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I pushed his head back so I had better access to his lips. I took him deep before backing off. Deep

again, then back, loving the feeling of him inside me. I nibbled his lips as cracks started to work

through me, the pleasure coursing, eroding my control. The kisses became more fervent. I invaded his mouth with my tongue as I moved up and down.

“Oh,” I sighed, the desire rushing now. My movements became rougher. I sat and pulled back up,

tightening up. Needing him. Needing to finish.

“Yes, Hunter,” I exulted, closing my eyes and tugging on his hair. I crashed into him now,

everything condensing. My body on fire. His lips on mine. “Oh, yes. Just a bit—”

I squeezed my eyes shut as the pleasure turned white hot. I panted, my heart beating faster, love

filling me up. The sensations unfurled and took me higher. Blanking out my mind. All I knew was him

and pleasure.

“Almost… Almost…” I strove harder, him inside of me, the friction exquisite. The couch

squealed as it rocked against the floor.

I blasted apart, everything exploding into pleasure so intense it fused my jaw shut. Every muscle

flexed over him. I shook with my release as he tensed in climax under me, the orgasm so intense I

couldn’t even cry out.

I slumped forward. Another wave of pleasure washed over me, making me tremble. Finally, I

started to relax in the glow of one awesome fucking orgasm.

“Holy crap.” I gave another little tremor as I melted around him.

“We should fight more often. Makeup sex really is everything it’s made out to be.”

I laughed softly and threw my arms around him. “I love you, Hunter.”

He kissed me softly and sat idly for a moment. I knew his mind had probably already turned to

work, but he was giving me a second in the afterglow. It was quite a difference from the first time we were together.

“How do you feel?” Hunter asked after a few minutes of quiet. “Any cramping or signs of

danger?”

“I feel good. No discomfort. No pain.”

“Good.” He kissed my temple and I knew he’d reached his limit.

I got up with a grin. “You made it five minutes that time. That has to be a record.”

His scowl wasn’t the response I was looking for. “I’m not in the habit of taking my time when the

door is unlocked during working hours. I can make it up to you tonight…”

“Ha!” My blurted laugh made him scowl harder. “I wasn’t commenting on your sexual prowess.” I

laughed a little harder as he helped me put my clothes back on. “I meant afterward. You hung out

longer instead of running back to your desk.”

“Oh.” His expression cleared. A twinkle infused his eyes but he didn’t say anything else. Instead,

he finished straightening up before he finally made his way to his computer.

Even the great Hunter Carlisle, Sex God Extraordinaire, got twinges of performance anxiety. Who

would’ve thought?

Still chuckling, I made my way back to my desk. Before I reached the door, though, Hunter said,

“I’ll see you at home.”

I stopped with my hand on the door. “Huh?”

He looked up from his desk. “Your day officially ends at six o’clock, like Brenda. I want you to

leave at the end of the day. No exceptions.”

“But I still have—”

“No exceptions,” he repeated in that commanding tone. He turned back to his computer. That was

that.

He was employing the ol’
force Olivia’s hand
technique. Sneaky.

And I knew, sooner rather than later, it would be effective.

I put everything away and made my way home. It was time to put the big-girl panties on for a

second time, and do the scary thing. I was about to choose my future.

Chapter Six

Iwas sitting with the letter on my desk as Brenda walked up with the mug of coffee. She put the

white porcelain in front of me and stared, as she basically did every morning these days. My life was her largest source of entertainment.

“You need a life,” I said.

“I have a life. A boring one. What’s the look for?”

“Nothing.” I looked at that stark white envelope. “Just going out on a limb.”

“Did you get a visit from Ed McMahon?”

“Who?” I checked my ranking. The game was still on top of the charts, puffing out its feathers

with pride.

“I hate it when you make me feel old.” Brenda walked to her desk. “What’s on the day’s agenda?”

I took a deep breath, picked up the envelope, and stood. “You won’t like today’s agenda much. I’ll

let it be a surprise.”

I ignored her rumpled brow as I made my way into Hunter’s office. Friday was a good day to quit.

