by Trina Solet
Rob had arrived there after work and hoped to have a firm job offer after he was done. As he went up in the elevator, which was as smooth as butter, Rob thought about the creaking, lurching elevator at his own building. Not that it would be his building for much longer. He had to be out of there soon.
Rob had made the mistake of messing around with his 'straight' roommate. When Craig had a freak out and tried to kick him out, Rob told him he was taking two weeks to find another place. He wasn't about to let that two-faced idiot push him around.
But time was running out, and until Mr. Brenner offered him this job, Rob was looking at a future with no job and no place to live. Working for Mr. Brenner wasn't yet a sure thing from the sound of it, and it wasn't the kind of job he was looking for. Still, it was better than nothing, which is what he had lined up so far.
Living at Mr. Brenner's house in the country might not be so bad either. Sure it might be kind of awkward, but Rob could save some money. First he had to make sure not to blow it. And also keep dirty thoughts out of his head.
That wasn't easy. He was on the doorstep of Mr. Brenner's apartment, ringing the doorbell and telling himself to be the perfect employee. But as soon as Mr. Brenner opened the door, dirty thoughts came flooding in.
He couldn't help it. Julian Brenner was smoking hot. Rob took in those soft brown eyes, dark hair, and a perfectly trimmed beard on a serious face. Below that were broad shoulders and a slim but toned body and everything else that Rob had to pretend not to notice.
Rob averted his eyes and spotted Danny hiding behind his big brother.
"Who do I see over there? Hi, Danny. Are we going to be packing today?" Rob asked him.
Danny nodded.
"You want to say hi to Rob?" Julian encouraged him gently, like he wasn't sure he would. But his little brother did him proud.
"Hi, Rob," Danny said under his breath and tucked in his chin shyly.
Taking off his jacket and going inside the apartment, Rob could tell that Mr. Brenner's style was minimalist and traditional, but now there were toys perched on side tables and armrests. So it seemed that Mr. Brenner had allowed his little brother to make the whole apartment his playground.
Aside from that, packing boxes were already set out, and some of them were half full. Leaving his big brother's side, Danny went over to stand in the doorway of a colorfully decorated bedroom.
"I told Danny that we would start with some of his things," Mr. Brenner said while showing Rob where to hang up his jacket.
"We're starting with the most important stuff," Rob said to Danny. The little boy looked shy whenever he spoke to him but also bright-eyed and eager.
Running into his room with Rob and Mr. Brenner following after him, Danny went straight to a hook on the wall where a yellow baseball cap was hanging. Taking it off the hook, he showed the cap to Rob with a look of solemn pride.
"Is that the most important thing?" Rob asked him.
Danny nodded.
"Don't worry. We won't forget the yellow cap," Mr. Brenner assured him. "But we don't need to pack it. You can wear it on the trip."
"It must be special," Rob said.
"Julian got it for me," Danny said in his small voice.
"It was the first thing I ever bought him," Mr. Brenner said with a smile and a wistful look in his brown eyes.
Rob knew from talk at the office that Mr. Brenner and Danny were each other's only family, and that they only recently found each other. That must be why Mr. Brenner seemed to be wrapped up in sadness even when he smiled.
"Should we put something in those boxes?" Rob asked bringing over two boxes that sat empty. Danny agreed. Of course all he was interested in packing were his toys.
While he rummaged in his toy box, Rob noticed that the boxes weren't marked. "We should write Danny's name on here, right? Mr. Brenner?"
When Mr. Brenner didn't say anything, Rob wondered if he was making a bad impression. But maybe he was just lost in thought. Mr. Brenner was looking around Danny's room with a faraway look in his eyes.
Rob was about to look around for a marker, when he felt Danny tug at his sleeve. He motioned for Rob to lean down, and then he whispered. "He has another name."
"He does?" Rob said and he and Mr. Brenner locked eyes for a moment. Those gorgeous, brown eyes were hard to look away from, but Rob forced his gaze away somehow and gave his full attention to Danny.
