Chapter Five

Justin itched to check in with Antonio, to make sure things were running smoothly. He trusted Antonio to have a handle on it. That was one of the biggest reasons APPropiate Designs ran smoothly. But this retainer was an unknown variable, and Justin didn’t like being without that information.

Appointments took him through lunch. A little after twelve thirty, Rebecca interrupted long enough to set a sandwich on his desk and tell him Antonio ordered out. That made Justin smile.

When his cellphone rang, he frowned at the familiar Italian country code on the screen and Antonio Sr.’s name. He answered. “Buon pomeriggio.” More than a year in the country, and all this time with Antonio afterward, was enough to teach Justin basic words and greetings.

“No need for anything that formal.” Tony chuckled. “I simply called to make sure you were doing all right.”

“Everything’s great, unless you know something I don’t.” He kept light laughter in his voice. It wasn’t unusual for Justin to talk to the older man. Tony was like a mentor to Justin in many ways, and when Justin worked for him, they established a friendly relationship. Something about the tone and out-of-the-blue call still crawled over Justin’s nerves. It might be he was on edge with the retainer in the office, but it felt more specific than that.

“It’s late here, and you’re busy. I won’t take much of your time.” Tony Sr.’s tone was clipped but pleasant. “I tried to get a hold of Antonio, but he’s not answering.”

“He’s in new employee orientation. What can I do for you?” Justin suspected the answer was nothing, if this was a family thing.

“Has Antonio given you a firm resignation date, or is that still up in the air?”

Shock bled through Justin. At some point he’d known this day was coming, but over the years he pushed it to the back of his mind, until it held the same weight as an ancient curse no one actually believed but they still shared around the campfire to scare each other.

He grabbed his composure. He wouldn’t commit to anything until he ran it by Antonio and they were on the same page. “We’re negotiating. A transition like this takes time.”

“Keep in mind none of us is getting younger. Tell Antonio I called?”

“I will. You have a good evening, sir.”

Justin hung up and sent Antonio an instant message. Can you break away? Now seemed like the perfect time for a debrief.

He watched the telltale “…” of someone typing, as it flashed on screen for several minutes before the response arrived. Sure. Your office?

Yes.

Justin locked down his mind, to keep it from jumping to conclusions. Antonio would clear up the truth of the situation, and there was no point speculating.

Justin considered himself patient, but twenty minutes later, when he was still the only person in his office, his mood had shifted from on edge but curious to downright sour. As Justin picked up the phone, to find out what was going on, Antonio stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Sorry about that,” Antonio dropped into a seat.

“Is this a bad time?”

If Antonio had an issue with the sharp tone, it didn’t show. “Now is fine. I had to get the new girl squared away while I was gone.”

Right. The other thing Justin wanted to know about before this new distraction came in. “How’s she working out?”

“She might actually be human.” Antonio cracked a smile. “Talented. Intelligent. If she’s not the best actor in the world, she’s probably not here just to spite us. She could help us make up lost time.”

A pang of something Justin couldn’t identify knocked in his thoughts, and he stowed it. “In other words, she’s doing more than reading developer notes.”

“I’ve been giving her the official orientation. You’re okay with that, aren’t you?”

“Your department—you make the final call. And it’s not why I wanted to talk.”

Antonio raised his brows. “What’s up?”

“Tony called me.”

“All right…?”

“He asked if you’d given me a solid resignation date yet.”

“Fuck.” Antonio pinched the bridge of his nose. “So much for my waiting until next month to discuss it with him.”

Justin’s next question should be, What will it take to keep you here? Or, Do we actually need a transition plan? “Why haven’t you told him no?”

“He’s family. My father.”

“I understand.” It was something Justin struggled to wrap his brain around. He didn’t get along with his family and never believed anyone did until he saw Antonio with his parents. That kind of loyalty, simply because of blood, wasn’t instinct to Justin.

“That’s the stress speaking. What can I offer you to keep you here? I can’t quite match his offer, with the whole the family company is yours now thing, but there’s got to be something.”

“We built this together. I don’t want to leave. I’m working it out. Speaking of making things work—part of Emily’s bribe to convince us she’s not all bad is dinner on Grant. You should put in an appearance.”

“Emily. You’re already on a first-name basis?” This teasing was much better than floundering in the unknown of whether or not Antonio was staying in the States.

“I can’t quite call her The Retainer for the next month.”

“I don’t see why not.” Justin didn’t believe anyone who made a living doing what this Ms. Lowry did was all kindness and sunshine. She helped dismantle companies from the inside out. Who the fuck enjoyed that? It would be nice if something was unexpected in a pleasant way, but he didn’t expect it.

