Jude rested his forehead on Mason’s. “You’re all I see. All I feel. All I want too.”
Arms around each other’s waists, they stayed that way for a few seconds, until Mason shook in his arms. “What’s wrong?”
Laughter bubbled out of Mason. “You’resooogoing to get my cold.”
Jude pinched Mason’s ass, earning him a yelp of surprise. “I refuse to get sick.”
Mason snickered. “You’re probably right. Germs wouldn’t dare invade your body. You’d give them that Jude Staubman death glare, and they’d run away screaming into the night.” He wiggled free, but not before he pressed a soft kiss to Jude’s neck. “Thank you for getting me the soup.”
Jude sat with him as Mason drank his soup, and they shared his turkey sandwich. He crumpled up the wax paper and tossed it into the garbage.
“You seem better.”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Mason stood and stretched, and Jude had to tear his eyes away from that pretty patch of exposed skin and the golden line of hair disappearing down his boxers. “I wouldn’t want to be away from the office for too long. You might decide you can do without me.”
“Unlikely.”
“Was that a compliment? Why, be still my heart.” Mason fluttered his lashes.
“Oh, to hell with it,” Jude said and pulled Mason close, kissing him hard, then pushed him away. “I’ll see you later.”
With Mason’s laughter in his ears, he left the apartment.
* * *
Back at the office, Jude noticed Pryce had his door closed, and he could hear a rather heated conversation being held. A relatively new planner, Tasha, called Jude for a meeting, excited that her client, a yogurt company, had increased their ad spend, and she wanted to make sure she was handling it correctly.
That took up the rest of the afternoon, and Jude was impressed with Tasha’s incredibly detailed presentation and notes.
“This is excellent. And I know this is your standard—I recall the work you did six months ago on the natural cold remedy company. They also increased their spend, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes, they did.” Energy seemed to burst from her every pore. “Jude, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be working here. At my other agency, they never told us if we were doing a good job, but when something was wrong, boy, they really let you know it. Loudly.”
Part of what he loved about owning his own business was mentoring new, talented people, and when Tasha had come in for her interview, he’d seen that spark and hired her on the spot.
“Well, we aren’t like that here. Doug and I recognize talent and believe in rewarding our team when they do well. And if you keep it up, I can see you rising to account manager by the end of the year.”
Her brown eyes sparkled. “I’m going to work as hard as I can, not because I want to be promoted—though of course I do—but because I really want The Company to do well. This is exactly the environment I hoped to work in, one that’s inclusive and diverse. I’ve never felt out of place here being a Black woman, but I know lots of my friends have had issues where they work.”
“I hope you never will. We accept everyone here, whatever their race, religion, or sexuality.”
With a smile, she left him, and he was about to return to his office when Pryce’s door opened, and he walked out with a man who could’ve been Pryce’s twin with dark hair.
“Hey, Jude.” Pryce smiled at him, and Jude raised a brow, hoping Pryce remembered how much he hated it when people would start singing to him.
“Pryce.”
“This is my friend from college, Dex Hollister. He’s the executive assistant for the CEO of Whistler, the social-media review app.”
“Are you here to give us your account?” Jude shook the man’s hand. “Pryce was telling me all about your company.”
“Unfortunately not. I’m back in the US, looking for a job, because Whistler’s been sold. Whittaker is taking his money and retiring to some island off Italy.” Hollister’s eyes grew dim. “He gave me a year’s salary and references. I figured I’d look Pryce up to see if he had any leads.”
Pryce perked up. “I told him he was too late. If he’d shown up before Mason came, you could’ve hired him.”
Never appreciative of being put on the spot, Jude frowned. “I don’t know about that, but I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“Thank you. I haven’t been in the States in years. Whittaker likes to travel around.”
