I’d never interviewed with anyone who thought it was a little bitdepressingthat I came off sonormal.
Eli’s words, not mine.
“But the swing and that setup she had in the third bedroom? That was fabulous.”
“You want it, you move in with her. Leave me out of it.” Anyone who answered the door in a leather getup made for the club was not simply looking for a roommate.
“I’m entirely too gay to appeal to her. And she doesn’t have the parts I’m interested in.” Eli waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “Besides, she was very interested in you. Didn’t she say something about you being a tasty little morsel?”
“Not even going there. I’m going to see if it works out with Houston. If not, I’ll take you up on the offer to live in the company apartments until I can find something else.”
The company apartments were basically efficiency units on the third floor of the building that Leashes & Lace owned. From what I’d been told during my interview, they’d purchased the building from a guy who’d been planning on turning the warehouse-style building into small apartments, but his financing had fallen through.
So instead of stripping out the small studio apartments on the third floor, they’d left them in for anyone who needed to use them. Of the six that were available, usually, two or three were free for employees who were between houses or just needed a place to crash for a couple of days.
I’d appreciated them when I’d first arrived in town, but I wanted more space from my job. Eli and the rest of the bunch didn’t seem to have the same need. They were more like a big family than simply co-workers, so it made the dynamics more interesting.
Which was how I came to have a half-naked Eli on my desk.
“Are you getting ready for a shoot?” I gestured to his outfit, finding it harder and harder to ignore. And no one could blame me, either. It was impossible to miss—and he was hot.
When they’d offered a small room on the first floor with the rest of the offices, or a larger space on the second near the main photography studio and an area where the models blogged and had their meetings, I’d thought the second floor would be more convenient.
I was starting to second-guess that decision.
Eli grinned and struck a dramatic pose. “Yes. Roman’s coming in soon, so I have to be ready. I know exactly what I want to do, and it’s going to make him nuts.”
I shook my head, trying not to get dragged into the middle of his war. “He seems…good at his job. A bit stuffy, but—”
“Judgmental and uptight and full of himself.” Eli huffed, and his normally cheerful personality faded to something almost angry. “If he weren’t so good with the camera, Preston would have fired his ass by now.”
“Um, I think the fact that you like making Roman crazy might be a reason Preston keeps him around as well.” The feud between the two men was becoming legendary around the office.
Eli smirked. “That too. I’d rather he quit, though. It’s going to be more fun that way.”
“Don’t let him make you crazy.” I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened to set the two men against each other, but I had a feeling Eli was more hurt than angry. I just wasn’t sure we were good enough friends to say anything yet.
“Never.” He gave me a wink and hopped off my desk, making sure I got a good flash of his ass.
Fighting not to blush, I just shook my head while Eli laughed. “I’m off. I want to talk to you about the blog schedule later. I don’t want to have any more problems with the site crashing.”
“Then keep your clothes on.” It was an easy fix. Every time Eli had gotten naughty on his blog over the last month, the site crashed. I’d managed to keep it up and running since I’d started, but from the look on his face, I knew Eli was ready to put my fixes to the test. It just needed to last a few more weeks until I had a chance to talk to Preston about a few upgrades.
“That wouldn’t be any fun at all.” I got another wink from Eli, and he strutted out of the office like he was on the catwalk. The heels he was wearing only played up the images in my head.
And if his exaggerated walk made his ass wiggle, I was going to ignore it.
I was also going to say a thank you to the universe that we were both submissive. He was a handful. And I still couldn’t believe I knew that about him after only knowing him for a handful of days. L and L was really the strangest place I’d ever worked—but it was starting to grow on me.
I hoped my moving in with Houston would turn out the same way.
Eli and some of our other co-workers had dragged me around to a few of their favorite bars. We’d gone to techno clubs and fancy places that were trying too hard, only to end up spending most of the night hanging out at their favorite run-down bar, BJ’s.
There were only a handful of good-size apartments in my price range, so I’d remembered the other ad immediately when I’d spied the notice on the board by the bathrooms. Eli had quizzed the owners, and they’d made Houston sound polite, probably a Dom by the way they’d worded things, but otherwise kind of typical.
Nothing like the man who’d answered the door.
With my furniture being delivered Friday, I just hoped he turned out to be a little more relaxed once we got used to one another. I still wasn’t sure what to make of him. That stern expression and commanding tone made my toes curl, but then he’d talked about panties, and everything got a little hard to define after that.
