"Bill, come on, stop." Steffy giggled. When was the last time she'd giggled? "You have to put me down."

"What if I don't want to?" Bill queried. "What if I want to keep your hips right between my palms?"

"Then you'd have to carry me into Forrester, and I don't think you want to do that today."

"Why not today?" He nibbled her ear. "I want to be one of those boyfriends that pops up and slides right on in."

"I mean, you could do that, but what about my other boyfriends? Won't they get jealous?" she mused.

"I'll break the hand of any man that touches you."

Steffy put her forehead against Bill's and exhaled. "You don't get to act barbaric, baby. That's not a good look for you. You're too secure for that, remember?"

"I'm very secure," Bill pulled her bottom lip into his mouth. "And you know why, but as I've said before, I don't share my girl with anyone. I know Liam is probably sniffing around."

Two weeks had passed since Steffy asked Liam to move out, and although she was keeping their breakup close to the vest, she and Bill had given in to the inevitable. She could lie to everyone around her, but she knew in her heart she couldn't leave Bill to chance. Any other woman being with him would set her off. She'd figured that out one day when he stopped by the office and caught the attention of Hope and a few interns. She'd wanted to fire them all, and Hope had only been back a week.

"He's umm—" She wouldn't lie to him, she'd promised and made him promise honesty. "All that matters is how I react to his advances. I know who I'm with. You have nothing to worry about."

"I don't, worry about you. I worry about dislocating his limbs when I see him again."

"You promised me you wouldn't get physical, Bill. I mean, we did sneak around behind his back. It's just taking him longer to understand that we're not together anymore. And no one knows about us."

"What are you waiting for?"

She could feel his impatience, and felt horrible. She'd been informed by her grandfather that after Ridge's arrest the only thing stabilizing the company's reputation was her engagement that he wasn't aware she'd broken. It was the reason why she hadn't been able to announce her relationship with Bill or her split with Liam. Liam was taking full advantage of the situation, and Bill was over it.

"You know why I can't, I'm sorry."

"I understand, I do, but I don't like it. He knows we had a thing he should only assume you're with me."

"That's cocky, Bill. Besides, I kinda told him I wasn't running straight to you."

"But you did."

"It took me a few hours," she joked.

"Should have been minutes, but we more than made up for it."

"Yeah, I think we did." Steffy wrapped her arms around his neck, and he stepped between her legs on the counter he had placed her on. "You need to go home and get dressed."

"Yes, and you need to get your ass off the counter," Amber hissed as she walked into the kitchen. They'd been lucky enough the last two weeks for Bill to get out before Amber woke, but not today.

Steffy tucked her head into Bill's shoulder and Amber snapped at her. "Don't try that bashful bit with me. I know you're screwing. I heard you last week. Oh Bill, harder, Bill. Pull my hair, spank me."

Bill laughed and Steffy elbowed him. "I did not beg to be spanked."

"Sounded like you didn't have to," Amber teased. "No, seriously, I figured you two were hooking up. You just better be careful outside of these two houses."

"I know. We are," Steffy informed Amber.

"How jacked up is it that you finally get a real relationship and have to hide it?"

Steffy was only half listening to Amber's rambling. Bill had slid his tongue over her lips and she'd sucked it into her mouth. They were so new and once he stepped out of that door, they wouldn't get to do this again until they got home. The days were long and hard.

"Just ignore me then," Amber voiced and Steffy finally pulled away.

"Go, Bill." She pushed at his broad chest. "I'll see you tonight."

"Have a good day." Bill kissed her one last time before leaving.

Steffy sat on the counter for a few moment after he left and only jumped down when Amber cleared her throat. Steffy pulled her robe closed and ran her hand through her hair.

"You're falling for him, aren't you?"

Steffy wasn't ready for that question, she wasn't even sure how to answer it. "We're having fun," she went with.

"Steffy, admit it. You're keeping him under wraps for business reasons, but you're spending every night with him."

"And how would you know that?"

"You've missed Wednesday Cosmos twice. And your mom says you haven't had your Sunday dinner in two weeks."

"That's two days out of the week," Steffy rebuffed.

"And your walls are—well they aren't thin, but I listened at your door."

