Page 18 of Developing Hearts (Pine Point Fixer-Uppers #5)

Chapter eighteen

David

They hadn’t gone back to the bedroom together, even though they were staying in the same hotel, barely any space between them, and even though David was pretty sure they’d both had an excellent time.

Not that David was exactly disappointed—the blow jobs were plenty of fuel for his spank bank for a while—but he wouldn’t have minded another foray. Maybe a deeper foray.

Especially since they had to spend so much time around each other, and every time David looked at Mason’s ass, he imagined what it would be like to dive in tongue first. There was something so primal and powerful about going to town on a rim job…

plus David just wanted to get more. Whatever more looked like.

Amazing that he was this smitten in such a short time.

They’d only been working on his condo for eight days.

It wasn’t just him and Mason making progress, either; the house was coming together faster than David would have ever through possible.

All the flooring had been put in, and even though both Jake and Eddie, the lead contractor they’d brought in, gave the all-clear, Homescapes called in a third opinion to sign off on it before they moved on.

Both bathrooms had working toilets for the first time since David had moved in.

There were boxed-up appliances sitting in what should have been his living room, which meant he would have a fully furnished kitchen as well.

Evander had pulled him in to take a look at tiles for the master bath and give the final go-ahead. “Now, I know that you like color. I like color. But I want you to really think about this.” He chuckled. “It’s a lot.”

“Oh, I know. I picked it out to be a lot in the first place.” He grabbed one of the turquoise tiles, the brightest shade of it he’d been able to find.

“They look nice and calm when it’s darker, right?

” He stuck the tile into the shadow cast by the two of them standing there, and while it was still visibly turquoise, it was significantly less aggressive.

“But in the light, it makes a statement. And it’s still in that bathroom color area. ”

Evander smiled. “Good, I was worried you’d talked yourself out of them.” He grabbed the tile and placed it back in the stack. “I think it’s going to be stunning, but I’d be irresponsible not to check in before we place them.” He gestured to the floor. “It’ll be a nice pair with the new floors.”

The floors in the bathrooms had been done as well, finishing all that up in one go.

He’d settled on the same thing for both, even though the overall design choices for the guest bathroom were much more muted.

The chevron-shaped tiles added some interest on their own, but they also had lines of gold running through them.

Obviously not real gold, but it got the color and the feeling across, even though the main bodies, as well as the grout, were white.

“I really think it’s going to look good, honestly.

” Evander sighed and leaned against the door jamb, arms crossed and a smile on his face.

“Of course, it helps that we’re working with an actual artist. Not that I would ever speak ill about the tastes of any of our clients, but… you’re a nice change of pace.”

David snorted a laugh. “I remember Aunt Whitney’s collection of creepy ceramic bears.”

Evander shut his eyes and shook his head. “And now so do I. Not actually what I was referring to, but…at least she was passionate about them, I guess. Even if I wish we could have put them in a box in the attic.”

Before David could respond, the cameraman pulled back and Eliza stepped into the room, smiling, her hands clasped at her waist. “David, can we have a chat? I want to run something by you and Mason.”

David’s body tensed. Did she know? Was it a problem? He saw Evander and Ozzy on each other every free second, but maybe the rules were different. “Hope it’s nothing bad.”

“Oh, God no.” She waved the concern away like a gnat. “I think it would be good to have a feature in this episode, talking about your experience with your aunt and uncle’s house. Really tie it back into the VideoHead content, hit the personal connection, all that good stuff.”

Of course it was nothing bad. Hanging around Mason too long and I’m picking up his penchant for anxiety . “Let’s go then. Always happy to reminisce.” Plus it sounded like he was now contractually obligated to spend more time looking at Mason. I’ll recover from the tragedy, I suppose .

Eliza led the way down the hall, past Aras swearing at some wires next to the sliding door to the balcony, around Robinson and the plumbers from the contractor’s crew hooking something up in the kitchen, and around to the living room, which had been commandeered as the command center.

It was sparse as hell without all his furniture in place, only some folding chairs and a big, beige card table, which was occupied by Mason and his computer.

He smiled at David. “You need coffee or water or anything, get it now. Probably going to be here a minute.”

David took an empty chair across from him.

“I think I’m good. Drink coffee, I’m just going to have to get up halfway through to pee.

” Mason was in a white button-up shirt with these bright cyan pants that David had spent the entire day admiring.

And not only because they hugged and lifted Mason’s ass.

He could absolutely see himself buying a pair for himself.

Those were statement pants. “So, how does this start, I guess?”