Men of Halfway House 01 - A Better Man (DA) (MM)

by Jaime Reese

  He sensed Julian was the person to bring out the beauty of this house. Although the man with a shaved head and smart-ass remarks tried to appear as if he didn't care, it was obvious he saw beauty in this place. The way he'd attempted to nonchalantly survey the room before accepting the job was, in Matt's opinion, a poor disguise for the interest that shone in his eyes. Now, it's just a matter of time to see if things work out the way I hope.

  Matt walked through the gate and up the steps to the house. A swoosh of hot air welcomed him when he opened the door. Reluctant to subject himself to the stifled heat of the closed home, he opted to sit on the entry steps of the house and enjoy the rare, mild afternoon breeze. He rested his head on the column and began to sip the cold soda he'd purchased at the shop on his way back.

  He watched as a group of businessmen stared at the building with a frown. The man briefly waved and plastered his fakest smile as soon as he spotted Matt sitting on the steps. Matt returned the greeting and sighed. He used to be that man, the one with the fake million-dollar smile and custom-tailored suit. He looked down and exhaled deeply. He couldn't even wear a simple T-shirt and jeans and make it look right for the entire day. He started off looking fine, or so he thought, but after an hour in the South Florida heat and humidity, the sweat just would not leave. Hell, even his eyelids sweat. And the dust and worn surfaces of the building helped to both wear away at his clothes and add colors and stains of who knew what. He felt the trickle of sweat at the back of his neck. He sighed again as he ran his hands through his hair and pulled it up off his neck. He was excited at first to let his hair finally grow out a little without the mandatory monthly prison haircuts, but now, it was just annoying.

  And hot.

  He was so tired but continued pushing himself because he wanted to see some progress. At least the graffiti and street tags had stopped since he'd bought the house. The battery lantern he used to light the interior at night and the removal of the real estate sign seemed to deter the local street artists. He settled himself into a more comfortable position as his mind filled with visions of the beauty this house was anxious to reveal.

  "Are you part reptile?" a gravelly voice asked which Matt tried to block out. "You passed out or something?" the voice insisted. Matt reluctantly woke when he felt a nudge against his shoe. He opened his eyes and noticed it was no longer bright. Something must be off, he couldn't have fallen asleep that long.

  "Wake up. It's hot as hell out here."

  He looked up and saw his new contractor outlined in light like some huge angelic form, standing in front of him blocking the fading sun from hitting his face.

  "You're going to tell me you don't have at least one bed in there you can nap in?" Julian asked as he repositioned the duffle over his shoulder.

  "Did you kick me?" Matt asked, blinking slowly while his eyes adjusted.

  "I tapped you with my boot, if I'd have kicked you, you'd be on your ass right now."

  Matt ran his hands through his hair, hating the wetness of sweat. "I am on my ass right now," he responded casually.

  Julian half smiled at him and snorted a stifled chuckle. "You shouldn't be napping in downtown streets," he said as he held out his hand to Matt.

  Matt took the offered hand and stood. "I wasn't napping."

  "So you walk around with your eyes shut and snore," Julian asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "I don't snore."

  "I hate to break it to you, but, dude, you snore."

  "None of my boyfriends ever mentioned snoring." Matt had let it slip in his still semisleep state, but he was relieved it was now out in the open. He didn't need or want Julian's approval, but he was growing tired of hiding.

  "Whatever floats your boat, but you had one hell of a throat orchestra going."

  Matt shook his head, trying to clear the haze from his non-nap. He faced the door and hoped Julian's intense gaze overlooked the flush of red he knew flooded his face.

  "I'd like to know where I'm sleeping. I'm guessing you've claimed the porch," Julian said, obviously holding back a smile and not letting up.

  Matt turned to face Julian, a little closer than he had anticipated. It must be the exhaustion or the heat screwing with his head or maybe it was the heat coming off this man that was driving him mad. How could someone emit that much body heat and smell so damn good in this hell?

  "Are you always like this?" Matt asked.

  "It's the heat. Brings out my charm."

  Matt just stared at Julian, mesmerized. He knew he must have had a blank expression on his face. For some reason, his brain was completely empty of anything to say. He wasn't the type of person who could deliver quick comebacks or snappy comments but he was usually in control of a situation. He felt completely unprepared for someone like Julian to waltz into his daily routine and take over. Matt knew that was exactly what was going to happen—this man would easily plant roots and be in charge.

  He wasn't sure what made him more nervous, the sexiest man he had ever seen in his lifetime moving in with him for the next year, or the loss of control he felt over the situation.

  He took a deep breath as he finally found the nerve to open the door and welcome Julian into his home.

  Chapter 4

  Julian followed Matt through the hallway. Matt seemed nervous as he walked a little too fast toward the back of the place.

  "I think this one, but you might want to check out the others just in case," Matt said as he opened the door to the last room on the right.

  Julian stepped in and the first thing he noticed was the lack of lighting. The dangling wires in the entrance were a clear indicator the electricity was spotty at best in the place, and the boarded up window blocked out any potential source of light. Sure, it would be great to have total and complete darkness to enjoy sleeping in, but he had a job to do and early mornings were required.

