Chapter Ten
“A nightclub?” I repeated. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” he answered, pulling on a tight-fitting tee. I was going to argue the point, but then he said, “We can’t go out together back home. I can’t dance with you, I can’t be seen with you because of work. But we can here.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
As we got in the cab and Cooper gave directions, I asked him how he knew where to go. “I asked the doorman,” he said, as though it should have been obvious. Then he added, “The one who checked you out every time you walked past.”
“Checked me out?”
Cooper laughed at me. “You should get your eyes tested.”
“My eyes are just fine,” I said indignantly.
He took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Half the men we walk past look at you, and you have no idea.”
We pulled up at wherever Cooper had given directions to, and got out onto the busy sidewalk. It was late and cold, but there were people walking to and from venues up and down the street. Cooper pulled my hand and led me straight into one club, and the first thing I noticed was that they were mostly all men.
We showed our ID, the security guy took a double look at mine, but we walked in and headed toward the bar. Cooper pulled me in close, and I griped in his ear, “The guy at the door had to look twice at my ID.”
He leaned in close so I could hear him over the music. “Because you look so good for your age.”
I rolled my eyes and looked around the crowded room. I was easily the eldest man there by about ten years. “They probably think you’re here with your father.”
Cooper grabbed my face and kissed me, right there in a crowded bar, for anyone to see. “Now they don’t think I’m here with my father,” he said. He leaned over the bar, ordered two drinks and looked at me. “Now drop the age thing. We’re here to dance, okay?”
And that was what we did. We danced.
He led the way, of course. I’d expected nothing less. But he wasted no time in putting his hands on me, pulling me in close and making us sway. He kissed my neck and my lips, but it was easy to tell he was lost in the music.
The room was too crowded and the music was too loud, but his eyes were closed, his lips were curled in a small smile as he moved, and I didn’t care about anything else. He was beautiful to watch.
I ran my hands over his back, over his ass, and as I ran my hands up his sides, he lifted his arms above his head and swayed. He never opened his eyes, he never stopped smiling. But he danced, and I pulled him tighter against me and his arms came down around me.
I don’t know how long we danced for. I didn’t fucking care. If he wanted to dance—if that was what twenty-two year olds wanted to do—then I’d gladly do it with him.
We got back to the hotel at some ungodly hour, he pulled me onto the bed and instead of having sex, I sixty-nined him.
We woke up late, spent a lazy day shopping and taking in the foreign city. He was right. It was nice to be able to just be with him. We were free to just walk around, to be ourselves, without fear of being spotted by someone we worked with. And in New York we couldn’t do that. Granted it was a much bigger city, but there were eyes watching everywhere there, and someone would be bound to see us together and question why.
By mid-afternoon we were back in bed, both of us sated and breathing heavily. He was threading his fingers through the hair on my chest.
“Maybe we should get some sleep,” I suggested. “We need to check out of here at four in the morning.”
Cooper shook his head and pulled himself on top of me, sucking my nipple into his mouth. “No, you can sleep on the plane. I’m not done with you yet.”
* * * *
Walking back through the airport terminal in New York for me was bittersweet. I loved coming home, but I also didn’t want my time in Sydney to end. Cooper sighed. “Wish we had four more days.”
“Me too,” I replied honestly.
“What happens from here?” he asked quietly. It was rare to see him so unsure.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Well, my internship is up in four weeks…”
I wasn’t sure what he was alluding to. Whether it was that he’d no longer be an employee, or whether he assumed I’d make him a full-time employee, I wasn’t sure. “Things will be different, yes.”
He nodded slowly. “Good different, or bad different?”
“That depends on a lot of things that aren’t necessarily within my control,” I answered, knowing he’d understand I was referring to work. “But I’m hoping for the former of the two.”
He smiled. “That’s good to know.”
“Cooper, please understand, I’m not the one who decides if interns stay or go,” I told him. “Sometimes none of them do. Sometimes all the interns get is the experience they can take with them.”
“I know that,” he said. “I wasn’t implying that you… I didn’t mean for you to…” I’d never seen him struggle for words before. “I know that,” he said again. But then he smiled. “Just means we have to make the most of the next four weeks.”
