Page 4

LUKE

I wake up to light shining through a gap in the curtains. Blinking, I try to reach for my phone, but I’m stuck.

Erik and I are tangled up. My arms are around his neck, one of his hands is between my legs, and he’s nestled his head in my chest. I chuckle once it clicks—I have a professional athlete curled up in my arms, sleeping like a baby.

He’s a warm, solid mass that smells so fucking good, and damn, the way he feels next to me is on a whole other level.

This is the best way to start a day, hands down.

My stupid alarm interrupts our quiet, cuddly moment, and I groan, trying to shut it off.

Wrenching myself away from Erik, I haul myself out of bed, slip a random hoodie on, and lumber to my office down the hall.

I wake my computer up, log in, and then I go right back to bed.

Nothing is happening today, especially not at eight in the morning.

I slide back under the comforter, taking care not to disturb Erik, but it’s impossible not to look at him.

Erik’s body is draped in filtered sunlight—his light hair is mussed up and pressing into the pillow around his head.

I trace the lines of his jaw and the light stubble that appeared overnight, moving my gaze across his jacked frame that’s somehow visible under the covers, and I reach for my groin as?—

Ping .

I shut my eyes and roll them behind my eyelids. I should have taken today off. Muttering to myself, I heave my body out of bed, reluctantly leaving Erik behind, and drag my feet to my computer.

Jake White messaged me. While he isn’t my manager, I still send him my reports, and he sometimes asks me questions. I click to open whatever he sent me.

WHITE, JAKE

Hi Luke.

I sigh and gesture expectantly at the screen. “And?” I find myself saying to nobody in particular. “What do you want?”

I slump down and use every ounce of restraint in me to not reply with a thumbs up emoji, and I send something a little more professional instead. Why can’t people say what they need all at once?

God, corporate life has made me bitchy as hell.

“Looking forward to the weekend already?” Erik’s voice calls out from behind me.

Turning to face the door of my office, I’m greeted with a view of Erik, all six-feet-whatever of him, wrapped up in my blanket with his head poking out.

He’s like a hunky burrito, and I melt a little at the sight. How the hell is he so cute?

I sigh. “A random message came through, and I still don’t know what it’s about.” I pause. “Sorry, did I wake you up?”

Erik shakes his head. “Nope, I’ve been awake for a while. I just didn’t want to disturb you.”

“What’s with the blanket, then?” I ask, letting out an amused huff.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wear this, but you seem to have taken my sweater.”

I look down. Yup, it’s Erik’s team hoodie.

“Shit! You can have it back.”

“Nah, you can keep it. The sweater suits you.”

We stay silent for a few seconds, and I remember that I need to be a better host.

“You want coffee?” I ask, standing up and heading for the kitchen.

“Sure, that’d be awesome. Black is fine, the stronger the better?—”

My overpriced coffee machine spits out two shots of espresso, cutting his sentence off. “Double Americano okay?”

He nods, and I prepare it.

“This is great, thank you,” he says after taking a sip.

“Roommate applications are open,” I joke. “I don’t need to share my place, but I might make an exception for you.”

Erik raises his eyebrows. “Oh? And what’s different about me?”

I shoot him my best flirtatious smile. “You’re nice and warm, and you’ll help me save money on heating when winter comes.” Then I slide up to him, leaving only a few inches of space between us. “And maybe there are a few other things.”

My hands slip under his shirt, his firm muscles pressing back against my touch. Leaning my head on his shoulder, I drink in his irresistible masculine scent, still mixing with his ridiculously sexy cologne, and my head clears.

Do I smell that good? Probably not.

“I’m gonna wash up,” I say.

“Same here, I can head home to do that.”

Shit, I don’t want him to leave yet.

“You can join me and help save some water,” I offer.

“Do you have to work right now?”

“My best guess is that everyone else will log on at ten, so I have time.”

Erik snickers and follows me into my ensuite, and I turn the water on, selecting the rain setting. A torrent of water splashes down from the ceiling, and I strip before stepping in.

“Why the hell is your shower so nice?” Erik asks, staring at it.

I poke my head out of the door. “It’s not nice because you aren’t in here with me.” I beckon him over with a quick nod. “Come on.”

He discards his clothes, giving me a full-body view of his brawny physique.

I pull him under the stream of water, crushing my mouth to his in a messy, dripping wet kiss.

My dick stiffens all the way as soon as we touch, and we let our tongues mesh together for a couple more seconds, taking it all in.

