25. Chapter 25
Chapter twenty-five
Robinson
It wasn’t quite a full reveal, but Evander and Eliza both wanted to get an initial reaction from Chuck seeing the master suite. It wasn’t done, so they’d still be able to get a proper reaction at the end, but it would make for good footage, since they couldn’t realistically keep him out of there the next week-and-a-half or however long it took, and it also let them take the temperature on their choices. Robinson stood in the doorway of the master bath while Evander and the camera crew got everything set up.
Then, Ev opened the door. “Take a look and tell us what you think.”
Chuck walked slowly inside, and to his credit, he wasn’t looking at the cameras. He was taking in the new wall color of the master bedroom, a slate blue with one accent wall of gray shiplap, and the new floor, a cream-colored carpet that was ridiculously soft.
“Holy shit.” Chuck’s face split into a smile. “This is perfect. How did you…I mean, I know I told you what I wanted, but I didn’t think…wow.” He grabbed Evander by the shoulders. “I know it’s just paint and carpet, but thank you.”
“Ooh, I get this big a thank you for half-assing your room?” He wrapped his arms around Chuck briefly, then parted. “Anything you want to change before things are completely set in stone? I know shiplap is trendy and overused, but it just seemed so perfect.”
“It’s not white shiplap, and it’s not in every room.” Chuck turned in place. When his gaze landed on Robinson, it was like a lance of lightning straight through Robinson’s navel, making him stand up at attention—and making his dick do the same. Now that they’d agreed, however tentatively and casually, to hook up, even that interaction felt different. Heavier. Hotter.
He pushed that aside, stepped out, and gestured into the master bath. “Also got this done. Still not ready to be used, but you can walk in and take a look around as long as you promise not to turn your shower on and ruin all the tiling.”
Chuck moved past and Robinson tried not to shiver from the proximity. They had a plan, however tentative, to hook up, and now he was right there. Damn these cameras . His dick was already responding to Chuck as he passed by, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from drifting down to the small of his back, the curve of his ass in those slacks. It wasn’t helping his horniness, that was for sure. And this little tour of the bathroom wouldn’t help either.
Chuck walked gingerly, like he was afraid he’d damage something if he stepped too hard. Robinson pulled on his best professional performance as the cameras followed behind and the crew made micro-adjustments to the reflectors and all that stuff. “We kept a lot of this the same, and obviously your vanity isn’t in yet.” He gestured to the capped pipes from the side-by-side sinks. “But everything else is good to go.”
Chuck nodded as a slight smile played across his lips. “It looks great.”
Robinson could agree with that. The floor tiles had been in good shape, so Evander had decided to use them as a base for an elegant, open master bath. Even though the flooring hadn’t been changed, the experience looked new and classy. Large format white tiles on the floor that carried up the walls. They’d gone all tile, no paint for this, so it looked very seamless and luxury. Robinson had considered a separate bidet for that real European luxury hotel vibe, but it would have been a lot of plumbing work for, frankly, an inferior user experience, so they’d sprung for an integrated system in the new toilet. It also aided the sleek appearance, since the controls were on a separate panel, not an awkward series of buttons on the rim of the toilet bowl.
Chuck didn’t go for that, though. He beelined for the new shower setup, which Robinson had put some actual plumbing work into, rerouting the hookups so they could use the tall, dramatic showerhead.
Chuck ran his fingers along the tall, silvery pipes until he touched against the douche nozzle. Then he looked at Robinson. “I kind of forgot about this.’
I’m not going to let this be weird. I’m not going to let this get me hard on a job . Robinson strode over. “Luckily, it’s easy enough if you want to ditch it. Temporarily or otherwise.” He reached for where it hooked into the water source and pushed in on the coupling. One twist and it popped off. “Quick connect fitting. This way, if someone has to use the shower and you don’t want to deal with any questions, you can just pop it off and stow it.”
“Oh, so I don’t have to explain douching to my kids.”
Robinson nodded. “That was the idea. Although…” Robinson gestured at the cameras all around them. “Unless you’re not going to let them watch the show, there’s at least a chance they’ll find out.”
“We can cut this if you want!” Eliza was in the bedroom, but she shouted so her voice carried. “Let me know. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
Chuck nodded, then took the nozzle and hose from Robinson—his fingers rested briefly against Robinson’s in the process—and reattached it. “Seems easy enough.”
Robinson nodded. “That was the goal. The rest of it is properly plumbed in, so this is the only technically unnecessary point of failure. But I’ve used this kind of fitting for years and never had a problem.” At least no problems worth mentioning. He would run it through its paces once the tiles were fully good to go, just to make sure, but the most he’d ever had with these was some trickling around the edges if they weren’t sealed on properly.
Finally, Chuck moved back up to the showerhead. He whistled low. “This looks like it’s going to be good.”
“Yeah. I went a little bigger than we talked about, but bigger’s always better, right?” It was an innocent statement, but it felt like an innuendo. And Chuck’s raised eyebrow suggested he took it as one, as well.
This is going to be a long week if we can’t even talk without me chubbing up.