Where He Belongs (Gay Romance) E-Book

Trina Solet

• Herausgeber: Trina Solet
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Jack thought he had everything only to end up without a wife, a best friend or a child. Now he is closed off and afraid to love. After despair nearly cost him his life, he can't afford another heartbreak. Burying himself in work, Jack has made business his whole life. Now a business opportunity has led him to Gus, the one man who can break down his defenses.
Gus doesn't know what he is getting himself into when he flirts with his new boss. The uptight younger man is irresistible to him. Is Gus being reckless when he falls for Jack despite all the warning signs? After all, Gus is a happy, single father to a little boy, and Josh is a happy kid.
As he is drawn into their lives, Jack finds that Gus and his little boy are everything he needs and what he is most afraid of. Jack can't risk his heart again, but he might be won over by these two goofballs despite himself.

Leseprobe

Where He Belongs (Gay Romance)

By Trina Solet

Copyright © 2015 by Trina Solet

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locales or actual events is entirely coincidental.

All sexual activity takes place between persons eighteen years of age or older.

This novel contains material intended for mature readers.

Cover image is only for illustrative purposes. Any person depicted is a model.

Where He Belongs

Gay Romance

Trina Solet

Chapter 1

Gus was navigating the early morning traffic, trying to get Josh to school on time. His days of driving a two-seater and recklessly weaving his way through rush hour traffic were behind him. Now he was a careful driver, and there was a booster seat in the back of his Jeep Wrangler.

On mornings like this one, Gus kind of missed the days when he could curse to his heart's content at slow drivers and inconveniently timed red lights. Those days were over. He had a six year old in the back, who delighted in every bad word his dad let slip on a rare occasion. Gus had to keep a lid on it. That's why he got creative with stress relief. He had Josh count the seconds at each red light.

"Here we go!" Josh announced as soon as Gus was forced to hit the breaks at yet another intersection. Then he started counting as loudly as he could, "One Mississippi, two Mississippi..."

When he hit the bigger numbers, Josh always slowed down and had to think hard about what came next. That's when Gus would help him out. When they first started this game, Josh could count to seventy-two. Now he could count into the two hundreds.

As the light turned green, Josh yelled, "And we have liftoff!" just like Gus taught him.

That was better than starting every one of his days cursing. And that was only one small change in his life since he decided to become a father. Gus no longer felt the pressure to succeed at any cost, to outpace the competition as other young executives breathed down his neck. He no longer spent a good half of his day in a suit and tie. He left the tie at home and carried his jacket over his arm. Most of the time, he left it hanging over the back of his chair. There weren't many people he needed to impress.

Ambition had filled a hole in his life before Josh arrived. Now Josh was his life. He took over, demolished the competition, and took charge of Gus's every waking moment. He was the new boss and the only person Gus cared to impress any more. Good thing he was easy. Gus could still count higher than Josh, reach for stuff on the top shelf, lift him up with just one arm, and get him to school on time despite all obstacles.

"Good job, Dad," Josh said as he jumped out of the car in front of his school.

Gus gave him a hug and a kiss. "Have fun and learn stuff," Gus told him as he helped him put on his book bag.

Gus looked at his boy, taking a mental picture of him to carry with him for the rest of his day. Josh had dark blond hair and slate blue eyes. He was skinny and tall for his age, all arms and legs and missing front teeth. Josh gave him a big, gap-toothed grin and ran to the entrance of the school, his arms and legs flailing, his book bag bouncing.

As long as Gus got to see his boy smile, every day would start the right way for him. Gus watched Josh get inside, and then he drove to work. On the way, he indulged in an occasional f-bomb now that his kid wasn't there to hear him and learn from his bad example.

Gus turned a corner and pulled into Walnut Lane with its busy sidewalks well shaded by trees. It was a nice place to take a stroll. The street was lined with small shops and restaurants. Gus liked to think that Walnut Lane Bistro was one of its main attractions. Right in the middle of the long street, the bistro where Gus worked was a brown building with modern lines.

Gus turned into a small side street to the parking area in the back. Even the parking lot was shaded by trees and pleasant. This early in the morning, it was almost empty. Once lunch service started, the parking would fill up and even overflow into other parking areas and along the side streets.

