Brazen Bossman: A Hero Club Novel

holds up a matching glass of Macallan and gives me a smile.
I’m angry. I’m so immediately angry for a couple of reasons.
1: He’s here. Why is he here?
2: Why would he send me such an expensive drink and try to pay our entire bill? I’m on a date!
3: My body instantly responds to his gaze on me. It feels like warm hands caressing my skin, and my heart sinks into my stomach.
4: He did all of this, caused this reaction in me… all while there is a blonde-haired bimbo with huge tits hanging all over him at the dinner table.
“Do you know him?” Ryan asks.
“I do. He’s my boss.” I toss my napkin to the table from my lap and look up at the server. “Please send this back to the gentleman and tell him I won’t accept this, and we won’t be accepting his offer to pick up our bill.”
“It has already been taken care of, ma’am,” he says and places the drink back down on the table. “Your entrees should be ready any moment now. I’ll be back with those soon.”
He turns away from us and exits the dining area.
“Well, that’s an interesting turn of events. Should we go talk to him?” Ryan says.
“No.” I answer quickly. “There’s no need. I get enough of him at work. Truly, I’d like a break. He can be a bit… overbearing.”
“Uh, well, I think you’re getting a bit more of him. He’s heading over here.”
“What?” I whip my head around and come face-to-face with a suit-covered abdomen. My nose even collides. “Oh shit. Oh my God.” I place my hand on my heart, having just had the life scared out of me.
“Easy on the suit, Ms. Kingston. These are expensive to dry-clean.” He chuckles a bit and I look up to his face, seeing his sparkling teeth behind the smile.
“You scared me. I didn’t expect you to be standing like… right here when I turned around.” I turn back to Ryan. “Ryan, this is my boss, Nathanial Lennox. Mr. Lennox, this is my date for the evening, Ryan Russo.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Lennox, and it’s truly unnecessary for you to pay our bill tonight.”
Nathanial holds a hand up to stop him. “It’s already taken care of. Piper is an important member of my staff. It’s the least I can do.”
I could be making it up in my own head, in fact, I hope I am, but I swear I can feel him ever so slightly running his thumb across the skin of my back. It could have been by accident, it could have been on purpose. Either way, it makes me shiver from head to toe.
“I have some entrees for the table,” our server says from behind Nathanial, and I could leap up and kiss him for breaking the awkward tension that was certainly about to thicken.
“Ah, well, that’s my cue. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to your meal,” he says with that arrogant, asshole tone I know so well. Anyone else would think he was being genuine, but I know better.
***
For the next thirty minutes, I actively try to ignore the fact he is here, even though I can hear the cackle of his date every fifteen seconds.
I eat my meal, which by all accounts is delicious, but I can feel his gaze on the back of my neck. His presence is so large it fills the entire room.
Ryan is a nice man, he’s even decent company, so I do feel some sense of guilt that my attention is pulled so blatantly elsewhere.
“Would you like to take a walk after this? It’s a nice night out, and I’d like to continue the evening… if you’re willing?”
You owe him that, Pipes. He’s a sweetheart.
“Sure. Let me just run to the ladies’ room and I’ll meet you out front.”
Nathanial
“Do they have pasta here? I’ve been eating nothing but pasta lately. My personal trainer says that’s the latest thing. The pasta diet.” Courtney, my companion for the evening, says as she leans in to look at the menu in front of me, rather than the one in front of her.
It’s a calculated move to press her tits against my arm, as if I don’t already know she’s a sure thing.
“Seems counterintuitive.” My ears are tuned to what she’s saying, but my eyes are trained on the stunning beauty on the other side of the restaurant.
I know I shouldn’t have come here tonight. I know that being here, using what I overheard to my advantage, could be described as… insane… but I’m only human.
She intrigues me, and hearing she was going on a date tonight lit an unknown fire inside of me.
The dress she’s wearing is classy, but sexy at the same time, revealing a part of her body I’ve never seen before. I had no idea she had a tattoo. Seeing the brightly colored ink on her skin is a revelation, and I know I want to see if she has more that I can’t see.
I shouldn’t have touched her while I was behind her, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was a moth and her skin was a flame.
“There’s something about the carbs combined with an intense workout regimen that is supposed to work wonders,” Courtney continues. “I trust the professional.” She leans in closer to me and places a hand on my thigh. “You seem tense, baby.”
“Don’t call me that. You know I hate that pet name bullshit.”
She scoffs, “You’re lucky I like you. You’re an asshole sometimes.”
“So I’ve been told, yet here you are, dining on a good meal, drinking expensive alcohol, and likely coming on my cock later, so from where I’m sitting, you have nothing to complain about.”
She has some smart-ass remark to that, but I don’t even hear it. My attention is completely on the dark-haired beauty across the room.
When I saw the server bring over that mediocre bottle of red wine, there was no hesitation. I sent over a glass