Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“What is it?” Will, who had been standing in the doorway of the kitchen watching Jack work, looked up with interest. Was there hidden treasure? Or, more likely, a mouse nest?
Jack pulled out several old panels, yellowed with age, and handed them down to Will. “It’s the original old tin ceiling. Looks like the genuine article. I can’t believe they’d cover this with ceiling panels.”
Grinning down at Will, Jack added, “These tin ceilings were popular in the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth. They were an affordable alternative to the expensive sculpted plaster that was used in the finer homes. This would cost a fortune today.”
He pulled a few more panels out of the thin metal framing that held them in place. Will took them and placed them on the growing pile in the middle of the gutted kitchen. The dumpster was already filled with the rest of the debris from the kitchen demolition.
Will moved closer, looking up for inspection. The ceiling hidden beneath consisted of white tin-plated steel pressed into an embossed design that made a pleasing pattern. “That’s really cool.” He liked the look of the old-fashioned ceiling, but even more, he liked how animated Jack seemed to be over its discovery. In the few days Jack had been coming to work on his kitchen, he mostly kept to himself. He was polite and cordial when they spoke, but nothing more.
Not that Will had the right to expect anything more. Not that Will wanted anything more. Yet he couldn’t deny a certain attraction. Something about Jack seemed to grab his attention and hold it.
It was odd, because he wasn’t usually attracted to older guys. In fact, most of the guys he dated were younger than he was. Paul, for example, had just turned twenty-five. Not that he and Paul were particularly dating—they were more casual-sex partners, which suited them both. Paul was fun and hot but there was no deep, abiding emotional connection between them.
Will actually prided himself on avoiding guys who seemed to offer the potential messiness of an all-out love affair. Living footloose and fancy-free had suited Will for most of his adult life. It went along with the fast-paced, high-stakes nature of his work.
It was only recently, with his near crash and burn at work, that he’d begun to take stock of his life and his priorities. It hit him maybe something was missing. Something vital.
Surely he wasn’t looking toward the handyman in his search for meaning, or whatever the hell it was he was searching for. And yet…and yet he couldn’t seem to get the guy out of his mind. He couldn’t seem to help hovering nearby when Jack was working—making up excuses to come into the kitchen, thinking up questions that no doubt irritated Jack while he was trying to work.
When Jack was around he couldn’t concentrate on his work, and the problem, instead of getting better, was getting worse.
It wasn’t that the guy was handsome. His eyes were a little too deep-set beneath heavy brows, giving him a brooding expression. His nose, obviously broken at least once, was large and crooked, the lips beneath perhaps too wide for his face. His beard was heavy, five-o’clock shadow already in evidence by the end of the workday. Though he wasn’t especially tall, he was strong and thickly built—giving the impression of power and girth.
In other words, he was most decidedly not Will’s typical choice in a man. Will’s tastes tended more toward men like Paul—slender, even slight, with the graceful features of a Greek statue. With these men, he realized with a sudden flash of not-really-welcome insight, he was superior—older, wiser, stronger.
With Jack he felt like a kid. Jack didn’t seem impressed by the obvious wealth he’d amassed at such an early age or his fancy investment banking job and the degrees that went along with it. He was politely interested when Will talked about his life, but fairly closed off about himself.
Not that Will expected anything different. Just the same, he found himself wondering… Jack challenged something in him. It wasn’t that he wanted or expected to get the guy in bed and turn him gay with one well-placed kiss. He just wanted to know more about him.
Why not just take the leap and ask? The last few days Jack had been working, he would take a break by going to his truck and eating a lunch no doubt packed by a dutiful wife. He would either sit in the cab or lean against it, enjoying the fresh spring air. Perhaps today Will would join him.
An hour later Jack popped his head into Will’s study, knocking lightly on the doorframe. “Excuse me, just wanted to let you know I’m taking a break. I’m nearly done for today. I piled the boxes of flooring in the kitchen. I’ll start to lay it down tomorrow. I think we should return the ceiling panels we bought to replace the old ones and work on restoring that amazing tin ceiling.”