"Okay, that's officially creepy. Stop that."

"I heard voices. I wanted to make sure you weren't sneaking Lassie in. And then it was just intriguing afterward. You're really vocal during sex. I didn't know you had it in you."

"I didn't either," Steffy finally cracked a smile. "He's not like Liam. It's uh—he doesn't mind making sure I'm satisfied in every way I can be before he even gets close. He—"

"Wait, your not giving him a lazy lay, are you? You're reciprocating, right?"

"Yes." Steffy blushed, hiding her face. "I don't like to stop when I'm with him. It feels so good I feel like I could go all day and night."

"I'm proud of you, honey!" Amber bumped her shoulder. "That's amazing. I've heard that lie about the stomach being the way to a man's heart, but who gives a damn about a chick that can cook but can't handle a decent reverse cowboy? You're doing the reverse cowboy, right? Ooh, what about that sit and spin I taught you?"

"Amber," Steffy stopped her. "I know how to have sex and satisfy my boyfriend in the bedroom."

"Boyfriend, huh? Well I guess you don't need my help."

"He kinda just said it this morning. It's good, right?"

"It's great. He's only had a few girlfriends. His last semi serious was a chick named Katie, but he dropped her after she tried to go all Susie Homemaker at his house. She flipped out on him."

This was all new to Steffy. She knew he had other relationships, and she'd heard the name Katie before, but she had no idea it ended badly. Bill didn't talk about it much.

"What happened?"

"Justin told me all this—pillow talk, but it's another one of the reasons Bill was set on staying here. Besides running into his Steffy, of course, they needed a change of scenery. Bill didn't tell you this?"

"He told me about her, but not everything. So he's afraid to get that close to someone. Noted."

"Not someone. Her. He's staying every night with you, and you practically had to push him out of here. I'm sure it's different with you two."

"Yeah," Steffy said absently. "I'm going to go ahead and get ready."

Steffy stepped into her room and closed the door behind herself. She sat on the bed for a second before lying back. Her sheets still held Bill's scent. She balled them in her hands and sighed. She was falling for him. She just hoped he was going to be there to catch her.

"Bill." His head snapped up at his father's voice. He had just finished a conference call with his Tokyo outlet. "I need a minute."

"Yeah? I have another meeting in an hour."

"Well then let me get straight to it. I want you to call off whatever plans you have for Ridge Forrester."

Bill looked at him questioningly. "Why?"

"Because I should have never asked you to get involved in the first place, and now that you're in love with his daughter, I don't want to ruin that."

"Dad, Steffy knows Ridge has unfinished business with our family, and he's not exactly her favorite person."

With the simple omission or rebuttal for his claim to be in love with Steffy, Bill had shown his hand. His father caught it.

"I mean—if we were—she would be fine."

Bill tried to cover and Senior held his hand up. "Just do me a favor and call it off. I no longer want you involved."

Bill nodded his head and didn't push further. His meeting was on his mind, and he was anxious to get there. He didn't have time to grill his father about the sudden change of heart about his sworn enemy.

"Dad, I want to talk about this later, but—"

"You have a meeting to get to. Scoot. I'll explain it all later."

Doing as he was told, Bill gathered his things and left the building. He was sure he wouldn't be back after his meeting and looked forward to what tonight would bring. He couldn't wait to spend his night with Steffy.

Driving to the office that held the person he was meeting, he sighed as he parked. This was going to be a tiresome one. He'd anticipated the possible stress he'd feel walking in.

Luckily for Bill, as he stepped off of the elevator, he ran into a friendly face to escort him to his destination. As if he didn't already know where he was going.

"Thank you," Bill spoke as he took a seat.

"She will be in soon. She's just wrapping up."

"Sure thing. I'll wait."

Bill sat in the office busying himself with his never ending line of emails. Someone always wanted something. He guessed that was the cost of being the boss. He hardly had time to breathe during the day.

"I'm going to need to make a call first," Bill heard spoken into the room as the door flew open. He heard a voice ask her if there was a problem. "No, not officially, but I need to move some plans. This is out of nowhere, and I had something planned. I don't like it when he does this."

"He just wants things stable around here. Besides, it's not like you are going to be forced to be with some stranger."

