12. Chapter 12
Chapter twelve
Evander
Whoa . Evander swallowed hard as Ozzy filled up the doorway. The overalls were one thing, but it had been a long time since Evander had seen him shirtless…naked. He had definitely been naked before Evander knocked, otherwise he would have had something better than a sheet to cover his bits. His belly was flat, nipples dark and pert—no shock, since even opening the door, it felt cold as fuck in that room—and he looked every bit as gorgeous as he had when they were dating. It was almost like stepping back in time.
Even that damn raised eyebrow. Ozzy loved to bust it out when he thought he was being fun or clever. The smile before he spoke also gave it away, if Evander hadn’t been so familiar with his expressions. “Can I help you?”
A dozen sexy, innuendo-laden answers played through Evander’s mind. He pursed his lips tight to prevent any of them from flying out until he could get control of himself. It wasn’t as if this was the first time he’d seen Ozzy shirtless. Or wrapped in a sheet. Or naked and grinning in a hotel room. Vegas. Do I still have those shot glasses?
He sighed. “Oswald. Took you a bit. I hope you weren’t busy.”
“Just jerking it.”
Does he know what the hell he’s doing to me? The blood rushed out of Evander’s body and downstairs, in spite of his best efforts to will himself out of getting a hard-on. He definitely felt some thickening going on, but he put on his best face. Plus, being a little bit of a brat gave him a good excuse to stare openly down at Ozzy’s crotch. He frowned and clucked his tongue. “Really? I guess you’re not as big as I remember. Have a whole Ken doll vibe going on as far as I can see.”
Ozzy rolled his eyes, the smile dropping. “What do you want? I want to get back to my night.”
“Too bad.” Evander almost excused himself. They could meet up and talk about the damn patio later. When they were all dressed. But he’d come all the way there, so walking away would honestly just make him seem like a dick. Plus, why lie? They could be professionals. Just because his cock throbbed against the inside of his underwear and his knees quaked at the prospect of getting any closer didn’t mean he had to act on any of the desires now scraping at the back of his skull. “We need to hash out some specifics.”
“Now? During my jerk-off hour?”
“Oh, Oswald. It’s just us here. We both know you’ve never lasted an hour in your life.”
Ozzy stepped back. “Good night, Evander.”
“Wait.” Ev held his hands up in front of his chest. “Truce. It’s actually important. If you really need to finish up, I’ll take a walk around the lobby for a bit. Just promise me you’ll crack a window or something. I don’t need to smell your cum while I’m trying to focus”
“Get the fuck in here. Just let me put on something more socially appropriate. Unless you want to change into a sheet yourself.”
Evander slipped into the room, taking care not to breathe too deeply when he got close to Ozzy. With everything else in that surreal moment, if he caught too deep a whiff of Ozzy, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep himself in check. Once he was out of the tight entryway, toward the bed, he sighed. “Is this all just a ploy to get me naked?”
“Like I need a ploy.” Ozzy stepped toward the bathroom and reached in, flicking on the light. With his arm stretched like that, showing off his armpit and his rib cage, and the top edge of the wrapped sheet sliding down to show off a bit too much hip…
He’s not wrong .
Thankfully, Ozzy walked into the bathroom and closed the door, which gave Evander a chance to catch himself and breathe. I have real things to discuss. No matter how hot he’s making himself look. Or how much his stupid, douche bag schtick is turning me on. For some fucking reason.
Ozzy came back out of the bathroom after a couple minutes, the sheet slung over his shoulder and a pair of gray boxer-briefs on. With nothing else.
Jesus . Maybe he really is doing this on purpose. It was a terrible idea to open the door again, but Ozzy was pushing every boundary. Could it actually be intentional? It seemed like it had to be. There were only so many coincidences that could reasonably pile up.
Ozzy walked past him and bent down, which of course Evander looked at. The thin material stretched taut over his ass. And damn, what an ass. At the very lowest point of his bend, his waistband slipped just a half an inch lower, showing the very top of his crack—
Ozzy pulled a pair of black sweats out of his suitcase and stepped into them.
Of course Ozzy wasn’t using this as a chance to proposition Evander. Why would he? And even if he did, Evander wouldn’t take him up on the offer. The two of them getting back together was a terrible idea, even if it was just a one-night stand.
