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He’d just started a slow rhythm stroking his cock, when there was a knock on the door. Looking down at the cock in his hand, he sighed, “Later.” Setting the popcorn bowl on the coffee table, Casey tried to adjust the half-hard bulge in his sweats, before just giving up and walking toward the door.

  Looking through the peep-hole, his cock hardened further. With a smile, he unlocked and opened the door. “Hi, I wasn’t expecting you.” Casey shook his head, flustered. “What I meant was, I thought you’d call.” He stepped back and let Hal into the living room.

  “I’m sorry,” Hal said, looking around. “I was in town anyway and thought I’d drop by to give you my bid.” He handed a piece of paper to Casey.

  “I have to find my glasses. Would you like to have a seat?” Casey gestured to the sofa.

  Glancing down, Hal shook his head. “I’m okay here. I wouldn’t want to track on the carpet.”

  “Oh,” Casey studied the large tan boots. “Well, if you’ll wait here, I think my glasses are in the study.” Casey turned and went to his office. Flipping on the light, he caught his reflection in the window above his desk. With his hair mussed, and his dick hard, he looked like a wanton fool. Quickly smoothing down the wayward locks, he looked down at his cock once more. Please, not now.

  Finding his glasses, he put them on, and studied the bid. He was a little shocked at the price. The bid was higher than he’d expected, but Casey knew he didn’t have much choice. Hal was the only contractor left in the area, and apparently he knew he had Casey over a barrel. The image did little to quell his lust.

  Walking back into the living room, Casey studied the bid some more. When he glanced up, he caught Hal looking him up and down with apparent appreciation. Casey mentally gave himself a little pat on the back, yep, I’ve still got it. Now the question was how to share it?

  He stopped in front of Hal and pointed toward the bid. “I’ll be honest. It’s a little higher than I thought it’d be.”

  With a slight shake to his head, Hal pointed at the paper. “A lot of the labour charge is because of the timeframe. If you want most of the building completed by Christmas Eve, I’m going to be putting in a lot of overtime.”

  Casey scratched his head. “If I agree to help out as much as I can during the day, can you knock some of this off? I mean, I know nothing about plumbing or wiring, but I can fetch and carry. Surely, with some grunt labour it should speed things up a bit?”

  “I usually work alone,” Hal said, voice getting a little gruff.

  Taking off his glasses in frustration, Casey rubbed his eyes. “So are you telling me no, that the bid stands as is?”

  Hal said nothing for a long moment. “I guess we can try it, but I can’t make promises that it’ll work out. I’ll keep track of the hours I spend on site and adjust the bill accordingly at the end of the project. That’s the best I can do, take it or leave it.”

  Casey stuck out his hand, and waited for Hal. “Deal,” he said after Hal shook on it. Casey noticed Hal’s grip wasn’t as firm this time. Did that mean he thought Casey too weak to handle a real handshake? Well, he’d show him. Casey would be the best darn grunt man in the business. “When can you start?”

  Hal released Casey’s hand. “Six a.m.”

  Six a.m.? Wow, okay he could do this. “I’ll be ready.”

  The morning after their first workday, Casey poured coffee into a thermos. Every muscle in his body hurt, and his hands were trashed. How did people do this kind of work everyday? At least he’d been smart enough to put on three layers of clothing. Working in his coat was cumbersome. He’d noticed Hal wore a ski vest, maybe he should invest in one?

  A glance at the clock showed it was time to head to the church. Casey put on his coat, and tucked the thermos under his arm before opening the door. It was still dark outside. What reasonable human voluntarily went to work at six a.m.?

  Spotting Hal’s truck next to the addition, Casey knew exactly what kind of man. He’d had to remind Hal three times the previous day that he should break for lunch. Hal was like some kind of robot. He very rarely talked, and when he did, he just seemed to bark out orders. Casey had to remind himself several times he was working for the good of the church.

  Opening the side door, Casey took off his coat and set the thermos on their worktable. “Morning,” he called to Hal across the room.

  Hal grunted a reply Casey took to mean good morning. “I brought some hot coffee if you’d care for a cup.”

