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“Sweetie, I was asking what you think about the renovation, not of me,” Kace said, a hint of a playful smile on his face. “Glad to know you like my body, though.”
My cheeks had never gotten hotter faster in my life. “Oh, fuck off,” I said. “You knew exactly what you were doing, there.”
His laugh filled the empty room, settling my nerves all over again. “Maybe. A little. You’re just too fun to fuck with.”
“And did you call mesweetie?” I balked, furrowing my brow at him. “I don’t know how you get business from anyone with the things that slip out of your mouth.”
“I’m not always this loose,” he said. “But I like you. And I’ll stop calling you things, if you want me to.”
He led me out of the guest house and back out onto the path. I finally felt my molten body temperature going down a little as we walked back over toward his main house. “You can be yourself around me,” I reassured him. “I’m used to being a dorky dad. I can handle it.”
“Then let’s go ink a deal,” Kace said. “I’d be happy to hire your renovation company.” He turned for what I thought was just going to be a handshake, but turned into a bro-hug.
God damn, he smelled good. Like cedar from the sauna and some deliciously scented shampoo that probably cost the same price as my utility bill.
“We won’t let you down,” I told him.
“Can’t wait to work with you, Nathan. Has Vivienne already had you sign the release forms?”
I cocked my head to one side. “Release? For what?”
His blue eyes went wide. “Oh. She didn’t tell you about the TV crew?”
“All I knew coming here was that I was nervous as hell to meet a professional quarterback,” I said. “Is there more I should know?”
“Life of Tomlin,” he said. “My TV show. I have a camera crew filming… well, me. My life. The shit I get into. It’s no big deal, and you forget there are cameras on you after a while. But you should probably sign the release forms to be onLife of Tomlinif you’re going to be working here.”
“Holy shit,” I said.
He glanced at me, a sympathetic look on his face. “It’s totally cool if you aren’t comfortable with it. I let it all out for the whole world to see, but if you need privacy, we can work something out. We’re still filming the episodes, and the first batch isn’t coming out until next month.”
It was a moment of true tenderness from Kace. I’d seen him cocky and joking around all morning, but the moment he’d gotten a whiff that I might have been uncomfortable being filmed, he wanted to make sure I was okay. He was only a handful of years older than my daughter, but clearly he had a good head on his shoulders, just like Maddy did.
“No, no,” I said quickly. “I think that’s cool. I’ve actually always wanted to show off the work we do, to be honest. Show people whatrealconstruction work is like, rather than the fake fix-up shit they put on TV.”
“Dope,” Kace said, his expression lightening again. “Fuck yeah. Well, welcome to my world, then, Nathan.Life of Tomlin. Onscreen and off.”
He winked at me, and I wondered if he had any clue how true his words were.
I really did feel like I was being invited into another world. The kind I only could have dreamed about before today.
We walked back toward his personal chef, and Kace picked up a fresh chunk of grilled pineapple, popping it in his mouth. He moaned, then gave his chef a big pat on the back, saying something involving the wordsso motherfucking good. I watched pineapple juice drip down his thumb toward his wrist, and as he dipped to lick it off, he glanced back over at me, just for a split second.
This time it wasn’t just a momentary stirring of my cock.
I got hard. Undeniably hard, just from watching Kace Tomlin licking juice off his hand, right here in front of me.
Well, fuck me.
I shoved the thought away. I was here to do good work, not to be strangely confused by how my body felt when I looked at Kace.
Even if he did seem to enjoy me watching him.
2
KACE
I’d already started peeling off my sweat-slicked uniform as I jogged over to the edge of the field. I grabbed one of the icy water bottles and popped open the top, shooting a cold jet of electrolyte-enhanced water onto my tongue.
