His gaze flared impossibly wider. “Seriously? What did she do?”
What hadn’t she done?
Unfortunately for me, she was a ‘New York’ Rhode, and that meant her shit stank like gold in this city. She also wielded a lot of power even if she was a sex-hungry tramp.
I wasn’t averse to the promiscuity.
Only a hypocrite could judge her for that when my track record with women landed roughly around six hook-ups before I got bored of fucking the same snatch. But how she treated those dates said a lot about her. The rumors flew as rumors often did in Manhattan, but very few men were willing to come forward about being date-raped by a woman.
“Legally, I can’t say,” I told him, but I thought he saw my regret at the answer because he didn’t get mad. “Please, be careful around her.”
His head tipped to the side, and from the way he was looking at me, I wondered if he managed to read between the lines.
Although, if he managed that, it’d be a miracle.
Most people weren’t even aware that the combination of Rohypnol and Viagra was even a thing, and that was exactly how it should be. I only knew about it because of Robert, Lizzie’s brother.
“Careful? You think she’d accuse me of something? Harassing her?” His lips twitched. “I’m gay. She’s not exactly my type.”
“Does she know you’re gay?”
He blinked. “I mean, I haven’t hidden it. Neither have I shouted it from the roof tops that I like to take it up the ass.”
Despite myself, I had to laugh. “Funny.”
“I try.” His eyes twinkled, and they were even prettier than usual.
How couldn’t Rhode be entranced by him?
Wasn’t I just as bad?
And I knew him now. He wasn’t just an incredibly beautiful face with an arse that was beyond fuckable. He was intelligent, kind. Gentle and tender-hearted. I’d say he didn’t have a mean bone in his body, but everyone was capable of snapping, and I wasn’t going to paint him as a saint.
Reaching up, I rubbed my forehead where a headache was starting to form. That was probably why I muttered the truth, “She’s a PR nightmare waiting to happen.”
“Is that why Mr. Kirkland keeps visiting your office?” he queried, brow puckering.
“Fucking office gossip,” I grumbled. “God only knows why they think I keep asking you to come up here.”
A smile danced around his lips. “I told them that you were giving me some pointers.”
I snorted. “I’ll give you something, that’s for fucking sure.”
His hand reached out. Placing it on my shoulder, he squeezed me there, his fingers tight and firm, and though it was stupid, the need was too real to avoid. I turned my head to the side and pressed my lips to his wrist, feeling his pulse against the sensitive flesh, hearing his sharply indrawn breath.
Half-expecting him to pull away, I was pleased when he didn’t. Instead, his eyes darkened as he murmured huskily, “I’m only teasing. I’ve only visited you in your office twice.”
“That’s a lot in such a short space of time, especially when I don’t exactly want to give the other interns pointers or anything else,” I countered, but though internally I was wincing, I just shrugged. “It’s not the end of the world if they gossip about us. My reputation is already tarnished. I’m just concerned about yours.”
His brows soared. “Mine? I’m a nobody.”
Candidly, more frank than I was with anyone else, I muttered, “You’re not a nobody to me.”
He swallowed, and it looked like he was trying to swallow around my cock rather than a throat that was penis-free. “Inter-office fraternizing isn’t verboten here, is it?” he rasped. “I mean, Cassandra and Paul are dating. Why couldn’t we?”
His remark had me frowning. “Cassandra? Rhode’s EA? And my Paul? The one who works for Lizzie?” When he nodded, I blurted out, “But I thought he was gay.”
He smiled. “I think your gaydar must be on the blink.”
“Either that or you’ve blended my brain like a smoothie.” I rubbed my brow where the ache was getting worse. “Now I think about it, he told me he was. I primed him for information on you that first morning. Jesus, I’m fucking losing it.”
“I’d take it as a compliment that I’m turning your brain to mush, but you don’t look so happy at the prospect.” He laughed at my grimace, then, in a conversational tone, murmured, “I think she might be pregnant or something. She keeps needing to use the bathroom a lot.”
“Is that why she dumps so much work on you?”
His cheeks flushed. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
My brows soared. “The fact you’re capable of handling the load is impressive considering your lack of workplace experience. By the end of this internship, I’ll be able to sign off on the report with glowing praise.
“It’s a good thing you had to sign an NDA when you started working with us. The amount of information passing through your email account would be concerning.”
“Before, you just said you scanned my emails. How deep did that scan go?” he groused, pulling his hand back so he could fold his arms over his chest.
I snorted. “You bet your ass that first day I did. I needed to make sure you didn’t target me at VICE.”
“You walked into my dark room,” he sputtered.
“Crazier things have happened than a CEO being led around by his dick. Especially in this city.” I grimaced. “It’s not exactly public knowledge, nor do I want it to be, that I’ve trawled many a dark room for action in my time.” I scrubbed my hand over my face. “As liberal as New York might be, the country is still puritanical enough to vilify me if it came out.”
Micah’s frown was thoughtful. “I never thought about how much you’re putting on the line by seeing me.”
“Why would you?” A sudden flurry of nerves had me licking my lips. “Whatever this is, dating… or more, I don’t want it to stop. Do you?”
Need darkened his eyes, which made me feel infinitely better about opening up the way I did. I kept my cards close to my chest on the regular, and admitting to as much as I had might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things but I made a priest’s asshole look like it gaped.
Secretive?
That wasn’t the word.
But Micah did something to me. Maybe it was the open way he looked at me, the way he thought nothing of talking about his family, of how he’d discuss his views on politics and America as a whole, his SoCal upbringing lacing every liberal word he uttered despite a religious upbringing... I listened, like I always did, but maybe it was rubbing off on me.
Since that night at VICE, I’d seen as much of him as I did Lizzie. Well, perhaps that was an overstatement, but in my free time, I’d never hung around someone as much as I did him.
I was soaking up the moments I had with him before he realized I was an emotional Scrooge and went on his merry way.
It wouldn’t take long.
A man like me had nothing to give, and Micah was too young, too free to want to be with someone like that for anything other than a fling.
“I would never do anything to hurt you, Devlin,” Micah assured me, his voice husky again. But something had changed, something I’d said or done made him say, “I-I’ll get Gian to take me to your place.”