11. Zach

Chapter 11

Zach

Devin stayed in my bed that night and every night after.

Our routine officially solidified with us as lovers and coworkers…and something more that I wasn't ready to name. Devin continued to love working in the office and took on more responsibilities every day. Within just a few weeks, he was our de facto IT guy and our ringer for the company softball team. I hadn't planned to join the team, but with coaxing from Devin and just about everybody else, I was officially an outfielder. I didn't play a lot of sports growing up and it showed, but Devin was a natural athlete.

One night, when I got home, Devin was sitting on the couch, staring at a blank TV with red eyes. It was obvious he'd been crying, but I couldn't imagine what reason could cause such devastation in his eyes.

I dropped onto the sofa beside him and pulled him against my chest. "Baby, what's wrong?"

He was calm, but the way his body sagged was just as heartbreaking, as if he'd been hysterical. "I talked to my brother today."

"I see." I'd been waiting for this moment. Right after agreeing to stay with me, he told his brother he got a job and wouldn't be going to Albuquerque after all. But Danny made it clear that he didn't have a lot of faith in Devin's ability to keep a job and would leave a key under the mat for the next time his life fell apart.

Devin pretended it didn't hurt him, but it was clear that his brother's lack of faith in his ability to function on his own was a very sensitive topic. He'd had a series of bad luck for a long time, and I just hoped that Devin's bad luck streak ended on the day I found him.

"What did he say?" I ran my fingers through his hair.

His eyes drifted shut, almost purring like a kitten. "He said his roommate is moving out and he knows of a job that even I could do, so if I get out there by next week, I can stay with him and have a job."

My whole body tensed when I realized what that meant. "Are you going?" I tried not to sound accusatory because I didn't want to pressure Devin to stay. But fuck, I didn't want him to leave. I could already envision spending my life with him.

"No." He looked up at me with big eyes. "I mean, unless you think I should."

I took a deep breath and was careful with my words. "I can't tell you what to do because you need to do what's right for you. But I will say that if I could keep you here with me forever, I would. You're doing great at work, everybody loves you, and you seem to really like what you're doing. If you're happy here, I hope you'll stay, but if you want to spend time with your brother and see if that's the right thing for you, then that's what you should do. Don't let my selfish desire to keep you around persuade you into making a decision that doesn't feel right to you."

He flung his arms around my neck and clung to me with every bit of strength in his body. "I don't wanna go. I wanna stay with you. I don't want to be a burden to you, but if you want me to stay…"

"I do," I whispered into his ear and kissed his temple, working my way down his jaw to his lips. Then I spoke against his mouth. "I do want you to stay if you want to."

He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. "Okay, then I have something for you."

I sniffed the air toward the kitchen dramatically. "I don't smell dinner. What is it?"

"Wait right here." Devin hopped up from the couch and ran into his room. A moment later, he was back with three legal-size envelopes. He handed me the first one, and written across the front in capital letters that had been printed out with the label maker he must have borrowed from the office, was the word IMPOUND.

I opened my mouth to say something, but he just shook his head, so I kept quiet.

"That's your first payment toward my car."

I pursed my lips together and nodded, letting him continue, even though I didn't want to.

He handed me the second envelope which had a label across the front that said PHONE.

I accepted it but raised my eyebrow so he could see the frustration on my face.

"I know you wanted me to have a fancy phone like yours, but that was ridiculously expensive, so I'm paying you back for it. Right now, each envelope only has $100 in it, but I'll add to that with every paycheck, and when those first two are paid off, everything will go into this one." He handed me the third envelope with the word SHARED EXPENSES across the front.

I could no longer stay silent. "Devin, we've discussed this a hundred times."

"I know. And I love that you want to take care of me and have the means to do so, but I have to do this for myself. I have to prove to you and my brother and myself that I can budget my money and pay my bills and be a grown-up."

The look he gave me was so vulnerable that I sighed in resignation. "Okay. Thank you."

Just like that, a relieved smile crossed his face. "Good. Where do you want to keep these so I can add to them each paycheck?"

I held his hand, and we walked into my bedroom. He'd still been keeping all of his stuff in the guestroom, but I'd been stealthily cleaning out my closet and half of my dresser to make room for him. I opened up the closet door and pushed all my things to one side of each hanging bar then stood back. "I'd love for you to move all of your stuff in here." I pulled open the top drawer of the dresser. "These are for you too." I slipped the envelopes into the front of my sock drawer so he had easy access to it. "And these will stay right here. Add to them when you want, and if you ever need to borrow from them again, go right ahead."

Devin just shook his head and smirked.

"But I'm very, very proud of you for taking this step, and even though you know you don't owe me a penny, I appreciate that you want to be an even partner in this relationship."

I hadn't used the R word very often to describe what we were doing because there were still so many complications related to working together. But I was ready to let my company management know that we were in a relationship. Devin reported directly to Pam, and Pam was dotted lined to our HR manager, so I didn't see any major conflicts of interest coming up.

And if any did, I would deal with them later.

Devin wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed me hard, pressing his erection against mine as he practically climbed up me.

Just when I was losing my breath, he dropped to his knees and undid my pants, pulling them down so he could quickly suck me into his mouth.

Devin knew all the tricks to get me off, so it didn't take long before I was shooting down his throat, feeding him what he described as one of his two favorite meals from me.

I reciprocated the blow job, loving the way his soft skin felt against my tongue, and the way his long cock slid right into my throat just before he emptied into me.

We'd both gotten tested the day after our first time together, but some of these more domestic milestones were almost as erotic as going bareback.

The company was going through a rebrand, and my days were suddenly filled with meetings about font sizes that were allowed in different media and words that could and could not be associated with our brand. It was annoying but apparently a good sign that the company was growing so significantly.

I'd just finished my last meeting of the day when Devin popped into the office with a note from Pam's message pad. "Mr. Arnold wants you to speak at the board meeting tonight." He looked at me with sad eyes. "But we have our team-building party in an hour."

"Fuck." I glanced at my watch and couldn't believe how the day was already gone. I hadn't even done any of my real work yet, and I had a ton of it. "I'm sorry, Dev. I'm not gonna make it. I really need to get some of my work done, and if I do have to attend this meeting tonight…" I raised my hands in defeat. "There's not much I can do about it."

His shoulders drooped, and he sighed. "Okay. I'll probably eat with everyone else, so…"

"Yeah, I want you to have fun. Depending on how late I'm stuck here, I'll either have something delivered or pick up a burger on my way home."

He took a step toward me as if he wanted to give me a hug, but he was surprisingly well restrained when we were in the office. When he caught himself, he just sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. "See you later."

I hated disappointing him and really hated that I wasn't going to be able to participate in the ceramic painting activity. The entire office was going tonight and missing it was a bummer. We had quarterly team-building activities, and this was one that Pam had been looking forward to for months. She said they tried to do it at least twice a year and just about everyone showed up when they did, so at least I had a chance to try it in the future.

I crumpled up the note about the board meeting and tossed it into my trash can before opening up my email. It was going to be a long night, and dealing with the CEO and the board in any capacity always made things so much more complicated.