Tempted by the Executives Read online

  Contents

  Copyright

  About Tempted by the Executives

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  Tempted by the Bosshole

  Seducing the Innocent

  Other Books by Shayla Black

  About Shayla Black

  TEMPTED BY THE EXECUTIVES

  A Forbidden Confession: Filthy Rich Bosses

  Written by Shayla Black

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  This book is an original publication by Shayla Black.

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  Copyright 2023 Shelley Bradley LLC

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  Cover Design by: Rachel Connolly

  Edited by: G. G. Royale

  Proofread by: Fedora Chen

  Excerpt from Seducing the Innocent © 2020 by Shelley Bradley LLC

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  ISBN: 978-1936596973

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means—except for brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews—without express written permission.

  eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away, as it is illegal and an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  * * *

  All rights reserved.

  ABOUT TEMPTED BY THE EXECUTIVES

  * * *

  How far will they go to prove she’s theirs forever?

  * * *

  I’m Kate.

  I’m recently divorced and so done with men.

  Or I was until my boss pairs me with two gorgeous executives who make my blood race.

  Rumor is, they prefer to do their women one way: together.

  When a critical project takes us to paradise, I can’t resist fantasy anymore.

  Marcus and Josh prove themselves considerate, attentive, and protective.

  Did I mention possessive, too?

  But when the fantasy becomes all too real, will our passion be enough to last?

  **Tempted by the Executives is a sexy bedtime story, designed for you to start in the evening and complete before you turn out the lights. All Forbidden Confessions: Filthy Rich Bosses are connected, but can be read as a standalone. Each is a HOT, romantic story with strong language, sexy times, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after!**

  Chapter One

  Boston, MA

  October

  Josh

  The city’s nightlife is beginning to rouse when I stroll into the bar, heading to join my coworker and best friend, Marcus Hunt, who’s nursing a beer. It’s Friday night. The upscale watering hole close to the university isn’t packed yet. But it will be.

  We know from vast experience.

  While I’d rather not kick off the weekend the usual way—with a nameless face, empty laughs, and a meaningless orgasm—it beats the hell out of sitting home alone and pining for what I’ll never have again.

  “Hey.” Marcus waves. “Finally escape the office?”

  As I slip onto the stool beside his, where he’s got a whiskey neat waiting for me, I nod. “Work was a beast. Chad rode me hard to ensure we’re prepped for the new exec’s arrival on Monday.”

  “Did you finally get the scoop on the best-kept secret in the office?”

  “Get this. Her name is Katherine Evans, and she has no financial or corporate experience whatsoever.”

  He curses under his breath. “So the rumors are true?”

  “Unfortunately.” And I sound every bit as annoyed as I feel.

  Marcus scrubs his big palm over his ruthlessly short buzz cut. “You know hiring this woman wasn’t Chad’s idea.”

  Since this isn’t how our boss and the CEO of Force Financial rolls? “Oh, it’s his wife’s, one hundred percent. Savannah is great, but…I don’t know about this decision.”

  “She’s an out-of-the-box thinker. She’s been right way more than she’s been wrong. I’ll give her that.” He sighs. “But I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I, but not our department, not our problem.”

  My pal snorts. “When has that head-in-the-sand shit ever worked with Chad?”

  Does Marcus always have to be such a realist? “Shut up.”

  “Any idea why she was hired? There were other good candidates. What are this woman’s qualifications?”

  “She’s got a decent résumé of work via family business on both residential and commercial property development as an agent, contractor, and decorator. She also had a radio show in Phoenix that advised people about getting the max out of their property values. I just don’t know how that’s going to translate to corporate acquisitions.”

  “Same. But can she be worse than a bean counter guessing which investment properties will become money-making resorts?”

  He has a point, but after pushing back against my boss while flatly getting nowhere for the better part of the afternoon, I’m done. “Forget work until Monday, huh? TGIF. I see you started without me.” I nod toward the empty glass near his elbow and the half-finished beer in his hand. “How’s it going?”

  “Not bad. Getting my flirt on with a blonde in the corner.”

  I scan the place until I spot the woman in question. She’s attractive, and she’s eye-fucking him hard. She also looks barely legal to drink.

  Since we’re both in our late thirties, I roll my eyes. “She’s a little young.”

  He shrugs. “I doubt it’s her first rodeo.”

  The way she’s flirting? Probably not, but Marcus is missing the point. He’s a hunter. He never appreciates anything that comes too easily, especially a piece of ass. It’s one reason I suspect he’s not enjoying his hollow hookups. And I’m convinced he taps the younger ones so he doesn’t have to take them seriously.

  Three stools down, I spot a cute brunette pushing thirty. She’s got a nice smile and a nice rack. She wouldn’t be a horrible way to spend the night. But I can only muster enough enthusiasm for a vague smile in return.

