Page 54 of On Your Knees

A smile breaks out over her face. “Come in, I will go get him. He is probably still asleep. My boy works hard, then stays up all night talking to that girl on the internet.”

She chuckles to herself as she leads me through her house. It’s small but homely and has a mother’s touch. I take in all the pictures of Arlo that hang on the walls as she leads me into the kitchen.

“Take a seat. I will be back in a second.”

After sitting down at the table, I remove the coffees from the tray and flatten it out. Why the heck am I nervous? I’m Zeland Reid-Ellington, I don’t get anxious.

A few minutes pass, then Arlo walks into the kitchen in only a pair of gray sweats, his tattoos on full display, and his hair a disheveled mess of curls.

“Sleepyhead was snoring. And how rude of me, I’m Rowena, Arlo’s mom.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rowena. I’m sure you hear this all the time, but you do not look old enough to have a son Arlo’s age.”

Arlo groans. “You didn’t come here to hit on my mom, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. But I did bring you both coffee and pastries,” I say with a laugh as I hand Rowena a caramel frou-frou bullshit the woman sold me at the coffee shop. It’s similar to what Aspen has been drinking this week, since she is trying all the different flavors at the shop next to our office building.

“Thank you, Zeland, that’s nice of you. Elaine will be here shortly, Arlo.”

Arlo groans. “I don’t understand why you are friends with that woman. She is such a bitch and looks down on us every chance she gets.”

“Arlo Atlas Kross, you mind your manners. I wish you would get along with Sunny—she is a lovely girl.”

Arlo snorts. “Never going to happen. She is a conniving bitch who wouldn’t be seen dead with me in public. Zeland, let’s go to my room.”

I get up from my spot. “It was nice to meet you.”

Rowena smiles politely as we leave the kitchen, but I hear her call out to Arlo. “Make sure you leave your door open.”

Arlo shakes his head. “Ma, I’m twenty-three, I don’t need you to protect my innocence anymore.”

Rowena cackles, and it’s then I know she is just trying to embarrass her son.

“Don’t mind the mess,” he says as we head down to the basement.

It’s really not as bad as I thought it would be—there are only a few shirts thrown around the room and maybe a handful of dirty socks.

“So what brings you here? Are you firing me?”

I laugh and take a seat on one end of the battered old sofa lounge, and Arlo sits down on the other, as far away from me as he can.

“No, I don’t actually have that much say in the hiring or firing of people on your floor. If you didn’t notice, I’m a very impulsive person, so feel free to tell me to fuck off if I have stepped out of my lane. As hard as it is to believe, I don’t actually have too many friends, not ones I would tell people I’m friends with anyway. In my world, most of our friends are people who we do business with or could do business with.”

“Sounds lonely.”

He reaches out for his coffee, and as I hand it to him, our fingers brush, the same ones I had buried in his ass just days ago. As he pulls away, I want to reach out and grab him, but I don’t because I try to respect people’s boundaries.

“Is Aspen okay?” he asks.

“She’s fine. She’s with Ridge today. He gets a little possessive and needs to stake his claim.”

“I hope it was okay that Aspen told me about your relationship.”

“Of course it’s okay, and it’s kind of why I’m here. My girl raves about you and it has me curious who this man is that she’s always talking about because he sounds like someone I want to get to know. And before the thought crosses your mind, it’s not because I’m a jealous asshole and I’m here to warn you away. I want to get to know you, Arlo, and maybe hang out.”

He eyes me suspiciously, and he is so damn fucking cute. “But why? I’m nothing special. I’m really very boring.”

“Well, people around me are fake as fuck, so boring sounds perfect. What would you do today if I wasn’t here?”

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