Let Me Show You Read online

  “Nope. I’m good, thanks.” Davis stood and walked me out, giving me a squeeze on my shoulder. “Have a good night.”

  I laughed. “Yep. Me, a beer, some oil, and my hand. Living the dream, man.” I stepped out and headed to my truck.

  He snorted. “That makes two of us. You seriously need to get laid so I can live vicariously through you, Tanner. Damn, dude, you’re letting me down.”

  I snorted right back as I pulled open the door. “Yeah sure. I’ll get right to that. Just point out the local gay bar and I’m all over it.”

  His laughter chased me into the car. I returned his wave and backed out of the drive, wishing I wasn’t thinking about getting laid. Maybe it was time for a weekend away. Desperate times and an overused hand called for long-ass journeys into the city.

  Chapter Three

  CARTER

  Work had been much calmer, with no emergencies and a shorter day. My job was pretty awesome. Not only because I was a veterinarian—what wasn’t there to love about that?—but while I worked full-time at the practice, the hours were quite forgiving. A couple of longer shifts, plus being on call, meant I had three days a week of finishing by two.

  It felt like I had the possibility of having a life. The only problem was, outside of Lauren, my friendship group was narrow. But still, I’d known when I’d moved that I’d be starting fresh, coming in with nothing apart from the home my grandfather had left me and a desire to make it work.

  Looking around the dilapidated house, it wasn’t the first time I questioned my sanity. The house was in a bad state of disrepair, though I sucked it up and saw it as my penance for being a not so great grandson the past few years before my granddad died. It wasn’t that we’d argued or anything. It was just, heck, I’d been young and busy, not only with studying and then work, but trying to get a life.

  It hadn’t helped that he always chose to ignore my sexuality and would send me links to straight porn and try to hook me up with local girls during the rare visits I made. The day when I’d first received an email from my grandad, I’d been as impressed as I was confused. He’d always hated technology. Later my dad had told me he’d hooked him up with Wi-Fi and a laptop. I had no idea though how he’d been introduced to the many weird porn sites he’d discovered.

  He’d been a character for sure. And while at the time he’d infuriated the heck out of me, point-blank refusing to believe I liked men and that no matter how hard he tried to convert me, a vagina would make me gag and run screaming in the opposite direction, I’d still loved the stubborn old fool.

  When Dad had told me about the will, I’d been dumbfounded. It was Mom who’d smiled lovingly at me and suggested I check out the house and give some serious thought about where I wanted to be, where I saw my life heading.

  It wasn’t like I had been living life to any level of extreme, nor was I lonely, but I was finally honest with myself and recognized I’d been in a rut.

  Looking around my new home, I shook my head, not quite sure I was any better off.

  My cell rang. I headed to the kitchen and picked it up from where it had been charging.

  Looking at the caller ID, I greeted, “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hey, baby boy.” I smiled. In my late twenties, I was far from a baby, but she’d once told me that even at fifty I’d still be her baby. “Good day?”

  “Yep. Not too bad. Nothing too hectic or crazy. You?”

  “A great one. Your dad’s booked a cruise for our anniversary.” Excitement lit her words. She’d been hinting at Dad for a while about a cruise. I was pleased he’d listened. It didn’t take a lot to make my mom happy; she found joy in the smallest of things, so that he’d organized it all was pretty impressive. Mom usually organized everything, so I knew him booking the vacation for them was a big deal.

  “That’s terrific. Caribbean?”

  She actually squealed down the line. I pulled the phone from my ear and laughed loudly. “Yes! Carter, I’m so excited.”

  “Really? I’d never have guessed.”

  “Oh, hush.” She spoke over me as I laughed again. “Don’t sass your mother.”

  My laughter continued. “Never, Mom. You’d tan my hide. Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “I should think not. So anything new? Any dates?”

  With a groan, I rubbed my face and then stepped further into the kitchen and pulled out a glass. “Mom…,” I sighed.

  “What? I worry about you. You’re so far from home and are there all alone.”

