Not Safe for Work (28 page)

Mitchell bristled beside Marie. She folded her arms, glaring at him as if to dare him to say anything.

I steeled myself and met Rick’s gaze. “I’m scared out of my mind. I’ve got three kids in school, and I don’t know how I’m going to keep them there. I’ve got a roof I’m trying to keep over my head and Karen’s. But at the end of the day, even when I feel like I have to choose between all of that and you—” My voice caught.

No one in the room made a sound. Even Silent Dave had stopped whatever he was doing, and I could almost hear the glue drying on the models.

Stomach twisting and heart pounding, I finally managed to whisper, “The thing is, after you were gone, I realized it didn’t matter how many ultimatums anyone gave me, or…or any of that. The only thing that matters is that I love you.”

Rick’s lips parted.

Beside him, Mitchell made a strangled sound.

And somewhere at the very fringe of my awareness, Calvin tumbled out of his chair.

At any other moment, I’d have looked at him, laughed at his clumsiness and his cursing and crashing as he scrambled up off the floor, but not this time. Nothing existed except the man staring back at me with wide eyes.

Rick stepped closer. “What did you say?”

I gulped. “I said… I said I’m in love with you. I was stupid to let you go. And if this costs me my job, then…” I shook my head. “So be it. I love you.”

He pushed out a breath, and after the longest moment of my life, the corners of his mouth rose. “I love you too.”

Not giving a damn about where we were and who was here, I crossed the last shred of distance between us, and I kissed him. Full-on, both hands on his face, in front of God and everyone, I kissed him. He put his arms around me, and the weight of the world slipped off my shoulders.

I broke the kiss and rested my forehead against his. “I love you, Rick.”

Someone made a strangled sound, and only then did our surroundings—bystanders and all—come back into existence. I kissed him again anyway, pretending not to notice the whispered chorus of disbelief.

“Holy. Fucking. Shit.”

“Dude. Am I really—”

“Would you two shut the fuck up?”

“But…it’s…they…”

“Come on, all of you. Early lunch. Now.”

Teagan started to herd the drafters out of the room, but Rick put up a hand.

“Actually, I think they deserve to hear this.” He turned to Mitchell, and I had never seen so much fear in the old man’s face, especially as Rick growled, “Would you care to explain to them the arrangement you made with Jon?”

The old man’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. He turned to Marie, but she offered nothing. He glanced at all of us.

Teagan and I looked at each other. She mouthed
holy shit
. I kept a poker face, but nodded slightly.
My sentiments exactly, T
.

As I turned back to the tense standoff, Rick folded his arms. “I’m waiting, Mr. Mitchell.”

“I… Well, it…” Mitchell stammered, eyes flicking toward me. “Mr. Pierce, your company is a… Well, you’re valuable clients, and—”

“And what about your employees?” Rick snapped. “Are you telling me they’re not valuable? Or at least not valuable enough to be granted a little bit of
human fucking dignity
by their employer?”

Mitchell drew back. Color drained from his face.

“I would never presume to tell someone how to run their business,” Rick snarled. “
But
, if you want to continue this business relationship, I would suggest that you and your partners make some substantial changes to how you treat your employees. All of them. We came to Mitchell & Forsythe because this firm is the best. No small part of that is because of them.” He made a sweeping gesture at the rest of my crew. “And if you expect them to kiss your ass, then you can kiss mine while I walk out the fucking door.”

Everyone in the room inhaled sharply.

He didn’t seem to notice and stepped closer to Mitchell, pointing sharply at the center of the man’s chest. “My company will not be dropping our contracts with your firm, but only because I will not be the reason all these people find themselves without a job. But if I don’t see any changes, or I hear so much as a rumor of something like this again, you will never see another Horizon Developing dime again, and their livelihoods”—he gestured at us again—“will be on your conscience, not mine. Am I clear?”

Mitchell’s eyes could not possibly have gotten any wider, but they sure tried. Wordlessly, he nodded.

