In The Boss's Bed. J. Critch Margot

I forgot,” she laughed.

      Abby followed her down the narrow hallway which led to the bedrooms and the bathroom. “He is insanely good-looking. Do you want to jump him at his desk?”

      “No, I’m his assistant. This is a strictly professional working relationship.”

      “Maya, I know everything about you, so don’t think I don’t know when you’re all hot and bothered over a guy,” she reminded her. “Even if it’s been more than a millennium since that has happened.”

      Maya dropped her laptop bag and her purse in her bedroom and moved past Abby once again. “I’m not all hot and bothered over Jamie. But I am getting in the bath. I’ll see you in a bit.”

      * * *

      MAYA WALKED INTO the bathroom and shut the door, leaving Abby alone in the hallway. She turned on the hot water, letting it fall over her fingertips. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she poured in some bath salts and her favorite lavender bubble bath. She grabbed her phone and found a soft jazz radio station to stream online. Closing her eyes, Maya sipped her wine, finally able to decompress after her long day. When the tub filled, she lit some candles, and she quickly undressed and slipped into the too-hot water. The sensation made her hiss at first, drawing in air between her teeth. But she quickly acclimated and slid into the water until it covered the tops of her breasts.

      She moaned. There was truly nothing better to her than a piping-hot bath. The bathtub was her sanctuary. It always had been. Even when she was younger, she looked forward to her private bath time. In the tub, she didn’t have to think about her parents or the pressure they had put on her, her schoolwork, piano or her skating lessons. It was her time.

      Closing her eyes, and without any other distractions, she let herself once again think of Jamie Sellers. As impossible as it was, she could still smell his cologne, feel him nearby, hear the deep timbre of his voice as it echoed in her brain.

      All day, she had wanted to just reach out and touch him and run her fingertips over the coarse hair on his strong jaw. She remembered with a shiver the point in the afternoon when he had loosened his tie and unfastened the top button of his shirt. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and play with the small tuft of dark hair that was revealed. She tried not to stare as he rolled up his sleeves, exposing his strong, tan forearms and more hair that looked so exquisitely soft.

      With a small sigh, Maya laid her head back against her bath pillow. There was no denying it. Abby was right, though she would never admit it. She did want Jamie. Badly. She was indeed all hot and bothered. It had been so long since she had thought that way about a man. She assumed now that she was basically finished with school she would have time for lust and desire and to give in to her romantic inclinations. She dismissed the thought as quickly as it formed. She would have wanted Jamie even if she was still in the freshman year of her MBA.