Page 9 of Euphoria

Colter broke the kiss and smiled at Hugh. “Liar,” he breathed.

Hugh’s smile faded, “Did you just call me a liar?”

“I did,” Colter admitted.

“Why?” Hugh asked.

“Because you said that you didn’t want me—that I’m not your type,” Colter reminded. “You lied.”

“No, I did not,” Hugh covered. “What makes you say that?”

“The kiss told me everything that I need to know about you, Hugh. You want me and earlier, you lied about me not being your type,” Colter said. “Kisses don’t lie, even when you don’t want to admit the truth. Just admit that I’m right, Hugh,” Colter begged. From the stubborn look on Hugh’s face, there was no way that he was going to give in. He was going to stick by his lie, and Colter knew that he was going to be a challenge, but he always loved those. For now, he’d give Hugh a pass, but sooner or later, the guy was going to have to come clean and Colter couldn’t wait for that day.

Hugh

Colter stood in front of him, staring him down. He knew that he wasn’t going to let him get away with lying, but he was doubling down and digging in his heels. “I think it would be best if I left,” Hugh whispered. He didn’t mean a word of what he just said, but somehow, the words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them.

“Leave?” Colter asked. “What does that mean, Hugh?” he asked. “Are you saying that you want to leave the bar or me?” The hurt that he saw on Colter’s face was nearly his undoing. He didn’t want to hurt him. That was his main reason for leaving in the first place. If he stayed, he would have to admit that he had feelings for Colter and that would screw up everything between the two of them. He couldn’t work for Colter and be involved with him at the same time. It was a part of the rules that they had come up with, but admitting that was the reason why he wanted to leave wasn’t an option. Saying the words aloud that he was attracted to Colter would royally screw things up. But then again, he was usually good at screwing things up. That’s what Luke liked to tell him.

“You,” Hugh whispered. “I think that you are a great guy, but it’s time for me to go. I’d like to keep my job, if that still works for you.” Colter took a step forward, invading Hugh’s space and he had nowhere to go. The guy looked like he wanted to punch him and kiss him again at the same time. He backed against the wall and braced himself for whatever Colter had planned.

“Why do you want to leave me, Hugh?” Colter asked. His tongue darted out to run over his bottom lip and Hugh wanted to groan at just how sexy that was. But then, he found everything that Colter did to be sexy as fuck. That was why he had to find a new place to live, and eventually work.

“Because I can’t live and work with you at the same time,” Hugh admitted. That was as close to the truth as he planned to get. “It’s a bad idea.”

Colter pushed further into Hugh’s space and put his hands on the wall behind him, essentially trapping Hugh in place. “What are you doing?” Hugh asked.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” Colter asked. His wolfish grin told Hugh that he knew exactly what he was doing to him.

“You know that you are, Colter,” Hugh spat. “We agreed that there can never be anything between us besides friendship and work. So, I think the question should be—why are you doing this?”

“How about you answer my question first,” Colter insisted.

“Fine, you’re making me uncomfortable,” Hugh growled. “Do you feel better knowing that?” From the way he smiled down at Hugh, Colter was enjoying every single moment of making him squirm. “Now, you answer my question.”

“Okay,” Colter said, “I’m doing this because I like you, Hugh. I don’t want to keep pretending that I don’t. I can feel the electricity between us every time we touch each other. Aren’t you tired of pretending?” He was finding it hard to hide his feelingsfor Colter, but he needed his job at the bar, and falling for his hot boss wasn’t the best idea.

“I’m not pretending,” Hugh lied. “You’re my boss, and you were kind enough to offer to let me stay here, but I think that was a bad idea. I’ll just need to find my own place, even if that means taking an apartment next to college students.”

“So, we’re circling back to you leaving then?” Colter asked. “Okay, you want to live next to college students and deal with the noise and parties. Have any new places come on the market in the past few hours?” he asked. He could tell that Colter already knew the answer and he wasn’t going to back down.

“No,” Hugh said, “there are no new places on the market, but I’m ready to start looking further out.” It was the only way to escape his feelings for Colter, and if he had to commute to work, he would.

“Why commute when you can live here and be close to the bar? For fucks sake, Hugh, why can’t you just tell me how you feel about me?” he pushed.

“I’ve already told you—you’re my boss and I think that you’re nice, but that’s where things end.” Colter huffed out his breath and leaned closer to Hugh. If he kept that up, he wasn’t going to be able to keep up his walls. He would have to admit the truth to Colter, and that terrified him.

“Okay, we can do this the hard way,” Colter breathed. He was so close to Hugh that he could just lean in and take what he wanted from him. Colter’s warm breath felt like a caress against Hugh’s lips. Hugh’s traitorous body leaned into Colter, and when a soft moan escaped his lips, Colter pressed his lips against Hugh’s taking everything that he seemed to want from him. Colter didn’t let Hugh up for air until he was panting with need and ready to beg him for more.

“We can’t do that again,” Hugh said. It sounded more like a challenge, and he was pretty sure that Colter was the type of guy that never backed down from one of them.

“No?” Colter asked. “You sure about that?” Hugh nodded, not able to get the words to come out. Colter pressed his hard body against Hugh’s, and he was sure that he’d come in his damn pants if he didn’t stop rubbing against him. Colter wasn’t playing fair, and Hugh wasn’t sure if that should piss him off or turn him on. Judging from his erection, he was going to go with turned on.

“Colter,” Hugh warned.

“All you have to do is tell me how you feel about me, Hugh,” Colter challenged.

“And then what?” Hugh asked. “We just live under the same roof and work together, ignoring the fact that we have feelings for each other?”

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