by Jet Mykles
“Yeah. I’m supposed to let it back up once or twice a week, but I always forget.” He reached forward, and Aaron held his breath when Ki’s forearm brushed his shoulder. He watched Ki look around at the filenames within his personal folders. Finally, the man seemed satisfied, and he straightened. “Looks like it’s all there.”
Aaron stood. Ki didn’t step back any further. It put the two of them almost nose to nose. Well, nose to neck, since Ki was a full three or four inches taller than Aaron.
“I have to ask,” Ki said, staring at Aaron’s hair. “Is it natural?”
Aaron felt the flush color his face and neck. He stared at the hairless triangle of lightly tanned skin visible through the open V of Ki’s silk shirt collar. “Yes.”
“Wow. That’s an amazing color.”
Aaron shrugged. He sat back down, seemingly to gather up the laptop case. Really, he had to put a little distance between himself and the man.
“You must get comments on it all the time.”
Aaron shrugged again. He had to get away from Yoshiki Fukui. His skin was all tingly, and his breathing wasn’t normal. People usually made him uncomfortable, but this was very different.
“Well, okay. Sorry to keep you.” Ki stepped back out of range. “Thanks for fixing me up.”
Aaron stood, shouldering the laptop case. “I’ll have to check with Tom.” He tapped a finger on the laptop in the docking station. “This might just be a loaner. I-I’m not sure on the procedures yet. But you should keep it for your trip.”
“Okay. No problem. No big deal.” Ki beamed at him.
Aaron didn’t question. He needed out. He ducked past Ki and headed for the door.
“See you later, Aaron.”
Because the man was an executive. Because he couldn’t be rude. Because he just had to see him one last time, Aaron paused and turned in the doorway. Ki leaned on the side of the desk, one hand steepled on the glossy surface, the other hand dug into the pocket of his slacks. The sunset behind him turned his hair a few shades of red lighter than Aaron’s own. He was stunning!
Aaron tried a smile and knew it was pathetic. “See you later, Ki,” he muttered and escaped.
Chapter Two
Vivian perched on the edge of Aaron’s desk and waited for him to notice her. It took a few minutes for him to raise his head from the open computer tower that lay on its side with wires pouring out of it like entrails.
She grinned at him. “You’ve been called.”
He paused, screwdriver held above the PCI card he was about to secure to the motherboard. “What?”
“Mr. Fukui called. Something’s wrong with his laptop. Again. This time, though, he asked for you personally.” She arched a curious brow. “He’s never bothered to learn any of our names before. Did you guys get friendly?”
Aaron frowned. During the last week, Vivian had tried on more than one occasion to get closer to him. He’d only barely managed to avoid a real date with her. He didn’t know how to tell her that he wasn’t interested. He had never been at all good with girls. Well, with anyone. However, because of her attention, there had been lots of questions thrown his way about his dating practices. Or lack thereof. Because he just couldn’t lie, Vivian was now intrigued to hear that he didn’t date and hadn’t dated since high school. She’d yet to find out that he’d really only dated then because his best friend had begged him to take out his sister. And that had been a pathetically boring night.
He ducked his head. “He’s not as bad as you guys said he was.”
“We never said he was bad. Just bad on computers.” She watched him carefully.
He closed the computer and tucked the screwdriver into the case with others to avoid looking at her. “Do we have a replacement machine?”
“No. He took the last one. We’re still waiting for the new ones to arrive.”
Aaron nodded, already on his way to the door. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Ki was back and asking for him? Aaron’s entire body shook as he stood in the elevator. The man had been in his thoughts almost constantly from that one day. So much so that Aaron had looked him up on the net. On the company website, he found out that Ki was thirty-two years old, born and raised in England, college-educated in both the States and Japan, and the company’s most promising rising star. In the two years he’d been with the company, he’d managed to form tight relations not only with various Japanese corporations but also with a few Filipino organizations, two companies in India, and a dozen or so in Australia. The higher-ups were incredibly pleased. Aaron also found out that the man was something of a minor celebrity. Being young, rich, successful, and good-looking, he’d been featured in magazines and press releases all over the world. Just Googling the man’s name brought up tons of hits, both with and without images. He’d even been featured in Cosmopolitan’s top 100 bachelors the year before. From that, Aaron learned that he was a Sagittarius with a Cancer moon ‑‑ whatever that meant ‑‑ and he had six cars, including a custom Aston Martin he’d imported from England.