  Slipping his tape measure into one of the pouches in his tool-belt, Hal turned. Without acknowledging Casey had spoken, Hal put the pencil behind his ear and walked toward him.

  After digging for a few seconds in his toolbox, Hal came out with a pair of leather gloves. “I saw your hands yesterday and figured you could use these.” He handed the gloves to Casey.

  “Thanks. Would you like a cup of coffee?” Casey asked, holding up the thermos.

  “Sure,” Hal said.

  Casey poured the aromatic brew into the thermos lid and handed it to Hal. “It’s strong, hope you like it that way.”

  “It’ll do,” Hal said, sipping at his drink. He turned and went back to work. Casey looked down at the thermos and realised he hadn’t brought another cup. Darn it, he’d have to go back over to the house. “I forgot something, but I’ll just be a minute,” he yelled, putting his coat back on.

  Trudging back across the cold parking lot, Casey wondered if he’d ever break through Hal’s surly demeanour. For that matter, why did he even care? Yeah, the man was hot, but did he even have it in him to treat a boyfriend with respect? Wow, wait a minute. Who said anything about making Hal his boyfriend?

  After grabbing another cup out of the cabinet, Casey once again made the trek back. Stepping inside, his gaze immediately landed on Hal. He was bent over the worktable jotting notes on the blueprints. He’d shed his vest and rolled up his sleeves. Nice arms. Casey watched as the tendons moved with each stroke of his pencil. He felt his cock begin to harden.

  Averting his eyes, Casey took off his coat. When he finally got his first sip of coffee, he moaned. Hal’s head popped up. “You say something?”

  “No, sorry.” Casey held up his cup. “It’s just my first coffee of the morning…makes me moan.”

  Hal glanced down, and Casey knew he was checking him out. Shoot, had he not been completely frozen, Casey would have gone over the edge from a look like that.

  “So what would you like me to do for you?” Casey asked, quickly finishing his coffee.

  “I’m gonna start on the wiring. You think you can start bringing in the spools from your garage?” Hal stuck his pencil between his teeth and waited.

  “Sure, coming up,” Casey said, sighing on the inside. Why he’d even bothered to take off his coat was anyone’s guess. “Do you want all the electrical stuff?” Casey knew there was a lot more to wiring up electricity besides the actual spools of wire.

  “Yep,” Hal said around his pencil. He went back to looking at the blueprints, dismissing Casey it seemed.

  This was going to be a long day, Casey thought as he grabbed his coat.

  By lunchtime, Casey had brought over, not only the electrical, but the plumbing supplies as well. Knowing the weather wasn’t going to get any better, he decided to just torture himself once that week.

  Laying the last of the PVC pipe down, Casey turned to Hal. “I have a meeting in an hour with the church board, so I’m gonna take off and grab a quick shower.”

  Without turning around, or speaking, Hal waved his goodbye. Casey shook his head and rolled his eyes. Stopping to retrieve the empty thermos, he headed out the door. The entire walk home Casey discussed his attraction to Hal with his libido.

  As soon as Casey walked out the door, Hal sighed. “This is going to kill me,” he said to the wall. He’d done his best to keep Casey out of his line of vision for the previous two days, but just knowing he was in the room was giving his willpower a workout. He’d felt bad for making him carry everything in from the gara
ge, but Hal was at the end of his rope.

  He remembered the first day he’d seen Casey Sharp. He’d been at Gill’s garage when the man had pulled up to the self-serve gas pumps out front. Hal had immediately asked Gill who the new guy was getting gas. He was definitely interested until Gill informed him Casey was the town’s new reverend.

  Little did he know, he’d be working for Casey barely a week later. It was hard enough to turn from the window the first time at Gill’s, but now it was impossible. His ringing cell phone pulled him out of his misery. Unclipping it from his waist, Hal saw it was Gill.

  “Hey,” he answered.

  “Hey, you want to come over to watch the game later?” Gill’s deep voice asked.

  “Sure, better than sitting home feeling sorry for myself.”

  “The kid again?” Gill chuckled.

  “He’s not a kid. I imagine he’s in his thirties. Casey just looks young.” Hal glanced out the window toward Casey’s house.

