Knocked Up By My Billionaire Boss Read online

  Again, he cared about me. He cared about all his employees here at Saturn Intelligence. He knew them all as if they were friends or family. He cared for them. It was beautiful to see and exactly the reason I was sure the company would stay open. He would never let his employees down, let them lose their jobs and sit on the streets with nothing.

  Noah wasn’t only good with people and good at what he did. He was attractive in every way. He was the perfect definition of tall, dark, and handsome, with hair that he finger-combed back as if it was an afterthought and eyes that were drowning deep in power and emotion. A square jaw, a nose like an arrow, muscular and powerful. He was everything women inherently chose for reproduction, even if they weren’t consciously aiming to have children. Nature won out.

  And Noah had a daughter. The only thing hotter than a man who knew who he was, was a man that could handle a child. Being big and bad was easy. Being soft and gentle when he could crush a man’s skull was a skill.

  “You’re already here,” Noah said, walking into his office. I’d been standing by his desk, shuffling through the papers I’d prepared for him, hoping I’d left nothing out.

  “You asked me to come early.”

  “You’re earlier than early,” he said, grinning. “That’s what makes you so good.”

  I flushed because I loved it when Noah complimented me. I felt like I was making a difference when he was happy. The poor man had had a shitty run. His wife had left him with a child that he was raising on his own, and his company was going under. Doing these little things for him meant something.

  But it wasn’t only that. I had a crush on him. I, Elena Hayes, had a crush on my boss like a teenager. When I caught him staring at me, or he flirted with me, it made me squirm inside with delight.

  “It’s my MBA that makes me so good,” I pointed out. I had an MBA. Why was I working as a secretary when I was qualified to do so much more? I guess I’d been waiting for the right job to come along. It had taken me three months of sifting through job ads, finding reasons not to leave SI. And then Noah had offered me a permanent contract, and I’d stopped looking altogether.

  When I looked up at Noah, his eyes were already on me, and I flushed. He looked at me the way a man looked at a woman when he was wondering what was underneath her clothes. I’d put on a black lace bra and panties. It made me feel sexy. I wanted to be sexy for him.

  “Everything is in here?” Noah asked, clearing his throat and pointing to the file which felt insignificant in the sexual tension we were drowning in.

  I nodded. “Everything you asked for.”

  “Perfect,” Noah said but he was still looking at me, and I wasn’t sure if he meant me or the file.

  God, I wanted to sleep with him. I wanted him to pin me down and have his way with me. For a moment, I imagined him on top of me, my body writhing beneath him.

  I shook off the thoughts. Sleeping with the boss was wrong. There were company rules, and it was unethical, anyway. I’d never slept with my boss before. I was innocent.

  But for Noah? Fuck ethics.

  The tension built in the room, and my eyes slid to Noah’s lips. I shouldn’t have been thinking about kissing him, but there it was. When Noah’s gaze went to my lips as well, I turned away from him. I had to get some distance between us if I was going to keep control of my urges.

  “Will you sit in on the meeting?” Noah asked.

  I looked to the side, back at his eyes. They were pools of black; mesmerizing. “If you need me to.”

  Noah nodded. “It will help if you know what they’re saying so you can put it into perspective for me when I panic, later.”

  He had no reason to panic. I didn’t tell him so, but I knew he would get through this. The investor meetings were a formality. Why wouldn’t they invest in a man with a public image as powerful and as personal as Noah’s?

  The boardroom was as executively chic as the rest of the building with a shiny round table and chairs more comfortable than the armchairs in my own living room. The windows could close with shutters for the projectors, and there were power points at regular intervals between the chair for laptops and tables to charge.

  The investors trickled into the room one by one, all of them wearing black or gray suits with faces that suggested we weren’t close to being in the clear. When everyone was present, Noah stood up and addressed the room.

  “Thank you for joining me,” he said. “I want to give you an update on our progress, show you that you’re getting a bang for your buck.”

  He proceeded to explain how the technology was coming along. Noah had developed a concept for a user interface that would change the way we approached technology, but it was risky. People didn’t like what was new unless it was close enough to what they already used. Noah had an advantage over other companies, though. He had a lot of fans, loyal to him because he was consistent, because he was reliable, because he’d been there from the start and stayed the same person they had known form the start. Noah’s concept was so different it was almost impossible. Except for his fans.

  “And you think the public will take to it?” one of the investors asked. He was a tall, thin man with a permanent scowl. We hadn’t been able to get a prototype, and it made me wish we had.

  “With the right marketing, I believe it will,” Noah said. “The beta team we’re working with already tested our latest version, and they’re happy.”

  “But it’s so different,” another man said.

  “Different is the buzz word of the day, right?” Noah said. “We’re trying to give the public something that will rock the technological word. Every now and then we have a moment where the world is rocked to its core. This can be the next milestone in technological advancement.”

  I watched them all nod slowly, reluctant. What if we let them be the beta testers? I thought. If Noah could give them a product that was complete enough for them to use and they liked it, they would feel more comfortable about the funding. The idea of loyalty was potential money.

