𝕯𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝕽𝖚𝖓

รɦαω

Riel avoids me at all costs and slips into his bedroom. He leaves me standing confused about what I could've done to make him not want to be next to me.

I breathe into my hands and sniff. I lift my arms and sniff. I don't smell unpleasant, maybe just a bit funky from being soaked in the rain.

"Riel?" I knock on the door to his bedroom. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he says to the door. "I just need a moment to clear my head."

I lean my head against the door, missing him already.

"I miss you," I speak through the keyhole.

"You can't miss me," Riel says with a soft chuckle. "I've  only been in this room for like two seconds."

"Didn't anyone tell you that time is relative?" I exhale.

"Your two seconds is my eternity. Are you going to punish me to an eternity away from you?"

Riel snorts a laugh. "You're so dramatic."

I brush my fingers against the door. "Let me in," I beg him. "Please."

"The door open. Let yourself in," Riel invites me inside.

"Well," I fake nonchalance. "Since you're insisting."

I hear as Riel takes a deep breath as if bracing himself for someone, or something to jump him.

Excited, I spin the knob, gaining access to the room. I haven't been in Riel's bed . . . I mean the bedroom as yet. I step on a handwoven straw mat past the door, and I learn that Riel's bedroom is almost exactly as it was in my dreams.

It wasn't grand or luxurious. It was...quiet. A kind of quiet that made me pause and take a breath, feeling like I was intruding on something sacred.

Riel sits on the low futon bed, trying to get his locs into a rubber band. I kneel next to him.

"Are upset with me?" I ask him, fanning the branches of his houseplant out of my face. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You did," Riel answers.

"What did I do?" I rest my head against his face. "I'll do better."

"You can't do better," he shrugs.

"Sure I can," I voice. "Tell me what I did wrong, and I'll correct my behavior."

Riel laughs a bit. "I don't think you can," he tells me.

He gets up and cracks up his window to look out at his neighbors fighting.

"Riel . . . What did I do?" I walk behind him. "Tell me."

Riel sighs.

"You didn't do anything," he says. "I just don't know how to feel about seeing my boss's appendage."

My what?

"My appendage?" I raise a brow at him. "What's that?"

Riel turns to the side to avoid my eyes. "Your, um, tiny soldier." He points to my crotch.

I look down at myself and realize that my boxers are on display, and so is my flaccid member.

Tiny solider?

"What do you mean by tiny?" I take much offense to his choice of adjective. "He isn't tiny. He's practically a hulk compared to any of the other soldiers you know."

"How many soldiers do you think I know?" Riel scoffs. You know what? Don't answer that. I shouldn't even be discussing soldiers with you. You're my boss for gosh's sake."

"You're the one that brought it up." I remind him.

"Aah," Riel gasps. "You're the one swinging the thing around my apartment. At least find the decency to cover yourself."

All this mentioning of my 'mini me' is making me hard. And I couldn't help it, now that Riel has acknowledged him, there'll be no keeping him down.

"I'm sorry," I turn around, blushing as I loop a tighter knot on the robe around my waist. "I'll go home," I tell him. "I'd hate to make you feel uncomfortable around me."

"No, it's late," he says. "I wouldn't want you bothering poor Hank at night. I'll give you some basketball shorts to wear."

I peek behind me at Riel slides open a creaky drawer from the bottom of a short chest of drawers.

"Plus . . ." Riel mumbles lowly as if he doesn't want me to hear him say it. "I, um, kinda . . . don't want you to go. Not that you've to. I'd like it if you didn't, but it isn't my choice, it's yours. And you might like to stay, or you might not."

I have a hard time discerning his ramble of words.

"I'm confused," I say.

"What are you confused about?" I hiss, tossing a pair of sweatpants over his shoulder. "Would you like to stay, or not?"

I'm starting to think that I don't have a choice in the matter.

"I'm staying," I take the gray sweat from his shoulder.

