Chapter 27
Casimir
“If I have to ask if you’ve left work yet, I’m going to be pissed.” He was entirely too nice to people who’d rescheduled too many times. “I don’t care if their cat died for the third time or that grandmother who keeps coming back from the dead croaked again. You’re mine tonight.”
I’d been appropriately sympathetic and understanding until Atlee had confessed he wasn’t sure how long they’d been lying to him.
“I’m heading out of the parking garage and I’m on my way.” His confident tone made me suspicious.
“And?” That got me a long sigh.
“And I explained that because they missed their appointment at three, I was going to need to reschedule for next week.” His tone said that’d been hard, so I was going to reward him for it later. “I hate to say it, but this account isn’t big enough for this much drama.”
They were part of an extended family network that he’d gathered after nailing one whale of a client, so I could see how he didn’t want to rock the boat.
“Maybe the next time you call the cheese in charge of all that chaos, you ask him how they’re doing and if all the deaths in the family need to be addressed because you don’t have accounts for them.
” It was time to tattle on the suckers. “He should know you’re doing your best to take care of him in these trying times. ”
Atlee nearly giggled like a kid and swallowing it back had him choking on a cough. “You’re…you’re devious.”
Only when it came to defending my boy.
“I’m ready for my boy to be home for a long-overdue date.” Along with a late meeting with his new attorney, we’d both hit some unexpectedly long days at work over the last week. That’d meant my collaring gifts had to be delayed and I didn’t like that one bit. “What is your ETA?”
“I’m leaving early enough that I should be home in about fifteen minutes.” Sounding pleased, I could almost hear the grin he had to be wearing. “Then will you tell me what our plan is?”
“No, but you can put on your best suit and show me how spiffy my boy can look for his Master.” That got a pleased hum and I was pretty sure at least a half-hard erection. He knew how much I loved it when he dressed up and he loved turning me on.
It would be a win-win for a variety of reasons.
“How spiffy?” He nearly giggled at that word but it was keeping him happily distracted and curious, so I thought it was the perfect choice. “And what kind of best suit? You know, if I had a clue about where we were going, I’d be able to dress appropriately.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you to wear the tux, but anything else would be appropriate.” There were not nearly enough social situations in our area that made those reasonable…and that was a fucking shame.
His chuckle was low and sexy that time, sending a shiver through me that had me wiggling in the car. “I’ve got that work thing around Christmas which is black tie. I’m going to have fun showing off for you.”
God, he was fucking sexy.
“I can’t wait to see it.” Even if I had to get into one of those getups.
Atlee in a tux…mind-blowing.
Me in a tux…painful.
“One of the partner’s wives wore this almost tux-looking outfit with a flowy shirt like that beige one you’ve got.
I’ll have to ask him wear she got it from.
” Atlee’s absentminded-professor tone had me shaking my head.
“I don’t think anyone mentioned that, but for whatever reason, I had to hear about where half of the men got theirs from. It was weird.”
There was definitely some social cue he’d missed just like he was missing the whole they might not want me there in women’s clothing thing.
We’d come back to that later, though.
“Stop teasing me about you wearing that tux, brat.” And his giggle was back. “Come home. Get ready. Got it?”
“Got it.”
And he was gone.
At some point I was going to teach him how to end a call or a text conversation appropriately. But since it wasn’t going to be anytime soon, I headed inside and followed my own advice to start getting ready.
The goal had been a nice dinner and evening out, so we’d both promised to leave work a few minutes early to make sure it would happen. That was mostly for Atlee, though. I knew how to draw boundaries. He didn’t.
Atlee had me, though, and I knew how to get what I wanted when I put my mind to it.
“Alright. Reservations are double-checked.” Tossing my keys on the table by the door, I kicked off my practical shoes and headed to the bedroom to get dressed up. “Tickets are printed and saved on my phone.”
Just in case.
“Dessert list is ready just in case we decide to go out after the play.” I wasn’t really a theater kind of gay, but Atlee loved it and hadn’t been in years because his witch of an ex hadn’t liked it.
Was I giving him his favorite night out to show I was a better partner than she’d been?
Absolutely.
