by KC Burn
That sounded better than “can’t,” didn’t it?
“You don’t drink coffee,” Will repeated flatly, an expression on his face akin to Dallas telling him he liked to dance nude under the harvest moon. Will’s gaze flicked to the steaming mug on Dallas’s desk.
Apparently “don’t” wasn’t better.
“Can’t, I meant to say. I can’t drink it. Um… I drink herbal tea.” Dallas waved at his cup, fully aware he didn’t need to explain his beverage choice to his boss. The only problem was, he couldn’t stop acting like a virgin with a crush, because Will might be his boss, but he’d also been the guy Dallas had been crushing on for years now, and just breathing in the same air was making him fucking crazy.
“Fine.” Will nodded sharply. “More for me.”
Without another word, Will sat down and started working. Dallas stared at him for a bit, wondering if an explanation was forthcoming, or even a pleasant greeting, but apparently “got you a latte” was about as pleasant as things were going to get.
The silence gave Dallas a chance to speculate on Will’s late night. He didn’t look hungover, just tired. Will seemed just as tightly wired today as he had yesterday, so Dallas assumed—hoped—he hadn’t gotten laid. Didn’t answer the question about whether Will had a boyfriend or not, though. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise him if Will had been up late playing video games. The practice was certainly endemic in the tech field.
Dallas hoped to find someone else who either played Dragon’s Ruin or could be convinced to play. He had a guild he played with, but there were times he’d like to talk about the game to other interested parties. His friends back home hadn’t been interested in computers at all, at least not from the perspective Dallas was. While he’d been working at Savron Dynamics, most of his free time had been devoted to Hugh, until his work had gotten in the way of Hugh’s need to get laid whenever he wanted. By then, though, he hadn’t the time or energy for Dragon’s Ruin.
Will ran his fingers through his hair, bringing Dallas’s attention back. He really didn’t want to spend another day suffocating under this weird awkward silence. “Did you go out last night?”
“Yes.” The clipped word was accompanied by a shrug, negating the clear affirmative, and confusing Dallas. He was just about to ask another question, see if he could coax Will into an honest-to-God conversation, when Will twisted in his seat and fixed Dallas with a pointed look.
“Wait a minute. How did you get in here this morning? Joanie doesn’t have a code to the server room, and Stefan isn’t here yet.” It wasn’t hard to miss the accusatory tone, making Dallas’s heart flutter a bit, even though he’d done nothing wrong.
“Why doesn’t Joanie have a code? Shouldn’t she? She’s got access for everything else and has the ability to spend money and sign checks on behalf of the company. Why wouldn’t she have backup access for the server room?”
Dallas clamped his lips shut as he realized Will was about to burst a blood vessel.
“First off, that’s none of your fucking business. Answer my question.”
“What, you think I just got out my handy-dandy lockpick kit because I couldn’t wait for you to show up? An hour late? What does Kyle do, just sit in the corridor?”
Oh sweet Jesus. What was wrong with him, letting his mouth just take the fuck off like that? He wasn’t sure if it was nerves talking or if he was getting over nerves and calling on the experience he’d gained at Savron Dynamics, but he hadn’t intended to be antagonistic.
“I gave Kyle a code.” Will’s jaw was so tightly clenched it barely moved. “But I hired Kyle.”
Dallas nodded. “Okay. Stefan hired me, and he gave me a code. So that all sounds about right.” Seriously, what was the matter with him? This wasn’t the way to get Will on his side.
Will’s nostrils flared as he pushed away from his desk. He stomped out of the room, the door closing with a bang behind him.
Dallas didn’t exactly relax; he had no idea what Will was going to do. Even if he was going to bitch Stefan out for giving him access, it wasn’t like Stefan was going to fire Dallas for having something Will should have given him in the first place. The weird thing was, as uncomfortable as this job situation was, he didn’t have even a hint of the tension that preceded his stress headaches. Maybe he still liked Will too much to find him a source of stress, even if he hadn’t intended to chase the man from his office.
Awkward silence suddenly seemed to have a lot more going for it than he’d previously thought.