I attempt to push my legs through the pants, but Riel grabs them for me.

"Let's not raise my blood pressure," he mouths. "Here, wear these instead." Riel hands me a pair of long black shorts instead.

"Thanks," I take the basketball shorts, not commenting on his hate for gray sweatpants.

I slip into the shorts, the fabric grazing my member as I pull them over my waist.

Riel's gaze lingers on him, unashamed, lips parted as if he couldn't catch his breath, and the faintest glimmer of moisture pools at the corner of his mouth.

I don't hide my  smirk, the heat in his eyes telling me everything before he even says a word.

"Don't worry," I tell him proudly. "He likes you too."

I give him some information on my hardening cock.

"Sir," Riel flushes, and hides his gaze. "Let's try to be professional."

I laugh at his frustration.

He's acting as if he hadn't just made me dinner, and he wasn't curled up against me afterward.

Sometime after brushing my teeth (Yes! I had my very own toothbrush. And it's next to Riel's), I settle in bed.

My bed is technically the sofa, but there isn't another  sofa that I would want as a bed. Still, Riel's actual bed would be my preferred choice of sleeping arrangement.

The door to the bathroom grates open, and Riel steps out in his pink stripe pajamas. He's drop-dead gorgeous.

How could one man be so lucky? I'm the man that I'm referring to . . . I can't believe that I am even allowed to be around such beauty.

"Riel?" I smile.

"What? ... creep," he groans.

"Creep? I chuckle. "You wound me."

I hold my chest, stick my tongue out, and pretend that I'm dying.

Riel smiles a little, watching me closely. "Weirdo."

"Stop insulting me and get over here," I tell him.

"I'll pass," he darts for his room, but I'm faster on my feet.

I fly from the sofa, meeting the entrance to his room before him. I snatch Riel's waist, dropping back to the sofa with him in my arms.

"Ouch," I hit my head on the solid armrest.

"Don't hurt yourself," Riel scolds me.

I touch the back of my head, hoping it won't bruise.

"Could you be any meaner?" I ask him. "Have the least bit of sympathy for me."

Riel runs his hand under my palm, grazing the tender spot forming near the start of my neck.

"Sorry," he whispers, hiding his face in my chest.

"You should cure me with a kiss," I suggest, puckering my lips.

"In your dreams," Riel scoffs.

"You've already done it in my dreams," I tell him. "It's high time to make dreams come true."

Riel glances away, his lips curling into a shy smile as his cheek warms my chest.

I'll die — waiting for him to kiss me. I can already see it on my headstone 'he's still waiting on that kiss'.

"Don't you think we're a bit too comfortable with each other," Riel interrogates me after a while.

I trace my hand through his hair, it's the first time he has ever let me touch his locs. I guess, his curiosity makes sense. I think over his question.

"Comfortable? Hardly," I answer honestly. "You make me question every rule I've ever set for myself. Does that sound comfortable to you?"

Riel shuffles against my chest. "No," he mumbles. "But ... if that's the case, why aren't you trying harder to stay away?"

I hold him tighter, feeling every part of him against me.

"Because I can't," I tell him. "And I'd be a madman to try and stay away from the only thing that's been right in my life for years. Perfectly right."

"Everything is complicated," Riel mumbles into my chest.

"Quit being my assistant," I whisper to him. "If I asked, I could get you any job you want outside of HA. Then we wouldn't be so complicated."

"My job is important to me," Riel sighs. "You shouldn't ask me to quit. It's not right."

"It isn't," I agree with him. "I'm sorry."

"You could quit being HA's CEO," he suggests.

"You'd asked to leave my own company?" I chuckle at the thought.

"It's only fair," he says. "After all, you just asked me to leave my job."

I stay silent for a while, so Riel says what I couldn't.

"It's okay," he whispers. "I won't fool myself. We don't hold the same value as the company. A CEO leaving his company affects business. Some PA up, and resigning would hardly affect anything."

