Chapter 4

Four

Six weeks later . . .

I t wasn’t even five in the morning yet, and Scout already pounded away on the treadmill in his home gym, sweat pouring off him as he tried to expel a few demons from his brain. Like almost every day for the past month and a half, he’d woken up hard as stone with his PA’s name on his lips. Never had he fantasized about one man, who he’d never even kissed, for this long before, and it got worse as time went by.

Last night, Scout stayed up late, playing the piano, something he did often when indecision plagued him. He had an eclectic mix of favorite composers and songwriters whose songs he could play by ear. A little Elton John, Billy Joel, or Carole King tended to soothe him whenever he was in a funk, while Beethoven, Mozart, and Jerry Lee Lewis were his composers of choice for his personal form of anger management. Yanni, Norah Jones, and John Tesh were his go-to artists when he was in a romantic mood. Maybe he’d try a little bit of Ludwig, Wolfgang, and Jerry Lee tonight since Elton, Billy, and Carole hadn’t worked.

He’d tried several things, short of dragging the man into his bed and fucking the daylights out of him, to keep thoughts of Alex where they belonged—in the business-only section of his mind. So far, nothing had been successful. The horny toad on his shoulder urged him to give in to his lust. But the workhorse on the other side kept telling him not to rock the boat and ruin a good thing.

Alex was an excellent PA—the best Scout had ever hired—and it had nothing to do with the man’s good looks or how much Scout was drawn to him. It hadn’t taken Alex long to get into the swing of things—he picked up on the routine around there quickly and got along well with the other Paradox employees. If Scout told him to do something, his assistant got it done with minimal effort or explanation. He was always on top of things, sometimes even ahead of Scout’s orders. A few times, Scout kiddingly called Alex “Radar” after the character in M*A*S*H, who always knew what would happen before it actually did.

It amazed Scout how comfortable he was around Alex—if one didn’t count his perpetual hard-on. Many afternoons, they enjoyed lunch in Scout’s penthouse, discussing everything under the sun. Hell, he’d rarely brought Erik up there for any reason, but with Alex, it felt right. They had much in common and interesting debates on things they disagreed on. It’d gotten to the point that Scout hated to see their lunch breaks end and work start up again.

He noticed he was in a sour mood in the mornings lately before Alex showed up and brightened his world. And at the end of the workday, more than once, he invited Alex to dinner at Sapphire’s or the Cock & Bull—anything so not to say goodnight to the man. However, he drew the line at asking Alex to have dinner at his place. With lunch, they needed to go back to work afterward, so Scout had a reason not to start anything, but with no plans after dinner, he’d be tempted to seduce his PA. Nope. He wasn’t going there because it was a recipe for disaster. He just had to keep telling himself that, and maybe, someday, it would sink in.

Ever since he found out for certain that Alex was gay, or at least bisexual, he fantasized, both day and night, about having the man naked and at his mercy. During one of the happy hours they attended at the pub, he overheard Alex talking to Gino about a guy he’d dated in New York for about eighteen months. They broke up about two months before Mrs. Shepherd had her stroke, and it was the nail in the coffin, so to speak, that helped him decide to move back to the West Coast. Apparently, it hadn’t been a healthy relationship for Alex—the ex-boyfriend was extremely needy—and he was glad it was over.

The treadmill beeped rapidly, indicating Scout had hit his programmed four-mile mark. He stabbed a button that slowed the belt to a leisurely walk so he could cool down. A minute later, he turned the machine off and grabbed a nearby towel to wipe the sweat off his face before chugging a bottle of water. The cool liquid quenched his thirst but did nothing to dispel the heat he felt as Alex’s face popped into his mind—again—which caused his cock to harden painfully.

“Argh. Fuck this!” He stormed out of the room and headed for the shower. He was going to have to jack off in there if he had any hope of hiding his lust from Alex when the guy showed up for work in three hours.

He stripped off his clothes as soon as he entered his bedroom on his way to the en suite bath, tossing them in a hamper. While the hotel maids cleaned his place twice weekly, he had a small laundry nook on the other side of the room’s massive walk-in closet. He didn’t like the notion of someone handling his clothing, especially his underwear, so he did it himself. While the building was still in its planning and construction phases, he sat down with the architect and an interior designer to give input on every minute detail he wanted included. Not once, since he moved in, had he wished he’d asked for something forgotten or miscalculated.

While letting the water in the shower warm up, Scout checked his appearance in the vanity mirror above the dual sinks. A month after losing the bet that forced him to shave off his beard and mustache, he let them grow back in, but not as heavy as before. Alex had casually mentioned one day that Scout looked really good with the scruffy-but-not- too -scruffy look, so now, he kept his facial hair trimmed short. If he were honest, he preferred the updated look too.

Within minutes, he was in his oversized shower stall with hot water pelting him from three sides and above. Scout grabbed a bottle of lube he kept handy and squirted some into his palm. Placing his other hand against the stone-tiled wall, he grasped his stiff cock. He started slowly, stroking himself from tip to root and back again. His eyes fluttered shut as images of Alex on his knees in front of him filtered into his mind. He envisioned the man’s mouth opening and taking his full length inside. A groan rumbled from his chest past his lips. “Suck me, Alex. God damn it, suck me hard!”

He tightened his grip and quickened the pace. The scene in his mind switched to the other man kneeling on his bed, facedown in the comforter, ass in the air. As much as he wanted to savor the fantasy, Scout couldn’t take the anticipation and fast-forwarded until he was fucking Alex’s puckered hole. The guy begged him to go faster and harder, and Scout was more than happy to oblige.

