“Uh….”
Mansfield waved at me in a dismissive way. “The position comes with a modest raise.”
Perking up, I nodded. “Yes, okay. You will have to talk to Zayden yourself, though.”
Mansfield waved a hand again as if he didn’t think that would really be necessary. “I’ll get contracts ready. I met my wife while I was on the job, you know. I was the in-house lawyer for the company she worked at. Very clandestine. They had a nonfraternization clause in their contracts. Made the sex really spicy.” He glanced up and winked at me. “Have a good weekend with your boyfriend.”
“Oh, Zayden’s….” I stopped, and my heart did a jig at his frank assessment. More than once in the past, someone had implied I was dating Z because of the way we acted together… and the fact that we lived together. I’d always had to tell them that no, we weren’t in a relationship. My body felt lighter than air, and I tugged at my collar. “Thank you, sir,” I said faintly. My cheeks flushed hot, and satisfaction wormed its way through my belly. Someoneknew, and it was fucking weird that Mansfield had guessed it, but he wasn’t stupid.
“Get the fuck out of here. Do work,” he said and dropped his attention to his computer again.
I left the room at top speed to power walk along the hallway, and I wasn’t ready for it when a hand reached out and snagged me, dragging me through the door into the supply closet. I went without a fight, mostly because I knew no one except Z would do such a thing. The door closed with asnap, and he flipped on the overhead light.
“Are you fired?” he hissed out, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide and too glassy, almost like he’d held in tears. “We could have gone out in the evening. What were you thinking?”
Normally in this type of situation I would give Z a squeeze, calm him down with some funny joke, and we would walk out and do our jobs. He was still whispering something under his breath, more panic probably, but I’d stopped paying much attention to the actual words coming out of his mouth. His pink lips entranced me.They were on my cock today.I reached out and ran a thumb along his bottom lip, and he sucked in a deep, shuddery breath. I leaned down and covered his mouth with mine to the tone of a breathy moan. Z pressed against my front, all hard muscle and warmth. The fresh scent of his cologne, the one that had a hint of something tropical in it, got in my nose and made me kiss him harder as my blood heated.
The sugary taste of his coffee had me swiping my tongue at the seam of his mouth, and he opened a tiny bit. I dipped my tongue into the silky fire. He tugged on my tie, and I slapped my hand over his. I wanted to go slow with Z, and I’d meant that when I’d said it. I wanted us to take our time and make sure I wouldn’t… I didn’t know—magically ungay or something—which would hurt his feelings.
But his soft, sweet mouth under mine felt better than anything I’d ever had, and the blow job this morning had melted my brain. The memory of his lips around my cock while he stared up at me like the most innocent thing in the world had me dragging him closer and holding him tight. I used my other hand to shove aside Z’s suit jacket, and trailed my fingertips over his pec to look for one of the pretty nipples I’d bitten until they were puffy and red. My cock throbbed as I swiped my thumb over a pointed peak I could barely feel under the fabric of his shirt.
“Not fired,” I said against his lips. “Promoted.”
“What?” Zayden asked. He craned his neck back to scowl at me, eyes dazed in a beautiful way from our kisses.
“I think Mansfield is having a pissing contest with the other partners, and he told me he wants me and you to work with Olivia on his stuffonly, leaving the other two to sink or swim. I don’t know what’s going on there, but he sounded like he thought he was proving some point.”
Z laughed, then snickered until he snorted when he knocked a box of pens off a shelf with his elbow. I held up a finger to him and bent to snatch the package off the floor, then shoved it back in place.
“You’re kidding?” he asked when he was able to catch his breath.
“Nope. He didn’t say as much, but I get the feeling we’re going to be expected to turn the other guys down when they beg for help. Maybe that’s why he held me back, since I told him to shove the weekend work.” I shrugged.
“Oh my God.” Zayden smacked me. “You’re the luckiest man alive. I thought we were going to be on the streets together.”
Fighting back an eye roll, I straightened the collar of his suit jacket, and my heart warmed as he smoothed down my tie. “Yeah, he also told me to have a nice weekend with my boyfriend,” I said quietly, running my thumb over his bottom lip. That strange thrill that had nearly knocked me over in Mansfield’s office prickled along my skin again.
A tinge of pink blazed on Z’s cheeks, and I traced a finger over the warm skin, stopping to tap at a couple of freckles. He lurched forward and gave me a hard squeeze around the middle. “Thank you for being my Daddy and standing up for me,” he whispered.
I shivered at the words and wasn’t sure that was what had happened.
“Baby, anytime,” I murmured back, and he moaned.
“Let’s get out of here. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.” Z gave me an impish little grin.
“You pull me into this closet at least twice a week,” I pointed out, and he only laughed, flinging the door open. The wood came to a juddering halt, and there was a pained “ow” from the other side. We shared a look, and Z backed up against my front. I put my hands on his shoulders to steady him.
Brock Rowell stuck his head around the door, holding his nose. Z and I sucked in a breath. Rowell was the youngest partner at the firm, probably about forty. His white-blond hair was dusted with gray at the temples and he tanned too often, but he had a friendly smile.
“Do you think that you two could help me out today?” he asked around watering eyes.
Z held out a hand and winced. “Are you okay?”
Rowell nodded, but then stopped and shook his head, clearly going for pathetic to win sympathy points. “I could use the extra help.”
“Sorry. We work for Mansfield personally now,” I said with a shrug.
Rowell let out a growl and stormed away in the direction of Mansfield’s office, hand still over his nose. Zayden gave me big eyes and mouthed “what’s going on?” as we slunk out into the hallway together. Thankfully the coast was clear. I only shrugged and laughed because whatever it was, we’d come out ahead because of it.
