Page 7 of A Hard Sell

Luka chuckled to himself. Pining was good and all, but Finn would have to face his feelings eventually.

Chapter Three

Shut Up, Morgan

Luka spent the weekend thinking about work way too much. Well, their new client specifically. Okay, it was Thomas. He was thinking about Thomas.

Does he get those suits custom-made?Luka wondered while he loaded the dishwasher.Each onemust cost more than my mortgage payment.

God, his hair is so sexy. I don’t think I’ve seen an exec with long hair before…as he perused the grocery aisles.

Lying in bed and trying to fall asleep on Sunday night, he thought,I should ask him what he does to be in such good shape. Is there a non-creepy way to ask that? Fuck, imagine him shirtless…

Luka’s imagination was happy to oblige. He dreamed of Thomas, wearing nothing but a tie, stretched out and gleaming on the conference room table. He woke up sweaty and aroused, the image burned onto his brain.

But Luka made sure he was at his desk bright and early Monday morning, unruffled, and sweat-free. He dove into his tasks for a productive morning until he was startled out of his zone with a rap on his doorframe a little before lunch.

“Luka,” Thomas greeted him, his deep voice reverberating through Luka’s chest. “May I come in?”

Luka’s mouth dried out as naked Thomas flashed before his eyes. “Sure,” he managed to stammer, mortified to feel his cheeks heating up.Okay, this is starting to be a problem.Sure, he’s blisteringly hot, but he’s probably a jerk, all bulging muscles and raging ego.

Thomas had the storyboards with him and set them on Luka’s desk before taking a seat. For such a heavy, thickset man, his every move was smooth and graceful. Luka imagined him in hand-to-hand combat, whirling in a roundhouse kick, hurling someone over his shoulder in one fluid motion, before throwing two torrid punches into a hapless opponent, all without breaking a sweat.

“I was able to speak with Aleandro Sartini this morning, and it looks like we’ll need to make some changes,” Thomas said.

“Oh?” Luka blinked back to reality, focusing on the man in front of him sitting in an office chair.

“We’re taking a slightly different direction. Let’s meet with the team after lunch to brainstorm.”

“Okay.” His cheeks burned even hotter.I fucked up again. He must think I’m a total joke.

Thomas nodded and got to his feet. “I’ll see you then.” He opened the door to leave and nearly collided with Finn, who was barreling in.

“Excuse me,” Thomas muttered.

“No problem.” Finn shut the door in Thomas’ face.

“Finn!”

“What?” He dropped into the chair Thomas had just vacated and stared at Luka.

“That was rude.”

“Nah.” Finn leaned back, running his hands through his hair. “He’s a busy, important man, places to be. He’s already forgotten it.”

Luka rubbed his forehead. “I just don’t know if closing the door in the new VP’s face is the best move.”

He readied himself for a retort, but Finn didn’t even appear to have been listening. Finn was, in fact, squirming, scratching at his beard, and, for once, struggling to find words.

“Can I help you?” Luka asked after the silence began to stretch into awkwardness.

“Look,” Finn growled, scrubbing his face. “About…Rory.” He reddened.

Luka did his best to suppress a smile. “Yes?”

“I’m not—It’s…” He took a deep breath and fiddled with the seam in his pants, then looked up at Luka pleadingly. “You won’t say anything, will you?”

Luka softened. “No. But if you really feel that way, you should.”

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