by KC Burn
“Hey, Tyler, this is Dallas,” Stefan said. “He’s a new employee.”
Tyler lifted his gaze from his phone, eyes slightly unfocused for a fraction of a second. “Hi, boss.” Greeting dispensed with, Tyler then turned his scrutiny on Dallas. For all that Tyler had everything bared to the world, Dallas was the one who felt as though he were being measured up. Made sense, in a way. Tyler’s flaccid dick was already encroaching on stretch limo size. Not like Dallas was exactly a compact, but he couldn’t compare unless Tyler’s dick flouted biology and shrank when hard. It hadn’t occurred to him that working for Stefan would give him another thing to feel inadequate about.
However, Tyler’s leer said he didn’t mind what he saw. “Nice to meet you, Dallas. Can I break him in, Stefan? I bet he looks spectacular under all those clothes.”
Waves of embarrassment buffeted his ears. Dallas hadn’t seen many naked penises up close and in person, although not for lack of desire, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been subjected to such frank appraisal, and never in front of a family member. Being closeted would do that to a person. Considering his recent hospital stay, his brother’s presence, and the fact that he wasn’t interested in a random hookup, Dallas shouldn’t have been at all aroused, but his dick had other ideas and plumped up a bit, as though trying to show off, or at least, put on a good show.
Stefan laughed uncomfortably. “Tyler, I know I promised you’d get first crack at the next newbie, but Dallas isn’t a model.”
“No?” Tyler’s pillowy lips formed an exaggerated pout. “Are you sure? I think he likes me.”
Dallas’s dick stretched and thickened, as though trying to reach those mobile lips that looked like they’d give exceptional blow jobs. The blood rushing south didn’t stop his cheeks and ears from heating even more. This was humiliation on par with those nightmares where you ended up taking exams in your underwear.
“No, I’m afraid not. He’s a techie.”
Tyler tsked. “A computer nerd? What a waste of cheekbones.” Tyler smirked and traced a finger along one of the cheekbones in question. Dallas cleared his throat and took a step back, Tyler’s overwhelming sexual presence making it hard to breathe or think.
“Come on, Dallas, let’s get you to the server room before Tyler makes your head explode.” The obvious amusement in Stefan’s tone didn’t do anything to ease Dallas’s humiliation, but it did wonders to tame his dick.
Dallas cleared his throat again. “Lead the way, Stefan. Nice to meet you, Tyler.”
He was rethinking his request to keep his relationship with Stefan secret, because he doubted Tyler would have laid it on so thick if he’d known he’d been coming on to the boss’s brother, right in front of him. He’d wanted to be treated like any other employee, he just hadn’t taken into account that employee relations at a gay porn studio could be vastly different than a Fortune 500 company.
“Come by the college dorm later. We’ll be there for a few hours this morning.” Tyler’s smile wasn’t any less lascivious than his earlier one.
Dallas didn’t bother to reply, but as soon as they were out of earshot, he had to ask. “What college dorm? I didn’t think the university was nearby.”
This time, Stefan laughed normally. “He meant the college dorm set. We’re doing a ‘tempting the straight college roommate’ video today.”
“He wasn’t suggesting….” Dallas didn’t know how to end that sentence without sounding like someone’s spinster aunt, but surely Tyler hadn’t misunderstood. Dallas wasn’t even sure he knew how to have a random hookup much less have sex with a stranger in front of a camera. With, quite possibly, his brother’s partner behind the camera. The ick factor was beyond consideration.
“He’s hoping you’ll go and watch one of the takes. Tempt you.”
“Oh.” Although appreciative of the attention, Dallas was still hung up on someone—and not that asshole, Hugh. For now, an unattainable crush would keep him out of trouble until he got the rest of his life sorted out.
Stefan shrugged. “In some ways, we’re like every other employer, but there’s a lot of nudity. And a lot of sex, on and off camera. As long as interpersonal stuff doesn’t create any undue tension or a hostile work environment, I try to stay out of it, but if you want to watch some of the filming, or get involved with any of the guys, it’s none of my business.”
