Ethan (Alluring Indulgence #5)(34)
Author: Nicole Edwards

He had to wonder why Beau hadn’t taken the hint the way everyone else had.

“I’ve been better,” he said honestly, never breaking eye contact. He could only blame the need to give in for a minute or two on the exhaustion that had suddenly overwhelmed him. It was hard to keep up his defenses all the time, to never let his guard down, but right at that moment, his guard didn’t even exist.

At least not with Beau.

“Need some help around here?” Beau asked, glancing across the open space, his gaze returning to meet his moments later.

Ethan wanted to tell him no, but the truth was, he actually did need help. As much of a burden as Blake had been, at least the guy could pump out work when he did decide to show up. And now that Blake was no longer part of his day to day, the only thing Ethan had to look forward to were hours of time spent by himself and tons of work backing up in the meantime.

Ethan chuckled and glanced down at his hands again. What was he going to say? Yes. That definitely wasn’t going to help this situation any.

“You don’t want to say yes, do you?” Beau asked, moving closer.

Ethan looked back up at him, wondering if this man understood him as well as it seemed he did.

Beau looked around again, then grinned back at Ethan. “I know this guy,” he began with a sexy smirk. “He’s kinda in need of work at the moment. He’s pretty handy beneath the hood.”

Ethan laughed, letting all of the tension drain out of him for the first time in what felt like years. “Yeah? Does he know it requires long hours?”

“I heard he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. And I’m pretty sure he hasn’t taken a vacation in… well, in years actually.”

“Yeah?” Ethan studied Beau for a moment. “He’s not looking to take one anytime soon, is he?”

“Nope.”

Ethan figured bringing Beau on board was better than letting Jared get involved. Who knew what kind of asshole he’d be stuck with if his cousin got a say in who was hired. “Well, when you see this guy, let him know I need him to be here at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Beau nodded his head, that sexy smirk morphing into a devastating grin. “What if I told you he’s free today?”

Ethan knew it was time to get serious with Beau for a minute. As much as he was enjoying this conversation, and as much as he truly was looking forward to having someone who would come in and knock out the work that was piling up, Ethan wanted Beau to understand what he was really getting into.

Because it damn sure didn’t look like this attraction between the two of them was lessening any. And Ethan was doing his damnedest to keep up his defenses, but there was only so much one man could do.

Sliding off of the table, Ethan left his coffee mug behind as he got to his feet and cleared the distance between him and Beau in an instant. To his surprise, Beau actually backed up a couple of steps.

“You scared of me?” Ethan asked, not quite sure where the question came from.

Beau smiled again, this time a wicked grin that had Ethan tempted to back up a few feet.

“Quite the opposite actually.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Ethan took another step closer and watched as Beau looked around. Wondering what he was searching for, Ethan was surprised when Beau set his coffee mug down on the closest toolbox.

“And what makes you think this will work out? You working here?” Ethan asked, remembering what he’d walked over to say.

“When it comes to work, I’m here to work.”

Of all the things he didn’t know about Beau, he did know the guy was a hard worker. Always had been.

Ethan moved even closer, satisfied when Beau took one more step back and found himself up against the corrugated metal wall.

“It’s that easy for you?”

“For me to what?” Beau asked, his head tilting as though he were trying to figure Ethan out.

“You think it’ll be easy to work here with so much…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. He was beginning to rethink the urge to bring this topic up. Ethan wasn’t sure he wanted to go this route. He damn sure wasn’t acting like himself.

He knew Beau well enough to know he could easily offer the guy a job, and he’d be completely professional. However, Ethan was suddenly sick of professional.

“So much what, E?” Beau questioned, his voice seductively low. “Temptation?”

The next thing Ethan knew, he was the one up against the wall and Beau had both hands flat on the wall beside his head. The heady scent of coffee and man assaulted his senses. The room seemed to spin as he was overwhelmed with everything he’d suppressed for this man.