Without warning, his orgasm hit him like a ton of bricks. Pure pleasure raced through him, engulfing him. His mind spun out of control, briefly going offline as he cried out and shot cum into his hand. It overflowed and fell, mixing with the water going down the drain.

Pivoting, he let the wall hold him up as his legs shook from the monumental orgasm he just experienced. As he got his breathing under control, he looked down at the shower’s tiled floor, visualizing Alex kneeling there with a satisfied grin on his handsome face. Scout shook his head and whispered to the figment of his imagination, “Alex, Alex, Alex, what the hell am I going to do about you?”

The Cock & Bull was packed, filled with locals and tourists alike, celebrating the end of the work week. As usual, as five o’clock rolled around, he hadn’t wanted to say goodbye to Alex—especially since he had nothing planned that required his assistance over the weekend. Unable to resist, Scout invited Alex to happy hour and dinner. Since many of his friends were there, as usual on Fridays, he was able to divert his attention so he didn’t seem overly focused on his PA. He didn’t want to raise the man’s suspicions that more than a business relationship was forming between them.

They managed to grab two seats at the bar and were on their second round of drinks—Guinness for Alex and Grey Goose and club soda with a twist of lime for Scout. Tending the bar were the owner, Rico Demara, his cousin, Gino, and Austin Haynes, one of the regular Friday night servers. The other bartender had called in sick again, and Rico told him not to bother coming back.

Scout’s old friend did a great job running the place. It had already received several positive write-ups in various newspapers and online sites. Within two weeks of opening, the Cock & Bull became the newest hotspot in San Francisco.

Weaving his way through the crowd, Scout returned from the bathroom and clenched his jaw when he saw yet another guy hitting on Alex. The ridiculously attractive man drew them in like flies to honey, but as far as Scout could tell, not a single guy in the past few weeks had gotten Alex’s phone number. Of course, that hadn’t stopped some of them from giving him theirs, on a business card or handwritten note, if he was ever in the mood to hook up.

Forcing himself not to glare at the asshole blatantly flirting with Alex, Scout, again, took his seat next to his PA, whose back was currently to him. Even though Scout hadn’t made a sound or touched him, Alex glanced over his shoulder as if he sensed his return.

“Hey, I was waiting for you to get back.” He held up his cell phone and stood. “My dad called, but it was too loud to take the call, and I didn’t want to leave our seats unattended. I’ll be right back. ”

Scout’s gaze shifted to the man on the other side of Alex, who seemed disappointed he lost his seduction target’s attention. A rush of satisfaction shot through Scout.

Yup, another one bites the dust. Thank God.

“Yeah, sure. Take your time. Hope everything is okay.”

As Alex headed for the front door, Scout picked up his vodka and soda and took a sip. Behind the bar, Rico walked over and slid a plate of potato skins in front of him. The dish was one of Scout’s favorite appetizers the chef had on the menu. They weren’t your typical potato skins with bacon bits, cheddar cheese, and scallions. Nope. All that was replaced by pureed artichokes with goat cheese, garlic, fresh herbs, and olive oil. They were so freaking delicious, and he’d eat them every day of the week if it weren’t for the excessive carbs and calories.

Scout raised an eyebrow at Rico, who gestured toward the bar’s front door. “Your boy ordered them.”

While he doubted his friend meant anything by “Your boy” other than a way of referring to Alex as his PA, Scout still liked how the phrase made him feel. He wanted Alex to be his but didn’t want to screw up the status quo.

“And I can practically see those wheels spinning in your mind,” Rico said with a smirk. He leaned on his forearms, closing the distance between them so he could lower his voice. His dark-brown hair was fashioned in a fade style, a little longer than a crewcut on top, diminishing to fully shaved on the sides. With his hazel eyes, a shadow of stubble over his firm jawline, a deep baritone voice, and a lean, solid body, the man garnered much interest from both men and women. Unfortunately for the women, Rico didn’t swing their way. “I take it he doesn’t know his boss wants to jump his bones.”

His eyes widened. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Seriously, Scout? This is me that you’re trying to bullshit. You never got a jealous look on your face whenever some guy hit on Erik, no matter how hard he tried to push your buttons. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this jealous over anyone you’ve dated, either.”

Scout ran a hand down his face, his five-o’clock shadow rasping against his palm. “Shit. Is it that fucking obvious?”

“Only to someone who’s known you as long as I have.”

The two had met in junior high and hit it off almost immediately. However, there was never any sexual attraction between them. Even though they were both gay, they developed more of a sibling relationship than anything else. While Rico was very handsome now, they were gawky teenagers back then, still unsure of their individual sexual orientation. By the time they outgrew their awkward stages and realized they were both into guys, neither wanted to risk their close friendship by experimenting. And that’s all it would’ve been—an experiment—so they never crossed that line with each other.

“So, the way I see it, there are three possibilities here. One, you keep things on a professional level and go to sleep sexually frustrated every night and wake up the same way in the morning. Two, you have a brief fling, and in the aftermath, there’s too much uncomfortable tension between you two, so you either fire him or he quits.”

“Aren’t you just an optimistic unicorn jumping over a rainbow tonight?”

Rico snorted. “I’ve been shitting glitter all day, buddy. And you didn’t let me get to the third option before you got on your high horse.”

“Do tell.”

“Three, you discover he’s the guy you’ve waited for all your life. The one you fall in love with and live happily ever after with.”

Scout gaped at him. “You’re not helping, dude. Even if I thought number three was possible, do I want to risk number two being the winner or, technically, the loser in this mess?”

“If you really care for him, isn’t having him yours, in every way possible, for the rest of your life worth that risk?”

And that was the question plaguing Scout for the next two hours as he and Alex enjoyed dinner and each other’s company.