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I peered at it, frowning critically and tapping my chin. “Terrible. Just terrible. I’m going to have to completely redo it.”
His face fell. “Really? I thought—”
I laughed and tossed him a damp rag. “I’m kidding. It’s actually really good. Your lines are steady and there aren’t any runs or spots you missed.”
He exhaled in a rush. “Thank God. I can’t afford to mess anything else up. What’s this for?” He held up the rag.
I stepped in close and swiped a bit of paint onto his nose with my fingertip. “You have paint on your face.”
Soren narrowed his eyes at me. “Oh, it’s on now, fucker.” He made a move toward me and I took off at a run.
Ten minutes later, we were both breathless as I snatched Soren by the waist and kissed him before I collapsed on the lobby floor. He quickly joined me, staring up at the ceiling.
“It’s really coming together,” Soren murmured.
I turned to smile at him. “Your hard work is paying off.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you.”
“My funding, maybe, but you’re a perfectly capable handyman.”
“No,” he said firmly. “I mean it. You rescued my ass with the sink that first night. You made sure the plumbing and electrical were in good working order. Your crew helped us rip out all the old seats from the viewing rooms, helped us install new floors, and you even helped source the new projection and concessions equipment. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you.”
I grinned sheepishly and looked at the ceiling again. “You don’t need to thank me. You’ve already done your part.”
He was quiet for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was soft. “Yeah, but that’ll be over before we know it.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t know what to say. It doesn’t have to be over. Stay with me. Was I ready to say something like that to him? Could I? Besides, what if he said no? What if this was his big gay experiment and then he walked away at the end of the year, two million richer and one husband lighter? I couldn’t imagine it.
I pushed myself up to sitting. “Let’s go home,” I murmured. “I’m tired.”
He nodded and sat up slowly, a small smile on his face. “Yeah. Home.”
Chapter Fourteen
Soren
Chapter Fourteen
Soren
I could hardly believe how quickly everything was coming together. Once Levi’s crew had started working at the theater, progress seemed to happen overnight. Boom boom boom, projects fell into place thanks to Hayes Restoration. His team wasn’t a big one—there were only six guys in total, and that included Levi—but they were effective, and damn good at what they did. I’d been able to turn my focus to hiring a small staff and training them on how to use the equipment, preparing them for when we were finally able to open.
I sat in the theater’s business office, piles of papers and file folders stuffed full of documents surrounding me on the desk, trying to come up with a plan for opening day. We’d set the opening for just a few weeks away and while I had some ideas for what was effectively looking like a very gentle opening day, I wasn’t convinced it was enough.
As I flipped through the newspaper, my gaze landed on the announcement of a craft fair at the local elementary school. The craft fair was a fundraiser for a new climbing wall which would be installed in the school’s gym. Thanks to the craft fair, the wheels of my mind started turning. It made sense. A lot of sense. I put the newspaper down and picked up my phone. A vendor fair sounded like the perfect solution to what I was hoping to accomplish, and I was going to make it happen.
I started by reaching out to the people I’d become friends with in the area, then moved to people who had expressed interest in helping with our opening day or beyond. Once those were done, I moved to calling businesses I’d seen at similar events around town. After two hours of making phone calls, I was exhausted of talking, especially of talking to strangers, but I’d successfully convinced at least a dozen vendors to be at what was becoming the theater’s grand opening event. There would be vendors in the lobby and in the parking lot. I was thinking of making it a sort of fall festival-type event, complete with cotton candy machine, games, and prizes. I made a mental note to let Levi know about the whole idea and how I still had plenty of table space available if he wanted to set up a booth, or if one of his Out and Kickin’ friends was interested in doing something there, too.
The next task I tackled was marketing. I spent what felt like hours designing a few different ads to run in magazines and newspapers as well as on their online outlets. I wasn’t a graphic designer by any means, but I had what I liked to think was a good eye for that sort of thing. I put together several options and submitted them online to a handful of publications that were distributed in Port Grandlin. I also reached out to the major Port Grandlin newspaper and invited the person in charge of the local events section to come cover the event, and then arranged for a half-page ad in the paper to run the weekend before the grand opening party.
I was tired, but I kept plugging away, knowing that no matter how much publicity I got for the event, it wouldn’t ever feel like I’d done enough. I set to finding rental equipment for the fall festival component, including some tents to protect us from the sun, a cotton candy machine, and hell, even a bounce house, all before going back to do more design work. By the time I’d finished drawing up a poster I wanted to have printed and try to get hung in some of the nearby storefronts, I was drained. Office tasks could be just as challenging as physical labor, even if it was a different muscle being tested, and I felt as if I’d been painting or re-tiling or installing new seats again. I closed my eyes and rested my face in my hands, elbows on my desk, and took a few slow, deep breaths. A knock on the office door startled me, but when I saw who’d come to interrupt my few minutes of quiet, I didn’t mind at all.
A slow smile spread across Levi’s face as he leaned against the doorframe, a plastic takeout bag in each hand. “Thought you could use a break,” he said by way of greeting.
I stood, the tension draining out of me. “You have no idea. You’re an angel.”
He chuckled, and the way he laughed, low and sexy, sent an electric current running through me, making my cock thicken the way it always seemed to when Levi was involved.
