“It’s small. I wanted something low maintenance. There’s a back patio, but it’s not very big either.” She cringed and leaned slightly back. “Sorry.”
Ozzy shook his head. “Zero apologies. If I get to do less work, I’m not exactly horrified.”
“We’ll find work for you, Ozzy.” Bunny reached across the table and patted his hand in mock sympathy. “You can float where needed like I do. We could use some bonding time.”
“I’m really thinking more along the lines of relaxing on the patio and doling out orders.”
The meeting felt like it was wrapping up, as they were devolving into general banter. Plus, these outside meetings never lasted long. There was only so much they could reasonably do without seeing the actual house. Sure enough, Mason looked over at Eliza and she nodded. “All right. Caroline, if you’re up for it, we can head to the house?”
She rose. “Perfect. Let me stop by the little girl’s room, then we can head off.” She took a step away, then stopped and turned back around. “Mic. You probably don’t want that recorded.”
Vince and Kyle both signaled to start taking things down as another production assistant scurried over and took off Caroline’s lavalier mic. Dane immediately turned toward the lights and began breaking everything down. Lights, armature, clamps. He fell into the familiar task of the tear-down.
Which was interrupted by another set of hands. He didn’t look back, just said, “Please don’t. Better to leave it to the professionals.”
“I was good enough to help you bring it in.”
Heat raced all across Dane’s body. He turned his head enough to take in the source of the familiar voice, and sure enough, it was Aras. Dane sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re, uh, the exception?”
“Hey, I wouldn’t want these assholes touching anything delicate either.” He held out his arms. “Load me up and I can carry all the metal and shit.”
Dane turned around so Aras wouldn’t see him grinning at the stupid…well, it wasn’t really a joke, but it was unduly amusing to him. “You can carry the softbox if you want. I’ll get the armatures.”
“Armatures. Figured there was some word for it.”
Is it just a coincidence he’s back paying attention to me again? Not like Aras is known for his kind heart and acts of service. Dane knew better than to read into it…consciously.
Subconsciously, he was veering closer and closer to convincing himself that maybe Aras had a thing for him back.
Chapter four
Aras
Arastooktheridethrough Baltimore to the suburbs to get his head back on straight. A lot easier when there wasn’t a cute, twinky, redheaded lighting grip to draw his attention. Ever since that job in Three Rivers, Dane had been on Aras’s radar. Not that there was anything wrong with checking Dane out—he made it difficult with his seemingly endless selection of baggy clothes, but that made the little peeks of his actual physique all the sweeter—but Aras knew it wasn’t just checking him out. He kept inserting himself into Dane’s work little by little.
And no one should have Aras’s bad mood thrust onto them. He’d agreed to the show, but that didn’t mean he was his best self when he had to be around so many people. It was selfish to keep going over to Dane. He did his best to keep a handle on it when he was talking to Dane, but was he successful? Aras had little confidence in himself in that regard.
They pulled up to the jam-packed driveway of their next job. The neighbors here weren’t as subtle as they had been on previous sites. No surreptitious peeking through closed blinds. They were out on the sidewalk, chattering with each other and pointing to Caroline’s new house. And the trailers, multiple cars, and cavalcade of cameras and contracting crew swarming it.
When they came to a stop and everyone piled out, Aras chided himself as his gazeinstantlylatched onto Dane. Which was a stupid thing to get annoyed at. It wasn’t as if he’dtriedto find Dane. The lighting and camera guys from the meeting at the hotel had been ahead of them, so when he got out and looked toward the house, Danehappenedto be in his line of sight.
Arascouldhave controlled how much he leered as Dane stretched side-to-side, lifting up his shirt and jacket just enough to see a peek of pale skin on his lower back. And he didn’t. For that, he could chide himself.
They’d never removed their mics—in case there was some interesting conversation in the car—so once everyone had scrambled out of the two SUVs and the cameras had swung back around, they moved toward the single story new construction home. The lawn was absolutely a postage stamp, Ozzy had gotten that right. A driveway ran up one side—no garage, attached or otherwise—which left a foot-wide empty bed that could take some plants. Then the rest of the front yard was all of about six square feet, with the grass cut down the middle by a walkway leading to the front stoop. Just eyeballing the dimensions of the back yard, from the front fence to the one behind it, that wasn’t much bigger, and had to include the patio.
The siding had been painted a pale slate color, and the door was a navy blue. White trim, and the walkway and driveway had been finished in the same color. Aras rolled his eyes when he noticed. Whether it was a paint or a stain, in these conditions, she’d probably get about five years out of that. Which wasn’t nothing, but when it started to fade, it looked even worse than regular, boring old concrete.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.Ozzy could handle that…and then they could all hear about it, since he would feel the same way. Aras shifted his attention to his own wheelhouse. A simple sconce hung by the front door. They’d gone, as expected, with the absolute most stereotypical fixture, a squared off hanging lantern in black. He’d need to check and see if this place was under an HOA—most new construction was—but he’d change it out in half a heartbeat if he could. No external outlets in the front, but he made a note to check around the back. Sounded like Caroline wanted low maintenance outdoors, so she probably didn’t need them, but it was part of his checklist. Plus, in the event youneededan external outlet, they were entirely too convenient to ignore.
“All right,” said Eliza, hands clasped in front of her. She’d shucked off her dark jacket, so now she was just in a white blouse and black slacks. “I think we’re ready for the walkthrough. Not much work for the crew to do right now.”
“We probably don’t need a crew.” Aras shrugged. “We used to do worse houses than this on our own. Working on new construction should be a treat.”
“I’m aware. But I’m sure you’ll find a use for them.”
Doubtful. If that had come from any of the actual Pine Point crew, he would have responded out loud, but Eliza didn’t sign up for that. Besides, maybe she was right and they wouldn’t constantly be underfoot.Again, doubtful.
Mason led the way, followed by Bunny and Evander. Ozzy had pulled Robinson aside and they were talking with a single camera trained on them. Aras went next, and Jake took up the rear. It was standard practice not to have the owner in the house when they did this. Part of the process was saying whatever the hell they needed to, since the footage would be replaced with a voice over and some fancy music anyway. If the client was there, they had to mince words a little more.
