Chapter Eleven

Nic

NIC had let Percy off the hook, letting him have the day to himself after making him work over the weekend—not that there’d be much to do on a Wednesday. Even without Percy’s help, Nic was done with the contracts early and hardly knew what to do with himself. The numbers were phenomenal. With expenses down and contracts increased, Leighton Price would have the biggest profits since the economic downturn had first hit. Yet again, no losses, but that never mattered to his father, who saw any decrease in profit as a loss and didn’t give a damn about the reason for it.

In spite of that bitter thought, his good mood persisted. It was late afternoon, and he still had much of the day left. Having personal time wasn’t something that occurred often. He thought about going out or maybe finding a date, but he’d avoided that in the past. The most horrible thing would be to hook up with someone only to run into that person again at the worst possible time. Even thinking about dating had Sasha flashing across his mind once again.

He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the edge of his desk, sending a piece of paper floating to the ground. When he picked it up and turned it over, he laughed. Fucking Percy. It was a printed photo of his friend huddling with the kids, all of them smiling at the camera. On the back were the words “People usually go home after work.”

Yeah, the thought of heading home felt right. He was used to getting a sick feeling in his belly when it came time to leave, and there was no putting a finger on why. Sometimes, he thought it was the feeling of being an outsider that took over when he was home. Sometimes, he thought it was the guilt of leaving unfinished work behind. Maybe it was a little of both.

Today, though, he didn’t experience any of that, but rather a sense of eagerness. He called for the duty pilot and spent the next forty minutes finishing up some emails. Then, with a smile on his face, he closed up his office and headed to the helipad on the roof. Less than fifteen minutes later, he was home, tugging off his outerwear and hanging it in the coat closet. He hadn’t really needed the coat. It was cold and drizzly but not fully a downpour.

Voices came from the den, drawing him in that direction. Percy must have been doing something with the kids. Nic couldn’t remember the last time he’d been home this early, and often when he was home, he was in his office working remotely. When he walked into the den, it wasn’t Percy hanging out with Lucy and Ben. His friend must have gone out to enjoy his day off. He wasn’t sure why he’d assumed it would be Percy. On a Wednesday, Sasha would be responsible for the children. The previous nannies, though, had left the kids alone in their rooms, other than dealing with meals and helping with homework. As his gaze landed on Sasha, his pulse sped, and it slammed into him how special Sasha was, how different from the others.

Sasha’s gorgeous eyes turned toward Nic. Why did he have to always get this spreading heat reaction every time Sasha looked at him? It made it hard to function, working its way through his limbs, across his cheeks, and straight into his groin. Those eyes would make a corpse tingle with awareness. The wide smile only compounded the effect.

Trying to avoid staring, Nic turned to the kids and smiled at them. “How is everyone? What’s all this?”

A couple of piles of cards sat on the table, and Sasha and the kids each held some in their hands. Lucy and Ben kept their attention on their cards as if he weren’t in the room with them, a spirit passing through with barely a presence, and for a moment, he thought neither would answer him.

“Ben wanted to learn to play poker,” Lucy said, “but he sucks at it. So we’re about to switch to a board game.”

Ben snorted and flicked his cards at her. “I beat you four times.”

“Out of a gazillion rounds.”

They continued to bicker, but Nic’s attention hooked on to the man he’d had on his mind most of the day. Several games were stacked on the sofa behind Sasha where he sat on the floor with his legs tucked under the coffee table. He tossed his cards in the center, and Lucy collected them while Ben poked through the board games, trying to pick one to play. Sasha was more at home than Nic was in his own house with his own family. Sasha was life. Nic was a ghost in the room.

A flash of discomfort struck the center of Nic’s chest, and that sensation of watching through a window flowed over him. Clenching his jaw, he started to turn away, but Sasha caught him before he could make an escape.

“Hey, you’re home early,” Sasha said, drawing Nic’s eyes to his face. He held his hand out to Nic. “Come over here and play with us.”