  “What else is bothering you? It’s something,” Marcus observes. “Those hedge-fund fuckers? They need to get their noses out of our shit.”

  “You made yourself crystal clear. They called you a motherfucking cutthroat on their way out the door.”

  He grunts. “If they want to keep their balls intact, they better not come back with another ludicrous proposal. Waste of our goddamn time…”

  “Yeah.” I sigh. “But that isn’t what’s bothering me.”

  He frowns. “What’s up?”

  I’ve debated whether I should say something all afternoon. Marcus will probably get angry. The reminders will drag me into a black hole of regret. But I need to get this off my chest. He’s the only other person on the planet capable of understanding the reason I’m unsettled.

  I knock back my whiskey and set down the glass. “I ran into Taylor today.”

  Marcus tenses. “She’s back in town?”

  “Temporarily, yeah.”

  He doesn’t look pleased. “And? How did she look?”

  Still beautiful. Still confident. Still like the woman who once held my heart.

  She held Marcus’s, too.

  “Happy.” I swallow, bracing to spit out the worst. “She’s getting married.”

  “Fuck.” He abandons all pretense of interest in the blonde and sits back, looking like someone punched him.

  I understand. It’s how I fe
el, too. “We knew it would happen someday.”

  Marcus snorts. “I expected it to take her longer than twenty-two months.”

  “Given how in love we were with her? Same.”

  “But that was the problem. She didn’t love us. She never saw the three of us as more than a fling.”

  “I remember.” Taylor made herself very clear. But we should have realized her feelings much sooner. The fact that she didn’t want us to meet her family and never managed to introduce us to her friends should have been our first clue. I still resent that.

  “Was she with her fiancé?”

  I smile tightly. “She even introduced us. Bruce Something, a real estate mogul from London. Urbane. Rich. Cultured.”

  “And not sharing her with his best friend, I’ll bet.”

  I nod. “All the things she wanted.”

  “Good for her.” But Marcus sounds bitter.

  I can’t blame him. I am, too.

  “She introduced me as a former neighbor. Can you believe it?”

  His lips twist acidly. “That’s a lot less awkward than introducing you as the man who popped her anal cherry.”

  “True.” But I hate it.

  We showered that woman with our attention, affection, and devotion. We told her we loved her. She recoiled, thanked us for scratching her itch, and walked away.

  “I assume she didn’t ask about me.”

  Since she acted like she only knew me in passing? “No.”

  Marcus curses.

  Of course he’s not happy. But our mood has already soured, so why not finish opening this can of worms?

  “Do you ever miss it?”

  “Fucking Taylor?” His face closes up. “No.”

  “I meant sharing a woman.”

  He shakes his head. “Josh, man… Don’t do this. We tried, and we got crushed. She nearly ripped out my fucking heart—”

  “Mine, too. I’m not saying I miss Taylor anymore.” Seeing her today was just another slap in the face. “But I still want a woman who accepts us both. One I can take care of. Taylor would never let me, not the way I need.”

  Marcus slants me a stare. “Dude, you should have seen that coming. Not many women are going to.”

  “I wasn’t the only one with misgivings. You rationalized yours away, too.”

  “I did,” he admits. “I should have listened to my gut. I knew she was intellectually lazy.”

  A huge sin in Marcus’s eyes.

  “I just didn’t see the coward part coming.” He tosses back more of his beer.

  “You’re right.” We were drunk on sex and love, on the dizzying heights of passion neither of us had ever felt. “I still think about that winter a lot. I miss it.”

  “The two of us sharing a woman long-term was never going to work.”

  “Maybe not with Taylor, but have you ever wondered if—”

  “Drop it.”

  I don’t. “She just wasn’t the right woman? Maybe—”

  “No.” He stands. “When it ended, you and I did an extensive post-mortem. We both agreed we’d been reckless and stupid. Sure, women love the fantasy of fucking two men, but settling down? Her friends, family, and coworkers would have forever regarded her as something between a freak and a whore. Women don’t want to live that way. The only alternative is for one of us to be the dirty little secret. Neither you nor I deserve to be shoved in a closet. And what happens when she gets pregnant? Can you think of a single woman who wants to field the questions that would come from that?”

  Deep down, I know he’s right, but… “I haven’t been happy since we all split up.”

  I miss the connection, the closeness and excitement, the sense of belonging to something bigger than me. Who knew that giving Taylor a two-carat diamond and asking her the most important question of our lives would be the beginning of the end?

  Marcus scowls. “Get laid more.”

  “I am.” Nearly every goddamn night. “It’s not working. I’m tired of nothing I do with a woman—except giving her orgasms—mattering. Shouldn’t life be about more?”

