Most Likely to Succeed

by Shawn Lane

  “Shit,” Matt muttered. “You are so lucky. First you get a job there, and now you’re on Clark Sterling’s radar.”

  Matt had taken the bar exam the same time Thomas had, and Thomas knew Matt had been jealous when he’d been hired on as a law clerk at Sterling’s firm. Once he passed the exam, he’d be a lawyer there. Or so he figured, given what he’d been told in the interview. Matt had interviewed there too, but he hadn’t been hired. He was working at a rival firm.

  “What are you complaining about? You got a job, a good one, and you have Josh.”

  Matt nodded. “True. Even so, you are still lucky. Although, from what I hear, he’s something of an ass. Didn’t you say everyone’s afraid of him?”

  “Well, yeah, and I might have imagined his interest anyway, and even if I didn’t, that doesn’t mean either of us will do anything about it. He’s my boss, and he is pretty scary too.” Thomas shrugged. “I saw him this afternoon, and he barely acknowledged me.”

  “Well—” Matt’s cell phone chirped to life playing some well-known concerto. He picked it off the table and glanced at it. “It’s Josh. Do you mind?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Matt scooted out of the booth, phone to his ear. “Hey, baby.” He disappeared down the aisle.

  Thomas sighed, sipped his iced tea, and wished it were perhaps something a little stronger. He took out his own cell phone, intending to call his office voice mail to check for messages. When Matt sat down across from him once more, he didn’t even look up.

  “That was fast.”

  “Was it?”

  Thomas froze. The voice was familiar, but it didn’t belong to Matt. He glanced up and into the charcoal-gray eyes of Clark Sterling. He blinked. His stomach plummeted. “Mr. Sterling?”

  “Clark, remember?” Clark smiled. “You were saying something about being fast? Maybe, but I don’t believe in waiting around when there’s something I want.”

  Thomas swallowed and hoped his face really wasn’t as flaming red as the heat he felt indicated. “I thought you were my friend returning.”

  Clark nodded. “Ah, your friend. Pretty boy. Is he your significant other?”

  “No, just a friend.” Thomas prayed very hard that Clark hadn’t just heard what he said to Matt about him. Shit. How the hell could he find out without spilling his guts? “I didn’t know you were here. When did you arrive?”

  The other man gave him a mysterious smile. “I’ve been here a while. In fact, I went ahead and asked the waitress to bring my dinner to your table. I hope you and your friend don’t mind.”

  Thomas stared, unsure what to say. He felt like a big fool. Instead, he sat there silently gazing at Clark’s male beauty. He wore a gray suit that matched his eyes perfectly, a crisp white shirt, and a pale-pink tie. Thomas’s mouth watered.

  “Thomas?”

  Okay, he didn’t mind, but could he speak for Matt?

  “Hello,” Matt said, arriving back at their table.

  Clark stood up. “I’ll let you have your seat back. Clark Sterling.” He held out his hand and shook Matt’s when he offered his.

  “Matt Loring.”

  Clark frowned. “Loring? Sounds familiar.”

  “Yes,” Matt said, smiling easily. He slid into the booth. “I interviewed at your firm, but you hired Thomas instead.”

  Thomas cleared his throat.

  “Right. No hard feelings, I hope,” Clark said.

  “None,” Matt said. “Want to join us?”

  “I’d love to. I had just invited myself as you were returning.” Clark motioned to Thomas. “Move over a bit, won’t you?”

  Oh hell.

  He had no choice. He moved over and allowed Clark’s big, imposing body to sit next to him. Thomas bit his lip. The man smelled good. A mixture of some spicy cologne and maleness. He couldn’t quite explain it, but Thomas liked it. Too much. His cock perked up. He shifted.

  “Everything all right with Josh?” Thomas blurted out, trying to pretend Clark Sterling sat this close to him in a restaurant booth every day. The man’s thigh pressed against his, and Thomas had a feeling it was no accident.

  “Yeah, he was just on a break,” Matt said. He glanced at Clark. “Josh is my boyfriend.”

  “I gathered as much,” Clark said.

  The waitress approached and set down Thomas’s spaghetti, Matt’s salad, and…Clark’s steak and baked potato.

