Not Safe For Work

by L. A. Witt

  McNeill, focus. I rubbed my eyes and cleared my throat. I doubled my efforts to concentrate on what he was saying, but all I managed to do was focus even harder on him.

  Another form of distraction started creeping in. The weight of my job—not to mention those of my crew—pressed down on my shoulders. With CGI and 3D printing replacing a lot of people like me, my prospects weren’t great. There weren’t many options for a dinosaur, and with three kids in college, I couldn’t afford to gamble with my income.

  I let my gaze drift toward Rick. He was watching Mitchell, who was presenting something I was ignoring. I wasn’t really risking anything, was I? If Rick and I stood up right now and announced that we were sleeping together…

  At that thought, I had to clench my jaw to keep from chuckling. I couldn’t believe it had taken me this long to realize it, but my bosses wouldn’t can me for this. They stopped just short of offering to suck Rick’s and Dion’s dicks. My job was probably more bulletproof than it had ever been, because they were hardly going to fire the man who was sucking his dick. Or getting his dick sucked.

  A tingle ran up my spine. Tonight.

  As subtly as I could, I pulled my attention away from Rick and looked down at the notes in front of me, but the damage was done. The letters on the page may as well have rearranged themselves into a pornographic sketch of everything I had in mind for this evening with Rick. For the things I planned to do to the man who was so cool and collected now, but would be wide-eyed and pleading later.

  Fuck. I’m never going to be able to concentrate around him.

  Unless we’re naked. Then I’ll… Oh God. Is it five o’clock yet?

  Maybe this would wear off eventually. The novelty of our dark little secret would fade, and he’d be The Rich Client again, not my after-hours submissive. Then I could hear his voice without feeling the hot, mid-orgasm release of breath beside my neck, or the—

  “Jon.”

  I blinked and looked up. My boss glared at me like a schoolmarm, eyeing me over her frameless glasses.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, what?”

  She exhaled sharply, a breath that screamed impatience. “I asked for an ETA for the models for this project.” She gestured over her shoulder at the artist’s rendition on the screen.

  Beside her, Rick smothered a laugh.

  Oh, you’re going to pay for that tonight, Pierce…

  I sat up, clearing my throat again as I quickly rifled through the specs on the table in front of me. “If the rest of our calendar is clear, I’d say about…” I paused, running it all through my head. “Two weeks.”

  In the same instant, Teagan said, “Three weeks.”

  Marie’s eyes darted back and forth between us before she nodded sharply. “Two weeks, then.”

  Under the table, Teagan kicked me, the heel of her boot hitting my ankle just right to nearly make me curse aloud. I shot her a glare, and she sent it right back.

  As Marie went on with the meeting, I fought the urge to mutter a few obscenities under my breath, and they weren’t directed at Teagan or Marie. I knew better. I knew damn well to always overestimate lead times for everything, because Marie would take the lowest estimate and hold us to it. In fact, we’d barely get started on the project before she’d start shaving hours and days off the allotted time. Shit.

  Rick turned to me, and his eyebrows flicked up. Everything okay?

  I nodded subtly. He was still going to pay for that little snicker, though.

  “Well.” Marie clasped her hands together. “That about wraps us up. Jon, are you still going to have the Rainier model completed by noon tomorrow?”

  “Barring any unforeseens, yes.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Just get it to me on time.”

  “I’ll work it in,” I said through gritted teeth.

  On the way back to the NSFW Zone, Teagan elbowed me. “What the fuck were you thinking? Two weeks for something that involved? Are you insane?”

  “We can do it. We always do.”

  “Yeah, we can, but that gives us zero room for error.”

  “I know,” I muttered.

  “Christ. You know she’s going to staple our balls to that deadline.” She put her hand on my arm and stopped us both. “Jon, I’m serious. Are you okay today?”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

  “You sure? You’ve been out of it all morning, and then…” She gestured back down the hall. “You spaced out during a Horizon meeting. I thought you were just getting laid, but…” She shook her head. “What is wrong?”

  “Teagan, I’m fine.” I showed my palms. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

  She eyed me skeptically, her piercings catching the light as she furrowed her brow.

  “Everything’s fine. Just—” I fucked the client. I can’t get Rick out of my mind. I think getting involved with him must have been a mistake, but I can’t decide because it was that damned hot. I cleared my throat. “Some personal shit.”

  The piercings rose a little higher. “Jon, are—”

  “I’m fine.”

  She watched me for a moment, then sighed as if she knew there was no point in pushing. “I doubt that, so whatever it is, if you need to talk, let me know.”

  “Will do.” We resumed walking, and I added, “So, think we can get that sucker built in two weeks?”

  “Don’t have much choice, do we?” She glared at me, but a smirk played at her lips.

  I laughed. “Then I guess we should get to work on it.”

  * * * * *

  Back in the NSFW Zone, I’d barely started—this would be another day of ill-fitting windows that didn’t want to cooperate, apparently—when the music suddenly shifted from a hip-hop mess to The Imperial Death March. Clearing throats, creaking chairs and clicking mice added an out-of-step percussion line to the ominous music, and a second later, the door opened.

