“Okay, tell us everything.”

I had barely arrived at the bar to meet with the girls from college before they started assaulting me with questions. There were so many of them that I thought they must have rehearsed their group attack.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Abby’s level of excitement. She had held it in for a few minutes while we waited at the bar, but the second we sat at a booth, it was out for all to see.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I lied. “There’s not a lot to say, really.”

All four girls exploded in yells and laughs, none of them believing a word I had said. I couldn’t blame them, though. His reputation was well known.

“Bullshit, Nicole,” Abby said, immediately becoming the leader of the group. She had done exactly the same in college.

“We’ve all heard about Devon Carell, and now you’re working for his company. Have you met him?”

“Of course. I work on the same floor, go to the same meetings. I see him all the time.”

“No way!”

I laughed and took a sip of the cheap beer I was holding while they all descended into angry noises. They weren’t pleased to have any information withheld from them, just like the time I went on a date in college.

That story had gone badly, but I hoped this one would end better. Maybe I’d even be employed by the end.

“Tell us everything or I’ll cut you,” Abby said, holding up a toothpick and putting on her best menacing voice. “I’ve been to prison, bitch.”

That one got me laughing, and the girls decided, no doubt aided by alcohol, that if I wasn’t giving them any details, they should just make up their own.

“Maybe he’s secretly a drug dealer and Nicole can’t tell us or she’ll die,” Mallory said. “That’s probably where all his money comes from.”

“No, no, it’s got to be better than that. He has to be some kind of secretive leader of an underground network that controls the world. Have you guys seen The Blacklist? He’s probably like that guy.”

“Okay, shut up,” I laughed. “He’s none of those things. He’s a normal man who just happens to run a massive company.”

“Normal,” Abby scoffed. “I’ve heard some shit, Nicole. Are the stories about his temper true? Does he lose it all the time?”

“Never in front of me. I mean, he’s abrupt sometimes, and I’ve seen him really angry, but he’s not scary or anything. Not unless you’re the person who just stabbed him in the back.”

I thought back to the way he looked at Markos. That had been a little scary, even if I knew he wasn’t angry at me. His eyes had narrowed and shone darker, as though something was at work behind them that I didn’t want to know about.

But he seemed to be okay once he got over it. He had stopped talking about it, at least.

“Okay, you need to blink twice if you’re being recorded and you’re afraid for your life,” Sam said. I didn’t know why she was getting involved since our sharing an apartment meant that she had all the gossip already.

The others laughed, but Abby’s face was firm as she stared at me. “Just be honest with us, Nicole. This is a safe space. Have you ever seen him kill and eat an intern for sustenance?”

The booth erupted with loud enough laughter that half the bar turned to us, and I tried to sink under the little table.

When they finally calmed down, I felt a strong need to defend his honor in front of these women who hadn’t met him, and probably never would.

“Look, he’s just a normal guy. He’s passionate about his business, he’s smart as hell, and he doesn’t take any bullshit. But that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with him. And there’s definitely nothing to fear about him.”

I paused for a second, thinking back to the last few days with him. “Actually, it’s really good to just be around him. He can be funny, he seems to care about the people around him, and he oozes this confidence that I can’t describe. It’s like, he knows he’s going to succeed, even if no one else in the world can see how.”

“You sound like you’re in love,” Sam said.

I sat a little straighter in my seat and fidgeted silently, a blush spreading across my cheeks as I immediately realized I had done the dumbest thing I could have. I should have laughed or said something straight away, but I hadn’t. They honed in on my reaction like embarrassment-seeking missiles.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Abby gasped. “You’re in love with your boss? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I’m not in love! It’s nothing like that. It’s just that, you know, he’s good to be around. He’s teaching me a lot.”

“Like, how to make love?” My roommate elbowed me good-naturedly.

“No, Sam, you idiot. Nothing like that. Just about business and about being more assertive. He told me from the beginning that I need to be stronger, and he’s helping me do it. It’s kind of amazing, really.”

“Honestly, Nicole,” Abby said, pointing her beer at me. “You sound like you’re in love.”

They were wrong, and I was ready to argue, but I was glad when a couple guys wandered up and took the attention off me.

I didn’t need that conversation, especially now that I was thinking about Devon after having to defend his honor. That wasn’t something I had expected to be doing, and now I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about him, and a few of those thoughts were unprofessional.

* * *

As usual, the alcohol went straight to my head. I should have stopped after my third beer, but I was in the mood to let my hair down. It had been a long time, and there had been a lot of stress since I last had the chance.

But when I fell onto the couch in the apartment I shared with Sam at four in the morning, I knew I was going to be in for a hell of a hangover. That wasn’t something I was very familiar with, but I had experienced just enough to know I didn’t want it.

With my trusty bottle of water on the coffee table beside me and a blanket over the top of me, I settled in and closed my eyes. Having decided I didn’t have the energy to clean papers and files off my bed, I wasn’t going to waste time before going to sleep on the couch.

In an instant, Devon’s face flashed in front of me. Vividly, as though he was there. I could see all the sharpness of his jaw and the perfect teeth, along with that smile he occasionally cracked.

God, that smile. It was the kind that could have you melting, even if you knew you shouldn’t. There was just something about it that hinted, “He’s dangerous. Don’t get too close.”

I could only imagine how many hearts he had broken. One or two Hollywood stars were on that list if you believed what you read in the tabloids, too.

You can’t compete with that, a voice said from somewhere deep in my mind, causing my eyes to jolt open. What the hell did that mean? I didn’t want to compete with that. I didn’t have any interest in him like that.

Of course, Devon Carell was an attractive man. I wasn’t blind. He had the arms of a god, even if he hid them under tailored suits. His chest and abs were once featured in a calendar, and they were to die for.

Then there was his face. That perfect, chiseled smile, combined with a smoldering stare that could have you forgetting your own name in an instant. He seemed to use both sparingly, but that only made it hotter.

It would be something else to get close to him. To have that manly, spicy scent surrounding you as his body pressed against you. His cock would be a thing of perfect beauty – the kind that a sculptor would envy.

It would feel so good plunging into me, joining us together. I could only imagine how big and thick it would be as his arousal grew, and how powerful it would feel inside me. In my mind, Devon took me hard, using long, firm strokes, as though he was taking what he wanted from me, and I was just there for the ride.

And what a ride it was – I could almost feel him pushing in and out of me. It felt so damn good.

I gasped when I felt him touching my clit, teasing it. His finger seemed to know exactly which direction to move in order to create the most pleasure, and it wasn’t long before I was teetering on the edge of a Devon-induced orgasm.

“Fuck me, Devon,” I whispered, lifting my hips off the couch to feel more of him.

And that was the moment my eyes flung open. I had completely forgotten I was on the couch in the living room with Sam in the other room. It wasn’t Devon’s fingers, but mine.

No wonder “he” knew just how to touch me so well.

I quickly turned onto my side, crushing my thighs together to prevent any further risk of embarrassment. I held my breath and waited, hoping like hell that Sam hadn’t heard me whispering. Or moaning.

When it became clear that I hadn’t been busted, I closed my eyes again and tried to force myself to sleep. But it wouldn’t happen – not after the thoughts I had just allowed free roam over my brain.

It was little wonder that I was attracted to a man like Devon, but I needed to keep it under control. Not just because he was my boss, but because there was no way he would be interested in me. I didn’t look like a Hollywood celebrity, and I wasn’t famous. I was hopeful that I could be a good businesswoman with a long career, but that was hardly Devon’s kind of woman.

No, it would be enough to learn from him. Be near him.

That is, if I could ever figure out how to look him in the eye again after what just happened.