Professionalism, he clung to it like a dying man.
Kissing a colleague because he’s upset is not what you should do,he told himself. “I’ll let you speak to Hollis and catch up on your emails. We have Verve coming in for a meeting at eleven-thirty, I’ve popped it in your diary.”
“Okay.”
Kari was starting to hate that word when it came out sounding so unsure. He gave a salute before the door closed, and then he made himself walk to his office.
Outside, he paused at Miranda’s desk. The scent of fresh jasmine wafted from the little flowerpot he’d bought her last week as a thank you for fetching him some lunch when he was too busy to go himself. Her attention was on the screen in front of her and whatever she was typing as he stood by her elbow.
“Morning Miranda, can you get Dad on the phone for me, please?”
She didn’t shift her attention from the monitor. “Morning, Kari. Yes, of course.”
He had barely taken off his suit jacket when his desk phone rang. “Dad, we have another problem,” he said with no preamble.
“What is it, son?”
Kari pinched the bridge of his nose at the headache brewing. “Rex lives in the same building as Bowie.”
“Well, fuck me.”
“My sentiments exactly. I had considered asking you for one of Oakland's security team to watch Rex, but they are in Drinkwater. And that is more of a priority than this… just…”
“It’s Bowie, and he’s vulnerable, so leaving it as is isn’t an option.”
“Yes,” he replied, grateful Dad understood his dilemma.
“Have you thought about maybe sticking closer to Bowie yourself?”
Kari groaned at how it was all he’d thought about since Bowie had unexpectedly called him this morning. “Dad, if I do that, it’s asking for trouble.”
“How so?”
He could hear amusement, and he pinched harder at the bridge of his nose. “Don’t play dumb with me. He’s sovulnerable, and he has just come out of a relationship where there was violence.”
“That is not the reason, and you know it, Kari,” Dad stated bluntly.
Kari shut his eyes and released a gusty exhale. “Alright. You know I’m attracted to him. Want more than he’s possibly willing to offer or capable of right now. And even if he was interested, he’ll run a mile when he discovers I like to be called ‘daddy’ and want to look after himall the time.” He wasn’t shy about stating the facts. His parents were aware of what he wanted from a relationship,unlike Bowie.
“You’re making a lot of assumptions about what Bowie might or might not like. Talk to him. I’ve never known you to shy away from something you want, Kari. It’s why you were honest about what type of relationship you wanted with a partner in the first place with me and your Popi. What’s different this time?”
Dad knew what the fuck he was doing, and Kari cursed aloud. “Fuck. All of it. Is that what you want to hear? He has the power to break my heart if I’m not enough for him.”
“Kari, sometimes we have to take a risk and leap off into the darkness to find our light. The one that will guide us home no matter what life throws at us. Popi was that for me. He is my home, and you boys. Is Bowie that for you?”
The sharp exhale whistling through his teeth was his only answer, when he wasn’t sure if he was already in too deep where Bowie was concerned.
“Just give it some thought while you take care of him and show him who you are at heart.”
Kari’s head thumped back on the seat as he shut his eyes, resigned to how much he wanted to do exactly that. “I will.”
Sometime later, a soft knock got Kari glancing up from the email he was pretending to read when he couldn’t stop thinkingabout the man on the other side of his office door. The smile was automatic. “Come in, Bowie.”
The man didn’t have a loud bone in his body. Everything the omega did, he did quietly, unless he was upset.
When he entered the office, it struck Kari straight away that there was something wrong. After the talk with Dad, he had given himself a stern talking to. He couldn’t expect Bowie to want to fall in his lap the way he wanted. He needed to keep his own expectations to himself, and let Bowie go at whatever pace suited him. If it suited Bowie at all, because so far, Kari couldn’t seem to hold his tongue around him. Babycakes. It rolled off his tongue far too easily. It suited the sweetness of the man in front of him, who currently thought the floor was more appealing to look at.
His size made it impossible for anyone to miss him, yet Kari suspected the man right now aimed to make himself appear as small as possible at how hunched he was. Closed off was possibly more accurate.