None of this knowledge put Aaron at ease in going to see the man.
Ki was playing blues this time, the sultry tones of a female voice twining with a saxophone. The man himself sat in his chair, feet up on the desk, blond bangs hanging close to his closed eyes as he hummed along.
Yoshiki. The name sighed in Aaron’s head like a caress. He mentally shook himself and knocked.
Those marvelous black eyes opened. “Hey, Aaron!”
“Hi.”
Ki dropped his booted feet to the floor and stood. He wore jeans and a green golf shirt, outfitted for casual Friday. He still looked far more stylish than Aaron, who also wore jeans and a polo, but with far less panache. Ki waved to the seat. “Come forth, wizard, and fix yon beastie.” Aaron blinked at him. Ki burst out laughing. “Never mind me. Come and fix the damn thing.”
Aaron shook his head slightly.
“How’ve you been?” Ki asked as Aaron passed him while rounding the desk.
Aaron flinched when Ki’s shoulder brushed his. “All right.”
“Haven’t gotten out in the sun, I see.”
“Huh?”
“You’re pale as a sheet, man. You need to get out. Go to the beach. This is southern California, after all.”
Aaron sat and pulled forward to reach the keyboard. “I don’t go to the beach. I sunburn too easily.”
“SPF 50?”
“Huh?”
Ki rolled his eyes. “Sunblock?”
“Oh. No. Doesn’t usually work. Besides, I don’t like the beach.” He looked at Ki’s computer screen. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Everything’s gone.”
“What?”
“All my files. They’re gone.”
Frowning, Aaron opened up Ki’s personal file folders. Indeed, as Ki had said, they were empty. “What happened?”
Ki fell back on the couch, some brightly colored catalog in his hands. “I dunno. Some thing wanted to run last night, and I ran it. Next thing I know, it’s all gone.”
Aaron scowled. He opened up the antivirus software to find that it had, indeed, run the previous night. Then, for no particular reason, he checked the Recycle Bin. There, in a nice, neat line, were all of Ki’s files.
“Ki?”
“Hmmm?”
“I found your files.”
Ki stayed where he was, nose still buried in the catalog. “You did? That’s great.”
“They were deleted an hour ago.
That did make the man look up. “You can tell that?”
Aaron frowned at him. “You deleted all your files?”
Ki laughed. “I didn’t expect you to figure it out so soon.”
“What?”
Ki sat up, waving his hand. “Go ahead, put them all back. When you’re done, I need to talk to you.”
Aaron’s hands froze over the keyboard. “You need to talk to me?”
“Mmmm. I’ve a favor to ask.”
“Of me?”
“Of you, yes. Go ahead, finish.”
Confused, Aaron highlighted all the files and clicked for them to restore. He looked up to see Ki grinning at him.
“Don’t scowl! It’s not that bad. I hope you’ll think it’s fun.”
“What?”
“Are you always this suspicious?”
“Yes.”
That made Ki laugh again. Aaron tried not to squirm when that laugh tickled his skin.
“Here it is.” Ki rose and came to lay the catalog in front of Aaron. It was an electronics catalog. Aaron glanced at it, then back up at Ki. “I just bought a new house, and I need help setting up the tech stuff.”
“‘Tech stuff’?”
“You know. TV, hi-fi, stereo surround sound. All that stuff. I’m horrible with it, but I want it. You, I bet, are good with it.”
Cautiously, Aaron reached out to draw the catalog closer. The hi-def televisions did call to him. He couldn’t afford one himself, but he desperately wanted to get his hands on one. He glanced at Ki. Here was the chance, all wrapped up in a tall, slim, gorgeous package.