Breaking apart, I pull back to find Erik beaming back at me, drops running down his face. I don’t think I’ve seen anything better. Ever.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I say, squirting some shower gel into my palm. “I’m dying to get my hands on you.”

He smirks, dropping his voice. “You can touch me anywhere you want.”

“Anywhere?”

“All yours.”

I reach down and graze his crack with my index finger, making him suck in a labored breath.

Laughing, Erik punches my shoulder. “Asshole.”

“That’s what it’s called,” I tease. Stepping behind Erik, I soap up his broad shoulders, spreading the suds across his strong back and around until I reach his straining cock. I give it a tug and he exhales, fast and shaky.

“Someone’s horny,” I mumble, dragging my fingers along his length again.

“It’s all your fault.”

“Oh, sorry, let me make it up to you.”

I tighten my grip, stroking him hard, and his body slumps against mine. It doesn’t take long for Erik to tense up and shudder, shooting his load onto the shower glass.

He leans against the shower wall, beaming while rubbing his face. “My god, you’re so good at that. Let me return the favor.”

“Not gonna say no.”

Erik walks me back and sits me down on the ledge at the end of my shower. His smile grows wider as he drops to his knees and clasps my aching dick in his fist.

“Holy shit.” I grunt as Erik takes me into his mouth, working his hot, slick tongue over me from base to tip. He’s relentless, swallowing around me and applying blissful pressure everywhere it matters.

There’s no way I’m gonna last long, not like this.

And I don’t—Erik sucks my soul out for the second time in twenty-four hours, and I’m surprised I don’t crack the tiles with how hard I dig my fingers into the ledge. My legs turn to jelly as I come hard, barely keeping me stable.

Erik cleans himself off as I recover, giving me an eyeful of shiny, flexing muscles.

“I don’t think I ever want you to leave,” I say weakly.

He hums in agreement, squirting conditioner into my hair and rubbing it in with strong fingers, and then I stand up to rinse everything out. This was fun, but I shouldn’t waste too much water.

We dry ourselves off and get dressed before leaving the steamy bathroom. Erik settles on the couch with his phone and I head to my office, a silly grin spreading across my face.

A message from Jake arrives right when I get to my desk. Way to bring me down from a high.

WHITE, JAKE

Where is the August report? Was expecting it on Friday.

Uh oh. I frantically check my sent folder, skim the send list on the final report and… there’s Jake White. Frustrated, I screenshot the entire email, passive-aggressively highlight Jake’s name, and send him the picture.

You were included in the distribution list on my end. Not sure what happened

WHITE, JAKE

Pls send again because I do not have the email.

I hit forward on the email and send it to Jake, again, and then I wait. A minute later, he messages back.

WHITE, JAKE

My VPN was off. Emails now received.

Now if only he’d tried that before asking me. I feel a bit jealous of Erik because at least in his job, you can chirp people and fight them without immediately getting fired.

My entire team is still offline, which gives me courage to sit down next to Erik on the couch. Something compels me to lean into him, and his arm wraps around my shoulder. This is very couple-y, especially for someone I met for the first time on Friday, but I don’t mind at all.

“Are you taking the day off?” Erik asks.

“Oh, I wish. But it isn’t a busy time of the month, so there isn’t much to do.”

“Huh, okay.” Erik pauses, fiddling with his fingers. “What exactly do you do?”

I rattle off my rehearsed line about how I support executive decision-making and corporate strategy by providing monthly reporting, forecasting, and comparisons.

Erik tilts his head, as if to remind me that my jargon-filled spiel is completely incomprehensible to anyone outside my industry, so I change tactics.

“Basically, I prepare a lot of Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides about the same thing every single month,” I say instead.

Erik nods, I ask him about hockey, and he gives me a series of shrugs with short answers. It’s clear he’s good at what he does, but it’s competitive as hell, given how often the coaches shift him and the other forwards between the lines.

I might have to check out his stats later. For science.

“So,” I start, clapping my hands on my knees and standing up, “do you want breakfast? I won’t go back to work for another hour, at least.”

“You’re offering to cook for me? I might need you to reconsider your no-roommate policy.”

“Hey, I already said I’d make an exception for you,” I reply, pulling a carton of eggs out of the fridge.

“Sounds good, hopefully your cargo lift isn’t booked today.”

“Shouldn’t be. I’ll even give you my spare key.” I freeze, a little shocked at how I offered my spare key to someone I haven’t even known for a week, even if I meant it as a joke.