Hot Boss - Anne Marsh Page 0,35

and nips my bottom lip, which predictably just makes the problem bigger.

Conceding she has a point, I say, “Capital pricing models. Z test stats. Normal distributions.” When she looks at me quizzically, I say, “That’s what I’m going to be running in my head to make myself socially presentable.”

“Nut,” Hazel says affectionately. “Does that actually work?”

I’m fairly certain she’s asking in all seriousness. “Let’s run a test.”

I pull her close to me, until my back’s against the wall, her body pressing into mine, and this time I kiss her. My kiss is hot and wet, wild and urgent, like there’s a mental countdown in my head of how many seconds we probably have before someone wanders down the hall and spots us. My hands cup her butt, lifting her up, and she reaches for me. Anyone could discover us, so it’s risky to keep kissing her, but I can’t stop.

“Lift,” she groans against my mouth. And then before I can react, before I can do more than suck in a quick breath before she steals the air from me, she’s wrapping her legs around my waist. I cup her harder, lift her higher.

I want this woman, I want all of her, so I kiss her like I mean it, trying to show her with my mouth, my tongue, how she makes me feel. She’s not a consolation prize in the dating sweepstakes—she’s the golden ticket, the brass ring on the merry-go-round, the first-place winner.

And then I hear the voices. A woman’s voice, high and happy...and getting closer. I think it’s one of Hazel’s sisters, but either way it’s a wake-up call. I’m really not going to get caught kissing Hazel in her mother’s hallway. I pull back and let her slide down my body to her feet. We need a new plan—and an exit strategy.

Hazel looks up at me, eyes narrowed, grin in place. “Downstairs bathroom, upstairs bathroom, guest bedroom. Choose quickly.”

Then she smacks my butt.

“Bossy.” I narrow my eyes at her. I love Hazel, but she’s never mastered boundaries. I have a moment of quiet panic; I didn’t say those words out loud, not quite, and it’s not as if I meant love love. Love is just one of those words you use, right? I mean, objectively, of course, I love Hazel. I love Max and Dev, too, although I have zero interest in getting either of them naked.

A door opens and closes somewhere. Sister averted, but Hazel has more than one and we’re still in a very public spot.

“Action-oriented. Decisive.” Hazel flaps her hands at me. “Stop waffling, Mr. Reed. This is a limited-time offer to get mostly naked with me, so shit or get off the pot.”

God, the things she says. I laugh and capture her hand before it can land on my butt again.

I grab her, slinging her over my shoulder in a fireman carry. It’s hardly dignified, but Hazel muffles a shriek of protest because we’ve both heard the new sounds coming from the other room—someone’s Mini-Me, one of Hazel’s many nieces and nephews, is rapidly approaching, belting out the words to a cartoon-show theme song. Now we really shouldn’t get caught kissing.

That’s my excuse, at any rate.

The truth? I haven’t had this much fun in ages. I discard the idea of the downstairs bathroom—its dimensions are a miserly three feet by five feet and fitting two people in there would be challenge enough without the logistics of undressing my Hazel surprise. Plus, toilets are gross. Whatever you’ve done in there, a million other people have also done. Sorry to spoil your fantasies, but it’s a fact—the unromantic 500,000 bacterial cells per square inch does not make for the hotness of potential discovery. The upstairs bathroom is larger but it’s full of her mother’s stuff—so that’s also a hard no, leaving the guest bedroom as our sole viable option. Done. “Bedroom,” I say.

I take the stairs two at a time before we can be ambushed by any more family members. Hazel works her hands down the back of my jeans, cupping and squeezing my butt. I can’t see her face but I know the expression she’ll be wearing—happy, mischievous, focused. Hazel doesn’t believe in half measures.

“Left,” she announces when I hit the top of the stairs and pause in the middle of the long hallway that stretches to the left and right of the stairs. “Third door down.”

I walk-spring down the hallway, open the door and aim for the bed. Since the room’s not that