 

*

 

Emily reviewed her notes from half a day of training with Antonio. Her head spun with everything she learned today, the whirring compounded by the highs and lows of her first day in the office.

She was grateful to work for Grant, especially on the retainer payroll. The small salary meant she didn’t have to stress if there were lapses between her development contracts, and he was a good boss. However, walking into one of his jobs was always a game of balance. She had to exert enough confidence she wouldn’t be stepped on, but not so much she came off as threatening.

When Antonio met her in the lobby, his rich accent slid over her skin like satin, teasing and drawing up images of her delicious Saturday night. The rush of fantasy and memory intensified when she remembered the Mr. Conroy she was supposed to meet was also a Justin. If this Justin was as hot as Saturday night’s hook-up… holy hell, that would be hot.

Antonio helped her silence the delicious images by being an asshole, but then he had to turn around and be not only apologetic and kind, but also brilliant. And the fact his accent was both sexy and pretty much how her Saturday night fantasy sounded, didn’t hurt.

She’d seen a lot of Silicon Valley startups over the years, and while there wasn’t an exact science to predicting which would fail, there were some good indicators—and not the things most people looked for.

The décor at APPropriate Designs could belong to any office building. White walls, black stuffed chairs with basic trim, and gray carpet. However, Antonio and Conroy owned and occupied the entire seven-story building. That, combined with what she learned today about both the front-end product and the technology behind the scenes, made her wonder what she was doing here. They seemed to have their act together.

“Antonio.” A male voice carried through her cubicle wall, sounding louder than its actual quiet hiss, thanks to the silence in the room. “I need you for a minute, for pro—”

“Yeah. My office in five minutes.” A sharp edge lined Antonio’s voice.

What was that about? A knock on metal caused her to spin toward her cube entrance. Justin—random world-traveler guy Justin from the bar—stood in front of her.

All her other thoughts evaporated.

The rise of his brows was the only indication that he recognized her. “I’m Justin Conroy. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet with you this morning.”

“Emily Lowry.” She accepted the greeting and failed to ignore the rush of heat that traveled from his grip down her arm and over her body. She wanted to run. Hide. Oh God. Antonio was the guy from their shared fantasy, and he stood next to Justin, watching the exchange. The realization made her pulse race. She should probably say something. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same. We have a lot to discuss about your next month here, and I understand you’re free this evening. I’m looking forward to hearing what you and Grant have in store for us.” Justin’s cool tone never wavered, as he searched her face.

She forced a smile. “I’m happy to share. Do you mind if I steal a moment of your time? Now, if you’re free.” Not that talking to him alone would be a good idea in the future, but the tiny part of her brain that still worked insisted they clear the air now.

If Antonio noticed the tension, it didn’t show. He leaned against a cubicle wall, one hand in his pocket and expression pleasant.

“Sounds great.” Justin kept his voice low. “Fair warning, though. Antonio is my business partner. Whatever we discuss, he’ll be privy to later.”

Was he saying that for show, or was she about to have her personal life on display for a third party? “I understand. No secrets.”

“We’ll be right back. Take care of PP—make sure they deploy the beta tonight—and we’ll all catch up in a few minutes,” Justin told Antonio, then steered Emily toward an empty conference room, away from the developer area. He closed the door behind them.

“Really? No secrets?” The question slipped past her lips before she could stop it.

Justin turned to face her, calm expression vanishing beneath a clenched jaw and tight gaze. “When it comes to business. There are a few details of how I spent my weekend that he doesn’t know about.”

“Details.”

He shrugged. “Things I shouldn’t have said that might make working conditions awkward. But don’t think it’s anything you can hold over my head.”

“I hadn’t even considered that.” She didn’t like the implied accusation. “I’d rather forget it happened.”

“Was it that bad?”

“It was incredible.” She snapped her mouth shut. His mouth twitched with an unformed smile, and her cheeks burned. “But I’d still rather… That is—it’s between us? That’s what you’re saying?”

“Well… Yes and no. Some things can’t be taken back.”

The growing knot in her throat plummeted into her stomach. “Fuck.” His words from the bar rushed back to her. Not the tantalizing story about the best friend, but what came before. They’re sending in a ruthless, heartless killer… He’d been talking about her. “This is convenient for you, isn’t it? I’m too embarrassed about the awkward situation to stay on, and you’re free of judge and jury?”

“That would be a pleasant notion if I were delusional. Grant would send someone else, and the fire I’m floundering in would get hotter when I ran off one of his best. His words, by the way.”

