Chapter 5
Brando
Staring at my curvy boss, I watch her look around our shared hotel room with a dumbfounded expression.
Turning to me, she tosses her purse on the couch and whines, "I swear I booked a room with two queen beds."
"It's alright," I say, putting my suitcase next to the couch. "I can sleep here."
"I can't ask you to do that. You're a hulking dragon shifter for one," Joss blurts out, and I watch her cheeks redden before she continues. "Plus, you're doing me an enormous favor. I'll take the couch."
"Well, just tack this on as part of the favor. It's really no big deal, I swear."
Joss opens her mouth to argue, but her dark brown eyes fall upon the clock above the fireplace.
"Oh, shit. We need to get ready for the rehearsal dinner," she says, jumping to her feet and throwing her suitcase onto the bed.
"But you're not in the wedding, right? We're just going to the rehearsal dinner?" I ask, nerves beginning to pool in my gut now that our ruse is becoming a reality.
"No, thank the goddess of weddings, but they do expect me at the rehearsal dinner," she says, clearly dreading the meal.
Looking at her, I lightly squeeze the back of her arm.
"We've got this," I say.
Joss swallows a gasp as electric warmth spreads through me from touching her, and says, "Yeah. We've got this."
Joss's family may have thick cuts of steak in front of them, but I am the fresh meat at the table. I don't think I've had two bites in a row before a family member or their spouse asks me a prying question about my life.
I didn't realize how difficult it would be for me to remain polite to people who, within just the last hour of meeting them, have managed to insult Joss at least three times with veiled misogynistic jabs.
The dragon in me wouldn't mind shocking them with a show in the hotel's restaurant, but I force myself to behave, at least until this moment when Joss's Aunt LynnDee fixes me with her eyes and loudly says, "You're awfully young for our Joss. "
My eyes snap over to my curvy boss, then back to her aunt.
I hadn't even thought about that possibly being an issue.
The two of us didn't come up with a plan or a way I could comment on it.
She's more than a decade older than me, but it's never crossed my mind.
The woman is fun to hang around with and an absolute knockout. That's all I'm focused on.
"Well?" I hear her aunt's voice cutting through the noise in my head.
"Sorry, Aunt LynnDee. What did you say?" I ask.
"I asked you if the age difference bothers you," she says, icicles dripping from her tone.
"Not even in the slightest," I say, forcing a polite smile at her.
My neck prickles as I feel eyes upon me, and I glance over at Joss, who has an expression behind her eyes that I can't quite read. My heart flutters at the sight of her, and I know what I just said to her aunt was one hundred percent my truth.
After dessert, Aunt LynnDee insists that the young couples take to the dance floor. So now my body is completely swallowed up in electric flames as I sway to the live music with Joss in my arms.
Her spicy scent consumes me as I run my favorite baseball stats through my head to attempt to avoid getting a hard-on. By the second song, I find my deliciously curvy boss looking up at me with her chocolate-colored eyes.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"Yes, thank you for everything you're doing," Joss says, her voice slightly cracking.
"Of course."
"I have another huge favor to ask," she says, cringing.
"What's that?" I ask with a laugh.
"I think it's probably smart if we kiss in front of my family," she says, looking away from me as her cheeks turn a bright red in the dim restaurant light.
"Okay," I force out, my voice rough with want.
Joss looks up at me, fire burning behind her eyes. I cup her chin and lean forward, capturing her full lips with mine.
Immediately, the fiery warmth from her touch turns into a blaze so hot that I could swear literal flames were surrounding us. Our tongues explore each other's mouths as we both pull each other closer.
When we finally pull apart, I feel several pairs of eyes on us. But all I'm interested in focusing on is my curvy, gorgeous, blushing employer staring up at me with something new in her eyes.