Stop thinking like that! “I’ve never set one up before,” Aaron hedged.
Ki scoffed. “Yeah, but for a guy like you, it’s a piece of cake.”
“Usually the places where you buy this stuff will come and set it up for you.”
“Yeah, but I want more than that. I’ll bet if you and I work together, we can come up with an amazing system. We could wire the whole house. Remote control. The works!”
From what Aaron had read, Ki could afford to hire a whole crew. “How big’s the house?”
“Three bedrooms, two and a half baths. Oh, yeah, I want sound by the pool and Jacuzzi out back, too.”
Aaron eyed the catalog. Despite his reservations, it did sound like fun. When else would he get a chance to play with that type of equipment? And spend time with Yoshiki? Aaron suppressed a shiver.
Ki leaned on the opposite side of the desk. “C’mon, Aaron, what do you say? What can I do to make it worth your while?”
Aaron tried really hard not to come up with an answer for that. That part of him that was scared to death of other people was curiously quiet. This wasn’t fear of Ki. Not really. This was something else that he didn’t want to think about. He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“I’ll buy you something. What do you want? New computer? Monitor? Printer? A new car?”
“A car?”
Ki laughed. “Okay, maybe not a car. Although you might be able to talk me into it.” What was that warm grin? “I’ll certainly buy you dinner when we go out shopping.”
“Out shopping?”
“Don’t look so horrified. Don’t you want to see it up-close and personal?”
Aaron fingered the catalog’s glossy pictures.
“C’mon, Aaron. You need to get out. I’m not that bad of company. I’ll keep you entertained.”
That got a smile out of Aaron. He had no doubts Ki could entertain him. In more ways than one. “When do you want to do this?”
“Ha! You’ll do it?”
Aaron’s smile grew, despite himself. “Sure. If you’re sure you want me to.”
“I’m sure. Let’s go tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“You have plans?”
“Well, no ...”
“Excellent. You go clock out, and we’ll go. Then I’ll take you out to a late dinner.”
Except for the shopping, this sounded suspiciously like a date. Aaron did his best to erase that thought from his mind.
Chapter Three
Aaron had never had so much fun shopping in his life.
The two men did go to the store that night and proceeded to spend the hours until closing looking at all sorts of equipment. But Aaron wasn’t satisfied with the store’s selection, and Ki insisted that he be satisfied. So they went to a late dinner and talked about nothing more than plans and equipment. Technical stuff. Things that Aaron was comfortable with. So comfortable and ‑‑ to be honest ‑‑ excited that he didn’t feel his usual panic at being alone with another person.
It was a month and a half before Aaron let Ki buy a single thing. He visited every store in the area, both with and without Ki. He visited countless online forums and consumer websites. He even developed an IM relationship with a dealer in New York. For, although he was painfully bashful in person, he was completely comfortable talking through the keyboard.
Ki was quite amiable about the whole thing. He looked at all the links Aaron sent him and made comments that clued Aaron in that he wasn’t quite as techno-stupid as he pretended to be. Each time they visited a store, he insisted on a meal afterward where they could discuss what they’d seen. Even if the meal occurred very late at night.
Aaron grinned as he and Ki left the brightly lit electronics megastore. They walked toward Ki’s silver Mercedes in the square of light the store provided in the parking lot. In his hand he clutched a bill of sale and a paper pamphlet of information for an amazing sound system, and it was all he could do to keep from bouncing. At times like this, he very nearly forgot that he wasn’t shopping for himself.
“So, are we done?” Ki asked, amusement lacing his voice. He walked through the odd lighting with his thumbs hooked in the front pockets of his jeans. “Is that the final piece?”
Aaron brandished the papers he held in front of him, grinning. “Yeah. This’ll finish up the living room and the backyard. But you still need to decide what kind of computer system you want to go with all this.”
“And we’ve yet to decide on the bedroom.”
