Ferrara gave a soft snort. “The answer isn’t interesting. I don’t do relationships because I’ve never met anyone who made me want to be monogamous. I don’t think that woman even exists, so I have no intention of making some poor woman miserable when I inevitably cheat on her.”
“Careful, you almost sound like a nice person,” Nate said with a smile. “All right, my turn! Ask away.”
Ferrara hummed and fell silent for a while.
It made Nate nervous. He tried to think of the worst question Ferrara could possibly ask. Fuck, what if he asked if Nate liked sucking his cock?
“Do you really hate working under me?”
Nate’s mind immediately went to the gutter. In his defense, Ferrara was fucking naked beside him; it was totally understandable that he had imagined being physically under him, which… He pushed the image away, his face uncomfortably warm. God, what the hell was wrong with him?
Nate cleared his throat a little. He opened his mouth to say that of course he hated it, but then he paused. That would be a lie. He couldn’t deny that he felt invigorated being back at work, which didn’t make sense, considering that there was nothing invigorating about the job of a PA.
“It’s not exactly the job of my dreams,” Nate said. “And you’re a horrible boss. Like, you’re so horrible I sometimes vividly imagine choking you with your own tie.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Of course it had been too much to hope that Satan wouldn’t notice that he was evading a straight answer.
“I don’t hate working for you anymore,” Nate said stiffly, tightening his grip. “I don’t like it, either.” He cleared his throat again, and said, desperate to switch the subject, “All right, second question. Go ahead.” Surely any other question would be less uncomfortable than this one.
“Are you going to jerk me off or not? All this fondling is just frustrating.”
Nate froze. Then, two things registered at the same time.
His hand was on Ferrara’s hard cock, fondling it absentmindedly.
His own cock was hard, too.
Fuck.
Nate snatched his hand away, his face burning. What the hell, he had no idea when he’d even started groping him!
“I was distracted by the conversation,” he said, wiping his hand off on the sheets. It did nothing to erase the feel of the warm, hard cock he’d just been touching. “I’m not responsible for my subconscious!”
Ferrara chuckled, but didn’t say anything. Thank fuck for small mercies.
Nate turned away and stared at the wall, feeling so confused and mortified. If he couldn’t even trust himself, who could he trust?
Chapter 16
By the time Nate returned from his walk along the lakeshore, he was resolved to act like last night’s embarrassing incident hadn’t happened. Nate had been relieved to find Ferrara gone when he woke up in the morning, but now it felt like the longer he put their confrontation off, the worse it would be. It was time to man up and face the music. He could hardly avoid his boss all day long, every day. Besides, he was kind of curious how the talks were going.
It was easy to find where everyone was—he only had to follow the noise.
Around fifteen people were lounging by the pool in various state of undress, mostly men but a few women too. They all were clearly buzzed, laughing and chattering, their eyes a little glassy. Apparently, “business negotiations in an informal setting” involved lots of booze and weed and not much business.
Nate’s gaze was immediately drawn to his boss.
Ferrara was stretched out in a lounge chair, his big body seemingly relaxed, but his dark eyes were as alert and sharp as ever as he nursed his beer. His white shirt was unbuttoned, but otherwise he was mostly dressed. The nearest lounge chair was occupied by Roman Demidov, who had Luke in his lap. Luke was laughing about something and gesticulating animatedly while Demidov looked at Luke with a small, indulgent smile on his face. He was the only one besides Ferrara who seemed completely sober.
Ferrara’s gaze found Nate’s, his expression unreadable, before he motioned with his head slightly. Come here.
Nate hesitated, wondering what he expected him to do, exactly. All the chairs were occupied. Was he supposed to stand there awkwardly while Ferrara lounged in his chair?
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. If Ferrara hadn’t insinuated that they were together, he wouldn’t feel so awkward and out of his comfort zone now. It pissed him off that the asshole looked so relaxed and arrogant while Nate was anything but.
Maybe it was time to push Ferrara out of his comfort zone for once.
Glancing back at Luke, who was half-sprawled on top of Demidov, Nate smiled. Maybe it was a crazy idea, but what the hell, wasn’t that what Ferrara had brought him here for?
With new determination, Nate strode toward his boss, smiling. His smile probably looked a little deranged, judging by the sudden wariness that appeared in Ferrara’s body language.