LULU’S self-assigned ringtone—an obnoxious children’s song that drove Bo up a wall—echoed through his half-comatose brain. He groaned and burrowed deeper into Adam’s warmth. His sister would call back if it was important. Or leave a message. He didn’t want to move.
It had been a week since he and Adam first slept together, but they’d done it countless times since. Before bed. In the middle of the night. Before Adam went to the gym. After he got home. It didn’t matter what time of day it was, they couldn’t get enough of each other.
He still couldn’t believe it was happening. Every time he woke up naked beside Adam, he’d have to pinch himself to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. And it wasn’t only the sex either. Everything about their relationship had changed. Even when Bo was technically “on the clock,” he and Adam ignored that fact. There were no more boss and employee moments. Everything was just them. Together. Being happy.
Barney the purple dinosaur’s overly cheerful singsong voice cut through the silence again, warbling joyfully about how he loves you, you love him, and everyone’s a great big happy family.
Alarm sliced through Bo’s groggy mind. He sat bolt upright, panic sending his pulse rate spiking as he fought to free himself from Adam and the blankets. He scrambled across the bed and snatched his phone off the nightstand, then slid the green answer button across the screen and dragged the phone to his ear. “Lu? You okay?”
“There you are.” Lulu’s irritated voice assaulted Bo’s ear. He could hear the pout in it. “Why didn’t you answer when I called the first time? What if I’d been dying?”
Bo rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. “I was asleep, Tallulah.”
“Oh, bustin’ out the real name. What’d I do this time? Breathe wrong?”
Sighing, Bo glanced at Adam, who hadn’t budged an inch in his slumber, and scooted back to lean against the headboard. He tugged the covers over his bare lap and willed patience into his sleepy brain. He noted the time before responding. “It’s barely six in the morning. What led you to think I’d be awake?”
Lulu huffed in exasperation. “You used to get up by four every day, so sue me for not realizing your schedule changed. Jeez, what am I, a mentalist? Supposed to read your mind or some shit?”
“Language, Lulu. What the heck, girl?” Bo held the phone away from his ear briefly to verify it really was his baby sister on the other end. He didn’t kid himself that Lulu never cursed, but she was always careful not to do so in his presence. She’d always been a bit of a smart aleck, but considering it was only 6:00 a.m., she was being something extra special this morning. “Is something wrong? You don’t sound quite like yourself.”
“I’m calling you at the ass crack of dawn. Of course something’s wrong.”
“Okay.” He drew out the word, letting her latest foul language transgression slide in favor of responding to her grumpy admission. “Talk to me. What’s up?”
She harrumphed, and he imagined her crossing her arms and scowling in that angsty teenage way she was so skilled at. “I don’t like it here. I wanna come home.”
He scratched a thumb over his brow and frowned. “What don’t you like about it?”
“I don’t fit in here. I’m not like these people.” Her voice got small, and she sniffled into the phone. “Can I come home? Please? Just for a weekend? I miss you.”
Bo scraped his teeth over his bottom lip as he tried to calculate the logistics of getting Lulu to Vegas for a visit. He’d given her his car when she went away to school, so she could drive herself home. But he didn’t have a home for her to come back to anymore. He’d need to rent a hotel. And get some time off, something he hoped Adam wouldn’t mind giving him.
“Bo?”
“I’m here. Sorry, trying to wake my brain up. Of course you can come visit. How about this weekend? I’ll talk to my boss about getting some vacation time.”
Lulu was silent a moment before huffing out a breath. “Okay. I’ve gotta get ready for class now, but can I come Friday night? I could leave right after my last lecture.”
“That sounds perfect.” Bo schooled his voice to sound enthusiastic. “Call me if you need to talk or anything before then, okay?”
Lulu agreed, and they hung up after exchanging I-love-yous and the standard promises to behave, study hard, and drive safe on the trip home Friday.
Bo let his head fall back against the headboard. “Crap.”
“Everything okay, babe?”
Adam’s unexpected, gravelly voiced question startled Bo. He yelped, then let out a self-deprecating snigger. “Jeez, you scared the heck out of me. What are you doing awake?”
“You sounded worried.” Adam lifted the covers, revealing his bare, perfectly muscled torso, and opened his arms in invitation.
Bo slipped into the welcoming warmth of his embrace. He allowed the rhythmic circles Adam rubbed over his back to ease the tension Lulu’s call had brought to the surface.
“You wanna talk about it?” Adam brushed his lips over Bo’s hair when he spoke, leaving a kiss on the crown of his head to punctuate the question. To let Bo know he was there, as he always was.