  "Nope, this won't work. Which one's yours?"

  Matt looked flustered again. "Um, it's the first one on the left when you walk in. Why?"

  Julian could see the coloring of Matt's cheeks again. Funny how his room was the farthest away on the opposite end of the place. The only thing more distant would have been a room on the second floor, but who knew how stable it was up there. He had that on the short list of immediate things to check out.

  "Just getting the lay of the land."

  "Oh." Matt stood there as if lost in thought.

  "So that first one is your room, the first one on the right is the office space you set aside, and there is this one. How many more?"

  "Nine in total. I guess some would be common areas or something. But essentially nine open spaces including these two," he said as he ran his hands in a half circle to point to the two open areas that could easily double for some type of waiting section, living room, or something comparable.

  Julian nodded then dropped his bag in the hallway to do a quick inspection of each of the smaller office or room-size areas. After an initial sweep of the first floor, he selected the second room on the left with the window that would allow just enough natural light to annoy him until he had no choice but to wake up. "This one."

  The blank expression on Matt's face was priceless.

  "Um, my room is next to it."

  "Yeah, you already said that."

  "Why that one?" Matt snapped out of his daze and ran his fingers through his hair.

  The tinting of his cheeks coupled with the hair pointing in all directions was cute as hell. Julian was going to enjoy unsettling the man like this on a daily basis.

  "Is there some reason I can't have this one?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and a half smile. He was being an ass but he couldn't resist. It was just too tempting to give the man a hard time. He liked the way Matt's skin flushed, the way he couldn't look at him while talking, the shifting of his feet, and the constant running of his fingers through his hair. It was all rather entertaining. He was getting a kick out of causing this guy to totally become unglued right before his eyes. He crossed his
arms and casually leaned against the doorframe, waiting for an answer.

  "Um, no," Matt responded, unable to meet his eyes.

  "Good," Julian said, and he pushed off the wall to grab his duffle bag from the end of the hallway. Walking back toward his selected room, he couldn't help but notice Matt still stood in the same place looking down. "You all right?" he asked as he dropped his bag in his new room for the next year.

  "Yes," Matt responded. After a few moments, he straightened and finally made eye contact again. "What's first on the agenda?"

  "Well, we need to talk about what you'd like to do with the place and take a look at the blueprints you mentioned. That way I can get a feel for what you want to do and the kind of work you want to have done here so I know the best way to go about it. I need to do a check of the basics, electricity, pipes, walls, yadda yadda yadda."

  "A check?" Matt asked curiously.

  "Yep, so I can make sure we've got a solid foundation to work with. Do you really want to know the details?" He was genuinely concerned he would have a new shadow hovering over his every move.

  "I'd like to know what's going on," Matt said, fully composed now and obviously attempting to stamp authority on the situation.

  "Well," Julian said as he worked his way toward where Matt stood. "It's going to be a lot of long hours, sweating, and dirty, hard work," he said, drawing out each word as he looked at Matt intently.

  That did the trick. Matt did his fingers in the hair thing again, the foot shifting, he even cleared his throat. Yup, this is going to be fun.

  "I just want to know what's going on with my place, okay?" Matt said defensively. "We can start first thing in the morning. It's been a long, hot day."

  Julian chuckled and thought he'd give Matt a free pass on his reference to 'long' or 'hot'.

  "It's always a long, hot day down here, so I think you better start getting used to it," he said then slapped Matt on the back. "I'm cool with starting in the morning. It'll give me time to note a few things I have in mind and come up with a checklist."

  "Great, that'll work then."

  "Yup. I'm assuming there's no water or electricity, right?" he asked even though he already knew the answer by the unprotected cables dangling up front and the battery lantern he had noticed when he entered.

  "Nope, sorry. It's going to be dark and hot here."

  Julian slowly began to smile. Matt was so not getting another free pass.

  "Dark and hot, huh?"

  Matt had a horrified look on his face. Served him right, he'd walked right into that one—twice—without even realizing it.

  "I mean, I've got a couple of lanterns around here that help out but, um, yeah, the place is really dark at night, and I can't really crack open windows, so it's hard to get some air to circulate in here." Matt stopped as if he realized he was talking for the sake of it. "So, yeah, it gets hot at night, and I'm sure you'll probably wake up and have your shirt stuck to you or something," he finished lamely and shrugged.

  "Nope."

  "I can assure you," Matt began earnestly. "I don't see how someone won't sweat in this place. It's like an oven."

  "I don't need to worry about waking up with a shirt stuck to me. I don't wear anything to bed."

  And there it was again, that deer-in-headlights look.

  Julian wasn't normally this brazen with prospective bosses—or anyone for that matter. Hell, he had respectful stamped on his ass, but really, Matt needed to lighten up a bit especially if they were going to be living together for a year. He knew he came across as a hard-ass most of the time, so he wanted to appear casual, playful.

  That was what his head was telling him, but his inner child and healthy sex drive agreed; winding this guy up was just too much fun to pass up.

