"I know what you're thinking."

Marcus rubbed his sweaty palms surreptitiously on his slacks as he turned from waiting for the elevator. Robert Parker was the youngest partner in the company, inheriting his father's position as Head of Finance when the man suffered a stroke. He was also the only one still able to make the long trek downstairs to introduce Marcus to his new department.

"And what is that?" Marcus asked.

"You're thinking that there were more dinosaurs in that room than Jurassic Park," he replied with a charming smile.

Barking out a surprised laugh, Marcus shook his head. In the pristine chrome of the elevator doors in front of him, he could see the president's secretary frowning at him over her glasses. "They're very... traditional."

"Stuck in their ways, you mean," he said, waving Marcus ahead of him as the elevator slid silently open. "I've been working on them and hiring you is a step in the right direction. They may not show it, but they're excited to have you here. Your reputation precedes you, and it will bring a lot of peace of mind to our clients."

Marcus shifted uncomfortably as the elevator dropped into the bowels of the massive building. "I wasn't the only person involved," he began, but the other man waved him off.

"Our clients aren't interested in technicalities. We've had a ten percent bump in business since we announced that we were able to tempt you away from New York. Ah, here's the Accounting floor," he said, stepping out of the elevator as soon as the door slid open wide enough.

The area wasn't quite as luxurious as the upper floors, but it was serviceable. The desks in the central area were spaced out well, and the management offices were generously sized. It was nicer than many places Marcus had worked before.

"These folks are going to be your go-to team. Anything you need, they'll make it happen." Gesturing grandly, Parker waved at a couple of the team members who lit up with smiles. "Let me introduce you around."

The whirlwind of faces and names seemed to last forever, and Marcus had no hope of keeping up. Usually he was good with names, but he couldn't even have told you his own after shaking what had to be a hundred hands.

"They're a good team," Parker said as he herded Marcus back into the elevators. "Oh, hey. I almost forgot to tell you about the potluck. Every Wednesday, Accounting holds a potluck, and traditionally the Department Head brings dessert. I think Cathy has a nut allergy, so I'll get your secretary to give you the list of dietary needs."

"Thank you," Marcus mumbled, his mind spinning. He was still living out of a hotel, how was he supposed to find a bakery by Wednesday?

Smiling sympathetically, Parker clapped him on the shoulder. "It's a lot to take in. I'm sure you'll be off the hook for this week at least. The senior partners are going to want to take you out to lunch. I hope you like barbecue; Bainbridge Sr is obsessed with the stuff."

"I'll wear my least favorite suit," he said as the elevator slowed to a stop.

"That's the spirit. This is the Client Management group," he said without slowing down as he strode into a forest of cubicles. "They're technically part of Operations, but you'll be working with them on getting any policies implemented. Let me introduce you."

After Client Management, it was the Premier Accounts team, then Accounts Payable. By the time they got to the fifth floor and Accounts Receivables, Marcus was exhausted and starving. By New York time, he was well past his lunch.

"This department is, as you'll see, one of the places we tend to hemorrhage money," Parker said as the elevator doors slid open. "For some reason, the turnover rate down here is astronomical."

One quick glance around the room, and Marcus could see why. The cubicles were packed together with barely enough room for breathing. The walls were twice as tall as they needed to be, making it dark and gloomy with only the buzz of the fluorescent lights to break the monotony of typing. Half of the workers looked asleep at their chairs despite the fact that their hands moved with rhythmic regularity.

"Let me introduce you around," Parker said, oblivious to the atmosphere. His voice was loud enough to carry, and all over the room people shook themselves out of their stupor.

Unlike every other department, no one smiled as they shuffled over.

"This is Frank, the supervisor." Parker clapped a rather hangdog, middle-aged man on the shoulder and grinned. "Frank, you want to introduce our new Regional Director to the current team?"

"Sure," Frank said slowly. At first he seemed hesitant, but after the fourth introduction, it became apparent that was just how he talked. "This is Aimee, Carter, Pauline, and Jessica."

People stumbled out of the cubicles, blinking away the glaze from too many hours spent in front of a computer. Marcus had given up trying to match names to faces, but as a dark head emerged from the last row, his heart sped up.

"Lita, Andrew, Damien, Connie," Frank droned on, but Marcus barely heard him. "George, Alex, Lisa, Patty..."

George? Marcus watched the little omega shuffle closer. Was Gio a nickname, or had Marcus simply misheard?

Gio stuck his hand out, looking up as Marcus clasped it in his own. The moment stretched, suspended in time so that he could see every twitch and record it to memory.

Gorgeous hazel eyes widened, and his steps faltered. He tried to jerk his hand away, but Marcus kept hold, shaking it firmly once, twice, three times. More than he had any of the others, but he couldn't force his hand to let go.

"Nice to meet you," Marcus said, letting his voice carry so that it could have referred to the whole room. He didn't break eye contact, though, not until Parker clapped him on the back, breaking the spell.