As he got out, Gus surveyed the back of the bistro to make sure everything was in order. After all whenever anything went wrong, it landed squarely on his desk. Though it was a challenge, things at the bistro had definitely turned around since Gus started managing the troubled business.

Walnut Lane Bistro had an ideal location. There was every reason to expect it to succeed. The first time Gus walked in, he knew it as the kind of place where he would have liked to stop in on his lunch hour, maybe even bring a client or a date. He inherited a slew of problems from the previous manager, but the place had serious potential.

The décor in front was modern, but the lighting and the colors were warm and soothing. The way Gus thought of it was that here it was always a beautiful evening in early fall. Photographs from two local artists were displayed in narrow, rectangular frames spaced evenly on two walls. The chairs were black. The tables were metal topped with wood in a mellow brown.

The younger Gus wouldn't have been pleased if he saw where the thirty-one year old Gus currently worked. The bistro might be awesome in front, but Gus worked in the office in the back. The kitchen took up most of the space. The rest was dedicated to storage. What was left was the so-called manager's office, but there were boxes stacked in there as well.

The space was charm free and utilitarian. The furniture was old and plain, but it served Gus just fine. He had aspired to spacious, finely furnished offices once, but he had left those ambitions behind when he decided that what he really wanted was a job that would let him spend time with Josh. He settled for less money and more time, and a very unimpressive office where his son was welcome any time.

When Gus walked in, he noticed that there was something different about his office today. A very good-looking surprise was waiting by his desk. He had no idea why the slim, dark haired man was there, but he was delighted to see him. Screw fancy furniture, this is how you redecorate an office. Put a gorgeous looking man in the middle of it, and everything else fades into the background. Gus was so taken with the sight that he forgot he was at work. All he could see was a hard body in perfectly tailored, black slacks and a crisp, white shirt. And all he could think about was getting his hands on every inch of that physique.

Reminding himself where he was, Gus sobered a little. The man was still turned away from him, giving Gus a chance to recover at least a semblance of professionalism. Since he was probably there on business and possibly straight, Gus wiped the smile off his face and put on a serious expression as he approached the guy.

The man's hair was black and perfectly combed. When he turned to Gus, he showed him his dark eyes. Gus couldn't help but beam at him. Putting on his biggest smile, Gus extended his hand in greeting and introduced himself.

"Gus Dwyer. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Jack Velarde," he said in a deep, mellow voice and took Gus's hand almost defiantly.

While Gus admired his beautiful eyes, Jack stood straight and stiff. Everything about his stance told Gus to keep away. As he shook his hand, he gave Gus a cautionary look. It said something like "don't mess with me". Oh, but Gus wanted to mess with him so very much.

"Jack Velarde," Gus repeated, liking the feel of the name as it rolled off his tongue. "So, you're Doug's stepbrother. He said you might want to invest in this place." Doug said a lot of things like that, but Gus didn't usually put much stock in what he said. Doug might own the bistro, but he was hopelessly unreliable.

Jack cocked his head to the side. "I already did. I own a half interest."

That was a surprise. It almost knocked the grin off Gus's face.

"So I work for you now as well." Gus realized that he just met his new boss. "As you see, Doug keeps me well-informed. He also told me all about you coming in today and everything." Sarcasm probably wasn't a good idea under the circumstances. He had a new boss to impress, and this guy didn't seem like he was going to be as easy as Doug.

"He is frustrating," Jack said with a sigh.

Gus nodded, but actually, Doug's more casual approach was fine with him. It was easier to take charge without interference from above. Right away, he could tell that Jack was going to be a different story.

"Have you had a tour of your new investment?" Gus asked.

"Doug was supposed to show me around."

"The same way he was supposed to let me know about the changes at the top?"

Jack sighed again. "I better take that tour then."

Gus led him to the front of the house first. The tables were being set up for lunch service. Knowing who he was, the servers looked at Jack cautiously. They probably had more job security than Gus did.

As Jack looked around, Gus tried to read him. The man was a closed book right now, but Gus had already seen his real self slip through. Jack Velarde couldn't keep those pretty eyes from showing too much of himself however hard he tried.

Jack looked to be in his mid twenties, but he reminded Gus of the hardened, business-minded young men he had met by the dozens in his corporate days. Those men only saw numbers and smiled like they were going to bill you for it later. They seemed older, sapped of their youth by ambition and greed. Until Josh came along, that could have been a description of Gus. He wasn't sure about Jack though. He had that cast, but Gus couldn't tell yet how deep it went.