Aaron nearly tripped over his own feet, but covered it by trotting forward the last few steps to the car. “Bedroom. Right.”
The Mercedes blipped a welcome, signaling Ki had unlocked it, and Aaron slid inside. He did so love the buttery-soft feel of the seats in Ki’s car.
Ki sat beside him and brought the engine to life. He turned, hand on Aaron’s seat as he backed up. “So you want to come over Saturday to start?”
Aaron blinked up at him. “Huh?”
Ki smiled, then turned around to face front. “The installation. You’re coming over to help me, right?”
“Oh. That.” Aaron stared blankly at the pamphlet, but he didn’t see it. Rather, he was thinking about being alone with Ki in his house.
He’d been there twice now, but both trips were brief and filled with specific purpose. The first time had been to get the layout of the house so he could imagine where to place the purchases he was recommending. The second had been to take measurements. To say that he loved the place was an understatement. It was a gorgeous house in the hills, surrounded by trees so that you couldn’t see or hear the neighbors. The backyard opened onto a hill that displayed an amazing panoramic view of the valley below. Aaron loved it because, even though he didn’t particularly like going outside, he did love to watch nature.
“Yeah. That.”
Aaron glanced up at Ki, who was still smiling. He felt his mouth curving up on its own, an ever increasingly normal reaction to Ki. The blond just made him feel good, made him feel comfortable while still making his skin tingle with that delicious awareness. Yoshiki. The man’s full name filled Aaron’s private thoughts, provoking erotic images that he probably shouldn’t think but that he couldn’t help. It was that which made Aaron hesitate. So far, Ki had been nothing but friendly. Aaron knew it was his own overactive imagination that made every touch, every smile, mean something that it didn’t.
“Saturday?”
Ki’s near hand rested on his thigh; the other was propped casually on the door so that he drove with only his fingertips. “Saturday or Sunday. Or both. It’ll have to be this weekend, or it’ll have to wait until November.”
It was now mid-October. “Why?”
“They’re sending me to Kyoto next week.”
Aaron hoped Ki didn’t see his hands grip the papers in his lap or the way he gaped in surprise. He t
ried to cover both by leaning back in his seat and looking out the window. “Isn’t that sudden?”
“It happens.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Two weeks.”
“Oh. We can wait, if you’d rather.”
“No. I’d rather get it started. We can work this weekend, and I’ll give you a key so you can keep going while I’m gone.”
Aaron spun back to face him, gaping. “Oh, no. You can’t do that.”
Ki chuckled. “Why not?”
“You’d trust me with your house key?”
“Shouldn’t I? Are you a thief? A serial killer? A con man?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Actually ...” Without taking his eyes off the road, Ki reached for the keys hanging from the ignition. Deftly, he pushed something and twisted something else and came away with a ring. Aaron watched, wide-eyed, when he held out a smaller ring with one key. “Here. This is the spare.”
“Ki, I can’t ...”
Ki sighed, rolling his eyes toward the moon roof. “Just take it. You can use it to let yourself in on Saturday.” Ki looked at him. “You are coming on Saturday.” It was a statement, not a question.
Aaron gingerly took the key from Ki, careful not to touch the man’s fingers. He was happy that his hand didn’t shake. “Yeah. Sure. What time?”
Ki shrugged, dropping his hand to shift gears. “Any time. You’ve got a key now.”
Aaron watched his hand, entranced by those long, amazing fingers. Two gold rings flashed on pinky and middle finger, somehow emphasizing the elegance of those digits.
“I can’t just walk in on you.”
“I don’t mind. If I’m asleep, I doubt you could wake me.”
Aaron swallowed, trying to banish the sudden, vivid image of Ki sleeping. He recalled the wide, tall bed in the bedroom. Did he sleep in the nude?
Where did that come from?!
“What time do you get up? I could come in the afternoon.”
“Come whenever you like.”
Aaron turned toward the window. Did he really hear the sultry innuendo in Ki’s voice? No. Not possible. How did Ki do this to him? What would he think if he knew?