DECIDING RETREAT to be the wisest move, Dallas pretended to be engrossed in work when Will finally returned, looking no happier than when he’d left. Not that there was any actual work for Dallas to do. He spent the rest of the morning making far too many cups of tea—which meant a number of trips to the bathroom—and trying to figure out a plan of attack for the following week. There was no way he was going to let Stefan pay him to reset passwords and make tea.
If that meant going head-to-head with Will, he’d do it, but he wanted more time to get the lay of the land.
At quarter to twelve, Will stood up. “Going to lunch,” he said, and he left without looking at Dallas.
Dallas heaved a sigh of relief as Will took all the unspoken tension with him. If nothing else, he was going to get Will to start acting like the human being he knew damn well he could be. Just because Dallas had rarely interacted with him personally back at Savron Dynamics didn’t mean he hadn’t observed every interaction the man had with his subordinates when they took place in the cube farm. Something had happened to change Will’s approach to work—he’d never been a crazy workaholic back in Connecticut—and it wasn’t for the better. Not for Will and not for the people who worked for him.
Technically, he was on the clock for another forty-five minutes, but his presence or absence wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference. Not today, anyway.
Dallas packed up his stuff and got out of there.
When he reached the lobby, Joanie hailed him. “Dallas. You’re not leaving yet, are you? There are some people I want to introduce you to.”
Oh, right. Introductions. Dallas had forgotten about Joanie’s promise. He wasn’t sure he was up to being social, but it might be nice to meet people who could become friends. Or at least be friendly when he encountered them at work.
“Uh, no, Joanie. I’m just going to drop my bag in my car and I’ll be right back in.”
The heat was almost like a slap in the face as he left the building, and the parking lot told a much different tale now. There were at least a dozen cars and a few motorcycles surrounding his beat-up four-door Toyota. However, he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave his baby in the car with this heat. He returned to the much cooler lobby.
“On second thought, it might be too warm to leave my laptop in the car.” His work one, little more than a paperweight at the moment, he’d left in the server room, but his baby went everywhere with him.
“Oh, honey, no. You don’t want to leave that in the car. Let me lock it in my desk for now, so you don’t have to carry it around with you.”
Laptop taken care of, he followed Joanie deep into the rabbit warren of the studio.
The sounds of male chatter and masculine laughter told him they were close.
They rounded a corner, and Dallas was almost blinded by the amount of naked male flesh. They weren’t completely nude, as he’d encountered his first day on the job, but a number of the guys—the ones around his age or younger—were at the very least shirtless. A few of them were only wearing tight, brightly colored, very-brief briefs.
He assumed the ones Will’s and Stefan’s age—the fully clothed ones—were the crew.
Joanie didn’t even have to say a word. One of the models turned his head, and his eyes widened before he bounced over.
“Joanie, we’ve got a new guy?”
“Yes, Beck, this is Dallas.”
Beck purred up at him before stroking a finger down his cheek. “I thought we were doing
another college dorm shoot today. No one told me it had changed to a professor seduction scene.” Beck tugged on Dallas’s tie. “Very sexy, Dallas. The tie is a nice touch.”
Waves of heat hit his cheeks. He wasn’t exactly a virgin, but the frank and appreciative appraisal from the second hot porn model in as many weeks was the stuff of fantasy, even if he knew he didn’t have the game or desire to close the deal.
Joanie laughed. “He’s not one of yours, Beck. He’s working for Will.”
Beck pouted, and Dallas was utterly certain that look got Beck just about whatever he wanted. He was adorable. “Why the hell is Stefan hiding so many hotties in the cave?”
“The cave?” Dallas wasn’t even going to touch on the fact that he wasn’t the only one who found Will attractive. It wasn’t something he wanted to get around, if he could avoid it. Until he had a better idea of who could be trusted and who was a gossip, reticence would be wisest.
“Otherwise known as the server room.” Beck rolled his eyes. “But if you wanted to make an exception, shoot a couple of scenes, I’m sure Stefan would go for it.”