  “We’ll need to reconvene in a few weeks,” someone said. “Maybe if you get some feedback from your research team, reviews we can look at. But if it doesn’t take, soon, we’re pulling funding.”

  I glanced at Noah. He looked cool and collected as if the words meant nothing to him. But the skin around his eyes tightened, and his hands that had been flat on the table were in fists, and he was leaning on his knuckles. He was upset, but I was the only one that could see it.

  “Thank you for your time and consideration,” Noah said when the meeting was over. “I look forward to seeing you back here.”

  The men filtered out of the room again, mumbling amongst each other. Noah and I stood on opposite sides of the room, smiling politely until all the investors had gone. When we were alone in the boardroom, Noah sank into his chair with a sigh. He slumped forward and ran his hand down his face. I walked to him.

  “We’re losing them, Elena,” he said.

  I kneeled before him so that he had nowhere to look but my face.

  “It’s going to be fine,” I said. “They’re skeptical now because it’s so new. People are afraid of what’s new. But when the radio was invented, everyone was skeptical, some said it was a fad. And look at where we are now.”

  “I’m hardly Marconi,” Noah said.

  “You could be.”

  Noah smiled at me. “You’re such a ray of light, you know that?” he asked. “You do a lot for the company. For me. Thanks for that. You’re always here, and I see that.”

  I nodded, fighting a blush. Now wasn’t the time to get blubbery because the man of my dreams was paying me a compliment. He was sincere is all, employer to employee.

  Noah’s eyes slid over my face, taking in my features, and I swallowed hard. The atmosphere in the room changed, and I was aware of how close Noah was, of his eyes, his lips, his hands. Noah lifted one hand and hooked a strand of hair behind my ear. My breath hitched in my throat. When his eyes found mine again, they were smolder
ing, and I couldn’t think straight anymore.

  I didn’t have a chance to imagine him kissing me. He dipped his head, pressing his lips against mine, and I froze. I was only immobile for a moment before I kissed him back. I moved my mouth against him, matching his movements as if I knew the kiss like a dance that we’d rehearsed. My mouth opened as his tongue slipped inside. I was suddenly hot and bothered, my clothes itching on my skin. I felt like I was going to burst with desire. I wished we were somewhere else. I wished we were somewhere he could pull my clothes off and touch my skin, soothing the nerve endings that were on fire.

  Noah broke the kiss abruptly, and our faces were inches from each other, both of us breathing hard as if we’d each run a marathon.

  “Oh, God,” Noah said. “I’m sorry.”

  I wanted to tell him not to be. I wanted to tell him that it had been what I’d wanted. But he didn’t let me. He stood up and walked away from me, leaving the boardroom. I sat on the floor, my fingers pressed to my lips, wondering how in this perfect world we had slipped into a bubble that wasn’t supposed to exist.

  Chapter Three

  Noah

  I locked myself in my office and tried to pull myself together. I was coming undone at the seams with lust. I wanted Elena so badly it hurt, my dick throbbing in my pants so that I had to readjust. I wanted to unwrap her, savor every inch of her before I split her open and reached into her core. I wanted to fuck her until all the tension that had built up between us snapped like a rubber band, and I could breathe again.

  I couldn’t believe I’d kissed her. One moment I had been worried about the company losing its investors and the next I hadn’t been able to think about anything or see anything but Elena. She had been taunting me with her stunning body and her beautiful mind for weeks. And today, I’d let my guard down enough for it to get the better of me.

  And it had been amazing. Kissing Elena had been electric like I’d finally been plugged into the right power source, and I felt alive after being dull and empty for so long. Kissing her had been like coming home.

  Was it only because she was off limits? What was it they said about forbidden fruit? The thrill of the secrecy might have done it. Or the feeling of doing something wrong and getting away with it.

  It had been spectacular.

  But it was all wrong. She was my secretary, a part of the company, and I shouldn’t have kissed her. Wanting so much more was wrong. Thank God I had had the good sense to get away from her, or I might have acted on my desire, tooIt would have been a disaster. A beautiful, delicious disaster.

  Elena had to run out of the office to take care of errands, and I silently thanked the powers that be that I didn’t have to be the one to send her away. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without making it seem like I was dismissing her for something I had done wrong. But there was no way I would have been able to deal with her around the office all day. Not with how heavy my balls felt now, and how badly I needed to fuck her to get the imagines of her body, the taste of her lips, out of my system.

  I picked up the phone and made a call to the marketing department.

  “Doug,” I said, “I need a drink. Smuggler’s tonight?”

  “You’re on,” Doug said.

  We ended the call. I needed to get out, get drunk and get all of this behind me. I had acted inappropriately.

  I tried to work, but my mind drifted to Elena all the time, my stomach knotting into a fist of nerves. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore and picked up the phone.

  “Elena,” I said when she answered on the second ring. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Yes,” she said as if she’d been expecting my call.

  I took a deep breath. There was no easy way to say this, but I was a dog with my tail between my legs.

  “I was wrong,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” she asked.

