So the choice was a fruitless, awkward lunch with his secretary or a sweaty, frustrating morning with Ace.Really not a choice."Nicole, could you call Mr. Phipps and reschedule his Saturday appointment?" He saw Nicole's hopeful expression fade from her face and felt a twinge of guilt for once again dodging her attentions."Is that what all the texting was about?" she asked, typing loudly on her keyboard to pull up Mr. Phipps' phone number. "Got a big date tomorrow or something?"No. Well, yes. Well, not really."Family emergency. Sort of. My presence has been firmly requested."Nicole was somewhat mollified. "Hard to say no to family.""You have no idea." He pulled out his phone and turned to go back into his office. "Let me know when Mrs. Donaldson arrives."He pulled out his phone before Holly could devise more punishments for him.I'll be there. Call off the dogs already.As he shut the door, he heard Nicole pick up her previous phone conversation."Well, that was a bust," she sig
I'm going to cancel.Paul officially knew better. He shouldn't go to Steven's on Saturday, even if it meant pissing off his brother. Even if it made him a chicken.Sometimes, retreat was the wisest option. Especially when you can't resist the enemy.Of course, Ace wasn't the enemy. He was more like the spoils of war.If only he could figure out what he was fighting against.Paul checked the appointment calendar on his computer. One more scheduled for this afternoon. Mrs. Donaldson, a sweet old lady who had been coming to see him consistently for a few years now. Reminded him of his mom, who was the whole reason he got into chiropractic in the first place. A nice way to end a Friday afternoon.Friday. It had been a week since the Sparks Incident. Only a week? It felt much longer. Probably because he'd been thinking about it so much in the seven days since he'd first spotted Ace.And even more in the two days since their lives intersected again.Maybe he could erase Ace from his mind in
"Oh, plenty," Tanner smirked.It was odd having another person in his office. It had been a while since he'd shared an office space with anyone else, let alone shared that space in his own home. He was constantly aware of Tanner's presence; it affected the air around him, and not in a completely comfortable way.Ace sat in the chair he kept for his rare office guests and watched Tanner do some incomprehensible things at lightning speed on his laptop.The site was really coming together well. Erik hadn't steered him wrong by pointing him in Tanner's direction for this. Ace found a couple of typos and some alignment issues that Tanner set about fixing."So, I've been meaning to ask," Tanner said, his eyes rapidly scanning the code on the screen. "You're not from the area, you didn't go to KU. What the hell brought you to Lawrence at all?"Ace chuckled. "You say that like it's a small town you're ready to leave behind.""Well, sorta," Tanner said. "I mean, it's a cool place and a great s
This was getting way too close to home, literally. Now his hot birthday fuck was stationed in his own zip code. He didn't know whether to agree with his happy cock about that or his worried brain.Steven sighed happily. "You're the best, man," he said. "I'll ask Holly to come over too with more art and stuff.""That would be great, actually," Ace said. "It would help to have more to work with.""And Paul, you'll help out again, right?" Steven said, his voice rising in pitch along with his hope.Now it was Paul's turn to hedge. "I don't know, bro," he said. "I sometimes have Saturday appointments.""Can you reschedule? I could really use more muscle on this," Steven pleaded.Paul clenched his jaw against the conflict roaring within him. The big brother knew that of course he should help Steven. But the man who was terrified of his own desires wanted to run away from the temptation that had been dropped back into his lap.He glanced over to Ace, who was watching him with guarded eyes. T
Paul found it kind of remarkable. He never paid that much attention to his own home or where he put stuff - as long as it was functional and clean, he didn't really care much. But Ace was able to see exactly where things should go, and it made a huge difference. It seemed obvious in retrospect that everything should have been like this to begin with, but only Ace had been able to see that.This man was impressing him more and more. This was not a good thing.This never happened to him before. All the men he'd fucked had been one-night only affairs, and usually well out of town.And the thing was, he liked it that way. For Paul, every encounter was fired with that thrill of a first time, the uncertainty and the novelty, the rush of a new touch. By definition, a second time wouldn't have any of that. He already knew what Ace's body felt like, what his own cock felt like inside that unbelievable ass.So why was he craving another ride?He didn't have much time to reflect on that as Ace m
"Well," Ace said after a pause, "looks like your front door is good to go. No flowers here on the steps, and I promise I won't suggest any. How about the rest of the house?"Steven shook into action. "Right. Yes. Forgot we were still outside. Come on in."Ace stepped in to a pretty standard 1950s ranch house. He took in what he had to work with: blank cream colored walls, little to no artwork, nice hardwood floors, probably original to the house. Dark leather furniture, a well-used recliner and the biggest flat-screen TV Ace had ever seen inside a house this size.Oh, he's not going to like what I want him to do with that TV.It was every bit a bachelor pad, but not in the swinging lady trap kind of way. More in the "I have no idea what to do with this place so I'll leave it blank until I get married" kind of way.Across from the TV, Ace was a little startled to find one wall painted deep burgundy. It was a lovely color, but so entirely out of place with the almost colorless palate of