I Discovered My Boss’s Secret in the Office Bathroom

Lucas was in the last stall of the thirteenth-floor bathroom when he heard two men come in. He didn’t pay them any mind, until he heard the first stifled gasp and a body slam against the partition separating him from the next stall.

—Keep still. Don’t make a sound —ordered a deep voice he recognized at once.

It was Viktor. The head of his department, the man half the company sighed over, the one who signed their evaluations in a cramped, illegible hand.

He should have left. Instead, he stayed frozen, holding his breath, listening to the rhythmic thudding against the wall, the other man’s muffled sighs, Viktor’s voice growing more and more demanding. Without realizing it, his hand slid under his belt and his fingers closed around his own erection. He didn’t know when he had gotten so hard.

Which one of them did he bring in here?, he thought.

But the other breathing was rough, masculine. A broken plea, a name he couldn’t quite make out, and then Viktor’s satisfied growl and the weight of two bodies collapsing. Lucas bit down on the back of his hand so he wouldn’t give himself away and came in silence, his legs trembling over the toilet seat.

When he cracked the door open to peek, he saw them in front of the sinks. Viktor was kissing Tobías, the head of IT security. His boss, the untouchable one, was gay.

***

A week later, Viktor called him into his office and announced, without preamble, that he would be accompanying him to the Singapore negotiation instead of Tobías.

—You speak three languages and you know the industry —he said, not looking up from the screen—. We leave Thursday.

Lucas nodded, his throat dry. He knew that Viktor knew he had heard him that afternoon. He had seen him for a second, reflected in the mirror, before closing the door. And even so, he had not said a word.

The flight went sideways four hours in. A storm over the Atlantic forced the plane to divert to Lisbon with no estimated departure time. The terminal was chaos: suitcases, crying children, and stranded passengers looking for information at every counter.

—Your work starts now —Viktor told him, with a calm that seemed almost amused—. You delay the meeting forty-eight hours. I’ll find us somewhere to sleep. Though with this —he looked around—, I doubt there’ll be any single rooms left.

There weren’t. At two in the morning they entered a small room dominated by a single double bed. Lucas stood rooted in the doorway, staring at it as if it were a trap.

—I can ask them to bring another one —Viktor offered, in a tone that did not sound sincere.

—No… this is fine —he murmured, and flung himself onto the mattress with his nerves on edge.

Viktor lent him clean clothes from his carry-on. Lucas took them without looking at him, biting his lip, and fled to the shower.

***

The hot water ran over his shoulders while he tried to sort out what he was feeling. The images from the office bathroom wouldn’t let him go: Viktor’s voice, the other man’s moans, his own hand. Then he heard the door open.

—Lucas… —the whisper of bare feet on the tiles—. I know you were there that day. That you heard me. You have nothing to fear sleeping beside me.

Lucas turned under the water. Through the fogged glass he could make out Viktor’s silhouette. And, lower down, the unmistakable shape of his erection. He swallowed and slid open the shower door.

He had never looked at another man’s body with desire. But there he was, tall, broad-shouldered, looking at him without shame, letting himself be appraised. Lucas ran his tongue over his parted lips and, without thinking, reached out a hand.

—What if I want something to happen? —he asked, his voice breaking.

Viktor stepped into the shower. One hand on his hip, the other framing his face, lifting it until their noses brushed and their breathing mingled.

—Is this what you want? —he murmured against his lips.

—Yes.

The kiss was hungry, relentless. Lucas stopped thinking. His hands roamed that broad chest and he felt, against his abdomen, Viktor’s cock hardening. But before he lost his mind completely, Viktor pulled back with a crooked smile.

—We’d better get washed —he whispered, picking up the sponge—. What we started continues afterward. I promise.

He soaped him up slowly, shoulders, back, legs, lingering over the hardness rising at his center without quite touching it. When he handed Lucas the sponge, Lucas returned every caress with clumsy hands, growing more confident, until he closed his fingers around Viktor’s erection. Viktor stopped him by the wrist.

—Not yet —he panted—. If you keep this up, it’ll end too soon.

Lucas, on his knees, guided him with his hand until Viktor, back arched and fingers tangled in his hair, gave himself over with a cry of Lucas’s name. Afterward they kissed slowly, sharing the taste, while the water kept falling over both of them.

***

The next day they walked for hours in the rain, talking as they never had in the office. That was when Viktor confessed.

—I lied to you. I changed the tickets to bring you with me. From the day you joined the company, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. And when I found out you had heard me, that you had… —he moistened his lips— stayed to listen, I decided to try. I got that room on purpose. I didn’t expect everything to rush forward like this.

Lucas felt indignation rise in his chest, and at the same time a heat he didn’t know how to name.

—So what now? —he asked.

—Now nothing you don’t want. If tomorrow you decide to go back, I’ll understand. But if you stay… —he left the sentence hanging.

