“IT’S HUGE, LENIC.” I let him into my house, and watch him lift the aged metal box and place it on the desk in front of me. “Your tool belt.”
“That sounded like an opening line to a bad porn movie.”
“I thought you didn't watch porn.” I walk up to him slowly. “But who needs porn when you're around. This…” I tug on his belt buckle. “…is a walking porn movie waiting to happen.”
His laughter is hearty and fills the room. “You gonna let me rebuild you a new banister?” He leans down to kiss me, his soft lips brushing mine briefly.
“I promised, didn’t I? Just as long as you fix my leaky pipe later. And I don’t mean the one in the kitchen.”
I slide my hand up underneath the hem of his grey T-shirt and run my fingertips over his hard stomach. I can’t help myself. Lenic had been away for two weeks in London recently, and after being apart for so long, we’ve engaged in an intoxicating week of non-stop touch. Yes, screwing around in every way imaginable, but also in tenderness. Hands held, arms wrapped around torsos, lips kissing lips and fingertips.
We ordered Thai and Chinese, and Lenic made us dinner with me wrapped around him in his kitchen, kissing his neck and shoulders and back. We ate in his bed, with me lying back on him, resting between his legs and laughing.
I rest my cheek against his chest for a moment, and feel the reverberation of his happiness echo through my own body, like a ripple across a pond, and my heart beats back a harmony of my own contentment.
It is too good to be true. All of this. Us. It’s all too good.
I glide my hands down into his boxer briefs. "You keep that up, Hazelnut," he says, pitching his voice low and leaning in so that his peppermint breath blows cool across my cheek, "and I'll be bending you over that banister and making damn sure your neighbours feel every single bang.”
I shiver as he brushes a strand of hair back from my neck and dips his head down to place a tormenting soft kiss on the nape of my neck. I close my eyes and let out a ragged breath, at which he chuckles, his hand cupping my chin as his laughing eyes gaze affectionately down into mine. "I'll be working on that banister and when I take a break … I’m gonna drill my big tool into you.”
I let him get on with his work while I edit my latest video, every so often stealing a glance. There is something about that man using a hammer and a drill that turns me on.
Half an hour later, I walk over to him and lean up against the wall. “I’m guessing you’ve always been into construction since you were a kid. Playing with plastic hammers and the like.”
He stops hammering for a second to look at me. “Pretty much.”
“Tell me a story about you as a child.”
He pauses to think. “Back at this summer camp thing my parents sent me on once, I was caught sleepwalking into the girls’ dormitory.”
“Sleepwalking?” I say doubtfully. “Yeah, sure, Lenic … I believe you weren’t peeping at all the girls sleeping in their nighties…”
He raises his eyebrow. “I was ten years old.” He goes back to hammering.
I laugh. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” He puts the hammer down and starts kicking through the wooden beam. “One of the teachers found me, turned me around, guided me back to where I belonged. Don’t think she thought I was asleep either.” I laugh again as he throws me a wicked smile. “The next morning it was all over camp and I was marked as the bad boy, the one all the girls should watch out for.”
I pretend to be one of the gossips back at his camp. “Did you hear about Lenic Reevus sneaking into the girls’ dorms for a peek?” I wiggle my eyebrow.
“That’s where my reputation got started.” I am unable to stop myself from smiling back at that playful, sexy little grin of his. “Been living it down ever since.”
I sashay over to him and fist both of my hands into his shirt. “Is that right?”
He wraps his arms around my waist, drawing me in. “They got me all wrong.”
“Really?”
“Take last night. Was I out on the town seducing a woman? Did I lure her back to my bed?” He circles my hair around his finger. “No. I was sweating it up with Cross at the gym.”
He kisses me before I can make any insinuation on his motives for being sweaty with another man. I forget everything after the kiss.
Two hours later, he stops drilling and says, “Stop staring at my arse.”
“You’re my boyfriend. I’ve earned all rights to do with your body as I desire.” He shakes his head, continuing to drill away. I watch him, drilling, and damn if it doesn’t turn me on and get me wet.
The banister can wait.
I grab his arm and lead him up the stairs. “Come with me. I’ve got something else that needs drilling.”
“WHAT IS YOUR best feature?”
After Lenic finished rebuilding my banister, and fixed the leaky pipe in the kitchen, we ordered in food from the local steak house, and then had sex up against the new banister. He wanted to test its stability, apparently. No complaints, on both accounts. Now I’m lying on top of Lenic on the sofa, holding my magazine in my hand. We are doing a ‘What Supermodel Are You?’ quiz.
“A) Your legs. B) Your eyes. Or C) Your height.”
“D. For…” His voice is low, insinuating something else on his body beginning with D.
“I agree, but sorry, you have to answer either a, b, or c, otherwise it doesn’t work properly.”
“OK, sorry.” He lifts his hands up in supplication. “C.”
“OK.” With my pencil, I circle his answer.
“Can I take this gloopy stuff off my face, now?” Somehow, I persuaded the manly Tempest to try out a facial mask.
“No.”
“I look ridiculous.”
“Yes you do, but my followers think it’s cute.”
He shoots me a look. “You didn’t?”
A slow smile tugs at my features. “The mask is covering your face. No one will know it’s you.” Before he has time to blow his fuse, I add, “Trust me, everyone will compliment you. You’ll be voted the fighter with the best complexion.”
“Great. I can finally retire.”
“You’ll be begging me to give you a facial regularly. Just you wait.”
“When you’re as good-looking as me, you don’t need to do things like this.”
I look at him, brow raised. “Oh my god. I didn’t realise how vain you could be.” He starts to chuckle, kissing me lightly on top of my head. “Well, now we know you’ve got the qualities of being a supermodel.” I turn my attention back to the quiz. “OK, question number two.” I let out a small chortle. “Other than modelling, your dream job is to: A) Launch a fragrance. B) Launch a handbag line—”
“You really read this crap?”
“Oh, I’m sorry — how’s getting to know your penis working out for you?”
He grunts. “Bloke magazine is serious about fitness.”
“Hey. If you want to know which supermodel you are, you need to take this seriously and answer all of the questions.”
He starts to tickle my sides and I smack him playfully when his phone rings. He picks it up and raises it to his ear. “Yeah … I’m with my girlfriend … I know which face I wanna be looking at all night ... Delphine’s on the date I set up for her with Blake … Yeah, you heard right, I set that date up personally … Wanted to put a smile on his poor face, what with his little brother and all...” He starts to grin. “No, mate, I’m not gonna tell you where they are … Because you’ll try and sabotage it, that’s why…”
“She’s not on a date with Blake,” I whisper. Lenic puts a finger to his mouth to keep me quiet.
“I’m going now, you ugly mug,” he grunts, then hangs up. “Cross.”
“I figured as much. But Delphine’s not on a date, Lenic. She’s gone to the cinema with Brooke.”
“I know. But it’s fun to piss him off.”
I love seeing him joke around with his friends. I know it’s been a long time for him. “You’re so bad. I love it.” I toss the magazine onto the table. “What did he want?”
“Wanted me to head down to the White Lily. The lads are having a pool tournament.”
“You don’t want to go?” He pulls me tighter against him, sliding his hand up my skirt. I feel his cock swell against the small of my back as he spreads my legs wide … and lets me see why he is the man I want and need.
“Got a better offer, beautiful.”