Ashton, who kept
his silence, scanning software, shook his head. He looked young, with his
boyish features, although he stood at Nikolas’ height of 6’3, and his body was
well built and incredibly muscular.
Nikolas still
looked at him unconvinced. His expression hardened at the same time his voice
became extremely polite, chillingly so. “By whose orders?”
Glancing down at
where he looked, Adrian stooped to
gather the fallen papers, fumbling with them. "Braxton’s. No one said
anything about it to you?" He tried to pull one sheet from under his
sneakers, only for the paper to rip. “Crap!”
Nikolas chuckled
inwardly. In no hurry to return home, he leaned against the wall and folded his
arms. Maybe had he powered on his cell phone and had checked for messages in
the last twenty-four hours he would have known. He wasn’t impressed. On the inside
he was seething. How dare Braxton just write him off to vacation time?
“You know, this
would be a good time to get laid, man. Lose some of that tension that has you
walking straighter and muscles tighter than a corpse after rigor mortis has
already set in.” Ashton tried to reason.
“In the interest
of putting an end to that entire topic, I’ll add that I already do well on my
own. Furthermore, I have no intention of adhering to the rules, now or in the
future, by shackling myself to more responsibilities.” With his jaw set in a
cool purpose, there was a confident strength emanating from every inch of his
broad-shouldered frame, right down to the tips of his black boots.
A snort escaped
from Ashton as he rolled his eyes. "I see how well you're doing on your
own. Well, whether you like it or not, we got our orders and in no way I'm
going back to the old fart and telling him what you just told us," eying
him suspiciously, Ashton tilted his head, dark hair escaping from the lose pony
tail it was pulled back in. "What exactly would you accomplish by over
taxing yourself anyway? Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"None of your
business, nosey Parker. And the order is from a doddering old fool who has long
since lost his touch." Nikolas was already scowling as he watched Adrian
approach.
The man whose dark
eyes were drawn together in a scowl of grim displeasure looked about as
malleable as granite. In one quick movement, Adrian
was next to Nikolas, so close that he could smell his scent, as he pinched the
paper from his outstretched hand.
Nikolas studied it
as he perused the paper. Brushing back the one side of his leather coat, Nikolas
put his hand on his hip and then regarded them both. “And if I say hell no?”
Ashton shrugged.
"We’d have to say hell yes. Braxton decided you needed the time off and
even the higher ups gave their OK on it. Got no choice, boss.”
"Hey, we’re
not the bad guys here. And I could think of lots to do with that given time
like cruise the bars, the clubs. I’m sure Black Eagle misses having you there.”
Ashton flashed him a stunning smile, throwing his full charm on him.
Adrian
leaned toward him and whispered, "I have a cock. Of course, Ashton has one
too, but I don't think he would be into it because he’s not into your type of
kink. I mean I could go home with you and we leave Ashton back here to hold the
fort. Deal?"
Nikolas tipped his
chin up and he spoke as if he could read his mind. “I don’t deal...I like it on
my own terms, I don’t mix business with pleasure, and you are borderline
business. You know it would never work out between us, Adrian.”
Nikolas’s
disinterested shrug and brief smile dismissed all the other rational reasons
for having Adrian go home with him.
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