Some sort of affirmative word strangled in Dallas’s throat. He’d been mostly closeted until he’d left Connecticut. Repressed would be a good description for him. Inexperienced and possibly naïve, as well. Watching live-action sex on his first day at a new job? Not going to happen.
Nevertheless, Stefan did take him on a super-quick tour of the studio, where Dallas saw a number of sets representing different places one might have sex, including a park, replete with park benches and fake trees. The college dorm set was the only one currently in use, though.
“So, uh, rather more naked ass than I’d expect for first thing on a Monday morning.” Even talking about it was embarrassing, but Dallas was going to have to get over that. Stefan was saving his life, and Dallas certainly didn’t object to porn. It was the juxtaposition of work life, family life, and porn that got him all frazzled.
Stefan laughed. “Yeah, probably not something your last stuffy boss imagined.”
“Wait. How did you know my last boss was stuffy?” Stuffy, homophobic, and beyond conservative. But Dallas didn’t remember telling Stefan about him.
“Uh. I own a porn studio. Pretty much any corporate boss is going to be stuffier than I am.”
Dallas let out a rueful chuckle. He’d walked right into that one. Then again, teasing and laughter hadn’t been part of his life for too long. His sense of humor needed a good dusting off.
“Anyway, only about half of our shoots occur during traditional business hours to accommodate schedules of models who go to school or have day jobs. When you get up to full time, I’m guessing you’ll be mostly Monday to Friday, nine to five, but there’s flexibility if you’ve got appointments or whatever, and I understand that some….” Stefan wiggled his fingers like he was casting a spell. “Some of the computery stuff is better done late at night, so you’ll be able to adjust your hours if any of that becomes necessary.”
“I could work full-time now. I don’t want you to regret hiring me. And the sooner I start working full-time, the sooner I can get out of your hair.” How stressful could it be? Anything would be better than his last job.
But Dallas’s words made Stefan come to a stop and turn around with a frown. “Your doctor said part-time only, right? You’ll follow those directives, you hear me? Four hours only today, and that’s only if you don’t get too tired. Got it? Don’t forget, I’m your big brother. There will be a myriad of ways I can make you regret disobeying, Dall-ass. But no matter what, you can stay with me and Paul as long as you need or want. You’re my brother. I’m not kicking you out.”
Dallas flushed and let out an uncomfortable laugh. It didn’t matter that Dallas had only been nine when Stefan left home. He’d been a wily shit who knew just how to embarrass a little brother.
“Got it. I promise I won’t overdo it.”
“And I want you to transfer your medical records to my doctor. You can start full-time when he says you can, and he’s going to have to give me written confirmation.”
What? “I wouldn’t lie about that.” Which was a total lie. If Dallas hadn’t been so tired when he’d arrived, Stefan wouldn’t even know he wasn’t supposed to work full-time yet.
Stefan scoffed. “Like hell you wouldn’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have worn yourself to a nubbin making some rich asshole richer.”
There wasn’t any way Dallas could deny that, so he let Stefan finish the tour, ending up at the server room. Somehow, Dallas had expected another office pod, like the one he’d seen at the beginning of the tour. He hadn’t expected to work directly in the server room, but it was clear Stefan thought this was the end of the line. By the
time he got a user profile set up on whatever system they had, got a workstation set up, and met his coworkers, it would be time for him to go back home again. Stefan had graciously agreed to chauffeur him, but Dallas couldn’t expect that to happen every day. He hopefully had enough money left over to keep him in gas until his first payday.
Stefan opened the door and gestured for Dallas to precede him. Plastering a big smile on his face, Dallas stepped forward, prepared with a happy, friendly, “Hello.”
The words died in his throat when a shaggy blond head lifted from behind an enormous computer monitor.
Oh God. Dallas had always known it was a slim possibility, but Stefan hadn’t said anything, and Dallas had been afraid to ask. Nerves exploded in his belly, which cramped in protest.
Will Dawson.
THE SOUND of the server door opening brought Will out of his intense focus. No one except for Stefan and Kyle came into the server room—no one else had the security code, and Kyle already sat at his desk, wading through client e-mails to determine which ones contained legitimate technical issues.
