object for long to what she had in mind.

And she had a lot of things in mind. All those things Nicholas thought her incapable of. All those things darling little Yvette had been giving her boyfriend in his office.

The need for revenge blended with her own need, bringing a reckless mix which sent fire licking along her veins and a ruthless determination into her heart.

‘Shh,’ she murmured as she licked Lewis’s parched lips. ‘You want me to. You know you do.’

His strangled swear word only made her smile. ‘Yes. Soon,’ she promised. ‘But first just lie back and enjoy. We don’t want to rush things now, do we?’

Olivia smiled again. There was something so dizzyingly delicious about feeling in control.

Of course, in reality, she was far from that. She was decidedly out of control. But liberatingly so. She needed to do this more than anything she’d done in her life before. Lewis was going to give her back her self-esteem, her confidence, her very soul. He was going to revitalise her spirits and recharge her batteries. He was going to make her feel like a real woman again.

She found it surprisingly easy to free him from his clothes, marvelling at the way her non-fumbling fingers handled him so naturally, and so expertly. Not a hint of revulsion rose to spoil her skilful stroking. It was as if another person were inhabiting her body, a wildly uninhibited, chillingly expert woman of the world.

‘Olivia,’ Lewis choked out when her head began to descend.

She stopped and looked straight at him.

‘It’s all right,’ she said, and smiled. ‘Stop worrying. I won’t let you come.’

Lewis was deathly silent after that, except for the small scratching noises his nails made on the leather as his fingers curled over and over.

‘Now stay right where you are,’ she murmured at last, pushing her hair back from her face and sitting upright. ‘Promise me you won’t move, now.’

His expression was disbelieving when she abandoned him, his eyes widening when she hitched up her skirt and peeled off her stockings and panties. Olivia wallowed in the way he ogled her legs. She didn’t take off her skirt, finding a decidedly erotic charge in being nude underneath it. She didn’t take off her blouse, either. That could wait.

Turning away from Lewis’s galvanised gaze, she refilled her glass with champagne and took a deep swallow, just in case the wonderful effect of the alcohol began to wear off.

Bringing the glass with her, she returned to straddle Lewis’s lap with her knees, glad now that her conservative skirt was not too tight. Even so, it rode up her thighs quite a way to accommodate her position. Staying kneeling upwards so that their bodies weren’t actually contacting, she tilted the champagne to her lips once more.

‘I think I might need some of that,’ Lewis muttered hoarsely.

‘Be my guest,’ she said, and handed him the glass. He drained it, then dropped it over the back of the sofa to clatter against the other discarded glass.

‘I have to warn you,’ he said thickly, ‘that I don’t have any protection on me.’

‘I noticed that,’ she said with a dry little smile, and started undoing the buttons on her blouse.

‘This is crazy, Olivia.’

‘Calm down, boss. This is good old Olivia here. Do you think I’d ever be a health hazard?’

‘Not usually...’

‘Nicholas always used condoms,’ she elaborated ruefully. ‘I also started on the pill last month. I was just about to trust Nicholas, you see. Silly me! But not to worry. I trust you, Lewis. You have honour.’

‘Honour! My God, do you think this is having honour—letting you do this when I know you’re drunk, not to mention on some crazy rebound trip?’

‘Don’t underestimate your attractiveness, Lewis,’ she purred. ‘How do you know I’m not doing this because I’ve always fancied you like mad, but controlled myself because you seemed happily married? How do you know I haven’t fantasised about you every day these past six months, that I haven’t thought about you making love to me in your laboratory, or on your desk, or right here like this, with you buried deep inside me and my breast on your mouth?’ She watched him lose it then, the wildest, most primitive expression filling his face.

Knocking her hands aside, he ripped open her blouse and pushed up her bra to reveal her full, hard-tipped breasts. His hands were rough on her, his mouth hungry as he laved the nearest nipple with his tongue. Olivia tipped her head back with a low, sensual moan, her hair falling away from the arched curved of her spine. Sucking the whole aureole solidly in his mouth, Lewis pushed her skirt up to her waist, positioned himself at the entrance to her body then pulled her sharply downwards.

