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Could you tell whether I have to use stay on or stay behind in the following context?
We had a meeting today and after it finished, the boss asked me to stay on/behind to talk about my new idea.
What I am trying to say is that the boss asked me to stay after everyone left. While I am at it, would it also be natural to say the following?
We had a meeting today and after it finished, the boss held me up to talk about my new idea?
Stay behind makes more sense in your context. Compare the definitions in https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stay_on vs https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stay_behind
The second definition there of "Stay Behind" matches what you're looking for:
- (idiomatic) To remain where one is, whilst others leave.
The second statement is natural, except the 'for' is unnecessary:
We had a meeting today and after it finished, the boss held me up to talk about my new idea
Note that "the boss held me up" carries a negative connotation (at least for me, as an American English speaker). Holding someone up implies an unwanted delay. The second definition for https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hold_up:
- (transitive) To impede; detain
