A man who was strong, compact, sexy, not shocked by the whole feminine underwear thing, gay, and submissive wasn’t someone that was just going to show up randomly on my doorstep.
Chapter 2
Reece
“So how did the apartment thing go?” Eli plopped down half-naked on the edge of my desk, barely covered by his lacy white boy shorts and matching fitted tank top. “He seem nuts, or is it going to work out?”
That was a very good question.
And I was enormously proud of the fact that I managed to maintain eye contact as he quizzed me.
From the gossip I’d managed to overhear, not that it was hard around the Leashes and Lace offices, Eli had gone from flirty but mostly businesslike, to damned near half-naked and completely over-the-top in recent weeks. Something about driving the newest photographer nuts was the only thing I’d picked up, so it looked like everyone else was in the dark too.
But no matter the reason, it made working with him almost impossible.
How was I supposed to talk about the technical side of the blog posts with Eli’s everything hanging out all the time? It was not what I’d pictured when I joined the company. Yes, I knew it would be a little bit different. Working for a company that sold male lingerie and fetish wear would have to be a unique experience. But the overall feel was warm and friendly, even if it was a bit difficult to get used to.
“I don’t know. He seemed…kind of off.” I wasn’t sure how to describe Houston. He was aggressive and sexy enough that it was distracting as hell, but I wasn’t sure if that had just been because he was frustrated or if he was really a Dom.
I wanted him to be a Dom.
“Like nuts? You don’t need to take something just because you think you have to. I told you, the corporate apartments upstairs are free for as long as you need one.” Eli was distractingly underdressed, but earnest and sweet.
It was an interesting combination.
“No, he seems sane.” Hopefully. “I think it’s just been hard to find a roommate. He charged right in and started unloading everything he could think of that would chase me away. I stood there dumbfounded.”
“Like what?”
“Nothing crazy.” And probably nothing that he wanted me to share with my coworkers. “It just sounds like he ran into one too many judgmental people with that online ad he ran. He didn’t even ask how I heard of the apartment.” Or enough about my financial background or personal life, for that matter.
Eli’s head tilted, curiosity written all over his face. “I thought knowing you’d seen the notice at BJ’s would make him more comfortable.”
“Nope, he didn’t even ask. I think he assumed I’d only seen the other one.”
Eli gave me a dramatic sigh, shaking his head. “That ad looked so vanilla, I wouldn’t have even let you anywhere near the place.”
Eli was right. He was also my unofficial guide to the area. The first time I’d seen Houston’s online ad, I’d gone right past it. Something about the way it was phrased made Houston seem overbearing and controlling, and not in a good way.
It wasn’t until I’d seen a notice he’d put up at BJ’s, a gay bar in an iffy part of town, that I’d even thought about calling. It’d been gruff and to the point as well, and maybe it was just the setting that I’d found it in, but it’d felt more Dom and less nuts.
However, Eli’s idea of a “good” apartment and “not vanilla” had led us to some interesting options. “I’m not looking for sex swings in the living room or anything over-the-top.”
Snorting, Eli laughed. “That was fabulous. I still think you should’ve taken that one. The price was great, and she said you could use any of the equipment you wanted.”
“She was scary.” And the way she’d offered up the use of her toys and play space had made me nervous.
Giving me a casual shrug, Eli didn’t seem worried. “She was hot, if you go for that kind of thing.”
I shrugged, not interested in the slightest. “She had a stalkery vibe that screamed I’ve got bodies in the basement. Nope, even though I go for that kind of thing, you couldn’t get me to stay there for anything in the world. There’s a big difference between dominant and crazy.”
Sometimes the line was kind of fuzzy, but not in her case.
Leaning forward, Eli grinned. “Don’t you like dominant women?”
“I like dominant period, gender doesn’t matter. But not people who make me think I’ll end up on an episode of one of those missing person’s shows. I do not want cops quizzing my parents about my sex life, thank you very much.” The openness in the way they talked about their personal lives was one of the things that had pulled me toward the company to begin with.
But the oversharing was weird sometimes.
They’d made it clear that if I was traditional and vanilla they’d understand, but it would help if I wasn’t. I’d been shocked. I’d always had to play down anything interesting for just about every other job I’d ever had.
I’d never interviewed with anyone who thought it was a little bit depressing that I came off so normal.
Eli’s words, not mine.
“But the swing and that setup she had in the third bedroom? That was fabulous.”
“You want it, you move in with her. Leave me out of it.” Anyone who answered the door in a leather getup made for the club was not simply looking for a roommate.
“I’m entirely too gay to appeal to her. And she doesn’t have the parts I’m interested in.” Eli waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “Besides, she was very interested in you. Didn’t she say something about you being a tasty little morsel?”
“Not even going there. I’m going to see if it works out with Houston. If not, I’ll take you up on the offer to live in the company apartments until I can find something else.”
The company apartments were basically efficiency units on the third floor of the building that Leashes & Lace owned. From what I’d been told during my interview, they’d purchased the building from a guy who’d been planning on turning the warehouse-style building into small apartments, but his financing had fallen through.