  * * * *

  There it is again, Matt thought unhappily, I'm losing control. What was it about this man that upset his equilibrium so easily? Damn it. Matt was normally the calm, cool, collected one under pressure. The one who didn't do hysterics, the one people went to when the problem needed a solution or when things had to get under control. Now, he felt like a fumbling teenager uncomfortable in his own skin, not knowing what the heck to say or do. Hell, he didn't even know if he should be putting his hands in his pockets or not. He needed to get his bearings and regain a handle on this situation.

  No way was he going to let Mr. I-Don't-Wear-Anything-to-Bed get to him.

  Shit.

  Now his mind was wandering again. The thought of Julian on the other side of the wall from Matt unsettled him for some reason. Now he had visions of Julian, in bed with nothing on. Matt couldn't stand the conflicting feelings and emotions inside him anymore. He'd had enough for one day. He wasn't in prison anymore. He didn't need to ask how high every time someone demanded he jump. For his own sanity, he needed to take back control here. He was the boss. Julian with the tight ass and the come-to-bed eyes was the employee.

  "I'm going to bed," he announced as he put both hands on his hips. "If you want that room," he said, jabbing his finger in the air to the room next to his, "fine."

  "Um, okay," Julian said slowly, making it sound more like an oooooooh-kay.

  Patronizing fucker.

  "If you want that other room," Matt said as he pointed to the end of the hall, "I don't care." He threw his arms up in the air.

  Julian pursed his lips and nodded.

  "And if you want to sleep buck ass naked," he said in a more elevated tone, "I don't care about that either." He came up to Julian's face, and in a much lower, firmer tone, he added what he thought was a decent enough warning. "Just keep it in your dark, hot room," he said, mocking Julian's earlier comment.

  Julian stood inches away from Matt, unwavering. To his credit, he didn't even flinch when Matt invaded his personal space. He looked him just as firmly in the eye and simply responded by raising his index and middle fingers to his temple in a mock salute.

  "Yes, sir," he said.

  Matt noticed a slight shift in the man. He wasn't sure what it was, but it couldn't be submission. Matt didn't think the guy was wired for that. Regardless of what it was, Julian's half smile disappeared. Suddenly, Matt felt like the bad guy stamping crap all over his new hire. Being like that didn't sit well. He wasn't sure what he had said that had shifted the power, but something had changed in Julian's demeanor. Exhausted after a long day, he just couldn't handle everything along with a new hire who was obviously hitting all the wrong buttons.

  "Listen," Matt said, "let's just call it a night and start fresh tomorrow, okay?" He asked this in a low and very calm tone as a peace offering.

  "Yup," Julian responded shortly.

  Matt continued, "And I'd like to focus on the job and get things going. I know it's a tight deadline, so I'd like to make sure we're both in the same frame of mind. All right?"

  "Yup. Got it. Thanks," Julian added before turning toward his room and pulling the broken door closed behind him.

  Shit, now Matt felt bad. Lovely.

  * * * *

  Julian exhaled heavily and leaned against the closed door. Crap. He screwed his eyes shut as his stomach twisted. He'd pissed Matt off. Not a good way to start the job. For some reason, his boss brought out this playful side in him. Granted, he did have a rather twisted sense of humor at times and quick comebacks in most cases, but he sure as hell wasn't a browbeater. He didn't condone being a bully but, in hindsight, that was exactly what he had been with Matt. Shit. Julian loved a good banter session, but rarely found someone who could keep up. He thought Matt would be a decent opponent with his 'on his ass' comment from earlier, but maybe that was only because he was half-asleep and had let his guard down a bit. He was obviously someone who liked being in control, so throwing him off-kilter might not be a good thing after all.

  Julian pushed off the door and rubbed his shaved head harshly. He liked Matt but somehow that was translating into him becoming a prick around the guy. Wonderful, I've reverted to grade school behavior—what's next, hair pulli
ng? He could keep it business. Hell, that was what he always did. No reason to think things would be different this time.

  Julian started winding down and took a small notebook, his battery operated fan, and his travel lamp from his bag. He'd been in enough preconstruction areas to know some basic Boy Scout essentials were needed. He unrolled his sleeping bag and decided to sleep on top of it. He turned on his fan, aimed it right to his face and enjoyed the blowing air just as much as a dog sticking his head out the window on a hot summer day. The fan itself was compact and a little slow, but strong enough to circulate some air in the room. With the lamp set up and his notebook in hand, Julian started jotting down a list of to-dos for the coming days and reminders of things to check. He couldn't help but occasionally stop and focus his hearing toward the wall. A subtle creak, like the sound of a bed frame, filtered through, then silence.

  Maybe he went right to sleep? Or maybe he's sitting there thinking of a billion ways to massacre this new hire who is pissing him off? Or worse, thinking of hiring someone else. Julian just shook his head. He couldn't stop worrying he had pissed off Matt. He tried to focus on his notes. After a few minutes, he realized it was a useless battle and finally called it a night.

  Julian turned off the lamp and lay back with his head on his folded arm. He heard a faint noise on the other side of the wall so he lifted his head and tried to listen closely.

  Matt was snoring.

  Julian smiled.

  He put his head back down and let the sound of the fan rotation coupled with the steady snoring on the other side of the wall lull him to sleep in the dark.