“Good. Now let’s go sort out those contracts while these nice people get back to work.” He turned to me, and his expression softened a little. “I’ll see you this evening?”

Relief rushed through me so quickly, it shook me right to the core. “Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Absolutely.” I had no idea when or where or what he had in mind, but that could be settled later.

He smiled, winked and headed out into the hall.

Marie followed without so much as a glance at anyone.

Mitchell looked around, eyeing the group of us warily as if he thought one of us might come at him. His gaze landed on me.

My stomach knotted. He’d be well within his rights to fire me for that, or at least to rip me a new one now that Rick was out of earshot.

“Well.” He muffled a cough and gestured at my model. “Keep…keep up the good work.”

And then he was gone.

As the door banged shut behind him, my chest tightened. I could feel everyone staring at me. The silence held on, as if no one knew quite what to say after something like that.

It was—surprise, surprise—Cal who spoke first. “So, wait. You’re
gay
?”

Teagan burst out laughing. “Really, Cal? That’s what you took away from all of that?”

“Hey, I’m still processing all of it! But, I mean… Since when are you into dudes, McNeill?”

I laughed. “What can I say, Cal?” I faced him, showing my palms. “I just couldn’t give my heart to another woman after your mom—”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” He dropped back into his chair. “Asshole.”

“As always,” Teagan said, “you walked into that.”

“Can we get back to the important subject here?” Bianca gestured at me. “How the hell did you hook up with him?”

“And when did you really switch to dudes?” Scott asked. “You were banging—”

“Shut up,” Cal muttered.

“Not your mom.” Scott rolled his eyes. “You brought that redhead to the Christmas party last year.”

“And what about all the bullshit you were preaching about the G-spot?” Bianca asked.

I put up my hands again. “Okay, first of all, the G-spot is not bullshit, and the redhead I brought to the Christmas party would happily testify to that. And second, if you look up the word ‘bisexual’ in the dictionary, it might explain a few things.”

“Okay, but…” Silent Dave said. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Yeah.” Cal eyed me over his monitor. “You’ve really been into dudes and chicks all this time, but you never said anything to us?”

I swallowed. “I… It wasn’t really something I advertised. I mean, you guys, you’re from a different generation. Mine…wasn’t quite so open about stuff like that.”

Bianca shook her head. “Wow. I can’t imagine being closeted for that long.”

“No kidding,” Scott said. “Being in the closet all the way through the Ice Age must’ve been—”

“Fuck you.” I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

Cal leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head. “I don’t know what you were so worried about. I mean, I’m cool with it. In fact, I think you should bring him next time we all hang out.”

“You… Really?”

“Well, yeah.” Cal shrugged. “Dude’s loaded—he can buy the booze!”

Everyone burst out laughing.

“All right, all right,” I said. “Get back to work, you guys.”

As Silent Dave put his headphones back on, and everyone else resumed chattering and working, Teagan came around her table. She hugged me gently. “That took some serious balls. What you said to Rick, I mean.”

“No, it didn’t. It just needed to be done.” As she released me, I added, “I was going crazy without him.”

“I know you were. I could tell. But you also stood up for all of us by doing that.”

“I wish I could say that was why I did it.”

She smiled. “Even if it was a side effect, it was a good one. And you got your man back.”

“Thank God,” I breathed, my shoulders dropping. “Another day of that, and I—”

“Don’t. You’ve got him. Don’t work yourself up over what might’ve happened.”

“You know that’s about as effective as telling you not to put your coffee so close to your model, right?”

“I know, but it was worth a try.” She patted my arm. “Now get back to work so you don’t get fired.”

She returned to her table, and I was about to return to mine, but my phone buzzed on my desk.

It was a text from Rick, and his five simple words ensured I wasn’t getting a goddamned thing done for the rest of the day:

What’s the plan for tonight?

Chapter Thirty-Four

We didn’t make any plans beyond his place, ASAP. I didn’t bother stopping to pick up any toys or implements, and I didn’t spend the afternoon thinking of ways to tie him up and tease him and make him go crazy. What would happen when we stepped through that front door was anyone’s guess.