So instead of stripping out the small studio apartments on the third floor, they’d left them in for anyone who needed to use them. Of the six that were available, usually, two or three were free for employees who were between houses or just needed a place to crash for a couple of days.
I’d appreciated them when I’d first arrived in town, but I wanted more space from my job. Eli and the rest of the bunch didn’t seem to have the same need. They were more like a big family than simply co-workers, so it made the dynamics more interesting.
Which was how I came to have a half-naked Eli on my desk.
“Are you getting ready for a shoot?” I gestured to his outfit, finding it harder and harder to ignore. And no one could blame me, either. It was impossible to miss—and he was hot.
When they’d offered a small room on the first floor with the rest of the offices, or a larger space on the second near the main photography studio and an area where the models blogged and had their meetings, I’d thought the second floor would be more convenient.
I was starting to second-guess that decision.
Eli grinned and struck a dramatic pose. “Yes. Roman’s coming in soon, so I have to be ready. I know exactly what I want to do, and it’s going to make him nuts.”
I shook my head, trying not to get dragged into the middle of his war. “He seems…good at his job. A bit stuffy, but—”
“Judgmental and uptight and full of himself.” Eli huffed, and his normally cheerful personality faded to something almost angry. “If he weren’t so good with the camera, Preston would have fired his ass by now.”
“Um, I think the fact that you like making Roman crazy might be a reason Preston keeps him around as well.” The feud between the two men was becoming legendary around the office.
Eli smirked. “That too. I’d rather he quit, though. It’s going to be more fun that way.”
“Don’t let him make you crazy.” I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened to set the two men against each other, but I had a feeling Eli was more hurt than angry. I just wasn’t sure we were good enough friends to say anything yet.
“Never.” He gave me a wink and hopped off my desk, making sure I got a good flash of his ass.
Fighting not to blush, I just shook my head while Eli laughed. “I’m off. I want to talk to you about the blog schedule later. I don’t want to have any more problems with the site crashing.”
“Then keep your clothes on.” It was an easy fix. Every time Eli had gotten naughty on his blog over the last month, the site crashed. I’d managed to keep it up and running since I’d started, but from the look on his face, I knew Eli was ready to put my fixes to the test. It just needed to last a few more weeks until I had a chance to talk to Preston about a few upgrades.
“That wouldn’t be any fun at all.” I got another wink from Eli, and he strutted out of the office like he was on the catwalk. The heels he was wearing only played up the images in my head.
And if his exaggerated walk made his ass wiggle, I was going to ignore it.
I was also going to say a thank you to the universe that we were both submissive. He was a handful. And I still couldn’t believe I knew that about him after only knowing him for a handful of days. L and L was really the strangest place I’d ever worked—but it was starting to grow on me.
I hoped my moving in with Houston would turn out the same way.
Eli and some of our other co-workers had dragged me around to a few of their favorite bars. We’d gone to techno clubs and fancy places that were trying too hard, only to end up spending most of the night hanging out at their favorite run-down bar, BJ’s.
There were only a handful of good-size apartments in my price range, so I’d remembered the other ad immediately when I’d spied the notice on the board by the bathrooms. Eli had quizzed the owners, and they’d made Houston sound polite, probably a Dom by the way they’d worded things, but otherwise kind of typical.
Nothing like the man who’d answered the door.
With my furniture being delivered Friday, I just hoped he turned out to be a little more relaxed once we got used to one another. I still wasn’t sure what to make of him. That stern expression and commanding tone made my toes curl, but then he’d talked about panties, and everything got a little hard to define after that.
The apartment looked great, though.
So did Houston.
Broad shoulders and a tapered waist made him look sexy, but it was the expression in his eyes and the mental pictures of what he was wearing under his clothes that made him even hotter. How was I supposed to sit across from him at breakfast, knowing what he might have on?
Maybe it would’ve been easier if I hadn’t been able to pull up such a clear mental image. But since I’d started the new job, there hadn’t been any shortage of sexy guys in lingerie running around. So picturing Houston in something skimpy and silky wasn’t as hard as he’d probably thought.
I liked sexy lingerie.
I’d just never realized I liked it on men and women until I’d started working at the new job. In my defense, though, it wasn’t something that I’d run into much. With the handful of guys I’d dated over the years, it hadn’t gotten far enough for me to know what they were wearing under their clothes.
But considering how vanilla most of them had been, it probably hadn’t been anything interesting.
That was also part of the reason it hadn’t gone very far.
I’d realized fairly early in college that I liked dominant women, and after going to a club one time with a Domme I was dating, I was surprised to find out that I liked dominant men too. She’d had fun making me blush and stammer as I’d tried to figure everything out.
I’d been confused and embarrassed. However, looking back, I appreciated that she hadn’t let me hide from the realization, and it wasn’t something that she’d ever made me feel ashamed over. I’d been a late bloomer, as my mother had called it, and by the time I’d started to understand what I liked in women, I hadn’t really considered that I might like men as well.
There just hadn’t been much of a chance to explore that side of myself, and once I’d found something that I’d liked, I didn’t see the need to keep exploring. I’d dated guys over the years, but in the area I’d lived in, it’d always been easier to find dominant women than men—or at least dominant men who didn’t mind the fact that I was bi.