After giving Jack time to see what there was to see of the front for himself, Gus spoke up. "As you see, the place is pretty low key. We get a lot of shoppers dropping in during the day plus the workers from the office complex in Newman Square and Hawthorn Business Plaza. At night we get a mix – couples, groups, families. When I started, they were billing it as more hip and trendy. I think that's why Doug liked it, but that approach wasn't working. The crowd we have coming in isn't looking for anything upscale. They want casual so that's what we give them. I wanted to make sure that the place was just special enough to make it worth the trip but not intimidating. So far it's working."

Jack nodded noncommittally. "I'd like to look at the books."

"Sure. Feel free to check my math," Gus said.

For now Jack was only checking out their dinner and lunch menus. As he sat down across from Jack at one of the tables, Gus imagined for a second that they were on a date. Even then Jack would be a challenge. Gus would have to figure him out, crack through his defenses slowly until he made the man his.

"You're not going to find anything too exciting," Gus told him seeing how thoroughly he studied the menu. Gus had left most of the menu decisions to the chefs, but he stood behind their choices.

"That's just as it should be. I see a few interesting items, but the rest are proven favorites," Jack said as he closed the menu.

"They're doing lunch prep in the kitchen. You want them to make you anything so you can taste it for yourself?" Gus offered.

"No, I have another lunch meeting."

"At a fancier restaurant, I bet," Gus needled him. He knew that Jack was well off and probably used to the finer things in life.

"Actually, yes. That doesn't mean that I will prefer the food over there."

"Just the company?"

Jack gave him a surprised look. "It's a business meeting," he said.

Gus smiled at his need to defend himself. It was none of his business even if Jack was going to an orgy, but Gus was glad to know it wasn't a date.

*

As Jack stepped out through the back doors of Walnut Lane Bistro, he took a deep breath. The early spring air was crisp and refreshing, and sunlight danced on the new leaves of the trees. Despite being satisfied with his newest investment, Jack left the bistro feeling a little on edge. He would have expected that if he had to deal with Doug, but there was a different source of discomfort waiting for him in the manager Doug had hired. The man was more competent, more appealing and more forward than Jack expected.

Gus Dwyer was attractive but hardly stunning. He had sandy, light brown hair and warm, brown eyes. His body seemed solid under a blue shirt and gray trousers. Nothing about his appearance prepared Jack for the effect Gus had on him.

Though their only physical contact had been that disconcerting handshake, which sent a tremor through Jack's whole body, he felt Gus's presence every second they spent together. It was an effect Jack had only experienced when he knew without a doubt that an encounter with a man would turn sexual. His body would be primed and thrumming, ready to switch gears as soon as there was enough privacy to slide down a man's body and take him in his mouth.

Though he knew from Doug that Gus was gay, that should not have been his reaction to meeting him. But there was undisguised attraction in Gus's eyes. His voice was deep, and Jack felt like it was tuned perfectly to reach inside him and put unseemly thoughts in his head. It had a quality of a proposition spoken up close, right in Jack's ear. "I know you want to." Jack didn't know how he was supposed to conduct business with that man on his mind.

*

Later that day, Gus had just arrived from picking up Josh from school when Jack came into the office.

"You're back," Gus said, happy to see him again so soon.

"I wanted to see how the staff handles dinner."

"You're in plenty of time to see that and also to meet my son," Gus said as Josh came back from the office bathroom. "This is Josh, my boss and also my son. Josh, this is my other boss. His name is Jack. But you might want to call him Mr. Velarde."

Josh looked from Jack to Gus then back to Jack with a thoughtful frown.

"He's not my boss, is he? I like Jack better. I'll just call him Jack," Josh decided and stuck out his hand for Jack to shake. "I washed my hands after I used the bathroom. Nice to meet you."

Gus swore he saw a twinkle in Jack's eye as he looked at Josh. Maybe he wasn't a complete stuffed shirt.

"Hello. Nice to meet you too," Jack said as he took Josh's hand.

As Josh shook his hand with a big pumping motion, Jack's expression was caught somewhere between delight and fear. He quickly covered it up with his usual stern and impassive look.

