Excerpt
A Little More Trust
Pauley J. Ray © 2022
All Rights Reserved
Chapter One
Ethan
Pouring the steaming coffee into my usual mug, I let the rich aroma fill my senses. God, I needed this. Taking a large gulp, I savored the strong taste as it hit my tongue, the heat burning my mouth and throat as I swallowed, I hoped like hell the caffeine would kick start my body after the late night I’d had.
I plopped myself down at the kitchen table to take the weight off my aching thigh muscles from last night’s activities when the front doorbell rang loudly in the quiet space. Who the hell was that—I glanced at the clock on the wall—at a quarter to nine on a Saturday morning?
The bell rang again so I pushed my seat back and dragged my ass up the stairs and down the first-floor hallway. Yanking the front door open to get rid of whoever had ruined my peaceful morning, I was about to give them an earful, but then I looked into his face and the words died on my lips.
The man standing on my doorstep must have been mid-twenties at the most. A few inches shorter than my own six two, he wore a blue baggy t-shirt a good couple of sizes too big, almost drowning his slim frame, and a pair of loose-fitting gray jeans and black sneakers. His angular face gave him a Scandinavian look, with a strong jaw and high cheekbones. Sandy blond hair shone golden in the morning sun, short on the sides and long on top, swept away from his forehead and held in place with some product. My fingers itched to slide through the strands to see if they were as soft as they looked and a sudden image of my hand gripping tightly in his hair as I tilted his head to lick up his neck flashed through my mind.
Despite the tempting package he presented, I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes away from his lips. Pink and full, they were begging to be kissed, and I had to bite down hard on my tongue to refrain from licking my own in readiness.
Well, hello, Blondie.
“Mister Scott?” his smooth, quiet voice asked, giving me goosebumps and pulling me from the trance I’d fallen into. Lifting my gaze to the palest green eyes I’d ever seen, I nodded at his question, my mouth suddenly unable to voice a coherent response. He shifted on his feet, “I’m, err, here about the painting quote.”
Damn, was that today?
He extended his hand out in front of him, and, giving myself a mental shake to wake the hell up, I reached for his and clasped his palm, my own larger hand encasing his. A shock of electricity shot up my arm catching me by surprise. The guy obviously felt the effect too as his eyes widened and he took in a short, sharp breath.
Interesting.
“Please, call me Ethan.” I held onto his warm hand a little longer than necessary before reluctantly releasing it and giving him a friendly smile.
The guy stiffened slightly and inclined his head. “I’m Nate.”
“Nate.” I savored his name on my tongue, rolling it around. “Please, come on inside.”
I stepped aside to let him enter, unable to resist the urge to lean in slightly and inhale his scent as he passed by me. Light and citrusy with a hint of soap. As he moved into the hallway, I gave him the once over and was disappointed to see his t-shirt covered his ass, obscuring my view.
Jesus. I had to stop perving on the guy. I deliberately pushed my hands into my sweatpants pockets to try to hide my growing erection and to subtly press my fingers against the head of my cock to give me some degree of control and hopefully, relief.
It didn’t.
Nate had stopped a few feet into the hallway, glancing around, assessing his surroundings, but he didn’t say anything and waited silently for me to take the lead.
“Come on,” I offered. “I’ll give you the tour, and we can talk about what I want.”
He paused for a second but then walked past me into the hallway, my eyes once more running over the baggy t-shirt and shapeless jeans he wore. I almost cursed out loud wondering what the body hiding underneath might look like, which was weird as this guy wasn’t my type at all, so why Nate intrigued me was puzzling.
Maybe it was because he wasn’t all over me like guys usually were? I inwardly scoffed at the notion of my ego being so fragile I couldn’t handle not being wanted and had something to prove. Not surprising with my upbringing but hell, I hoped I wasn’t that shallow.
Though there was something attractive about the way his calm demeanor pulled me in. With my hectic social life and full-on work schedule, I barely had a second in which to relax, but though I’d only met the guy five minutes ago, Nate slowed everything down and being in his presence made me calmer.
Mentally shaking my head, I tried to focus on the reason why Nate was here. To give me a quote to paint my house. So, concentrating on that, I proceeded to give him the grand tour.
I’d moved into the four-story Victorian townhouse just over a month ago, so had hardly any furniture cluttering the place, which made things easier to see and for Nate to get a feel for what needed to be done. With an open and airy first floor letting the light flood in and four bedrooms spread over the upper two floors, the place was far bigger than I needed, but as soon as the realtor had shown me around, I had to have it.
Taking the stairs down to the lower floor I led him past the dining room and into the huge open plan kitchen at the rear of the house with the French doors leading onto the garden.
I’d been watching Nate carefully as I’d given my tour. He still hadn’t said much, and his lack of communication was beginning to get to me, as was my inability to get a read on him, something I was usually extremely good at. But as we progressed and each room had been revealed, he’d relaxed a bit more as his obvious delight at the house and the possibility of getting his hands on such a historic building to paint had emerged.
Which I liked. A lot.
“You have a beautiful home, Mister Scott,” he said, his gentle voice filling the quiet surrounding us.
The words were the most he’d spoken since we’d begun the tour. I was extremely pleased at his compliment but, for some reason, refrained from saying so. Instead, shoving my hands back in my pockets, I rocked back and forth on my heels. “I like it, and as I stated earlier, please, call me Ethan.”
The corner of his lips curled up in the barest hint of a smile, making my heart beat a bit faster in my chest.
