Chapter Fourteen
Laken
The one word echoed in the room, but it did nothing to stop the tiny terror opposite who gave him a sultry smile that made his already hard shaft throb.
He’d spent a very uncomfortable night recalling how he’d made a mess of his pants and, instead of manning up like he should have done, he’d run like a scared rabbit home, leaving himself feeling like crap.
His mind in turmoil, he’d battened down the emotional hatches in the early hours of this morning with a plan to work, then after they’d finished have a sensible talk about what happened and then put it all behind him—them.
Then he’d received another envelope and it made everything real once more.
Except he should have known better that Isley wouldn’t stick to any script.
He didn’t know about your one-sided plan, his animal side pointed out helpfully.
What the fuck. You aren’t helping, can’t you see I’m having a crisis.
I see a man getting naked, is what I see, and that is no crisis. That, my friend, is a little bit of gloriousness right in front of us.
He wanted to argue, only he couldn’t get his mind into any sort of order when those surprisingly long, lithe legs appeared as Isley’s trousers met the same fate as his shirt and landed on the chair.
Laken forgot how to breathe or worry about what was on his desk as the slim fingers reached under the band of his bright blue, tight fitting boxer briefs.
He had to stop this madness.
“You asked for this,” Isley muttered tartly, and a second later he was naked. A second more and he disappeared from sight before Laken could truly appreciate the slim cock he’d now glimpsed twice and felt pressed against his last night.
Laken grunted in disapproval, rising to peer over his desk, heart hammering against his ribs when he couldn’t see the tiny animal anywhere.
The grey fur blended with the carpet far too easily.
He scooted around the desk, searching, a feeling of panic growing at the thought that he could easily tread on Isley with how tiny he was.
His animal side did have the biggest eyes…
A loud knocking and a rattle to the door handle drew his panicked gaze.
“Fuck. Fuck,” he muttered, searching for Isley but not seeing him anywhere. He hesitated at the sight of Isley’s clothes strewn on the chair. He muttered angrily at his misfortune, grabbing everything and throwing it under his desk before skirting the edge of the room to reach the locked door.
Another rattle of the handle came with more pounding on the wood.
“Give me a damn minute,” he called out, searching for a valid reason to explain the locked door.
He had nothing when Jupiter shouted, “Are you doing something naughty in there?”
He moaned at his misfortune and unlocked the door after one more sweeping glance around the room to see if he could find Isley.
Nothing.
Christ, could this day get any worse?
Seeing Jupiter’s attractive, grinning mug said yes.
“Go away I’m busy,” he stated, blocking the doorway, worried that Jupiter could inadvertently stand on Isley.
At nearly the same height, Jupiter had no problem looking over Laken’s shoulder into the empty office. A speculative look appeared as he slid his gaze back to Laken.
“You don’t look busy… such a pity.”
Laken started visibly, his gaze narrowing on his brother. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Are you going to let me in? Or must I have to have this conversation in the passageway?” One dark, silky brow arched upward wearing a look of expectation as his head angled towards Charlotte, who was pretending to work.
Laken carefully stood to the side to allow Jupiter in and bit his lip hard enough to taste blood while he watched him saunter in wearing an outfit similar to the one hidden under his desk, except Jupiter’s skinny legged trousers were a deep forest green and he wore a vest in dark brown over his cream shirt.
The epitome of sleek casualness, he walked with utter confidence.
Jupiter could grace the cover of any fashion magazine or runway.
His oval face was all equal proportions.
Dark brows and thick, long eyelashes framed crystal blue eyes.
A straight nose led to a full, pale pink mouth that Laken had asininely considered was perfect to give blow jobs when he’d first met him.
He was long and lean, willowy even, making him the perfect advertisement for their fashion.
Jupiter had point blank refused all modelling contracts in his teens. He’d never said why.
Laken much preferred to dress in suits because of his bulk. Too wide over the shoulders and back, and his ass was solid and rounder than most. He’d look ridiculous in the types of clothes Jupiter wore, which accentuated Jupiter's attractiveness.
The man drew men to him like bees to pollen, yet to stop folks getting close enough to see the damage their childhood had caused, Jupiter had a defensive barrier that deflected questions about his past. All Laken knew of it was that he arrived late one night, unseen.
It had been months before they’d gotten introduced to him.
Why, no one knew, though Laken speculated by the scents wafting from Jupiter’s room that he’d suffered some untold horror and needed to physically heal.
Laken’s body had many marks and bruises on it, but he’d been a cocky son of a bitch to hide his terror.
Jupiter, to start with, had not been that.
Jupiter took the seat Isley had used, looking back at him with an enquiring arch of his head.
“Aren’t you joining me? Is there a reason you’re looking at the floor like it's quicksand and you don’t know where to step?” he questioned, sniggering.
Laken gave him the finger while surreptitiously watching the carpet for a small furry animal, worried as he moved back around his desk, secretly cursing Isley for his discomfort.
The low chirp was all the warning he got, and he opened his hand in defense at seeing the sugar glider launch itself at him from the edge of his desk.
He caught it instinctively, curling his fingers carefully around it as he slumped dramatically into his seat, somewhat unbalanced by the small, sniffing nose pressing into the palm of his hand.
Its tiny head rubbing against his skin repeatedly, sending odd sensations through his hand just like last time.
The diminutive size of the animal was doing something funny to his insides.
