Page 63 of Just Business
He answered Brian’s smile with one of his own. “It’s Monday and it’s cold. Figured I’d grab a cup before...” He nodded upward.
“Pittsburgh for you. One minute warm, the next freezing.” Brian gestured at the machines. “Mind making your own? I gotta catch up on dishes.”
All the invitation Justin needed. He set his backpack down and got to work. The perfect antidote to Eli—or so he thought until he ground his favorite blend. The sound and smell took him back to Eli’s kitchen.Fuck.Wasn’t anything his anymore?
He’d offered to make Eli coffee. Demanded it, actually. Why was he angry?
Justin shook his head and set about finishing his cappuccino. Gave it an extra shot just to clear his head of Eli. Or maybe of Francis—who shouldn’t evenbethere. He was about to ring himself up when Brian came out of the back.
“Hey, get away from that. It’s on the house.”
He wasn’t about to argue, so he saluted Brian with the cup. “I owe you, man.”
Brian waved the comment away. “Nah, you don’t.”
He would have argued, but the bell on the door sounded. More customers. Justin grabbed his backpack, gave Brian another wave, and headed upstairs. He took a sip on his way, savoring the taste. Not the same as Eli’s, but still deep and rich, even with the milk.
Francis hadn’t liked coffee.
Maybe—just maybe—he needed to let that past go. Trust that Eli wasn’t a rich dude looking for a toy, that there were true emotions behind the sex, a friendship to underlay the lust. That it wasn’t some dumb hope of Justin’s that there was more than endorphins and orgasms and doing exactly as told for the pleasure of another.
He entered the office and glanced into Eli’s office—and met Eli’s smile and the warm crinkle around his eyes. Justin’s heart skipped.
Yeah, maybe this time it would work. He returned the smile and sat at his desk. Maybe. Hopefully.
Please.
***
It would have been easier to work if Eli could have focused on something other than the way Justin’s hair had felt against his skin or how Justin’s breath had caught every time Eli had ground into him. Or the way his heart dipped whenever those blue eyes met his.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Of course that was the moment Sam chose to close Eli’s door.
Except when Eli turned and looked, it wasn’t Sam lounging against the wood—it was Michael. The reproach Eli had formed died in his throat.
Michael smiled with the same twist of lips he always had when he’d beaten Eli at his own game. That had never stopped—the tiny power games they played. Most of the time, Eli welcomed them. “Oh, fuck you.” He turned back to his computer.
A snort from Michael. “Nice to see you, too, Eli.”
Hearing his full name made Eli swing back around. Michael had folded himself into one of the chairs at the guest table. “Why are you here?”
Michael wore his usual five-o’clock best, though the tropical shirt had long sleeves and socks had sprouted between his feet and Dockers. Winter wear. “I wanted to see how you were.” Quiet words, and personal. No masks, no games.
“I’m...” He neverhadmanaged to be able to lie to Michael. He stole a glance at the door, wishing for a moment he could see Justin and glad he could not. He returned his focus to Michael. “No,why are youhere?”
Michael sat forward, elbows on knees, and leveled a long, measured stare at Eli, as if trying to peer inside. Eli knew there were cracks in his façade and Michael was one of the few who could see every single one.
“Justin White.”
Like the shock from static or the first lash of a whip. Eli tightened his hands around the armrests of his chair. “What about him?”
Michael tilted his head. “I’ve watched you scene before and fuck men afterward. Never with that kind of intensity, with that much passion.”
The floor might have fallen away, because Eli tumbled fast enough to gasp. He held on to the chair as the room shuddered. Only it was him shivering in his warm office. Passion. Yes. That, too. “He’s... different from the others.”
“No shit,” Michael said. “You took him on as a sub, didn’t you?”
Now it was too warm in the room. “No.” The words were thick in his throat. “I took him on as a boyfriend.”
