Justin smiled as he pulled the Jeep up to the back of Brian's building and noticed his partner's newest toy parked in its assigned spot again; that meant his partner was home ahead of him for a change. This morning when Brian had left earlier than normal to meet with a client for some brainstorming session over breakfast, he hadn't had a chance to talk to him before he left; he remembered snuggling back into their warm bed to steal just a little more sleep as his partner had brushed his lips softly against his cheek and whispered "later" in his ear just before he replaced the duvet back over his body that he had kicked aside in his sleep once again.

Later, when he went out to get in the jeep for his drive to PIFA, he realized Brian's new car was gone. He hadn't been too surprised, though; the weatherman had forecast an unusually spring day today with highs in the 80s and he figured Brian would want to take advantage of it to take his new convertible to work.

He gazed over at the sleek, black Porsche Carrera S and shook his head in amusement; no one would certainly accuse Brian of buying anything understated. As usual, he noticed the sleek, top-of-the-line sports car with the charcoal-gray leather seats was buffed to perfection. Brian never took the car out unless there wasn't any chance of rain, and he was actually paying some guy with a mobile car washing service to come to the garage periodically just to wash and wax the thing. But Justin really couldn't blame him for the indulgence – Brian worked hard to be as successful as he was and he deserved some of the finer things in life as a result.

As far as he was concerned, though, he was more than content with Brian's old jeep. Even with some of the scratches, dents, and scrapes it had incurred over the years, the boxy vehicle still evoked fond memories of him and Brian in it and that was worth more to him than any outrageously-expensive sports car would ever be. Pleased that he would have more time to spend with his own 'favorite toy,' Justin opened the jeep's door to get out and hurry inside.

Five minutes later, Justin swung the heavy metal door to the loft open, spying Brian sitting on the leather sofa, his long, lean legs propped up on the glass coffee table as he studied something on his laptop while he steadied it somewhat precariously on his thighs. He noticed Brian was wearing his typical outfit: a pair of slightly washed-out blue jeans and nothing else. It was his favorite type of outfit on Brian, at least his second-favorite, anyway, after his birthday suit, he thought with a grin. The brunet looked up briefly to acknowledge his partner's entrance with an almost imperceptible twist of one side of his mouth. "Hey," he said softly before he turned back to the computer screen.

"Hey yourself," Justin responded, dropping his portfolio down by the door. You're home early." He walked up to the couch to stand behind his partner and lean down to slide his hands around Brian's neck.

"Still putting those high SAT scores to good use, I see," Brian deadpanned as Justin smiled against his neck. He nuzzled the taut, bronze skin there briefly with his lips while Brian continued to study the screen in front of him.

"That's pretty cool," Justin commented as he noticed what Brian was looking at. "Is that for one of your clients?" The artist in him couldn't help eyeing the vibrant graphics on the screen that immediately made you focus on the product's slogan at the bottom of the page, which was for a well-known sports equipment company. It was an image of a tennis ball and a racquet in the middle with a streaked mirror image on both sides of the center photo, making it appear as if it were still in motion, and underneath were the words, Bounce Back From Your Competition. The total effect was both dramatic and effective.

Brian nodded as Justin placed his hands on Brian's shoulders and began to idly massage them, trying to work the tense muscles so they were not as tight. "Yeah, a new art employee came up with it. Hot, isn't it?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah," he had to admit. "It's very eye-catching. You said a new art employee did it?"

"Yeah," Brian replied as he groaned appreciatively over Justin's talented ministrations. "Fuck, that feels so good, Justin," he murmured with a sigh.

Justin frowned. "I didn't know you hired a new employee."

"Yeah," Brian whispered as Justin continued to knead the tight muscles. "Are you ready for this? Name's Andrea Ferrari." He laughed as Justin snorted in disbelief. "No, I kid you not, Sunshine. That's the name. Kind of funny, isn't it? Now I've got both a Porsche and a Ferrari at my disposal."

Justin chuckled in amazement at the odd coincidence. "Why am I not surprised somehow? I didn't know you were even looking for a new art employee. After all, you said I was irreplaceable." He remembered a few months ago when he had needed to leave Kinnetik to go back to school and Brian had commented that he would really have to 'ride his employees' asses hard' to get the same amount of work out of them. It seems the taskmaster must have bowed to some grumbling among his staff over being overworked just a tad and added an additional employee to help with the graphics and storyboards anyway, despite what he had said.

