Normally Antonio tried to distract himself from things like the set of Justin’s mouth when he was focused. Or the intense flash of Justin’s blue eyes when passion—good or bad—simmered inside. Or the fact he was more handsome than was fair. Right now, Antonio preferred enjoying the eye candy to acknowledging Justin’s creeping irritation, and his half of an awkward power struggle of a conversation.
“But you don’t want to shut down the extraneous work while she’s here.” Antonio shifted the direction of his thoughts, and the big picture clicked into place. “That’s what we’re doing tonight—figuring out how to keep the other project off her radar.”
“Yup. With a little maneuvering, she can shadow each of us as is expected, and never have to know we’ve split our resources.” Some of the strain evaporated from Justin’s voice. “I’ve got another meeting. We’ll regroup this afternoon.”
“Wait.”
“Hm?” Justin paused.
“Never mind. I’ve got it.” Antonio wouldn’t give voice to the doubt whispering through his thoughts. The murmur that Justin might sabotage this on purpose. He might be nearing burnout, when it came to shelving his ideas in favor of the board, but this company was still his baby. Asking—even implying otherwise—would add a new layer of tension to the situation, and that was the last thing they needed.
Antonio dove back into his work. If he had a brand-new developer coming on, retainer or not, he had a lot to rearrange outside of what he and Justin would discuss tonight, and probably over the weekend. Like making sure the new person had enough work to keep busy for at least a couple of days, with minimal instruction, until Antonio figured out a longer-term schedule.
Fortunately, he had a mile-long list of minor bug fixes—the kind of thing that always got shoved to the last minute, because they were quick to fix, but somehow never got corrected before the initial release. They should be easy to hand off and get her familiar with the code, so Antonio could see what she was capable of.
A group chat message from his development team chimed over his speakers.
Picking up Mexican. Anyone want anything?
The question was followed by a series of lunch orders. He hadn’t realized it was noon. With the schedule that loomed in front of him, eating at his desk seemed like the best option. He typed,grab me whatever the special is today, and turned back to his work.
Just as he was getting back into the right mindset, his cellphone chimed. So much for finding his focus.Dadflashed on the screen, and Antonio swipedAnswerwithout hesitation.
“Ciao.” It felt good to speak in his native Italian. It was nine in the evening back home, and this was usually when his parents called when they wanted to chat.
“How’s it going?” His father’s cheerful voice rang over the line.
Antonio wouldn’t mind chatting, if he weren’t strapped for time. “Great. Busy. Life as usual. What’s up?”
“Checking to make sure you still plan on being home for your mother’s birthday.”
Antonio had scheduled the time off months ago, and he was looking forward to seeing Milan again almost as much as he was seeing his family. “Of course.” The trip was six weeks out. His development team would have either met their deadline by then or missed it by a mile. Either way, he wasn’t skipping something as important as Mother’s birthday. “We talked about this, though. Nothing’s changed. You could have emailed.” He stayed casual despite his suspicion. Dad wasn’t much for idle chatter. “What’s going on?”
“I’ve got a couple of business associates in the States this week, and I’d like you to show them around San Jose while they’re out there. Also, I was hoping while you were home, we could discuss transition, and set aside some dates to make things happen.”
Oh. That. Dad wanted to retire, and have Antonio take over his technology business. Move back home. Stop working for someone else, and pick up the reins of the family business. It was the one thing Antonio didn’t need to be thinking about. He’d managed to put it out of his head for a few days. “Happy to take the gentlemen out to dinner. Give them my number, and we’ll make arrangements. I’m not sure I’ll have final dates for you by then.”
“It’s been more than a year since we started kicking this around. How much longer do you need, to set the wheels in motion? Have you started making transition plans with Justin yet?”
He hadn’t. Justin was half the reason he didn’t want to go. The other half was that Antonio wasn’t interested in the family business. He and Justin built this one together, from the ground up. He’d worked for his father for a couple of years and never made it above the bottom rung. He didn’t belong there; he did here. “The timing hasn’t been great.”
“We’ll talk about it when you’re back in Milan.” The pleasantness vanished from his father’s voice. “No excuses this time.”
Antonio gritted his teeth, grateful no one could see his expression. “Sure. I’m looking forward to it. I have to get back to work. Talk to you later, Dad.”
As he disconnected, consequences raced through his thoughts. Leaving meant surrendering too much, including the one thing he’d never dare admit to anyone—he barely allowed himself to think it. He loved Justin. Not that he had any illusions about the sentiment being returned. It was a pleasant fantasy when Antonio needed something more personal than porn to jerk off to, but for the most part, Antonio was content seeing Justin happy.
Which wasn’t happening right now. The realization hit Antonio hard and tugged loose a series of other notions he didn’t want to recognize. If this thing with the retainer didn’t go well—if the company collapsed because of it—he wouldn’t have a good excuse to stay. Then again, if they met their deadline and signed the PrimeAssure contract, he wouldn’t want to leave.
He sank back in his chair with a sigh. Either way, he was going to let someone down.