He waved off my concern. “I just have a few things to do before I can go. Paperwork stuff, nothing on the blog, I promise.”
Eli seemed genuine, so I nodded. “Alright, but quickly, and then go home. You’ve been working too much.”
“I won’t make extra work for you. Not when you want to please your maybe-master.”
He sucked. “He’s not my anything. Just my roommate who I’m still trying to butter up so I don’t have to move out anytime soon. Big kitchen and bedroom and low rent, remember?” I did not want to move.
Eli laughed. “He’s so into you.”
“He wants a free dinner.” At least, that was all I thought he wanted.
“Go have fun with your roommate.” Only Eli could make that sound dirty.
Throwing up my middle finger while he nearly giggled in the background, I headed out of the office, pleased that he seemed to be back to his old self. I just needed one full night off with no crazy emergency calls from Eli or Preston about the site.
One night to hang out with Houston and maybe get to know what else he was into besides work and the gym…like bondage, discipline…hobbies like that.
* * * * *
Houston met me at the door. “It’s going to have to be against the rules to leave something like that in the kitchen all day. The smell is distracting.”
I just laughed. The funniest part was how serious he was. “I’ll keep that under advisement.”
He huffed and started heading back to his office. “Are you sure I’m going to get lasagna tonight? That’s what you said about the stir fry and the soup.”
“You had the soup.” I was the one who’d gotten the short end of the stick on that one.
He turned, frowning, and if it weren’t for his sheer size and generally dominant personality, I would have said pouted. “But you’d promised biscuits to go with it.”
Trying not to smile, I just nodded. “Everything should be fine at work.”
It had to, or I was going to kill Eli.
Houston snorted and shook his head. “I’ll believe that when I see it. You seem to work for morons who have no boundaries.”
Some days I would have to agree with him. “The major upgrades aren’t going to take much longer. After that, it’s mostly going to be maintenance and reorganizing the site a bit to make traffic flow easier.”
He nodded, but clearly didn’t believe me at all. “I just hope they’re paying you adequately for the additional work you’re being required to do. A little bit of unpaid overtime is one thing, but you’ve gone well beyond that.”
Not exactly, but I wasn’t going to say that when he had that look on his face. And since he wasn’t my Dom it wasn’t lying. Hell, he probably wasn’t anyone’s Dom. “I’m working it out with Preston.”
Well, he’d said to keep track of the overtime and he’d tack it on to my vacation hours. So far, I could probably travel to Australia and spend two weeks exploring the outback and not run out of leave. I just hoped he didn’t come to regret it when I actually used the days.
Before I got to use my PTO, something had to be done about Eli and Roman. They were just miserable.
“Make sure you get any deals in writing, Reece. Verbal contracts are not sufficient when working out delicate matters.” Houston must have thought something sounded off because he kept going after a short pause. “Money matters and things of that nature.”
We’d been talking about finances, so he shouldn’t have felt the need to clarify that. Right?
“He emailed me the details, so I think that should work as a contract. If it were something more…personal, I’d make sure to have a contract written out in person. Sitting down to go over…the details is important.” Sure, we were talking about finance.
Houston gave me a long look, and for a moment, I thought he’d say something. But he finally nodded and changed the subject. Was I reading him wrong? Was I just seeing things because that’s what I wanted to be there?
Probably.
“I’ll be out to help you in just a minute. I need to finish a few things up. There probably isn’t a lot I’m qualified to do, but I can clean.” He was serious, but I just grinned. Yes, he could clean.
“Thank you.” Houston didn’t seem to understand what was funny, but he didn’t question what he probably thought of as my insanity. He cleaned more than anyone I’d ever met. I didn’t seem to drive him crazy, even when I put something away in the wrong spot or accidentally left stuff lying around, which I was grateful for. It was just distracting.
I’d leave my keys in the kitchen or on top of the dryer, and he’d go behind me, putting them away where they belonged. Remembering to look for things where they were meant to go was hard. I was supposed to walk all over the house looking for my keys, not just to the table by the front door. His goal seemed to be to keep me organized, but it felt like he was trying to take care of me. It made keeping my distance even harder.
“Yes, Sir” had already slipped out entirely too often, and I was eventually going to say something stupid if I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that he wasn’t a Dom.
Actually remembering to set my keys on the little table where he preferred, I headed toward the kitchen. Houston always did the dishes when I cooked, so there was nothing to clean up, but I took a few minutes to get organized and check the sauce before I got started with everything else.
The slow cooker recipe wasn’t my personal favorite, but it was what I’d had time for, so I tried not to worry. Houston was going to love it. He’d been eating jarred sauce, so there was really no comparison, anyway. Adding a few last-minute seasonings, I turned off the pot and started getting everything out.
Houston’s voice coming from the doorway startled me. “Is there going to be leftover sauce?”
He laughed when I jumped and scowled at him. “Make more noise.”
“Sorry.” But his devilish grin said he didn’t feel bad.
Giving him a frown, I set the eggs on the counter. That could have made a mess. “A little, why? I usually make several batches at one time, but this slow cooker isn’t that big.”
