Page 36 of A Hard Sell

“Fine.”

“Are you, though? You seem a little…not fine.” He wondered what Thomas could be mad about. Had he done something? Had Morgan? Then blind panic hit him for a moment—what if Morgan had told Thomas some crazy story about how they had broken up and turned Thomas against him? What if he was mad at the way Luka had acted at the party, rolling his eyes at Morgan’s costume and singing? His heartbeat picked up as his mind raced.

Thomas paused, his shoulders slumping. “Sorry. I just—” He blew out the rest of his breath. “I think I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“Okay.” Luka tried to relax a little. “If you want to talk about anything, I’m here.”

Thomas looked at him. “I… Thanks.”

Luka nodded and opened up his email. They had a lot of details to hammer out for the upcoming commercial shoots, so he started sorting through the relevant messages. Or rather, that was the plan, but his brain was spinning. What had happened between Thomas and Morgan?

He didn’t need to wait long to find out more. He was on his way back to his office after lunch when he heard Morgan’s voice coming from inside. He paused just out of sight.

“…the rest of your weekend?” Morgan was saying.

“Good,” Thomas answered shortly.

“Thanks again for putting me to bed. I just feel so silly.” Morgan gave an affected giggle.

“You’re welcome.”

“I would have liked to thank you properly, but you ran out of there so fast.”

Luka relaxed a bit. That absolute dick, acting like he couldn’t remember what happened.

Thomas didn’t reply, so Morgan continued. “Perhaps I could thank you this week sometime? Buy you a drink after work?”

Luka held his breath, heart pounding.

“Thank you for the offer, but I don’t date people I work with,” Thomas said.

“Who said anything about a date? I didn’t even know you were interested in men. And we all know how Breakpoint feels about employees dating! No, just thought we could get to know each other a little better.”

There was a long pause. “Okay,” Thomas replied.

Luka leaned against the wall, his stomach dropping into his shoes.What the fuck.

“Great. I’ll text you.” The satisfaction in Morgan’s tone made Luka’s skin crawl.

“You don’t need to—how about today?” Thomas asked.

“Amazing idea. I’ll meet you here at five? My favorite bar is just one stop away, on your way home.”

Luka rolled his eyes. He knew which bar Morgan was talking about. Stuck-up servers and heinously overpriced drinks. Morgan loved it.

“Sure.” At least Thomas didn’t sound too excited about it.

“Can’t wait,” Morgan purred.

Luka hurried away down the hall a few steps, then turned to walk back toward his office right as Morgan came out.

He saw Luka and the vilest smirk crossed his face. “See you later.”

Luka couldn’t even bring himself to acknowledge the man as he strode past him and entered his office. Thomas was frowning at his laptop.

“Hey,” Luka said as he scooted up to his desk. “I was thinking about that email from the director and I’m not sure he’s quite getting the vision.”

They got right back to work, but his brain continued to pick at it, until it was a festering sore on his consciousness.Oh my God, a date. They’re going on a date. Thomas took him home and now they’re going on a date.He tried to swallow it down, but it burst out of him in the afternoon after a long, silent stretch. “So. Any plans for later today?” he asked, punching a few things into a spreadsheet.

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