  “Must be all that clean living he does,” Gill teased.

  “Don’t remind me. I’ll see ya after work. You feeding me, too?”

  “Sure, I’ll scrounge something up.”

  “Okay, let me off the phone so I can get this job done and get out of here.” Hal started to hang up as he heard Gill laughing, damn him. Pushing the end button, Hal clipped the phone back onto his waistband and got to work. If visions of Casey next door in the shower happened to creep into his mind while he worked, well, who could blame him?

  Putting the twelve-pack he’d brought in the fridge, Hal opened the box and took out a beer. “You want one?” he asked Gill.

  “Are they cold?”

  “They’ve been in my truck since lunch. What do you think?” Hal said, getting Gill a can.

  “Damn, someone’s grouchy this evening.” Gill stirred what appeared to be a big pot of chilli.

  “It’s Casey. He’s driving me nuts.” Hal took his beer over and sat on one of the stools at the kitchen island. Taking a big gulp, he shook his head.

  “Just because you have some hang-up about dating a religious man, don’t take it out on me.” Gill opened his beer and leaned his forearms on the island. “I know you’ve got something against religion, but what does going out and getting lucky have to do with it?”

  “He’s a reverend. You think he’s gonna settle for a quick fuck a time or two? He’s the kind of guy who’s going to expect fidelity and happily-ever-afters.” Hal ran his fingers through his short brown hair. “I don’t do those things.”

  “You’ve cheated on someone before?” Gill asked, sounding shocked.

  “Well no, but that doesn’t mean I won’t want to in the future. Besides, what would we talk about? How do you keep the subject of faith out of a conversation with a damned reverend?”

  “You, my friend, are a puzzle,” Gill chuckled. He tore a paper towel off the roll and wiped his shiny bald head.

  Hal looked at his friend, trying to figure out why there was no apparent attraction between the two of them. Gill was a damn fine looking man. It wasn’t everyday Hal found someone taller than he was, but Gill had him beat by a good four inches.

  “What?” Gill asked.

  “Why haven’t we ever hooked up?”

  “Uh, because we’re friends and we both already have our eyes on someone else. Besides, I think you like being the top and no way in hell is anyone ever gonna top me.” Gill gave Hal a wink and went to stir his chilli again.

  Hal smiled at the thought of anyone attempting to top the black version of Mr. Clean. Just the thought of fucking Casey had Hal’s cock hard in no time. “Thanks,” he said to Gill’s back. “I thought for sure I’d be able to get through an evening without a perpetual hard-on.”

  Gill turned around and held his hands up. “Don’t look at me, man. Matter of fact, stop it. Go in the bathroom and take care of it or something. I’ll be damned if I want to watch the game with you and your woody.”

  “I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ll try to control myself around that big gorgeous body of yours,” Hal teased.

  “Oh, now you’re just asking for a smack-down. Get your ass up and set the table. It would be nice if you invited me over to that house you’re so proud of once in awhile. But no, you always have to come here and eat up all my grub.”

  Laughing, Hal got out the big bowls and silverware. “Tell me again why we’re friends?”

  “Cuz no one else will put up with your cracker ass.” Gill took the dishtowel off his shoulder and popped Hal in the butt.

  “For you’re information, I do invite you over, but you always whine that it’s too far to drive. Besides, I can’t cook nearly as well as you do.” Hal got out the cheese, hot sauce and vinegar and put them on the table. “Crackers?”

  “Yeah, don’t you know what a cracker is?” Gill asked like he was crazy.

  Rolling his eyes, Hal gave Gill his bowl to fill. “Crackers, saltines, ya know those little square things with salt you put in chilli.”

  “Oh, in the pantry, bottom shelf.”

  “You know, someday someone’s going to hear you calling me that and come to the conclusion you don’t like me much.” Hal took his bowl before handing Gill another one.

  Gill surprised him by leaning in and kissing Hal’s forehead. “They’d be wrong. Now, let’s eat.”

  Chapter Three

  “Ow!”

  “You okay?” Casey asked, walking over to Hal.

  “Yeah, I wasn’t paying attention and got a splinter. I’ll live.” Hal sucked at the skin between his thumb and forefinger.