“Just curious.” He walked over to the table and sat down. “I’ve been smelling it all afternoon, and I’ve got a list of things it would probably taste wonderful on.”
“There should be enough to go on a pizza later this week or something like that.” Maybe even a baked ziti or spaghetti. My mental wandering was stopped by Houston’s low moan.
Fuck.
“That sounds delicious.” He licked his lips and gave me a long look. “You sure it’s not too much work for you? I don’t want you to spend all your extra time trying to please me.”
Food, he was just talking about food.
“It’s fine. I…um, I like…cooking for you.” If he wanted me to get the recipe right, he was going to have to stop doing that to me. Distracting me was one thing, but the way he watched me put crazy images in my head.
It’d clearly been too long since I’d subbed, or just fooled around with someone, because turning away from him and going back over to the counter was harder than it should have been. Focus. I needed something to get my mind out of the gutter…or the dungeon, in my case. “How was work today?”
He gave a dissatisfied grunt. “I was looking at taking on a new client. He wants to do an internet startup and needs help with his business plan. I asked for his research and copies of what he has so far. All I got were photocopies of Starbucks napkins and a crazy mind-map type drawing that I think I remember doing in elementary school. Nothing that makes sense, and he’s really not understanding why that isn’t going to suffice.”
Chuckling, I glanced back at him. “Napkins?”
“Yes.” Houston sighed dramatically. “Little notes everywhere. It might be a good idea, hell, he might change the internet, but I can’t understand enough to make sense of it all.”
“What did he say when you told him to redo it?” I gave Houston a sideways glance. “Because I know there w
as no way you danced around the topic and said it nicely.”
Houston laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I just snorted and waited for him to keep going. Finally, he grinned. “Alright, so I might have suggested that he put some time and effort into really planning the business if he wants it to succeed. Then I gave him some tips. I was very helpful.”
“So you gave him tons of homework and fussed at him for turning his assignment in half-done? I had teachers like you in school.” I grinned as he chuckled but didn’t deny the comparison. “I’m betting it was a very long list.”
“Several pages—and then I sent him a bill for wasting my time.” Houston shook his head. “He was just trying to get someone else to do all the work for him. I made it very clear up front I was not designing his business or finding a new job for him. He chose not to listen.”
“Do you think he’s going to follow instructions and actually get back to you with real information?”
“Possibly. With some people, it’s hard to know if they’re just looking for…help or someone to actually take control. It could go either way; I’m still trying to figure it out.” His voice was odd, and glancing over, I saw he was giving me a curious look.
I smiled at him. “You’ll figure it out. You take charge well enough that I’m sure you’ll have him straightened out in no time.” The curious look continued, and I fought the urge to look down and see if my zipper was open.
His response came out in a steady voice, but something about it made me want to squirm. “I’m hoping I will.”
I was saved by the phone.
We both jumped as the buzzing got louder. Pulling it out of my pocket, I quietly cursed as I saw the name come up on the caller ID. Trouble. Eli’s new nickname in my contact list. Swiping my finger across the screen, I didn’t even say hello. “What did you do?”
His screaming voice came through the speaker. “That asshole said he was glad I finally put on some fucking clothes but trailer trash chic wasn’t the right sort of look for the office!”
Good god, they needed to fuck and get it over with.
“What did you do?” My voice was rising, and I started to hear the ping of notifications coming through, one after the other.
“Well, I told him what he could do with his goddamned attitude and I showed him!” Eli’s screeching voice had me pulling the phone away from my ear.
“Damn it, Eli!”
I could almost see Eli waving his hands, losing his marbles. The yelling wasn’t as bad, but he was nowhere near calm. “It wasn’t that bad, but now I’m getting weird error messages and some kind of host error and my computer is screaming at me. Preston’s losing his shit!”
“I’ll be right there, but this is the last time!” I was going to kill him.
Hanging up, I quickly glanced at the phone, mumbling every curse word I could think of. Preston’s string of expletives made me wince, and I could only imagine how crazy he was. From what he was texting, it seemed like Eli had blasted “that ass” and had gone on a rampage, getting everyone so stirred up the site just hadn’t been able to handle the load. “I told him this would happen.”
Grumbling, I looked up at a confused Houston. He just looked down at the phone, frowning. “I’m not getting lasagna, am I?”
“I’m sorry.” I started cleaning up as fast as I could. “The site is down again, and I have to go fix the mess. I’m going to have everything updated next week, but there just hasn’t been time. Everything was so outdated.”
“You go. I’ll clean this up.” He looked so understanding, and the command came through clearly, but I knew he was disappointed. I had a feeling it wasn’t just about the lasagna, either. He’d been doing his best to give us a chance to get to know each other, but every time we started talking, Eli struck.
“Thank you.” I bit off the “Sir” that constantly tried to escape.
Running out of the kitchen, I called out as I grabbed my keys. “I’ll make you the lasagna this weekend, promise.”
Houston was grumbling something as I ran out that almost sounded like punish and spank. I knew I had to be wrong, but there wasn’t time to ask what he was actually saying. The company did tons of business overnight when most people were off work and in the privacy of their own homes, and every minute down was lost revenue.
