Surrender's Edge by Pepper Espinoza

Author:Pepper Espinoza
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER 9

Nash leaned against his desk, his legs stretched in front of him, his arms folded across his chest. Geoffrey remained near the door, though Nash had pointedly gestured at the chair beside him. A quick escape might be necessary, and Geoffrey wanted to be prepared for that. The last of his post-sex high had lifted as soon as the door shut behind them, and now the silence was stretching like bitter taffy between them.

Geoffrey didn’t know what to say, so he waited. He couldn’t read Nash, and that disturbed him more than anything Nash could actually say. He could still smell Sunny, still smell their mingled bodies and sweat. The scent of their coupling hung around him like a cloud, and he thought that Nash probably couldn’t smell it from across the room, but he was still self-conscious.

The silence started to make him itch, and that life-long impulse to head trouble off before it could start overtook him. He opened his mouth to apologize—he couldn’t do anything else. How could he 89

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explain? Of course, a part of him recognized that an apology wasn’t necessary. Wasn’t it Nash who’d locked the closet door? Who’d unlocked it?

The phone rang. And rang. Nash ignored it. Seconds later, his cell rang. He ignored that as well. It occurred to Geoffrey that they had to get this shit sorted out, and fast, because it was affecting their business.

“Nash…”

“Geoffrey…”

They spoke at once, then both fell silent. It was the sound of Nash’s single word that stopped Geoffrey. He sounded confused, like he wasn’t even sure what Geoffrey was doing there. Geoffrey thought his face probably reflected Nash’s confusion. What was one supposed to do in this situation? Geoffrey had never thought to prepare for it.

“I need a drink,” Nash murmured.

Geoffrey nodded, foregoing his canned lecture on drinking during office hours. He had a policy about fucking coworkers during office hours, too, but clearly they were throwing policies and rules out the window for the day. He could hear Sunny moving on the other side of the door. She was no doubt curious, straining her ears to every word, yet pretending she wasn’t. Geoffrey was half-tempted to just open the door so she could see them standing there, staring at each other like fools.

Nash poured two drinks from his secret stash that Geoffrey always pretended to be ignorant of, then downed his without further hesitation.

Geoffrey couldn’t help but watch as he swallowed, noting the movement of his throat and the way his jaw clenched when the strong whiskey hit his stomach.

“That was harder than I thought,” he finally said.

“I’m sorry,” Geoffrey said, the words that had been held at bay now flying out.

Nash looked confused. “No, not…you. I just…this is crazy.”

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Geoffrey smiled slightly. “Yes, well, now you can understand what I was trying to say.” Geoffrey handed his full glass back to Nash with a slight nod. Nash downed that, too. Once it was gone, Geoffrey felt a twinge of regret—he needed it more than he thought.

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