Paul glanced over at him, a big grin on his face, and it was all Dallas could do to not break into laughter. Stefan wouldn’t have any double standards about letting his younger brother shoot porn if that was what he wanted to do, but it would be super weird to do it for his brother’s company, with his brother’s boyfriend overseeing the filming. Even if he were so inclined, which he totally wasn’t. “Sorry, man. Not going to happen.”
Beck shrugged. “Well, I had to ask. You’d be gorgeous on camera.”
Another blush hit Dallas, but he smiled and thanked Beck.
“Come on and meet the rest of the guys. No sense in letting you molder in the cave if you don’t have to.”
“I’ll leave you in Beck’s very capable hands.” Joanie gave him a wicked grin that made Dallas feel he was missing a joke there somewhere. “I’ve still got some work to do.”
“Are you going to watch the shoot?” Beck asked.
Watch the shoot? A wave of heat swept up his throat and sweat sprang out on his lip. The implication that Beck, a sexy guy only a few years younger than Dallas, would soon be naked and aroused and fucking one of the other hot guys standing around chatting, was so fucking hot. “Uh, no. I don’t think so. Not today. I have lunch plans.” He wasn’t a prude—he didn’t think—but getting turned on in public, while watching guys have sex, live and in person, wasn’t something he was ready for yet. Getting super horny at work? Maybe he’d never be ready for that. Fantasizing about Will was embarrassing enough.
Introductions didn’t take all that long, and he immediately felt accepted and welcomed.
“What are you shooting today?”
Tyler, the slim, lanky blond he’d met his first day, grinned. “Straight college guy gets seduced by his sexy roommate.”
Dallas blinked. “Okay, but there’s four of you.”
Beck laughed. “Oh, the college ones are fun. Always rife with options. Eventually straight guy will end up taking on the captain of the football team and a couple of the roommate’s friends.”
“The captain of the football team?” Dallas couldn’t keep the incredulity out of his voice. Beck was the tallest and beefiest of the lot, which wasn’t actually saying a whole lot, and Dallas wasn’t even sure he’d buy him as a kicker, never mind captain.
Judging by the eruption of laughter, the guys understood his tone of voice completely.
“That scene’s later. Gregor isn’t here yet, but he definitely looks the part,” Javier, the slender black-haired guy said, the grin completely at odds with his emo/goth appearance.
“Okay, so who gets to play the straight guy?” Dallas had heard of “gay for pay,” but he didn’t think any of these guys were straight. He also had a fuzzy memory of Stefan saying he preferred to work with gay or bi guys, but Dallas wasn’t sure if Stefan had much control. How exactly did discrimination laws work in Florida? And would they even apply to porn?
Beck spun around, arms up like a ballerina. “Me, of course.”
Dallas smothered a laugh. With his blond hair, ruddy complexion, and farm-boy build, Beck looked the part, but Dallas didn’t imagine too many people in real life mistook him for straight.
“I know, I know.” Beck struck a pose, managing to look utterly slinky in his tight jeans and pink T-shirt with a unicorn and rainbows on it. “Bent from birth, but it works for the five minutes or so that I have to defend my virtue from Tyler here.”
For the most part, Dallas played it straight in college, but he tried for a moment to imagine the sweet and sexy Tyler trying to seduce him. He wouldn’t have held out long either, but he’d never had anything like that happen to him. “Doesn’t sound much like my college.”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Don’t I know it. My roommate is straight, and you couldn’t pay me enough to sleep with that dude. I’m amazed his sheets haven’t come alive and walked the fuck away.”
Javier spoke up. “And half the guys are still closeted assholes, like they were in high school.”
Mention of high school made Dallas look a little closer at Javier. “Uh, how old are you?”
A jaded smile stretched Javier’s plush lips, making him look older, but only for a moment. “Nineteen. I’m a freshman.”
Dallas took a closer look at the guys and realized at twenty-four, he was by far the oldest of the lot. Not by much, but the age gap suddenly felt a lot bigger than it was. Age didn’t mean much, though. Most days, Dallas felt more like a hundred and five, although this week had seen a big improvement.
