Page 121 of More than Need

“That’s what makes it fun,” he said, grinning. He pulled out a packet of gum from the top drawer of his desk and took it with him.

As soon as he entered Riley’s office, he tossed the packet over. Riley caught it automatically with one hand.

“What is this?”

“Well, itlookslike gum, but you never know. It could be anything.” It could be empty, for all Riley knew.

Riley dropped it next to his mouse. “I’d believe it,” he said dryly. “Why are you giving me gum?”

“Like I’ve said before: you put it in your mouth, and then you relax.” Gideon closed the door behind himself, needing privacy for this. “Have you forgotten already?”

“Did you steal this one?”

“Whobuystheir gum? That’s weird. Do you know how many dads at school pickup walk around carrying gum?”

“At least one,” Riley said, unamused.

“I am un-thievable.” And he never carried any with him. He only had it at work when he needed to freshen up before going out to talk to a bunch of people.

“That’s not a word. What do you want, Gideon? I’m busy.”

“It makes my dick hard when you get bossy.” An unfortunate truth, now that he’d heard that voice in bed, that low growl when he told Gideon he was a good boy and gave him orders. Impossible to turn that off.

Riley glanced down. “Is that what you’re here for? You might want to lock the door.”

The fact that Riley hadn’t saidnoonly made Gideon want it more. He could be sitting on Riley’s dick within minutes, hearing that same guttural sex voice in his ear. “I thought we weren’t allowed to do this here?”

“There are exceptions to every rule.”

“I don’t think you’re very good at following rules.”

“I find them flexible suggestions.”

Gideon bit his lip, so fucking tempted. They’d taken turns on him last night, and his ass was still sore. He didn’t care; thetender burn would only make it better. Except he’d come in here for an important reason, and he couldn’t be deterred. He might chicken out otherwise, and he didn’t want to do that.

“I came to give you this.” He handed the paper over to Riley and waited nervously. He put one hand in his pocket and rocked back on his heels, too jittery to sit down.

Riley flicked his gaze over it, his scowl deepening as he read. “What the hell is this?”

“It’s a resignation letter.” He’d thought that would be obvious. He’d even put it in the heading.

Riley rubbed his forehead. “Yes, Gideon, I can read. Why are you giving me a resignation letter?”

“Because I’m quitting.” Obviously.

Riley tossed the paper away in disgust. “Is this because of us? Gideon, we talked about this. If you don’t want to move departments, you know that I’m willing to. We just need to keep it discreet for a little longer.”

“You did just offer to fuck me during work hours.” And if Gideon hadn’t come in here with his resignation letter, he couldn’t deny that they’d be fucking right now.

Riley scowled at him.

“It does have to change,” Gideon said. “But not because of us. Well, not completely. Of course, part of it is us. Can you really sit there with a straight face and say we can keep our hands off each other during work hours? That decisions you make won’t be affected by this? You’ve already proved that they will.” He couldn’t deny that part of his decision had been because of his desire to be more open about their relationship. He didn’t want to sneak around and hide and only tell people that they trusted. Even after one of them moved, they’d still need to tread carefully. It influenced the decision; it just wasn’t theonlyreason. “I miss my son, Riley. And as fulfilling as this career has been for me, it’s not worth missing out on the rest of his yearsgrowing up. I want more. With him and with you and Dawson. I want us to buy a house together. Notnowbut in the future. One with a backyard for Hudson, and hell, let’s get a dog. Fuck, maybe we’ll get two. Or a cat. You seem like a cat person.”

“Is that negotiable?” Riley asked with a wry smile.

“Sure. Wecouldget three dogs andtwocats. I’m open to discussion. The point is that sneaking around and being careful—which we suck at as we’ve established—isn’t how I want my future to look. We all deserve better than that.”

“Gideon—”

---