Throughout the day, I made sure to drink a ton of water to appease my throbbing temples. No way in hell was this hangover coming with me tonight. It had almost fully faded by lunch anyway, but I was taking no chances.

At four thirty, my desk phone rang.

“Modeling and drafting, this is Jon.”

“Why don’t you cut loose and head home for the day?” Marie said.

“What? But it’s—”

“I know what time it is. Get out of here.”

“I—” Even as I reached for my keys, I hesitated. “Listen, um, thanks. For having my back.”

“You’re welcome, Jon. I’m sorry you had to go through this whole fiasco.”

“Did Mitchell give you a hard—”

“Don’t worry about me. Besides, I’m pretty sure your boyfriend put the fear of God into him, and he won’t be giving anyone a hard time for a while.”

I laughed. “Yeah, he looked pretty scared.”

“He was. And let me tell you, Rick wasn’t done with him after we left your office. He called the Forsythe boys into the conference room to discuss those contracts, and he must’ve let them have it for a good twenty minutes.”

“Wow, seriously?”

“Seriously. Anyway, get out of here.”

“I’m out of here. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

After we’d hung up, I grabbed my wallet and keys. “See you all tomorrow. I’m out.”

“What?” Bianca piped up. “You’re leaving early?”

“Boss’s orders.”

“Lucky bastard,” Scott muttered.

I just chuckled and got the hell out of there. Knowing this group, when I came in the next morning, there would be a pile of gifts on my desk. Probably a jumbo bottle of ibuprofen, along with some safe-sex pamphlets, a pack of extra-small condoms and a coupon for a walker.

Whatever. Let them joke. Even if they were going to rib me for it until the end of time, it was good to be out about who I was and who I was seeing.

Especially now that I was seeing him again.

I texted Rick on my way to my car and drove like a bat out of hell across town to his neighborhood.

Normally, when I arrived at his place, he’d be out the front door before I’d made it up the walk. This time, the door stayed closed.

As I started onto the porch, though, my phone buzzed. Another text, this time with a single word:

Upstairs
.

I laughed to myself.
Calling the shots now, are we?

The front door was unlocked, so I stepped inside and hurried up the stairs to his bedroom.

And there beside his bed, the most gorgeous thing I’d seen in a long time:

Rick. On his knees. Completely naked. Completely hard.

Our eyes met, and we both grinned.

“You know…” I crouched in front of him. “Any other time, I might’ve given you hell for giving me orders.” I touched his face, warm electricity rippling up my arm as my fingertips brushed his freshly shaved jaw. “But you look so good like this, how can I say no?”

His grin got even bigger as he let me draw him in, and the instant our lips touched, he moaned.

“God, I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too.” I kissed him once more and had every intention of drawing it out, but this position was quickly getting uncomfortable. And I had no idea how long he’d been kneeling like this, so I broke the kiss, stood, and extended my hand. “Come up. Let’s not piss off your knees.”

“Thank you.” He clasped his hand around my arm, and I helped him to his feet.

“No Dom/sub games tonight,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “Another night, definitely. But tonight…”

“That’s fine with me.” His smile sent my pulse into the stratosphere. “We’ll have plenty of other nights to do that.”

We would, wouldn’t we? Even more than I’d been before things had gone to shit, I was certain there was a future here, that we had many, many nights ahead of us. There was no hurry.

Well, no hurry except to get into bed with him now.

I curved my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down into another kiss.

He unbuttoned my collar and made it to the second button before his hands wandered to my shoulders. He dragged me down on top of him, and I didn’t protest. Power games were for another night. Right now, nothing mattered except breathing him in and making him come. Not even that—just making him feel good. Making him hot. Touching him. Holding him.