I put the mug down in its place. I laid the envelope a little further in. Then I turned and got out of there like the coward I was. Back at my desk, I stood with a stiff back, opening and closing my hands to expel some nervous energy. I couldn’t believe I was doing this. This was a huge risk. I might lose my new job. Hunter might find a secretary he wanted to date instead of me. The sky might fall. All

terrifying thoughts.

I sat and stared at my computer. I kind of hoped he looked at the resignation letter right away. This was a loaded situation.

“Wait…should I have told him in person that I was resigning?” I had asked my computer, but

Brenda didn’t know that.

“You
what
?”
She swiveled toward me. “Get back in there and burn that envelope. You can’t resign!”

I grimaced at her. She scowled back.

“What are you going to do instead?” Her gaze hit my phone. “Oh, poo. You’re going to do that

game thing, aren’t you? Damn it. You like that better. Are you getting paid? You don’t want to just

keep doing it on the side? No, you probably can’t, can you. Hunter won’t let you go gray this early in life. Well, shoot. This puts me in a pickle.”

“Are you talking to me or yourself right now?”

She shook her head at me. “Selfish.”

“Wanting to be happy is selfish?”

“When it makes me have to work harder, yes. You should sacrifice for me.” She leaned against

her desk. The grumpiness didn’t clear from her face. “Are you excited or is Hunter making you quit?”

“He is making me choose. I’m sure he’s not going to dump me if I don’t work here, so I figured I’d

do the thing I liked better. He said I could work in his office, though. I can visit.”

Her eyebrows arched. “I wouldn’t if I were you. He’ll hire someone that’s not as smart as you,

and then you’ll just have to help her do a mere fraction of your job. You should stay away until the new hire finds her feet.”

“Uh huh. Back to the original question, should I’ve told him in person? I probably should’ve.”

“Couldn’t you have told him at home? Why so professional all of a sudden? But yes, you

should’ve had a meeting and told him in person before you handed in the letter.”

“Oh.” I stood, a ball of nerves all of a sudden. I peeked into his office. I could just make out his broad shoulders still turned toward the glare of his computer. I walked in gingerly. I could probably snatch the letter back and do a meeting, but he knew it was coming. It’d be best if I just tossed it out there. When you were screwing your boss, professionalism wasn’t the order of the day.

As I neared the desk, though, I saw the letter open, pushed off to the side. It rested on the open

envelope.

I paused.

He glanced up, and then sat back, clasping his hands in his lap. Neither of us spoke.

I cleared my throat. Then pointed vaguely toward his desk. “You, ah…read the letter, then.”

“Yes. I’ve put in for a temporary employee. Or will, I should say. I’m proud of you. I think you

made the right choice.”

I straightened up a little. That was nice to hear. “You’re not mad that I’m leaving you in the

lurch?”

“Not at all. I expected this. I’ll start interviews right away. As soon as I can get someone

reasonable, you can train him or her, and then leave. Most of your job isn’t something a regular admin can do. You’ve been doing tasks above your pay grade.”

“And above my intelligence level, I know.”

His eyes twinkled but he said nothing.

He wasn’t supposed to agree with me.

“Are you calling me dumb?” I said, cocking my hip to the right.

“You were able to do every task I set you. If they were above your intelligence level, you

wouldn’t have been able to. Modesty just wastes time.”

“You could do with a little modesty, actually,” I muttered.

A smile curved his lips. “Are you confident with this decision?”

I shook my hand, palm up then down. “So-so. Bruce is bankrolling my salary right now. This

might not pan out.”

“Investors are bankrolling your salary.”

“Still. It might not pan out. Then what will I do for money? This is kind of a big risk. I never

would’ve done this if you hadn’t pushed me to it.”

“Money is not a concern of yours, Olivia. I’ll guarantee income. You need to focus on your

happiness.”

My heart warmed. I leaned against the chair facing his desk. “That’s nice. It doesn’t really apply,

but it’s nice.”

“Why doesn’t it apply?”