  Marie walked in, resting one hand on the doorknob. She cocked her head, listening to the music, then eyed Scott, who quickly switched it off.

  “I see everyone’s hard at work,” she said flatly.

  “As always,” Teagan said with the most artificial cheerfulness she could muster. I didn’t have to look up to know when the two of them made eye contact. The tension in the room raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

  Eventually, someone looked away, and Marie went on with why she was here. As she interrogated everyone in turn about their current statuses and ETAs, I focused my attention on slicing off a sliver of plastic from the edge of an uncooperative miniature windowpane. I wasn’t sure an X-ACTO knife was the best thing to be using when my hands shook like this, but I needed to focus on something, and come hell or high water, I needed to get this window in.

  Come on, McNeill.

  I gritted my teeth and willed my hands to behave. They weren’t as compliant as they usually were, though. Not as compliant as Rick’s would have—

  I shook myself. This was getting ridiculous. Granted, it was only my first day back at work after That Weekend, but my boss didn’t need to know. As long as I kept up on my work, which meant not thinking about how sexy he looked on his knees with my hand in his hair and my cock in his mouth. No thinking about coming inside him.

  The X-ACTO knife slipped, narrowly missing the side of my thumb.

  Get it together, idiot.

  Finally, the window looked like it was going to fit. I carefully nudged it into place with my finger and a pair of tweezers. Just needed to line it up and—

  The door opened again, letting in the sounds of footsteps and Mitchell in mid-conversation: “…done by the end of the week, but have a look at the in-progress structures.”

  I could feel Teagan’s hackles going up—we both hated when clients came in to see unfinished models, since they usually didn’t look great at this stage. My hair stood on end again, but not for the reason it usually did when someone brought a client in here. I knew who was coming in even before I raised my
head.

  And when I did raise my head, our eyes locked from across the room, and for two full seconds, the world was silent. People were still talking, clicking, moving, but for that fleeting moment, I couldn’t hear them. We were too early into this to have any of that telepathy that long-term lovers developed, but his eyes and the hitch in his breath were clear enough—he heard me and I heard him.

  I am going to do so many things to you tonight.

  I know. I can’t wait.

  Clearing our throats, we both jerked out gazes away, and the world around us resumed its noisy activity.

  “Jon.”

  I jumped. The window clattered onto the terrace. Clearing my throat, I looked up, eyebrows raised in a silent yes?

  Marie nodded toward the model in front of me. “I assume that will be finished on time?”

  Assuming he doesn’t distract me to the point I accidentally cut off a finger.

  “Yes, I just have to finish a few things.”

  “Good.”

  The silence lingered. Rick and Mitchell joined her, and they watched me. No, no, they were just looking at the model, Marie and Mitchell inspecting it for any flaw that needed to be remedied before Rick noticed it. And Rick was most definitely not looking at me. I chewed the inside of my cheek and focused as hard as I could on the fucking window that wouldn’t slide into place. Not an easy task when their eyes were, I was sure of it, locked on me.

  “It’s excellent so far,” Rick said. “I’m looking forward to the finished project.”

  “Only the best for Horizon Developing.” Mitchell smiled like a used-car salesman, and I managed to lower my head before I rolled my eyes.

  Ass-kissing doesn’t work, boss man. You want to know the way to Rick Pierce’s heart? I could probably give you a few pointers…

  “Well.” Rick cleared his throat. “We should get out of their way so they can get back to work. You said the contract for the new art museum is ready, correct?”

  “Yes, yes. Let me take you upstairs.”

  Mitchell started to herd Rick out of the room, and I lifted my head.

  We met eyes again. Rick grinned. I returned it.

  And then he followed Mitchell and Marie out.

  The door closed behind them. Scott switched the music back to whatever shitty rap album they’d had on earlier, and we all went back to business as usual. I tried to, anyway.

  It shouldn’t have been this difficult to focus on the finishing touches for the Rainier house. Just simple details now. Minor tweaks. My mind, however, knew nothing but that look Rick had shot me on his way out. Sweaty palms made X-ACTO knives a bitch to manipulate, and shaky fingers fumbled with foam-core. I hadn’t been this distracted since the day I’d gone into my old boss’s office a few years ago, certain I was about to be given my walking papers after I’d fucked up a model.

  Ever since my epiphany during the meeting, I’d accepted that things might get weird around the office if word got out, but sleeping with Rick wasn’t going to get me fired. Botching a model because I was thinking about sleeping with Rick? That was a distinct possibility.

  Despite my preoccupation, the afternoon rolled by. The sounds of honest productivity were peppered by insults, projectiles and the prevailing lack of maturity that made this such a great place to work. For the most part, I kept myself focused on work and banter, completely forgetting about anything I was hiding from all of them.

  At one point, though, Rick strode down the hall, past our windows, and my heart almost stopped.

  He was deep in conversation with Dion and Mitchell, but he’d glanced in, glanced right at me as if he’d known exactly where I’d be and that I’d be looking right at him. He’d stumbled a little, but recovered quickly. Another glance. A little smile.

