Page 54 of Addicted
Owen tilted his head, giving Liam’s hand a squeeze. “What do you mean?”
Liam didn’t think he could blush more deeply but he was certainly trying. “W-Well, I um…” He looked down at the table, studying the remnants of his muffin. “I might’ve had a crush on you when I was in high school.”
“You had a crush on me?Me?“ Owen asked, pointing a finger at his chest. The whole thing should’ve been awkward but Owen’s confusion kept it light.
“Don’t you have a mirror at your house?” Liam was already in for a penny he might as well go for the whole pound. “You think you’re some broken old man but you’re gorgeous. I have trouble looking directly at you. Plus, you’re nice and super competent, you’re basically the whole package. And your problems don’t make you less of a catch. Like you said yesterday, they make you human.” Liam slumped a little in his chair. “It’s more like I don’t understand how you could wantme.”
A cloud passed over Owen’s face. “I can think ofmanyreasons why I want you.“ He gave Liam a sly grin full of promise. “Would you like me to list them?”
Liam felt his cock stir and vehemently shook his head, not wanting the entire coffee shop to see him with a tent in his pants. “Maybe later?”
“That’s a promise.” Pulling Liam’s hand up, Owen leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to the back of it and then let go. “I do want to talk about work first.”
“Mmhmm.” Liam was positively floating from the sweet gesture but Owen’s next statement slammed him back to earth.
“I’ve been doing some thinking and, for various reasons, I’d like you to take the office next to mine until you finish the project.”
“Wh-What? Why?” Liam couldn’t tell if it was a gift or a brush-off. Aside from John’s office and Owen’s moderately overflowing one, there were two others. One had housed The Pile as well as the leftover supplies that Dylan had been dumping whenever he was too lazy to go downstairs. The other was small and - like Owen had said - right next door to him.
Owen smiled tenderly and it eased some of Liam’s worry. “Because I don’t want to meet with clients and vendors in John’s office anymore and you need your own space to set up the scanner and laptop. Plus, I find you very distracting.”
“Oh my god.” Liam wasn’t used to Owen flirting with him and it made him want to cheer while hiding under the table in embarrassment.
“As soon as we get in, I’ll ask Brian to do cleaning and set up. He can have it ready for you in a few hours.” Owen took the first bite of his croissant.
Liam was getting an office. He was getting Owenandan office. The rumor mill at The Pointe would probably turn itself inside out but Liam was too happy to care. He wasn’t broken, he could feel joy and warmth, and every time Owen touched him, the chasm closed another inch.
“This is a nice place.” Owen finished off his coffee, scraping the crumbs from Liam’s muffin into a little pile.
“It is,” Liam agreed, remembering that he had a hot chocolate and taking a sip. It was rich and delicious even though the whipped cream had long since melted.
“Did you hear what’s on the menu?” Owen pushed the crumbs off the table, gathering them into his hand. “Me n’ u.”
Liam blinked for a moment then tossed his head back and laughed.
“So, Owen gave you the office next door, hmm?” Marci leaned against the doorframe, mischief in her eyes, her voice light and teasing. “I’ve been here forever and yetIdon’t have an office.”
“It’s just temporary. Nothing has ever been filed in this place and since Owen’s office looks like a bomb hit it and I need my own workstation, I’m going to finish up the project in here.” Straining, Liam lifted a heavily-full file box, putting it on whatever empty tabletop he could find. It had taken a little more than a day to set up the room. True to his word, Owen had done a quick survey of the small space as soon as they’d arrived at The Pointe and then recruited Brian and Dylan to help. By the following morning, the place was clean, an office chair and some tables had been found, and Liam had managed to move a great deal of the paperwork over. There was no desk. Liam wanted as much surface area as he could get so he’d asked for a few long tables from the cocktail hour setup and they lined the room in a U shape. With a chair in the center, everything was easily within reach.
He hated to admit it but Owen was right. Over their last day in the office together he’d found himself severely distracted, as if admitting feelings had taken away Liam’s ability to concentrate. While trying to sort illegible purchase orders, he’d found his attention drifting from pages full of scribbled handwriting to the curl of Owen’s hands and he’d yearned to test the strength in them, wanting them on his body. Later on, he’d tried to cross-reference some files but got preoccupied with the furrow of Owen’s brow as he balanced accounts, finding the small frown on his face excessively cute, and he’d tripped over his feet, almost smashing into the desk. He’d caught Owen staring a few times as well and, at one point, Owen’s face was so flushed that he’d had to loosen his tie.
But that was nothing compared to the small kiss Owen had snuck in after lunch. Liam had been gathering their plates and was practically out the door when Owen had caught his sleeve. He’d expected a question or a comment, not Owen’s lips briefly touching his and the steadying hand as he came close to dropping everything on the floor. His mouth still tingled hours later.
“You have files though. So, at one point peopledidfile them.“ Marci pointed at the boxes and stacks of file folders, all spread out in ordered chaos.
“Sort of.” Liam flopped into his chair and pointed at some paperwork on the end of the table. “The little pile over there is from the filing cabinet in Owen’s office. The rest are from The Pile and random places all over the building.”
“Random places all over the building?” she echoed in shock.
“You know I’ve been hunting around this place, right?”
“Yeah, but I thought it was just to get out of the office.”
She was somewhat right but Liam wasn’t going to tell her that.
“I was looking for paperwork. There was a stack of files under the broken leg of the desk in this office and a box of old receipts with full credit information in the kitchen, under some lobster pots. That is so illegal.” He cringed, thinking about what could’ve happened if someone walked off with all those card numbers. “We found a bunch of contracts in a Fourth of July box in the storage room and a few piles of invoices and other random things in John’s office, but the worst were the purchase orders that must’ve been on top of the pantry in the men’s room for the last two years. They were super dusty.”
“Gross. Honestly, if this place didn’t have you, me, and Owen, I think it would sink into the ground.” Marci leaned against one of the tables, looking around. “And yet I still don’t have an office.”