Brian grinned as he turned his head to bestow a kiss on his partner's waiting lips before replying, "You are – in more ways than one." He turned back to study the screen in front of him as Justin resumed his ministrations. "But this one just kind of fell into my lap. You know how Branson-Keller is always trying to compete against me for the same clients – unsuccessfully, of course? Well, this particular Ferrari was getting tired of coming out behind in all the races and sought me out the last time they came in second place once again. Seems my new employee wanted to be on a winning team for a change. I checked out some work samples and a few days later, I called and made an offer. Now the Ferrari's working for the winning team," he quipped with a chuckle. "Just a kid, but I think there's a lot of potential there."

Justin gave his partner's shoulders one last squeeze before he turned and walked around the couch to stand in front of him. "Well, of course," Justin said with a smile. "Who wouldn't want to work for the best ad agency in Pittsburgh? And I know how much you like kids….." Brian chuckled softly at that statement. "Now if you'll put down that laptop for a while, Mr. Kinney, you can work on massaging some of MY tight muscles."

Brian's mouth broke out into a wide smile. "Now that's one offer from my former employee that I can't refuse," he said huskily as he flipped his laptop shut, swung his feet onto the floor and placed his computer down on the coffee table in response.

Justin smiled as he sat down to straddle Brian on the couch. "I always knew you were a smart man," he replied as the couple instinctively met halfway for the first of several tongue-dueling kisses and their hands began to roam in a familiar, sensual dance of pleasure. An hour would pass on the couch before the dinner that Brian had brought home from the nearby Thai restaurant would have to be warmed up again, but neither one cared at the moment.

Next Day – Early Afternoon – Kinnetik

"Hi, Justin!" Cynthia greeted the blond from her desk with a smile as he walked in. "How have you been?"

Justin returned her smile. "Great. You?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "But I kind of wish you were still here. Someone was always in a really good mood when you were working here," she stated with a wink.

Justin blushed slightly. "Well, maybe next summer I can come back. At least he has a new plaything now – the new car, I mean," he hastened to add as the assistant's eyebrows rose in question.

She smiled. "Yeah…I was shocked when he offered to take me out for lunch yesterday. But then I realized it was just so he could show it off." She sighed. "It sure is one sweet ride, though; it's a beautiful car." She grinned. "Unless I got a major raise, though, I think I'll just have to stick to my four-year-old Camry."

Justin chuckled. "Don't feel bad, Cynthia. I have Brian's old jeep. But it's more than enough for what I need." He glanced around the office, noticing it was still quite busy even though some of the employees should have been out for the lunch late shift. He wasn't too surprised, though; Brian run such a tight ship at times when an important client's account needed to be worked on that his employees frequently wound up working through their lunch hours and eating at their desks instead.

"Speaking of lunch, is Brian around? I got off early today from class and I was hoping I could talk him into going over to Nick's with me." The Italian restaurant situated just down the street from Kinnetik had recently opened and had quickly become a favorite of both men.

"Yes, he's here," she told him. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you just went on in. He doesn't have any clients scheduled for a couple of hours, so this would probably be a good time to steal him away for a while. It never hurts the rest of us, either, when he comes back in a good mood." She smiled at him meaningfully, knowing full well that whenever Brian and Justin went out for lunch together at Nick's or anywhere else for that matter, food wasn't the only thing on the menu.

Justin blushed again slightly. "Thanks, I think I will. I'll talk to you later." He nodded at her as he walked past her desk and down the fairly short hallway toward Brian's office.

He could hear voices speaking quietly as they filtered out through the open doorway, recognizing his partner's velvety baritone voice as he chuckled at something the other person was saying. He hesitated, not sure if he should interrupt, but he remembered Cynthia advising him that Brian didn't have any clients scheduled. He decided to just knock before he entered, figuring it was one of Brian's employees he was conferring with. Everyone knew by now that he and Brian were personally involved, especially after their demonstrable verification of that after the Chamberlain fiasco, and he had been back occasionally since then, so it wasn't as if anyone would be surprised by one more unannounced visit.

He knocked a couple of times on the door trim before sticking his head inside the doorway. He could tell there was someone sitting with their back to him in one of Brian's visitor chairs that faced his desk as his partner looked up at him in acknowledgment. Brian was sitting perched on a corner of his desk, his long legs swinging freely under him, his body angled toward the occupied leather, high-backed chair.

Justin's heart did a slight flip flop just like it always did when his handsome partner noticed who his visitor was and flashed a warm smile at him. "Justin! Come on in – you can meet the new employee I was telling you about."

Reassured that he wasn't intruding now, Justin smiled back at him as he entered the room and prepared to meet the employee that Brian had been raving about last night. His smile quickly faded, however, as a tall man with perfect olive skin, vivid green eyes and thick, wavy-black hair stood up to face him with a polite smile and extended his hand.

"Justin, I'd like you to meet my newest art employee, Andrea Ferrari. Andrea, this is my partner, Justin Taylor."