Reece
Hanging up the phone, I couldn’t resist berating myself. Could I have sounded any more like a needy sub? It didn’t matter that I was a needy sub in desperate need of a spanking and thorough fucking. Houston didn’t need to know that.
He also didn’t need to know that I was quickly becoming obsessed with what he was wearing under his clothes, and what other kinds of sexy things I might see in his laundry. Working around half-naked men all day and scrolling through page after page of sexy photos on the site wasn’t helping, either. I could picture Houston in everything from sweet and simple to erotic and wicked, and everything in between.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Why are you an idiot?” Eli’s head came around the doorframe, grinning and clearly looking for something to do, if the teasing gleam in his eyes was any indication. “Did you do something fabulously naughty?”
Laughing, I shook my head. Not yet, at least. “No, I just realized how stupid I sounded on the phone.”
Eli didn’t bother to hide his curiosity. He just sauntered right in wearing tiny little briefs and not much else, unless you counted the bright pink nail polish that hadn’t been there earlier. “Who were you calling?”
“My new roommate.” I shrugged and leaned back in my chair, stretching my neck out. “I was just letting him know when the truck was going to drop off the storage container. You’re still okay with helping? I really appreciate it, but I know it’s a lot—”
“No.” Eli held up a hand and leaned one half-naked butt cheek on my desk. “None of us mind helping. We’re a family here. A weird, fucked-up, maybe slightly incestuous bunch, but still a family.”
I knew his little speech was supposed to make me feel better, but I was left feeling confused and curious instead. Hell, that had probably been the point to begin with. Ignoring the weird parts, I just focused on the fact that I was clearly family too. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Eli grinned. “So why did you sound like an idiot?”
It had been too much to hope he’d forget about that part. “Nothing specific, I just didn’t come across very professional.”
Eli wasn’t going to be thrown off the trail. “If you weren’t professional, I’m thinking he’s distracting…or hot?”
“Eli.” I rolled my eyes and tried not to let him guess how right he was, but it was no use.
“Oh, he’s that hot? Tell me all about the sexy mystery man. We know he’s gay. You said something about him being in finance and working from home. Didn’t you say he was kind of off and just charged in…charging in…taking charge…taking control…” Eli smirked and did a little happy dance. “Hmm, I think we have something interesting here.”
“Nothing interesting.” At least, probably not. “He was just a bit rough around the edges.”
“Rough around the edges like a Dom that’s passionately into his new mysterious roommate?” Eli was clearly getting into the fantasy. “I bet you didn’t tell him about yourself at all, and he’s pining for you.”
In my dreams. “You’re an idiot.” And so was I.
“I’m fabulous and right. We’ll see when I go on Friday. I have great radar for Doms.” He shrugged. “They always turn out to be assholes, but I can spot them a mile away.”
Considering his weird almost-relationship with Roman, I wasn’t going to count on his radar. He couldn’t even see—Nope, I wasn’t going to get involved. Not my business. “I’d rather you not point out that he’s an asshole, but thanks. I need a place to live, and I’m not getting kicked out for coming on to him. Besides, nothing about him said Dom, and no one at the bar said anything about him being a Dom, did they?”
Vague hinting didn’t count.
Eli shrugged. “That’s not the point. I didn’t ask. I just made sure he wasn’t insane when you found the notice.”
Such a big help.
“Well, he’s not crazy, and that’s all I’m worried about.” With a big room and great kitchen, he could be as crazy as he wanted, as long as the rent didn’t go up. He could even walk around in the same sexy outfits that Eli and the rest of the guys did, and I wouldn’t say a word. Nope, not one word.
Moans didn’t count.
Pushing away from my desk, I groaned as I stood up. I’d been sitting for too many hours. “Okay, I’m done.”
Eli glanced at the clock and cocked one eyebrow. “You should have been gone ages ago.”
I shrugged, not concerned about the time. “I knew when I took the job that the hours might be weird. And with the time off I’m getting on Friday, I don’t feel bad. Preston said not to worry about using PTO for it, so I want to make sure I’m not leaving you guys in the lurch.”
“We’ll be fine. And I even promised not to update the blog while you’re getting moved in, didn’t I?” He gave me a look like I should be very proud of him.
“Yes, thank you for agreeing not to crash the site again while I can’t be here.” If it came out slightly sarcastically, I wasn’t going to feel bad.
Neither did Eli, evidently, because he smiled and straightened. “I’m happy to help.”
“Thanks.” I was surrounded by crazy people; no wonder my own sanity wasn’t able to keep up with all the wild fantasies running through my mind.
Closing everything down for the night, I started heading out of the office. “You coming?”
He smirked. “Not yet, but give me a bit and I could be tempted.”
“Eli.” Rolling my eyes, I just started walking away.
Eli laughed and bounced out of the room after me. “What are we doing for dinner? You’re clearly bored.”
I had to laugh. I was bored? “I don’t want to be out late. I have to pack tonight.”
I glanced back to see Eli waving his hand like I was being ridiculous. “You’ve been living out of a suitcase. You have like fifteen minutes of packing, tops.”
