XOXO: A Bundle of Cozy Novellas

Owen

OWEN

The office holiday party.

With everything going on, Owen had managed to put it at the back of his mind over the past few days. He’d been planning it for several months, and now the event was the coming Saturday, and it was the main reason why Jude had been texting Owen while he was away. It wasn’t about losing his job, it was about doing his job.

Luckily most of the important things were long taken care of, but this was the week Owen needed to check again with the caterers, check again with environmental services, again with the local band they’d hired—the list was never-ending. And make sure the special-order decorations were on their way.

Owen hit the ground literally running on Monday morning. Edmund drove him to the office, apologizing the entire drive for forgetting to set his alarm. After their late evening and a lazy Sunday that had somehow passed without either of them thinking about much of anything beyond each other, Owen was surprised either of them woke at a decent hour, and first Edmund’d had to drive Owen to his apartment for clean clothes before dropping him off at the office.

Leaning across the console, Owen kissed Edmund quickly. “It’s fine. I’m only a few minutes late.” Then he’d grabbed his messenger bag, hopped out of the car, and dashed inside.

Now he was on the phone with the representative of the band, confirming for the third time that they would appear at the restaurant they’d reserved for Saturday night on time and with a set list. Owen didn’t know the band members, but he knew of them, and if they didn’t flake out it would be a big surprise for the Canopus staff. Barely Breathing was a local band that had gone big, retired at the right time, and now only played for very special events. Or very rich people, such as Jude Collins.

“Yeah, we’ll start setting up at eight-thirty.” Gordie Black, the manager and lead singer, promised.

“I’ll make sure you have food and drink tickets. Everything’s on Jude—within reason.”

“Ha, ha, right, this isn’t Vegas.” Gordie laughed. “Don’t worry, we’re too old to really make a mess these days.”

Owen doubted it. Once a rock star, always a rock star, and Barely had a reputation for partying—but they also were generous with their money, and Owen knew the proceeds from this function were going to the local children’s hospital.

After hanging up with Gordie, he talked with the caterer, confirming the guest count as well as the menu. Apparently, the assistant Owen replaced—or maybe it was two assistants ago—had neglected to make sure there were vegetarian and vegan options. Oops.

All the time he was doing this, Owen was missing Edmund. After spending four straight days with him, Owen missed his camaraderie, his easy laugh, his sparkling blue eyes, the dimple that appeared when he laughed.

“You look mighty happy.”

Owen looked up from where he was jotting notes on a sticky pad and automatically smiled right into Andy Dunn’s face.

“Is there something I can help you with, Andy?”

“Just stopping by to say good morning to my favorite receptionist.”

Owen gritted his teeth and for the hundredth time tapped the nameplate on his desk, which read, “Owen Addison, Administrative Assistant to Jude Collins.” “Not a receptionist, Andy.”

“Right.”

But he drew the word out in a way guaranteed to irritate Owen.

“What did you need, Andy?”

“I thought I’d ask you to be my plus-one to the party Saturday.”

“You thought…” Owen let the words trail off, not sure what he’d been about to say anyway. “Thank you, Andy. I have my plus-one for the night.” It was killing him to be this gracious to the man. How many times did he have to politely say no before Andy got the picture? Owen was never going to say yes to him again.

“Who are you bringing?”

Owen started to tell Andy it was none of his business, but he shrugged internally. He’d find out Saturday anyway.

“Edmund Lake.”

Andy stared at him, mouth slightly open. Red began to creep up his neck to his ears. “Edmund Lake? Edmund is… is…”

“One of the most amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with. I’m proud to be attending with him by my side. Was there anything else?”

“Lake is old and fat! He’s useless. Try talking to him, he stutters and?—”

Owen heard the door behind him open, but Andy must not have, considering how he was still ranting about Edmund’s shortfalls when Jude spoke over Owen’s shoulder.

“That’s enough. Andy—my office, now. Owen, would you hold any calls for the next half hour?”

Owen timed it so he was in the small downstairs kitchen when Andy stormed out of Jude’s office heading toward the elevators. That meant Owen had been hiding for ten minutes fiddling with the coffee pot and frantically texting Edmund to tell him what had happened. Edmund hadn’t responded yet, and Owen was getting worried, but he told himself that Edmund was likely working, or maybe in the shower or… or… or.

“Owen?” Jude poked his head around the corner.

“Oh, uh, hi, Mr. Collins.”

Jude wasn’t that much older than Owen, but he was his employer, and he wasn’t the type of person you just called by their first name without permission.

“Is everything set for Saturday?”

“Yes, just waiting to hear back from the decorators.”

“Excellent.” Jude moved all the way into the room. “I owe you an apology. Andy Dunn is no longer employed at Canopus.”

“Oh.” Boy, he needed to expand his vocabulary.

“I’ve had several complaints about his behavior recently but had hoped he would listen to his peers. This is a no-bullying workspace; he’d been warned. Edmund Lake is far more valuable to Canopus than Andy.”

Trust Jude to think in terms of money. But, Owen supposed, if it got rid of Andy that was fine with him.

“I’ve asked security to clear his desk and escort him out of the building. I don’t think he’ll be a problem, but just in case, I’ll have a security guard on duty in the lobby over the next few weeks. His badge has already been deactivated.”

“Thank you. I, uh, sir, I didn’t say anything about him, about Andy, because I thought I’d kind of brought it on myself—having him keep asking me out. I kind of met him before I started working here.”

Good lord, he was having the big gay convo with his boss. He didn’t think Jude was homophobic, but he’d learned the hard way that you never could tell.

