Page 9 of Just Like You (Square Mile Rogues #2)

Kieron

B y the time I hung up on him? My shirt was soaking wet.

Nerves, despite my seemingly calm and confident demeanour, since this was not something I usually did.

Nor did I sprinkle timepieces into strangers’ bags, but at the time?

I had been frazzled and desperate. I’d wanted to kiss him again, feel his body against mine one last time.

He hadn’t given me that opportunity, and I’d had the feeling that asking for his number had been out of the question.

He’d probably have slapped me had I asked, and I would have gratefully taken that degradation, simply to feel his hands on me again.

No such luck, and I’d spent two days in New York in a state and a half, trying desperately to figure out how to function. How to stop thinking about how he’d felt underneath me, his hips in my grip, the way his mouth had made those deliciously desperate sounds, as I’d allowed myself to…

He’d left a mark on my neck. I’d treasured it until it had faded. I still stroked the very spot, like he’d left me with some kind of invisible…gift.

I’d done it, hadn’t I? Allowed myself to fall apart.

Completely shattering all that sharpness I usually displayed.

I wasn’t much of a hugger. Never liked cuddling.

Aftercare? Not on my shift. I liked to get up and walk away, or at least turn over and fall asleep.

Much more my thing than the ridiculous performance I’d put on in a stranger’s bed in New York.

I’d hooked up with people before, of course I had.

Quick fucks in all kinds of places. I’d got ill-advised blowies from desperate interns, thinking that giving me a few seconds of pleasure could nail that contract.

Everyone wanted to work for us, and me, I really had no say in such matters at all.

That was up to Juliet, the boss, but when it worked?

The insinuation that I could? I didn’t even have to say the words.

Did it make me a good person? Absolutely not.

But then I wasn’t here for the good times.

I was here to work and make Delaware Financial profit, and that was how I got away with it.

My ways. My bad temper and my inability to get people to like me.

My boss, Juliet, had told me, over and over again.

Every time a PA resigned, an intern complained or…

Well. Now I had Maura, who had been assigned to me with enough warnings to keep my temper in check and my dick to myself.

Maura was imposing, motherly and wouldn’t let me get away with anything, hence the phone call to deliver Julian’s message.

I’d dismissed her with my usual brand of non-existent charm and blushed like a child sat here in my office, stroking the piece of paper where I’d scribbled his digits down.

What the hell had that little display of insanity been? The Maldives? Never been. Never wanted to go. And now all of a sudden, I was desperate for an overpriced stay on some godforsaken archipelago in the Indian Ocean? Really, Kieron?

My mother would have laughed, but at least she was no longer here to see what her wayward child had become. A mess of a man who no longer made rational decisions. What was it with Julian Bradley? Was he some kind of weird woodland fairy, casting spells on me to make me lose my mind?

He knew about watches. Another awkward smile on my face, which I wiped off as Maura entered. No knocks. She’d made that clear on her first day.

“Don’t look so shocked, child,” she droned on, walking on the carpet like it was made of glass.

She was a size of a woman, impressive and stern, and, not that I admitted it, but I quite liked having her around.

Delivering my coffee and taking notes, and doing my dirty work away from Juliet’s prying eyes .

“Late. Two days,” she muttered. “But it’s a solid proposal, and I’ve tidied up the language in places and removed the duplicate logos on page three.”

“This is why you get a bonus,” I huffed.

“Much appreciated, but honestly, Kieron?”

So, I was Kieron. Child. Little monster at times, and sometimes small nicknames that made me smile. Today, though?

“Need another favour. Sorry about this.” I was actually.

“What have you done now?” She sighed, carefully placing herself down on my visitor’s chair.

“If it’s another copy-paste contract, then you might as well take this one and just revise the names.

We really need to set up new templates to make this easier, but when you keep fiddling with the agreements? ”

“I tailor-make deals for our clients. No client is the same, no needs are the same. We can fulfil them all, but templates tend to become messy.”

“Not on my watch, child,” she huffed. “Thus, what do you need?”

“I need Thursday and Friday off. Possibly Monday. Need to go away. Family emergency.”

She laughed. Inappropriately perhaps, but then she pinned her eyes on me. “Kieron, you’re an only child. No parents. No family.”