Unfortunately, he was right. But in my defense, it was two suitcases and a couple of boxes in my car. As we headed up the stairs at the end of the hall, I gave him a firm look. “I’m still not going out late. No dragging me to weird bars.”
“Hey, at that weird bar you found a roommate. So I think you owe me.” Eli perked up and almost danced up the stairs.
There was no ignoring his state of dress anymore. “Why are you naked?”
“I’m not naked.” He stopped in front of me and wiggled his ass so the panties flashed in my face.
“Fine, why are you dancing around here in just panties?” I knew better than to ask, but there was just something about working there that had my common sense leaking out my ears.
Glancing back, he winked at me. “It’s a bet.”
I was stupid. “What kind of bet?”
Beaming, he stopped and posed on the stairs. “I have to work in just panties or lingerie for the next two days. Then I win.”
My inner idiot couldn’t be held back. “Why and what?”
Eli must have understood what I was asking because he grinned and kept walking. “One of the people who regularly comments on the blog wanted to find a way to drive Roman crazy and came up with the bet. If I win, then he’s going to donate two thousand dollars to the LGBT youth center downtown, and he gets to claim that his idea made Roman nuts.”
“He doesn’t know what you look like or anything, does he?” The guys had been lucky when it came to not attracting crazies, but after seeing some of the comments on his blog, I wanted them all to be careful.
Eli just waved his hand and started down the hall on the top floor, obviously heading for my room. “Of course not. He’s agreed to let Preston be the one who says that I completed the terms of the bet, and I’ve said that I’m going to post lots of selfies to the blog.”
“To the blog?” Was that what he’d said?
Shit.
“Oh, that’s what I forgot to tell you.” That didn’t seem to bother him. He just shrugged and waved his hands around dramatically. “It will be fine. I was going to mention it, but I got distracted. You were moaning about your new roommate and got me right off track.”
“Of course, it’s my fault.” My sarcasm was clear as I unlocked the door.
“See.” I was rewarded with a huge smile as he gave me a look like I was a child who’d just said something smart.
Unlocking my door, I just shook my head. “Eli.”
“It will be fine. No site crashing, just posting a few selfies to show I’m playing along with the bet.” He was as earnest and sweet as he could be when he was nearly naked. Lord, I was going to have to deal with a panty-clad Eli for days?
Letting us both in, I watched him walk over to my bed and plop down. “What’s Roman saying about the bet?”
The rooms had pull-out couches that turned into pretty comfortable beds, but I hadn’t bothered to put mine up that morning. I was starting to regret that. Eli just stretched out comfortably, thoroughly enjoying making me squirm.
His smile turned wicked, and I went over to the small kitchenette to get him out of my direct line of sight. That didn’t help much, because his words had me turning back around. “I didn’t tell him much about it at all. He might think—and I have no idea where he got this idea—that it was a bet that I made out drinking the other night.”
Leaning back against the counter, I frowned. “You lied to him?” That didn’t sound like Eli. He loved being able to truthfully make Roman nuts.
“No.” His eyes were dancing, clearly pleased with frustrating Roman. “I just lied to someone else, and they told him what they thought was the truth.”
“Eli!” I wasn’t even sure what to say.
“Oh, it was only that nosy UPS driver who stays entirely too long in the lobby. He was coming in as I was leaving Preston’s office, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.”
The UPS guy was supposed to stay up front in the extremely PG lobby, but he always found convenient excuses to wander back into the rest of the building. He wasn’t creepy, exactly, just very quiet and watched everything like he’d stumbled down the rabbit hole.
“Roman stormed by wanting to know what the hell was going on, and I just walked off. So the delivery guy kindly filled him in.” Eli looked a little like a dictator who’d just invaded Europe. It was kind of disturbing.
“You are insane.”
He grinned. “Yep.”
Shaking my head, I tried to turn the conversation around to something…less creepy. “I’m not taking you out to eat naked.”
“Oh, you’re taking me out?” He slowly straightened but didn’t get up. He just let his legs fall to the side of the bed and gave me a sexy smile. He’d been posing in front of the camera for too many years, because it didn’t look fake and ridiculous. “I’ll get dressed up for a date. Clothes and everything.”
He was going to make me crazy. If anyone needed a Dom and a sound spanking, it was Eli. “You asked me out. It should be my date.”
“No takebacks.” Finally standing, he flashed me a grin and started walking toward the door. He let his hips swing back and forth, knowing exactly how sexy he looked. “I have clothes downstairs. I’ll meet you at the back door in five minutes.”
“That’s fine. Should we see if anyone else wants to go with us?” I wasn’t sure if more of an audience was a good idea or not, but reinforcements felt like a good idea.
“Sure. I’ll see who’s still hanging around.” He turned and posed against the frame of the door, grinning. “You worked so late, you might be stuck with just me.”
“That’s a frightening thought, Eli.”
He just laughed and turned to prance down the hallway, no doubt with his ass swaying back and forth. “You know you love me.”
That wasn’t the point.
Shaking my head, I headed for the bathroom with only one thought going through my head. Please don’t let Eli make Houston bonkers. I told myself that it was only a couple of hours on Friday and would be fine, but even I didn’t believe it.
Eli was going to make Houston nuts.