“Owen.” Something about Jude’s tone had all of Owen’s attention. “I believe you should only have to say no once. I wish you’d told me about Dunn, but I also understand why you didn’t. I should have made sure you knew you are valuable to Canopus; we don’t need someone like Dunn.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t see your texts,” Edmund apologized again.

Once Edmund had seen the texts, he’d driven to the office and insisted Owen come back to his house for dinner—again. It was exactly what Owen wanted to do, so he didn’t put up much of a protest.

“You aren’t upset I outed you—us—to Jude? I don’t even know if there’s some sort of no-dating policy. What if Jude terminates your contract?”

Edmund laughed. “Jude wants TrekR too badly for that. And he wants me to design another app similar to it, for small-company networking and consulting. I’m not going anywhere.”

He finished speaking. If Owen hadn’t been watching him closely, he wouldn’t have noticed the slightly guilty look cross his face.

“What else?” he demanded.

“What?”

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Edmund groaned. “Can we talk about this when we get home—to my place?”

Owen frowned. “Fine, but you’re not getting out of it. And I am going to have to pick up more than one set of clothes from my apartment. I can’t just wash these at your place. Jude may be oblivious sometimes, but I think even he will notice I’m wearing the same clothing almost every day.”

“We could do that now.”

“If I let you into my apartment, you’ll never want to see me again.”

“I doubt that very much.”

They were waiting at a red light. Edmund turned his head and waggled his eyebrows at Owen, who couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Edmund poured Owen a glass of wine. They were sitting together at Edmund’s kitchen table while they waited for dinner to be delivered. Edmund had insisted on Thai, and Owen wasn’t going to argue.

“It wasn’t all that bad.”

Owen squinted at him. “I follow that account, you know, the ‘Very British Problems’ one.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m pretty sure ‘It wasn’t all that bad’ translates to ‘Call in the hazmat team; this is an emergency.’”

Owen picked up his glass and took a good sip. He’d been prepared, after being gone since Thursday morning, for his apartment to be a wreck. That morning he’d managed to not actually see the disaster zone. But when he and Edmund stopped by after work, he hadn’t been able to avoid it. Three roommates, and not a single one of them seemed to care they couldn’t use their kitchen to cook in.

“So, what are you not telling me?” Owen hadn’t forgotten their earlier conversation.

Edmund groaned. “You are persistent.”

“Yep.”

“Look…” He was doing that thing where he wasn’t actually looking at Owen.

“Spill.”

“Before we left Thursday, when you were worried about leaving early to visit your aunt, I kind of told Jude I’d think about selling TrekR to Canopus.”

“You what?” Owen was stunned. Why would Edmund have done that?

“I didn’t promise. I only said I’d think about his offer.”

Owen didn’t know what to say. “But you don’t want to sell. Do you?”

It was Edmund’s turn to take a big sip of wine, and this time when he spoke, he looked Owen in the eye.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I think it is time for me to sell. I’ve done really well with TrekR, but Jude has the money, the resources, and more importantly the desire to expand it further—and while I could as well, I’m not sure I want to. I’m more excited about the new projects I have in the pipeline than I am about maintaining and peddling an older product. I’ve been reluctant, but… I’m not a huge fan of change, so sometimes decisions like this are more difficult than they should be.”

Owen was trying to wrap his head around the fact that not only had Edmund gone above and beyond by loaning Owen his car (and Edmund along with it) so he could visit his aunt, but he’d also hinted to Jude that he’d sell his app in order for Jude to let Owen leave for the day. That mental list didn’t include paying for the cabin they’d stayed in while they’d been trapped on the wrong side of the pass.

“Whatever you’re thinking in that sexy head of yours, put it aside. I would’ve offered to help you regardless. And it really is time for me to step away from TrekR and let someone else take the reins. I like being on the dev end, and now that I have some new projects I can sink my teeth into, I can let go.”

“I’m trying not to freak out, but …”

“ But … what?” Edmund repeated in his sexy voice.

“You are this successful software developer, and I’m, I’m… I just want you to make the decision for yourself.”

“I am, don’t worry. And I still have time to think about it.”

“Are you going to let me pay you back for the cabin?” Owen demanded.

Edmund’s gaze skittered away.

“That’s what I thought. Well, too bad, I’m paying you back anyway.”

Edmund laughed. “I give. Fine, pay me back.”

“And I’m going back to school to finish my degree.”

“Okay,” Edmund said, clearly wondering what the hell tangent Owen was on now.

“I’ve been doing a few extra things for Jude—graphic design–wise, and he says he likes them. He says when I finish school, he’ll promote me. It was a little weird how nice he was today.”

“That’s great, Owen—fantastic.” Edmund waggled his eyebrows at Owen. “But what I really want to know is, when does The Blade get to come out and play again?”

Owen found himself grinning. “Liked Blade, did you? I do think I need to come up with a better pirate name.”

Setting his wineglass down, Owen toed his shoes off, stood up from his chair, and slipped onto Edmund’s lap. Edmund stared up at him, curiosity mixed with something else in his expression.

Owen leaned in and kissed him, loving how Edmund melted under Owen’s touch, how he tasted a little like red wine.

Breaking off the kiss, he rested his forehead against Edmund’s. “What if I wanted to be the cabin boy every once in a while. Do you think we could do that?”

“You mean… me on top? I don’t know if I could pull off pirate captain.”

“Purser? First mate?”

Edmund smiled, his eyes lighting up. “Chief engineer?”

“Oh yeah.” Owen ground his growing erection against Edmund’s. “Chief engineer it is.”