I hesitated. To me it was pretty obvious. If the worst happened, I needed to look after myself. We

weren’t married—his money wasn’t mine. I made my own way in life. If Hunter did a one-eighty, I’d

need something to fall back on, and my savings right now weren’t big enough.

I couldn’t say any of that, though. He wouldn’t understand, and because of that, I’d sound like I

was hinting for a proposal. I’d already triggered enough of his hang-ups—a week of smooth sailing

would be nice before I pushed something like
that
on him.

“I just want to do well at this game,” I said to deflect.

He looked at me for a while in silence, his expression blank. I had no idea what he was thinking.

Finally, he said, “Did you need anything else?”

“No. I was just making sure you got the letter. Brenda said I should’ve had a meeting…”

“I pressured you into this. A meeting might have been overkill.” He turned back to his computer.

“Wow. Mr. Charming today, huh?” I turned and made my way back to my computer. I was pretty

sure normal resignations didn’t go like that. Still, it was done.

THE WEEKS WENT BY RELATIVELY QUICKLY. WHILE I WAS SUPPOSED TO LEAVE WORK AT SIX, HUNTER DIDN’T

enforce quitting time once I’d decided to leave the company. Instead, he had me help with finding my replacement. To the surprise and confusion of his peers, he chose an older woman with a husband and

kids. It was the first time in years Hunter hadn’t hired a beautiful, young assistant. Brenda said there was a lot of gossip, but since no one said anything directly to me, I ignored it.

I trained the new assistant as best I could. He’d been right, though. The stuff she had to do was

basically fielding questions. Instead of tweaking budgets or creating marketing timelines, she was

instructed to send those tasks to the respective VPs to be handled in-department. The result would be a much slower turnaround, but less actual work for that admin.

Once I’d finished training my replacement, and stopped working for Hunter, it was just me and my

laptop. I could get up whenever I wanted. I could wear yoga pants and a holey shirt all day if I felt like it. To do actual work, I could stay in the house, go to the beach, or whatever. The world was my oyster.

I’d never been so lonely during the workday. I’d also never missed Hunter more. I even missed

Brenda’s surly attitude or Bert driving me into work. I loved my new job, but I missed having

coworkers to talk to.

And now here I was, two months after I’d quit, making my way to the place I chose to work more

often than not.

“Livy, let me get that!” Bert hurried around the car toward me. He took my computer from my

shoulder and then took me by the arm, escorting me to the car.

Bert had not recovered from my scare. He thought I was breakable, and once I’d started to show,

the man was worse than Hunter.

“It’s not heavy, Bert,” I protested as he led me to the passenger seat. He opened the door before

handing me in, then stowed my computer in the backseat.

“How are you today, Livy?”

“I’m okay. I have to go up a size in clothes.” I bit my lip to stop my smile. I had a baby bump! I

still half couldn’t believe it.

“My wife used to love Gap. They’re expensive, though.”

“I think Hunter told Janelle to get a bunch of stuff. He doesn’t trust me to get the best.”

Bert smiled. “I should’ve known, yeah. At least you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Exactly. I wasn’t complaining.”

“How’s he doing? He’s working long hours, huh?”

I looked out the window. Yes, he was. Very long. He left the house at six most days and didn’t get

back until ten or eleven. He came home a smidgeon earlier on Sunday, but otherwise, he worked

seven days a week.

“Have you ever seen him look so tired?” I asked.

“Sometimes, if he’s got something stressful going on, but…”

I nodded, because I knew what he was going to say. Hunter had stress and tired lines under his

eyes and lining his face. This pace was taking its toll. For a man that had made work his whole life, it said something that what he was putting himself through now was wearing him out.

“I just don’t understand,” I said to Bert. “What is he doing that takes this many hours?”

“Have you asked?”

“Yes. He just says to give him time. That’s it. He needs time to get everything organized. The man

can plan out a whole chess game after my first move, so I know he’s got something figured out, but… I don’t know. I’m worried and feel responsible at the same time.”

“He’s getting everything ready for you and the baby. I remember working a lot of hours when my