Page 74 of Just Business
Sam lowered his hands. Tired and harried lines replaced the smooth expressionless demeanor. “Business is growing pretty fast. I’m going to need someone to... well... be me. Do what I do.” He paused. “I’m going to eventually need a partner in the company.”
“What are you... I don’t even have my MBA yet!”
He waved that away. “You will, in a few months. What I’m offering is this—mentor with me. Learn what I do, how I do it. See what we can do together and we’ll decide on the next steps. It won’t happen right away. You’re still ramping up on the office and the business, and yes, finishing your MBA. But if you walk away...”
The unspoken words hung in the air. If he left, there would be no chance. None at all.
God, his heart. Pain, hope, anguish. He wasn’t sure which twisted his soul into knots and made it hard to breathe. “Are you serious? I mean...” He gestured to himself. “Not exactly corporate.”
“Have you seen yourself in a suit?”
That made his face burn. Even Brian’s head had whipped around.
“You might have to lose the nail polish from time to time.”
He could handle that. But... “I thought Eli was your right-hand man.” It came out as a whisper.
“He’s my CFO and my friend, but he’d be the first to tell you he can’t do what I do.” Sam drew invisible circles on the surface of his desk with a finger. “Nor does he want to. My job is to be the friendly side of the company. Eli revels a little too much in making clients uncomfortable.”
The sadist at work. Justin tried to hide the shiver—tried to convince himself it wasn’t partly out of pleasure.
“Justin, what happened with Eli?” Worry there. Concern. It softened Sam’s tone and drew different lines on his face.
“I... don’t want to talk about it.” Hell, he didn’t want to think about it. The more he did, the worse he felt. Eli had trapped Justin—only he hadn’t because he’d let Justin go. Eli had tried to buy Justin with dinners and clothes, hadn’t he? Another poor guy for the wealthy Dom to play with, except if Sam had his way, that wouldn’t be a concern.
Too much to think about right now. Sam’s offer. Eli. The hammering in his chest, the hollow feeling in his brain, the tingling in his fingertips. Justin shook his head.
“Can you work with him?”
Could he? “I did before.” But now he knew the taste of Eli’s skin, the timber of his moans, the soft touches that came after the sharp and sensuous sting of Eli’s whip. How his smile lit a room. “I’ll make it work.” He picked at a piece of lint on his black jeans. “If he doesn’t ask you to fire me.”
Sam exhaled. “If you believe Eli would ever ask me to do that, you don’t know him at all.”
Justin snapped his head up and looked at Sam. Sadness there, but a hint of understanding as well.
Maybe Sam was right. Maybe he didn’t know Eli. Probably for the best that they were done. He couldn’t imagine being Sam’s business partner while being Eli’s submissive. “I can be civil.”
“That’s all I ask.” Sam gave the forgotten letter a nudge.
Justin picked it up and stood. “I guess I have some shredding to do.”
Sam coughed a laugh.
After he slipped the letter into the shredder, he opened the door again and studied the office across the hall. Still no Eli.
Justin didn’t know whether the tumble in his heart was relief or sorrow.
***
Despite the drastic dip in temperature, Eli walked to work on Monday. His lungs hurt by the time he entered the office, but that had nothing to do with the cold weather and everything to do with still not being able to breathe.
The image of Justin’s back as he ran out the front door replayed itself in Eli’s mind. The echo of that one word sounded in his ears.
Saturn.
What had he done? Every time he ran through the scene in his head, there was nothing. No unsafe practices, no warnings.Nothing. Justin had been begging to be bound and whipped, moaning while Eli tightened ropes around his wrists, his cock hard, hips thrusting.
He hadn’t even picked up a flogger yet, had just been looking at the beauty that was Justin wrapped in desire, and then Justin safeworded.
