Bossed by the Single Dad: A Steamy Older Man Younger Woman Romance Read online

  “Isn’t it all possible that I was telling the truth? That I was looking at your smooth, creamy skin, and it was all I could do not to flip you over and bury my head between your breasts?”

  Oh my God. He hadn’t really been thinking that, had he?

  “You have no idea how difficult it was to remain professional. I knew I had to. I knew I needed to help ease your pain. But holy fuck, that was hard. I was hard. I wanted to see the rest of your body so badly, Nikki.”

  I wanted to believe him. Part of me did. My blood pumped faster and warmth pooled between my legs. But it was still hard to believe. Most men didn’t seem to be interested in me that way. So it was extra difficult to believe that the most handsome man I’d ever met like the way I looked, too.

  “Come here,” Ian said, and he reached over, taking me into his arms. He pulled me toward him until I was facing him, my thighs straddling his. From this raised point of view, I could look directly into his electric blue eyes. Now that I was facing him, the urge to reach out and stroke his chiseled chest was nearly overwhelming.

  “Please let me show you. Show you what I see. Lift up your arms.”

  My breath caught. I was pretty sure I knew what he was asking. Sure enough, after I slowly raised my hands in the air, he grasped the bottom edge of my shirt, looked me in the eye, and waited.

  After a long moment, I nodded, a tiny movement, but he saw it and raised my shirt over my head and set it on a nearby box.

  Holy crap. I was straddling him, my breasts only covered by a pink push-up bra. Automatically, I raised my hands to cover myself, but he took my hands in his and held them tightly.

  “You’re beautiful, Nikki. All of you, but your breasts especially. I noticed the very first time you did a handstand and your shirt fell down around your face. I almost didn’t get to you in time to scoop you up because the sight of your gorgeous breasts stopped me in my tracks.”

  “Really?” My voice was barely a whisper.

  “Really.” Ian pressed my hands against my sides and let go, sliding his up my stomach, cupping my breasts. My eyes closed at the touch. His hands were warm, and rough, and felt amazing.

  He tugged the straps of my bra down but didn’t take it off, instead, he continued cupping me, squeezing lightly, and his thumbs worked their way inside the cup until he found my nipples.

  Moaning, I threw my head back as he teased my pink tips, making them hard. Harder than they’d ever been before.

  He clutched my sides and lifted me slightly into a kneeling position, and he used his thumbs to peel down the cups of my bra. A moment later, my eyes flew open as warm lips surrounded my right nipple.

  He swirled his tongue around my erect peak and drew it into his mouth as I moaned harder. It felt amazing, especially when he pinched the other one. He switched sides and I reached around to cup the back of his head, pulling him close against me. The stubble on his jawline was scratchy, but I didn’t care. Not with the amazing things he was doing to my nipple.

  He switched sides and I was in heaven again. But then he stopped, letting my left nipple slip out from between his teeth. Lowering me back down to his lap, he said, ”Do you believe me now? Your breasts are gorgeous. Perfect. They fill my hands and feel incredible. They’re the real deal. Do you believe that I like them?”

  “Yes.” My voice was a breathy whisper.

  “Good. Because there’s more.”

  “More?”

  “More parts of you that are gorgeous. You’re beautiful from your honey-colored head to your cute pink toes, but since you seem to resist that information, I’m going to go part by part. And this is next.” He sunk his hands into my hair, rubbing circles against my scalp. After the massage he’d given me before, I supposed it shouldn’t have been surprising how good it felt. He certainly knew how to touch a woman.

  “Your hair is amazing. I love it when you wear it loose. The way it reaches the middle of your back. The way it brushes against your breasts in the front. Sometimes when we’re out by the lake, I have to tell Cole that I can’t be a spotter for him because I’m afraid I’ll get too distracted looking at you. In the sunlight, your hair is positively glorious.”

  His hands were still moving, kneading my scalp, and squeezing handfuls of hair. “Do you believe me?”

  “Yes,” I whispered back. My mind was a swirl of conflicting emotions, but yes, I was starting to believe him.