As the door shut, Bill cleared his throat and she jumped. "Bill, you scared me. I was just going to call you, but I have a meeting. Can you wait for me or are you too busy?"

"Save the call, Steffy. I'm your meeting."

Steffy looked puzzled and pulled her phone out. "It says I'm meeting the owner of G Style magazine."

"I'm wounded that you didn't do your research. G style was mine and Justin's before Spencer acquired it."

"Right," Steffy breathed out. "I'm pretty sure I knew that. It's just been a hectic day. Things aren't going well here. My dad has totally screwed us by pissing off whoever was mad enough to steal from our foundation. It's blowing back on all of us. Especially me."

"You're the boss, and as horrible as it is, they're going to associate it with you, for now." Bill stood and walked toward the door. Making sure it was closed, he looked at her and smiled. "What are you wearing?"

Steffy had on a white cold shouldered dress with black buttons. It hit her about mid thigh and showed off too much of her legs for Bill to ignore. Finally he was staring at the woman he'd spent so much time looking for.

"I might have bought a few things." She smiled.

"If you would have let me take you that day, I would have gotten you whatever you wanted."

"It was sweet, Bill, truly, but I wanted to be able to wow you. I couldn't do that if you saw everything I had before I was ready."

"You look good in anything. You could make a paper bag sexy, but you look more like you."

"I feel more like me." He loved the smile that lined her lips.

"Good. So what's this call you wanted to place about? You have my undivided attention."

Steffy crossed the room and threw her arms around him. "First things first." She leaned into a sweet kiss that he reciprocated and picked her up in the process. Walking her to her desk, he sat her on top of it. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer to her body.

"Steffy, you're making it hard to stop. Unless you want to be spread out on this desk, stop it."

Heated breathing hit his cheek as she pulled back and ran her fingers over her own swollen lips. "Sorry. I just needed—"

"Apologies aren't a thing you need to issue me for a greeting like that."

"I just know I made the no affection here rule, but it's hard when it's all I want to do."

"You think I mind? If things weren't so crazy here you'd have to beat me out of this office."

"And me from yours, so what's with the meeting?"

"It's the excuse I used to be able to see you. I know how stressed you've been since the arrest and thought you might need a distraction. I scheduled and hour and a half for us. No one will question a meeting."

"Right." she nodded. "I needed this."

"Me too."

Bill kissed her again, and she moaned into his mouth. It was sexy, it drove him further. She was sitting on her desk, and he dropped to the floor.

Grabbing her foot, Bill slid her heel off and kissed her ankle. Giving the other side equal treatment, he kissed his way up her calf. Her intoxicating perfume hit his nostrils and sparked his desire even more.

Running her fingers through his hair, she uttered words that spurred him further. "That feels so good, Bill."

With her eyes closed and her head leaning back she bit down on her lip as he continued to kiss his way up her smooth legs. She had moved her hands to the sides of the desk as if bracing herself and Bill knew he needed so much more of her. He needed every piece he could consume.

Moving his hands up her thighs, he stopped at the lacy barrier concealing her from him and slid them down her legs. Her eyes popped open, and she stared at him, wordlessly with her deep blue eyes. The intensity could have burned him alive, and running his hand up the front of her dress, he shifted her body and took her legs over his shoulders.

The first taste of her was exquisite, and now the initial innocence for this meeting was gone. Her body whispering to him with each flick of his tongue obliterated that. Chanting his name in the shallowest of voices, Steffy gripped the desk tighter, and bit that gorgeous bottom lip once more. Bill needed nothing, but got everything.

Rolling her hips while his hands gripped her ass, attempting to stabilize his meal, Bill realized how truly wicked this was. Her family was here, so was her ex, but he was devouring her without a care of consequence. This was the same feeling he had at her party. This woman was able to take him, a person would was meticulous in every other aspect of life, and make him a carefree addict.

He could feel the thundering of her pulse, the shortness of her breaths, and could see the whiteness of her knuckles from gripping the desk tighter. It invigorated him. He was doing this to her. He'd made her give in to him in a way he'd only dreamed.

