by Jerry Cole
He had always thought he would be one of the cute queer people with the children and the house with the white-picket fence and the dog that he would pretend was a rescue but clearly wasn’t. He thought he would be checking out young guys with his partner by his side, not by himself. He expected his thought process would be more about how they missed being those crazy kids instead of which one looked less like he was going to steal his wallet if he fell asleep after sex.
He sighed. He needed to get a drink of water, clean up after himself and maybe go for a walk. He wouldn’t feel like himself until he got some exercise, but the chances of that happening were slim to none right then. There was still a lot of the city that he had to explore.
He got ready as quickly as his body allowed for it, which was incredibly slow. He finally threw on a pair of jeans and a dark green short-sleeved T-shirt that he still hadn’t unpacked. Before going out, he checked his face in the mirror. He looked fine. Normal.
He didn’t look like he had just turned twenty-six. He needed a haircut. He didn’t just need a haircut, he probably needed a makeover. Back in Atlanta, the dress code had been strict and even the software developers had to wear a suit and tie despite the stifling heat. In Danbury, the dress code was a little more casual. He had seen people going out of the office building wearing sky-blue button-up shirts and brown pants, sometimes even khakis.
Morgan didn’t think he would ever feel comfortable going to the office in khakis, but he knew he would have to adjust. Showing up in a suit with a tie on his first day wasn’t likely to go down well, and he wanted to make a good impression.
He put it on the mental to-do list for the day. Before he did anything else, though, he knew he would have to stop at Elements. He wanted to thank the waiter—Ian—he reminded himself. Well, he wanted to thank the waiter to start with, maybe ask him out if things seemed to be going well.
It had been so long since Morgan had been on a real date that he was finding the very idea of asking someone out intimidating. He had no problem picking up guys, but dating them—that was a whole different thing. He made sure the guys he hooked up with knew he wasn’t interested in anything else, even if they were, and they often were. He was interested in more than a wild night with the waiter, though that sounded like heaven to him. He was so cute, he probably looked even better when he wasn’t wearing that uptight looking black uniform. Morgan couldn’t help but picture him down on his knees, his hands behind his back, his mouth open and his eyes glimmering as he looked up at Morgan’s face.
He shook his head. He needed to get laid, even if it didn’t happen with the cute waiter. Getting laid always made him feel better.
He put his earbuds in his ears, put some music on, and started to walk downstairs. He could have called the elevator, but the last thing he wanted was to get stuck in a small space when all he felt like doing was fidgeting and moving around. He normally had no problem with elevators, especially ones as big as the ones in his apartment building. His anxiety had obviously gotten the better of him. Even if his hangover was bad, the anticipation of asking this guy out was much, much worse.
***
Morgan swore under his breath as he saw the line coming out of the restaurant. He had completely forgotten that it was Sunday. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten the day of the week, but that was what drinking that much obviously translated to. The fact that it was Sunday meant that every single other restaurant and establishment along the street was open for brunch, and that all the cute families he had been trying his best to avoid were out in full force. He touched his stomach when it grumbled. He was a little bit hungrier than he thought, plus he knew he would feel better if he ate something. It had more to do with Ian, the cute waiter, than he liked to admit to himself. He knew the chances of getting the same waiter in a restaurant that was as well-known and obviously popular as this one were small, but the least he could do was try. If he didn’t see him at all, he could always ask whoever did serve him if Ian was there, maybe even leave his phone number. He wouldn’t want Ian to feel pressured to go out with him.
He certainly didn’t want the cute waiter to feel harassed.
This was Ian’s place of work, after all, and there was a chance he was only being nice to a mopey customer. He had called him cute, though. That probably had meant something. Morgan hated uncertainty. He was sure he would feel better once he talked to Ian, regardless of whether he got rejected or not. At least then he would know for sure, after he had gotten it out of his system.
He could go back to the club over the weekend if the waiter didn’t want to go out with him. Or maybe there would be a cute guy at work that wanted to date him.
He tried to stop himself from laughing. Workplace romances were complicated when people were straight, they seemed almost impossible when the people involved in them were gay. He should have been thinking about how well he was going to be able to perform at his job, the one he had been headhunted for, since that was a big deal. He should not have been thinking about imaginary men he hadn’t even met, he told himself.
He waited in line until a hostess seated him.
***
The moment the hostess seated him, Morgan could feel the smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. He was in the same section he had been in the day before, and he could see the waiter he had spoken to was there, bouncing around tables.
Even if he wasn’t assigned to his table, Morgan could always just go up to him when he was done with his meal. That turned out not to be necessary, though, because soon the waiter was at his table, smiling right back at him.
“Back so soon, huh?”
“I couldn’t resist,” Morgan replied. “The food here is pretty amazing.” Among other things, he thought, but didn’t say anything. No matter how tempted he was, he knew that this wasn’t the time for it.
“Best food in the city,” he said.
“I had enough left, but I got really drunk last night and ate it all by myself,” Morgan said quietly. “So, I’m back for brunch.”