Seeing Josh open his mouth to pester Jack, Gus stepped in.

"Jack didn't come here to talk to you. He's here on business. Do your homework," Gus said before Josh could speak. Gus pointed to the second desk in the office, which Josh used to do his homework after school.

Josh still looked eager to ask a million questions, like he did of everyone he met and every new employee at the bistro. Seeing the warning look on Gus's face, he huffed with suppressed curiosity and went to his desk. Josh took a seat and scraped his chair noisily as he pulled it in.

Now that Josh's back was turned, Jack gave Gus a look as if he was asking what Josh was doing there. Gus hoped he wouldn't have a problem with it. Spending time with Josh was the main reason he took this job. Gus loved that moment at the end of the school day when Josh ran into his arms full of news about his day. Gus would lift him up high, book bag and all, and Josh would giggle. Bringing Josh to work had gone from a bonus to a necessity. He couldn't imagine giving that up for any job.

As Jack went to the kitchen to watch them work, Gus went with him. Josh tried to follow, but Gus pointed him back to his homework desk. Josh gave him a pitiful face. He loved watching the almost chaotic, action-packed kitchen. Learning all the restaurant shorthand was his hobby. His favorite was "hot behind". It still made him giggle. He was only allowed to watch from a stepstool that was kept in the corner so he wouldn't get trampled. Josh would get excited by all the hustle and bustle anyway.

Gus could understand why Josh liked it so much. It was noisy in there with the clanging of pots and utensils, and the terse instructions and responses flying back and forth. But this was nothing compared to the frenzy of dinner service in full swing. This was only prep time.

The kitchen was full of steam as a number of large pots were boiling away. There was some impressively fast slicing and dicing to watch. Gus always wished he could spend more time observing the work that went on in the kitchen. He was dying to learn a few things, but there was never enough time, plus the pace in there was dizzying. If he dared to ask useless, amateur questions, he got his answer sandwiched between several murderous glares for bothering them.

Gus showed Jack the best place to stand so they would be out of everyone's way. The space in there was at a premium. Gus had been elbowed out of the way a few times before he learned his lesson. Everyone in the kitchen was such a tyrant. When he was in there, Gus could forget all about being the boss. He felt even less like the boss with Jack there ready and able to turn everything Gus had worked for on its head if he chose.

"Do you bring your son to work often?" Jack asked while watching the highly skilled knife work going on in front of them.

"All the time," Gus said, challenging him to make an issue of it. "That's the deal I made with Doug. He let me bring Josh to work, and I saved his restaurant from utter ruin."

Actually it didn't take any hard negotiating to get Doug to agree. At the mention of Gus bringing Josh to work, Doug just shrugged and said, "Sure, whatever. You're the boss."

"You should look into hiring a babysitter," Jack said without looking at Gus.

Gus turned to him, trying to judge whether he was making a suggestion or telling him he had to. "Or I could hire a hot manny. You available?"

"No."

Gus wondered if he just got an answer to a question he hadn't meant to ask. Maybe Jack was seeing someone. "You are probably out of my price range anyway," Gus said. He was dying to confirm if Jack was in a relationship. Of course if he didn't let Gus bring Josh to work, it would become a moot point because Gus would go from Jack's admirer to an enemy for life.

Later on, when they served the family meal for the staff right before dinner service started, Jack refused the invitation to eat with them and stayed in the office. Even Josh couldn't get him to join them. That didn't keep Josh from bringing him a plate of food to eat in the office when he and Gus came back.

"Eat up. You're skinny like me. You can't skip dinner," Josh told him as he set the food on his desk.

The look on Jack's face was priceless. He wasn't as tall as Gus, but Jack was in great shape. Gus could tell that if he ran his hands up and down over every inch of him, it would all be hard, lean muscle. Gus flexed his fingers. The palms of his hands tingled at the thought, and he felt tense with the need to let his hands roam Jack's body. Why did Doug's partner have to look like that? How was Gus supposed to concentrate on his work?

When it was Gus's quitting time, he went to say goodbye to Jack who was lurking near the kitchen again. He was busy typing on his phone.

"Do you know of a good gym?" Jack asked, seeing him approach.

"You're not letting what Josh said get to you, are you?" Gus asked. Jack's body had been driving him crazy all day.

"The gym at my hotel is always crowded. Doug recommended a place..."