And my God, I wanted to feel his skin against mine, but removing clothes meant taking my hands off him, so body heat through fabric was just going to have to do. This was definitely enough. All I wanted was
him
. I could turn him on and turn him inside out. And all because he wanted it, and I wanted it, and there were no contracts or paychecks or careers hanging in the balance. Just him, me and the promise of getting him off—eventually—for no other reason than to make him feel good.

Somehow, we opened a few buttons on my shirt, and at some point, my belt was unbuckled. Had he done it? Had I? Had it just fallen apart? Didn’t matter. Made it easier for him to unbutton and unzip my pants, and the next thing I knew, they were over my hips, and suddenly skin was touching sensitive skin, and I was so fucking turned on I thought I was going to pass out.

Still kissing me in between short, uneven breaths, he gripped my half-buttoned shirt, bunching it in his fists as if he thought I might pull away. Not a chance.

He tried to roll me onto my back, but I pinned him down, and he moaned into my kiss. I used my hips to hold him there, and…fuck. The underside of my cock rubbed his. I loved the way it felt, so I lifted my hips and wrapped my fingers around both our cocks. As I stroked them, I moved against him too. Jesus Christ. I hoped he felt half as good as I did—the friction, the tightness, just being this close to his rock-hard dick. I couldn’t have been more aroused right then if I were deep inside him—just having him in my arms, having his cock in my hand and his body trembling beneath mine, was enough to drive me out of my mind.

“God, I want to fuck you,” I panted. “Fuck your mouth, and then bend you over and—” A shudder cut me off. “But I don’t…want to let go.”

“Oh my
God
,” he groaned as I thrust harder against him.

And the friction was delicious, but I let him go and ground out, “Get me some lube.”

He reached for the nightstand and grabbed the bottle.

I was right—separating long enough to strip, put on a condom and put on some lube would be too much. As it was, taking my hands off him long enough to pour some lube on my palm was too much, and the capped bottle hadn’t even hit the bed before I had to kiss him again.

Oh, but it was worth it. As I thrust against him, our slick cocks slid across each other inside my tight fist.

“Holy shit,” he murmured. He pushed back, thrusting from below. “That feels amazing.”

“Does it?”

“Uh-huh.” He shivered hard. “God, Jon. Oh my God.”

I brushed my lips across his, but I was panting too hard, so I settled for one kiss and kept right on thrusting, kept right on driving myself—and please, God, Rick too—closer to a powerful orgasm.

“Shit. Shit. I am so—” He arched beneath me. “C-can I come?”

“
Yes,
” I whispered. “Come.”

His whole body tensed so hard, he nearly levitated us both off the bed, and slick semen suddenly lubricated my hand so I could stroke us both even faster, but it was the hot, ragged breath that rushed across my neck that was more than I could take.

I fucked against him fast and hard, my whole body trembling and the whole world spinning around us.

As I came down, I had just enough presence of mind to withdraw my hand from between us before I collapsed on top of him.

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Wasn’t even that long, but it felt like…way too long.”

He nodded. “Definitely.”

“I won’t be gone that long this time. Just getting all the rest of these clothes off.”

He laughed and released me. “Don’t make me time you.”

“Back to being bratty already.”

“Would you want me any other way?”

“Absolutely not.” I kissed him once more, then stumbled out of bed long enough to peel off the last of my clothes and leave them where they fell on the floor. Naked at last, I joined Rick between the sheets. His queen-size bed could’ve been a twin for all the space we took up. Rick was boneless in my arms, feverish and sweaty, and as I stroked his damp hair, I couldn’t believe I’d ever considered putting anything above him. Financial security was hardly optional, and I needed to take care of my kids, but my pride could go fuck itself. If being the firm’s bitch was the price to pay to be with Rick, to have him like this after sex like that, then Mitchell could lead me around on a leash and paddle my bare ass in front of the whole company for all I cared.

As I stroked Rick’s hair, my heart still raced even though the sex was over and the panic had passed. I wasn’t turned on anymore. I wasn’t freaking out over being an idiot who’d pushed away the best person I’d ever dated. But my heart still hadn’t caught on to that. Every time it crossed my mind that I’d lost this, even for a matter of hours, and that Rick could have easily turned me away this afternoon at the office, panic surged through me as if I’d imagined this outcome. As if I’d imagined everything, and he wasn’t really speaking to me, lying beside me, loving me.