Eli was going to owe me big-time.
Chapter 9
Houston
He was driving me crazy—I just wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or not.
In the week since the infamous panty incident, I’d learned a lot about my new roommate:
He drank too much coffee.
His last roommate was nuts.
His last serious relationship was with a woman.
He’d been single for long enough to be ready to date again.
And he worked crazy hours.
But there were also endless things I still didn’t know: his sexuality, his submission, why the hell Eli kept calling at crazy hours screaming about that man and then something about blogs that made Reece run back to work so fast, and who the hell Lane was.
I was starting to think I should have made more progress, but he was either vague or busy, and pushing for more seemed rude…and weird.
Rude and weird were starting to feel like better options, though, just so I could focus on work, if nothing else. When he was gone, it was easier to get shit done, but once he was home, my brain started running in circles.
I’d even begun rearranging my day to make sure I wasn’t trying to get anything important done when he was home. I’d moved three meetings around already, and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to change.
Glancing over at the clock, I was surprised to see that it was already time to step away from everything for the day. When I’d first started working from home, I’d found myself spending an insane number of hours on the clock. It hadn’t taken long to realize I needed to set some boundaries.
At five on a Friday, I’d hit that line. Standing and stretching, I forced myself to walk out of the office. Heading toward the kitchen, I tried to remember what I’d been planning on grabbing for dinner. I was starting to get spoiled with Reece willing to cook most nights. That was, unless he got an emergency Eli call, then it was a fend-for-myself night.
I understood more than anyone that work was important, but when Eli had called just as Reece was starting to make lasagna from scratch, I might have had a few violent fantasies about where to shove that phone. But when Eli had started screaming that he’d crashed the site again and something about that damned man, I’d felt bad for Reece.
And impressed by the number of variations he could come up with for the word fuck.
But I still hadn’t gotten my lasagna.
Digging in the fridge, I heard the door open and Reece’s voice call out. “Hey.”
Not quite a “honey, I’m home,” but it was close. I couldn’t decide if he realized he did those kinds of things or not. The Dom in me got a perverse kick when he would tell me his plans for the day or find me when he got home. The fact that he took to calling it home so easily pleased my inner Dom as well.
“In the kitchen.”
When his head popped in the door, he was grinning. “Still complaining that you haven’t gotten lasagna yet?”
“Of course not.” I shrugged casually, but I knew he could see I was lying. “But if you’d made it for me like you said you would, I’d be having leftovers right now.”
Reece laughed, and his head cocked to one side as he leaned against the doorframe. “How about I make it for you tomorrow? I already said I’d go out with some people from work tonight, but I don’t have any plans for the rest of the weekend.”
“I’ll believe it when I can actually smell it cooking.” Shutting the fridge, I propped one hip against the counter and tried to look curious but not stalkerish. “Where are you guys going?”
He shrugged. However, there seemed to be a faint blush climbing his cheeks.
“Just dinner at Hannah’s place, then to a club downtown with a few people from work. I don’t think I’ll be out late.”
Nodding, I gave him a stern look. “Just be careful. Some of those areas get rough after dark.”
He grinned and shook his head, clearly thinking I worried too much. “No drinking and driving and we’ll park close to the club. Honest.”
“Just be careful.” I wanted to add…don’t have too much fun. However, I was smart enough to keep that part to myself.
Laughing, Reece started back out of the kitchen. “I’ll see you later. And I’ll make the lasagna tomorrow, promise.”
“You’d better, or I’m going to start to think you’re a tease, all talk and no action.” I knew I shouldn’t have said it as soon as it came out. Every time I opened my mouth, it was a fifty-fifty chance that I’d say something borderline inappropriate.
A giggle echoed from down the hall. The sound was completely at odds with the image of Reece I had in my head. His response came out light and teasing, and not the least bit offended, thankfully. “That is one thing I’ve never been accused of being.”
Fuck.
Did he have any idea how that sounded?
The pictures in my mind made it impossible to focus on food. Poking around in the fridge for a few more minutes, I eventually gave up. A freezer meal or leftovers was not what I wanted to eat. Especially if it meant he might not have enough sauce for the lasagna. “Out. You need to get out of the house.”
“What?” Reece stepped through the door.
“Nothing.” Admitting I was talking to myself wasn’t something I was going to do.
Not that I could have made my brain work. He was…Fuck.
His jeans were almost painted on. He was too built to be a twink, but they cupped every muscle and bulge. Every bulge. His shirt wasn’t much better…it was even more distracting. His paper-thin cotton T-shirt wasn’t as tight as his pants, but that just gave the shirt room to move and highlighted his sculpted body.
I knew there was no way to hide my reaction; I just hadn’t been prepared for it. However, he didn’t seem to mind. His cheeks took on a faint blush, but his eyes sparkled and he shifted, cocking his hips so it drew even more attention to his thick dick, clearly outlined in the painted-on jeans.
Leashes & Lace Books 1-3: MM Romance Boxed Set Page 7