  I poured myself a glass of wine and took a sip. “I know you worry, but honestly, life’s good.” Admittedly it would have been nice to hook up, but one, I didn’t do casual and never had, and two, there was no way I’d tell my mom I was afraid my penis would drop off from lack of use. “There’s nothing new either, and that’s okay. I’m liking the quiet life.”

  “Hmm….” That was her tell for not being convinced. “You know, I was talking to Julie last week, and her nephew’s gay.”

  “Mom,” I said with laughter, “honestly, no hookups. I do not need my mom fixing me up.”

  She ignored me. “Well, he lives quite far away, but maybe a week of casual—” She cleared her throat. “—sex would do you good.”

  “Jesus, Mom.” I spluttered on my mouthful of wine. Grabbing a towel, I wiped my face, catching the dribble of red wine on my chin, and wiped the countertop I’d sprayed. “Stop. I don’t need you arranging anything, okay? Please tell me you’re listening.” She was quiet. “Mom,” I said louder.

  “Yes, yes, I hear you.” She sighed. “Grandbabies would be nice.”

  Holy crap on toast! With wide eyes, I looked at the ceiling and counted to five. I then took a big gulp of wine before saying, “Mom.”

  “Yes, baby boy?”

  “I have to go. I need to grab a shower. I’m expecting someone.”

  “Ooh—”

  “Someone to fix the house up.” I’d heard the interest in her tone, the hope in that one syllable.

  “Oh.” This time her voice dropped. I hated to kill her enthusiasm, but geez, I really needed to get off the phone.

  “Love you, tell Dad I love him too. And I’ll speak to you guys later. Bye, Mom.”

  “Will do.” Her tone was a bit brighter. “Love you too. Bye, honey.”

  I disconnected quickly and placed my phone down. My mom, yeah, she was wonderful and drove me to absolute distraction. I knew how lucky I was. Every decision I’d ever made, my parents had always had my back. They supported me unconditionally. It was just that my mom could be a little extreme at times. I laughed into the empty room. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Quickly finishing my wine, I looked at the time. I had just fifteen minutes until the contractor was due. I’d left it late to organize myself, still a little in a tizz after the conversation with my mom and the mention of babies. I glanced around the room at the disorderly mess. Every time I did so, I regretted it.

  I detested chaos, and that was what the house felt like. The place was still strewn with my moving boxes, but I had yet to see the point in unpacking. Not necessarily because I planned to move, but rather, the whole house needed a lot of work, so I knew I’d have to pack my things up for any work on the house to start.

  I really hoped this Tanner guy would be the person who could finally help me out. I’d had two other quotes, one local and one from out of town. Both were crazy high, and neither would be able to start for another five months or so. I was running out of options. This guy had come recommended to me by one of my clients, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

  I sighed in defeat as I looked around. I’d have to continue ignoring it all until I finally had the place fixed up. I headed upstairs, careful to miss the couple of steps that had loose boards, and headed to the main bathroom. I had an en suite, but the shower didn’t work, so it was the pearlescent green suite I headed toward. The sickly porcelain made me shudder every time I laid eyes on it. It was clean though, so there was that.

&nb
sp; I hopped into the shower, lathered myself up, and quickly rinsed off. That was when I heard the knock at the door. “Shoot.” I quickly turned off the taps, stepped out and grabbed a towel. In my haste to get myself together and then answer the door, the dodgy floorboard didn’t even register until my foot slammed through it, snagging my ankle and bringing me to my knees.

  I yelled as I fell, and cursed. Wincing, I looked at my predicament, trying to yank my foot out as I did so. A loud groan slipped past my lips. This was no good. I was wedged, and it appeared I’d lost my towel in my fall. Just great.

  Chapter Four

  TANNER

  I looked once more at the paperwork, making sure I had the right address. 52 Ledgebrook Avenue. Glancing at the tilted, rusty plaque on the house, I saw the number matched up. I raised my brows… even the plaque needed replacing.