Finally relinquishing her her hold on the desk, Steffy ran her hands through his hair and he looked up at her while he delved deeper and saw her eyes roll backward. Sliding one of his fingers up to meet his tongue, he felt her whole body tremble. She was keeping her voice down, but he saw her resolve weakening. Her hot, wet, juices were multiplying for him. He really wanted to take this further.

"Bill," she moaned. "Uhhh." Her hands gripped his hair and tugged. He was about to lift her entire body and push her back when he heard her door creak open. Listening to the voice entering, Bill had the indescribable urge to make her scream his name just for the fun of it. Liam.

Steffy's back was to the door, and her computer blocked the view of him, and while she tried to end their rendezvous, Bill held her in place and continued his surreptitious mission. While Steffy's legs shook, she tried to calm herself for their unwanted guest, but Bill wasn't letting her go. He didn't give one damn if Liam saw them.

"What, Liam?" Steffy managed to ask while Bill consumed every drop of pleasure she exuded.

"Steffy, we have to talk about tonight and what this means for us."

Bill could see him attempting to come closer, but Steffy's words halted him as she fought back a moan.

"There is no—no us, Liam. Dammit."

Bill bit down on her clit and she took a deep breath. "Just go. I can't talk about this right now. Not, uh—" She stopped and closed her eyes. "Just go." Her last request was breathless, Bill knew she was getting close. Her whole body shook with each provocative thrust of his tongue.

"Steffy, please," Liam pleaded.

"I can't... oh, God," Steffy shuddered with her release, and Bill kissed her one last time before standing.

"Looks like I found that contact you lost, Steffy."

Liam looked ready to explode, he'd obviously realized what was going on when he walked in. "She doesn't wear contacts," Liam seethed.

"Right," Bill said, in a matter of fact tone. "But I definitely found these for you, baby."

Bill took her lacy white panties he'd removed earlier and slid them up her legs, making sure to touch as much of her skin as he could on the journey. Lifting her a little to secure them on her hips, he saw the look in her eyes and shook his head, attempting to dismiss the embarrassment she must have felt. He never meant that for her, but letting Liam know he had no chance was important to him.

"You were seriously here doing that at her job? Are you serious?" Liam questioned. "You're aware of the position the company is in, right?"

"The thing is, when you have a woman is sexy as mine, things like when and where don't matter. Now, whatever it is you have to do tonight, you'd do well to remember she has a man that's actually paying attention to her now. She doesn't need whatever it is you're attempting to provide."

Kissing Steffy on the cheek, Bill touched her face. "I'll see you when you get home."

She offered him a timid smile and head nod. He wasn't sure what that was about, but he remained calm on the outside. Inside, he was boiling. She'd told him about Liam, but seeing it for himself was another thing entirely. He wanted to rip him apart. And what the hell did he mean about tonight? He was sure this had everything to do with the reason she came into the office so flustered, but it didn't sit well with him. Once he calmed down, he'd get all the details from her, but for now he had to leave that office before he killed Liam.

Walking to the same elevator he'd rode up, Bill waited for it to open. When he heard the ding, he exhaled. He was almost home free. Once the door opened, he really wished he had taken the stairs.

"Hey, Bill." Hope.

Her annoyingly upbeat voice made him want to vomit, and her need to touch him made him want to snap her arm.

"Hope." He tried to push past her, but she caught his arm.

"I know we got off to a bad start, but I want to offer an olive branch."

"I'm not interested." Bill stepped into the elevator, and Hope followed him.

"But it's a big gala tonight for charity, and your friend will be there. Liam and Steffy are going to be representing the company as the true power couple of Forrester."

That got his attention. "What?"

"Grandfather Eric asked them to be there. I got invited too, but I don't have a date. I figured we could try this one more time."

"I'm not interested."

Once they got to the bottom floor, Bill walked away but stopped when a thought came to him.

"Where is this gala?"

"The Jeremy West Hollywood hotel. I hope you will change your mind."

"I won't," he yelled back at her. "Not for you, anyway."

No matter what he told Hope, he was going to that gala. There was no way he was letting Liam hold his girlfriend's hand, claiming to be some power couple. He was going to put an end to this tonight. He just had to find a way that didn't cost Steffy her company.