  Clark smiled in his direction. “Spaghetti? Aren’t you worried about splashing marinara on your white dress shirt?”

  Thomas looked down at his shirt, dismayed. “Fuck, I didn’t think about that.” Then he felt his cheeks heat. “Sorry.”

  Clark laughed. “I’m not your mother, Thomas.” He grabbed the green cloth napkin in front of Thomas. “Here, let me.”

  Thomas held his breath as Clark leaned toward him and carefully tucked the napkin in the front of his shirt, his long, elegant fingers lingering on Thomas’s throat. Their gazes caught. Thomas swallowed. His achingly hard cock strained against his slacks.

  Matt made a little noise, drawing their attention to him. “I just thought of something I really have to do.” Matt pulled out his wallet, plucked out some bills, and tossed them on the table. “I’m going to take off.”

  “What? Matt—”

  Matt stood up. “It’s totally cool, Tommy. No one wants to be the third wheel.”

  Oh no. He could not let Matt leave him alone with Clark.

  “Nice to meet you, Matt. See you around?” Clark said.

  “Wait!”

  But Matt had already walked away.

  “No need to panic, Thomas.”

  Thomas didn’t miss the amusement in Clark’s voice. “I…uh.”

  “Look, I’m going to be straight with you,” Clark said, his gaze dropping to Thomas’s lips. “I heard what you said to Matt about me.”

  Great.

  “About that—”

  “You were right.”

  “Right?”

  “I am interested in you.” Clark brushed his thumb across Thomas’s hand, sending shivers up his spine. “Really. But there’s a problem.”

  “Problem?” Thomas felt like a fool, unable to form regular thought.

  “Yeah, I’m your boss.” Clark smiled, his gaze rising from Thomas’s lips to his eyes. “You want me to fire you?”

  Thomas frowned, his heart thudding. “What?”

  “I’m kidding, Thomas,” Clark assured him. He moved his thumb to stroke Thomas’s wrist. “You know what?”

  Thomas swallowed.

  “I think I can make an exception for you.”

  Chapter 3

  Telling himself getting involved with another coworker would be a mistake didn’t seem to be stopping Clark. Apparently he didn’t learn from past mistakes. Either that or the pain of Aaron’s betrayal had dulled enough that Clark had forgotten it.

  Hell, Thomas wasn’t even a coworker but a subordinate employee. Still, there was something about Thomas he couldn’t seem to resist. He’d been trying. Honest.

  Clark had been foolish enough to want to hire Thomas. Okay, not entirely fair. Thomas was very smart, and Clark did believe he would make an excellent attorney and addition to the staff at the firm. He’d hired Thomas temporarily with the idea he’d get a permanent position as an associate when he passed. But there had been other candidates who would have fit the bill too, and some had already passed the bar when the interviews had been done.

  His gaze darted to Thomas’s lap and his obvious erection. A wicked idea entered Clark’s mind. Not the wisest thing to do in a restaurant, but Thomas was damn near irresistible, and Clark needed a distraction from his sister’s problems and his own exhaustion. He reached across the table for Matt’s discarded cloth napkin. He’d been very glad Matt hadn’t been Thomas’s boyfriend.

  “Eat your spaghetti,” Clark said softly. He covered Thomas’s lap with the napkin and reached underneath for the zipper of Thomas’s slacks.

  Thomas gasped. “H
ey—”

  “Shh. Just eat your spaghetti and pretend everything’s normal.” Clark worked on the button, undid it, and reached in to pull Thomas’s hard cock out of his underwear.

  “Clark,” Thomas whispered, his cheeks very pink. “We’re in a restaurant. Are you sure we should—”

  “No one will know, Thomas, if you’re quiet when you come.” His fingers closed around the long, thick shaft. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

  “I…what?”

  Clark laughed. “Just eat your dinner and have a normal conversation.”

  “While you’re doing that?” Thomas bit his lip.

  Clark’s thumb brushed across the tip of Thomas’s penis. “Yes, exactly. Do you have any siblings?” He cupped Thomas’s balls, squeezing them gently.

  Thomas looked away, staring at the side of the booth they sat in. When he looked back at Clark, his forehead furrowed in concentration, and he reached for his fork. “This isn’t fair.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s fun, isn’t it?” Clark moved his hand from the man’s balls to stroke up and down the shaft. “Siblings?”