Olivia gasped. She wasn’t sure why men liked this position so much but she finally saw its attractions for the woman. Never had she felt so filled, her flesh totally impaled on his. Instinctively and voluptuously, she began to move, rising and falling upon him in the most incredibly pleasurable fashion.

All thought of Nicholas and revenge disappeared in the face of what was the most mind-blowing sexual experience of her life. Lewis was gripping her buttocks, squeezing them hard, urging her to a more vigorous rhythm. She obliged, her movements gradually growing more frantic.

Her head was spinning, her body burning. She could not find enough air for her pounding heart. Her mouth fell open and her cries overrode Lewis’s ragged breathing, a high keening sound which ended when the first spasm struck. Olivia sucked in sharply, her head snapping forward. Immediately, Lewis groaned and arched upwards, his flesh pulsating and pumping deep within her.

Olivia could actually feel her own flesh contracting around him, squeezing him, milking him. The sensations nearly took her head off. Eventually, he sagged beneath her and slumped back against the chesterfield.

Olivia stared at his still gasping mouth and tightly shut eyes, then down at her own semi-naked self. Gradually, her nerve-endings stopped screaming and a wave of satiation flooded her body, bringing her down from her sexual high with the suddenness of a wet sponge thrown in her face. A sickening reality replaced the wild exhilaration she’d been feeling a minute before and a cold clammy sweat broke out all over her body.

Dear God, what had she done?

Her stomach started churning over and over. Battling hysteria, she yanked her bra down over her breasts then struggled to do up her blouse. Bile rose into her throat and she knew she was going to be sick.

She barely made it to Lewis’s private washroom, just managing to lock the door behind her before she was violently ill into the toilet bowl. Even after Olivia was sure everything she’d eaten and drunk that day had left her body, more spasms struck. Beads of perspiration dotted her forehead as she hunched over in agony.

For several pain-racked minutes Olivia thought she might die. She wished she would die. Then she would never have to go out of this room and face Lewis again.

Her hand shook when she finally reached to flush the toilet. Moaning, she staggered over to the washbasin where she rinsed her mouth out with water, before sinking down into a heap on the cold tiled floor. She was huddled there, her head leaning against the vanity, when there was a thumping on the door.

‘Are you all right, Olivia?’

All right! How could she possibly be all right after what she’d just done? The shame of it all brought tears to her eyes and the most awful tightness to her chest.

‘Olivia?’

‘Go away,’ she choked out. ‘Just go away.’

‘Don’t be silly. You’re ill. I’m staying.’

‘If you don’t go right now,’ she screamed at him, ‘I...I don’t know what I’ll do!’

He sighed. ‘I see. I had a feeling you’d regret things afterwards. Hell, I regret them myself. But damn it all, Olivia, you made it impossible for me to stop you.’

‘Please,’ she begged, squeezing her eyes shut. ‘I... I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘You want to forget it ever happened; is that it?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m not sure I can do that.’

‘You have to. Or I...I’ll resign.’

‘Resign!’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t want you to resign,’ he muttered. ‘All right, I’ll go, if that will make you feel better. Promise me you’ll call yourself a taxi. Pay for it out of the petty cash tin.’

Olivia grimaced. ‘I’ll pay for it myself, thank you very much. I don’t need to be rewarded for what happened just now. I’ve never been so disgusted with myself in my life.’

‘It takes two to tango, Olivia,’ he said. ‘I’m as guilty as you are, if guilt is the word.’

‘What other word is there?’

‘Need, perhaps.’

‘Need?’

‘Yes. But we can talk about that another day. You’re not in a fit state to discuss the complexities of life at this moment.’

‘Just go, for pity’s sake!’

‘All right,’ he said. ‘I can see you’re too upset to think straight just now. But I’ll call you at home in the morning. Then we can talk about what just happened without the heat and emotion of the moment, okay?’

‘Okay,’ she mumbled.

‘Good girl.’

Good girl? He had to be joking. Her behaviour just now had been appalling. Lewis had nothing to feel guilty about. It hadn’t been him taking advantage of her drunkenness. It had been her, taking advantage of his no doubt frustrated state. Olivia was well aware Lewis hadn’t even looked at another woman since his marriage broke up. If he had, there would have been phone calls toing and froing, not to mention other evidence. He certainly wouldn’t have been working back late every night, and sometimes all night.