  When I’d been called in to give a quote for a refurb, the guy had told me the place needed a lot of work, but from what I could see from the outside, it needed gutting. Not that I couldn’t do with the work, but it wasn’t what I’d been expecting.

  I folded my paperwork and tucked it in the back pocket of my jeans before switching my phone to silent and rapping my knuckles on the paint-peeled door. As I waited, my gaze roamed to the windows, wooden and old, a few cracked panes. The place was easily a hundred years old and didn’t look like it had received much looking after over the years. It was a building that with time and love, and a crapload of cash, could easily be beautiful again.

  A thump followed by a bang and a curse drew my eyes back to the closed door. I grinned and lifted my brow, wondering whether it was the house’s dilapidated state that had caused the groaned curse.

  I’d never been to this part of town before. Never had a reason to. Lined with old oaks, all the properties set well back from the street, it seemed like a nice place, even more so, I imagined, in its heyday. It bugged the crap out of me when places like this went to wreck and ruin, but without it, I’d be outta work, so I was in no position to complain.

  Another thirty seconds passed, and the door remained closed, and the sound of cursing had stopped. Lifting my hand up once more, I knocked again. “Hello?” Who knew what had happened to the guy. The thud had been heavy, and the curse expelled with a masculine groan. “You good—” I tugged the paperwork back out of my pocket and searched for the name. “—Carter? Everything all right in there?”

  The sound of shuffling and a low moan reached my ears. Damn. I grabbed the handle, turned and pushed. The door creaked open. Knocking as I pushed it open further, I called out, “Hey, it’s Tanner. I’m here to give you a quote. You okay?”

  “Oh heck.” The light curse was much louder as I stood in the hallway, and it came from upstairs. “Yeah.” The voice was an equal mix of pained and pissed off. “Up here.”

  I looked toward the staircase, my brow furrowing when I took in the state of the banister, or what was left of it. After closing the door behind me, I made my way to the bottom of the staircase. “You need some help?” I called, eyes roaming the joint.

  It was clear from the scattering of boxes and the used wine glass placed on a small table next to the sofa in the sitting room that the place was lived in, but fuck, the house was a wreck.

  From ceiling to floor, to doors, to some wood paneling, the joint needed a serious overhaul.

  A voice cleared with a light cough. “Er, crap, yeah, I think so. I’m kinda stuck.”

  Rather than racing up the stairs and risk my foot smashing through a rotten board, I made my way up carefully, staying close to the wall. The stairs had a landing halfway up and then angled to the right. Once there, my eyes were immediately drawn to a guy on the floor, butt naked.

  My eyes widened when they landed on his form. Damn, it wasn’t every day a client greeted me in the nude. Looking at the path between me and who I assumed to be Carter on the ground, I tried not to let my eyes linger for too long on his smooth expanse of skin. He was lightly toned, with a softness about him that was impossible to not notice, despite trying my hardest not to.

  With a shake of my head, I calculated each step I took to get to his side. Once I made it safely to the top, the floorboards creaking under my booted feet, Carter angled himself to turn and look at me. Definitely pissed off and in pain, and perhaps a bit mortified too, a light blush covering his cheeks. His gaze roamed me from bottom to top before landing on my own. I quirked my brow in amusement and question while strategically ignoring how fucking pretty his brown eyes were. “So…?” I offered.

  He sighed, and I watched in fascination as his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. “I rushed from the piece-of-crap shower when I heard the knock. My foot went through the board, and it’s stuck.” His pink cheeks turned crimson.

  Unable to stay the small smile tugging at my lips, I grinned as I stepped closer. I took my time to get to him, wanting to help the guy out. The last thing he needed was me falling on my ass. Clearing my throat, I crouched down at his side, my focus now on his leg and foot.

  The whole area was rotten and would need ripping out. But for the time being, I’d need to tear up the two surrounding boards to get his ankle free. “You have tried to get it out, right?” I felt like a jackass for asking, but it was always best to check first.