“Exactly.” It was hard to keep the indignation in her voice when he took all the oomph out of her retort.

“Though, I’ll be honest—I never pegged you for a shark.”

She bit the inside of her cheek, as more of her memories from the weekend flooded back. His fingers tracing over her skin. The conversation that convinced her to go home with him. All things she needed to disassociate from this contract. “I’m sure we have a lot to learn about each other. Professionally,” she added quickly.

His smile looked as uncertain as her grip on keeping her cool. “We should keep this short. Antonio knows I picked up an attractive redhead, and he’ll add one and one pretty fast. He wasn’t privy to any details beyond that.”

“Oh.” The lightbulb went on in her head. “You don’t want him to know what we talked about.”

“Do you?”

Touché. Emily could picture that conversation with Antonio. Yeah, Justin and I know each other. We fantasized about having sex with you. I mean, not that I knew it was you. “I’m good with that arrangement.”

“Everything all right in here?” Antonio cracked the door and stepped into the room. “No one’s tearing anyone’s head off?”

Emily looked between the two men. Best friends and business partners? Or more than Justin let on?

The curiosity was enough to make her pulse lick under her skin, igniting her senses and taunting her with images of Justin backing her against the conference room table and twisting his fingers in her hair and kissing her, while Antonio watched.

“Everything’s shiny,” Justin said.

This morning, Emily had been prepared for hostility. Her first job, Grant neglected to warn her what she was walking into—that most of the companies he invested in felt the same way about his retainers that Justin did. It caught her off-guard, and she fumbled her way through the week. But she finished the job.

Her second contract through Grant, she made the mistake of walking in all casual and friendly like, and they rolled over her. Third time around, she tried to project an air of owning the place, and no one would deal with her. The assignments weren’t only about meeting development deadlines; they were also meant to settle waves between Grant and whatever company he sent his retainers into. If she didn’t get this one right, Grant would drop her contract.

Which meant not fantasizing about being the Oreo filling in a co-founder sandwich cookie.

“You’re all right?” Antonio was looking at her.

She made her smile as genuine and friendly as any smile had ever been. “Fantastic. I was just reciting my script. I’m not here to take over or ruin anyone’s day. I’m only here to help. You know—all the things you heard this morning.”

She wasn’t letting Justin, or Antonio, or any other seductive, enticing executive take this job from her, for any reason.

Chapter Six

“Would you like to see the dessert menu?” The waitress never took her eyes off Justin.

Which didn’t surprise Antonio. She’d been hitting on Justin all night.

What struck Antonio as odd was that Justin wasn’t flirting back. Instead, Justin’s gaze flicked to Antonio and then Emily. “I think I’m all right. How about you two?”

The waitress set a booklet in front of Justin, and leaned in until her chest brushed his shoulder. “Are you sure? We’ve got a vanilla torte with cherry filling, and a drizzle of cream sauce. Tart and sweet, to keep things interesting.”

“Sounds like the perfect dish to share.” Emily watched the waitress with a pleasant smile, her tone as sweet as could be.

Justin furrowed his brow. “She’s got a point. Sure. One of those.”

The waitress scowled, but erased it before she looked at Antonio. “For you?” she asked.

“Just coffee for me.” Antonio wasn’t sure if he was more confused or entertained by how Justin and Emily shut the woman down.

“If she asked about your tattoos next, would you have a pre-spun story to go with one?” Emily looked at Justin. Her tone was light and teasing.

The question pushed Antonio’s curious buttons. It wasn’t the first comment she’d made along those lines tonight. Saying something distinctly specific given she’d spent a total of maybe ten minutes in the conference room with Justin. An explanation as to how she knew so much tugged at the back of Antonio’s mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it.

Justin shook his head. “Sometimes people don’t want elaborate tales. Those are best saved for someone who’s interested.”

Emily twirled her glass, ice rattling at the bottom, and looked at Antonio. “Where are you from? I hope it’s all right to ask that. Your accent is Italian? From what part?”

The question was innocent enough. Small talk. A nice shift of pace. “Milan. Have you ever been?”

“I haven’t.” Emily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But I’ve heard it’s lovely. Should I add it to my list?”

“Your list?”

Emily hesitated. “I’m taking a trip after this contract. Or hoping to. You know how some people backpack across Europe?”

“Or South America.” Which is what he and Justin did in their early twenties. It was how they met.

“Exactly.” She smiled. It was a gorgeous expression that brightened her face and shone in her eyes. “I want to do the adult version of that. As in, I’m-too-big-a-coward-to-do-it-without-a-safety-net. Should I add Milan to my list?”

