Julien’s eyebrows converge. “What’s a work nemesis?”
“It’s nothing,” Greg is quick to say, growing more flushed and anxious by the second.
Jessica says, “There’s no use lying. Julien was there, too.”
“Where, too? What’s going on?”
Greg shakes his head, sighing. “When I started at Martin’s Place last year, I sort of thought you hated me, so Jessica told me that you were my work nemesis. That we were doomed to be at odds with each other because of our differences—wine versus cocktails, extroverted versus introverted. It’s nonsense.”
“It’s valid,” Julien surprises everyone by saying and then laughing. Greg’s heart nearly stops. “Not the hating you part. I never hated you. I was intimidated by your confidence and afraid you were going to change Martin’s Place too much, and clearly I was wildly attracted to you, which was inconvenient and confusing, as you already know.”
“See?” Jessica says, playing innocent.
“I never hated you, either,” Greg says, as reassuringly as humanly possible. “Just so you know.”
“I know,” Julien says, rubbing the back of his hand.
“But Iwasalso wildly attracted to you.”
“I know that, too.”
Heart skipping a beat, Greg leans over and kisses Julien.
“Ew,” Rufus says, throwing a balled-up napkin their way. “Get a room!”
Breaking off the kiss, Julien says, “We have one. We share it now. It’s just down the hall.”
Greg smiles brightly because he is home. Finally.
JULIEN
Later, after they finish eating and Rufus and Jessica go home, Julien perks up and says, “I have a small surprise for you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Julien leads Greg by the hand to theirsharedbedroom and opens the closet to one side.
“You cleaned out a side for me,” Greg says, looking heartened. “Thanks.”
Julien laughs a little confusedly. “Yeah, I did that. Of course. But that’s not what I meant. Come closer.” He zeroes in on Greg’s reaction when he leans down and turns on the light. He reaches for a new stack of organizer cubes. In each drawer, he’s greeted with harnesses, cock rings, dildos, and other such debaucheries, all carefully arranged.
“These are new,” Greg says, holding up a pair of nipple clamps with a chain holding one to the other. “And these.” He’s got a pair of handcuffs.
“They’re not the only new thing you’ll find in there,” Julien says.
In the final drawer, Greg finds what Julien was hoping would draw his attention. It’s a cream-colored, realistic dildo—grooved with veins and a sloping head—that’s attached to a silicone cock ring.
Julien’s heart thrums in his rib cage, imagining that toy plunging inside him. “It’s a double penetration dildo. One is this one.” He reaches out and strokes the exterior of the toy in a way he hopes is deeply sensual and not awkward. “The other one is...” He looks up to meet Greg’s eyes, hunger emanating out of every pore.
“Me,” Greg says followed by a low growl.
Julien’s nod is heavy, and the next thing he knows they’re in the scalding shower, scrubbing away moving-day sweat and sharing teasing kisses that distract them from the task at hand. Even with suds dripping down their noses, their kisses keep on with ferociousness.
Tonight is the first night banked toward a hopeful forever.
If that thought scares him, so what? Julien’s heart rate is already up. His mouth is already drawn down in a gasp, elicited by Greg’s fingers skating up the cleft of his ass. Adrenaline, lust, and fear all have similar effects, and right now, Julien enjoys being a tangled, live-wire disarray of emotions.
Using soap and his pointer finger, Greg works Julien’s hole open. It’s efficient, awe-inducing. Greg’s TikTok handle clicks with new meaning. He certainly is good with his hands. Julien wants Greg to take him to bed, turn him into a cocktail shaker, and mix up his insides.