  Carter huffed out a breath. “Yeah, I did. It’s wedged against something. I tried pulling it out, but it’s a no go. It’s tighter than a virgin ass.”

  My gaze whipped to his. What the fuck? With lifted brows, I stared wide-eyed at him, drawing another blush from him.

  “Shoot, sorry. That was inappropriate.” His eyes widened in horror. “I meant, it’s wedged. Erm. It’s just wedged tight, and—”

  I grinned. “It’s all good. Give me a sec.” The poor guy looked like he wanted to join his foot in the space under the floorboards and curl over. He needed an out, and I needed to get some air in my lungs away from his intoxicating smell and firm thighs, which were impossible to ignore in such close proximity.

  The guy was attractive. I’d taken note immediately but pushed the knowledge aside. Work and eyeing up hot guys or potential clients was never a smart move.

  I stood and headed down the stairs, throwing over my shoulder, “Let me just get a couple of tools.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” His voice was low, awkwardness still evident. I wondered if he was trying to recover from his ass reference, and couldn’t help but wonder if it’d been intentional, to test the waters, or Christ, perhaps it was just his sense of humor. Either way, my interest was piqued.

  With the fresh air came clarity. There was no way I could risk a job of this size and this potential cash for the sake of getting blown. As much as his dark brown eyes had captured my attention and stirred me to life, there were other places I could visit to get an itch scratched if I was that desperate. Admittedly, it would be a lengthy drive to get there, but Davis’s words were still in my mind from the previous night.

  Refocused and determined not to react to the insanely sexy cut of Carter’s jaw, I kneeled by his foot—after throwing him a towel to cover his groin, which I may have given a lingering glance—and began the task of freeing his foot. In less than five minutes, I had him released. His ankle was swollen and grazed, but declaring himself a veterinarian—whatever that had to do with human bones I had no clue—Carter was sure it was just bruised and sprained.

  I helped him up, acutely aware that I held my breath when I clasped him close to steady him. He was virtually the same height as me, just shy a couple of inches from my six two. The perfect height for any angle. Mentally smacking myself around my head, I dragged my overeager thoughts out of the gutter and helped him to his room.

  “Thanks, Tanner. I’m good. I should be all right to sort myself out and get down the stairs.”

  I nodded but wasn’t convinced as I hovered in the open doorway. It had nothing to do with him being perched on the bed wrapped in a small towel, most of his body on display. I closed my eyes for the briefest of seconds, giv
ing myself time to sort my crap out. Once opened, his eyes were on my chest before landing on my face and connecting with mine. I cleared my throat. “Sure. Do you want me to have a quick look around the place while you’re dressing? I’ll make some notes from what I can see, and then downstairs you can talk me through anything else.”

  He smiled, and I wished he hadn’t. I’d had plenty of quick fucks in my time, and a couple of serious relationships, but Carter was something else. Clean-cut, and so not my usual type, as I tended to go for rough and rugged, but when he smiled my gut lurched and my dick sprung to life.

  “That would be great, thanks. I’m sure I’d hold you up hobbling. And don’t get me wrong, I can see you’re sporting some guns there, but I wouldn’t have thought you’d want to be carrying me around.” His grin widened, and he laughed. It was surprisingly deep and absolutely genuine.

  “Right.” Like a deer in headlights, I froze a moment then pussied on out of there, not taking the bait. If that was what it was. Fuck, I was so confused by everything that had happened in the last twenty minutes or so. “Err, just shout if you need me.” I pulled the door closed behind me, or at least attempted to. It wouldn’t latch shut.

  It was going to be a long list and a painful meeting. My thoughts were too focused on picking Carter up and holding him close as I bucked into him. The possibility drifted to the forefront of my mind. Fuck. I’m screwed.

  It took me forty-five minutes to look around Carter’s place. I made enough notes of fixes to keep me going for at least five months. A lot of the work I’d be able to manage myself, but I’d need some outside contractors in to sort a few of the jobs too. That was if he liked my quote.