A protectiveness he’d never felt for someone outside of his family swept through him as he placed his hand in his lap, doing his best to act nonchalant with Jupiter not three feet away, staring at him in such a way that Laken would bet his last dollar Jupiter was aware of his predicament.
“Good catch,” he said, confirming his belief as the tiniest paws wrapped tight around his index finger.
The heat of embarrassment coursed through him as he refused to acknowledge the truth of what was happening.
“What do you need, Jupiter? I’ve a full day after…” he stopped himself just in time before he mentioned his hangover day.
Jupiter ran a hand over his smooth jaw and chuckled. “Your hangover? Do you know how hard it was to carry you to bed, you big ass lump?”
The gleefulness made Laken groan and mutter, disheartened at finding out it wasn’t Popi. His fingers tightened around Isley on instinct to block his tiny ears. “Had to be you, didn’t it!”
“Yep.” Jupiter lounged back, making himself comfortable. “You should be thanking me for not letting you grab another bottle.”
Had he wanted to do that? He wracked his brain but came up empty. All he had was a sense of dread about what he’d shared with Jupiter in a moment of weakness.
“I can see your mind working. You don’t remember declaring your feelings for a”—his eyes dropped to the desk where his hand was hidden from view—“certain someone?”
There was a significant squeaking coming from his hand that Jupiter wouldn’t miss, and Laken went back to cursing silently. He tried coughing to hide the noise when he couldn’t tell Isley to quit it.
However hot he’d been before, right now the urge to strip off his jacket to cool down was tempting, along with undoing the tie that suddenly felt like it was choking him.
Laken did none of those things. Years of practice at feeling uncomfortable held him still. He was however, going to strangle Isley with his bare hands when he shifted back, for daring to put him in this position.
You put us here by pretending nothing happened last night.
Be quiet, I don't need you mouthing off when Jupiter is sitting right there watching us!
“Shut up and stop being a wind-up merchant. What do you want?” he snapped at Jupiter. He cast his empty hand at the scattered documents, only then catching sight of Isley’s iPad, which he was never without, and went back to the silent curses at his misfortune. “I’m busy.”
“Whatever, big brother.” Jupiter tapped the side of his nose and winked. “You and me, we know different. Back to the boring business.” He gave one last look at the desk shielding Laken’s hand and lost the joking expression when he gave Laken his full attention.
“I want the data on department stores’ clothing sales post Milan.
Has there been any surge in sales? The feedback from the runway designs hasn’t been what I’d hoped for.
I think we missed the mark in marketing.
Kari spread everything a little too thin with too many marketing projects happening at once, which means there could be an issue with transference of brand to the everyday market. ”
The seriousness of Jupiter’s tone had Laken bring his hand up to grab his mouse, his mind on work, only to realize his mistake when he opened it to find Isley noticeably dangling from his finger.
He clutched him back into his palm, observing that hawk eye Jupiter missed nothing, when the seriousness disappeared and a wide, knowing grin appeared.
“Fuck off,” he scowled and reached with his other hand to use the mouse, listening to Jupiter’s bawdy laugh fill the office as he had to move it across the desk to work it.
“You could just tell him to stop the hand snuggling while you're busy?” Jupiter offered in choked laughter.
Temper climbing, Laken held out his hand and shook his fingers open and revealed the clinging little monster.
“You tell him, he doesn’t listen to me!” he exclaimed in a miffed tone, at the end of his tether with how mortified he was.
Because he was never in a million years going to confess how much he enjoyed the feel of those tiny fingers wrapped around his.
How the soft head rubbing against the pads of his palm made them tingle with awareness and soothed at the same time.
“He shifted to make a point, and here we are!” He dangled Isley over his desk, being watchful in case he needed to catch him if he lost his purchase.
Next thing Laken knew, Isley let go and glided straight at Jupiter’s face. As his mouth was open, the tiny paws ended up holding onto his lower lip.
No fucking way!
“And what point would he be making?” Jupiter didn’t hide any of his enjoyment of Laken’s current predicament after peeling off Isley and grinning widely at the sugar glider. “By God, you’re cute.”
“Stop that and hand him over, now! And you can drop the act!” He gave Isley a pointed glare, waving and holding out his hand. He muttered more to himself than Jupiter, “I’ll get the information to you today, once I deal with this tiny terror.”
Jupiter carefully placed Isley in Laken’s hand, his lips twitching as he stood.
“Go away, I’ll sort what you want.”
“If you want my advice—”
“I don’t,” snarled Laken, wanting his brother out of the office already, fearing what Jupiter would put in the alphahole group chat about this, except that wasn’t his priority right now. “I’ll deal with Isley.”
Who the hell knew how when he was more stubborn than a mule and Laken didn’t like the feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach at Isley touching anyone that wasn’t him when in his animal form.
“Alrighty then.” Jupiter strolled to the door, whistling a pop tune from the eighties only to stop as he opened the door. Glancing back a devilish light in his eyes that warned Laken he hadn’t finished messing with him he said, “When you deal with… what did you call him?”
Laken braced, hating that he was right about the fucker, and the tiny body quivered in his hand.
Jupiter tapped the side of his skull. “That’s it, ‘tiny devil’. Maybe you should do it where no one can interrupt your fun.”
He gave a flirtatious wink and disappeared out the door, closing it quietly, leaving an uncomfortable silence in his wake.