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“No, but—”
“So I brought B here to fix my mistake.”
“And the books—”
“To keep you from getting bored during the day and prowling the office, distracting me from work,” Lucas bit out as if it were perfectly obvious.
Andrei glared at him for several seconds and Lucas returned it, making him feel as if he was the one being utterly obtuse. “Is this how you’ve succeeded in business? You drive everyone else insane?”
Lucas’s glare dissolved into a smug grin. “I’m very good at getting what I want.”
“Not everything, Mr. Vallois.”
“We talked about that.” There was a bite to his voice as he took a step closer to Andrei. Andrei saw something uneasy flit through Lucas’s eyes. It had been brief, but Andrei had a feeling Lucas had thought he’d back down.
Andrei licked his lips, his heart picking up its pace when Lucas’s eyes followed the movement. He had better ways to get even with the domineering Lucas Vallois that didn’t include physical violence. “So…no kissing in the office?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“Not. Ever.”
“Does that ban include other fun activities?”
“Yes.”
Smiling, Andrei stepped around Lucas to the end of the boardroom table, running his fingers over the slick, glossy surface. He lifted hungry eyes to the other man, wringing a hiss out of him. “That’s a shame because I think this table was made for fucking.”
“Andrei…” he said in a near groan, closing his eyes. The muscles in his jaw flexed and jumped as he ground his teeth together.
Andrei took the opportunity to step close, brushing his arm against Lucas’s. The man flinched, sucking in a harsh breath, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Shame you also don’t date men, because I can think of a half a dozen places in this room alone that I’d like to fuck you and then I want to take you home and christen every room in that damned penthouse. Hell, everywhere you look in this office and everywhere you look at home, I want you to remember how we fucked there. I want those memories burned into your brain. And that…takes time.”
Lucas’s eyes jumped open and Andrei basked in the scorching heat pouring from the man. Andrei couldn’t remember ever being on the receiving end of such a desperate, hungry, stunned look. It took all his self-control to not grab the back of Lucas’s neck and drag him closer to a kiss. With a smug smile of his own, Andrei turned and walked over to where B had finished his set up. He felt Lucas’s eyes burning into his back as he moved across the expansive office before the other man returned to his desk to work.
Unfortunately, Andrei’s triumph was short-lived as B dragged him to the bathroom to wash his hair in the sink. Shucking his jacket, shirt, and holster, he shoved his handgun in his pants and quickly washed his hair himself, straining to hear anyone who might enter the office. B complained the entire time, but Andrei brushed the man off, finishing the shampoo in record time so he could return.
As he settled in the chair B indicated, Andrei’s eyes drifted to Lucas. The handsome man’s brow was furrowed as he read through a sheaf of papers, a pen tapping against his jaw. He was lost in his work again. But Andrei was curious at how well Lucas could completely block him out.
“So, my angel, what are we going to do with your hair?” B inquired as he brushed it out. “Luc wants me to clean it up, but shall we change the style?”
“Chop it off. Make it short. Really short,” Andrei said firmly.
“No!” Lucas thundered, proving that he was paying attention to them. B and Andrei both looked up. “Preserve the length, B. Don’t take off a single centimeter you don’t have to.”
Andrei’s laugh filled the office and Lucas blushed before dropping his eyes to the papers in his hand. Busted!
“Yes, sir,” B said softly and quickly set to work without another word.
Smiling to himself, he started asking B questions, trying to set the man at ease again. Within a couple of minutes, the stylist happily explained that B was short for Ben—not even Bernard or Benjamin or Benedict, but plain old, boring Ben—which was just far too mundane for a man of his obvious personality and style.
Work continued around them. Each time someone needed to come into the office, Lucas would tell Andrei and Andrei would force B to stop his work so he could stand, his hand on his gun until Andrei could judge that Lucas was safe. Everyone took this strange arrangement in stride, never questioning it. They either didn’t find it bizarre or they knew better than to question Lucas about it. Andrei had a feeling that it was the latter.
The trio was alone when B finished his work on Andrei’s hair with a flourish. He stepped back, arms extended, waiting for Lucas’s judgment on his work.
