She indicates me. “You have to discuss this with Leo first.”
“I have to—” His jaw snaps shut with an audibleclick.
Chris wears an evil Dom smile if there ever was one. He’s sitting with his arms crossed over his chest and comfortably leaning back in his seat. “You’re not the only one with secrets, Elliot. Kev, Shae, and I are in a poly triad. I’m their Master, and Kev’s in charge of Shae. And yes, we know about you and Leo. That’s one of the reasons we want to offer this job to you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because we cantrustyou,” Kev says. “Don’t worry. We had no clue about you two before Leo told us. When we hired him, he confided in us about your relationship after learning about ours.”
Elliot looks up at me and there’s something close to anger on his face.
I can’t blame him. “NDA,pet,” I say. “I needed them to know, just in case there was ever a political landmine. The last thing I wanted was them to be broadsided in the event something happened. If I can trust anyone to keep our secrets, it’s these three people right here, because they have far more to lose than we do.”
“Oh.” He finally relaxes a little.
“Here’s why I want you as my VP,” Shae says, and proceeds to detail a lengthy list of Elliot’s qualities that have nothing to do with my relationship with him.
I can tell Elliot’s in shock. I massage his shoulders and neck while she’s talking and I walk a fine line between trying to keep him relaxed and not dropping him totally into subspace.
Iwantto drop him into subspace, though.
Hell, I want to pull him into my arms and kiss him. I’ve missed the guy like crazy.
I’ve missedmyguy.
There’s a secondary reason why I’m standing here like this with him, and it’s because besides keeping him calm, I want to touch him.
I’m lonely. Elliot has mastered denying himself things. There are a lot of psychological reasons for that which I’m sure are perfectly valid if not emotionally unhealthy. None of those reasons change the truth that I’m lonely, and not being able to wrap my arms around him hashurt.
It only takes about twenty minutes for Shae to finish her pitch, during which she also tells Elliot of their long-term plan, for her to marry Chris after he retires. I spend the entire time standing behind Elliot, my hands on his shoulders.
“Monday morning,” she says, “I’d like you to call me to give me your answer.”
“You don’t want it now?”
She smiles. “This isn’t a snap decision. And if your answer on Monday is that you need more time to think about it, that’s an acceptable answer, too. I’d like to know by this Saturday. No longer than that.”
He nods. When she stands, he moves to stand, too, but she waves him down. “No, please. Enjoy this weekend, because you’ve both earned it.”
They file out and I hear them lock the connecting door behind them.
Elliot’s frozen in his seat. I know this was a lot for him to absorb.
Finally, I release him, lock the connecting door, and grab the chair Chris was sitting in, pulling it next to Elliot. I was right—there’s stunned shock in his blue gaze.
Taking his hands in mine, I squeeze. “Pet,” I softly say, “you’re spending the weekend here, with me.”
He finally seems to process what I’m saying. “Here?”
“Yeah. Not traceable to either of us,” I assure him. “Please?” I go there. “I miss you, and Ireallyneed some alone time with you.”
My poor pet deflates, nodding. I pull him in for a hug and deeply inhale his scent. “They’ve known about us ever since they hired me, and, look at that—the world hasn’t ended. If they were going to burn us, it would’ve happened a long time ago. Like I said, they havefarmore to lose than we do. You and I are consenting adults in a consenting relationship, and there’s no ethics violations. All sorts of bullshit can happen if their relationship leaks. This is one reason Chris wanted me to work with them, because they knew they could trust me to protect them.”
“Do you want me to say yes, Master?”
Ah, there’s my pet.
I kiss him, taking my time because, dammit, I’ve fucking dreamed about this. “We’ll talk this weekend, pet. What I’d really like to do right now is go take a shower and spend some time snuggling with you.”
