Sleeping with the Boss (Anderson Brothers, #1)(46)

“This trip to Egypt is a pilgrimage for you and I think it’s important you go. The internship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s not like you’re being deployed and will be cut off from email and cell coverage. Hell, you’ll probably get sick of hearing from me within a week.”

She laughed. “I doubt it.”

He took her face in his hands. “Thank you for asking me. I can’t even tell you how much that means.” He stood and helped her to her feet. “But I’d like to show you. How about joining me for a swim in the ocean?”

Will sighed with relief when she wrapped her arms around him and nodded.





Chapter Fifteen


Claire leaned back against Will’s chest while the water lapped over her legs and the last waves of passion subsided. The moonlight danced over the water in fragments, like her thoughts, pulling themselves back together after bliss had short-circuited her brain.

Will moved his hands up her body and wrapped her in his arms, pulling her higher on his lap. He ran his lips over her ear, his breath sounding like the wind off the water. His erection pushed against her back.

She shifted to look at his face. “I feel selfish.”

He barked a laugh and squeezed her tighter. “You are so self-sacrificing, you border on having a martyr syndrome. The fact that you let me focus on you and bring you pleasure is not selfish. You’re not taking anything away from me.”

He bit her shoulder and she squealed, body twisting, water splashing in all directions. The bite didn’t hurt, but it surprised her, and caused a jolt of excitement to zap right down where he’d touched her only minutes before.

“Don’t worry, Claire.” He pulled her back against him and nibbled on her earlobe. “Soon, I’ll be taking, and you’ll be giving.”

She shuddered as a pulse of desire flooded through her.

He chuckled. “You like that idea, don’t you?”

Nodding was the best response she could conjure. Her mouth was too dry to speak.

“So, pending your approval, of course, since we are equal business partners here, I propose to you that I prove that I can take as well as I can give. What do you think of that, Miss Maddox?”

His lips tasted like salt water and heaven as she turned in his arms, loving the feel of his wet, muscular body under hers. “I think we work well together, Mr. Anderson.”

Never in her wildest fantasies, even before everything went wrong in her life, had she imagined feeling like this. Relaxed, happy, sexy… Free. As they stood to go back to the house, she stared out across the water, trying to catalog the memory for later. Without her glasses, she could see fairly well, but things were a little blurry around the edges—sort of like her conviction to leave everything behind.

One thing she knew for sure was that nobody knew what the future held. For now, all she could do was live for each moment and enjoy Will to the fullest and let events unfold naturally.

And she did just that. The rest of the time on the island flew by in a passionate blur. They spent the next day and night snorkeling, swimming, sunbathing, laughing, and making love in ways she hadn’t known were possible.

Claire boarded the plane home having discovered many new things.

Will was terribly ticklish.

She was ticklish in certain places she hadn’t known about.

Will’s body made an excellent table/serving dish.

Will’s body made a great lounge chair, throw pillow, and overall playground.

There are biting insects in the sand at night.

Her idea to roll around in the sand was not a good one as evidenced by abrasions and bugbites.

Sunscreen application is a long and tedious process when done solo.

Sunscreen application is excellent fun when executed by Will—even when you end up not making it out into the sun afterward.

Sunburns hurt.

Bugbites hurt.

Leaving the island to return to regular life hurt.

Realizing she was madly and irrevocably in love with William Anderson…hurt.

…

After takeoff, Claire had just started to mourn the end of their trip when she met Will’s heated gaze over the small table between them. She knew that look well by now.

He unsnapped his seat belt and without preamble, stripped down to where he was wearing nothing but an erection that made her mouth water.

Oh, shit. She squirmed in her chair, heat flooding her body, as he stalked over to her. This was serious. She fought back a grin as he unsnapped her seat belt and urged her to her feet. “So, I take it this means I’m about to be a member of the mile-high club.” God, that sounded lame. Was that even a thing, or was it something she picked up in middle school somewhere?

Without answering, he pulled her shirt off, and the bra, too. Then untied her warm-up drawstring, shoving her pants down her legs. “Sit here,” he said, indicating the little table between the comfy leather chairs.

“Will that even hold my weight?” She tentatively put pressure on the table, testing it.

“We’re about to find out.” He sat in the chair and patted the edge of the table. “Right here.”

She sat on the table and he grinned up at her, making her heart hammer even harder than it was before. He positioned her close to the edge, then put her feet on the arm of his chair. He leaned forward, placing his warm palms on her knees and pushing them wider. “Now, Miss Maddox,” he said.