"So you know to stay away from there," Gus said.

"I assumed it was a meat market."

"No doubt. Try Ivan's Gym if you want something serious. Fit House is more for regular guys. Everyone calls it Fat House. That should give you an idea of what it's like in there."

Jack thanked him and looked them up on his phone. Gus would kill to see him working out. He groaned involuntarily at the image of Jack sweating and straining. At the sound, Jack turned to stare at him.

"I was just thinking how much I needed to work out," Gus said to explain himself.

Jack looked him up and down. "You look OK," he said blandly.

"And that's exactly why I need to work out more," Gus said. "I have some equipment at home, but Josh always wants to exercise with me, then we start goofing around and then we eat snacks." Gus smiled at the memories of all the times they did that. It was fun but counterproductive. He always told Josh he was making him fat. Josh would just shrug. With his skinny shoulders, that boy had perfected the art of a shrug.

Jack stared at him strangely as he stood there grinning to himself.

"You really enjoy being a father, don't you?"

"It's the best," Gus confirmed.

Jack only nodded vaguely, like he didn't understand the appeal. Oh well, it wasn't for everyone.

When Gus told him he was leaving for the day, Jack was surprised to hear it.

"Johanna takes over for me at 6:00. When I come in in the morning, I look over the receipts and her report from the night before. Johanna is very competent. You'll see that for yourself when you grill her," Gus said. He wondered if Jack would have yet another problem with Gus leaving at such a busy time and splitting his management duties.

Jack stayed unreadable, leaving Gus unsure about where things stood. Maybe he wasn't the ideal manager for a busy restaurant, but he liked his job. He hoped he would get to keep it.

Chapter 2

Waking to bright sunshine that flooded his bedroom, Gus immediately thought of Josh and what he might be up to. It was way too late on a Saturday for Josh not to have gotten into ten different kinds of mischief. Gus got out of bed with a grumble, knowing he would need to deal with something.

It was like that for him every morning since Josh learned to walk. Before that, it was his crying that would wake Gus. Gus would go over to his crib, and as soon as Josh saw him he would stop crying and start babbling at him. Little faker. Later on, it was an incessant "Dadadadadadada" that would have Gus going over to his crib at the crack of dawn. Holding on to the crib railing, Josh would grin at him and bounce there in his footie pajamas until Gus picked him up.

These days Josh let him sleep later but not without consequences. When Gus first started at the restaurant, Josh's attempts at cooking would have to be cleaned up. Not being allowed to go near the stove or the microwave or use knives, Josh just mixed random things.

"Do you want to try it?" he would ask, an eager look on his face.

Thank God he was mostly over that obsession.

After a quick visit to the bathroom, Gus went in search of Josh.

"What is this?" Gus asked seeing his old CD's arranged into a tower in the middle of the living room. It was a dangerously crooked structure. All over the carpet, action figures were perched around it in different poses.

"Just Joshing around," Josh said proudly. His great-grandfather had taught him that phrase. Now Josh used it every chance he got.

"Are you going to put them all back?" Gus said of the CD's.

"Not yet. I need them," Josh said. That's when the CD tower crashed.

"And I need coffee," Gus said leaving Josh to deal with the disaster.

Josh was telling his action figures, "Watch out, guys. Oh, no. You got crushed. Don't worry. I'll save you."

Gus expected Josh would eventually put away the CD's, putting the ones that had fallen out into the wrong cases, of course. Good thing the days of CD's were over. Gus only held on to them for sentimental reasons. It was a collection he and his brother, Liam, had put together and fought over when they were kids.

With Liam living in New Zealand, married with kids of his own, Gus hardly ever saw him. The last time Liam visited the US, he had seen that Gus still had the CD collection and he had laughed. It was also the first time he had met Josh. Josh had taken to him right away because Liam was loud and funny.

Seeing Josh, Liam said, "He's a Dwyer, all right."

Josh might not be a Dwyer by blood, but he was in his heart. He had that indomitable Dwyer spirit that drove Liam all over the world until a New Zealand girl finally made him settle down. The same spirit only drove Gus up the corporate ladder until Josh came along. That's when he found out what it meant to be a Dwyer, specifically Gus Dwyer.