Ozzy plopped down onto the bed. “You going to make me put a shirt on, or can you contain yourself in front of all this goodness?”
Evander scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen all that goodness covered in puke after a hard night out. I think I can manage.”
“Good.”
Evander grabbed the office chair and pulled it over to the foot of the bed, then sat down. “Don’t know how you can stand being shirtless in here. It’s like the fucking arctic tundra in here.”
“God, you’re still such a little bitch with the cold. This is a reasonable temperature for sleeping. Which I was going to do until you knocked.” He spread his arms wide, showing off every god damn beautiful inch of his muscled torso in a very inconvenient way for Evander. And he grinned. “Complain again and I’ll turn it down more.”
“You want your nipples hard enough to tear a hole in the sheets, more power to you.” Evander made a good show of looking for his phone, although it was mostly to buy himself time. Ozzy was pushing all his buttons in the right way, and that was very, very wrong for them.
Once he got his phone out and navigated to his notes, he could focus on his screen. “Okay, so I want something with vines. A big trellis over the top with crawling flowers to help shade things. But they need to be the kind of thing that someone this guy’s age is going to be able to maintain.”
“Honeysuckle. Easy. It’ll grow just about anywhere, smells wonderful, and doesn’t really take any pruning.” Ozzy shrugged. “If we were in some hellish armpit of the country down south getting heat stroke, I think Chinese jasmine would be better, but it would die in an instant this far north.”
“What, you can’t work that landscaping magic to get it to grow? Thought you had a green thumb.”
“Shove it up your ass. You can’t make something that’s supposed to grow in Zone Nine survive in Zone Four.”
Evander only sort of understood that whole growing zone thing. But it did sound like a big difference. He knew the numbers could be fudged a little, and Ozzy had done it before, but probably not that much. Wouldn’t stop Evander from picking at him. “Well, we can settle for honeysuckle. Even if it’s boring. Does that need misters or anything?” He shook his phone. “Making a shopping list.”
“If it needs misters, I’ll handle it.”
“I know that, Oswald. We’re partners on this patio project. Which means I need to know about the watering situation so I don’t buy the wrong table design and have a big trough or something.”
Ozzy rolled his eyes. “Here’s a suggestion. If you’re anywhere with weather , don’t buy outdoor furniture with any stupid designs that are going to hold water.” He mimed an explosion around his head. “Crazy, I know. This is why I didn’t want someone else getting involved in this.”
“I’m just minding my Ps and Qs.”
“You’re wasting time instead of thinking.” Ozzy shook his head. “Come on, what’s next? Let me save you again.”
“God, you’re insufferable.”
“Pot meet kettle.” Ozzy sighed. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s pick it up tomorrow when we have an audience. Maybe that’ll temper things.”
Evander rolled his eyes. “Hasn’t worked so far.” He got a spark of an idea and did a quick search. When he found what he was looking for—it was hardly an original idea, he was sure—he grinned and turned it around. “I found the table for out there. With a trough in it.”
It was just a design, didn’t appear to be for sale, but they had Jake. He’d be able to make it into something awesome. It was mostly a flat tabletop, but a channel ran around the edge. A leafy plant grew in the center, and in the other pictures, it had arrows with the water flowing from that trough into the soil.
“Wow. You were that desperate to be argumentative with me.” He sighed. “It should work if that’s really what you want. Just hope you’re giving them the best results, not trying to get one up on me.”
“A table with a self-watering planter built in. It’s a perfect conversation starter for an entertaining space like I’m building.” It was mostly because he wanted to poke and prod at Ozzy, but that didn’t nullify his point. It was a cool design, and it would encourage some conversation and interest. “I bet you’d be in a better mood if you weren’t so cold.”
“Fuck you, Evander.”
“Is that a sincere offer?”
Ozzy stood. “Jesus. You came here with a mission, now you’re just screwing with me? What the hell, Ev?” His eyes sparked with flame. “If I was going to do anything, I’d put your mouth to use to shut you up.”
Tingles raced down from Evander’s head, across his chest, and down to his crotch. He swallowed, and before he could thing properly, his mouth opened and he chimed in, “You need a blow job? Would that make you easier to work with, Oswald? Relieve some fucking tension?”
His voice cracked on “fucking.” Just a little. Just enough that he was sure Ozzy would pick up on it. Isn’t that just great?