Charles swore under his breath as he walked out of the meeting until he got to his office where he shut his door and let the stream of profanities out. He had managed to neatly avoid all social gatherings with the chance of running in Jeremiah for the past year but the damn kid was sneaky. Charles wasn't sure how he'd managed it but Jeremiah had somehow gotten one of the very few high school business class internships at the ad agency. To make matters worse, Jeremiah had been placed in Charles' department to work with Charles for the next four months. From the moment Charles' had stepped into the meeting, Jeremiah had not taken his eyes off of him and, unfortunately, the boy had grown up in the past year. Jeremiah was now a walking wet dream and Charles had no idea how he was going to deal with the boy.

Charles glanced sharply at the closed door when a knock came. He dreaded what he'd find on the other side but knew he had to open the door and deal with Jeremiah at some point. Charles took a moment to run his hands through his hair and straighten his suit jacket and tie before opening the door.

"Jeremiah, come on in." Charles said in a calm voice to the boy standing at the door, "Take a seat and we'll discuss what's expected of you over the next four months of the internship."

Jeremiah smiled shyly at Charles as he edged his way around the man and headed over to the chairs by Charles' desk. Charles took a deep, calming breath before turning back and taking a seat across the desk from Jeremiah.

"You've been avoiding me Charles." Jeremiah said with a slight reproachful tone.

Charles ignored Jeremiah's comment. "Ok Jeremiah, you'll be working closely with both myself and the design department over the next couple of weeks. We are just finishing off a pitch for Dyne Enterprises. They are launching a new medicine for HIV positive individuals and would like us to tie it in with their free drugs program in third world countries. The pitch is next Thursday so this next week will be extremely busy. I'm sorry to say but we're pushing you into the deep end and this will be a sink or swim situation for you but you'll definitely get a good look at what we do here."

"I've missed you." Jeremiah said quietly giving no acknowledgement to what Charles had been saying. "I really thought that you wanted to be my Master. What did I do that made you leave me?"

Charles sighed then got up and closed his office door. He did not want anyone to hear what Jeremiah was saying. Walking back to his desk, he propped a hip on it in front of Jeremiah instead of sitting down across in his chair.

"Look Jeremiah. You're here to work, not to try and recruit a lover so I'll say this once and only once. I am not your 'Master' and I have no desire to be so. You are a sixteen year old boy who is completing an internship in my department, that's it. If you came here thinking that I wanted you or that you could talk me into some messed up master/slave relationship with you, you were wrong and you should give the internship to someone who really would like to learn about the advertising industry. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Charles was relieved when Jeremiah looked like he was thinking about what he had said. He had expected that Jeremiah would've said something without thinking and made things even worse.

After ten minutes had passed and Jeremiah still hadn't said anything, Charles questioned the boy again, "Jeremiah, do you understand what I said?"

Jeremiah looked up from the spot on the floor he'd been starring at. "Yes Charles. I understand. I won't mention our relationship at work again. We'll keep it all for when we aren't at the office."

"No Jeremiah, that's not what I said or at least that's not all that I said. We don't have a relationship Jeremiah and we aren't going to have one, okay?"

Jeremiah looked up at Charles with a thoughtful look. After a moment he said, "We will have a relationship and I will make a wonderful Pet, you'll see."

Charles could see the determination in Jeremiah's eyes. Knowing it wasn't the proper time to argue, Charles stood up. "You know for someone who wants to be Pet, you're very bossy. Come on, we have work to do. I have to head down to Design and see what Mark and Jason have done with my ideas." Charles opened the door and waved Jeremiah through, "Let's go. Now Design is on the fifth floor…"

***

Charles was pretty sure he'd either end up institutionalized or in jail by the end of the month. Jeremiah had turned out to be very knowledgeable about the industry and also very talented. Over the past two months, Jeremiah had come up with some great ideas and had even designed the winning pitch for Olmack Farms, a small but lucrative client. Jeremiah was also driving Charles crazy.

Charles had been right about one thing the first day Jeremiah had shown up for the internship, the boy was a walking wet dream. Jeremiah showed up to work in clothes that, while professional enough for the office, showcased his lean form and long, firm muscles; and though Charles could find nothing unprofessional about his actions, Jeremiah took advantage of every situation where he could brush up against or touch Charles. Charles was sure that Jeremiah knew exactly how he affected Charles even though Charles was always made sure not say or do anything that Jeremiah could mistake as an invitation to anything more than a professional relationship.

Charles grimaced and held in a groan as Jeremiah brushed past him again making sure to run his hip along Charles front. Charles watched as Jeremiah leaned over the top of the drawing board to talk to Jason, allowing Charles a very nice view of how his slacks tightened over his rear when he bent over. Charles was sure that he was going to explode one way or another if Jeremiah touched him one more time that day, he just wasn't sure if the explosion would be a good thing or not.

Jeremiah walked past Charles again, this time behind him making sure to trail a hand across Charles' rear end. Charles re-evaluated his situation and decided that he was wrong, it would only take until the end of the week, not the month, until Charles was locked up.

***

Charles looked up warily as Jeremiah entered his office and closed the door behind him. When Jeremiah leaned against the door instead of approaching the desk, Charles sat back in his chair waiting to see what Jeremiah would do.

Jeremiah looked at Charles with an indistinguishable look for a long moment. "You really don't want to be with me do you? I mean, I know you want me, you get hard every time I come close to you but you're not going to give in are you? I'm just wasting my time aren't I?"

Charles groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. "Jeremiah, we've been over this before. In fact we've been over many times over the past few months even though I said we'd never discuss it after your first day here. I won't deny that you are beautiful and as much as I find you appealing, I can never give you what you want. You're a sixteen year old boy Jeremiah and I'm a twenty-two year old man. Just touching you could land me in jail and I'm pretty sure some of the things I think about around you could land me there too."

Charles stopped talking as Jeremiah walked over to the desk. Charles got hard just watching the boy walk towards him and Charles had no idea how he was going to finish the conversation while he was achingly erect. Jeremiah moved in front of Charles' chair forcing Charles to move the chair backwards. Jeremiah jumped up and sat on the desk in front of Charles then leaned forward and, grabbing the arms of the chair, rolled the chair forward until Charles was sitting between Jeremiah's legs.

"Jeremiah." Charles stammered out trying to not let the boy's proximity affect him more than he already did. "Jeremiah, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry Charles, there's no one else around. The office is empty except for us, it's already passed six." Jeremiah reached down and ran his fingers over Charles' face.

Charles swallowed around the lump in his throat when Jeremiah's fingers traced his mouth. It took all of Charles' willpower not to open his mouth and suck on those fingers. Jeremiah must have seen something cross Charles' face because his eyes widened and he moved down off the desk until he was straddling Charles' in the chair.

"You shouldn't be doing this." Charles whispered at the boy as he leaned in closer.

"Shh Charles." Jeremiah replied soothingly just before his lips touched Charles'.

Charles broke the instant Jeremiah's lips touched his. Growling deep in his throat, Charles wrapped his arms around Jeremiah and pulled the boy tightly against him. He forced his tongue passed Jeremiah's lips, deepening the kiss hungrily. Ripping his mouth away from Jeremiah's, Charles watched Jeremiah's pupils dilate as he ran his hands down the boy's chest. Charles bent his head and pressed his lips against Jeremiah's throat.

"This doesn't mean I'm your Master" Charles growled against Jeremiah's throat as his teeth bit where the pulse beat just under the skin and his fingers dipped below the boy's waistline.