Page 70 of A Hard Sell

“I’m sorry.” The room was silent.

“Well. Time is ticking. Guess we’d better get at it, then.” His chest hurt, a sharp, pinching feeling.

Thomas glanced over at him. Luka gave him a weak smile. They got back to work.

* * * *

Thomas’ departure loomed ahead, a dark cloud over their every interaction. As the end of February drew nearer, Luka could feel Thomas slipping away, and was helpless to do anything about it. He stopped eating lunch with Luka, dropping in at the gym instead for a quick workout. Luka also noticed that Thomas looked at him less. Normally he felt that golden gaze on him half the day, Thomas always giving him his full attention, but not anymore. He only managed glimpses when Thomas’ eyes flicked up to his for half a second while they hammered out color choices and sorted through demographic numbers. A knot of dread sat in his stomach, growing and growing with each clipped sentence and quiet lunch hour alone in his office.

But, despite all this, he was still a professional. Luka did his best to keep it together, to pretend everything was fine. Pretend he wasn’t bracing himself for the moment when Thomas would walk out of his life forever.

Apparently he wasn’t pretending well.

“Are we going to talk about it?” Finn asked one day a week or so into February when he found Luka alone in his office. He closed the door behind him.

Luka sighed and pushed back from his desk. “Talk about what?”

Finn shook his head. “Gonna make me say it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Finn.”

“Your undying love for Thomas.” Finn gave him half of a mischievous smirk, his eyes still gentle.

Luka closed his eyes as his chest squeezed. “I don’t… We’re not— It’s not…”

“Yeah, except you do, you are and it is.”

“Fuck.” Luka slumped in his chair. “Am I that obvious?”

“Yes, but if it makes you feel any better, Thomas is into you, and it is equally as obvious.”

“What?” Luka shook his head to clear it. “He is?”

Finn groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jesus. I knew you were thick. Rory tried to warn me. Look. It’s clear as day that he likes you back, just as much as you like him. You gotta say something. You’re killing us.”

Luka’s heart leaped, but it crashed back to the bottom of his rib cage as reality set in. He shook his head. “He’s leaving in less than three weeks, and in the meantime, he’s still my boss. I can’t. Now would be the worst time ever.”

“Well, you don’t gotta marry the guy. Looks like he’d be good in bed.”

Luka flushed as his latest dream flashed through his head. The more miserable he was during the day, the hotter his dreams were at night, the desperation and aching sadness manifesting itself in other ways as he slept. He had climaxed in his sleep last night, waking up hot and sticky like a goddamn teenager.

He covered his face and groaned. “I can’t even tell you how much I am not about to proposition Thomas for a quick romp in the sack before he leaves.”

“Why not? Wait till his last day. If he’s leaving, doesn’t matter if he says yes or no.”

“I don’t just want to sleep with him, Finn. I…”

“You what?”

Luka blew out his breath. “Nothing. Thanks for your help. But I can’t.”

Finn narrowed his eyes at Luka. “This from the guy who told me to take the plunge with Rory.”

“It’s totally different!”

“Is it?”

“Of course it is.”

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