  And then he was gone. A few seconds after that, I remembered what the hell I did for a living and got back to work, pretending not to notice the tingle working its way up my spine. After a while, even that faded into the back of my mind, and I went back to my world of models and mayhem.

  Just a few hours to go, and he was once again all mine…

  Five o’clock couldn’t get there fast enough. More than once, I considered ducking out to the men’s room to relieve some of my anticipation. I wondered if he felt the same, which did not help my ability to concentrate at all.

  I gave the clock one last look. Promised myself tonight would be worth the wait.

  And got back to work.

  Chapter Nine

  Drawn by the smell of coffee, I shuffled downstairs and into the kitchen.

  At the table, Karen watched me over her mug. “Long night?”

  “Is it obvious?”

  “Just a bit.”

  I poured myself some coffee. “I didn’t wake you up when I came in, did I?”

  “No, no.” She smiled. “I didn’t even get home myself until almost two.”

  “Yeah?” I chuckled. “Have a good time?”

  She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. “Eh, it was all right. Nice guy, fun for an evening, but I don’t see a repeat performance in our future.”

  “Sorry to hear it.”

  “Eh, such is life.” She sipped her coffee. “So tell me about this…woman? Guy?”

  “Guy.” I stirred some sugar into my cup, my mind wandering back to last night and a stupid smile forming on my lips as if they had a mind of their own. “You remember that client I told you about?”

  “Which one? The guy who doesn’t know a brick from a roofing nail, or the one who’s richer than God?”

  “The second one.”

  Karen’s eyebrows climbed her forehead. “You’re sleeping with him?”

  I nodded. “A little more than sleeping with him, but yes.”

  “Well done, Jon.” She giggled.

  “Thanks.” I rolled my eyes as heat rushed into my cheeks. “Have you eaten yet?”

  “Yep. If I’d known you were cooking, I’d have skipped the cereal, but—”

  “Cooking?” I snorted and pulled a box of cereal off the top of the fridge. “Not today.” While I made myself a half-assed breakfast, she took her dishes to the sink.

  “So how in the world did you get him?” She paused, cringing. “I mean, that didn’t come out right. How did—”

  “I know what you meant. And I’ve been wondering the same thing, to be honest.”

  “You guys had to have started somewhere.”

  “Would you believe he found me on that kink app I was telling you about?”

  Karen’s eyes widened. “Oh. He’s into that, is he?”

  “Yep. So he pinged me, and…”

  “And here you are.”

  “Here we are.”

  “Nicely done.” She playfully jabbed me in the arm as she walked past. “From what you’ve told me, you could certainly do worse than a guy like him.”

  “Not sure he could do much worse than a guy like—”

  “Oh stop it.” She rolled her eyes and took a seat at the kitchen table again. “You’re a catch and you know it.”

  “Mmhmm.”

  She watched me for a moment. “So are you going to see him again? I mean, besides at work?”

  “Seems that way.” I poured some cereal into a bowl. “I’ll, um, probably be home late tonight.”

  “You dog.” She winked. “Good for you. I was wondering when you’d actually get out and meet someone again.”

  “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “Right. Of course it hasn’t.”

  I glared at her on my way to the table with my cereal, coffee and the milk jug. “Whatever. It’s only been a few months.”

  “And it’s only been a few years since the Roman Empire fell.”

  “Oh, ha, ha.”

  She snickered.

  As I arranged everything on the table, I noticed a stack of papers next to her. “What’s all that?”

  She glanced at it, and her humor faded. “Um…”

  I pulled up my chair. “Everything okay?”
r />   “Yeah.” She held up the top sheet. “Just looking into some grants and scholarships for the kids.”

  My stomach knotted, and I nearly lost my appetite right then and there. I’d sworn I’d pay for them to go to school, but goddamn, the bills were eye-watering. “Any luck?”

  “Just started looking.” She faced me again, completely serious now. “I figured it would be a good idea since I’ve been talking to the kids about their plans for the next school year.”

  I cringed. “Do I want to know?”

  “Well, the bank account probably doesn’t…”

  “Fuck. What’s the damage?”

  She took a breath. “Kelsey’s really eyeballing that masters program. She was going to hold off, but she really needs it to get anywhere as a counselor.”

  I exhaled. “What do you think we should do?”

  “I don’t think I have much of a say in this anymore. If I were still contributing to the account, it would be different.” She grimaced. “You’re paying for it. It’s up to you.”

  No pressure, right?

  “I want to cover it, except Tyler is looking at a graduate program too. It wouldn’t exactly be fair to pay for one and not the other.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “But they’ll get a better education if they can focus on their studies without trying to hold down two jobs at the same time.”

  She nodded but didn’t speak.

  I shook my head. “We promised them an education, and I’ll find a way to make it happen.”

  Karen sighed. “I just wish I could do more.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I can talk to the bank about a second mortgage if I need to.” Scowling, I looked around at the house I’d been living in since we’d divorced thirteen years ago. “I could always move into someplace smaller.”

  “I don’t want you to give up your house, Jon.” She folded her hands on the edge of the table. “Especially not when you’ve nearly paid the place off. Give me a few more months, and I can—”