"I would," I tell him. "I'd stop being HA's CEO to be with you. But that's because I've already achieved in my career."

I get truthful with myself, and him. "You're young and hungry. One of HA's most brilliant employees. It would be a shame for the company to lose out on your talent."

"You're just staying that," Riel whispers.

"No, I'm not," I say to him. "I said it as your boss."

Riel lifts from my chest to look me directly in the eye.

"What about asking me to quit?" He asks me. "Weren't you ... my boss then?"

"No," I tell him. "Your boss didn't ask you that. I wasn't thinking about HA," I feel his face. "I just couldn't help being selfish. I want us more than anything. So I wasn't asking as your boss, but as the man who can't bear the thought of never having you in his life the way he needs."

"Sir," Riel blushes.

"Don't worry," I embrace him. "Riel, I understand you. I understand your worries. I understand your values. I know that your independence is important to you. So I will never do anything to take it away from you."

I'll never take the reins of Riel's ambition, or do anything to make his success. I'll just be there to support him as he rises on his own. I'll be there to cheer for every step he takes.

Riel smiles and goes back to using me as his pillow.

"Snrk," Riel lightly snores over my heart.

He's fast asleep in my arms. I couldn't ask for a more perfect end to the night.

I kiss his forehead, before drifting off.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

"Hmm," I blink past the sleep in my eyes to peep at my beautiful human alarm clock.

"Morning," Riel completes my morning with his smile.

He brushes my beard with his thumb.

"Why are you so cheery so early in the morning?" I ask him, setting my nose against his collar.

His scent in the morning like sunlight warming wood— subtle, comfortable, and irresistible.

"I'm cheery, because . . ." Riel playfully covers my eyes. "The really annoying guy that usually calls me at 5 in the morning isn't ringing my phone."

He's talking about me.

"He isn't?" I ask him.

"No," Riel shrugs. "He isn't."

"Maybe," I take his hand from over my eyes, leaving a kiss at his wrist. " . . . he's found someone who doesn't call him, or his early morning calls annoying."

"He couldn't possibly," Riel tells me.

"No ... He could never," I agree with him.

Riel flips my lips with his index finger.

"Hmhm," he proceeds to laugh at the bubbly noise he gets my lips to make.

I let him have his fun, trying to remember the last time I'd ever come close to being this happy.

His locs come down from his head to my face, slightly giving me the tickles.

I pull his hair from his face with my hand. "How does it feel to be the most beautiful person in the world?"

"I'm not quite that," Riel shies from the compliment.

"Fine ... I'll ask you a different question," I grin at him. "How does it feel to be the most beautiful person in my entire world?"

"Honestly, sir, " he flushes. "It feels amazing."

I smile. "Now, that's the better answer," I tell him.

Riel attempts to break away from my arms, but I stop him. "Let me have this for a while longer," I plead with him.

He drops back my chest, his head rising, and falling in a steady rhythm with my breathing. I tangle my fingers between his ... lifting his left hand to eye level. I kiss his hand. How weird is it that I've already figured out the engagement ring that I'm going to buy?

Riel stayed put, snuggling against me, until we could no longer deny that it was time to get a start on our morning.

"You make a nice pillow," he sums up, tugging the collar of my bathrobe.

"Is that right?" I smile.

Riel nods.

"Well, then," I say. "You should use me more often."

"You'd like that," he laughs. "Wouldn't you?"

"Yes," I whisper.

Riel tilts his head, studying me, wearing a playful smile on his lips.

"What's with the goofy smile?"  I ask him.

"No reason," he grins.

"No reason, but you're laughing?" I furrow my brows at him.

"You're so fine," he tells me.

"I am?" I smirk.

"Yes, you are," Riel shifts closer, his legs folding near my   thigh.

"Can't we sleep in?" I ask him.