But a stranger walked through the door.
Will’s entire body flashed hot and cold. No, not a stranger. But if Will had to call someone a nemesis or a mortal enemy, that’s who stood in his server room right now. Smiling. The same way he’d swanned into the systems administration department at Savron Dynamics two and half years ago, shortly before he got Will fired and took his fucking job.
Dallas fucking Greene. A bastard straight out of college, fresh off a completely unrelated internship with the CEO of Greene Family Enterprises. That incredible movie-star visage and fresh-faced innocence hid deceit the likes of which Will had never seen. He’d been too busy trying to control his incredibly inappropriate attraction to realize Dallas had been subverting Will’s boss to the point that six months later, Will was out of work.
Surely Dallas hadn’t followed him from Connecticut to fucking Florida. Did that qualify as stalking? Had it taken him this long to find out where he’d gone? Had he become so bored, lording it over the systems admin department in a Fortune 500 company, that he needed fresh entertainment?
Weird thing was, Dallas looked almost shocked. Like this was all some big coincidence. Yeah. Right. If this was coincidence, the apocalypse was upon them.
Stefan smiled, but Will couldn’t bring himself to smile back. Not when dread filled his entire body, anticipating Stefan’s words.
“Morning, Will. I’ve jumped the gun a little and hired you a new team member.”
Will clenched his jaw, teeth grinding, in the effort not to scream.
Stefan didn’t appear to notice Will’s less than enthusiastic response. “I know you need some help, but with your current workload, I know you haven’t had time to submit job descriptions to me. Dallas will be able to help you out with that, so you can start building a team.”
“I don’t need a team. I have Kyle.” There. That didn’t sound too dismissive.
“Kyle’s an intern. A good one, but you need more staff.” Stefan frowned at him. “I realize I don’t have a huge understanding of all the techie stuff that’s needed to run our site, and I may not be a typical CEO, but I’ve done my homework, and the vision we discussed when I hired you requires a bigger team.”
This time, Will’s cheeks heated in shame. Just exactly what he needed. His boss undermining him in front of an intern and a new hire, who Will had had no say in. It was sheer luck Stefan even landed someone who had the right skill set, and no matter how much Will hated Dallas, he did have the right skill set to help solidify and expand Idyll Fling’s reach.
Too little, too late, Stefan seemed to realize that this wasn’t the time or place to tell Will his work wasn’t quite up to expectations. He cleared his throat, looking a little sheepish.
“Don’t get me wrong, Will. You’ve done a great job. The best. But I think you’ll find Dallas a step in the direction we both want to go in.”
Both. Ha-fucking-ha, what a joke. If it was up to Will, he’d stay hands-on forever, with the occasional intern flitting in and out. Even if he hired someone full-time? Dallas Greene would be his last fucking choice. Even an eighty-year-old historian would be preferable.
None of that came out of Will’s mouth, thank God. Stefan was the most relaxed boss he’d ever had, but he still paid the wages. “Thanks.”
Stefan cleared his throat again. “For the first while, while he gets up to speed, Dallas will only be working part-time, and I’ll let you know when he’s going to be switching to full-time.”
Figured. Cushy job for Dallas? Check. Doing less than half the work and probably getting paid more than half salary? Check. Okay, so he didn’t know what Dallas’s wages were, but it wouldn’t surprise him one bit. Unless Dallas had truly followed Will to Florida, the paycheck had to be fairly substantial for Dallas to relocate. Otherwise, why bother? Will hadn’t had any other options, and while he was glad he’d taken Stefan up on the job offer, if it weren’t for a desperate need of work, he’d have stayed in Connecticut and maybe tried to make things work out with his ex-boyfriend.
“I don’t even have a desk ready for another employee.” Will wasn’t far from whining. The lack of space had been only one item in his arsenal to keep his coveted spot at Idyll Fling secure from interlopers. Especially interlopers who’d made it their purpose to steal his job, and if the current situation was anything to go by, Dallas was planning to make a life’s work of it.
Will wasn’t a violent sort of person, infrequently given to anger, but seeing Dallas again, under these circumstances, made him want to punch Dallas in his model-perfect mouth.
