Being outside in fresh air and sunlight wasn’t supposed to feel this odd. Nic squinted up at the afternoon sun and shook his head ruefully.

Time management, man.

He’d been largely on-track for developing the new database until this weekend. The days off had thrown him out of his rhythm. Now it was Wednesday, and the last time he’d been out of the house was on Saturday for groceries.

But the prototype was ready, and most of the bugs were probably squashed. There was a lot of finishing work to be done—they were a couple weeks from the end of the project, even if it would look to the inexperienced observer like they were almost there.

This time, Nic remembered where he was going and didn’t get lost on his way to the Plus office. He parked and grabbed his laptop bag, then headed for the front door.

The building was way more secure than Nic had first envisioned. He wasn’t working from it, so they hadn’t given him a key card to get in. He buzzed and waited.

There were about four secure doors in between here and there. He didn’t want to think too closely about why.

“Hey! Nic? I’ll be down in two… in a sec!” the speaker grill chirped in Kyle’s unmistakably bubbly tone.

“Okay, thanks.” Nic’s cheeks burned as he shifted his laptop bag from one hand to the other, his mind not at all on work for a few moments. It was going to be their first time seeing each other face-to-face since sleeping together several days ago. He didn’t know how Kyle was going to act.

Keep it professional. He didn’t usually sleep with coworkers, so that bridge was already in ashes, but he could salvage his pride, if not his reputation.

“Hey!” Kyle pushed open the glass door abruptly, making Nic jump with surprise. He’d been caught up in thought. “Oh, sorry!” Kyle instantly gasped, reaching out as if to touch his arm but not quite doing so.

“It’s fine,” Nic brushed it off with a quick smile. “Hi. I’ve got the specs ready.”

“The specs. Great. Okay, come on up. Did it all go well? Do you have a prototype? Can I click on things and see what happens?”

Kyle was exactly the same as he had been the first time—bubbly and vivacious, beaming at him like he was the only person in the world.

Phew. Not awkward at all. By the time they were at the office door, Nic found himself chatting about the function he couldn’t get figured out, encouraged by Kyle even though Kyle had no idea what he was talking about.

Flustered, he cleared his throat and followed after Kyle. “But I’ll—I’ll debug it.”

A few of the guys in the office waved to him on the way past, so he smiled and nodded back.

They settled in a little office next to the meeting room they’d used last time, both of them sitting on the same side of the desk. Kyle folded his hands in his lap attentively. “So, hit me with your best shot.” His voice rose into a melody, and he danced with the tune for a few seconds.

Nic was beaming again. Yeah, he was crushing. Christ, it was hard not to stare at Kyle and let on his feelings, but he tried. He just couldn’t help himself. “Okay, here’s the basic interface.”

He opened up the program and clicked around a little, explaining what would connect to what, and how the resource database would integrate with email in particular.

The reporting function—email categorization and tagging, allowing them to generate reports of the services they provided—made Kyle gasp with delight.

He was so fucking adorable… so vibrant. It was hard not to take Kyle’s rejection personally when they got along so easily right now, but Nic reminded himself that that was because it wasn’t personal. They just wanted different things, and that was okay. It made this whole situation less awkward.

And the sex had been great. Hot. Phenomenal, even.

“This is so cool!” Kyle kept exclaiming before leaning in to ask what another button did. This time, he was poking the inventory button.

“Well…” Nic wasn’t sure anyone had ever felt happier about his work, and it made it hard to think straight. When he leaned in to put his finger on the trackpad, Kyle hadn’t quite drawn back yet.

Their hands brushed, and a jolt shivered through Nic’s whole frame.

Holy fuck. That chemistry isn’t spent.

They’d both felt it—they shifted, glancing sideways at each other as if to measure up what had just happened.

There was a light knock on the door, and Kyle’s hands were suddenly in his lap again.

“Sounds like there’s fun happening in here.” It was Denver, poking his head in and then stepping inside before closing the door after him. His eyes were twinkling with amusement.

“You should see this thing. It’s so cool,” Kyle instantly told Denver. “Nic’s doing great with interpreting our instructions. I didn’t even think to ask about reporting…”

Nic’s cheeks were hot at the praise. “Automatically generated reports, which I can also integrate with your inventory database so you know how many condoms you gave away in a year or whatnot,” he explained. He tried not to blush at the word. This was not his usual professional environment.