  God, she was going to make me say it. “For kissing you.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said, and she sounded like she meant it. “I’m not going to run to HR if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  I closed my eyes. I hadn’t been worried about that at all. I was more concerned about what she thought of me, now.

  “And you don’t have to worry about me, either,” she added as if she knew what I was thinking. “I’m not sorry it happened.”

  “You’re not?” I asked.

  She giggled, and it chimed over the phone. I closed my eyes, the tightness in my chest finally letting up like a string being unwound.

  “No,” she said. “You’re a good kisser. I was wondering about that.”

  It was the right amount of flirting and joking to ease up the tension, to bring her lightheartedness across the phone to me. And it made my cock twitch in my pants again. I wanted her. Badly.

  “I’ll see you on Monday, Noah,” Elena said, and I could hear she was still smiling.

  “Have a good weekend,” I said, and we ended the call. I leaned back in my chair with a groan, my office coming into focus again. She had this effect on me, making me want to ignore every rule in the book and do what I wanted. She made me primal. I wanted to undress her, strip her naked and spread her legs with my hand. I closed my eyes and pictured her curves when she was around the office, letting my mind fill in the blanks. I knew she was beautiful underneath her clothes, rare and exotic. I wanted to know what she smelled like, what she tasted like. I stroked my fingers over the ridge in my pants and shuddered. I needed a release. I needed to take the edge off. If not with sex, then alcohol.

  I picked up the phone again and dialed Diane’s number. I’d forgotten to check with her before arranging with Doug.

  “How’s Lilly doing?” I asked when Diane picked up. My daughter’s interests always took precedence.

  “She’s doing fine,” Diane said. “She’s been coughing, nothing serious, but you should keep an eye on it this weekend. Other than that, she’s okay. Tired, I think.”

  I nodded. “I know it’s a Friday, but can you stay later? I wanted to meet a friend.”

  “Of course,” Diane said. “No one can work and be a parent without a break. Enjoy yourself. I’ll sleep in the spare bedroom until you’re back.”

  “Thank you, Diane,” I said. “I know it’s a big deal to give up a Friday night for me.”

  When she spoke, I could hear her smiling. “You pay me double my normal fee per hour to do it.”

  I chuckled and hung up the phone. She was right, of course, but it wasn’t about money. Diane loved Lilly the way an aunt might.

  I packed up my things and walked to the parking garage, tossing my briefcase in the back before heading out.

  Smuggler’s Cove was a popular bar two blocks away from City Hall, and despite the pirate theme and cliché name, it was always filled to the brim. Doug had already claimed a table inside, or else we might have had to bribe the doorman to get us space.

  The place was decorated with various shades and textures of brown, with a bar that had a host of alcohol bottles stacked behind it and a menu with killer drinks. They had specials and cocktails that were found nowhere else, but Doug and I stuck to our usual; whiskey.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Doug asked when we both had a drink in front of us and sipped it carefully, savoring the taste.

  “It’s been a rough week,” I said. I wasn’t lying. The week had been rough, but it hadn’t driven me to drink.

  “Investor issues?” Doug asked.

  I nodded, sipping my whiskey.

  Doug worked for the marketing department, handling a team of copy editors and designers. His job was of such a nature that our being friends didn’t cause any kind of professional conflict, and it was what I needed; someone who knew enough about my job to give sound advice but not be involved enough to be personally conflicted.

  “They’ll pull through as long as you do,” he said.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Doug sighed. “It’s not an insult.
But you know how I feel about this. You have to do something different if you want this company to keep it’s head above water. It’s not a joke and the personal touch can only bring you so far. They love you, but love doesn’t earn a dime.” His blond hair was shaved short and his icy eyes stood out because of it. He got things done because he had a no-nonsense appearance even though he partied every weekend like he was a teenager and fucked women like it was going out of fashion. Doug had been divorced twice, and it was the only thing I would never take advice on from him: relationships. He was a father, too, but with joint custody which meant he could only see his kids every other weekend and Wednesday afternoons.

  I was lucky to have Lilly all to myself.

  “How’s that secretary of yours doing?” Doug asked and I stiffened, blinking at him. But he couldn’t know.

  “It’s working out,” I said. Doug had met her a few times when he’d come to my office, and he’d known about her probation period. “She’s permanent, now.”

  Doug nodded. “Good move,” he said. “Having a woman like that around,” his sentence tapered off, and he bit his bottom lip, sucking air through his teeth. “I would walk around with a permanent hard-on.”

  If it were any other woman he was talking about, I would have laughed and shaken my head, or laughed and agreed. But not this time.

  “She’s off limits,” I said, and my voice came out a lot more hostile than I’d meant.

  Dough laughed, holding up his hands. “I was just saying,” he said. “But something tells me it’s not company policy that’s got you riled up. When are you going to tap that?”

  As soon as I can, I thought. I shook my head. “That’s not happening. Like I said, off limits.”

  “Right. Even for you, the god of Saturn Intelligence.”

  Doug’s eyes were full of mischief, and he was laughing at me.

  “Give me a break,” I said, throwing the remaining whiskey back in one go and waving for another. “It’s not like that.”