Before Nic could think at all, he’d slid his hand into Sasha’s and let the man pull him to the floor. He’d swear Sasha squeezed his hand before letting it go. When his dazed thoughts finally kicked in, he could hardly believe it. Sasha hadn’t asked but directed him to play, and he’d simply followed orders. It was so unlike him, and maybe that was why Lucy and Ben kept glancing at him like they expected him to disappear any second. It didn’t matter that it took a little time for them to warm up to him. Something about joining them felt good, and that observer sensation shrank to almost nothing, replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling he rarely experienced.

Nic unbuttoned the collar and first few buttons of his shirt and folded his sleeves up over his forearms. Then he rolled his shoulders, working the tension out of them and looking up to catch Sasha’s hot gaze latching on to his movements. Sasha reached across Nic’s back and dug into his muscles. Fuck if those strong fingers didn’t feel like heaven. Nic fought down a groan of pleasure, but a shuddering breath left his lungs before he could curb it.

“Feels like you need some massage therapy.” Sasha’s voice came out slightly rougher and deeper than before, making it plain he might be as affected by the contact as Nic was. He pulled Nic closer to him to lean against the sofa before he slowly slid his hand away.

“How about Sorry!?” Lucy asked.

“Meh. I could take it or leave it,” Sasha answered, his eyes never leaving Nic’s face. At least this insane attraction was making Nic forget all about feeling like an outsider.

“Monopoly?” Ben asked.

Sasha snorted. “Are you freaking kidding me? You wanna play that with Mr. MBA over here?” He tipped his chin toward Nic sitting next to him. “He’d wipe the floor with us.”

“I doubt it.” With a flip of her hair, Lucy batted her eyelashes at Nic. “We’d ‘pretty please’ and cry a little here and there, and he’d be eating out of our hands.” It was a playful kind of remark she normally reserved for Percy or Sasha and one that showed him she remembered much from his visits when she was little. Smirking, she gave Ben a soft shove. “Except this turd over here. He’s not cute enough.”

Nic surprised himself with a laugh, a real one. “I don’t know, Lucy. His hair’s a little curly, kind of like a cherub. That could qualify as cute.”

“Noooooo,” Ben howled. “I’m not cute!”

“What’s wrong with cute?”

Sasha’s question kicked off a discussion of male versus female attributes, gender bias, and traditional roles. They ended up settling on a Harry Potter version of Clue, ordering pizza for dinner, and following up with the Trivial Pursuit Star Wars version. Nic failed miserably at both games and made sure that before the kids headed to bed, they knew the next game night would require Monopoly. At least he could kick some butt with financial matters.

The fact they’d established a regular game night blew his mind, but he couldn’t imagine doing this without Sasha here. Something about the man settled him inside and pulled him into everything without any of his customary awkwardness.

He glanced at Sasha next to him, realizing the room had been silent for several minutes now that the kids were gone for the night. Sasha had his head tipped back on the seat cushion, his Adam’s apple rising and falling as he swallowed. His eyes were closed. Long, thick lashes, a few shades darker than his dark blond hair, rested against the skin above his high cheekbones.

All the relaxation Nic had gained over the afternoon went out the door as Nic’s body tightened with desire. He couldn’t take his eyes off Sasha. Short golden stubble dusted his lower cheeks and chin. Before Nic could stop himself, he pushed up onto his knees, hovering but not touching. Sasha barely opened his eyes enough for Nic to see the bright blue of his irises, and his lips parted as if luring Nic closer.

“Tell me something,” Nic said. “When we were making cookies, you looked happy.”

The corners of Sasha’s mouth turned down, but he didn’t say anything.

Nic braced his arms on the sofa cushion along both sides of Sasha’s head, caging him in, and Sasha’s pupils widened, his breath speeding up.

“But you weren’t happy. Why?” he asked.

Sasha moistened his lips before answering, drawing Nic’s gaze to his mouth again. “I hate baking. I hate baking with kids even more. That probably sounds awful to you. To anyone really. It’s like saying you hate puppies or kittens. Because who the fuck hates anything that adorable?”

Nic shrugged. “What’s so bad about baking?”

“The mess. I get so damned tired of being the one to clean up after everyone, to pay for everyone, to make everything perfect.”

“Why bother with it, then?”