“My answer will be biased. Never ask a native if you should visit their hometown. Ask someone who’s seen it through a tourist’s eyes.” Antonio was more fond of vacationing in Rio Di Janeiro, but for personal reasons.

Justin leaned in. “You absolutely should. Milan in spring is gorgeous.”

“You’ve been there too?” Awe lined Emily’s voice. “Is that where you two met? I guess that’s a stupid question. For all I know you ran into each other at some networking conference in L.A.”

“We met in Brazil.” Antonio was being sucked into her fascination. It had been a while since the world was that amazing and vast to him, but she looked enthralled with the idea he and Justin had traveled.

Justin scrubbed his face. “Please don’t tell her this story.”

“You have to now.” Emily looked amused.

The waitress returned with their dessert, and it sat untouched.

Antonio always hesitated to delve into the memories of how he and Justin met. It was a bittersweet moment. He’d gloss over the details and they’d move on. “A couple of friends introduced us.”

She looked between them. “And that’s an embarrassing story?”

Maybe he couldn’t completely gloss over it. “It was a blind date. His friend read Justin wrong. She didn’t realize Justin doesn’t swing that way.”

“Really?” Emily’s eyes widened. Justin gave her a look Antonio didn’t understand and a frown crossed her face before vanishing. “I didn’t know you were gay. That is, not that it matters. Or that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it.” She dropped her face into her palm. “Oh my God, this conversation just became an HR nightmare.” Her words were muffled. “I’m shutting up now.”

The hint of flustered was as alluring as her confidence. Antonio liked the contrast; it made her feel even more real. “No one’s going to Human Resources, unless you do. And I’m not gay. I’m more of a keep my options open kind of guy.”

“Oh.” She looked up. “So, um… the two of you meet in Brazil and bam instant friendship?”

Justin chuckled. “Exactly like that. If you remove the weeks of awkward fumbling and trying to find each other’s boundaries, a lot like this conversation.”

“Which tattoo is from Brazil?” Emily seemed determined to move on to a new topic.

Again, her question struck Antonio as oddly specific, given she and Justin only met a few hours ago.

“It’s where I had my inspiration for APPropriate Designs, so it’s an AI.” If Justin thought Emily’s insight was odd, it didn’t show in any of his mannerisms.

The answer was misleadingly vague. It really didn’t have anything to do with what Justin decided on in the end.

“As in artificial intelligence?” Emily asked. “Like Johnny Five from that old Short Circuit movie?”

“That’s the one.”

Antonio’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he ignored it. Whatever it was could wait a few minutes. “That was disturbingly specific.” Especially since that specific tattoo was on Justin’s right shoulder blade. “What am I missing?”

Pink spread across Emily’s cheeks. “Nothing.”

Justin grinned. “Not anymore, anyway. Saturday night, you missed the stunning redhead hiding several rows of teeth behind an incredible mask of sweetness and a sharp tongue.”

Reality plowed into Antonio, and his world tilted. Emily was the woman Justin picked up? And now, not only was she working with them, but she and Justin were still flirting. What the fuck? Words escaped him. “This just got surreal. As in, bad plot kind of surreal.”

Justin opened his mouth but was cut off by the shrillness of his phone. He answered it before the first ring finished. “Hey, Merc.”

Mercy. The bizarre evening shifted aside in Antonio’s head to make room for its neighbor, ill ease. Something had gone wrong with the Promiscuous Perks beta the developers deployed this evening. Wrong enough Mercy couldn’t wait until morning to get it fixed. The code name was meant to be misleading so no one would guess it was Justin’s education component.

“He’s here with me.” Justin looked at Antonio.

Antonio didn’t expect him to say anything more specific. This was the project they weren’t funded for, and the last thing they needed was Emily overhearing it was not only happening, but also going poorly.

“We’re on it. Call you back in thirty minutes.” Justin pocketed his phone and stood. He gave Emily a curt nod. “Ms. Lowry, pleasure to see you again.” All the playfulness was gone from his voice, leaving a flat tone in its place. “We’ve got an emergency back at the office. I hope you’ll excuse us.”

Antonio shook her hand. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Whatever the two of you have going on, I hope it doesn’t interfere in the office.” He’d give Justin more of an interrogation, starting with what the fuck were you thinking?

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“We’ve got things under control.” Antonio smiled, wishing he felt as certain as he sounded.

 

* * * *

 

Justin was supposed to have put tasks like writing code behind him years ago, but he’d brushed off his skills when he and Antonio started doing double shifts to get PP ready for launch. Diving into the project was usually a surefire way to square away his thoughts and have them all make sense.