"His name is Julian," Danny confided to him.
"I see," Rob said, but he was pretty sure Mr. Brenner didn't want him to call him by his first name.
"You can call me Julian if you want, but it's completely up to you," he said letting Rob decide how much professional distance he wanted to keep between them.
Rob decided to let Danny weigh in. "Julian is better, right?"
Danny nodded emphatically, and the issue was settled.
"All right. I'll call you Julian," Rob said but then he caught a flustered look cross his face. Wasn't it OK? As Rob watched, he saw Julian's mouth quirk into a smile for just a second. It was so fleeting, Rob might have imagined it, but the thumping of his heart told him he hadn't. Julian. He did like saying that name.
With Rob and Julian's help, Danny managed to pack more than just his toys. When they were done, Julian looked around the room and wondered, "Do we have everything?"
More of Danny's things were scattered around the apartment. Once those were gathered and boxed up, Julian decided it was time for his kid brother to take a break and took him to the kitchen.
When Julian came back, he offered Rob a bottle of water. "Did you want anything else?" he asked, but Rob shook his head.
"I'm fine. So what's next?"
"Since Danny is occupied with a snack and some coloring, you can help me pack my office," Julian said as he led the way through the spacious living area, past the packing boxes and toward the office on the other side of the apartment.
"I'm surprised you don't have movers doing this for you," Rob said as they stepped into his office. It was a mess of binders, boxes and files right now.
"I wanted to ease Danny into this move. That's why I'm having him help with packing his stuff," Julian explained.
Rob nodded. "That makes sense."
"He's been through some trauma. This past spring, he was in a serious car accident. He wasn't hurt badly, but it took time to get him out of the wreckage. Since then he doesn't like cars and all the noise from the street. That's why I want to move somewhere quieter. And my family house in Peach Tree is as quiet as it gets."
"Poor kid. How are you getting there?" Rob wondered as he realized the trip might be tough to take for the little guy.
"Driving. It will be a challenge. These days Danny does well enough on a short drive, so I plan to stop as often as I need to," Julian said. "Do you have a car?"
"No," Rob said. He had an old Honda for a while, but he couldn't afford to keep fixing it so he had to give it up.
"Then you can drive there with us, if you don't mind," Julian said and once again Rob noticed that his eyes had this power over him. They made him forget where he was or what he was doing. It took all of his willpower to get his mind to focus.
"No problem," Rob said. Julian was making it sound like the job was his, but he hadn't actually said so. He was so reserved. Rob had trouble reading him.
"And moving for a while isn't a problem?" Julian asked.
"The place where I'm living now is temporary, so I wouldn't mind a change of scenery." Rob wasn't about to get into the whole deal with his roommate, but the thought of getting away did appeal to him.
"That's good. I already checked your references with Mrs. Wells. She said you were good with her kids."
"Right. The triplets," Rob said remembering how terrifying they were. "That was me and my sister. It was a while ago. We were babysitting them as a team. I wouldn't have survived it without backup."
"You're smiling, so I guess it wasn't a complete nightmare. Would you mind doing that kind of thing again and
helping me with Danny?" Julian asked.
"It's no problem. Danny is a really nice kid," Rob said and Julian looked relieved.
"I'm glad. I think he'll like having you along with us for the trip," Julian said. "And I want to bring Danny's stuff with us, so he can feel at home right away."
"He doesn't seem too nervous about the move," Rob said as Julian handed him a stack of files and pointed out which box he should put them in.
"That's thanks to you being here," Julian said. "But I'm not sure how he'll react once we're on the road. Before he came to live with me, Danny was in foster care. No one knew who his father was so he had two different foster families after he lost his mom. The car crash happened when he was being transported to a new foster home. The driver and the social worker who were with him were badly hurt. They didn't make it. Danny was trapped with them in the car for hours before the emergency crew got to him and got him out."
