9. Chapter 9
Chapter nine
Dane
D ane did his best not to consider his little meeting with Aras as any kind of date. He did have some ideas that he thought would be good for the carnival glass situation, and that had only been further confirmed when, toward the end of the day, Evander presented the idea of a display room for her collection. They had an entire extra bedroom, and they could have made it into a guest room, but he could just as easily get her a good pull-out couch for the living room. And after a couple seconds to process, Caroline had shown her excitement, clapping her hands together and jumping up.
However, everything Dane had to say could have been passed on at the house. To the entire team. It wasn’t a revolutionary idea, but his stupid hormones and his ridiculous fantasies had spurred him on to make this a totally-not-a-date situation where they just got drinks or dinner or something. Alone. And talked about his pretty simple idea, then had to fill in the conversation.
His silly crush was getting…concerning. But he couldn’t convince himself to abandon it all together. Maybe if this went badly. Or maybe that would just deepen this infatuation into something more desperate. It wouldn’t be the first time Dane had gotten rebuffed by a crush, only to double down.
No way to know until I know . He checked himself in the mirror, scrubbing his fingers over his hair to muss it up. His mohawk could be a little restrictive, but he’d had it long enough, he knew how to coax different styles out of it. Tonight, he went for a messy wad, loosely held together with mousse. Which sounded bad, he knew, but it was accurate: his red hair had little natural curl or wave to it, but he took advantage of what was there to make it a stylized puff down the center of his scalp. Or, in his own words, a wad of hair.
He’d talked himself out of overdressing, since this clearly wasn’t a date, but had changed into something clean, and a bit snugger than his normal work wear. Black jeans that he knew accentuated his butt, and a striped, black and white T-shirt with pointed silver studs on the shoulders, and a hem that just barely hit low enough to brush his belt.
Just because it wasn’t a date didn’t mean he couldn’t try to draw a little attention from his new work crush. He didn’t know if Aras was an ass man, or if he would even care if Dane stretched and showed off his midriff, or maybe most importantly of all, if Aras had any interest in him at all. But it couldn’t hurt to look good.
He checked his phone to see if he was running late—still plenty of time to get downstairs—and saw notice that another package had been delivered. Plus a texted picture from Krissy showing the growing stack of such packages she’d left on his desk…and office chair…and the floor around it. Obviously she’d spread them out to drive home the point, but there were a lot of model kits there, waiting to be put together.
And I have at least three more on order . What was the line between a hobby and a problem?
He shot Krissy a text in return, a laughing-crying face plus hands praying for forgiveness, then pocketed his phone and headed for the elevator to meet up with Aras.
Meet up a lot sooner than he’d expected. Aras was standing at the bank of elevators, wearing that same red corduroy jacket from earlier, plus pale jeans. He was facing away, so Dane let his eyes drink in every inch. Dark curls on top of his head, the jacket clinging to his shoulders and back and arms, the denim cupping his ass and showing off an impressive set of thighs.
Once he’d taken his fill—and also taken a moment to will his swelling dick back under control—Dane cleared his throat. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Aras turned, and the left corner of his mouth quirked upward. “Absolutely unexpected.” Then the elevator in front of him opened up with a ding and he walked forward, holding the door behind him.
Dane scurried in and, when the doors slid shut, they were alone. Dane took a breath to still himself and start talking, but the smell of roses and vanilla and some other floral something filled his nose. It knocked all his thoughts and self-control aside. “What shampoo do you use?”
Aras looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Odd way to present your design idea.”
Shit . “I’m sorry. That wasn’t what I was trying to say. I mean, it was, but I wasn’t using my brain.”
“I’m kidding.” He shook his head. “We don’t need to jump straight into business. But I’ve just been using the hotel’s shampoo. Why?”
He wasn’t annoyed, so that was good, but Dane was still kicking himself for letting his self-control slip so quickly, and so completely. “I just…something in here smells nice. I thought it was you. But maybe not. Not that you smell bad, I’m sure.” Good thing this was totally not a date, otherwise Dane would have been fucking it up completely. “Could you just shoot me and put out of my misery at this point?”
“I believe that’s a crime.” The elevator doors opened and Aras gestured him out. Once they were both in the lobby, having traded out the elevator with a family of four who looked absolutely exhausted, Aras picked back up. “Did it smell like roses?”
It took Dane a moment, but he nodded. “Yeah.”
“Cologne. Perfume. Whatever you want to call it.” He drew the back of his wrist under his nose. “Roses and white tea and oak. According to the back of the bottle. I only ever get roses off it.” A smile pulled at his face, this time even on both sides, and light gleamed in his eyes as he looked down at Dane. “You like how I smell? Do I need to be worried that I’m corrupting your virginal soul, all for the sake of this job?”
Dane snorted a laugh. “Virginal. Right. Not since I was fifteen.”
“Well good. Because I’m not great at keeping my words in check.” Aras gestured toward the door. “We going out, staying here? I’m ready for whatever.”
“You’re ready for whatever and you’re worried about my virginity? Maybe I should be worried.”
Aras rolled his eyes. “Right. I was thinking we could bang at the front desk, but I’d be open to hooking up on the nearest roundabout if you’d rather.”
At that, Dane’s eyes narrowed and his brain began to steam and chug, trying to piece things together. Aras had a provocative way of speaking. That had been clear since the first day they’d started filming. But was he acting more sexual than usual, or was Dane hearing what he wanted? Have to keep my eyes open. “We could talk here. Then, if I piss you off, you’ll have access to the bar.”
Aras slapped a hand to his chest. “I think you’re the only person on this production who understands my needs.”