“Still getting scripting errors on the preview pane.” Mercy’s voice filtered through the speaker phone in Justin’s office.

“Details?” Antonio had set his laptop up across from Justin.

Mercy read them the pertinent information. It was one of the things Justin liked about having her as an early adopter. She understood the back-end technology well enough to make troubleshooting easy. Or to at least take some of the more basic stress out of it.

“Were we wrong to push for deployment tonight?” Justin asked.

Antonio met his gaze. “They assured me we were set.”

And either he or Antonio would have done a double-check any other day, but with Emily disrupting their schedules and forcing secrecy, they didn’t have a chance to. Which brought Justin’s thoughts full circle to the one thought he hadn’t been able to shake all evening.

He coded, as half his mind took off in Emily’s direction. He should have dialed back the conversation at dinner. Kept things polite, but professional. It was too easy to forget that when Emily started talking though. The same thing that drew him to her Saturday night shone through this evening. He was grateful she kept the details of their hookup to herself, though. Not that she seemed any more interested in spilling than Justin was.

And watching Emily was easier than admitting since Saturday night, he hadn’t been able to get the shared fantasy out of his head. Every time he looked at Antonio, he saw more than the attractive man he shared business decisions and bar hopping trips with. He kept picturing Antonio’s lips around his cock, or the two of them kissing. Fucking. Heat raced over Justin’s skin, flaring to scalding.

“Holy fuck. What did you do?” Mercy’s dismay dragged his attention back to the present.

“Nothing. Hang on.” With a few keystrokes, he brought up the error logs, then mentally smacked himself making a simple error. He corrected the syntax and re-deployed. “Try it now.”

Antonio raised his brows. “Are you here for this?” His voice was low enough Justin had to strain to hear the question.

“I’m fine.” Justin’s response came out sharper than he intended.

“Sure you are,” Mercy said. “Listen, it’s almost eleven here. Ian’s waiting for me. Not that I don’t miss the all-nighters, but… No, wait. I don’t miss them. How long to roll me back to the old code?”

Justin forced down his frustration, until it burned in his lungs. “Twenty minutes.”

“Awesome. Will you pick up?”

Justin exchanged frowns with Antonio but grabbed the receiver and took Mercy off speaker. “What’s up?”

“I hate to bring this up, because I know the two of you are pouring everything into this and we’re running a beta, but your quality is slipping. This isn’t pre-production code. It never should have made it past QA.”

“I’m aware.” He didn’t trust himself to say anything else. It would come out defensive or angry, and that was the wrong way to approach this. “Will you be set to try again over the weekend?”

“Will you?”

He snapped off a low growl. “One of us will send you an email when the old code’s back up. G’night.”

“She’s pissed?” Antonio asked as soon as Justin hung up.

“What do you think?” There had to be better ways to function. Mercy had a point; she didn’t put in late hours these days—one of the perks of being her own boss. Andrew, their other friend from their bumming-around-the-world days, probably never worked past five. What were Justin and Antonio doing?

Making it past this one hurdle. That was it. Justin needed to keep telling himself that.

Antonio settled deeper in his chair. “I’m here all night if that’s what it takes. Let’s wrap this up before we have eyes on us tomorrow.”

That was something to be grateful for—a reliable business partner and friend.

 

* * * *

 

As Emily approached the apartment she shared with Cynthia, her limbs begged for her to simply sit. In the middle of the floor would do fine. Her mind was overloaded.

She couldn’t believe how poorly she behaved at dinner. Every other word that came out of her mouth was inappropriate. At the same time, she didn’t actually regret any of it, despite feeling like she should.

Bright light greeted her when she pushed inside. Cynthia’s brother, Paul, sat on the couch, watching something with explosions and violin music. He looked up the moment Emily walked into the room. “Hey.”

“Are you only here for the night, or is this a long-term arrangement?” She wasn’t in the mood to be social. She didn’t mind Paul in small doses. They’d known each other since they were kids. She didn’t have the brain power to carry on a polite conversation right now. Besides, Paul usually visited when he was out of work and didn’t have enough money to make rent with whoever had taken him in most recently. It always rubbed Emily the wrong way, regardless of how much she tried to be kind and look the other way for Cynthia’s sake.

“I’m helping Cynthia with some front-end work, and I’m between jobs. We’re going to spend a few days brainstorming in the same room.”

“Awesome.” Emily couldn’t find any enthusiasm. She noticed a single rose in a vase, sitting on the coffee table. “Is Cynthia seeing someone?”