Ian smiled. “I don’t blame you. Everything you had looked amazing.”
“It was,” Morgan replied. “The chocolate cake was particularly good. Thank you for the extra slice.”
“You’re very welcome,” he said. Then he took out the little pad he kept in the back pocket of his pants and looked at it instead of at him. “Will someone else be joining you?”
Morgan shook his head. “No, it’s just me today. Again. As usual.”
“Okay, great,” the waiter replied, flashing him a huge smile. His teeth were perfect and his eyes sparkled. “My name is Jan and I’ll be taking care of you today. What can I get you started with? Would you like anything to drink? We have bottomless mimosas for ten dollars.”
“No, thank you. I’ll just take some water. With ice,” Morgan replied, waving his hand in front of his face. “Wait. Your name is Jan?”
He nodded. “That’s what my mom says, anyway.”
“Oh,” Morgan replied. He could feel his cheeks burning, though it made no sense for him to be embarrassed. It wasn’t as though he had called the waiter something else aloud, only in his head.
When he caught Jan staring at him, his brow furrowed, and Morgan smiled at him. “I thought your name was Ian, that’s all.”
“Hah,” Jan replied, smiling back at him then looking down at his name tag. “Yeah, the font choice makes it look a little odd, I guess. And my name isn’t that common. Ian is pretty close. I’ve gotten some really weird ones before.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
Jan laughed, looking down and shaking his head as he did so. “I don’t really think either one of us has enough time for that right now. I get John a lot, though, which I guess is weird enough.”
Morgan bit his lower lip. This was his chance. He cleared his throat before he spoke, trying to make himself sound as loud as possible, though he felt small. “Do you think you may have time Saturday night? I would love to hear more.”
&nb
sp; Jan looked at him and cocked his head. Morgan thought he had asked him out in an obvious way. As far as he was concerned, there was little room for interpretation. But maybe Jan hadn’t been out for that long, or worse still, maybe he wasn’t even gay. Morgan sighed, looking down at the drinks menu that was already on the table. If Jan was straight, then this situation could escalate. It was not just weird, it was potentially dangerous.
Morgan couldn’t deal with that right then.
“Yeah,” Jan finally said. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Morgan’s gaze instantly shot up toward his face. “So, it’s a date.”
Jan smiled back at him, his eyes glimmering. Morgan couldn’t wait to get close enough to his face so he would know what color they were and now that might happen.
“It’s a date,” Jan repeated. “Where do you want to go?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think that far ahead,” Morgan replied, feeling the heat in his cheeks again. “I didn’t really think you’d say yes. I’m guessing it can’t be at Elements, right?”
“Unless the next date is wherever you work, probably not,” Jan replied.
Morgan laughed again. “Great. You’re cute and funny. I feel like I have to bring my A game now.”
“You think that now, wait until you actually get to know me,” Jan said, winking at him. “You’ll soon change that to cute and insufferable. And yeah, I expect nothing less.”
“Can’t wait,” Morgan replied.
Jan licked his lips and looked down at his feet. With the soft lighting in the restaurant, it was kind of hard to tell if he was blushing or not. “I’ll write my number on the bill. If that’s cool.”
“Yeah,” Morgan said. “Yeah, that’s cool.”
Jan winked at them, then cleared his throat, looking down at his pad. “So,” he said. “About those bottomless mimosas?”
“Well, I wasn’t going to,” Morgan replied. “But now I’m kind of in the mood to celebrate. So, yes. Bottomless mimosa me up, please.”
“Coming right up,” Jan replied, winking at him.
“Awesome,” Morgan said. He watched Jan turn around and stared at his ass until he went out the door and disappeared behind a group of people sitting outside.
He smiled to himself. He couldn’t wait to get his bill.
Chapter Three
Morgan arrived at work bright and early for his first day. It wasn’t hard, since the apartment building was across the street from the company itself. He supposed a lot of transplants lived there when they were first hired since everything seemed to be on the same block right across the street. No one had introduced themselves to him, and he hadn’t wanted to be the one to make the first move. He didn’t want to misstep. He knew that being immersed in company culture 24/7 came with certain risks and that, as long as he didn’t know the company inside and out, he was in danger of making a social mistake that would endanger his career.
At least it wasn’t a start-up. He had heard terrible things about start-up culture.
The only thing he had in this new city was his career. And a date with an incredibly cute guy. At least if one of them didn’t work out, it only meant that he wouldn’t be able to go to the best restaurant around his office, at least as far as online reviews said. If his career didn’t work out, everything he had worked so hard for would be for nothing. He pressed his lips together and tried to focus on the day ahead of him. He couldn’t think about that.
First day jitters were normal, but he couldn’t let his anxiety get the best of him when he was supposed to be making a good impression. He still couldn’t believe someone had headhunted him. He felt like they were going to tell him they had made a mistake, that they had headhunted him by accident.