He started to answer and then stopped. Then he started again and stopped. “God, I don’t know. I fucking don’t know. It makes people happy, which I do love. I don’t have to like what we do to love that part of it. Maybe I have to make sure everyone’s happy.”

Leaning closer, Nic considered the somber expression in front of him. Sasha was rarely without a grin nearby. Whatever he was thinking about was important to him.

“What would make you feel that way?” he asked.

For the first time since Nic’s initial question, Sasha broke eye contact, dropping his gaze. Again, a visible internal struggle wound him up before he relaxed enough to explain. Nic’s image of him as a completely carefree and lighthearted soul dropped back down to reality. His Adonis had demons like any other man.

“My parents. They were shallow, flighty people but more fun than anyone I’ve ever met. Problem was, they weren’t built for kids. They couldn’t deal with stress. They didn’t want to deal with their own problems, much less any of mine. All the fun was theirs while they left me to take care of everything else. Traveling all over the world was their thing. They zipped through their income as soon as they collected it from their various trusts. And they left me behind, mostly.” His eyes closed again, and his brow furrowed. “I wasn’t fun enough, wasn’t happy enough, didn’t have my own money.”

A powerful need to take care of Sasha, to pull him away from these painful memories, drove Nic to abandon his own resolve to stay professional. What he felt was so far from professional, there weren’t words for it. He brought his arms in closer, the shift bringing Sasha’s eyes open again. They widened when Nic leaned in and took his lips.

The sensation was heady, consuming. He loved the way Sasha smelled, the way he moved, the taste of him. The soft, smooth skin with hard muscle underneath beckoned his hands to trace every inch of him—his chest, his biceps, his shoulders. On and on their lips danced until his chest heaved for air. Desire flared and rampaged through Nic until his cock throbbed and his balls ached for release.

“Please,” Sasha begged. “Give me more. I need more.”

Sasha’s throaty plea broke his barriers and drove him savage in an instant. His kiss went wild, and he pressed his mouth hard against Sasha’s lips, diving deep with his tongue, relishing the rasp of that golden stubble he’d admired earlier.

Nic threaded his fingers through Sasha’s hair and gripped it, holding him and maneuvering him right where Nic wanted him. Sasha moaned into Nic’s mouth and wrapped his arms around Nic’s waist as if desperate for greater contact.

“Dammit. I need to be closer,” Nic said. He broke away and pulled Sasha up to his knees before spinning him around and pushing him facedown against the cushions. Hands shaking, he unfastened Sasha’s jeans, pushed his hand into his briefs, and then freed his own cock.

“Yesss,” Sasha hissed while Nic admired his view of the slightly exposed top of Sasha’s firm, gorgeous ass, the flesh slightly lighter than the rest of Sasha’s tanned body. “Touch me.”

Nic obliged, pinning one of Sasha’s wrists to the sofa cushion and palming Sasha’s length with the other hand. He was more than a handful, thick and cut, with moisture slicking the tip. Sasha gasped with every squeeze of Nic’s grip, every caress of his thumb beneath Sasha’s cockhead.

“We can’t,” Nic panted in Sasha’s ear. “We can’t fucking do this.” Yet he couldn’t stop grinding against Sasha’s ass, couldn’t stop stroking his cock, couldn’t stop biting, licking, nipping along his throat, his earlobe, sucking his skin between his teeth and leaving marks all over the golden man beneath him.

“God, Nic, I’m gonna come.” Sasha shuddered under the weight of Nic’s body. “I’m fucking coming.”

The packed muscle under him bunched, and then a guttural cry ripped from Sasha. Nic released the grip he’d kept on Sasha’s wrist to cover the head of Sasha’s cock, catching the thick streams of Sasha’s climax. Those sounds from Sasha’s throat, the sexy gyrations of the man’s hips, the out-of-control gasps for breath were hotter than the fucking sun. A moment later, Nic’s own release seized him by the balls in a rush of blinding sensation. His outcry matched Sasha’s—long, deep, and gritty.

When his body finally relaxed, Nic opened his eyes and stared at the view. Spent, Sasha had collapsed against the cushion with his arms outstretched like an offering. The side of his face reminded Nic of an angel’s, peaceful and serene and glowing. Nic was overcome by a sudden urge to bind the man’s wrists and ankles and spread him open, naked and vulnerable on his bed.

