“Are we okay?” he asked, needing to know that Chad wasn’t just humoring him in the moment.
“I… yeah. I think so,” Chad said. Peter breathed out a sigh of relief, an anxious knot in his stomach releasing.
“Good. I have to get back to work, but will you come over tonight? Any time after six is good.”
Chad frowned, and Peter’s heart sank.
“You don’t want me to…?” Chad nodded down to the obscene bulge in the front of Peter’s suit.
Peter grinned, relieved again. He felt like he was on an emotional rollercoaster.
“How about you take care of it tonight?”
Chad swallowed and his pupils dilated. He grinned.
“Okay.”
Peter took a step closer and smiled, the expression gentle on his face.
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said, pressing a kiss to Chad’s upper lip. He pulled away, Chad standing there with his pants down and his knot on full display, and walked out of the room with a spring in his step.
“Everything good?” Merchant asked, coming up next to him as he walked out toward the parking lot. “You had sort of a crazy look in your eyes back there.”
Peter shot Merchant a bemused look, too happy to be offended.
“Everything’s perfect,” he said, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. Then his brow furrowed. “Now why exactly are you teaching Aiden’s class?”
Merchant’s answering grin was anything but reassuring.
***
Chapter 23
The next two weeks passed in a blur. Chad spent almost every evening at Peter’s apartment, and though they didn’t always have much to talk about, Chad found that he was comfortable just being in the other man’s presence.
“Is it weird that I’m going back to the same protection detail?” Chad asked a few days before he was going back to work, making Peter look up from the book he was reading.
“Not really, why?” Peter put his book down on his lap and gave Chad his full attention.
“I was just talking to Mick, and he said that it was unusual. He said that the first job is more like a trial and that after that most guys get moved to another group.”
Peter shrugged, picking his book back up. “Sometimes we move people, but not always. Why, do you not like your team or your team leader?”
Peter sounded curious, but not like he was going to do anything about it if Chad saidno. Peter had never offered him any special treatment, and Chad didn’t want it.
“No, I like them just fine. I was just curious.”
Chad picked up Peter’s laptop and resumed browsing his social media feed, while Peter kept reading.
Chad hadn’t lied. He liked his team. His team leader was a decent guy, the alphas he worked with were competent and not too boring, and the job they did was easy.
What was not to like?
***
Peter sat in his office and prepared for his meeting with Novotech’s CEO, Gilroy Sprain. Since the man had specifically requested that the meeting be one-on-one, Peter wanted to be sure he understood as much as possible of exactly what Tank Security was doing for the gigantic pharmaceutical company.
It would look bad if Peter didn’t seem to have a handle on the specifics—even though he really didn’t.