Gus had felt something inside him awaken at the fateful moment when he asked Suzanne to have the baby she was carrying. She didn't want a child, and Gus realized that he did. He asked her to have the baby so he could adopt him. It had been a leap as great as flying to the ends of the world, and the reward was the best thing he could imagine – a beautiful little son, who got into everything, made a big mess, and filled his heart with joy.

This morning, while Gus's back was turned, Josh decided to spruce up his cereal with M&M's.

"M&M's don't go in cereal," Gus said, taking the bag away from him after a few of them made it in and sank to the bottom of the cereal bowl. "See? They can't swim."

"Don't worry. I'll save you guys," Josh said as he fished them out from the bottom and ate them.

"You call that saving them?"

Josh nodded and grinned.

"No more sneaking M&M's into your cereal," Gus told him.

Saturdays and Sundays, Gus went in to work later. He and Josh usually put in only a few hours. Wednesday was Gus's only full day off for now. Though it cut into their weekend, Josh liked going to the bistro so it wasn't a major sacrifice.

As Gus drove to the bistro with Josh, he wondered if there was any chance that Jack would be there again today. He tried hard not to look forward to Jack coming to the bistro to look over his shoulder. Jack was definitely a mixed blessing.

"The big boss is here," Leroy said when he saw Gus coming in. He pointed a thumb toward Gus's office. He and Alfonso were busy unpacking some crates by the delivery entrance.

"You mean me," Gus said. He was still Leroy's boss as far as he knew.

"No. I mean the big boss," Leroy said, keeping a straight face. Alfonso grinned though.

Gus went into the office while Josh lingered to watch them opening up the crates, wanting to see what was inside. Leroy had a good eye so Gus had put him in charge of checking over the deliveries so they wouldn't get shorted or otherwise screwed over by the suppliers like they used to.

"Sure you can use my desk," Gus said when he saw Jack sitting there already, though not in his chair, on the opposite side.

"I needed somewhere to work," Jack said pointing to the other desk.

Josh's desk was clearly unavailable. It was covered with stuff that was supposed to keep Josh busy and out of Gus's hair while he worked. Papers and crayons were buried under toys, and Josh's drawings were tacked up above the desk.

"You were here when I left yesterday. Don't tell me you were here all night," Gus said as he cleared Josh's crayons and toys from the smaller desk.

"I'm not that much of a workaholic. But I did come in early," Jack said.

"You didn't find something wrong with our books, did you?" Gus asked, seeing what he was looking at on his laptop.

"No. Just going over everything. I'm mostly evaluating your procedures. I want to change a few things and update some of the software," Jack said.

"Not updates. I hate updates. Something always gets screwed up," Gus grumbled while Jack moved his laptop to the desk Gus had cleared for him.

Jack looked up at his whining. "I'll walk you through it, and it will make things easier in the end." Jack said. "You big baby" was implied.

Josh came in just then. "It was artichokes," he said of the crates he had seen them unpacking. "Leroy gave them a thumbs up." Josh demonstrated the slow thumbs up that was Leroy's trademark.

"Hello," Jack said, surprised to see him.

"Hello!" Josh told him as he dropped his book bag on the floor. The noise it made revealed that it held more toys than books today.

"You're here again," Jack said.

"You're here again too. Saturday is a workday for me and Dad," Josh said.

"We're glad to see you too," Gus told Jack, who didn't look a hundred percent pleased to see Josh.

"That's the homework desk. Are you doing homework?" Josh asked seeing that Jack was sitting at his usual place.

"No. Just work," Jack told him.

"Josh, you can sit over here," Gus told him pointing out the other side of his desk, where Jack had been sitting before.

"You said I couldn't sit there because I was too distracting," Josh reminded him.

"Jack is distracting too," Gus said though he meant it in a completely different way.

"Does he make faces at you?" Josh asked.

"Kind of."

Jack gave them a look over his shoulder but said nothing.

After a little while, Josh handed Gus some of his homework and he looked it over.

"You should check over what he's doing too," Josh said pointing at Jack.

"Actually, he is checking over what I'm doing," Gus told him. "Ready for a snack?" he asked Josh.

"Yes. He should have one too," Josh said, pointing at Jack again.

"You know, Jack is not your playmate. He's kind of my boss," Gus reminded him.

"Kind of?" Jack said, finally speaking up.

Gus smiled at him. "Want a snack?"