  He tosses back the rest of his beer and throws down some bills. “Don’t get maudlin on me. Sharing Taylor was hot. I won’t lie and say it wasn’t the best sex of my life. But we got stupid, and we paid the price. The experience taught us a valuable lesson.”

  “Be cautious with your heart?”

  “No. Threesomes don’t work long-term. I’ve moved on. You need to do the same.”

  As if to prove his point, Marcus turns back to the blonde and gives her a cocky tip of his chin. With her nipples poking the front of her tight sweater, she sends him a come-hither smile in return.

  “You’re not listening to me. I’ve tried. I can’t.”

  “Try harder.” He stands.

  I grab his arm. “I’ve fucked every kind of woman since Taylor left—from petite to plus-size, from quiet to outgoing. Every race, every religion, every hair color, every—”

  “I have, too,” he growls back. “We’ll find the right woman someday. I have to believe that. But individually. We won’t be sharing her.”

  “Marcus—”

  “End of conversation. Now get your dick out of your bra and find a woman to fuck for the night.” He jerks free and strides toward the eager blonde.

  After exchanging a few words with her, he helps the young woman to her feet before leading her outside to the fall chill.

  I sag back to my barstool. Fuck. Now what?

  Is Marcus right? Am I stupidly clinging to the thrill of the past? Maybe I really do need to keep losing myself in pussy…

  With a sigh, I turn to the brunette who’s still eyeing me and shift down a couple of stools, ready to strike up a conversation. The only problem? I’m convinced this will merely lead to another insignificant fuck that will still leave me feeling empty tomorrow.

  Monday

  * * *

  Kate

  “Are you sure about this?” my older sister, Mariah, asks over the phone. “You’re a long way from home…”

  “Stop mommying me. You’ve already got three kids. You don’t need anyone else to worry about.”

  “But new city, new job, new everything… It’s a lot of change at once. You sure you’re ready for all that?”

  “Boston isn’t Phoenix, I’ll grant you.” I accelerate through a green light.

  October is already far cooler than I anticipated, and in the week I’ve been settling into this city, I haven’t found a shred of good Mexican food. The amazing history here compensates for that…mostly. But it’s more. The sense of the unknown, as if I might find something new around the very next corner, excites me. Coming here was the right decision. I feel it. I’m supposed to be in Boston.

  “That’s a given,” my snarky older sister says.

  I grip the wheel as I head toward the office. I’ve made a couple of practice runs, so the roads aren’t unfamiliar. “That doesn’t make this city bad, just different. But working for Force Financial is—”

  “Major.” She sighs. “I know. Landing this job was a coup—and better for you in the long run. I just hate that you’re so far away. I miss you so much. So does the rest of the family.”

  I blink back tears. “I miss you all, too. I just needed to get away.”

  “You did.” She sounds resigned. “Derrick didn’t deserve you. He was such a—”

  “He was.” I have a lot of ways to describe my ex-husband—misogynist, backstabber, and insensitive ass come to mind—but I refuse to care anymore. “He’s also my past. This is a new start, sis, and I’m seizing it.”

  “You always were a go-getter. I wish I had half your brains and energy.”

  And I’ve always wished I had my sister’s big heart. She married one of the best guys out there and they have three amazing kids. They’re more in love than ever. When Derrick and I split, I flushed my dreams of happily ever after down the drain and vowed to focus on professional fulfillment.

  “You’re doing great,” I a
ssure her. “And you’re happy, right? I think I just need to focus on my career.”

  I also need to stop wanting what my sister has. Commitment isn’t in the cards for me. Eight years with Derrick, three of them married, and I’m done with men. So done. I never saw myself being divorced at twenty-five, but I think the universe is telling me something. I need to listen.

  “You deserve happiness, too.”

  “I’ll find it—in my way.”

  “You will. I have faith in you.”

  Despite being over two thousand miles apart, my sister’s love radiates as strongly as if she stood beside me, like it has my entire life. I swallow back a sniffle. “Thanks. I’m driving into the lot now. Wish me luck.”

  “You don’t need luck, Katie. Just be you and your first day will be great.”

  “Love you.”

  “We love you, too. Call me later and tell me everything!”

  “I will,” I promise as I pull into a parking spot a full fifteen minutes early. “Give Mom and Dad my love.”

  Once we end the call, I step out, take a deep breath, and prepare to face my future. Leaving everything familiar behind, including the business I’d worked my ass off to stabilize then expand, wasn’t easy, but it’s led me to this point. I intend to make the most of it and find the best possible future for me.

  Inside, the swanky chrome and crystal building is a well-balanced mix of contemporary and traditional elements. It tells everyone who walks through the door that Force Financial is an established, venerable institution but not too stodgy to keep up with modern business.