Stefan looked supremely unconcerned with his arguments so far and shrugged negligently. “There’s a storage room just down the hall that you could easily convert into a proper tech department. Make it look more permanent than it does now.”
With effort, Will managed to not roll his eyes. The bank of servers he worked next to was pretty fucking permanent in his opinion, but he had to give Stefan grudging credit for realizing that hanging out with the servers wasn’t exactly normal procedure, especially not for a growing organization like Idyll Fling.
“I don’t know if I have time to train anyone right now, Stefan. We’re super busy.” And there was no way Kyle could train anyone. Hell, Will had made sure to keep his access pared down to the bare minimum, and he barely knew enough of Will’s architecture to do much more than update passwords, answer e-mail, and run reports. Which meant Will bore the lion’s share of the work. Somewhat a self-fulfilling prophecy, since he’d never have time to train new people if he didn’t have someone to take on some of the load.
For each roadblock Will threw up, Dallas looked more and more uncomfortable, but Will couldn’t bring himself to worry about that. Not right now. He had a fiefdom to defend.
“Well, then, the sooner you get started, the less this whole workload will rest on your shoulders. You haven’t taken so much as a vacation day since you started, and this hasn’t exactly been a nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday sort of job. Maybe give you a little more time to hang out with Raven doing the Tartan Candy gigs or something else where you could meet people.”
Unless actual flames were licking at his face, Will’s face couldn’t burn any hotter. Stefan was often blunt as hell, but not normally tactless, and he’d been so twice in the space of one conversation. Way to make Will look like a desperate, needy social outcast.
Then again, most people made that same assumption when they heard he liked to do Ren faires, which was why he rarely told anyone. Raven had been surprisingly understanding, even supportive, but then, Raven kind of had to, since they were best friends and all.
After forming Tartan Candy—Raven’s main source of income and an entertaining side business for Will—the friendship they’d started when Will had first come to work for Idyll Fling had deepened and strengthened. When Will had left Connecticut, he’d done so without a second glance, but he’d never had a friend like
Raven before. If Will was forced to uproot again in the future, it would be a much tougher decision because of Raven.
A faint hint of pink slashed across Stefan’s cheeks, the only indication he realized how out of line he was, but he continued on, maybe in the hopes Will wasn’t going to call him on it. And he wasn’t. Not in front of Dallas, because that would only make him look defensive and pathetic.
“Anyway, I can spare a few crew members this morning to give you a hand moving furniture around. I know we’ve got enough stuff on hand to get the room set up for the three of you, even if it means partially dismantling some of the break-room furniture. Send me a list of what’s missing or what you had to reappropriate, and I’ll have Joanie order it up, expedited delivery.” Stefan cleared his throat. “Um… although I guess you won’t have a computer on hand for Dallas. Make sure that’s at the top of your list, although I’m sure you can find something for him to do in the meantime.”
Will was so rattled by Dallas’s appearance that he hadn’t even thought of that most obvious delay tactic. Nor was he sure if that last sentence of Stefan’s had been a subtle dig showing him Stefan was fully wise to his delaying tactics and wasn’t going to let Will erect any more roadblocks. Obviously, he was fed up with them.
Stefan turned to Dallas. “Text me if you need anything. Paul will be by in a few hours to drive you home.”
Personal fucking chauffeur service as well? Will didn’t know much about Stefan and Paul’s relationship—specifically whether or not they played with anyone else. Fucking the bosses would more than explain Dallas’s cushy princess job, except he wasn’t even sure Dallas swung that way. Maybe Stefan and Paul were merely hopeful.
Dallas nodded, and Stefan left, while Will desperately tried to hold in a derisive snort or scathing comment. The déjà vu was overwhelming, though. When he’d first been let go, Will had wondered if Dallas had been sleeping with someone in order to advance his career. First a prime internship with a goddamned CEO, then an entry-level position in a thriving IT department which he’d taken over within a matter of six months. But he’d let go of that theory pretty quick. If Dallas had been sleeping with someone at Savron Dynamics, that gossip would have made it to Will’s ears.