“It’s for you.” He grabbed it and almost tripped over a table leg, closing the distance between them. He righted himself and handed her the gift.

She looked between it and him. “Thanks?” She didn’t know what to make of it.

“As a congratulations.”

“For…?”

“I heard you’re getting close to your goal of being able to see the world. I figured that was congratulation worthy.”

That seemed like an odd reason for a flower. “I am. I just have to make it through this contract.”

“You’re brilliant; you’ll make it happen.” He guided her to the couch and tugged her to sit next to him. “Cynthia told me she stood you up on Saturday. We should all go celebrate this weekend instead.”

Emily gave him a weak smile. “Sounds fantastic.”

“It’s a date. For tonight, you should take it easy. Sit and watch movies with me and unwind.”

That sounded like a good idea. If she could lose herself in explosions, she could forget about the muddled day she had. She settled in.

When Paul took the spot next to her, his arm brushing hers, surprise jolted through her. She shook it aside. Dinner had her caught on the edge between wanting more of Saturday night and knowing it wasn’t appropriate given her working conditions. There was no reason to take that out on Paul or misread a casual closeness.

The movie played on, but she couldn’t concentrate. Normally, the high-budget special effects and cheesy one-liners grabbed her attention and let her zone out. Tonight, something nagged at the back of her mind, and she couldn’t pin it down.

“Are you all right?” Paul asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You look tense.” He adjusted his position to sit sideways, one leg on the cushion and pressed against her thigh. He kneaded his fingers into her shoulders. “So many knots. Was this evening that bad?”

She forced herself to relax, despite the invisible spring coiling tighter inside with each new touch. “It was okay. My mind’s all over the place. I’m good. Thank you.”

“Of course.” He took the hint and dropped his hands away, but kept his body shifted toward her.

It’s because he’s comfortable. It had nothing to do with her. The assurance didn’t sit well. She ran their past through her mind, skipping along their every-day. Had he ever acted like this around her before? They shared things like hugs and high fives, but this didn’t feel the same. There was an expectation behind it that she didn’t care for, and couldn’t tell if she was misreading.

“Do you want to watch something else?” His question pulled her back to the conversation.

“No. This is good.”

“You seem distracted. Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”

Yes. Jeez. Stop asking already. The mental shout echoed in her head, and she tempered the abrupt response. She needed to learn to better compartmentalize if work was going to be like this for the next month. She nodded.

“Okay. I’ll drop it.” He draped an arm around her shoulders.

She shot to her feet, confusion assaulting her. He looked at her, brow furrowed in confusion.

“On second thought, I’m super tired. Tonight must have hit me harder than I thought. I need some sleep.” She spat the sentence out in a single breath.

“No worries. I hope you feel better in the morning.”

She gave him a weak smile. “I’m sure I will.” She headed to her room and shut the door behind her with a soft snick. She’d made that entire situation far more awkward than it needed to be. Once she had a little sleep and a clear head, she’d be able to reconcile that just because she’d slept with her boss—unknowingly, but still—didn’t meant the rest of the world was hitting on her.

Chapter Seven

Antonio glanced at Emily and did a double-take at the tease of satin. She wore a green nightgown trimmed with lace. The brilliant emerald matched her eyes, and the black was a stunning contrast to her pale skin. “You two do this a lot?” she asked.

She stood next to him in the doorway, while Justin slept on one of his office couches. It was one of the few times Antonio had seen him recently without stress lining his face.

“We used to.” He couldn’t force his gaze to her face. Her breasts were pressed together and up, swelling with each breath, and her negligee barely covered her ass. As the blood rushed from his head and to his lower extremities, he struggled to find the brain power to speak. “I’d be happy if we never had to do it again, but it’s worth it, if things pay off.”

“What things?”

His mind caught up before his mouth ran too far, and he stopped himself from mentioning their side project. “You know what things.” He kept his tone light and playful. “Same you’re here for.”

“Then you should have let me help.” She shifted her weight, giving him a generous view of cleavage. A trail of freckles ran along her collarbone, ending in a V at her neckline, as if the sun had planted each one.

He needed to distract her from the subject. That would put them on an equal playing field. “You and him.” Antonio nodded at Justin’s sleeping form. “How was it?” A tiny portion of him knew the question was inappropriate, but it made as much sense as Emily standing in the middle of the office in lingerie. What the hell—he was going with it.

“Hmm.” She twisted her full lips, and his cock throbbed. “Are you asking how I was, or how he was? The answer to the latter—incredible. Everything you’ve dreamed of.”

He’d dreamed of a lot. “What if I wanted the answer to the former as well?”

“You’d have to ask Justin.”