My Dommes hadn’t seemed surprised or bothered by it, but I couldn’t say the same about the guys I’d gone out with. Quickest way to end a date with a guy who was kind of boring—tell him that your ex was a woman. Maybe that wasn’t fair to most guys, but after a few disastrous dates in a row, I’d taken a break from men.
When Laurel and I had called it quits, I hadn’t been in any rush to get back into the dating scene. But judging by my reaction to Houston, I’d been single too long. Had it only been a few months? Looking back, it was probably longer than that.
“Time to figure out the local scene.” Crushing on my new roommate would only make things awkward.
When the phone buzzed, I nearly jumped out of my chair. “Yup, you need to get out of your head for a while.”
Taking a deep breath, I picked up the receiver. “Reece speaking.” Overhauling their phones was next on the list after getting the website stable enough to support Eli’s rabid fans. I should not have to guess who was calling in this day and age.
“Reece, it’s Preston.” The owner’s deep, smooth voice came through the phone. “Can you come down for a few minutes? I want to talk to you about the upgrades you suggested.”
“Sure, I’ll be right down as soon as I get through the gauntlet.” It was only funny because it was true, and he knew it.
He just laughed. “Don’t let them distract you.”
On shooting days, getting through the mass of half-naked bodies was hard enough, but when Eli and Roman were on the list together, it was almost impossible. Everyone in the place found a reason to walk by the studio just to hear Roman lose it.
“Eli and Roman are shooting again.” I wasn’t sure who I should sympathize with more, Eli for having to deal with Roman’s attitude, or Roman because he really didn’t realize that Eli was winding him up on purpose.
Preston chuckled but didn’t seem worried. “They’ll work it out sooner or later.”
Or burn the place down.
I was smart enough to keep that to myself, though. I might be the new guy, but I wasn’t the only one who’d seen the heat they generated. “Hopefully. Okay, I’ll be right down. If I hurry, I might be able to get past them before the dynamite goes off.”
Laughing, Preston disconnected, and I hung up. He thought they were funny, but it was too stressful for me. The fighting and anger seemed to get Eli worked up, but it just made me want to head the opposite direction.
Bratty subs were too hard to deal with.
But dominants with a stick up their ass—Eli’s words, not mine—were even harder to handle.
Peeking out the door like a stalker, I mumbled a curse. “Damn it.”
They’d already started. My office was just off the main studio, so on shooting days it was busy, but I liked the commotion. Usually. Those two were another story altogether. Doing my best to stay out of their way, and out of Roman’s line of fire, I walked carefully around the outskirts of the room, dodging models and random employees who were clearly just there to watch.
The bright lights and openness would have made me feel exposed and uncomfortable, but it seemed to turn Eli on. Driving Roman crazy also seemed to turn him on. I didn’t really get it, but I was just hoping that I wouldn’t be there when things finally exploded.
They were either going to have fabulous angry sex or kill each other.
Either way, it wasn’t my business.
“This is not a porn shoot!” Roman’s words echoed through the room as I finally made it
over to the door. The angry words made me jump.
“It’s anything I fucking want it to be! It’s my blog and my fucking lingerie!” Eli didn’t hold anything back.
I shouldn’t have looked over at them.
I was one of those morons in the scary movie who’d get chopped to bits or eaten by the aliens. Yup, I was an idiot. But it was addicting, and I couldn’t help it. They were standing toe to toe, Roman’s broad body towering over Eli’s slighter frame, but the sexy lingerie-clad man wasn’t backing down.
No, he just reached down and adjusted his now-hard dick and gave Roman a heated look.
“It’s my blog, my body, and my lingerie. I can do whatever the fuck I want on it, so suck it up, buttercup, and take the picture. It’s probably all you’re good for, anyway.” Eli barked the words at him and then slinked away, his hips swaying and his cock jutting out in front of him.
Explosive.
They were going to kill each other.
Escaping out the door, I breathed a sigh of relief. I really should have taken one of the rooms on the bottom floor. Those two were going to give me a heart attack one day.
I sent out a plea to the universe. “I want to meet someone…but please don’t send me anybody as crazy as those two.”
Chapter 3
Houston
The only chores I’d done in the past to get ready for a new roommate were to straighten a few things and to make sure the room was free of dust. Sometimes, I’d run the vacuum over the carpet one last time, but that was about it. I’d never gone through the kitchen to make sure the cabinets were clean or wiped out the fridge. But just a few hours after Reece had said he’d take the room, that’s what I found myself doing.
Compulsively.
My mother had always joked that she could tell how much stress I was under, or how guilty I was feeling, by how clean my room was. In high school, she’d nearly had a heart attack when the night before I’d planned on coming out to her, she’d found me scrubbing the bathroom floor with a toothbrush.
She’d thought I was either dying or had gotten someone knocked up, which she’d always said she would kill me for, so either way, I’d been a dead guy in her mind. When I’d told her I was gay, she’d been so relieved, she hadn’t really cared.
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