Rick turned onto his side.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

He lazily draped his arm over me. “Fucking amazing.”

“Me too.” I kissed the heel of his hand. “This afternoon scared the hell out of me, but I’m damn sure glad I did it.”

“So am I.” He touched my face. “What if I’d said no?”

I shuddered, tamping down a sick feeling. “Then at least you would know how I felt. And that I was sorry for the things I said.” I gestured back the way we came. “And Mitchell would know that he’s not going to run my personal life.”

“There’s no going back after something like that, though.”

“I know. But there’s been no going back since the day the firm found out about us. Either I stay in a miserable work environment, answering to people who tried to make me prostitute myself for the company, or I leave. Those were the only two options.” I clasped his hand in both of mine and brought it up to my lips. “But in the end, it didn’t matter which I chose if I didn’t have you. I don’t know how I ever thought that was an option.”

He touched my arm, and that soft contact sent a shock through my whole body, jolting me. He withdrew his hand. “You okay? You seem kind of jumpy.”

I nodded, taking his hand and bringing it back, clasping it tight to make sure he was real. “Yeah. I’m good. Just…” I shook my head. “God, I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

“You weren’t.” He touched his forehead to mine. “Your company put you in a bad spot, and I probably didn’t put you in a better one.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Maybe not, but I should have given you more time to figure out how to cope with it. I… Pushing you away in the middle of all that really didn’t help matters.”

“It was probably the best thing you could have done, to be honest. Realizing you were gone was what lit the fire under my ass and made me do something about it.” I pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “I am so sorry I ever—”

“I know you are.” He wrapped his arms around me, his muscles still trembling and his hands unsteady. “It’s all forgiven.”

I kissed him gently, drawing it out for a moment just to savor the softness of his lips. Eventually, I drew back enough to whisper, “I’ve never been in love with anyone like I am with you.”

“Neither have I.” He smoothed my hair. “Sometimes I wondered if I’d missed the boat because I was in my forties and still single, but…” He smiled. “You were definitely worth the wait.”

“So were you.” I paused, laughing softly. “Now that I think about it, though, it’s probably just as well it took us this long to find each other.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because we had a lot of years to get the stupid out of our systems and figure out what doesn’t work.”

“That’s a good point.” He caressed my face with an unsteady hand. “I’m still not sure if I have all the bugs worked out, but I do know that all I want is for you to be happy. Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“I have you. I am happy.”

“What about…”

“Hmm?”

He hesitated. “What about your job?”

“Well, it sounds like they aren’t going to fire me.”

“But are you going to stay?”

“I’m not sure how much choice I have.”

“Jon.” He touched my cheek. “We both know you’re miserable in that place. You were miserable even before they started ordering you to sleep with me.”

I winced. “I know. But what do I do if I quit? I’m the last of a dying breed around here.”

He held my gaze. “You… Well, here’s the thing. I think we both know that if we were to ever move in together, you’d still insist on working full-time because you’re not the type to depend on anybody else.”

“You think?”

Rick chuckled. “Call it a hunch.” Sobering, he took my hand. “Listen, I would never try to talk you out of that because I know it’s who you are.” He held my gaze, brow pinching slightly. “But there’s something I want to do for you. And yes, it’s financial, but if you’ll accept it—and I’ll understand if you won’t—I think it’ll take some stress off you, whether you stay with the firm or not.”

I drew back, eyeing him uncertainly.

He swallowed. “Will you accept it at face value? That I want to do this for you and not because I’m trying to buy you or anything like that?”

The thought of taking money from him didn’t sit well with my pride, but I couldn’t help being moved by the sentiment of the gesture. I cleared my throat. “Okay. Yeah. I can accept that.” I chewed my lip. “What exactly am I accepting?”