Steal: A Bad Boy Romance Read Online Free Page B

accident that my remarkable bulge was at her eye height when standing.
She couldn’t have possibly missed it and the long pause before she took my hand
was telling.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    CHAPTER
5
    ~ K AT ~

 
    The date had gone so much better
than I’d expected. The gliding, the talking… the making out! It was enough to
make a sexually frustrated and stressed-out career woman smile all morning.
    Dreams
the night before had comprised long periods of weightlessness and soaring in
James’ arms. Once awake, it seemed so stupid, but while caught in their web it
had been the most comforting sensation in the world. Even if it made me feel
like a desperate spinster.
    They’re just stupid dreams. They
mean nothing.
    The
initial warnings I’d felt about James hadn’t been justified yet, but they were
still there, nagging at the back of my mind that something didn’t feel quite
right. Sure, he could be crass, but there was no sign he would turn into the
controlling, cheating, entitled asshole that so many of my exes had morphed
into.
    Maybe he’s safe to date. Maybe.
    Part
of me yearned for what he offered. And what he had offered, yesterday. All it would have taken was a little
three-letter word and I could have been wined and shown whether James could
back up all the confident, sexual swagger he exuded. Based on what I felt when
grinding up on him and saw afterward, size wouldn’t be an issue.
    Involuntary
visions overcame me of lying back and feeling his strong body above mine,
filling me, driving me crazy with lust and passion. He would be dominant and
overwhelming in bed—there was no doubt in my mind. Fantasies about what
he might do floated through my mind like scenes on a projector. Just the
thought of finally getting action flooded my panties with need.
    I
shook my head. Daydreaming about it wouldn’t turn things around in my work
life, and that demanded my focus and attention. Otherwise I’d find myself out
of a job with a black mark on my reference sheet. It was a good thing I’d
turned him down—I couldn’t afford to waste too much time chasing a
relationship that would undoubtedly end in heartbreak.
    As
a high-level manager within the startup , I was one of
only five employees with an actual office that had full walls and a door. The
rest sat in a large open-concept working space to promote teamwork and
cohesiveness according to the latest office design paradigm. It did nothing to
help endear me to my colleagues.
    My
desk phone rang with the interoffice chime, and I didn’t need to look to see
who it was. There was only one person in the small office who used the phone to
call instead of simply walking to the intended recipient’s desk.
    “Yes,
Nick?”
    “Katherine.
I hope you’ve had a productive morning. Could you please come and see me when
you get a chance?”
    Hard-won
experience had taught me that “when I got a chance” always meant immediately . Nothing was more important
than answering Nick’s questions and concerns.
    “Sure,
I’ll be right there.”
    I
sighed and gathered myself for another encounter with my boss, the CEO of
ARCANE. Even short meetings were exhausting with the man who insisted on
micromanaging every detail of the company and radiated an extraordinary level
of sleaze.
    Gathering
my notebook and pen, I locked the computer and left my office. Nick’s was in
the corner, only three offices away and twenty steps total.
    I
knocked once on the door before I cracked it open. “You wanted to see me?”
    “Yes,
Katherine, come in. And shut the door behind you.”
    The
door settled into place with a quiet click, and the general office noise
outside faded away. I’d noticed how well soundproofed Nick’s office was the
first time I’d entered it. There was something odd about it. His windows always
had the curtains drawn.
    “Take
a seat,” Nick said. He gestured to the round meeting table in the corner of the
office and stood up from his