Or maybe it’s just me.
Aras nodded to him. “Finally letting me get to what I want. Not like they need my input elsewhere, but these chucklefucks felt like other things mattered.”
“You don’t need to act so sweet.” Jake slapped an arm around Aras’s shoulders and pulled him into a side hug, grinning like crazy. “Making up a pet name for me.”
“I was mostly talking about Evander.” He shrugged out from under Jake’s arm, then stepped aside, gesturing Dane inside. “Tight fit, so hopefully you won’t mind.”
As Dane walked in, Aras’s fingers brushed against the small of his back, and the worries melted from Dane like a stick of butter on hot asphalt. It was a waste of time to jump to conclusions. He knew what happened was good. He knew it had been enjoyable. And frankly, when was Aras ever in agoodmood?
Right after cumming, If memory serves.
Chapter sixteen
Aras
Arasswallowedbackallhis anxieties before they could rise out of his throat. There was no point in unloading all those on Dane or on anyone else. Plus, it was hard to be too worried when he was in such tight quarters with a cute, redheaded twink. A cute,hung,redheaded twink. A cute, hung, redheaded twink who sixty-nined with him the night before and implied they should do even more.
Worrying was hard, but something else was even harder, so Aras stopped following that train of thought. With his luck, Jake or Ev would notice him popping a boner and then he’d have to bash their heads in to get them to shut up. Since they were children.
The interior of the room wouldn’t have been so tight if not for the collected carnival glass. It had been mostly boxed back up and stuck in there so no one dripped paint on it or anything, alongside pretty much everything else they just wanted to get out of the way. Some of their supplies had been delivered early, and Caroline had moved a few extra things over from her house. Nothing major, but Ev wanted stuff that she was particularly attached to. That way, he could work the design around any significant pieces. At least she hadn’t been attached to a couch or anything else so large.
“Aras told me you were showing him some display systems. He seems pretty impressed, so I wanted to get your input more directly.” Evander pointed around the upper edge of the room, tracing the place the wall met the ceiling. “I’m personally thinking floor-to-ceiling shelving on the walls. Built-ins. If it’s that tall, it should make it feel cozy instead of oppressive. I hope.”
“Exactly what I wanted. Hope.” Aras rolled his eyes. “Thought you were the professional designer, here.”
“I am. Which is why I’m sure I can fix any issues that might pop up.” He gestured broadly toward the middle of the room. “Smaller here, with at least one table for a display. Maybe one of her punch water set bowl things.”
Aras tried to let that go. And failed. “Punch water set bowl things. Who manufactured those? I’m not familiar? Are you talking Fenton or Millersburg?”
“Eliza was right.” Ev flipped him off. “You’re especially insufferable to day.”
Of course he was. He was still living halfway in the memories from the night before, and in spite of his own insistence, he apparently couldn’t keep his mind or his hands off Dane. But the glass was an easier thing to focus on. “Treat her collection with respect and maybe my attitude’ll improve.”
“Anyway.” Jake inserted himself physically between the two of them and put his attention on Dane. “Something about inset lights? Be good if I can get started on some rough plans for everything.”
Dane nodded, and a small bit of Aras’s tension slid away. Not anywhere close to all of it, or even a majority, but enough for him to notice. In part, it was because Dane needed the attention. Aras was the electrician. He would need to weigh in, and he wasn’t sure Dane could hold up as well as he could to the rest of the Pine Point crew. In Aras’s experience, they could all be a lot.
Dane gave them a brief rundown of the idea he’d presented, although Aras noticed he didn’t show them on his phone. Maybe a little gun shy after how things went the night before.
Once he was done, Aras picked up the conversation. “I was turning this over in my head this morning and I was hoping for a lot of custom work.”
“Custom work is my middle name,” said Jake.
Aras shook his head. “It’s Francis, but sure. As long as you have time to pull it off. I’d like to do backlighting on the built-ins.”
“Oh, yes!” Evander clapped his hands and actually hopped in place. “I love that. It’ll help keep things brighter and less closed-in.”
“Yeah. That’s how light works.” Aras regretted that one, even as he pushed past it. Maybe hewasbeing more of an asshole than necessary.Have to dial that in better. “Then use the inset lights for the standing displays. Especially if we have a primary display table in the middle, I’d like to get good lighting installed there that can illuminate whatever she wants on display.”
Evander nodded. “I’m thinking dark woods, duller finish, maybe the hint of rounded corners so the light doesn’t reflect quite so harshly.” He looked up at the center of the ceiling, then back to Aras. “You think there’ll be enough lighting from the displays we can kind of just…give up on a traditional fixture here?”
“Yes.” Aras perhaps said it too fast, but it was an open door, so he wasn’t about to hesitate. “I’d like to get as much of the house as possible lit up without any ceiling lights. More light sources are good for carnival glass.”
Ev’s face brightened further as his eyebrows raised. “I kind of love that idea. I think I’d have to do a few big light sources. Probably one in the living room, and in the two bathrooms, but otherwise, I can totally work with that.”
Aras smiled at that. Maybe this wasn’t such a hopeless project. But he said nothing to Ev, instead looked between Dane and Jake. “I actually want to do it more like the displays you have, not the whole shelves as light sources. If you can email those pics to Jake?”
Dane nodded and finally pulled out his phone. If he sent the pictures, Aras figured the chances of Jake seeing his dick were much lower. A surge of possessiveness spiked through him at the thought of anyone else getting a peek, and Aras had to breathe slowly to calm himself. Dane wasn’t his. No one washis. Owning people was frowned upon. But Dane had been a fling that couldn’t repeat again. A workplace hookup that hopefully wouldn’t make things too awkward. So there was no reason for that possessiveness. Especially not for Jake, who seemed perfectly happy with Quinn.
