Page 16 of The Handy Men
"Good night," Dean said in her other one.
Paige didn’t even remember the boat ride home.
6
Jack and Dean were working on a leak in one of the third floor bathrooms. Actually, Jack was. Dean was pacing around the room talking aloud and generally driving Jack bug fuck.
"I don’t like the storm they’re predicting." Dean opened up the window and looked out. "The surf is getting pretty gnarly." He called back over his shoulders.
"Stop with the surfer talk. It makes me hard." Jack tightened the pipe, but the fucking thing was still leaking. If he didn't get this locked down, it could drip all over the new cabinets and cause mold. Not to mention, if it ruined the tile flooring Dean had laid down, he'd never hear the end of it.
"What doesn’t make you hard?" Dean secured the French doors.
"This pipe."
"They're talking hurricane force winds and severe thunderstorms."
"Really? You let a pipe innuendo go? You must be worried."
"In your end go?"
"That's better," Jack said, grimacing as the pipe still leaked. He wiped it dry and then tightened it further. "The weathermen have nothing better to do than scare the shit out of everyone. It's a little rain. Stop being such a candy ass."
"It's not me I'm worried about," Dean stood over him. Jack liked the view. Dean's jeans clung to his muscled thighs. "What if the storm surge floods the inn?"
"Have to be a hell of a storm surge. It's not hurricane season."
"What if the shutters don’t hold? What if the inn gets hit by lightning?"
Jack finished with the pipe and sat up, rubbing his hand over Dean's crotch as he did so. The soft material of the denim felt good over Dean's cock. "Shut up. If Paige hears you talking like that, she'll freak out. You need to stay calm for her."
"We're staying here tonight." Dean stepped away and helped Jack to his feet.
"If we stay here tonight, there's no way I'm not fucking her in that big bed she has in her room."
Dean shook his head. "Not until we're done here. Or she asks for it."
"Leave it to me," Jack said. "I'll have her begging for us. I would have been in her pants last week if it wasn't for you cock blocking me."
"I wasn't cock blocking you," Dean argued. "Let me do you on the boat was an awful way to ease into a complicated relationship."
"There's nothing complicated about this. All it has to be is sex. Just sex." Jack pushed by him and gathered up his tools.
"It's not going to be just sex and you know it. Our hearts are involved."
"Her parents hold her purse strings and they're ultra-conservative. You can put any Valentine's Day bullshit spin on it that you want." Jack shrugged. "But she's another Stephanie. I'm not getting burned again. Which reminds me, if you're that worried about the storm, I should go look at our house on Dune Street. We really should put more effort into getting that rented out again." Jack would have liked to give up the house on the mainland and move here permanently, but Dean didn't feel comfortable with all the judgment from the locals. Jack couldn't give a fuck. As far as he was concerned, the only way they'd accept them is if it was shoved in their faces on a daily basis.
Dean grunted, but it was obvious his mind wasn't on real estate. "We have to go easy and take our time with this. Get to know how Paige feels. She was so fierce to protect you the other night. She cares about us. Hell, if this was just about sex I'd suggest we take the train into Manhattan and get our freak on."
"Did you just honestly say 'get our freak on'?" Jack narrowed his eyes.
"I want Paige. But I want her in our bed permanently."
Placing his hand on Dean's arm, Jack squeezed it. "I want that, too. But we're not going to get it, so let's put all of this sexual tension away and just have fun."
"What if she tells us to get out of her life?" Dean whispered. "What if those dried up old prunes blackball her inn because of us? She's worked so damned hard for this. What if we finally get her into our lives and the inn fails because of some narrow-minded idiots?"
Jack tamped down a flare of anger. He didn't like that Dean was overthinking this and getting hurt over what might happen. "If we fuck her right, she'll never want us to leave. Until her parents show up. Who cares what the townspeople think? Unless we're fucking in the town fountain, they can piss up a rope."