  “Good. Because I’ve never used the word ‘glorious’ in my entire life. I’d hate to have wasted it.” He gave a low-pitched laugh that was sexy as hell. “And now it’s time for the feature that can make a man drive his truck into the lake if he’s not careful.”

  “What’s that?”

  Instead of answering, Ian ran his hands down my neck, over my upper back, down to my waistline, and then lower. He cupped my butt cheeks, his large hands warm against my skin. Squeezing slightly, he said, “This. This turns me on so much I might just have to use the word ‘glorious’ again.”

  I couldn’t help grinding against his touch.

  He smirked, evidently pleased that he’d elicited that reaction. “You have no fucking clue how difficult it was to see your sweet ass and only work on the sciatic nerve. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed.”

  Ian squeezed again, pressing me against him, moving me easily.

  “Can you feel how turned on I am right now?”

  Yes, I could definitely feel it. Even through the heavy denim of his jeans, I could feel the hard, hot length. I ground myself against him as if I were riding on top of him. If it weren’t for his jeans and my shorts, he could’ve slipped right into me. He already had me more aroused that I’d ever been—I was also quite sure I was wetter than I’d ever been.

  Ian’s mouth pressed against my throat as he continued to knead my cheeks with his strong hands. “There’s one more place that has me mesmerized.”

  Groaning, I shifted my hips against him again, pressing my core against his hard length.

  “Not there,” he said with a sexy chuckle. “I haven’t seen that—yet. I was talking about here.” He freed a hand and brought it up to my lips, his fingertip settling against my lower lip as it had before. This time, I gave into the urge to kiss it.

  “Your lips are amazing. Such a beautiful shade of pink. And now I know,” he said with a wink. “It’s the same shade of pink as your nipples.”

  I blushed, but took his finger tip into my mouth, sucking lightly. Swirling my tongue.

  “God, Nikki, you make me want to do so many indecent things with you. But first… I want to kiss those lips.”

  My arms went around the back of his head again, and I closed my eyes as our lips met. Every part of me sank against him, and I loved the feeling of my breasts pressed against his bare chest. My spread legs wider as I pushed myself against his hard erection. But mostly I loved the way he caressed me with his lips, his hands rubbing up and down my back and ass.

  His kiss was perfect. Sweet but insistent. Firm but yielding. And when I parted my lips, his tongue flicked in, exploring, teasing. The way he used his tongue on my nipples and now my mouth made me really want to feel it somewhere else as well. But for right now, I melted against him, my arms around him, his around me, and our mouths pressed together.

  Finally, Ian pulled his head away slightly, licking and nibbling his way up to my ear. Warm lips nipped at my earlobe, and then his husky voice filled my ear. “Now do you believe it?”

  It took me a moment to gather my senses together under the onslaught of sensations. “That—that you think I’m beautiful?”

  “That you are beautiful,” he corrected. “And that I’m genuinely interested in you. Do you believe it now, Nikki?”

  Did I? I’d spent so long speculating on what Ian wanted—and worrying about what his ex-wife said he wanted—that I hadn’t actually listened to he was saying. Maybe I should have.

  But there was no denying what was happening here. I was straddling the lap of a man who wanted me. Who admire
d me. Who liked me. Maybe I would have accepted it earlier if he hadn’t been the most gorgeous man on the planet.

  But the important thing was that I accepted it now.

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  And then his lips met mine, and I lost myself in his kiss again.

  Ian

  “Mrs. Danvers is having trouble with her A/C again,” Barb said.

  “Okay.”

  “And the tenant in 5c says there’s some kind of animal scampering around the attic.”

  “Got it.”

  “And that new family in Building 6 says the toilet won’t flush right.”

  “No problem.”

  “Why the hell are you so cheerful?”

  I grinned. I’d only known Barb since buying the apartment complex earlier in the year, but from Day 1, she’d never let me get away with anything. Not even once.

  “Holy hell, I think I preferred you all mopey with too much time on your hands. This new, efficient, happy thing you’ve got going is downright creepy.”