"God. I'm so sorry. That's terrible," Rob said. He couldn't imagine such a small child having to go through something like that.
"What happened might have been horrific, but I'm not sure how much of it he remembers. His therapist can't get him to talk about it," Julian said. "He has made a lot of progress though. Right after the accident, he was in such bad shape. That's why someone at social services worked extra hard to track down any relatives. They found out who his father was though his name wasn't on Danny's birth certificate. But my father is deceased. Then they contacted me."
"It's good that he has you now," Rob said.
"I just wish I had known about Danny sooner. And I hope he'll like the place where we're moving," Julian said with a sigh, like he had misgivings.
His worried look made Rob think of another reason why Julian might be moving. "So the move is for Danny's sake, or does it have something to do with Pete Thayer and getting the hell away from him," Rob said a little too roughly, but he had come to really hate that guy since he saw him hassling Julian.
At first Julian didn't say anything. Maybe he was offended by his tone. "Thayer hasn't given you any trouble at the office, has he?" Julian finally asked, but to Rob it seemed that he was trying to deflect him.
"Haven't even seen him. I bet he can't be bothered with a nobody like me," Rob said then he pressed on, not ready to drop the subject. "Shouldn't you report him to HR?"
Julian shook his head and looked away. "I don't want to complicate my life right now. You might not have heard, but he's married to Mr. Upton's niece. On top of that, Mr. Upton is still recovering from his bypass, and while he is gone, Thayer is in charge. It's not a good time."
"Right," Rob said and clamped his mouth shut. Maybe he was being too pushy and Julian would change his mind about hiring him. But the way Thayer had menaced Julian in front of Danny really pissed him off.
Just as Rob was thinking he went too far, Julian told him, "We leave early Saturday. Is that all right with you?"
"It's fine," Rob said right away. "So the job is mine?"
"Yes," Julian told him simply and Rob let out a relieved breath.
That made Julian smile, but then he turned more businesslike as they went back to packing. Danny came over to watch the action from the doorway. To put him to work, Rob handed him anything that needed to be thrown away and he got to drop it into the wastebasket.
By the time they were done, it was a little past Danny's bedtime, and Julian was ready to take him to bed. First he got to say good night to Rob.
"This was a busy day," Rob said and Danny nodded. "You did good work. Good night and I'll see you soon."
"Good night, Rob," Danny said sweetly and waved to him as he went off toward his bedroom while holding Julian's hand.
Rob was left to check that nothing got left behind and to make sure the boxes were labeled like they should be. Unpacking was going to be his job, and he would have no one to curse at but himself if he couldn't find something.
Julian didn't come back for a while, so Rob kept busy. Once he did get back, Rob was pretty sure he would send him home. That gave him a pang of regret, like when a good time was about to end.
Since when was packing a good time? Rob needed to stop thinking of Julian as a good-looking guy and think of him only as his boss.
But then Julian appeared at the door of his office, and Rob knew it was hopeless. As soon as he saw Julian, all he wanted to do was grab hold of him and tumble with him to the floor.
Chapter 3
Back from helping Julian with packing, Rob had lined up a job and a place to live for a while. Julian even emailed him to offer the job formally and set down the particulars in writings. The pay and his duties were all outlined as well as the living arrangements. He would have a choice of one of three rooms with his own bathroom and the use of one other room as his living space. Must be a big house.
Now that it was all official and finalized, Rob decided to call his sister, Christie, and tell her about his job. That was much better than calling her up to ask if he could move in with her for a while.
Until now, Rob didn't want to talk about the job in case it fell through. He didn't exactly trust his luck, but now he was ready to give Christie his news.
"You're calling, not texting? You have some kind of big news? Is it about a job?" Christie asked him before he could tell her anything.
Since she was being so pushy, Rob told her, "I have news. I'm going back to babysitting."
"Ha ha," she said, not believing him. "Talk sense, Rob."