“Hey, this weekend is going to be crazy with the filming schedule, but you should come out to Club Gallo next weekend. We’re doing a bachelor auction.” Beck slid a finger along his bicep.
Now that information didn’t quite jibe. Dallas had attended a number of bachelor auctions for various fundraisers at his parents’ country club, and as attractive as these guys were, they didn’t seem at all like candidates his society peers would have chosen.
Tyler spoke up. “Club Gallo is a gay bar. We’re doing a gay bachelor auction. For charity. Raven thinks with a bunch of us, he’ll raise a lot of money.”
“It’s weird, but he thinks a lot of guys will pay a hefty sum for a date with a porn star.” Beck widened his eyes and blinked innocently, but Dallas already knew better, and he laughed.
“Okay, I get it. Sounds fun, but I don’t have enough money to buy anyone.” He’d thought he’d be embarrassed to admit that, but maybe the fact that these guys didn’t have any preconceived notions about him and his family money made it easier to tell the truth.
Beck patted him on the shoulder. “That doesn’t matter. You can just come and hang out with us. Do some dancing. And maybe even console a guy who gets outbid?” That last suggestive statement was accompanied by another eyelash flutter.
That wasn’t going to happen… okay, maybe he was a bit prudish. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t flirt a little. Dance. It had been a long time since he’d gone to a club.
“Sounds good.”
Beck nodded, like Dallas had done exactly what he’d wanted. Then he sidled up to Dallas and plucked his phone from the inside suit pocket.
“What?”
“Numbers. Duh.”
Oh. Right. For all that the three guys seemed very genuine, he hadn’t expected Beck to make sure Dallas had a way to contact him.
In almost no time at all, Beck had exchanged their numbers.
“We’re all set. I’ll text you the specifics, if we don’t see you before then.”
The director started barking orders, and people began moving faster and with more purpose. Dallas took that to mean it was time for him to get out of the way.
“I’ll see you guys later. Have fun with the shoot.”
Beck skimmed out of his jeans, leaving him in a stark white jock that left very little to the imagination. “You sure you’re not going to stay and watch the shoot? The college dorm o
nes are always fun.”
“Thanks, but I can’t. Maybe next time.” Dallas did his best not to let his gaze linger on that pristine cotton triangle.
Beck gave him a little hug, the proximity of a nearly naked man making Dallas sweat a bit, in a good way. “Welcome to Idyll Fling.”
“Thank you.”
Dallas gave the threesome a little wave before he departed, the smile not leaving his face, despite how hungry he was for lunch. With potential friends in the offing, his spirits were high, and he was optimistic he could turn things around with his job.
Out in the parking lot, Dallas’s phone dinged. He pulled it out and found a friend notification from Beck. Smiling wider, he accepted, not concerned a bit that adding Beck and the others might result in posts his friends and family might consider inappropriate. He hadn’t even logged on since he left Connecticut, afraid of what he’d find. Maybe purging his friend list would be another step in building his new life.
As he got in the car, he realized he hadn’t asked who Raven was, but he could always ask Beck later.
Chapter SIX
MONDAY MORNING had gone better than Dallas hoped. Aside from another snide remark about his paisley tie—chosen with great care amongst several striped and solid ties he might never wear again—Will had more or less pretended he and Kyle didn’t exist. His presence made conversation with Kyle rather stilted, and he didn’t cave and give them more work to do, but the mere fact that he stayed in the server room was progress. Or at least Dallas was going to take it as such.
The constant tap-tap of Will’s fingers on his keyboard attested to the fact Will had plenty of work to occupy him, but Dallas had time to plan his attack. Sooner or later, he’d wear Will down.
With Kyle’s attention occupied on his own screen, Dallas spent a little more time in quiet observation of Will. If Dallas had too many suits, Will had too many pairs of cargo shorts. Undoubtedly they were comfortable, but they were shapeless, as was the loose T-shirt—Batman today. Oddly enough, the utter lack of definition only made Dallas more eager to see what wonders they hid.