  I laughed. “I wasn’t that bad.”

  “Yeah, you were. So, are you going to tell me or not?”

  “Not.”

  “No problem,” Barb said, and her evil grin worried me. “Nikki’s been floating around on Cloud 9, too. I’ll just ask her when she gets in.”

  “You wouldn’t. I’ll fire you.”

  “No you won’t.”

  “I’ll pick you up and dump you in the lake.”

  “No, you won’t.

  Shit. Why did Barb have the ability to see right through me? “Okay, okay, Nikki and I are dating.”

  “Duh. Everyone within a five-mile radius has figured that out. I want to know how it’s going.”

  “It’s going well. We’re, umm, taking things slow. Spending a lot of time with Cole. But we’ve been on a couple of official dates.”

  There. That was all the detail she was going to get. She didn’t need to know about the evenings when Nikki and I would sit out by the lake and talk long into the night. The long, slow kisses. The touching. The caresses.

  At least I hoped Barb didn’t know about those things.

  And yeah, I wanted more… but I could wait. We were taking things slow. Doing things right. Nikki, Cole, and I were becoming a unit—and that’s exactly how I wanted it to be.

  “Well, anything that makes you happy to fix toilets is a good thing in my book.”

  Her words were flippant, but I knew she wished us well. “Thanks, Barb.” I kissed her on the cheek, grinning as she smacked me away.

  Then I headed out to the lake to wait for my two favorite people to arrive.

  “Nice throw, Cole.” Nikki set her purse down on the bench by the lake. Cole and I were tossing the ball back and forth. She’d had been right—Cole loved learning about baseball. He was going to try out for a little league team next month.

  “Nikki! She’s here, Dad. Can we do the race now?”

  “After you catch ten more. And I’m not going to make them easy ones either. Some will be over your head. Some off to the right or left. A few may land in the lake.”

  Cole laughed, but his attention was on Nikki. I didn’t blame him.

  “Where are your tennis shoes, Nikki?”

  “I’m getting them,” she said good naturedly. She was wearing pink Capri pants and a white shirt with a scoop neckline. Little cut out areas around the edges showcased her creamy skin.

  She went inside the office for a minute or two as I threw balls for Cole to field. He did well, catching 10 out of 13. By the time Nikki emerged, Cole had put away our gloves and was waiting impatiently by the door. He grabbed her by the hand and led her over to the obstacle course I’d set up for them.

  “Wow. This looks like a hard one,” she said.

  “Not as hard as the one from last week,” Cole said. Then his face fell. “I wish you could’ve seen me get first place.”

  Now Nikki’s face fell as well. “I really wanted to, but I had that job interview. ”I’m definitely coming to the next one.”

  Nikki hadn’t said very much about the interview she’d gone to for an entry-level position in an accounting firm, but I gathered that it hadn’t gone well. It was a shame. She was such a bright young woman. Much too bright to work in that ancient store or even here, for that matter. She had the brains to do Barb’s position, not just work at the front desk.

  Shaking that thought off, I walked them through the course, showing what they had to do at each point. In some spots, the rules differed. For example, Cole had to walk on his hands for about ten feet, while Nikki only had to do a handstand and hold it for fifteen seconds.

  Grinning at me, she tucked her shirt in, something that produced mixed feelings in me. Half the time I hoped she’d forget because I loved the way her face flushed when she accidentally flashed me. But the other half of me loved seeing her hand slide into her pants when she tucked the shirt in. And she knew that—I could tell by the way she was pushing her hand in a little farther than necessary. She caught me looking and winked. I’d pay her back for turning me on later tonight when we were alone.

  At another spot in the course, Cole would have to do some chin ups using a tree branch while Nikki would have to do ten pushups. She was getting stronger every day, but she still needed to focus on upper body strength.

  Finally, after bickering over their positions at the start line, they were ready to begin. The way they kidded each other, it sometimes made me feel like I had two children. But then Nikki would smile her mega-watt grin at me, and I’d be very glad she wasn’t a child.

