Page 38 of Love Unlimited

Bye. Zhong waved him off, still chuckling.

Chapter 7

Dustin

Dustin sent the last email—no wait, there was another stupid one. OK, that was the last one. He sent the last, last email to one of his developers and then closed his laptop. He let his head thunk down on top of it.

Ugh. What an exhausting day. This project was killing him, with the clients changing their minds every five minutes. The person he’d assigned to go over specifications with them was newer to his team, and he couldn’t tell if she just wasn’t being assertive enough about keeping them on track or if they were being unreasonable.

Most of the time his Auditory Processing Disorder didn’t interfere much with his job, since he could do most things over the internet in writing. But at times like these, not being able to communicate easily with the client was a real detriment. Technology still helped a huge amount—he could use embedded transcription software as a support instead of paying an interpreter hundreds of dollars for a short meeting—but it was still easier to leave topics like this to team members who specialized in talking through design specifications with clients.

It would help if the clients consistently answered his emails. Then again, if they could answer him responsibly, he wouldn’t be having this problem.

He knew he could spend another dozen hours working tonight, but he was mentally finished. And it was past time to quit.

It sucked that Landon wasn’t around tonight, but he’d decided to spend the afternoon with his sister and her kids.

Of course, Dustin was glad Landon was spending time with his family, but he would have rather gone, too. He liked Maggie, and her kids were sweet. Seven-year-old Lola was a chatterbox, switching easily between ASL and English with some SimCom depending on her audience, so it was hard to get a word in edgewise. The last time he’d been over she’d put on an entire play, with four-year-old Matt acting mostly as a prop and an occasional growling monster. Matt mostly liked bringing each of his toys individually over for Dustin’s inspection and approval.

Dustin thought about asking if he could join them, but he’d probably just get there in time for them to all go to bed and then everyone would head back home.

Ah, well. He wished he weren’t so busy and stressed now that Landon was living with him, but just knowing that he’d come back tonight to share his bed was enough.

Dustin could make some dinner for himself, since Landon would have already eaten, and maybe watch a movie. He wasn’t a big TV person in general, but he needed to zone out.

He started to walk down the stairs. Was that… curry he smelled? He thought he heard someone, too.

He hurried down faster. Either he had a burglar who smelled like curry, or his day had just gotten a lot better.

Yep, definitely much, much better. Zhong was lying on the couch reading a book. A mountain of plastic take-out bags rested on the coffee table.

Hey, Dustin greeted him when he looked up. You just made my day. Was I supposed to know you were here?

You were, Zhong looked amused. Ash is off work tomorrow and apparently I’m posing for them to sketch me in the office upstairs. Zhong shook his head, like he couldn’t believe that anyone would want to sketch his exquisite, muscular body. And then Landon and I are going to put up the trellises for the squash after he finishes teaching.

Dustin ran his hand through his hair. Shit. I knew about that. I just thought it was on… Thursday. He thought a little more. But Thursday is after Wednesday. Which is tonight. Right.

Yup. Hard day?

Dustin rolled his eyes. Hard month, more like it. This project is killing me.

Zhong set his book on the floor and patted his firm belly with his other hand.

Dustin didn’t need a second invitation. With only a few misplaced elbows and knees, he settled on Zhong’s chest, tangling their legs together and resting his head in the cradle of Zhong’s neck. Zhong’s fingers started digging into his back, working out the kinks in his muscles. He could already feel the stress of the day start to slip away.

God, he’d needed this.

Zhong always knew exactly how to get Dustin to relax, and didn’t hesitate to supply it. And he smelled good, too. The scruff on his chin gently scratched Dustin’s cheek, and his warm breath blew across Dustin’s neck. He felt like comfort and home.

Dustin let himself kind of doze. His brain was just so done with everything. The food smelled good, but it could wait. Hell, everything could wait when he was getting a back massage.

He shifted to settle in more comfortably and pressed a kiss to Zhong’s cheek. It had been a long time since they’d done this. Actually, he couldn’t remember the last time. He tried to think but… he didn’t need thinking, now. Just Zhong and relaxation.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been drifting when he felt Zhong go tense beneath him. Zhong’s hands suddenly disappeared from his back, too.

Dustin swiveled his head around, then sat up quickly. Zhong sat up beside him. Landon was standing behind the coffee table, looking down at his phone. Dustin couldn’t read his expression.

Crap. It hadn’t even occurred to Dustin to think about what this would look like to his boyfriend. Every one of his exes had gotten annoyed about the time he spent with Zhong, and with the way they were smashed together it probably looked much worse than it was. Sorry, he apologized as soon as Landon looked up. It wasn’t what it looked like. I mean… I said I cuddle with Zhong, right? But we should have talked about it… They had talked about it actually. But not recently. Not since Zhong started coming over two or three nights a week with Ash.