No, he’d been living a celibate life since Dinah left him, yet he was a normal red-blooded man in the prime of his life. His inability to resist his sozzled secretary’s provocative and quite aggressive sexual attentions had been perfectly understandable. No, the shame and the guilt was all hers, right down the line. It was generous of the man to find excuses for her. She didn’t deserve such consideration.

‘Tell me again you’ll be all right,’ he persisted unhappily at the door.

‘I’ll be all right,’ she said weakly, then sniffled, tears now running down her cheeks and dripping off her nose.

‘I’m sorry, Olivia. You don’t sound all right. I couldn’t live with myself if I left you like this. Let me in.’

‘No,’ she sobbed. ‘I can’t.’

‘So be it’

Olivia gaped as, with an almighty cracking noise, Lewis broke down the door.

CHAPTER THREE

‘DAMN and blast!’ Lewis groaned, rubbing his shoulder. ‘That always seems so easy in the movies.’

Despite grimacing with pain, he still bent and scooped up a speechless Olivia from the floor. She was awed by his gentle consideration as he carried her from the small washroom, angling her carefully past the mangled door before laying her softly down on the chesterfield. Snatching some tissues from his desktop, he dabbed at her damp cheeks and still wet mouth, picking out a long strand of hair from where it had caught between her lips.

‘I’ll get you a glass of water,’ he said gently, and hurried back to the washroom.

Unfortunately, his absence brought Olivia’s mind back to the scene of the crime, so to speak. The sight of her shoes and underwear on the floor near his desk made her groan. Memories flooded in of the things she had done and said.

Her heart twisting, she rolled over, buried her face into the black studded leather and burst into fresh tears.

The chesterfield dipped behind her, and she felt Lewis’s hand on her trembling shoulder.

‘Please don’t, Olivia. God, I can’t bear to see you like this.’

‘I...I’m sorry,’ she blubbered.

‘It’s not you who should be apologising.’

Olivia heard his guilt and felt terrible. With a great effort of will she pulled herself together and rolled over to face him. ‘But it wasn’t your fault, Lewis.’

‘Yeah, right.’

His eyes dropped from hers, his shoulders sagging.

Olivia took the glass of water he was holding and drank deeply, using the time it took to empty the glass to collect herself, and her thoughts. She supposed she could keep indulging herself and totally fall apart. Or she could face what she’d done, honestly and without melodrama, and try to go on from there.

The temptation to just throw in the towel was strong, she had to admit. After all, what was the point in going on? The future she’d been working for and planning towards had no hope of being revived. Yvette had seen to that Olivia knew it would take ages before she could trust her heart to another man. If ever.

Olivia was a very careful person.

When she was sober, that was.

Olivia gulped down the last of the water and came to a decision. Lewis didn’t deserve her adding to his guilt in this matter. She could at least pretend she was all right for now, even if it wasn’t so.

There was no doubt in her mind, however, that she would have to resign. How could she possibly face Lewis day after day in this very office? How could she stop the memory of this afternoon from undermining both her own self-respect and the respect her boss once had for her?

Still...the resigning could wait till after the Christmas break. Frankly, she was far too fragile to do anything at the moment except go back to her flat and go to bed.

Alone.

But first she had to make Lewis feel better about his part in all this.

‘Thank you,’ she said quietly, and handed him back the empty glass.

His eyes lifted to search her face. ‘Are you going to be all right, Olivia?’

‘Yes, of course,’ she said, although her smile was small and wan. ‘I’m just being a typical woman.’

‘Oh, no,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You’re far from being a typical woman.’

Olivia blushed fiercely and Lewis groaned. ‘That’s not what I meant, damn it! Hell, I can’t seem to do anything right.’

‘I think you’ve done a lot of things right, Lewis. Not many men would be as considerate or caring in the same circumstances. Believe me when I say I don’t blame you for a single thing.’

‘That’s because you’re not in my body.’

Olivia decided to leave that one well and truly alone. ‘What’s done is done,’ she said wearily. ‘I think we’re both being far too hard on ourselves.’