I want. No. I need us to stay like this forever. Out of the fear of never having a moment with him like this again. I just don't want to live passing minutes.

"No," Riel whispers. "You've five meetings to get to."

"Rescheduled them," I tell him. "I want to sleep in."

"That's impossible," he says. "And unfair to others who you asked to clear their schedules for these meetings."

"I don't care," I tell him. "I'm going to sleep in for the first time in years."

I shut my eyes.

"Sir," Riel calls.

"He's sleeping," I disguise my voice, pretending there's someone else talking.

"That was really bad," Riel laughs. "It's awfully obvious that you're the one talking."

"Snk-snk," I keep my eyes shut, even adding a snore to my act. "I'm talking— not him," I mimic the weak voice again.

I have a hard time keeping my eyes closed, but I stay true to the guise.

I feel Riel lean close to my face, his breath tickling my chin. For a while, I think he's trying to psych me out of my act, but then I feel his lips brush over my jaw.

"You're not fooling anyone ..." Riel whispers soft kisses to the sides of my face.

I open my eyes open mid-kisses, breath catching in my throat. For a second, I just lay still— blinking up at the ceiling. I could see bursts of color floating over me.

I quickly rush my hand to my left cheek, brushing the spot where Riel was just kissing. He warms my right cheek with a kiss of its own. My heart shutters, then takes off, beating so loudly I'm sure he could hear it.

"Hehe," I giggle.

"I'll take your giggling as a good sign," he murmurs, a playful confidence laced in his tone.

Finally finding my voice. "That wasn't a giggle," I lie.

"It wasn't?" Riel lifts his head to stare at me.

"It wasn't," I insist. "It was a manly chuckle. Hah-hah." I laugh to show him.

"No," Riel shakes his head. "That wasn't the laugh you had before. It went 'hehe'. A giggle."

"Shh," I cover his mouth. "Stop making a fuss, and give me more kisses." I turn my cheek for him to kiss.

"Yeah, no," Riel pulls my cheeks instead.

He tears himself from my arms.

"Where are you going with my kisses?" I ask him as he walks away to the bathroom.

"Not happening," he tells me.

Riel makes a speedy trip between the shower and his bedroom.

"Aren't you going to leave to get ready for work?" Riel steps out of his room.

He can't expect to leave when he's wearing an outfit like that. Forget that. He shouldn't even expect me to leave him alone.

"You're wearing that to work?" I breathe.

Riel glances down at his outfit. He wasn't extravagantly dressed. He didn't need to be. He's Riel. He's simple. Gorgeously so.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" He inspects his white polo sweater and black slacks.

I don't give him an answer. Only staring at him. The polo lets out right at his navel, showing the stretch of rich, golden-brown skin that's a slightly lighter hue than the other parts of his body.

"You're staring?" Riel says.

I roll out of the couch. "Can you blame me?" I ask him in an almost worshipping tone. "You look—" I trail off, shaking my head as words fail me.

I close the distance between us.

"I look?" He snaps his fingers.

I couldn't stop staring. His slacks sit slightly lower than his waist, and the display of his flesh called to mine.

"Perfect," I trace my hands over his sides. "You're so ...  so ... perfect."

"Sir," Riel flushes. "Mind your manners."

"I'm only hugging you," I mumble to him, resting my chin on his head. "I'm minding my manners, but I'm not letting  you get an inch away from me when we're in the office."

Riel turns against me. "I won't be in the office."

"Where else would you be?" I match the movements of his hips with my hands.

"I'll be at your house," he answers, combing through his hair with his fingers.

"Why?" I ask him. "Planning on moving in?"

Riel laughs, not looking at me. "You wish . . ."

He lifts his locs in a messy updo, and sets it in place with a gold hairpin.

"Yes," I tell him. "I wished. Now, it's up to you to make my wish come true."

Riel shakes his head, grinning lightly to himself. "I'll be at your house to sign for the artwork you brought." He turns to face me. "You're getting some fancy sculpture for a roommate, not me."