  Thomas exhaled and wrapped spaghetti on his fork. “Two brothers.”

  “Straight?”

  “Yeah.” Thomas closed his eyes. He rose a little on the bench, but Clark maneuvered him down with a gentle push.

  “Do they live nearby?” Clark asked, loving the tortured look on Thomas’s beautiful face. He couldn’t wait to do even more to the pretty man. He had visions of Thomas lying face down on his desk, gripping the sides, his bare ass in the air while Clark fucked him.

  “No, in…in other states. One lives in Dallas and the other in Boston.”

  Clark rubbed in the precum leaking from Thomas’s cock. He increased the speed of his strokes. Clark’s cock rose against his pants, but he ignored his own needs for the time being. This was all about seducing Thomas. “Parents?”

  “Clark,” Thomas pleaded, his green eyes looking just a little desperate.

  “It’ll be okay, don’t worry,” Clark assured him.

  “But I’m gonna come.”

  “I hope so.” Clark smiled. “Thomas, this restaurant is very noisy. Lots of conversations. No one is paying any attention to us. Parents?”

  “They’re dead. Mom died last year. Dad died a few years ago,” Thomas said, his eyes glazing over. “Brothers both married with children, dogs, and cats.”

  Clark laughed. “Excellent. All right, I’ll tell you about my family now. After all, it’s good for us to get to know each other before I bend you over and fuck you until you can’t stand for days, hmm?”

  “God, please,” Thomas whispered. He tensed under Clark’s now faster strokes. Thomas’s hand grasped Clark’s thigh hard, digging in. His teeth pulled at his bottom lip so hard, Clark was afraid he’d draw blood. Thomas bent his head, his whole body shuddering as he shot all over the napkin covering him.

  “Oh yeah, that was nice,” Clark said softly. He glanced around the restaurant, and no one appeared to look their way. He leaned toward Thomas, grasping the man’s chin and turning his face in Clark’s direction. Clark pressed his mouth to Thomas’s in a quick kiss.

  Thomas blinked and then looked down at his lap, his expression a little stunned.

  “Here, let me help you.” Clark wiped Thomas clean and then tucked him back into his pants. “You’d better take care of the rest, or I might be tempted to start all over again.”

  Thomas blushed and zipped up his pants. “That was…amazing. Embarrassing, but amazing.”

  Clark smiled and turned to his now cold food. He cut off a piece of steak, popped it into his mouth, and chewed. “No reason to be embarrassed, Thomas. No one saw anything. Or even suspected anything.”

  “Yeah.” Thomas nodded. If anything, he had turned even redder. “Maybe we could talk about something else now?”

  Clark raised an eyebrow. “Like?”

  “Um, I don’t know. Tell me something about yourself. That’s not in the magazines, I mean.”

  “Hmm. I have a sister going through a bad breakup with her husband right now.”

  Thomas stared at him, obviously trying to ground himself. He reached for his iced tea and took a sip. “Bad? How?”

  “He beats her. Bastard’s been arrested a few times. Most of the time she refuses to press charges. It’s really frustrating.” Clark sighed. “I think this time she’s really going to end it, though, and get a divorce. I hope so.”

  “Any others?”

  “No, just my sister. My mom is still alive, but she has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home. I see her when I can, even though she doesn’t remember me. She was the greatest mom growing up, though.” Clark pushed aside the sadness, willing the numbness to take over. “As for my father, he was out of the picture when I was a baby. Don’t know, nor do I care, what became of him.”

  “Well, you’ve certainly done well for yourself,” Thomas said. “Owner of your own highly successful firm and still in your thirties.”

  “Yeah, and what got me here is a lot of hard work. It’s still hard work. Lots of long hours and weekends too.”

  Thomas smiled a little. “I’ve never seen anyone fall asleep while watching porn.”

  He chuckled. “I can see where that might be surprising. The truth is I was up all night with not even an hour of sleep, and I put it on to try and keep me awake.” Clark shrugged. “It didn’t.”

  “You, ah, have a lot of rough nights?” Thomas looked away, like he was trying to be casual or something, but Clark had a feeling he knew what Thomas was asking.