Antonio dragged a finger along her jaw, to her chin, to lift her head. “I’d rather find out for myself.”

When he brushed his mouth over hers, she whimpered. He dragged his tongue along her bottom lip, before catching the fleshy swell between his teeth. She tasted like coffee, and cherries drizzled with cream.

She dug her fingers into his chest and kissed back, hard and hungry, opening for his tongue. He glided a palm down her back and over her ass, drawing her close until her stomach pressed against his erection.

Emily broke away enough to ask, “What if he wakes up?”

“He can join us.” That was a tantalizing thought. Antonio guided her back toward the desk. Hands on her hips, he lifted her to sit on the polished mahogany, and slid between her legs. Every time she shifted or gasped, his nerve endings hummed in anticipation.

She hooked her feet around him and draped her arms over his shoulders, interlocking her fingers at the base of his neck. “You must think I’m easy,” she said with a teasing glint in her eyes.

“I have a feeling you’re quite picky, but I’m confident enough to think I’ll make the cut.”

She laughed. “Arrogant, you mean.”

“Tomato, pomodoro.” He worked an arm between them, lifted the edge of her gown, and slid under the elastic of her panties. His fingers glided easily between her folds, and she arched her back with a gasp, grinding into his touch. “You like that?” he asked.

“Like is an understatement.” She squirmed against him.

He wanted to tease and play, but his dick dug into his jeans, begging for release and warning he wouldn’t get a chance if he took his time. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t have the desire to puzzle it out. Every time Emily moaned, his cock twitched. He zeroed in on the swollen nub between her legs. Her breathing grew more frantic, and when she dug her fingers into his arms, her nails stung his skin. Christ. This was delicious.

He nipped her earlobe. “Come for me, passerotta.” He traced circles around her clit, tightening up and pressing harder in time with the thrust of her hips.

She tilted her head back, eyelids fluttering, as a delicious cry tore from her throat. He didn’t let up until she shuddered away from his touch. How had they not woken up Justin? Antonio didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed.

Emily rested her forehead on Antonio’s shoulder and gave a soft giggle. “We have company.” Her mouth moved against his neck.

Behind him, leather creaked, and he heard the distinct sound of a zipper sliding down.

“I want you inside me, while he watches,” Emily murmured as she fumbled with the button on Antonio’s jeans.

Pain spiked through his neck, and he grunted. Agony stabbed his crotch. His eyes flew open, and Justin’s office swam into view from a very different perspective than the one Antonio had seconds earlier. He sat up with a soft groan, stretching and rolling his neck, to get rid of the crick. The vivid dream wasn’t as easy to wipe from his mind. He was rock hard, to the point it ached. Dream-Emily’s voice lingered in his head, dancing with her taste and the heat of her soft skin.

He swung his legs around to plant his feet on the floor, and his erection roared in protest at being bent into such an awkward angle. He stood and adjusted himself.

He and Justin had finished up at about two in the morning. Rather than waste the time it would take to drive home, they each claimed a couch, to get a few hours of sleep. Late nights of coding, followed by a bit of tossing and turning, and a full day of work—it was a ridiculous thing to say at thirty, but he was getting too old for this shit.

The clock on the wall read five fifty. What an ungodly fucking hour. Justin was still asleep, brown hair brushing his eyes. Like in the dream, it was one of those rare moments when he looked peaceful. The scruff of a day’s worth of beard darkened his chin. Antonio itched to run his fingers over the coarse stubble.

He needed to shake this off now, before the work day started. He adjusted himself as best he could, and untucked his shirt when he couldn’t hide the bulge. Fortunately, no one would be in the office for a little while. There was a small gym on the main floor—a facility they built for employees. Until about six months ago, Antonio used the equipment on a daily basis. These days, he was more likely to use the spare change of clothes he kept on site for mornings like this.

He grabbed his gym bag from his locker and picked the private shower stall at the far end of the room. When he stripped out of his clothes, his dick sprang loose, grateful to finally be free of its prison. He turned on the water, stepped underneath the spray, and leaned his forehead against cool tile as the icy needles biting into his back shifted to warm, then nearly scalding.

He wrapped his hand around his shaft and stroked slowly. This was the only way he’d be able to focus today. In his mind, the intensity of the dream melted into a different, more familiar fantasy. One where Justin came looking for him. The shower door would creak open, and Justin would step into the small space, naked, his chest smooth and cock standing at attention.

The daydreams used to make it difficult for Antonio to look Justin in the eye. When he figured out diving into the images made it easier to get through the day, he surrendered.

