Page 38 of Kicking it with the Best Man

Her words were an echo of Oliver’s, and it bolstered me. I nodded again. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Are you planning to move out of state then?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I mean, I’d still be based in this office, but I’d like the flexibility to work from home so that I can spend more time traveling and still keep working.”

She looked down and tapped her pen on the desk a few times before looking at me again. “I definitely understand that. Listen, I spoke with our corporate office and based on what they said, I don’t see any reason why you can’t work remotely, effective next Monday. Of course, if your productivity drops—”

Relief flooding my system, I held up a hand. “It won’t.”

With a smile and a nod, she continued. “I have faith in you, but they told me I had to say this part. If your productivity drops, you may be asked to return to the office.”

I could hardly believe it. “That’s amazing. Thank you for trusting me.”

“You’re good at your job. I know you’ll continue to be good at it.”

I smiled so wide my face hurt and thanked her, leaving before I could say anything that might make her second-guess her decision. When I got back to my office, I couldn’t contain myself. I closed the door and dialed Oliver’s number.

“Cam? Is everything okay?”

I couldn’t help but let out a little laugh. “Everything’s great. I just wanted to check in. How’s restaurant shopping going?”

He let out a big breath. “It’s good. Well, it’s not great, but we have a lot more properties to see. My investor, Mr. McCann, wants to buy outright rather than lease a spot, which changes the game a little. I have faith that it’ll all come together though. Today is only our first day. It’s a big city, and the outlying suburbs and counties make it even bigger. We’ll find something.”

“Sounds promising.”

“It is,” he agreed. There was a pause before he kept talking. “Did you need something or were you just missing me?”

I grinned as my cheeks heated, looking down at a notepad and doodling while we talked. “Both, I guess. I had some news. My boss approved my request to work remotely, starting Monday, which means when you have to go back home, I can travel with you.” I hesitated. “If you want me to, that is.”

“Of course I do. I flew across the country to be with you, didn’t I? Why wouldn’t I want you to come back to Vegas with me when I go? Don’t let your doubts get in our way.”

I kept doodling while we talked, sketching out a pair of stick figures. “You’re right.” Before I could say anything else, Oliver spoke again.

“Listen, I have to run, but I’ll see you tonight, okay? Maybe you can take me to your favorite restaurant for dinner so I don’t have to cook in that god-awful kitchen of yours.”

“Deal.”

When we hung up, I looked down at the picture I’d drawn—two stick figures holding hands in front of a chapel. I knew my face had a goofy grin spread across it, but I didn’t care. I felt like the luckiest guy on the planet.

By the following weekend, Oliver had looked at probably thirty or forty possible sites for his restaurant and was exhausted to the bone. He came home on Friday evening and promptly fell asleep on the couch, snoozing even before the pizza had been delivered. So when we woke Saturday, I expected a quiet, relaxing day, maybe starting with a morning blow job like I’d become accustomed to. Instead, Oliver set an alarm for what felt like the crack of dawn.

I rolled over and groaned. “What time is it?” I shielded my eyes from the sun streaming in my bedroom window as I spoke.

“It’s almost eight. Come on, time to get a move on.” He poked me in the calf with his toes. “Up. We have a busy day planned.”

I rubbed my bleary eyes. “Doing what?”

“You’ll see.”

An hour later, I was dressed, showered, and disappointingly un-fucked as we got into my car, Oliver behind the wheel. He swung by a drive-through to pick up some coffee for both of us before hitting the road.

“Where are wegoing?” I sipped my coffee, less excited about the day than I should have been.

“I have something to show you. Two things. Well, a bunch of things, really, but the last one—” He cut himself off. “You’ll see.” Not too much later, we’d arrived in a town just south of DC and Oliver parked the car on a tree-lined street behind a silver minivan. “We’re here.”

I frowned at him and unbuckled my seat belt so I could turn and face him. “You took me to a neighborhood in Alexandria? Why?”

He pointed at the house and said, “This house is going on the market next week. I asked the agent helping us find a place for the restaurant for a referral to an agent who could help us find a house, and this is stop number one.”

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