Pulling out a chair, he sat down at the whitewashed kitchen table and hooked his hands underneath his legs. “So, if you let me know what you’d like, I can put a quote together for you.”
I tried to resist, but, for some reason, the quiet man in front of me made me determined to get some sort of reaction, so I lowered my voice an octave and replied, “You want to know what I like?”
My flirty question had the desired effect as a full-on blush formed on his cheeks and his mouth dropped open.
God, he’s so cute.
“F-for the house.” He fidgeted in his seat. “What you’d like for the house.”
“Ah, okay.” Moving away from the counter and pulling out my own chair, I sat down opposite him, needing to get closer to this man who predictably leaned as far away in his seat as he could. “This is where I’ll need your help.” I rested my hands on the table. “I’m not good at this type of thing.”
I wasn’t clueless at all. In fact, I was damn good at painting, as my business partners and I had built a successful construction company from our humble beginnings with house renovations. And because of our success and the crazy number of hours I worked, it left me no time to paint my own home. Hence, the need to hire someone to do it for me.
I already had a clear idea of the color schemes I wanted, but my assistant had raved about the guy and his knack for instinctively knowing what you wanted, so I was interested to hear what Nate’s instincts had to say about me.
He shook his head slightly. “It’s not my place to tell you what you want.”
“Humor me. Please.” Now I really wanted to know.
He studied me with his serious face for a few moments, and I held my breath in anticipation. “How do soft whites and varying shades of French gray sound?”
Spot fucking on.
“Why those colors?” I masked my surprise at how he’d known those were the exact colors I’d already picked out.
He lowered his eyes seemingly embarrassed and studied the table. I had the sudden urge to take his chin in my fingers to make him lift his head, so those beautiful green eyes were back on mine. The urge was so strong I had to link my fingers together to physically stop myself.
What the hell is going on?
“Why those colors?” I asked again, softer this time, and my chest lurched when Nate raised his eyes to look at me.
“I’m guessing you’re a busy man and you don’t get much time to relax and unwind?” He stopped until I agreed, and as he continued, the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders relaxed a little. “French grays are calming and would suit the age and style of your home. You could have different shades of gray in different rooms—”
“Won’t that be a bit cold?” I interjected. “What about adding some color?”
He shuffled forward on his chair as his enthusiasm grew, clearly visualizing something in his head, and I found his pleasure such a turn on to watch as he finally relaxed with me. “You can achieve that in your furniture and any accessories, like cushions, throws, bedding and stuff.” Nate stopped talking, waiting for my response, though I wasn’t sure what to say as he’d basically taken my ideas and told them to me. It took a lot to impress me, yet this man managed to achieve the feat with remarkable ease.
“How come you aren’t an interior designer?” I asked, curious as to why someone with such a good eye didn’t make more use of the talent.
He shook his head and grimaced. “I guess, I much prefer the actual painting of the place and seeing it come to life. Dealing with rich people with no taste but who still think they know better….” He shook his head again but didn’t say anything else.
“You do realize I’m one of those rich people, don’t you?” And released a chuckle when the corners of his mouth turned up, shock registering on his face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by my comment, and you’re rich – of course you are if you have a house like this – but…”
“But?” I asked, intrigued to know what his impressions were of me.
Nate glanced down at the table before saying, “You just seem different somehow.”
“How so?”
He shrugged his shoulders before looking up and saying softly, “You just do.”
Relief flooded me at Nate’s answer, as I hadn’t realized how much I wanted him to see I was different from the stereotypical idea he had of what rich people were. Plus, I didn’t want him to feel in any way inferior or intimidated due to my wealth, which shocked the hell out of me.
Since when did I care what people thought about me anyway?
“Plus,” Nate added, “you bought this house for one.” He beamed at me. “And you asked me for a quote to paint it, so you must at least have some taste.”
I laughed out loud, the echo reverberating around the kitchen. “As it came from you, I’ll take that as a compliment, I think.”
He grinned once more. “You can take it any way you want from me.” As if he’d flipped a switch, the atmosphere changed from easy and relaxed to tense and sexual as Nate’s words sank in and my imagination took over.
Jesus.
Another blush hit his cheeks, and he shot up out of his chair, panic on his face. “I should go.” He scurried around the table, heading for the door before stopping and saying, “If you decide you want to use me, message me and we can sort things out.”
My answering laugh caused Nate’s eyes to widen and his blush to intensify before he escaped from the kitchen like his ass was on fire. I tracked his exit, hearing him climb the stairs to the main hall and then the gentle click as the front door shut behind him. My mind ran over the last half hour in his company and his eerily correct suggestions for the house, but regardless of his intuition, I’d made up my mind almost as soon as I’d met him. His accurate assessment of what I wanted for the house only cemented my decision.
I chuckled thinking about Nate’s parting comment. Oh yes, if he let me, I’d definitely use him any way I could. However, for the first time in years I wanted to dig a bit deeper, get to know Nate the person, talk to him some more, find out what made him tick.
Yes, he made me hard, but I also kept thinking of his shy demeanor and how his face lit up when discussing his ideas. He had an innocence about him so rare I’d almost forgotten it existed, and for someone as cynical and jaded as I’d become, the combination intrigued me.
If anything did happen between us, it would only be a casual fling, and all I’d be offering, but it might be nice to look at the world through Nate’s eyes for a change, get a different perspective, if only for the duration of time he took to paint my house.
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