Page 41 of Due Dilligence (Takeover)
“That’s...” He’d read about some of the jobs Sam Anderson’s team had pulled off. “Seven?”
“Yeah.” This grin was shit-eating, which meant Fazil was proud of his work. “We’re an odd crew. Mouthy, bratty, really serious when we need to be.”
“Like your finance guy?”
“We’re all a bit less formal than Eli. Even Sam.” Fazil leaned back in his chair. “But everyone’s hardworking. We’ve pulled some long-ass days in that office and had some stellar disappointments. But I wouldn’t give it up for the world. Sam is...” Fazil seemed to hunt for words. “He’s brilliant.”
Todd’s breath caught. Fazil glowed. Amazing smile, clear eyes, animated, and none of the weight of their past pressing him down into his chair. Beautiful.
Todd got to take him home tonight. “You’re lucky.”
“I know.” He gestured at the remnants of his ham-and-cheese omelet. “You know I’m not religious, but I wake up almost every morning and thank God Sam called me. I wasdyingat my last job. I hated being a cog in the corporate world, plunking along, not rocking the boat when I saw how things could be improved or fixed or...” Fazil waved. “You know.”
He did know. “Pretty well, yeah.”
Fazil eyed him, but not as a lover. This was calculated. “You developed most of those procedures you gave me, didn’t you?”
“Yup.”
“How hard were they to implement?”
Todd’s breath caught from the memory of the fights with Stephen, with Nathan, with everyone. Because change wasscary. Procedures meant they couldn’t throw code into the repository and hope it worked. He didn’t need to answer. Fazil’s lips had set into one hell of a frown.
He knew.
Todd scrubbed his chin. “We didn’t have any testing procedures for the longest time. We put out the fires when we noticed them. Easy enough with one customer.”
“But when you have two and they want different things...” Fazil’s shook his head. “We shouldnotbe talking about work!”
He had a point. Todd shifted his leg until it touched Fazil’s beneath the table and Fazil jumped. “Yeah, forget work.” He ran his calf up Fazil’s. “What do you want to do next?”
“You.” Fazil breathed the word out. “If we weren’t in a restaurant however many fucking feet in the air.”
His turn to shiver. An image of Fazil on his knees before him, going to town on his dick, flashed through Todd’s mind. Before he could get that picture out of his head or get his cock down to a reasonable size, the waiter brought their desserts and more coffee.
“Enjoy!” Dude winked before he sauntered away, hips moving a bit too jauntily.
Fazil coughed. “I think we might have gotten carried away.” He pointed his chin at the table.
Their coffee and two wonderful-looking pastries sat on a very short tablecloth. “Oh.” Heat ran through Todd, touching his cheeks, lungs, and—shit—dick, too. He moved his leg back and wrapped it around his chair leg. “Oops.”
Fazil picked up his fork. “We’re like two horny teens.”
His smile was infectious. “We’re better than two horny teens.”
“How so?”
“We both understand the utter pleasure of delayed gratification.”
“Do we now?” Fazil’s lips quirked and he slipped a bite of his chocolate what-ever-the-hell-it-was between those full lips of his.
“Oh, I think so,” Todd said. “Plus, I’d rather you spend the whole day imagining what I’m going to do to you tonight.”
There was that distant look again, but this time coupled with a distinctive flush. “I have a very good imagination.”
“So do I.” When Fazil met his gaze, Todd grinned. “I guess we’ll see how close we come to each other’s fantasies.”
Fazil reached for his coffee. “Can’t wait.”
