Page 5 of A Hard Sell

Luka flushed. It was an ordinary dress shirt, but that didn’t matter. He was already sold. “Thanks.”

Morgan eased closer, dropping his voice. “It matches your eyes…and my bedroom floor.”

Okay, maybe the flirting wasn’tthatinnocent. But he was still taken by surprise when Morgan ended up giving him a hand job in the supply closet a week later. He went in for some staples and Morgan followed, pressing him up against the shelves and kissing him quite convincingly. Luka kissed him back, knowing it was a bad idea, but it all felt rather sexy and dangerous. Then Morgan unzipped Luka’s pants, and, well, that was how it began. Morgan came back to his place that night. And came at his place that night.

The whole affair was very Secret Agent—they left the office at different times and even took separate trains. Because the thing was, Breakpoint Advertising was not a big fan of interoffice dating—or, he would have to assume, supply closet hand jobs.

Tawney warned him early on. “Not a great idea, Luk. You have to tell HR—there’s a stack of forms and a sexual harassment module, for starters.”

“It’s fine.” Luka waved her off. “It’s super casual.” So casual, Luka thought, that maybe they didn’t need to disclose anything. They mostly just fooled around at Luka’s place, then ordered delivery and streamed a show. But as time went on, the guilt of keeping it a secret started to weigh on him. Plus, it might be nice to be seen in public with the guy he was sleeping with on a very regular basis.

Except whenever he tried to float the idea of an appointment with HR, Morgan brushed it off and changed the topic.

“Did you see that new place that opened up by the Main Street station? With all the disco balls in the window?” Luka asked one night after he finished his lettuce wraps. “That might be fun to check out sometime.”

“Mmhmm,” Morgan replied, not even taking his eyes off of the TV.

“Once we have a meeting with HR…” Luka tried. He stopped when he saw the tension in Morgan’s shoulders.

“Ugh, these new places all try way too hard to be irreverent.” Morgan rolled his eyes and picked up his wine. “Like, disco balls? Am I a teenage girl decorating my bedroom in the late nineties?”

Eventually Luka gave up asking. So it went, for several months. Sex, food, TV, awkwardly playing it cool at work, repeat. At least the sex was fantastic, he consoled himself, because there wasn’t much else to it.

Then one day, when they were unpacking their dinner order, Luka’s entire meal was missing. Morgan had offered a half-hearted “Aw, sucks, babe,” before digging into his pad Thai without another thought.

Luka watched Morgan, inhaling his noodles and flipping to the next episode of their show, and it hit him. He was in a secret shallow relationship with a man who didn’t care about him all that much and was definitely not worth getting fired over.

The breakup didn’t go well. At first, Morgan just scoffed, thinking Luka was trying to make a point. “Oh, God, is this because I said I didn’t want Indian tonight?”

“No, Morgan. It’s because this isn’t even a real relationship. It’s just sex. You and I both know there’s no real feelings here. I’m just… I’m done.”

Then when Morgan realized Luka was serious, he got pissy. “Fine. Your dick is nothing special, anyway. Good luck finding someone else who wants to bother with it.” He stormed out, taking the rest of his dinner with him.

Luka sighed.Honestly, the supply closest? What was I thinking?

He was looking forward to putting the whole situation in the rear-view mirror. No harm, no foul, no angry boss frowning at him next to an HR rep. It would not do to have this loose end flapping in the breeze.

Except the loose end refused to make things easy. Morgan sulked around, glaring at Luka across the conference table and doing shit like letting the elevator door close just as Luka was running for it. When his favorite coffee mug went missing, on a hunch, he found it in one of Morgan’s desk drawers, along with some of his best watercolor pens. Total nightmare.

Luka was so desperate to fix the situation that when Morgan asked for a bit of help with a jingle, he said sure, hoping it would smooth things over. But then a few days later, there he was, leaning on Luka’s door frame. “Hey, do you mind taking a quick look at this score?” Eyes wide, blond hair rippling just so.

Then a week later… “You don’t mind giving me your thoughts, do you? You’re the best.” More and more now, Luka found himself pushing his own projects aside to help Morgan with his. It was all fucked up, and it was all his fault.

Thomas spoke this time when Morgan finished playing the music. “Good start. I like your use of the lone violin. It’s very…engaging.”

I know, right?Luka held his breath, wondering if Morgan would at least throw a little bit of credit his way.

“Thank you so much, sir.” Morgan preened, avoiding looking in Luka’s direction.

Apparently not. Luka slumped in his chair, imagining all the ways Morgan should suffer a slow death.Bury him in an anthill coated in honey? Throw him into the lion enclosure during feeding time at the zoo? Drop a hundred hornet nests on him? …Wait, why do these all involve animals?He did his best to ditch the grisly nature channel fantasies as the rest of the group shared their progress and bantered about some ideas for the direction they wanted to take the campaign. Thomas didn’t say much else beyond a few non-committal grunts. Luka had no idea what he was thinking about any of it.

After everyone had presented, a lull in the conversation hit, and heads turned to Thomas and Ilona at the front.

“Did you need anything else, Thomas?” Ilona asked.

“I’d like to take another look at everything, if you don’t mind. I’ll find you if I have any questions.”

They stared at him. He stared back. “Does anyone have any questions for me?”

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