“Okay, I’m done.” He spun around on his chair, stretching his arms up and arching his spine. “It looks perfect. I didn’t find anything that needs changing. Can I go home now?”
“Are you sure?” Alec asked.
“Yes. I’m sure.” Ed’s tone was carefully controlled, but there was a flare of challenge in his blue eyes that made Alec’s heart beat faster.
“That’s odd. Because when I went through it earlier, I noticed that all the references to the Vendor and the Purchaser in clause six are the wrong way around.”
“What?” Ed turned back to his screen and started scrolling again. He rubbed his eyes and glared at the screen. “No way. Where?”
Alec got up and moved to stand by Ed’s shoulder. He pointed at the offending word. “There.”
Ed pushed his chair back and stood. His face was red and he clenched his fists. “You knew about that error all the time and you left it in there. For what? To test me?”
“This is your job, Ed. Don’t be a baby about it,” Alec said dismissively. He held Ed’s furious gaze, a thrill of excitement and anticipation rippling through him as he waited for Ed to lose it. He could practically hear the time bomb ticking as Ed got closer to detonation. “Yes, it was a test, and you failed.”
“I missed one detail, an error you knew was there all along. I’ve been here for nearly fifteen hours today, Alec. I can hardly see straight!”
Alec shrugged. “Even one tiny error in the paperwork reflects badly on our firm. It makes us look unprofessional.”
Ed took a step closer. Right up in Alec’s face now, he yelled. “You’re a fine one to talk about being professional.” He spat the word out. “For two weeks now, you’ve been on my back, giving me the shittiest of shitty jobs, and I’ve put up with it because I know that’s how it’s supposed to be. I’m the newest on the team. I need to prove I can hack it. But this isn’t professional is it, Alec? It’s personal. You’re punishing me for fucking you, and it’s not bloody fair. Because I didn’t know, okay? When I let you pick me up in that bar, I didn’t know you were going to be my new boss. And believe me, if I’d known what a controlling arsehole you are, I’d have run a mile before I’d have let your cock anywhere near me!”
He finally stopped for breath, panting and flushed.
They stared at each other. Stags locking horns. Alec’s heart pounded as though he’d been running, and a heady cocktail of hormones and adrenaline coursed through his system. He brought his hand up and grabbed the front of Ed’s shirt, balling it in his fist, pulling him closer. Ed’s pupils dilated, but he didn’t flinch away.
Alec kissed him.
Ed’s mouth was open and slack with surprise, and as Alec tried to force his tongue inside, Ed twisted away so that Alec kissed his neck instead. He tasted the sweat of Ed’s anger and felt the beat of the pulse in his throat. There was a vibration and he realised Ed was chuckling.
“Jesus Christ,” Ed said in a hoarse voice. “Please tell me this isn’t happening.”
But then suddenly Ed was grabbing Alec and pulling him closer, and they were kissing in a furious clash of teeth and tongues as they stumbled back towards the nearest hard surface—which happened to be the edge of a desk. Ed’s arse hit the wood, and Alec lifted him, pushing between Ed’s thighs so their cocks aligned. He ground against Ed’s hardness and Ed groaned. Ed untucked Alec’s shirt at the waist and slid his hands under the fabric, digging his fingers so hard into Alec’s skin he’d leave marks.
Alec found Ed’s neck again and bit down, retaliating.
“Don’t leave a mark where people can see this time, you fucker,” Ed hissed.
Alec pushed up the front of Ed’s shirt and bit his chest instead. He sucked on a nipple and then on the sensitive skin beside it, drawing a mark to the surface that would last for days. Then he moved to attack Ed’s mouth again, kissing him deep and dirty, his hands in Ed’s hair holding him in place as their hips moved together in a rhythm born of desperation.
Alec realised Ed had worked a hand between them and pushed it down the front of his trousers, jerking himself off. Ed didn’t have much room to manoeuvre, but from the sounds he was making, it was obviously working. Alec was close too. He could probably come like this, with his tongue in Ed’s mouth, grinding against the back of his hand, but he wanted more.
Before he could think better of it, he slid to his knees on the plush office carpet and started to open Ed’s fly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d got down on his knees for someone, and it sent a long-forgotten shiver of delight through him. There was a freedom in giving pleasure like this, in allowing someone else to have him this way. Ed looked down, his eyes wide and pupils huge as Alec freed his erection from his trousers and underwear.