He tightened his grip on his dick, increasing the pace as the pictures in his mind played out. Justin kissed him hard enough that teeth dug into lips. He yanked the short strands of Antonio’s hair and tugged. Antonio didn’t need more prompting. He kissed down the bare chest, dipping his tongue over curves of definition and pausing to tease and nip at a flat brown nipple. He mentally continued his journey, sinking to his knees as he went. Kissing Justin’s pelvis before finally reaching his destination. He licked over the head of Justin’s cock and was rewarded with a thrust of the hips, before he took the length into his mouth.

In his fantasy, Antonio sucked and licked. The taste of precum ghosted on his tongue. In real life, with the heat of the shower pounding into his back, he stroked his erection in time with the visions in his head. He lost track of time, as the daydream overlapped the real world. Justin tightened his grip on Antonio’s hair, thrusting hard and desperate. He growled when he climaxed, spurting hot, salty fluid against the back of Antonio’s throat.

Antonio came hard, shudders wracking his body as he squirted against the tile. Sticky white covered his hand. He kept jerking until he was raw and spent. His pulse hammered in his ears, and his heart scraped his ribs. He stood still for several minutes, using one hand to keep himself upright, while his shaky legs struggled to steady themselves. Once he was put together enough—mentally to think, and physically enough to stand—he finished his shower. With the pleasant traces of dream and fantasy hovering at the back of his thoughts but no longer clouding them, maybe he could get some work done.

It would be even better if the subjects of both decided they could get along, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

 

* * * *

 

Emily grabbed a toaster pastry out of the box in the cupboard and made a note, using the pad on the fridge, that they needed more. “How did you get the dataset to scale for that many users and still return real-time results?”

“Industry secret. You’re not the only genius in the house.” Cynthia sat at the kitchen table, tablet to one side and coffee in front of her. She and Emily were discussing a breakthrough Cynthia had with her development and where to go next. “Seriously, though. If you have time this weekend, I’ll show you. It’s kind of a hack, but it works amazingly well. And don’t think I didn’t notice you changing the subject.”

“Who? Me?” Emily laughed. “We were done with the previous conversation.”

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “Right. Let’s gloss over the fact that your new contract is the guy you went home with, Saturday night. The sexy geeky guy with the bad pickup lines.”

“Who hates what my job stands for and understands professional boundaries as well as anyone.” Emily stuck out her tongue. “Yes. Let’s please not dwell on that.” She took another bite of her food, just as her phone rang.

“Let the poor woman finish breakfast before you hound her,” Cynthia yelled playfully at the chiming device.

Emily wished it was that easy to get a phone to shut up. Grant’s name was on the screen, and she hurried to answer. “This is Emily.” She tried to keep the hesitation from her voice, but some leaked in. Yesterday’s potential conflict of interest, successfully suppressed after a night of sleep, rushed back to meet her full force. Not that Grant needed to know there’d been any hiccups. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m calling to check in and make sure everything went okay yesterday.” Grant sounded cheerful. The request made sense. He did that with each new contract.

“It was fantastic.” She winced at the overinflated enthusiasm in her voice. “I mean fine. Everything went fine.”

“I’m glad to hear it. No friction at all?”

Not the kind he meant, but still enough to ignite a large pile of kindling. “Nothing more than normal. I handled it. Honestly, I’m not sure why they’re struggling.” Now she was overcompensating. Saying too much. “They even had issues with their beta last night, and Justin and Antonio personally oversaw cleanup.” Shut up, shut up, shut up.

“They don’t have any beta builds on the schedule.” Concern leaked into Grant’s voice. “That’s why you’re there—to make sure they meet that deadline.”

She knew that. Wait. Then what were they up to last night? “I must have misunderstood. Maybe it was an alpha. They were friendly with whomever they talked to. It might have been an informal test.” She bit her lip, to keep from saying anymore. Part of the reason she was onsite was because Grant was worried they were doing other things informally as well. As in keeping some of their development off the books.

“You know, I haven’t been here long enough to know their terminology. I’m sure I misunderstood. Whatever happened, I can tell they’re on top of things.”

“I suspect you’re right. It’s nothing. Have a wonderful day.” Grant disconnected.

Emily set her phone on the kitchen counter and glared at it. She didn’t throw Justin and Antonio under the bus, did she? Selling them out to Grant—even unintentionally—after one day seemed like the least likely way to earn their trust and convince them she was there for their benefit. She learned early in her first contract that everyone was happier as long as nothing went back to Grant unless it was going to impact meeting the deadline.

To be continued…

Chapter Three – Four |  Chapter Eight – Ten

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