  “Let me see.” Casey stepped up, and held out his hand.

  Hal shook his head. “It’s nothing. I’ll dig it out with my pocket knife at lunch.”

  Casey rolled his eyes. Alphas could be such pains. “I’m not letting you dig anything out with a knife. Let me see it, and I’ll run over and get my tweezers if I need to.”

  Hal grinned. Casey was a bit surprised the man even knew how. “Not gonna let me, huh?” Hal teased.

  Sighing, Casey emphasised his outstretched hand. “Just let me see it.”

  Grudgingly, Hal put his hand in Casey’s. Finding the small sliver of wood wasn’t hard, but it appeared to be fairly deep. Pulling Hal by the hand, Casey stood directly under a light. “I’m going to run home and get some stuff.” He willed his hand to release Hal’s, but his body had other ideas.

  Looking up into Hal’s light blue eyes, Casey stopped breathing. Even standing as tall as he could, Casey only came to Hal’s shoulder. His lips felt like they were on fire with the need to kiss the bigger man.

  Hal started to lean down, lips parted when his cell phone rang. Hal blinked and straightened, unclipping his phone in one fluid motion. “Hal.”

  Casey swallowed his regret and walked to retrieve his coat. He didn’t know how to feel. On one hand, Hal looked like he’d really wanted to kiss him, but on the other, he let a simple phone call interrupt without a second thought.

  By the time he got back, Hal was off the phone. Setting the first-aid kit on the work table, Casey waited. Hal walked over. “That was the heating guy. He’ll be here tomorrow to install the ductwork. We’ll have heat in here before you know it. Of course it won’t be economical to turn on until we get the insulation installed.”

  Looking up, Casey noticed the way Hal’s breath was visible in the freezing room. “How long before that’s done?”

  Hal scratched his chin and looked around. “With the two of us? I’d say we should be able to do it in two days. So by Thursday, we should have it ready for heat.”

  “Um, do you plan on working on Thanksgiving?” Casey knew the man was a robot, but come on. What’s Thanksgiving without eating yourself sick and spending the day on the couch snoozing.

  “Thanksgiving? I hadn’t even realised. I take it you’ll be going home for the holiday.”

  “No, but I don’t want to work either, and neither should you. Don’t you have some family or friends you want to
spend the day with?” Casey started sterilizing the needle and tweezers with alcohol.

  “I don’t have much family, but I’ve got friends,” Hal said gruffly. He just seemed to pull away and shut down, like the almost-kiss never happened.

  “Cool, then we’ll start again first thing Friday. As it gets closer to Christmas, I’ll have less and less time to help. There’s a lot of preparing for the party and services, as well as the kids nativity…” Casey stopped talking when he noticed the red flush creep up Hal’s cheeks. “Sorry,” he said and went back to working on the splinter.

  After a few more pricks with the needle, he could see the end. Picking up the tweezers he pulled the sliver out, and held it up. “Wow, that’s a doozy.”

  “Thanks,” Hal said and tried to pull his hand away.

  “Wait. Let me pour some peroxide on it first.” Casey picked up the brown bottle, and dribbled some over the wound. It bubbled for a few seconds and then quit. “Okay, you’re good to go,” Casey said, releasing Hal’s hand.

  Hal walked away, and went back to finishing the partition between the restrooms. Casey thought of Thanksgiving, and closed his eyes. Maybe he should have gone home? He knew he’d be welcomed at Nate’s, but it was the threesome’s first Thanksgiving together, and Casey didn’t want to interrupt that.

  Picking up the broom, he started sweeping sawdust into piles. Oh well, he’d still get a turkey and do the day up right, even if it wouldn’t quite be the same.

  Thanksgiving sucked. Well at least as far as Casey was concerned. He’d made a big dinner, set the table and ended up in front of the television, eating on the coffee table.

  After doing the dishes, he looked around his small house for something to do. He’d never been much of a football fan, and he’d seen all the movies that were on. He’d called his mom’s earlier, and that had made him feel worse.

  Walking from room to room, he decided to give in and call Nate. Picking up the cordless he dialled Nate’s number as he continued to roam. “Hello?”