Page 26 of Forbidden Lust

Oscar looked at Daniel, who could feel his face heating,and he couldn’t keep eye contact. What the fuck was wrong with him? He had the best poker face of anyone he knew.

“You know something, don’t you?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Please tell me you didn’t fuck him.”

The lift opened at that precise moment and there were some startled people who caught the end of their conversation. Daniel couldn’t help but smirk, but he had to get away from Oscar before he asked anything else.

He was out of luck when he felt the big man grip him by the shoulders. The guy was a tank.

“So, this is how it’s going to go down. You’re going to buy me lunch, and then tell me what’s going on with Josh. Then you’re going to fix it, so he doesn’t leave me.”

“That bossy bottom tone doesn’t work on me, you know,” he said, unable to keep a straight face.

Oscar put his arm round Daniel’s shoulder.

“We’ll see about that.”

Now Daniel had to decide how much he was going to tell Oscar about Josh’s private business. The thought of talking to a friend appealed to him, but the last thing he wanted to do was alienate Josh further. He needed to talk to someone about this, though. He could hardly call Gavin, and he’d drifted apart from his other friends after the divorce. Daniel wasn’t going to bother his mother with this either, or anyone who worked for him. He’d only known Oscar a few weeks, but he was one of those people you meet who becomes an instant friend.

His lunch with Oscar had been interesting. The gentle giant could be a ballbreaker when he was pissed off. Daniel had been given one instruction by his new friend – fix it! If he knew how to do that, he’d have done it already. He’d asked Oscar to give him Josh’s address. He knew the building butnot the flat number. Naturally, he’d refused. Daniel knew he needed to play dirty if he was going to get Josh’s attention, so he fired off a text message.

Daniel:Going to speak to Gavin tonight and get his side of the story. I’ll be at the office until 7 if you want to talk before xx.

Now he would wait, unsure if he would actually see Gavin later, but Josh didn’t need to know that.

Just after six o’clock he was informed Josh had arrived, so he asked for him to be brought straight to his office. Most people had left for the day, but his assistant always stayed until he did, unless Daniel was pulling a late one. If that was the case, he’d call her a cab and push her into the lift. She’d scowl at him, and refuse to make him a coffee the next morning, but he’d have flowers delivered by lunchtime and all would be well with the world. Daniel couldn’t function without her, like Oscar couldn’t without Josh. Good assistants were hard to find. Excellent ones were so rare that finding a dodo egg would be easier.

“Josh Carter for you, Daniel,” said Claudette, showing him in.

The look on Josh’s face told Daniel exactly what he was thinking – he was pissed.

“Thanks, Claudette. Please, can you close the door and tell anyone who calls I’ve already left for the day?”

“Of course,” she said with a knowing smirk. That woman was far too intuitive.

As soon as the door closed, Josh advanced on him. He was angry, but kept his voice low.

“What are you playing at? Threatening to talk to Gavin. Why would you do that? He doesn’t need to know what happened between us. You’re the one who’ll lose something. He’s nothing to me. Do you want to throw away two decades of friendship over a dirty weekend?”

“Oh, Josh,” he said, putting his hand on his cheek. “You are so much more than that.”

Josh leaned into his touch for a second and then moved away.

“You can’t talk to him. Please. Do this for me.”

“I will not let you quit your job because of me, Josh.”

“I’m sorry, let me? My reason for quitting has nothing to do with you, Daniel.”

Daniel wasn’t sure he believed that, but he had no reason to doubt Josh. He’d never been dishonest with him before.

“He asked to me to quit.”

“Who?”

“Who do you think?”

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