Then he glanced around the den, and cold reality set in as quickly as the sweat cooled on his skin. Anyone could have walked in on them. If not the kids, then one of the house staff members who lived in the mansion. In his head, logic reigned, telling him these scenarios were unlikely possibilities. Percy was in Seattle overnight, the staff never entered the family spaces other than to clean in the mornings, and the kids were in their rooms for the night. But knowing there wasn’t really anything to fear didn’t do much to reduce the adrenaline rush at the risk of getting caught in a compromising situation.

Nic couldn’t deny that playing games with the kids had made this the best night for them since Josie had been alive. The last thing he wanted was to jeopardize their respect for him and their slowly strengthening bonds by getting caught in such an inappropriate situation. They’d be beyond uncomfortable to catch him and Sasha like this, and he’d be the biggest failure as their guardian to allow that to happen in the only home they had left. He had to be more careful and not get lost in the moment, no matter how difficult that was when he was with Sasha.

“And that, folks, is how you stay professional,” Sasha said. He lifted his head and sent Nic such a dazzling smile, he had to bite his tongue about how much of a mistake this had been. There wasn’t need for such talk because that fact was a no-brainer for both of them.

Though dismal thoughts had taken over, Nic chuckled. He rose to his feet, fastened his pants, and peeled his shirt off to wipe his fingers and then wipe Sasha clean with it. When Sasha turned over to face him, Nic offered his hand and helped Sasha to his feet.

“Thanks,” Sasha murmured.

Nic nodded and headed to the service cart at the side of the room, where he poured himself a glass of whiskey. “Want a—wait. What the fuck is this?”

On the corner of the cart’s silver-inlaid surface sat a thin-limbed elf doll. He’d never seen elves wearing red instead of green, but there it was, lying on its side and propping its head up with its hand.

“It’s an elf on the shelf.”

“Shit, that’s a creepy-looking elf.”

“Isn’t it, though? You never heard of it before?” Sasha stood next to Nic, tracing his finger along the elf’s pointy hat. “It’s been popular the last few years.”

Of course, he wouldn’t know. Christmas had always been a calculated display in his household when he was growing up. What did he know about holiday cheer, family traditions, and fun games and activities?

“Never heard of it. Is it a decoration or something?”

“Well, the elf usually comes out right after Thanksgiving, so we’re a little behind, but the elf watches to see who’s naughty or nice. Every night, he returns to the North Pole to report and then appears in a new spot the next day. No one is allowed to touch him.”

Nic thought about the possibilities. “So, it really is a creepy as fuck elf.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s the most fun ever finding funny places and situations to put the elf in each day.”

“Does that mean Santa doesn’t do it?”

With a light shove against Nic’s shoulder, Sasha smiled. “Smartass.”

Nic lifted his short glass to his lips and took a sip before waving toward the bottles on the cart. “As I started to say, would you like a drink?”

“Nah. I think I should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a school day, so the kids will be up early, and Ben needs help with the last bit of his report.”

There was something unbelievably domestic and comforting about discussing family activities with Sasha. He was a tether holding Nic in orbit to Lucy and Ben, hauling him in closer and closer when he’d been drifting so far away.

It was the worst idea, though, to become so dependent on an employee he’d so recently hired, to allow him so much influence. He barely knew Sasha, but the man had been right about the kids’ care thus far. The kids weren’t skipping school anymore, and there were no reports of behavioral problems. They seemed happier, more motivated, and more sociable.

“Good night, Sasha.”

Nic wanted nothing more than to kiss him again, and Sasha hesitated as if it were on his mind as well. Then he tipped his head in a nod, a slight smile on his face.

“Good night, Nic.”

After he’d gone, Nic sank onto the sofa with a frustrated groan. Why couldn’t he have met this guy some other way? Ha. He should know better than to have such thoughts. He would never have time for someone if the person didn’t live in his home. Standing, he stared down at the sofa. He would never look at the damned thing the same way again.

This sure as fuck complicated things.