Sienna

“Mmm,” I sighed, waking up feeling deliciously warm. I stayed where I was, keeping my eyes closed, and enjoyed the sensation. It wasn’t until I stretched my arms above my head that I realized most of the warmth was coming from a body sprawled next to me. I tried to scoot away, but I was pinned to the mattress by a heavy arm draped over my belly.

“What the—” I twisted to the side and found Owen there, sound asleep. It all came rushing back to me. My interview that resulted in a job offer I hadn’t been expecting. The way he’d maneuvered me into visiting his undeniably gorgeous home. How we’d sat outside and chatted about everything and nothing at all over a glass of wine. One glass turned into two, and then Owen insisted that he had to feed me since I’d been drinking. I’d watched, enthralled by the sight of him in the kitchen, as he’d whipped together a delicious meal with only the contents of his pantry since he’d been out of town and didn’t have anything in the fridge. He was even more impressive in person than on television... which is why I’d helped to polish off another bottle of wine with dinner.

The surreal situation I’d found myself in had definitely called for liquid courage. If only I hadn’t taken it a glass (or more) too far and landed myself in an even more unbelievable position—me, in bed with an incredibly sexy man. I wasn’t completely certain how I’d ended up here, let alone with him asleep beside me. The details after dinner were kind of fuzzy.

Did I?

Did we?

I couldn’t even finish the thought in my own head. Lifting the sheet up with a trembling hand, I heaved a huge sigh of relief when I found myself dressed in a long T-shirt and a pair of boxers. If I’d been too drunk to remember losing my virginity to Owen, then surely I would also have been too drunk to think to ask for clothes to sleep in. Right?

The only person who could answer that question pulled me closer to his body and whispered in my ear, “Morning, beautiful.”

Holy wow, the sound of his raspy morning voice would have had my panties melting off my body... if I’d been wearing any. My silent freak-out ratcheted up a couple of notches as I once again thought about what might have happened between us last night.

“You sleep okay?”

“Yeah.” My reply was barely audible, more just my lips moving without any sound coming out. But that didn’t make my answer any less truthful. I’d slept better than I had in months, which was crazy considering it was the first time I’d ever spent the night in bed with a man. You’d think that would make for a restless night.

“Good.” He dropped a kiss on my shoulder—a freaking KISS—and rolled out of bed. My gaze slid down his sculpted chest, counting the ridges as I skimmed down to his black boxers. I yanked my head back up when it dawned on me what the tented material meant. He was hard. And freaking huge!

“Umm.” My cheeks filled with heat, and he smirked at me with a knowing look in his eyes.

“Get used to it, baby. You’re going to be seeing a whole lot of me.”

“About that.” I jumped out of bed and searched the room for my clothes. “How much of you did I see last night?”

“Not as much as I’d have liked.”

That’s a shame.

What? Where did that thought come from? My head jerked up as I paused in my frantic search. He was stalking towards me, and I backed up a couple of steps, holding my hands up to ward him off. “So we didn’t? You know, do the horizontal tango?”

“No, Sienna. All we did was cuddle and sleep.” His green eyes flared as he took another step closer. “When I have you under me, there won’t be any doubts in your head about what happened between us. You’ll remember because you’ll feel where I’ve been for days.”

I couldn’t bring myself to think about the second half of his answer and what it meant, so I focused on the first part. “We cuddled?”

“Yeah,” he admitted sheepishly. “Normally, I’m not much of a cuddler, but I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to have you in my arms.”

“The only chance,” I gasped, bumping into the wall as I tried to back further away from him. “If you’re going to be my boss, this”—I waved between us and the rumpled bed—“can’t happen again.”

He moved closer, wrapping his hands around my wrists and yanking me into his body. “There’s no if about it, Sienna. I am your boss, and this is going to happen again, along with a helluva lot more.”

I fought against my sudden urge to relax into him and instead, narrowed my eyes. “We’ll table discussion about how I got changed for now. I don’t have time to argue with you about this right now. I have classes this morning. I need to find my clothes, get dressed, stop at home, take a shower, and grab my school stuff before I head over to campus.”

I was a list person. They were my comfort zone, and rattling off all the things I had to do today made me feel less unnerved. More confident.

“Take a shower here.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Owen brushed his lips across mine and effectively shut me up.

“Without me.” He quirked an eyebrow and flashed me a rakish smile. “This time around at least.”

“All the times,” I corrected with a stomp of my foot.

He smiled, tweaked my nose, and backed away from me. “Go ahead and keep fooling yourself if that’s what it takes for you to pack your stuff up tonight and move in here.”

“No, I—”

“Don’t even try it, Sienna. You already agreed last night, and I’m not going to let you change your mind. It’s done. Living here is a requirement for your position as my assistant.”

I knew I should argue more. Try to get him to see reason. Make him understand why it was a really bad idea for us to live under the same roof. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it; not when there was a little voice inside my head that kept reminding me of the reason why it was also the best idea ever.

The house where I rented a room was in a great neighborhood. I had my own ensuite bathroom, and it was less than three miles away from campus. The woman who owned the house was incredibly sweet, and she didn’t ask a lot from me as her tenant. She charged me way less than she should in rent, and all my utilities were included. I had a guaranteed parking spot in her driveway. She even made extra food for me so I’d have home-cooked meals to eat since I was hopeless in the kitchen.

When I’d signed the lease, it was the perfect living situation. Then I’d met her son a month after I’d moved in, and it became incredibly awkward. I didn’t like the way he looked at me. Moving out would be a relief, even if it was a bit like jumping out of the pot and straight into the fire. It was an appropriate analogy considering who Owen was, but the risk of getting burned by the sexy chef who I’d secretly lusted over was scary.

“Fine,” I huffed. “But you’re going to clean out your guest room so I can stay in there. No more sharing your bed.”

When I turned on my heel to make my way to his bathroom for my shower, I heard what suspiciously sounded like something about not caring which bed we slept in as long as it was the same one. I didn’t respond, but his persistence stoked the flame of desire inside me even brighter. I was close to spontaneous combustion when I poured body wash into my palm and the scent surrounded me in the steamy shower. It smelled like Owen.

“Damn it,” I groaned.

As I slid my soapy hands along my body, my intent was just to get clean. But when my fingers swept over my clit, I couldn’t resist the temptation. With my head flung back, the hot water beat against my body while I circled my clit with one finger. It didn’t take much to get my legs shaking and my toes clenching. With the water cascading down my body, it was easy to imagine Owen on his knees in front of me, his mouth on my pussy. His fingers clenched against my ass as he pulled me close and devoured me. The fantasy burst into my head, the image crystal clear, and shoved me over the edge while I whimpered his name.

Once I was able to see straight again, I hurried through the rest of my shower and finished getting ready. Knowing what I’d done in there, and what I’d pictured him doing, I couldn’t bring myself to meet Owen’s gaze. I mumbled something about needing to hustle or else I’d be late for class, accepting the travel mug of coffee he offered and running for the door.

“Sienna,” Owen called out as I was about to step into my car.

I looked over my shoulder at him. “Yeah?”

“That orgasm you gave yourself in my shower? It’s the last one you’re going to have without me watching.”

Holy crap... I was in way over my head with him.