Rob got a little more serious. "Actually I'll be a personal assistant, but that's what you get for not letting me tell you in my own way."
"You know I get anxious when you're between jobs," she admitted and Rob understood.
After their mom lost her job, she sank into a depression and then they lost her. What happened still haunted both of them as well as their dad.
"I'll be working for a guy from Upton Investments. My new boss will need me to look after his little brother now and then. It's not here though. He's moving himself and the kid to his home town, and I'll be going with them. It's a small place called Peach Tree. What I see online looks nice."
"What? You're moving?" Christie asked, not sounding happy.
"It's a live-in thing," Rob told her.
Christie was even more doubtful as she said, "So you and your boss are going to be roomies?"
Considering the kind of luck he had with his last roommate, that seemed like a jinx. "It's temporary. It will help me save up and figure out my next move."
She still wasn't sold on the idea. "But a small town? Really, Rob?"
"I don't have to love it. Like I said, it's temporary. Julian Brenner is a little uptight. Hopefully I won't hate working for him, but his little brother is adorable. Maybe it will even out." Rob didn't mention that Julian was also very hot.
He didn't need to though. Christie had already looked him up online. "That's what he looks like. Now I see what's going on," she practically yelled into the phone. "He is why you took this job."
"Are you looking at a pic of him with or without the beard?" Rob asked, admitting to nothing.
"With. Do not under any circumstances fall for this guy," she ordered him. "Now give me your new address."
Christie was kind of bossy and a little overprotective, but Rob couldn't blame her. She was his big sister, and she pretty much single handedly held them all together when they lost their mom.
Finished talking to Christie, Rob sat against the headboard of his narrow bed and thought about Danny and Julian. The way that little guy looked to his older brother was really touching. There was no margin for error when taking care of a traumatized kid, but Julian had taken on the responsibility. But was Rob ready to enter their world? What if he did the wrong thing or said the wrong thing?
When he thought about Danny, Rob wanted to do whatever he could for him. Even with the added pressure, he couldn't even consider backing out. But honestly, he didn't know what he was really getting himself into.
On the day of th
e trip to Peach Tree, Rob woke up early and blinked at the gray, washed out light of the morning. Looking around his room and then the rest of the apartment, Rob knew he wouldn't be sorry to never see this place again.
Christie texted him to say how sorry she was she couldn't see him off. It did feel kind of lonely. Their dad had only recently moved in with his girlfriend in Oregon. She had her daughter and her kids living with her. It was a full house, but they all seemed to be getting along. Still Dad was lamenting that he, Rob and Christie had all scattered.
His call caught Rob just as he was going out the door. "I wish I was there to see you off," his dad said and Rob laughed.
"Christie was just saying that too." Rob told him.
"They should have a few good barbeque places out there. Keep your eyes peeled," his dad instructed him.
"I will."
"And take good care of yourself. Call or text if you need anything. You know I'll drop everything if you need me. You know that right?" his dad said so earnestly that Rob had to choke back tears.
"I know. And the same goes for me."
They hung up and Rob stepped out into the crisp air of an autumn morning. Inhaling deeply, he tried to clear his head of the past, but that wasn't easy. Not until he pictured Julian, his serious eyes, his sensual mouth, his beautiful hands, his unconsciously elegant movements. That's what trouble looks like – gorgeous, perfectly tailored and a little bit sad.
***
Dawn was just starting to break, but both Danny and Julian were already up and ready.
"We're going to go somewhere where it's quieter," Julian told Danny as they finished breakfast and went into the living room. All the furniture was still there, but everything else was gone and on its way to Peach Tree.
Stopping in the middle of the room, Danny looked around like he wasn't sure if this was the same place. Danny wasn't as uneasy as the first time he came here, but he never got used to the noise of traffic. The angry honking of horns, tires screeching, sirens blaring at all hours – they were all sounds Julian had blocked out a long time ago, even welcomed as reminders that he wasn't in Peach Tree any more.