That night, back at the hotel, it was Lucas who closed the distance. Viktor eased him gently onto the bed and unbuttoned his shirt with feverish fingers, leaving a trail of kisses across his chest.

—Are you sure you want this? —he asked, braced on his arms.

—Not entirely —Lucas admitted—. I only know I have to find out or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I’ve never felt something like this for a man. I don’t know how far I’ll be able to go. But I want to try.

Viktor kissed him again, slowly. That first night he held back. He prepared him with patient fingers, brought him to the edge with his mouth and hands, and when Lucas came trembling, he wrapped an arm around his waist and whispered for him to sleep, that there was no rush.

—Why did you stop? —Lucas asked, frustrated and grateful at once.

—Because I’ve spent too long imagining what your first time will be like —Viktor replied, stroking his back—. And you’re not ready for me yet.

***

He was two nights later, in the same bed, with rain tapping at the window. Viktor prepared him calmly, positioned him on his side against his chest, and lifted one leg over his own.

—Look at me —he asked, searching his eyes—. I want to see you.

He pushed in slowly, only the tip, waiting for Lucas’s body to relax, attentive to every reaction. Lucas tightened at the first sharp sting, but immediately pushed his hips forward asking for more, and Viktor slid in all the way, holding his breath.

The rhythm built slowly, then intensely, thrusts and moans rising together. Lucas clutched the sheets, lost in a sensation he had never known: being filled, stretched full, and on the edge at the same time.

—Come —growled Viktor against his nape.

And he did, screaming Viktor’s name while Viktor emptied himself inside him with a rough sound and collapsed over his back. Then they stayed still, catching their breath, fingers intertwined.

—Did I hurt you? —Viktor asked, brushing a wet lock off his forehead.

—It hurt —Lucas admitted with a tired smile—. But not as much as I thought. And then… then it was something else.

***

They arrived in Singapore two days late. The negotiations dragged on between endless daytime meetings and courtesy dinners at night. They barely had time for a stolen kiss, a furtive caress in the elevator. And yet, something was growing between them that no longer fit inside the word “desire.”

The final night, the hotel hosted a party for the Western delegations. Lucas, in a tuxedo, caught his breath when he saw Viktor dressed for the gala. In the middle of the packed ballroom, however, it was Viktor who lost sight of him, and when he looked for him he found him laughing with a foreign diplomat, a man his own age whose posture left no doubt about his intentions.

Jealousy rose in Viktor’s throat. He crossed the ballroom with determined strides and placed a hand on Lucas’s back, sliding it down to his waist with a clarity the other man understood at once. The diplomat said goodbye and left.

—Were you flirting with him? —Viktor hissed in his ear.

—We were only talking —Lucas protested—. Are you… jealous?

There was no answer. On the ballroom screens, the New Year countdown began. When it reached zero, in front of everyone, not caring who was watching, Viktor pulled him close and kissed him as if he wanted to brand him with fire. Then he took his hand and tugged him toward the exit.

***

He almost pushed him into the elevator. In the suite he pinned him against the wall of the hall, stripping him with impatient hands, the mirror opposite reflecting his back. He lifted him until Lucas had no choice but to wrap his legs around Viktor’s hips.

—Do I have reason to be jealous? —he asked against his neck.

—No —Lucas panted—. You’re the only man I’ve been with. The only one I want to be with.

Viktor prepared him right there, standing up, with two saliva-slick fingers, and when he felt him ready he thrust into him in one stroke. The thrusts were hard, deep, desperate, unlike the tenderness of the other nights. Lucas could only cling to him, feeling his own erection trapped between the two bodies.

—More… don’t stop —he begged.

—I can’t keep saying it —Viktor groaned, lost—. I love you.

And with those words he spilled inside him. Lucas shuddered from head to toe, clung to him more tightly, and came in turn, staining Viktor’s elegant shirt. They slid down together to the floor, panting, hearts racing.

—Did you mean it? —Lucas asked when he caught his breath—. Do you really love me?

—I’m sorry. I know it’s too soon for you —Viktor replied, stroking his chin—. But I’ve loved you for far too long to keep silent any longer.

—I love you too —Lucas cut in, blushing to the roots of his hair—. I don’t know when the admiration I felt for you turned into this. I only know I need your heat wrapping around me and your desire claiming me as yours. If this isn’t love, I don’t know what to call it.

They stayed looking at each other, on the floor, as if they were seeing each other for the first time. Viktor finally lifted him into his arms and carried him to the bed.

—And are you ready to go back to Hamburg and tell everyone? —he asked.

—With just any man, no. With you, yes. For that, I am ready.

Viktor smiled, and for once he did not search for the right words. He simply closed his eyes, held him close, and melted into him in a kiss that needed no translation.