“Lulu’s struggling at school. She wants to come home for the weekend because she misses her dear old brother.” Bo walked his fingers up Adam’s bicep to buy himself a little time to build his courage. Nerves had his stomach turning. Would Adam be upset with him for requesting time off so last-minute? “Would it, ah, be okay if I took the weekend off? I know it doesn’t give you much notice, but I—”
“Babe.” Adam stopped tracing patterns over Bo’s back and knuckled under his chin. Their eyes met, and Adam smiled. “Of course you can have the weekend off. I’d give you the rest of your life off if I thought you’d be open to the title of Kept Man.”
Bo drew back his chin and shook his head in horror. A kept man? As in, what, Adam wanted to foot all his bills so he could laze around and do nothing? Not happening. Not only would he go crazy without something to keep his mind active, but there was no way he’d risk Lulu’s future. What if Adam got tired of him? Or started to resent him for loafing off his dollar? He’d be hunting for a job with an unexplained gap in employment. It was hard enough to find work with a proven track record. No one would hire him if he’d fallen off the grid.
Adam chuckled. “I know, I know. You’re far too strong-willed and independent for that, which I respect the shit out of. But the point is, you can have time off whenever you want it. All you gotta do is let me know and it’s yours. Just so I don’t worry about you when you aren’t up my ass in that way I love so much.”
Bo rolled his eyes but grinned as he pinched Adam’s most ticklish spot—the side of his ribs beneath his armpit. Adam howled and rolled them both until he straddled Bo’s lap. He pinned Bo’s arms to the bed and pouted. “What was that for? I thought I was being nice.”
Nice was an understatement. How many bosses gave their employees unlimited vacation time? And without any real notice. It never ceased to amaze Bo how sweet and wonderful Adam could be. It baffled him to remember how he’d dreaded the idea of working for a man like Adam, yet the perception he’d had couldn’t have been any further from the truth.
“Oh, you were.” Bo cocked his head and smirked. He bounced his hips so their dicks collided. “I wanted you on top of me, that’s all. We’ve got lots of time to make up for if I’m going to be gone all weekend.”
“Whoa, pump the brakes. Who said anything about you being gone all weekend?” Adam scowled. “I thought Lulu was coming here.”
The nerves kicked back into gear. Adam had agreed to let him take a vacation, but he’d clearly assumed Bo would be staying around the house. Which would mean he’d still be available in an emergency. Would he change his mind if he knew Bo planned to go to a hotel with Lulu instead of making her stay alone?
“She is. I mean, she’s coming to Vegas, but I’m going to rent a hotel.” Bo cringed when Adam’s scowl deepened. “For us both.”
Folding his arms over his sculpted chest, Adam squinted an eye. “Why?”
Because Lulu sounded desperate, that’s why. No way was he going to make her stay alone in a hotel when she seemed so down. “She’s coming all this way. I want to spend as much time with her as I can.”
“Well, yeah.” Adam cocked his head. “But I don’t get why you’d be able to spend any more time with her at a hotel than you could here. Are you afraid I’ll interfere? I’d be happy to ghost for the weekend. As long as I get to come home at night and share a bed with you, I can make anything work.”
Adam thought Bo was bringing Lulu into his home? No frickin’ way. That was wrong on so many levels. “Ah, I wasn’t implying Lulu would stay at your house, baby. I’d never do that to you. She’ll be at the hotel, which is why I want to be there. To be close to her.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Bo.” Adam laughed, unfolding his arms so he could pull Bo into them. “You are not staying at a hotel. Neither of you are. This is your home. If Lulu is coming to visit, she should stay here, in your home. There are four guest bedrooms. There’s more than enough space.”
A thousand butterflies took flight in Bo’s chest. Adam considered his house to be Bo’s home? That was…. Bo shivered. That was the best thing ever.
Adam dropped a kiss to the tip of Bo’s nose and smirked. “Plus, I’m a selfish bastard. There’s no way in hell I’m giving up even a single night with you. Lulu’s a big girl, and you said yourself she knows you’re gay and sexually active. I’m fine with wearing clothes to bed and abstaining from sex while she’s in the house. But there’s no reason you can’t crawl into our bed and sleep in my arms because Lulu’s here.”
Our bed? Bo’s belly did a flip, and a kaleidoscope of butterflies moved to fill its churning depths. Okay, so maybe he’d spoken too soon. Our bed might trump home. Maybe. Possibly. He couldn’t decide which was better, and at that moment, he didn’t much care.