Subject: A weekend of surprises awaits
Hey team!
Pack your bags! Your loving CEOs have decided to host another corporate retreat, and this one’s going to be magical. Think polished, think unforgettable—this is no tent-in-the-woods situation. Bring your best dancing shoes and prepare for three days you’ll never forget.
We can’t wait to see you this weekend!
-Yours Truly,
Taron Cunningham
Wash groaned out loud.It’d only been two months since the last corporate retreat. Was this really going to end up being a quarterly thing? People had only recently stopped pestering him to join their respective sports teams. Apparently, the video of the relay had gotten out, and his speed had enticed a lot of the company sports teams to ask him to join them. He always refused, he wasn’t a team sport kind of demon, but he did admitsecretly to Peri once that it was nice that no one had mentioned his size. They didn’t care. It was his speed they were after.
It took forever for his coworkers to get the picture that he wasn’t interested. The softball team was the worst, and he nearly got into a fight with the werewolf in charge because he wouldn’t back off. Peri had shown up at just the right time to latch on like a barnacle and force him to walk away.
Now that things were relatively back to normal, the idea of going to another retreat made him want to find some kind of excuse to avoid it. If he hid the email from Peri, then maybe…
The door to his office opened without a knock and his favorite person sashayed in, a plate of treats in his hand and a bright beaming grin on his face. “Did you get the email about the retreat? It’s going to be fancy! I’m so excited!”
Wash’s shoulders slumped. There went the possibility of him skipping it.
Snickering, Peri handed him the plate and hoisted himself onto the desk, sitting in front of Wash without a care in the world. The only reason he wasn’t sitting on a project or piles of paper was because Peri came in every few days and organized things until Wash eventually gave him free rein and let him reorganize the entire office. Now everything had a spot and the only time something was covering his desk was because he was actively working on a project. This morning happened to be a project-free morning.
“Don’t get grumpy just yet. I helped plan it, so you know it won’t be too crazy.”
“You did?” he asked around a mouthful of food. Mixed berry cream cheese filled croissants were becoming his favorite.
“Yup,” Peri nodded, popping the ‘p’. “So no grumping. Do you have a suit or do we need to buy one this week?”
He shook his head, chewing the last bite and swallowing before answering, “I have a suit. I only ever wear it when I’mrequired to go to fundraising events, but it was expensive. It’ll work.”
From the pout on Peri’s face, he’d been hoping to go shopping. And because Wash was a sucker for that pout, he relented immediately. “We can go shopping after work tonight. Do you have one, or do you need to buy one, too?”
Peri beamed, and that warmth that always surrounded him sank into Wash’s skin. He’d never get tired of that smile.
“Nope, I’ve got something already. One of my cousins is a designer, and I asked her to make me something.” He bounced in his seat, and his excitement was contagious. Wash found himself grinning as he listened to Peri’s evening plans.
“Oh. One more thing. How comfortable are you with crowds? I saw the guest list and it’s… substantial.”
Wash’s face fell. “How substantial? Peri? How many people are coming to this stupid thing?”
He was still tryingto get answers out of Peri when the retreat weekend rolled around. His mate refused to spill the beans, saying it was a surprise, and he’d only asked to make sure Wash could handle it. Then he stopped answering at all and whenever Wash brought up the retreat, Peri would distract him in as many creative ways as he could think of. It was a good thing Wash had updated his wards to include portals, because the number of times Peri ended up on his knees in the office was a little ridiculous lately.
He never thought he’d be the guy sneaking around in the office, but then again, he never thought he’d end up with someone as amazing as Peri either. He’d expected to live out his life alone. Now that he’d found his mate, he couldn’t imaginetrying to keep his hands to himself all day. Peri didn’t mind. His high libido needed care only Wash could provide, so he never said no when Wash asked him to come to his office for lunch and spent half the time all over him.
Peri was half a step ahead of him, practically dragging Wash into the portal station. He’d hoped for a clue of where they were going, but Peri led him to a smaller portal on the right that could be attuned to a specific place for private parties or events for a price. There was no signage that said where it was attuned to, and the fae monitoring it barely looked at them before waving them through.
The area they arrived in wasn’t someplace Wash was familiar with. The portal opened in front of an estate with big glass windows, thick forests blocking it from view of any roads, and a flurry of activity that was dizzying.
“Where are we?”
“Maverick and Isaac are hosting,” Peri chirped, dragging him along toward the house. “Come on. We need to get changed.”
“Get changed for what?” Wash demanded, but once again Peri didn’t answer him.
He was getting a stress headache from the lack of answers, so before the little fairy could open the front door, Wash pulled him back, spinning him around and taking both his hands.
“Peri, baby, I know you’re excited, but I don’t do well with surprises. Can you please tell me what’s going on? Why would Maverick host a corporate retreat? And why are there so many people invited? What’s this all about?”