Denver sank into a chair on the other side of the desk. “Oh, that is helpful. Kyle and I waste a lot of time figuring that out manually.”

“I know. Hopefully this can free you up,” Nic told them both, then started going over the system basics again with Denver.

Denver picked up technology as intuitively as Kyle did, which was a great relief. He was only a few years older, but that could make a big difference to how fast people caught on when he taught them anything.

“You guys have fun at the club last weekend?”

The question startled Nic. Did he know about us? Did someone say? Shit, is this a test?

Before he could even answer, Denver added, “Sorry I couldn’t make it. I do every now and then,” he said to Nic.

“Ahh. Yeah.”

“It was great. Great fun,” Kyle said with a smile and a nod. He was casual as all get-out.

“Fun, yeah,” Nic agreed, trying to adopt the same easygoing tone. Totally not suspicious at all.

Denver’s eyes flickered between them, and then a smile flickered over his lips. “I’m glad Evie recommended her company to us, and they could send you. It’s nice to keep it in the community where we can.”

“Yeah,” Nic murmured under his breath, clearing his throat. Kyle and I sure did. “Um. I haven’t done a project for an organization like this before. It’s all been medium to large businesses, really… impersonal.”

“That’s why you’re putting all those extra touches in,” Kyle murmured.

Nic blushed. Busted. He didn’t want to take credit for going above and beyond the job description, but it was true. These guys worked fucking hard at their jobs, they all clearly felt passionate about it, and they were doing good work. Way better work than he could do from behind a keyboard. It was the least he could do.

“Careful,” Denver warned, rising to his feet with a wink. “We might kidnap you and keep you as our IT minion. The catch is that we pay in pizza. I hope that’s fine…”

Nic clicked his tongue as if considering it. “Pizza is really good.” He opened up a notepad file to write down the reactions he’d noticed—starting with the fact that both of them had tried to click a button that he’d intended as a nonfunctional menu label.

“I know, huh? He offered me the same gig,” Kyle grinned while Nic typed.

“And did I lie?”

“He does feed us a lot of pizza. That’s about all we eat working after hours. Oh my God, that sound so bad,” Kyle laughed, covering his face. “I eat things other than carbs occasionally. Don’t judge me.”

Nic snorted. “You’re in fine shape.” He only realized what he said after it had left his mouth. Oh, shit. He managed not to look guilty or look at Denver, but he was pretty sure he was blushing again. Oh my God, don’t tell his boss you saw him naked a few days ago.

“Yeah. Stop complaining about your five-percent body fat,” Denver rolled his eyes at Kyle. Thank God he didn’t catch on. “You know better than to chase shallowness.”

Kyle laughed quietly. “Oh, I know.” It didn’t quite sound bitter, but it was pretty damn close. If they’d been alone, Nic might have considered pressing it.

As it was, there was a moment of silence.

“Awkwarrrrd,” Kyle chirped, wiggling his fingers in the air like jazz-hands. “Joke. Laugh, damn it.”

They both did, and then Denver leaned across the desk for another look at the laptop. “So, you’re just progressing with what you have? Next progress report will be next week?”

“Correct. If you need any updates earlier, I can probably provide them, but there won’t be a lot of excitement. I need to make these functions actually work,” Nic warned them, half-smiling. A lot of buttons had been nonfunctional, and he’d alt-tabbed to show a mockup of what he was designing.

“That’s perfect.” Denver looked at Kyle. “Ready for your board meeting?”

Kyle made a face. “I was trying not to think about that.”

“Oh. I should get going,” Nic nodded, rising to his feet and closing his laptop. There was no sense lingering to try to get a few more minutes with this guy.

We don’t want the same thing.

Despite that, Kyle lingered in the doorway, watching him climb into his car. He even raised his hand for a goodbye wave. Nic hastily waved back as he turned out of the parking lot to the main road.

The green of Kyle’s hair was the last thing Nic saw before he disappeared around the corner. Nic’s fingers itched to comb through the soft, thick hair and pull Kyle in for just one more lazy, naked hug in the morning sunlight.

Even if I can’t have him, I can appreciate him. It made Nic’s chest ache, but a lot of things about being adult did.

Maybe he’d treat himself to ice cream tonight. Or pizza.

Pizza it was.