It wouldn’t be subtle for most men, but my boy wouldn’t connect the dots until we’d been together for years, so I didn’t feel embarrassed about it in the slightest.
I also didn’t feel the least bit embarrassed about planning out all the restaurants near the theater downtown with the best desserts. I wasn’t sure how our evening would go but I wanted us to have options.
Coming home to open his special presents was probably going to be his pick, but if we were having fun I’d drag it out and then surprise him when we got home. Collaring my boy didn’t have a time limit, so I was going to play the date by ear.
Everything else around that spontaneity was planned out thoroughly, though.
Like the fact that I was going to wear one of Atlee’s favorite outfits.
“Get a shower…don’t get distracted.” Ignoring everything else, I headed into the bathroom and got thoroughly clean as quickly as I could.
The notification on my phone from Atlee made me think he was letting me know he was home, but I had to wait to confirm that until I was clean. “Alright…wonderful.”
No traffic and no problems.
“This is going to be perfect.”
As long as the fucking doorbell stopped ringing like the house was on fire.
It started as I was almost done, and by the time I was dressed it’d started to drive me mad and I’d ordered one of those stalker doorbells online.
Half the neighborhood already had them just to spy on each other.
I’d never thought about buying one for actual security, but Atlee’s family changed my outlook on stalking my neighbors to that degree.
And it could only be Atlee’s family.
The rest of the neighbors were smarter than this and his family were the most stupid people I’d ever met. They were also the most entitled and ridiculous. I was betting they’d finally realized he’d gotten a new lawyer and were ready to go insane.
That didn’t mean I had to rush, though, so I finished adding some subtle makeup around my eyes and a bit of lip gloss that Atlee seemed to love before heading to the front door.
A quick glance at my phone said Atlee hadn’t noticed the chaos because the last message from him had been about picking shoes.
After sending him a quick reply about which black shoes to pick…because the man had three pairs that were basically the same…I plastered on a confused face and finally answered the door.
Yep.
A hurricane of stupid had landed on my front porch, but Atlee’s father at least had the good graces to look worried. He was also the only one who was standing at the bottom of the steps like he was ready to run.
He was definitely smarter than his wife.
“What are you doing?” She’d worked herself into a tizzy and I actually winced at the pitch she managed to hit. That didn’t stop her, though. “Are you trying to ruin his future? You’re the reason he got that new lawyer. You’re lying to him too. What were you thinking?”
About Atlee.
Duh.
That was too obvious to point out, though, so I cocked my head and frowned at her. “Hello, what can I do for you?”
His mother just stood there blinking so it was Valerie’s turn.
She sighed and did her signature belly rub, which really didn’t work on me the way she seemed to think it would.
“Seducing a married man is reprehensible behavior, especially for someone who works with at-risk individuals. You’ve got to stop trying to get back at me. ”
Oh, this was a new one.
Leaning against the doorframe, I didn’t bother hiding my delight. “This is fun. What did you do to me to make me want to get back at you?”
I’d already told my boss and his supervisor everything including how crazy the family was and all the good gossip, so there was nothing she could do to me.
Had she expected to be able to threaten me with lying to my boss?
Valerie was better at holding back her frustration and ignoring my reactions, but Atlee’s mother went full-blown drama queen with her sound effects. It wasn’t helpful, so I stayed focused on Valerie. She’d taken the time to plan out a better tactic this time around.
I approved of hard work.
She sighed again, shaking her head and probably playing up for the audience. It was possible she thought I had a camera or something, though, because she wasn’t breaking character. “I can give him the family you’ll never be able to. The one he’s always wanted.”
Oh, that’d play well online.
She was definitely the smarter of the two crazy bitches.
“I know you’ve been watching him since we moved in and through the struggles to fix our marriage, but this isn’t right.
” Her frown wasn’t quite perfect enough, so I watched as she adjusted it slightly like she’d been practicing in the mirror.
“You took advantage of a confused man and tempted him with things to betray his family.”
Things?
Butt things?
BDSM things?
“I’m not sure how to respond to that. It’s a bit too vague.
You need to give me more information about my background as a character for me to be able to understand my motivation.
And things? What things did I tempt him with?
This play is really half-assed.” They had no idea how to respond to that with both women going still and looking like confused, angry puppies.