"Funny," I say in a whisper. "But I never said anything about you being my roommate. You'd be coming as my partner. You'd come to share not just my space, but my life, my dreams... my heart."

"Mr. Harlow ..." Riel blushes. "Is it necessary to say everything that comes to your mind?"

"When it comes to you?" I smirk. "Yes."

"Whatever," he sighs, tucking the stray locs that keep dropping to the side of his face back into place.

"Don't," I sweep the locs back to his face. "It suits you."

A familiar heat climbs from his cheek, reaching to my hand. Heating my palm as I brush the spread of his blush.

"Sir," Riel groans. "You're making us late, or did you forget that you've to wear actual clothes to work." He points to the hotel robe that I'm wearing.

I track Riel downstairs, raising suspicious glances from an old lady trying to get her mail, and the other tenants going about their business.

"Laundry day," Riel laughs nervously, shoving me out of the building.

"Am I embarrassing you?" I ask him.

"You? Nah," he says.

"You sure?" I ask him.

"Yes . . ." Riel sighs.

"You don't sound sure," I pout.

"I'm sure," he groans.

"Even if I do this?" I scoop him up bridal–style. "Am I embarrassing you now?"

"Yes," Riel yells wide-eyed. "Now! Put me down."

"I can't," I sigh. "The ground is really far away. I might pull my back trying to put you down."

"Argh," he drops his face against my chest, kicking his legs in the air.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

"Won't you get to work already?" Riel hurries me out of my own house.

I smile, stealing the catalog he's holding. "No," I tell him, balancing the book on his head.

"Stop annoying me ..." Riel stifles a laugh, but he gives him away. He gets the book off his head, bopping me on the forehead.

"Never . . . Never . . . I'm," I hug him. "I'm never going to stop annoying you."

Riel shrugs.

Which is reasonable since I've been annoying him for the two hours nonstop.

"It's 7:30," Riel checks his watch. "You've less than half an hour to get ready."

"You're forgetting that I'm the boss," I stab at my chest. "Who's going to say anything about me being late?"

"No one," he sighs. "But I'm sure you don't want to lose face in front of your employees."

"I don't care for my employees' opinions," I voice.

Riel drops his gaze to the floor, stepping back from me.

"I should've figured," he sighs.

"Riel . . . I didn't mean you," I touch his hand. "You're  different."

"I'm still your employee," he flees my touch. "Whether you like it or not."

"Riel," I empathize.

"Don't apologize," Riel says. "Just hit the showers, and get out of my hair already."

He shoves me in the direction of the bathroom, then stalks away to the walk-in.

Steam lifts off my shoulder as I leave the shower, I stop short of the way into my closet.

"I'm starting to believe you want to be my wife," I yell teasingly from upstairs, seeing that Riel has selected the outfit that I'm wearing to work.

I slide my arms into the sleeves of the jacket. I practice a cool shrug before sprinting downstairs to show Riel how sexy of a husband I would make.

"Riel," I find him in the living room.

"Sir?" He gives me a brief once-over, then goes back to working on his laptop.

"Look at me," I order, moving closer to him.

He looks at me, blushing. His gold-speckled eyes travel me slowly, deliberately, as though he's memorizing me in new ways.

"I'm looking?" Riel tilts his head.

There's a heat in his gaze, the kind that made my pulse quicken, and my thoughts scattered.

"I'm, um . . ." I tug my collar, suddenly experiencing a bout of performance anxiety. "I'm leaving now."

I wanted to become the object of Riel's lustful glances, but I hadn't prepared for how exposed it would make me feel.

"You're?" Riel asks quietly.

"Yes," I gulp, feeling warm under his gaze.

"Okay," he says, looking back to his work.

I turn to head for the front door, but Riel's voice halts me mid-step.

"Sir . . . You in . . . that outfit," he draws a slow breath. "You're a little too attractive for your own good."

