Page 7 of Cash

Oh God. There was no way those movers had driven into his yard again, right?

Wine in hand, Brick peeked out the windows by the front door to see what it was and immediately grunted.

Jules was there in a clingy tank top, chucking broken lawn ornaments into a trash can. His torso was perfectly thick, and his biceps had to be the size of Brick’s head. Brick tried to will time to slow down so he could admire every sweet rippling movement of Jules’s like a fancy perfume commercial that always had sexy slow-motion sequences.

Fuck, this was hot.

Before Brick realized it, he’d drunk his entire glass of wine.

As much fun as it was to peep from his front door, he didn’t want Jules out there working by himself. He returned his glass to the kitchen, checked on the food, and headed outside.

“Hey!” Brick called from the porch, his hands on his hips. “Thought we said five o’clock?”

Jules shrugged. “Guess my watch is broken.”

“You’re not wearing one.”

“Oops.” Jules shrugged again.

Brick took off his button-up shirt, draping it on a rocking chair, and then joined Jules in the yard. “So. Movers break any of your stuff?”

“Nah.” Jules nodded at the truck, now closed up and driving away. “They did all right. Just finished.”

Brick kneeled down to grab the remnants of a rainbow pinwheel. “And that’s when you decided your non-existent watch was broken?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, thank you. Again. For helping.”

“No problem.”

Brick made a casual decision to keep picking up stuff near Jules to stay close to him, and he eyed Jules’s arms when he picked up a broken gay pride lawn gnome. God, Brick needed to stop, but was it really his fault that Jules was so freakishly attractive?

And big.

And strong.

And wait, what did Jules just say?

“Huh?” Brick blinked.

“I was sayin’ I should get one of these for my brother,” Jules said fondly, nodding at the gnome before it went into the trash.

“He’s gay?”

“Uh-huh.” Jules chuckled. “I’m gonna get him a whole family of ’em to put in his yard.” He chuckled wickedly.

“Lemme guess.” Brick smirked. “He’s not a fan of gnomes?”

“Oh fuck no. He’ll hate it. It’ll be great.”

Brick was dying to know Jules’s own sexual preferences, but he didn’t want to come right out and ask him, especially when they were going to have dinner together soon. At least he knew Jules was an ally, a definite step up over his previous neighbors.

“Older or younger brother?” Brick asked.

“Younger, but he acts like he’s the oldest. Got a little sister too. You?”

“Only child, I’m afraid.”

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