Unbuttoned by the Boss: Unbuttoned by Her Maverick Boss / The Far Side of Paradise / Rub It In

He chuckled. ‘You’ve been hard at it, haven’t you?’

She leaned against the bench and let the smile out. ‘Yes. Thank you.’ She meant it this time.

It was a ten minute walk down the hill to the thermal pool complex, but she jogged it in five—so she had time to pick up a swimsuit from the store first. She walked straight past the leopard print but stopped at the rack of crimson costumes. There was a two piece the exact shade of part of the graffiti piece on Lorenzo’s fence. She grabbed the one in her size—hoped the cut would be okay. She paid and ran—not wanting to be late.

She went for the full facial, full massage option. An hour and a half of pure bliss. At the end she couldn’t have peeled herself off the table if she’d tried. The beautician left her to relax. Her private room had its own small pool of thermally heated, mineral-laden, olive-green water for her to melt into at her leisure. When she regained some kind of muscle control, that was.

She was almost asleep, lying on her tummy, when she heard him.

‘Are you ready for your massage, ma’am?’

She smiled. She recognised the thread in that voice. ‘I’ve already had my massage, thanks.’

‘This one is a little special.’

She felt his hands circling over her back.

‘Crimson,’ he muttered. ‘Good choice.’

She didn’t roll over—for one thing she couldn’t, for another she didn’t want him to see how slight the triangles covering her breasts were. Not yet anyway—she was still getting used to them herself.

But he couldn’t have been that into the bikini because in less than a minute he was pushing the briefs down. He lifted her foot, then the other to get the garment off—and when he placed each foot back he spread them a little further apart. Slid his hands hard up her calves, up the backs of her thighs…

She bit her lip, anticipation flooding her. ‘Lorenzo, there are people everywhere.’

‘I locked the door.’ His ‘massage’ took an incredibly intimate turn.

‘They’ll hear us,’ she said breathlessly.

‘No, they’ll hear you.’ He laughed and bent to nip her butt while his thumbs stroked into the space between. ‘Of course,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘you don’t have to come. Women don’t have to orgasm every time, do they? You can still enjoy sex regardless, right? It won’t bother me.’

‘How magnanimous of you.’ She clutched the towel beneath her and tilted up to give him better access. It was one hell of a massage.

He murmured, mouth moist on her skin as he manipulated her—faster, deeper. ‘Think of it as a challenge. I dare you not to come.’

She rocked, pushing harder onto him, her voice leaping three octaves. ‘I can’t not!’

He whipped his hands away and flipped her over. He was already naked, and in a moment was above her. He held her face hard between his hands, kissing her savagely while he surged into her. Her scream came out in another way—her fingernails raking down his back. He arched harder, his thrusts even more powerful.

It made it even better.

‘Does anyone know about the show?’

They were in the water, cheeks flushed from the heat, bodies floating.

‘Only Rosanna,’ Sophy answered lazily. ‘She got me the chance. One of her flirts sponsors the film festival.’

‘And no one else?’

‘No.’

‘Sophy.’

‘What?’ She gazed at him candidly. ‘It’s not like you’re an open book, Lorenzo. You keep everything from everybody.’

He frowned. ‘Only the bad stuff.’

What, his whole life was bad? She just didn’t believe that.

‘Why don’t you want to tell your family?’ he asked.

‘I’m going to. But I want them to see the stuff first—so I can see what they really think. And not just be nice because they know it was made by me.’

‘What they think matters that much to you?’

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘They’re my family.’

He went quiet.

‘I want them to be proud of me.’ She tried to explain.

‘There’s no way they’re not proud of you already.’

She smiled. But he was wrong. She’d let them down. ‘I’m not like them.’ But she didn’t explain it further. Rather she let her hands slide over him—her reward for a long day of hard work. ‘You were wrong.’

‘What about?’

‘This just can’t be legal.’

He laughed.

‘I’m serious. It feels too good.’

‘I’ve got a secret for you, honey,’ he whispered into her mouth. ‘Only the things that are right feel this good.’

And that was the moment her heart liquefied. She tipped her head back to look up at him—a long, searching look. But his gaze slid from her and then the rest of him did.

He splashed up the steps out of the pool. ‘We need to get moving.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

‘A couple of my growers are coming in to Hanmer and we’re going out to dinner.’

‘What, like at a restaurant?’

‘Yeah.’ He turned on the shower.

‘And it’s okay for me to turn up in my bikini?’