"Uh ... thanks," I rub the back of my neck. "You chose well."

"You're blushing," Riel chuckles. "I didn't know you could do that."

I blush harder. I've never been this nervous. He'll have to pay for making me this way. Mostly in kisses, but it's still paying.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

I yawn rather noisily, bored from having read through such a long contract. I wasn't fond of cash grabs, but my marketing team seemed to think collaboration with celebrities was good brand promotion.

I stretch my back a bit, looking around the dark abyss of an office. It's late— far past the time, everyone else had gone home. Except for me.

Except for me?

And the gorgeous figure that's materializing out of the dark.

"Only ghosts come here at this time," I say as soon as he walks into my office.

Riel stops halfway from my desk to scoff at my joke.

"You're the only being capable of haunting this office," he tells me.

He moves to the other side of the office, lowering the food he's been juggling in his hand to the coffee table.

"You brought me food?" I ask him.

"And coffee," Riel lifts the paper cup in his hand.

"Perfect," I smile. "Thank you."

Cheese didn't seem to belong on steak, yet apparently, folks in Philly didn't go wrong with the combination.

"Sir, I can't find the contract you're referring to," Riel tries to make sense of the pile of paperwork I had on my desk.

"It's the one with our new vendor in India," I tell him.

"Never mind your help," Riel says. "I found it."

He sasses me every chance he gets. And still, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Riel attempts to tug the folder from the stack, but the entire pile topples to the floor instead.

"Sorry," he says, kneeling to gather quickly the scatter of papers on the ground.

I walk over to help him, but he has already gotten most of the rustle of paper together. Crunching next to him, I get the pages that had escaped him. We reach for the same paper, hands brushing.

"I got it," Riel whispers, meeting my eyes.

His eye still had that same look. I hadn't forgotten how he had made me nervous— me, a man who hadn't been flustered by anyone in two decades. He had thrown me completely off balance. Made a grown man blush like a schoolgirl with nothing more than a teasing smile and a well-placed compliment.

"I'm helping," I tell him.

"Alright," he smiles, reaching for the paper that came to my knee.

Riel crawls nearer to me. His soft breathing plays a satisfying melody in my ears.

I watch him try to pull the paper from under my knee.

"Sir," he whispers. "Won't you—"

I couldn't think.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't do anything past admiring him.

He's so beautiful. More than beautiful. I haven't had a thought, want, or need other than him for months.

My hand reaches up, fingers brushing a loose loc of hair from his face. I tuck it behind his ear.

"You drive insane, you know that?" I ask him, my voice rough with exhaustion.

"Mr. Harlow," Riel whispers. "We're in the office."

I don't listen to him, my hand sliding to his neck.

"I'll die if I don't kiss you," I plead, pulling him closer.

I crash my lips against his firm, and unyielding. I have  been holding back for far too long. Waiting any longer would kill me.

Riel tenses for only a second, before I feel him melting against me, his hand gripping the front of my shirt. His mouth opens to mine, and I meet his tongue.

I kiss him. I kiss him. I keep kissing him until the lack of oxygen pulls us apart.

"Sir ..." Riel feels his lips, before he gets himself off the floor, and flees the office.

"Riel," I rush after him.

The cold night air slaps my face as I step on the street. I look around for Riel and see him trying to escape in a taxi.

"Don't," I grab his wrist, stopping him leaving. "Don't run away from me."

Riel turns to face me, his eyes shining with nerves.

"We shouldn't be doing this," he whispers. "You're my boss."

"You're not going to stop me with that excuse," I tell him.

His breath hitches as I cup his face. "You shouldn't run away from us. I won't let you."

Riel opens his mouth to argue, but I don't give him the chance. I lean in again, pressing an even firmer kiss to his lips, leaving no room for doubt.

I smile against his lips as Riel rises to his toes to deepen the kiss between us.