  “The reason I was up all night was because of Patty.”

  “Patty?”

  “My sister. Her husband came home drunk and took out his frustrations at being laid off on Patty. She called the police, and they arrested him. I was over at her house all night.” Clark sighed. “Unfortunately, yesterday they released him on bail, and he punched her in the face and broke her tooth.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “Yeah, he’s a real asshole. He took off afterward, and the police arrested him again. I hope this is it this time. Patty’s going to talk to a divorce lawyer. I hope.”

  Clark loved his sister, really. But he was glad she was finally ready to talk about divorce. She’d known her husband, Stan, since high school, and they’d always had a volatile relationship. Stan had been abusing her either physically or emotionally for years, but she always forgave him. She loved him, she told Clark. Even yesterday at the hospital Patty said she still loved the bastard. He was very much afraid she would forgive Stan again and the same pattern would keep playing out until one day Stan went too far.

  “That explains your falling asleep.”

  “Truthfully, I’d rather be doing it than watching it anyway,” Clark said with a grin.

  Thomas turned a little pink but nodded. “Me too. Do you…do it a lot?”

  “Are you asking me if I’m a slut, Thomas?”

  “N-no.”

  Clark nodded. “Yeah, you are. It’s okay. I’m not. I meant what I said about the firm being a lot of work. It doesn’t really allow me to have a lot of time for other activities. I’m something of a workaholic.” He gestured to the waitress passing by their booth. “Check, please. And boxes for the leftovers.”

  Thomas reached for his wallet.

  “No way,” Clark said. “I’m paying. And you can give your friend his money back too.” He grabbed the money Matt had left and handed it to Thomas. “Now, I have a question for you, Thomas.”

  Thomas pulled his bottom lip with his teeth. “Yes?”

  “Want to see my apartment?” Clark made the question light and nonchalant, like he didn’t really care what Thomas’s answer would be. He even tried to tell himself if Thomas said no, he’d be okay with it.

  “I—”

  Clark stopped him. “Oh, and before you answer, I want to make something clear. If you say no, I’m not going to fire you or not hire you permanently or make your work life
difficult or anything like that. This doesn’t have anything to do with the firm. Okay?”

  Thomas nodded. “Okay.”

  “Then what’s your answer?”

  The other man smiled, a really sweet, sexy smile that reminded Clark his cock was still half-hard from playing with Thomas earlier. “I just gave you my answer. Okay.”

  * * * *

  Thomas rode to Clark’s apartment with Clark. His boss had explained his apartment building was high security and it would be a hassle for Thomas to find somewhere to park.

  When Clark drove up Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, Thomas decided he was glad he hadn’t taken his boring little reliable Honda sedan. The gate Clark opened with a push of a button was for one of the high-rise apartment buildings on Wilshire. The kind that came with snooty old women, toy-sized dogs, and a doorman.

  “Wow, I didn’t know you lived in one of these places,” Thomas said as Clark pulled into his assigned space in the underground-parking lot.

  “Yeah, it’s a bit pretentious.” Clark turned off his car. They got out and walked the few feet to a back entrance with glass doors. Clark slid a security card through a scanner to open it.

  Thomas thought of his own average apartment in Burbank. It wasn’t a dump or anything, but compared to this place…He shook his head as he glanced up at the crystal chandeliers overhead. They walked down a short hallway to a lobby with a guard desk.

  The guard, a big, beefy guy in a uniform, glanced up from a book he’d been reading. “Good evening, Mr. Sterling.”

  “Evening, Frank. I’ll have a guest staying with me tonight. His name is Thomas Harrigan. Do you need him to sign in?”

  Frank eyed Thomas and then shrugged. “No, that won’t be necessary. Have a good night, Mr. Sterling.”

  Thomas figured the guard didn’t find him too threatening. As he followed Clark to the elevator, a thought struck him.

  “Oh wait.”

  Clark pushed the elevator call button. “Hmm?”

  Thomas felt foolish but decided he’d better speak up anyway. “I didn’t say I was going to stay over.”

  Clark smiled. “You will.”

  Thomas opened his mouth to protest, but then shut it. There was no point arguing about it now. If he decided to leave, then he would.