Not Safe for Work(4)

Like me, he’d opted for a shirt and tie, and we’d both rolled our sleeves to the elbows. To anyone who cared to look, we were just a couple of guys meeting up for a drink after work. If not for that Rolex around his wrist and the years-old Seiko around mine, we might’ve even appeared to be the same pay grade.

What if someone from work sees us?

Panic tightened my chest, but I quickly brushed it off. All I have to do is say he invited me to have a drink with him, and what was I supposed to do? Say no?

Bulletproof alibi.

With my heart still in my throat, I took a seat across from him. “You’re early.”

He smiled. “Wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get here. I, uh, didn’t want to be late.”

“Good. Punctuality is always a plus.”

Our eyes met again, and goddamn, he was a sub, wasn’t he? One little hint of approval, and I could feel the warmth radiating off him.

A waitress appeared beside us. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Just an iced tea. Thank you.” As much as I wanted something harder, my head was already light. No booze this evening.

She turned to Rick. “And you?”

He gestured at the glass in front of him. “I’ll stick with water. Thanks.”

She smiled and then disappeared to get my drink.

Alone again, I looked at Rick. “Listen, um, before we settle in too far, I need to make sure we’re on the same page about something. We should, um…” I cleared my throat. “Look, to be perfectly blunt, if anyone at Mitchell & Forsythe finds out about—”

“They won’t.” There it was—that nonnegotiable tone I usually heard during meetings. He shook his head and added, “No one can find out about this.”

“I agree. But if, hypothetically, someone did find out, I could be out of a job.”

“Exactly why we won’t let that happen.” Rick’s expression softened. “I have no interest in anyone finding out about this. Everyone at Horizon Developing knows damn well I’m gay, but they don’t know I’m kinky. I’d just as soon they didn’t find out. So, absolute discretion.”

I nodded. “No one at Mitchell & Forsythe knows about me either, so…yeah. Discretion is good.”

“Of course.” He paused, studying me. “And I assume it goes without saying that during office hours, this”—he gestured at both of us—“whatever it is, doesn’t exist.”

I still can’t believe “this” does exist.

“Agreed.”

He nodded. “Good. This is none of anyone’s business but ours, and definitely not our colleagues’.”

There was something odd about Rick implying we had the same set of colleagues. Technically we did. The difference was that I was several levels below them and he was miles above them.

“Right,” I said. “None of their business.”

Rick’s eyebrows rose. “So, we’re on the same page?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

His features relaxed, and his smile gave me goose bumps. “Good. Because I really like what I read on your profile.”

“Likewise.” Where the hell is my iced tea? And why didn’t I make it a Long Island? “Apparently I wasn’t the only one bored out of my skull during that meeting.”

Rick laughed. “Well, to be fair, I, um, saw your profile a few days ago.”

“Did you? But I didn’t see you on—oh, yours must have been private.”

“Yep. I mean, I thought about pinging you a few times, but with our, um, situation, I thought better of it.” He met my gaze, smiling a little bit sheepishly. “But when I realized you were on your phone right then, I thought, what the hell? I’ll take the chance.” He sat up a bit. He was taller than me by a couple of inches, and the way he sat now emphasized that, made me look up just slightly. “So here we are.”

“Yeah.” I shifted too, lifting my chin. “Here we are.”

Eyes locked on mine, he rested his forearms on the table, which brought him down just slightly. “It’s funny,” he said quietly. “You just never know who’s kinky, do you?” A grin spread across his slim lips. “I noticed you the first time I met you, but I was surprised as hell to see you on Leathr. Realizing we were on the same wavelength…” The grin broadened.

I was about to respond, but the waitress showed up with my drink. I thanked her and, as she walked away, took a deep swallow. “I didn’t expect you to be kinky either.”

“Appearances can be deceiving, can’t they?”

“They can. Especially when you find out that one of the ten most powerful men in the region likes getting down on his knees and having his face f*cked.”

Rick dropped his gaze and shuddered hard. The pink in his cheeks didn’t strike me as embarrassment. I suspected that wasn’t the only place he had blood rushing right then.

I leaned closer and lowered my voice. “I kind of like the sound of that, you know? Someone with as much power and influence as you, down on your knees in front of me. Especially if you’ve got your hands tied. And maybe your ankles. If you’re good.”

Rick moistened his lips, and his eyes flicked up to meet mine. “Yeah. We’re on the same wavelength.”