Josh nodded at Jack to encourage him to say yes.

"No, thank you," Jack said and turned back to his work.

When Jack was getting ready to leave, Gus decided to walk him out. He wanted to settle the issue of Josh coming to work with him.

"I can see you disapprove of every day being bring your son to work day. I hope you're not going to make trouble for me," Gus said as they stepped into the parking lot in the back.

"I just don't think it's ideal to have him here so often," Jack said.

"Ideal? What does ideal have to do with raising a kid?" Gus said.

"I wouldn't know," Jack said in a tight voice and started to walk away.

Gus got a weird vibe from him at that moment, but he didn't feel like he could ask him about it. Jack definitely had issues with kids. Too bad, Gus thought as he watched him walk to his rental. That didn't mean Jack was a total loss. A body like that couldn't be allowed to go to waste. They could still fool around if Gus ever managed to break through his hard shell.

Chapter 3

Later that day, Doug poked his blond head into Gus's office and looked around furtively. Gus stopped what he was doing to stare at his supposed other boss.

"They said he was gone. He is gone, right? They weren't messing with me?" Doug said as he still looked around for any sign of Jack.

"I thought you were just being irresponsible, but you're deliberately avoiding Jack," Gus realized.

"You met him, and you still ask me that?" Doug said, coming into the office properly.

Doug wasn't very tall, but he was a muscle-bound hottie. When he had seen the blond hunk for the first time, Gus thought he looked damn tasty. Then, disappointingly, he found out Doug was straight. Just as well since he was so fickle.

To be fair, Doug did give off a confusing vibe. Gus wasn't the first person to be surprised that he was straight. He dressed to show off his body and preferred bright colors most straight guys would avoid. The daring colors looked gorgeous on him, highlighting his coloring, especially his stunning, blue eyes. Women couldn't keep their hands off him.

Doug used to be the sole owner of Walnut Lane Bistro and Gus's boss in name only. Gus owed his job at the bistro to his college friend Brenda. Brenda was also Doug's cousin and frustrated accountant. Doug was a young entrepreneur, maybe too young. He had deep pockets and liked purchasing a new investment, but he didn't want to be involved in running it. There was no fun in that. He bought the bistro and then ignored the day to day operations. A good investment soon turned into a disaster. Brenda told Doug to either sell the place or get it straightened out.

Considering how Doug conducted business, it was no surprise that he drove the cautious and serious Brenda up the wall. She arranged for Gus and Doug to meet. She saw in Gus the solution to Doug's problems at the bistro and for Gus just the job he was looking for. After meeting Doug, Gus had the perfect job which allowed him to spend time with Josh.

Doug's hands-off approach suited Gus just fine, but it also left the bistro with major problems. The previous manager had been using Doug's lack of interest in the details to embezzle from him. Not wanting to bother with legal action, Doug just fired him and hired Gus. The problem was Gus didn't know anything about running a restaurant. He knew business, but he had only eaten in restaurants and washed dishes in a small diner when he was in high school. Doug didn't care about Gus's lack of experience. He was desperate, and his main concern was entrusting the place to someone the uptight, uncompromising Brenda had vouched for wholeheartedly.

Taking over a troubled business, Gus had to learn fast. He focused on the basics. He got the place cleaned up and cleaned up the staff too. A few of them had taken their cue from the previous manager and lacked both honesty and a decent work ethic.

The two chefs stayed though Gus wasn't sure about their skills. As he focused on everything else, he noticed that the food that the kitchen was putting out had improved without him having to do anything about it. Under new management, Linc and Rachel, the two head chefs, took their jobs more seriously. The food was now consistently good, not hit and miss like before. Gus was glad they had stepped up like that. Since Gus cooked at a level that only satisfied a six-year-old, he stayed out of their way.

Things had been going pretty smoothly since those early days, but now there was a new issue to deal with – Jack. Gus had a feeling Doug wouldn't be much help with that.

"Where's that gap-toothed kid who's always hanging around here?" Doug asked, not seeing Josh.

"Abby took him on a movie excursion some moms and dads organized for a bunch of kids from our neighborhood."

"Abby. Mmm," Doug said.

Gus hoped she wouldn't be back while he was still there to hit on her. She was a college student who had been babysitting Josh for years and probably the only w [...]