That boy is going to be a problem for me.He couldn’t let himself get involved with some traveling carpenter. He had a house. It was getting cleaned, repaired, refurbished. He had a good job, and he had to be on call. Hedidn’tneed some guy he knew was going to leave him.Been through that already.
But he could appreciate the view for a bit, as long as he was careful.
Chapter four
Jake
It’s a good thingthat meeting didn’t last longer. Eliza and the rest of the production crew had gone ahead to set things up for more filming. Jake and the crew had stayed for a bit to talk with Quinn, but now they were on their way back to the house on Old Aristocracy Hill as well, with Quinn following behind in his own rig. For Jake, several car lengths still felt awfully close. Quinn was ten-million percent his type. Slim, soft-spoken, kinda sad, and a gamer? Entirely too much.
And I’m spending extra time with him. Talking about stuff we’re both into. Does making out with a client violate any part of our contract?
Pulling up to the house brought an end to all his overthinking. Or at least a pause. In the brief time they’d met up with Quinn at the hotel, a crew had moved in along with a thirty-foot garbagecontainer, which was already being filled up with broken chunks of lumber and bags of trash.
When they came to a stop in the driveway, Mason jumped out, running like a bat out of hell. Jake gave a brief look around to the others, then they all piled out and followed behind him, beelining straight for the two trailers in the corner.
Mason threw the door open. “Eliza! Eliza!”
“Behind you.” She came around the other side of the trailer, brows furrowed. “What’s going on?”
“Why are we throwing stuff out? Quinn’s not even here to go through it.”
She waved her hands in front of her chest, shaking her head. “Don’t worry. They’re not touching anything that’s even mildly important. Taking the deck and the fence apart from the back yard, pulling apart the water damage on the inside, and sorting through expired food and stuff.”
When Mason didn’t say anything, Jake walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think she’s going to send this down a bad path.”
“Neither do I.” Mason shook his head, then stepped away from Jake. “But this is emotional for him, and I’m not convinced a big media corporation is going to care about that. Higher-ups, not her, but she’s the point of contact.” He closed his eyes and sighed, then nodded to Eliza. “You’rethe point of contact. Not trying to talk about you like you’re not here.”
Eliza shrugged. “I get it. We’re in a new business relationship, so I can’t expect you to just immediately trust me. But I promise, if something feels hinky, I’ll let you know.” She raised three fingers up by her face. “Scout’s honor.”
Mason nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to chill a little more.” He nodded at Jake as well, then craned his neck up to look out at the road. “Quinn’s here.”
Jake’s head whipped around way faster than he probably should have allowed.Need to keep a little more level. I’ve seen a cute guy before.
Quinn stepped out of his red Toyota and stared at the house. Stared at the garbage bin. Stared at the crew. And if Jake wasn’t entirely deluding himself, he could have sworn Quinn looked right athim.
And he didn’t move for quite a while, even as the cameras focused in on him.
Jake didn’t a hundred percent remember making a decision to move, but he strode across the yard, dodged around two workers hauling charred lumber, and stopped himself right next to the little red car. Quinn needed someone, and he didn’t need cameras swarming him while he processed his grief. Not alone, anyway. He pressed one hand to his lav mic to muffle it, then leaned in and whispered as low as he could, “You need a minute? I’ll get you into the trailer if you want some privacy.”
After a brief hesitation, Quinn shook his head. “I’m okay. It’s just a little bit of a shock. Somehow, I didn’t expect it to hit quite so hard.” He took a step back, sucked in a big breath, then nodded. “I guess I need hair and makeup? Mics? I’m not sure how this all goes.”
“Quinn. Hi.” Eliza interrupted, and Jake happily let her step in and guide him over to the trailers.
Which left a perfect opening for Bunny to walk up to him. She looked him up and down, then smiled. “He’s cute, yeah?”
“Quinn?” Jake heard how high his voice went, and knew he’d responded too quickly, but he rolled with his denial all the same. “He’s having a hard time. Don’t want to leave him to the wolves.” He looked around at the cameras, the crew, the fucking trailers, and shook his head. “I thought this would feel a lot more like when we would film for the channel, but it’s so different. I wouldn’t have been concerned about anything like this whenit was just us tooling around Pine Point, but Mason’s right. It’s hard to trust that they have Quinn’s best interests at heart.” Jake shrugged. “I guess that just means we have to take extra care with him.”
“Because he’s cute.” Bunny patted him on the cheek. “I get it. Can’t judge this whole setup based on what they might do, though. Have to give the guys with the paychecks the benefit of the doubt until they show their ass to us.”
“I guess.” He nodded, glad Bunny was at least willing to drop his apparently obvious little crush.Need to be sneakier about it. Or she’s just way too aware that I have a type.“Come on. We can lend a hand with the cleanup while they’re setting Quinn up. Don’t want to look lazy on camera.”
“Speak for yourself. The less work I can do and still get seven-thousand bucks per episode, the better.”
“Seventy-five-hundred.” Jake pats her on the back. “I’m going to head in. If they decide to take out that water damage, I want to be around to check out the studs and everything.”
“Don’t work yourself too hard. Stay cute for your new lover boy. Unless he’s thestudyou’re checking out.”
“Low-hanging fruit, Bunny. Up your pun game.” Jake flipped her the bird over his shoulder, followed by blowing a kiss.