He walked into the building, flashed the badge that he wore around his neck at the cute brunette receptionist with the blue-rimmed glasses downstairs and stood around until she told him someone was waiting for him on the twelfth floor. He nodded, made his way to the elevator and shuffled in with a bunch of people. He tried to keep his breathing steady. Being in this elevator didn’t help his anxiety.
He looked around at the people as they stepped off the elevator on different floors and wondered what they did. He wasn’t about to ask. When the doors opened on floor twelve and everyone spilled out, Morgan followed a few steps behind. The receptionist may have said there was someone waiting there for him, but he couldn’t see anyone who looked like they were waiting. He scanned the hallway and all he could see were offices all the way to the end of the floor. Swallowing, he walked down the hallway and looked around, trying to catch the eye of anyone. Anyone at all.
He finally spotted a woman wearing brown pants and a dark red button-up shirt. Her lipstick matched it, as did half of her bleached blond hair. The red was bright, the blond not so much. She was looking down at a tablet and only looked up for a second to catch his gaze. Her eyes widened in recognition as she approached him, but he was sure he didn’t know her.
She was imposing, beautiful and scary. He would have remembered her presence if he had met her before, even if it was in an interview situation. Not that the interview had been anything more than a formality.
“Hi,” she said. “You must be Morgan Newsted.”
“Yes,” he replied, extending his hand. Her handshake was steady and firm, a natural extension of the way she presented herself. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Kimber,” she replied. “I’m your direct supervisor, so you’ll be reporting to me. I’ll introduce you to everyone else on the floor. I am, again, sorry that I couldn’t make it to your interview when you were here a couple of weeks ago. We had a big expo and I couldn’t bail on it. I’m confident in your abilities, though, and we’re so glad you decided to come work for us.”
Morgan smiled. “It took some convincing.”
“I’m aware,” she said, flashing him back a tiny smile. “You’re a difficult man to entice, Mr. Newsted.”
“Morgan, please,” he replied. “My father is Mr. Newsted.”
She smiled, this time a little more sincerely. “Of course. Let me show you around, introduce you to some people, then we’ll get you all set up. The person who you’re replacing has recently been promoted, and she is not the tidiest. So, she might have left some of her stuff in your office. Feel free to stuff it in a box and send it up to the twentieth floor. Or you can wait until she comes down here for it, I don’t mind either way. You may just be waiting a really long time for her to come and collect her stuff.”
“Got it,” Morgan replied, nodding. He didn’t care about that, but he appreciated the warning all the same.
Kimber watched him. “There are four people on our team, not including me. I’m the liaison, both to the team’s supervisors and to sales and purchasing. They are the department that deals with those companies that have licensed or purchased the software. I’m also the head developer, so my job is to make sure things run as smoothly as possible between the people on our team. If you have any problems, please come to me first. We try to work things out between ourselves here.”
Morgan looked at her. He wasn’t sure that was a good thing, but he guessed he would find out as he continued working there. He turned around and started to walk briskly behind her. All that he was trying to do was keep up with her.
They passed a bunch of offices with glass walls and Kimber waved at people here and there.
“This,” she finally said, pushing a door on the right open, “is your office.”
Morgan looked around. The walls were covered with tall glass windows, so it wasn’t like there was much privacy, but it also afforded him a view that made that worth it. There was a small office desk that looked like it was made from oak on an angle in the corner, with a big leather chair behind it. A picture hung on the only wall that was a real wall, but it looked like the stock models in the frame had never been replaced with a real family photo. A couple of personal effects had been left on the desk, a stuffed green toy and a novelty stapler tha
t he quite liked, as well as a little unicorn. He walked to it to examine it, grabbing the pink felt unicorn off the desk and taking a close look at it.
“You should see the drawers,” Kimber said, as if she could read his mind. “You’re going to have to clear a bunch of things out. Don’t worry about that for now. Sam will brief you on what the current project is in an hour or two. In the meantime, I want you to settle in. Let me know if you have any questions. I’m across from you. And the moment you log in, you’re connected to the internal chat system, too. So, if you’re in something and can’t get up…”
Morgan looked at her, then at the office she had pointed to. It was only a few feet away from his own. He couldn’t picture a scenario where he wouldn’t be able to get off his ass and walk over to her office.
“Trust me,” she said, once again as if she could read his mind. “We get really swamped sometimes, and if you’re in the middle of something…”
“Got it,” Morgan replied apologetically. He didn’t like that it felt like this woman could read him so well. He always had been a private person and being around someone like this, who just happened to be his boss, was putting him on edge.
She looked him up and down, cocked her head and smiled. “Like I said, let me know if you need anything else. And don’t look so worried,” she replied, her smile widening. “We’re very happy to have you. I’m sure you’ll make a valuable addition to the team.”
“Good,” Morgan replied. “I hope so.”
She nodded and looked down at her tablet again, getting through the door without looking up once. Morgan admired the way she could maneuver through the glass labyrinth of the offices on the floor without bumping into any of them.
She had also said that she was going to introduce him to the rest of his team, but she had disappeared before doing that. That seemed way more important to Morgan than showing him his office. He wasn’t going to run after her and ask if she had forgotten, though.