“Perhaps I have people…” I cocked my head. I was lying through my teeth but on occasion? Maura had been known to bend the truth for her own gain. She was also the master of not so subtle blackmail .

“Gina?”

“No,” I said sternly.

“And what’s in it for me?”

“Thomas and Beckett go live on Friday afternoon, I’m aiming to be online with them for that.”

“And?”

“I won’t be here. As I said, I will definitely be here on Tuesday for the meeting with Averil Walsh.”

“Does Juliet know, or will I have to run around like a headless chicken, pretending you’re in meetings that don’t exist?”

“Something like that?” I admitted with a guilty grimace, as she just laughed out loud.

“Child,” she said, shaking her head. “Your mother, rest her soul, would no doubt have given you a right telling off if she heard you make ridiculous demands like that. But I ask again. What’s in it for me here?

Another week of doing your dirty work whilst you gallivant around the world pretending you don’t need to file your accounts and back up your hard drive? ”

“I was in New York and spent two days trying to convince a bunch of idiots that they actually need to offer their customers options. They can’t just force everyone to sign up for the same plan.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she huffed, and crossed her arms .

“Maura, you can have Friday off. And I will pay for your…” I stopped right there on purpose, waiting for her to finish off my sentence.

“You already pay off my coffee account, monthly, which is much appreciated, and my parking tickets were a welcome gesture of kindness.”

“This is very unconventional,” I smirked as she just smiled.

“Child. I will gladly hold the fort here, but you need to start sorting yourself out. These little escapades are ruining a perfectly organised working week, and it’s making me all muddled.

This week is fine. Do your thing. But from next week?

You sit at your desk, Monday to Friday, like the good boy you are. ”

“Maura.” I laughed. “I’m forty-one.”

“And you still can’t keep your sandbox tidy.”

“True,” I admitted. “And I’ll get you theatre tickets. Wicked . Next Friday.”

“They’d better be good seats,” she warned.

“And my schedule had better be lenient next week.”

“Well, you are the boss?”

“I thought I was, but I seem to have to ask permission even to go to the conveniences.”

“Nonsense.” She laughed. “But if you’re going to run off early today again, I am going to go grab that coffee now, so I can sit at my desk and sip it, pretending to be awfully busy. ”

“You will be.” I smiled as she got back up and left me sat there like the absolute idiot I was.

I was good at my job. Confident in my skills and achievements. I just…tended to overschedule and under plan, and without Maura keeping me in check? I did exactly what I was doing now, loading up the airline site and making a last-minute booking…to the…Maldives.

Which was a ridiculous amount of money, but I stuck to a sensible economy ticket, and then I had to send a text to Julian to confirm I’d be on his return flight.

I had no idea how these things worked, but I wasn’t going to waste a second of the time I was paying handsomely for… just to spend time with him.

And yes, I was ridiculous. Unhinged. Pick a word, that was probably me right now, but there was something here I had been working on for years, and I’d finally put my finger on something, physically and mentally. Something new.

There was no going back. No hope of actually stepping back and compartmentalising this little part of my life.

He texted back, which made me have a weird kind of cardiac arrest right there in my chair. Return details. Unless he was playing me for the fool I was. I think at this point? I didn’t care. Also? I liked him. Really liked him.

I liked… Ugh. I blushed even thinking it, but yes.

I liked anal. Absolutely liked anal. And I liked women, and their bodies and all that entailed, but a lot of women didn’t like using the back door.

Nor did they appreciate my attempts to access it.

I’d always known it was something a lot of men were into, but…

yes. Finding one who’ d let me do exactly what I wanted to do to someone was not quite as easy as it seemed.

I wasn’t keen on apps. Never frequented clubs or such. I knew there was a scene, and I certainly had colleagues who could probably have introduced me to suitable candidates for my bodily needs, but… Yes. That wasn’t me. Not at all. I liked things to happen naturally.

Yes. And that little thought made me laugh in my own face. Sex was one thing. Trying to create something out of nothing but a small hitch? I was not only naive; I was also perhaps woefully inexperienced in these kinds of things.

Men.

Gay men.

Men who liked other men doing delightfully lovely things to them.

Men…like me.