"I think that's everyone," he said, ushering Marcus back into the elevator. "Have you seen your office yet? It's fully appointed, but if you need anything, let me know."

The elevator door slid shut on Parker's babble, the shape of Gio's pale face burned into Marcus's eyelids.

* * *

"This is the living room."

"The layout sucks."

Marcus laughed. "Yes, Teddy, the layout sucks."

"Do you want me to send a team over and fix it?"

Glancing over the room, furniture still smelling like the showroom, Marcus shook his head. "Let me enjoy it for long enough to hate it first," he told his frat brother.

Teddy shrugged, shifting the baby tucked against his chest. The other man looked... happy, even over the crappy video call connection. Happier than Marcus had ever seen him. Watching him feed little Leon was making Marcus wish he could pack up and fly to Houston.

"You look good," he said.

"You look awful," Teddy replied. A pillow smacked him in the back of the head.

"Don't listen to him." A dark head filled most of the screen, too close and out of focus. "You look like a man who has a new job and was living out of a hotel."

Marcus smiled, waving at the camera. "Hi, Carlos. How was Europe?"

"I think my mama is planning to kidnap my babies and go retire on one of the islands we visited, so..." Carlos grinned, showing off a blurry dimple. "It was great. We sent you a box. Did you get it yet?"

Heading into the bedroom, Marcus turned so Carlos could see the things they'd sent laid out on the bed. "I'm in love with that jacket, but terrified to wear it. What if it gets dirty?"

"We'll just have to go back to Italy and get you another one. Oh, damn. I'm so sad about this. I might just cry." Carlos rolled his eyes and ducked back out of the frame. "I'd tell you to talk sense into him, brujo, but you don't have any sense either.”

"That is a very big bed," Teddy said, not bothering to argue the point.

Marcus coughed to cover up a laugh. "Luke had all the furniture sent over," he said, smiling at the thought of their youngest frat brother. "I think they're from his stepfather's company. I could fit a whole cheerleading team on this bed."

"Pity you won't have any company at all until you get rid of that mustache. It'll give you plenty of room to pile pizza boxes while you binge watch your shows, though," Teddy said, his eyes dancing.

Covering his mustache with one hand, Marcus laughed hard enough that he had to set the phone down. "It's not that bad."

"It really is," Teddy said dryly.

"For once, I agree with him," Carlos called out.

Chest heaving as he gasped for breath, Marcus leaned over the bed, bracing his hands on the very sturdy footboard. "You married him," he said, not sure which of them he was talking to. "Your taste is questionable."

The pair looked at each other and shrugged. "Can't argue that," Carlos said.

Somewhere in the distance, a baby screamed, and Carlos sighed. "Your brother is up, little Leonito. Nap time is over."

"I should go anyway," Marcus said regretfully. "I have a meeting with the senior partners again this afternoon, so I couldn't take the whole day off. I'll talk to you next weekend."

The screen went black, and Marcus sighed. He would have to thank Luke for having the movers bring sheets because he hadn't even had a chance to arrange for his boxes to be delivered yet.

It had been almost two weeks since he started his new job, and after weeks of dragging the process out, the seller had suddenly decided that everything had to be completed by May 1st. Marcus had spent an entire day scrambling to get things done on his end, only to have the realtor drop the keys off with his secretary like they were his dry cleaning.

Sucking in a deep breath, he shook the tension out of his shoulders. His lonely little suitcase was sitting on one side of the bed, and the rest of his stuff probably wouldn't be delivered until next week. There was nothing he could do about any of it, so he was going to enjoy his condo without all the chaos and boxes while he could.

Nodding firmly, Marcus grabbed the leather jacket off the bed and headed out.

Even if Teddy was right about the layout, which he always was, Marcus had bought the condo for one reason and one reason only. He could walk to work.

The wind fluffed his hair up, sending it spinning around his head as he stepped out onto the street. The rains had completely disappeared, leaving the city warm and sunny. The glass and steel buildings glittered as he walked through bars of shadow and sunlight. It was entirely different from the historical brick buildings that he'd grown up in, but the bustle of people was familiar and comforting.

Bainbridge and Parker occupied the tallest building in the area, and he smiled at the receptionists as he made his way through the busy marble lobby. Despite the constant flow of people, the elevator bank in the back was both quiet and deserted.

The elevators were one thing that Marcus had come to appreciate about the building. The antique lifts in the Stern Associates buildings had been a delightful novelty when he was a kid, but their slow, rattling progress was an endless frustration now. Bainbridge and Parker had gone all out on the latest technology, and the whisper-quiet, bullet-fast transition from the lobby to the executive block made him smile every time.

"Hold the elevator. Shit, fuck, goddamnit..."

Marcus stuck his hand out to catch the doors, his heart jumping into his throat.