  “On your mark… get set… go!”

  Nikki and Cole took off, Cole a small darting figure and Nikki more like a strong warrior woman. Her hair flowed behind her as she raced through the course. We still went to that crappy gym three or four times a week, and the cardio and strength-training she was doing was really paying off. No thanks to the morons who worked there.

  They were at the tire obstacle now, and Cole was ahead. That was good… that meant he wouldn’t see the way I stared at Nikki as she jogged her way through the tires on the ground. Each time she brought her knees up high, her full breasts bounced in a way that mesmerized me. If I didn’t think she’d figure out the reason, I’d make an entire obstacle course just consisting of tires for her to jog through.

  Nikki and Cole were finishing up the final obstacle, so I put my hands out on either side. The first one to give me a high-five was the winner.

  Cole reached me first, though Nikki wasn’t far behind. She really was getting stronger, but I was pleased that she still had her gorgeous curves. I hoped she always would.

  Both of them were panting, walking around in little circles, Nikki shaking her arms out. They stopped when I opened my mouth, trying to look important.

  “First place goes to Mr. Cole Hayes.” Cole jumped up and down while Nikki clapped for him. “The first place prize is… inside. Go see Barb,” I told my son.

  He raced off, and I hugged my sweet girl to me.

  “What’s the second place prize?”

  “You’ll find that out later.” I pinched her ass, causing her to squeal. God, she felt good pressed against me.

  But Cole was heading back, three ice cream sandwiches in his hands. As we ate by the lake, Cole told Nikki all about the obstacle course he’d won last week at school. She listened attentively even though she’d heard the story several times already. I listened less attentively—I kept getting distracted by the sight of Nikki’s cute pink tongue darting out to lick at the rapidly melting ice cream.

  “And Dad’s going to run in one, too.”

  This got Nikki’s attention. “He is?” She looked over at me and I nodded.

  “Yeah, it’s not until next year, but it’s super cool. It’s got water obstacles, and mud pits, and things you have to climb on and everything. I wish I could do it.”

  “Can’t you?” Nikki asked.

  “Nope,” I answered. “It’s only for people eighteen or
older. That’s why I only signed up you and me.”

  “Too bad,” Nikki said, turning back to Cole. Then she stopped dead, a drop of vanilla ice-cream dripping onto her thigh. “You what?”

  “I signed us up.”

  She looked at me as if I were crazy. “Why?”

  “Because you’ll be good at it. There’s a women’s division and a men’s one. And because it’s six months away. We have plenty of time to train for it.”

  “But… but… is it like the ones on TV?”

  “Something like that, yes.” I spoke over Cole as he started to launch into a list of all the obstacles that might be present. No need to scare Nikki to death at this point. “We can train for it. It’s good to have a goal in mind when you’re trying to get in better shape. We’ll break that goal into smaller steps that can serve as checkpoints along the way. And like any goal, we’ll set up some incentives.”

  “Like what?” Nikki said doubtfully.

  “I’m sure if we put our heads together, we can come up with some suitable rewards… and punishments.”

  Nikki’s sweet face flushed, leaving me no doubt that she knew what I meant.

  “I’m sure we can,” she said, suddenly noticing that her ice cream sandwich was melting all over the place. But I saw her grin as she looked me in the eye and then licked her fingers, one by one.

  Oh yes… I was definitely going to pay her back for her teasing when we were alone later on.

  Nikki

  “Go, Cole!”

  A few weeks later, I was sitting next to Ian at Cole’s first baseball game. He’d made the team with no problem, and today he was playing third base. I’d never followed baseball too closely, but I knew the basics. And I knew that Cole looked adorable in his gold and white uniform—not that I’d ever tell him that.

  He was making friends the other boys, and when they hung out together at the apartment complex, it sometimes influenced how Cole acted around me. Gone were the spontaneous hugs and the goofy things he did to try to make me laugh. But that was as it should be. He was growing up. He’d be ten in a few weeks.