We met the driver, he threw our luggage in the trunk of the car and we dropped Cooper home first. It was back to Mr. Elkin and Mr. Jones in the car and at work the next morning.
Jennifer came in with my morning coffee and asked me how the trip went. I told her we’d secured the Tamosaka job, to which she replied she already knew. “Did Mr. Jones get through his to-do list?” she asked.
I smiled at her. “Yes, he was very…good.”
She smiled at my choice of words. “Good to hear. Any chance to think on that perspective we discussed before you left?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I’m happy with what I’ve got,” I answered. “Just not sure on how to keep it.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of a way.”
I sighed. “Well, I hope so.” Then I thought of something. “Is Cooper in yet? I haven’t seen him.”
“Yes,” Jennifer answered. “Though I think he’s avoiding me. I presume you told him I know about you two?”
I smiled at her. “Yes, I told him. And yes, now he’s twice as scared of you.” But I stood up and walked with her out of my office. “The Tamosaka job file. Where is it?”
“With Donella.”
“And Cooper’s at his desk?”
“He was, yes.”
I walked down the hall to the cubicle area where the interns and other office staff were. I spotted him talking to the other interns and before I got to him, one of the draughtsmen stopped me to discuss something.
That was when I heard what Cooper was saying. They were discussing Sydney. “Yeah, it’s really beautiful, but it was cold. I’d like to go back in summer,” he said.
“How was the big meeting?” one girl asked.
“Oh, it was so good,” he told them. “Sitting in there with them while they talked business. It was kind of surreal.”
“And what was Mr. Elkin like?” someone else asked. “Did you see much of him?”
My heart stopped in my chest, waiting for his answer. I finished talking to the draftsman and walked slowly over toward Cooper.
“Nah, he spent his time doing whatever, and I did my thing,” he answered. But then he looked up at me walking toward him, then back to his little audience and smiled when he said, “He’s old anyway. What is he? Like fifty-five?”
“Good morning,” I said loudly, and every intern there, besides Cooper, looked up at me and scattered in every direction, suddenly very, very busy.
It was almost comical. Cooper certainly tried not to smile. The little shit.
“Mr. Jones? A moment please.”
“Certainly, Mr. Elkin,” he said, standing up. How he kept a straight face, I’ll never know.
I told him with my eyes he was in trouble, to which he replied with his eyes that he’d enjoy every moment of it.
“The Tamosaka file is with Donella, she’s one of my head draughters. I thought you might like to follow the job through its stages, considering you were there at inception.”
His eyes lit up. “I’d love to.”
Then with a stern voice for the benefit of the intern audience, I added, “Though I can probably think of fifty-five reasons to have you archive files for the rest of your stay here.”
Cooper bit the inside of his lip to stop from smiling, but the poor girl next to him who was staring at her computer screen trying not to listen to us made an odd whining sound. Cooper smiled. “That won’t be necessary, sir,” he said.
“I’ll let Donella know to expect you,” I told him. “But you can report to my office before you leave today.”
Sure enough, at a quarter to six, Jennifer’s line buzzed. “Mr. Jones to see you.”
“Thank you.”
He walked in and sat in the seat across from me, but he didn’t speak.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Fifty-five?”
Then he burst out laughing. “Oh, my God,” he said as he laughed. “That was the funniest thing I’ve seen.”
“The poor girl next to you was almost beside herself.”
He laughed again. “She thought you were gonna send me packing.”
“I should have,” I told him. “I should have kicked your ass out.” Maybe he would have taken me seriously if I wasn’t smiling when I said it. I shook my head at him and finally laughed. “You’re such a little shit.”
He cracked up laughing at that, but then Jennifer walked in and Cooper sat up in his seat and straightened out his suit as he tried to stop smiling, which of course made me laugh.
“Not so funny now, is it?”
He shook his head at me, then glanced nervously at Jennifer. She looked at me, obviously not used to seeing me laugh. “I’ll be heading home soon, Mr. Elkin. Are you working late or from home tonight?”
