Nate cocked his head to the side, eyeing his ex-boss thoughtfully as he tried to digest that. “You said you did it because no one is allowed to leave the company until you say so. That’s bullshit. I’m sure plenty of people have quit in the past. Heck, your latest PA quit yesterday—because apparently you reduced him to tears. But here you are, bullying me into coming back. What gives? What, Connor and Abel refused to suck your cock or something? Or did you like my mouth better?”
Although it was just snark, he saw Ferrara’s gaze flick down to his mouth. It was blink-and-you’d-miss-it fast, but since Nate was still unhealthily attuned to the infinitesimal changes in Ferrara’s expression, he didn’t miss the look.
He laughed, equally incredulous, furious—and absurdly pleased. God, this was fucked-up. Why the hell did he feel pleased?
“Seriously?” Nate said. “Wow, I’m flattered.”
The look Ferrara gave him could have frozen hell. “If you really think your mediocre blowjob skills are the reason I want you back, you’re delusional. You’re simply less incompetent than my other assistants, and training another semi-competent PA is a waste of my time.”
Nate smiled sweetly at him. “Right. Then I guess you wouldn’t mind not having my mediocre blowjob skills at your disposal anymore. Even if I were to come back, I wouldn’t suck your dick again.”
“So you are coming back.”
Nate thought about it for a moment. He did like this company and its people—present company excluded. He could come back, but on his terms.
“I have conditions,” Nate said. “First, I’ll be your PA only until the end of the year.” He raised his hand, forestalling any objections. “In the meantime I’ll find and train up a good PA for you, someone who won’t have a nervous breakdown every time you frown. After that, you’ll transfer me to the game design department and leave me alone.”
Those black eyes stared at him for a few seconds before their owner nodded.
Feeling a little suspicious of how easily Ferrara had agreed to his conditions, Nate said, “And I’m not sucking your dick again. I’m serious about it. If I’m to really stay and work for this company, I don’t want my coworkers to think I got my job by sucking the boss’s cock.”
Ferrara’s expression flickered for a moment, becoming less impassive, but then it was smoothed back into the inscrutable mask he normally wore. “Fine,” he said.
“And I want a raise,” Nate said, knowing that he was pushing his luck, but curious how far Ferrara was willing to go to have him back. “I want my salary doubled.” That was a ridiculous demand—he’d already been paid very well.
But Ferrara just gave a clipped nod.
Nate looked at him incredulously, but okay, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“All right, then,” he said. “I’ll go to HR now.”
Ferrara just turned back to his computer, and taking it for the dismissal it was, Nate left, his mind still reeling.
God, did this man have some kind of superpower of bending other people’s wills? Nate had come here to tell the asshole what he thought of him, but instead he had somehow ended up accepting his job offer. It made no damn sense.
His sister wasn’t going to be impressed.
***
It was disturbingly easy to slip back into the role of Raffaele Ferrara’s PA. Nate was kind of embarrassed to admit it, but he’d really missed the challenge of it and the absolutely crazy, hectic pace of his life.
What he didn’t miss was the way his world once again revolved around his horrible boss. Nate felt like he spent every waking moment either with Ferrara, or thinking about him and his orders and needs.
Speaking of Ferrara’s needs, there was one need that remained not addressed. And it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Nate could feel the tension and frustration mounting in Ferrara with every passing day, betrayed by the sharpness of his voice and the shortness of his temper.
It was also betrayed by the way those dark eyes sometimes tracked his lips when Nate spoke. It made Nate warm and fidgety, his mouth going dry as he imagined—
He adamantly quashed those traitorous thoughts, but they kept resurfacing. Fuck, he really needed to find a nice woman who’d let him suck her cock, so that he’d stop imagining sucking his boss’s. But now that his life revolved around Ferrara again, he had no time for anything resembling a personal life.
So he just pushed those thoughts down and tried to ignore the way Ferrara’s eyes flicked to his mouth when Nate licked his lips. Or the way Ferrara’s suit pants stretched obscenely over the bulge in his crotch. Or the way his own cock stirred as he imagined dropping down in front of his boss, yanking his zipper down and swallowing that big, thick—