Is he…hard? Because of me?
Why does that send a flutter of excitement through me?
“Alek?” For a brief second, I wonder what he would do if I reached out and ran my hands along the tense muscles of his back and up the front of his hard chest. Maybe if I’m brave enough to explore this newfound attraction, my hands could wander even lower. I clear my throat. “What if—”
“Please, Luke. Donotfinish that thought,” Alek cuts in, his voice firm but ragged.
My tongue swipes along my bottom lip. “Why not?”
“I’m not a good man.” He says it like a warning, and it makes my heart thrash. “I will not make myself resist you just because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t care about rules or what society thinks is right and wrong. I live by my own standards, and I promise turning you down isn’t one of them.”
I suck in a breath, the whoosh loud in the quiet room. Alek’s breaths are coming faster now, his shoulders tense like he’s barely restraining himself.
“It’s one thing to flirt with me, but you better think long and hard about what you do and say next. Shit, we barely know each other. I don’t think you’re ready for the things I want to do to you,” Alek grits out.
“What—what things?” I ask tentatively, my voice a breathless whisper.
“Depraved things no forty-three-year-old man should want to do to his son’s best friend.”
There’s a quiet knock on the office door, followed by Maria’s cheery, sing-song voice. It breaks the spell, effectively dousing the fire in my veins with cold water. Alek groans, still refusing to look at me as I jump up.
What was I thinking, coming onto my boss? If I hook up with him and it goes south, I could be out of a job. And then how will I pay for Evelyn’s rehab? I’ll be the world’s biggest disappointment of a son, and then Jax will find out and…
The walls start closing in around me as I stride towards the door and throw it open. Maria stands on the other side, looking momentarily startled before her expression morphs into one of concern.
“Luke?”
I brush past her, rushing down the hall and out of the building without another word. Blood whooshes in my ears as I jerk my car door open, my limbs shaky as I climb in. My forehead thumps against the steering wheel and I groan.
Sitting there for a long while, I remain rooted in place until my rigid posture relaxes and I pull my head up and glance toward the building. Alek is still in there, more than likely shaking his head. He probably thinks I’m a vapid, airheaded fool who doesn’t know what he wants. Or even worse, he thinks I’m toying with him.
But then I remember the way his gaze zeroed in on me earlier today when I had a pencil perched between my teeth. If I’m honest with myself, it’s not the first time I’ve been attracted to another man. But this time is different. The chemistry between us is like a crackling flame. One drop of gasoline and it’ll whoosh out of control.
Someone is bound to get burned, and I don’t want it to be me.
But I already know Alek Cromwell is a temptation I’m not prepared to resist. Fresh arousal lights me up from the inside out as I remember his parting words.
“Because you’re not ready for the things I want to do to you.”
But that’s not completely true, is it? My body is one hundred percent on board; it’s my brain that’s still struggling to accept what this could mean for me. Still, after a mere three days of working for Alek, part of me wants to throw caution to the wind and see what happens.
On a scale of one to ten, how pissed would Caleb be if I fucked his dad?
Alek
“You left work early today.” Caleb’s slightly accusatory voice filters in through the cell phone pressed to my ear. The sound is muffled and hard to hear over the noise of the club, but I always make it a point to pick up the phone anytime my son calls me.
I snort. “Didn’t realize you were tracking my whereabouts.”
“Iseverything okay?”
A whiskey is placed in front me and I nod at the bartender, something inside me softening at the concern in Caleb’s voice. “Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You never leave work early. You’re, like, married to that place.”
I wince. He’s not wrong, especially now that Caleb is grown and out of the house. It’s not like I have anybody to come home to, but it’s still hard to hear. Then something occurs to me, and I frown. “How did you know I left work early?”
“Oh, well…” he hedges.