“Yes,” I told her. “Home tonight. I’ll be leaving soon, but I have some work to catch up on.”
“You missed lunch today, so I can order something for you to eat before I leave, if you’d like,” she said.
The sound of food sounded good. “Actually, that’d be great,” I told her. “Thai fish, delivered to home around eight would be lovely, thank you.”
Jennifer gave me a smile, then turned to Cooper. “Mr. Jones?”
Cooper’s eyes darted to mine, then back to Jennifer. “Pardon?”
I smiled at Jennifer. “He’ll have the same as me, and he likes those Thai vegetable rolls.”
“Very well,” she said and walked out of the door.
Cooper stared at me, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. “What just happened?”
“Jennifer just included you in my dinner order.”
His eyes lit up. “Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“I didn’t mean I was having you for dinner.”
“But you can.”
I sighed and closed my laptop. “See you at my place in half an hour?”
“Sure,” he answered. Then as he walked to the door, he said, “Tell Lionel I’ll see him then.”
* * * *
For the next three weeks, we worked together, professionally and discreetly, and spent time together in the privacy of our apartments.
I had no qualms in going to his place because, to put it plainly, no one who knew me professionally would ever be anywhere near Cooper’s small, not-luxury apartment on East sixty-first street. And if anyone spotted Cooper entering my building, they’d presume he was running errands for me. My interns worked when I did, and I worked all the time.
At the end of the third week, we’d spent an incredible Friday night finishing off some prelims at my dining table, then finishing each other off on the sofa, before moving to the bedroom where we’d spent the night trying to break our record for how many times we could have sex in one night.
He had the libido of a twenty-two-year-old guy, and I told him I’d die trying to keep up with him. He laughed, and told me, “At least you’ll die happy,” right before he took my cock in his mouth.
Fucking hell.
I knew the countdown to the end of his internship was approaching, but he never brought it up again. Neither did I.
We just spent our time talking and laughing. And fucking. He was insatiable.
By the time we got out of bed on Saturday, it was almost lunchtime. I woke up to hear him in the shower, which was a little odd, but he came out wearing just a towel and a grin. He straddled me, shoving his semi-hard dick near my mouth and told me he’d showered so I could rim him.
No doubt about it. If he wanted something, he just asked. Or, in more cases than not, he told me.
I didn’t mind. Hell, I didn’t mind at all.
So I threw him off me, pinned him face first on my bed and gave him just what he asked for. I left him a quivering, sated lump on the bed and started the shower. He joined me a short while later, but I told him no more sex until we’d both eaten at least.
I left him in the bathroom, pulled on a pair of cargos and went in search of food. I had half the contents of the fridge on the bench, a couple of plates, had the coffee brewing, my stomach was growling, and life was pretty fucking good.
Then there was a knock on the door.
There were only a very few select people who Lionel wouldn’t buzz through, and I didn’t have to wonder for long when Ryan’s voice called out. “Dad?”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Um,” I answered. “Coming,” I said, and when I unlocked the door, Ryan looked at my very rarely worn casual cargos, my shirtless torso and my still-wet hair.
“Did I get you out of the shower?”
“Uh, yeah…” I hesitated, walking back to the kitchen. “I was just making something to eat.”
“No worries,” he said brightly. “Just haven’t seen you much lately, thought I’d call in.” Then there was the sound of a door closing. Ryan turned his head toward the hall, then glanced back at me. “Is someone else here?” he asked. Then he grinned. “Do you have company?”
“Um, kind of…”
Fuck.
Then Cooper walked out, wearing only his underwear, holding up the new toothbrush I’d bought for him. “Tom, did you get me…”
And his words died away, as did his smile.
There were excuses I could give why Cooper was coming to and from my apartment lobby with his satchel or briefcase, but there was no reason whatsoever I could give to explain why he had walked out of my bedroom in his underwear. Except the truth.
The three of us stared at each other, mouths open and silent, then both of them looked at me.
“Ryan,” I started, but he held up his hand. He took a step back from me, then he turned and bolted for the door.