Page 26 of Benji

Except he wasn’t. The bed was empty, and I was both disappointed and grateful. I quickly pulled on my briefsand suit pants, getting dressed for work. I pulled on a work shirt, buttoning it up, convincing myself that work would be good for me.

I needed to be busy and buried in paperwork.

Except when I walked out to the kitchen, threading my belt on, Benji was standing at the counter, wearing pyjamas with bed hair, slicing up some fruit. “Coffee machine is on, and I thought I’d fix you some breakfast before you leave.”

“I’m not going to work today,” I said out loud, surprising even myself.

He paused, the knife mid-slice through a strawberry. “Oh?” Then he looked me up and down at how I was dressed. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll work from home,” I said. “I was going to go into the office, but honestly, I get more done at home, and you’re here by yourself and I feel bad for leaving you. If I go into the office, I won’t be home until late, and that’s not fair.”

He was stunned, almost as much as I was, by the words that came out of my mouth.

“I can watch TV and read a book,” he said. “You don’t need to miss work on my behalf.”

I shook my head. “I’m not missing anything. I’ll still need to get work done, and if I do need something from the office, I can have it couriered. It’s not like I’m calling in sick or anything. I’ll just sit at the table, and I have noise cancelling headphones, so the TV won’t bother me. You can watch whatever you want.”

He smirked as he finished slicing the strawberry. “So you still wear the suit to work from home?”

I looked down at myself and chuckled. “Ah, no. I’ll go change.”

He grinned at me. “Okay. Is fruit and coffee okay for breakfast? Some toast, maybe?”

Having him smile like that, all sleep rumpled in my kitchen, making me breakfast? He had no idea... “That’s... Perfect.”

I went back into my room and changed into some more comfortable clothes. Some new lounge pants and a long-sleeve tee shirt seemed more appropriate. I refused to look at myself in the mirror because I couldn’t bring myself to look myself in the eye.

I was refusing to go into work because I had a sexy little rent boy as a house guest.

What had my life become?

I was never this irresponsible.

I never did shit like this.

Maybe that’s why I needed to do it...

Life will be back to normal next week.

I took out my phone and sent a message to the office that I’d be working from home as I’d come down with a cold.

It wasn’t a sick day, as such; I didn’t need a medical certificate. I was just simply working from home. People did it often these days. I had no meetings, no appointments, so it was no big deal.

That’s what I told myself, anyway.

I also sent Dominic a text.

Working from home today. On email if needed. Call if it’s urgent.

And then, because I’d already thrown all responsibility out the window, I switched my phone to silent.

I came back out to find two places set at the island counter, not at the table. Coffee, juice, toast, and sliced fruit.

“This looks great, thank you,” I said.

He grinned, looking me up and down. “And you look much more comfortable. I had to look through a few cupboards to find everything. Hope that’s okay.”

“More than okay,” I said, pulling out a stool to sit on.

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