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Cole’s temper exploded and he opened his mouth before he could stop himself. “The deadlines are fine. If you didn’t spend so much time sitting on your arse jacking off in the shitter you wouldn’t have a problem.”
“I’m stuck here with two apprentices who don’t know shit,” Jono shouted back.
“Show me a single wall that you’ve put up,” he growled. “Oh, wait, there was one.” Cole pointed to the back of the house to the area overlooking the massive entertaining patio. The wall—if you could call it that—was one big open space that a set of stacked sliding doors would fit into. The doors ran almost the full length of the opening so the wall itself was less than twenty lengths of timber with fewer than five cuts involved. He raised his index finger. “This whole house and you’ve put one wall up. The problem isn’t them. It’s you. Yeah, they fuck up, but they’re apprentices. They’re still learning. You just fuck around all day. Clean your shit up, Jono. It won’t fly with me.”
Cole stormed away, slamming the door to his ute closed and shutting him in the stifling heat of the cab. He groaned and leaned his head back against the rest. Fuck, he hated this job. He still had hours left of his day too. The other site was only fifteen k’s away, but it would take him over an hour to get there with the car-park-like traffic on the freeway. Then when he got there, he had to figure out a way to slash how long it would take to finish the build.
The theft of the doors had put them weeks behind their already blown-out schedule. The company was paying the owners’ rent as a penalty and shit had been hitting the fan for weeks. As lead chippie for the site, it was on Cole’s back to fix.
His phone rang just as he stepped through the safety fencing erected around the massive site, Ava’s name lighting up the screen. “Hey, gorgeous. How’s your day been?”
“Interesting? I don’t know how to describe it to be honest.”
He could hear the disappointment and frustration in her voice, and Cole hated that he might have been right. He wanted nothing more than for her to find her dream job with this company, but it was only the first day. She’d likely sat in induction meetings for most of it and was bored shitless, so there was still hope.
“But that’s actually not why I was calling. Have you heard from Bryce?”
“I got a text earlier after I’d left a message to say that his meeting had turned into a few more than he’d expected. Said he’d see us tonight.” Cole didn’t like not knowing but there was nothing he could do except wait.
“I’m a bit worried to be honest.”
Cole refused to believe that Bryce hadn’t managed to secure the extension on his contract. He shone every time he stepped on the field. Cole was in awe when he’d watched Bryce play in a practice match with the team. “He’ll be right,” Cole reassured her. “Bryce is bloody good. The team are blind if they can’t see that.”
“You’re right. I just can’t stop thinking about how he’s going.” There was noise in the background, talking and shuffling, and Ava spoke again, adding, “Sorry, hon. I have to go. See you at your place after work?”
“Can’t wait.” Cole hung up and trudged up the unmade driveway to check over the team’s progress for the day and meet with the owners and site supervisor. He could handle working with the apprentices when they had their brains switched on. Picking up basic things like forgetting to measure where a wall should be placed was annoying, but he could deal. It was the other guys—the Jonos of their crew who didn’t care about deadlines, or even much about the quality of their work, and the site supervisors who promised the world to owners—that drove him insane.
Cole rubbed his forehead before pressing his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. He already had a headache, and the worst of his meetings were yet to come.
Three hours later and Cole was finally pushing through his front door. A shower, cold drink, and pizza were calling his name, but first he needed to know how Bryce and Ava had gone. Neither had left his head for more than a few moments throughout the whole day. He’d spaced out time and again when he should have been concentrating on work and talking down the irate owners. They’d had no concept of the lead times involved with manufacturing products. They’d waited months for the original doors to be crafted and were demanding replacements by the end of the week. He’d had a go at them, snapping that it wasn’t possible when they wouldn’t listen to reason. He’d deserved the earful the site supervisor gave him, but instead of pushing him to do better, it only served to demotivate him.
He called Bryce, but it went straight to message bank. Ava was next, but the same thing happened. He sighed unhappily and stripped. He took a swig of his ice-cold beer and stepped into the shower.
The warm water sluicing over his tired muscles was exactly what he’d needed. Cole rested his free hand on the cold tiles and hung his head low, letting the shampoo wash from his hair before he scrubbed himself down. The high-pitched ring from the building’s front door sounded just as he turned off the water. With only his towel around his waist and water dripping off him, he dashed across the apartment and buzzed in Bryce, his heart doing a fast thump-thump at the knowledge he’d see at least one of the two people who could always brighten his day.
“Come on up, the door’s open,” he said into the intercom before unlocking the front door. He hadn’t even managed it halfway back to the bathroom to dry himself off when the ring sounded again. This time it was Ava, and the smile that split his lips was absurd. Cole huffed out a laugh at his ridiculousness. He was a sappy fool, excited beyond measure at seeing them.
While he was waiting for them to come up, he dried the floor with his towel, dumped it in the hamper, and grabbed a fresh one to dry off with. He swirled mouthwash around, spat it out, and threw on some deodorant. “In here,” he called when he heard the front door shut.
A moment later, Bryce’s strong arms wrapped around his waist. Cole melted into his touch, letting his eyes drift closed as Bryce nuzzled his nose against the wet hair at Cole’s temple. It sent a shiver through him, and he felt Bryce’s lips tilt up against his skin in a smile. When his man licked a drop of water sliding down his cheek, Cole moaned, his cock thickening.
“Hey, you,” Bryce rumbled, the noise sending another shiver of desire straight to Cole’s cock.
He opened his eyes, staring at their reflection. Cole looked wanton, his lips parted and his pupils blown. Bryce’s golden skin and hair against Cole’s darker complexion stood out in stark relief, but it was Bryce’s smile that caught his attention and kept it.
Pure joy radiated from his man and Cole’s heart swooped like a flock of birds in full flight.
He turned in Bryce’s embrace, wrapping his arms around his man’s shoulders and asked, “You got it?” His voice was high with excitement, and Bryce’s ecstatic grin ratcheted up even further in response. Cole’s heartbeat quickened in his veins.
“No, but I do have news. I want to tell you and Ava together.” He stepped back, eyeing the bulge underneath Cole’s towel while Cole drooled over him. He’d rolled the sleeves of his white dress shirt up, showing off thick forearms with a dusting of blond hair and veins that snaked their way up his arms. His top two buttons were undone, revealing the hint of just how perfectly rounded his pecs were. The grey tie hanging untied around his neck was perfect to grab him with and haul him close, and his navy blue slim-line pants moulded to his muscular thighs and calves.
Cole couldn’t wait to wrap his legs around those wide hips.
Bryce’s voice was a husky rasp when he added, “Don’t get dressed. Better yet, lose this altogether.” The front door closed again, and Bryce hooked a finger onto Cole’s towel, backing out the door and taking it with him. “Oops.” He shrugged and Cole snorted out a laugh.
He followed him out a moment later, watching as Ava buried her face in Bryce’s chest, sighing when his arms closed around her. He couldn’t hear what Bryce was whispering but Ava’s headshake and the tension she was carrying in her shoulders were like an anvil to his gut.
Cole’s buoyant mood from a moment ago slipped and he joined his guy in holding their girl tight.
