“People have it much worse than I do.” David tossed his hands up. “I didn’t think I’dactuallyget picked for this. I just got drunk one night and decided that I’d let the studio decide if they wanted to come do this. Don’t self-reject and all that good stuff.” He gestured vaguely around himself. “There’s people out there who don’t have four walls, a roof, and an espresso machine. Who am I to complain?”
“The client.” Mason couldn’t be too mad at him. After all, they’d just been talking about howstrangethe situation was down in the parking garage. But so far, it seemed like Daviddidneed some help with his condo. “Just because someone else has it worse than you doesn’t mean you need to pretend you’ve got a perfect thing going on.” He jabbed his finger on the tabletop. “We’re all here right now to help you, so focus on that.”
David looked at him for a long moment, in a way that churned Mason’s belly. Then he blinked and nodded. “Everyone please at least have the coffee. I would feel even more guilty if this all went to waste.” When he sat back, arms folded, it became apparent that this conversation wasn’t going to continue until people started to drink.
So Mason waved them to get on with things. Hehadgone to the trouble of making lattes for them all. It was…a little annoying. Mason could find this guy stunning and still find him annoying. But it was also hard to get too mad at a guy who was being annoying because he was worried that their resources could go somewhere more deserving.
Finally, David continued on, once enough of them had grabbed coffees to apparently assuage his guilt. “Look, I got this place for a steal. Didn’t exactly…a little embarrassing to admit. I may have agreed to buy the place sight-unseen. But it was, like, fifty percent below anything else in the area, and I figuredI could fix it up slowly. And I have.” He tossed his head back dramatically. “The slowly part more than the fixing it up part, mind you.”
Mason caught himself staring at David’s outstretched neck, the way his Adam’s apple pressed out so prominently, the tendons running down either side that led down—
“I think we might need to actually, I don’t know,seethis place?” Ozzy spread his hands in front of him as if offering up the too-obvious point for anyone who wanted to take it. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel like we’re not going to get the lay of the land from talking about it.”
Mason pulled himself back into professionalism and made a promise to himself: he wouldn’t get distracted the rest of the day.
Though if David kept wearing that top, it was going to be a hard promise to keep.
Chapter four
David
Theemotionsonopeningthe door to his condo were mixed. On the one hand, there was a reason David hadn’t had much company since he moved into this place. It was a bit of a mess…more than a bit of a mess. But on the other hand, hehaddone some good work in there, and had plenty of artistic pursuits scattered around he wouldn’t mind some folks seeing. Especially people whose job it was to make things look nice.
He used an empty popcorn canister of leather scraps as a doorstop so they could all get inside and have easy access to the hallway if they needed. At some point, he’d figure out something more meaningful to do with those, but they served him well in their current purpose.
Once the crew was inside, he moved to follow, but Mason stood in the doorway, one arm up on the door jamb. Posing like he was some kind of fantastic fifties greaser type, but with abrighter fashion sense. He popped one corner of his mouth up, which shoved his cheek into a round apple. “I’m sorry.”
David looked him up and down, his mind whirling while he tried to make sense of thatandkeep his thoughts pointed to important things. “Sorry about what?” Only thing David could fathom that Mason needed to apologize for was being too damn hot, but he doubted that was what was happening.
“About earlier. And about now. And—” Mason squeezed his eyes shut, then took another step out into the hallway. “I keep tripping over all my words. Waste of your time. So I apologize. Things usually go much smoother than they have so far.”
“I’m not concerned.” David smiled. Mason was so close, and his cologne smelled like a mossy forest doused in morning dew. Or at least, that was the impression that passed through David’s mind when he breathed a little too deeply. He shrugged. “It’s really not a big deal. I think it’s obvious I was nervous too. A normal person doesn’t make a bunch of lattes for his guests.”
“A normal person with an espresso machine might.” Mason smiled fully again, bright and sparkling and all-consuming. “I mostly just use my Chemex, but you bet your butt I’d be making lattes left, right, and center if I actually had an espresso machine.”
“I think I have a Chemex. Somewhere. Or I did. I used it…once? Twice?” David snapped his fingers, going through the collection of projects that constantly lived in his head. “That’s right, it’s full of river rocks right now. I was going to make a fountain out of it.”
Mason chuckled and David’s stomach tightened. But it loosened right away. That wasn’t derision. That was amusement, and David could do worse than amusing a cutie like Mason.
“Well, I’m sorry about this too.” Mason jabbed a thumb over his shoulder into the condo. “It’s part of the filming. We do a walkthrough alone so that we can talk without explaining jargon,and so they can use the footage and pretend like we’re going through all on our own.” He rolled his eyes. “Something about making the narrative work. I’m assured it’s important, even though we never bothered with that on the channel, and they haven’tshownus any footage to prove their point. But yeah.”
“It’s so you can judge the houses without the homeowner being present, right?” David raised one eyebrow. “Tell me I’m wrong, I dare you.”
“It isn’tonlythat. And I promise we’re not judging you, just talking openly about the work we might have to do. Homeowners can panic when we talk frankly.” Mason clicked his tongue. “Sorry again. Any way you could just take a walk for fifteen minutes or however long it takes? I’m not trying to kick you out of your own home—”
David pressed a hand over his heart and dipped his head. “If nothing else, let it never be said that I stand in the way of making good art.” He pointed up. “There’s an observation deck garden kind of thing up on the roof. If I’m not back in time, that’s where I’ll be.” David turned to head for the stairs, but stopped and turned before he even made it three steps. “And don’t judge anything I’ve done to that Chemex, if you find it. It’s nothing personal.”
Mason laughed and David headed up the stairs. Once he got outside onto the roof, he leaned back against the wall and took a few breaths. Mason had always beenpresentduring their videos on the channel, but he was basically never the main focus. Plus, he’d been young.
Time had treated Masonverywell, and David was going to have to find a way to act normal about it. Which meant he’d have to do some drawing. Or sculpting. Or painting. Something to get his feelings out before they consumed him and left him a horned-up drooling mess of a man.
Chapter five
Mason
They’dworkedonhouseswith mold infestations. On hoarder houses. Burned out places that were just barely functional enough to warrant not tearing them down and bringing in a prefab house on the land.
None of those had ever gotten under Mason’s skin quite the same way as this condo for some damnable reason. The door opened onto a kitchenette. Or what was supposed to be a kitchenette. There was an island and counters and a place for a stove and a place for a fridge.
