Almost Easy: Plantain Series Novella 5.5 Read online

  Coming out of the corridor and into the large open plan area, I notice a man waiting in reception. He is holding a phone to his ear as he looks out one of the wide bay windows facing Main Street. Leaving me with a view of one of the broadest backs I’ve ever seen, I’d be blind not to notice that this guy is huge. Tall, a little taller than my 6ft 2inches, and built like a brick shithouse. His white with navy logo, Plantain Construction shirt fits him tight; hugging the lines of his muscular shoulders and arms, before narrowing down to a trim waist. As he talks, his arm flexes and I watch in fascination, wondering how the seams don’t rupture from the strain.

  My eyes follow down the line of his body, noting the way the dark denim of his jeans molds to his ass and thighs, before coming to rest on the tops of his well-worn Timberland boots. He stuffs the hand that isn’t holding his phone into his front pocket, causing the denim to tighten further. Fuck. Now he’s not the only one who’s pants are suddenly tighter, damn it. Trying to shake the fog that I let this guy pull me into, I give my unruly dick a discreet yet much needed adjustment, just before he turns and looks me right in the face.

  Motherfucker!

  Karma, you really are a sadistic bitch.

  In the three months I’ve been back in Plantain, of course the only guy to make my cock twitch like it’s possessed would have to be my ex-girlfriend’s brother.

  Nolan fucking Frederickson.

  Ch 3

  NOLAN

  I get to the Plantain Municipal Building, I’m early but decide to go in. My phone begins to ring, and with a quick glance I see it’s Evan. I give the receptionist my name before swiping my thumb over the screen and stepping away from the desk.

  “Hey man,” I answer.

  “You in the meeting yet?” he asks, the familiar sounds of the construction site in the background.

  “Not yet.”

  “Do you know who it’s with?”

  “No,” I reply and he then gets to the reason he’s calling, something about that building site and needing to probably divvy our crews up for the high school job.

  I’m listening to him as I walk around the lobby, near the rear windows that look out into the parking lot, and a black jeep pulling in catches my eye.

  Seeing him through the window, a million feelings and memories come to mind. Fuck, Rupert looks good… no; he looks fucking hot as fuck. His tall, lean frame exits his jeep and my lips part as I just stare at him.

  He’s tall, taller than I remember, and I also don’t remember him being so well built, but he was eighteen when I saw him last, and the guy I’m looking at now is all man. He’s wearing well-tailored navy trousers with light brown dress shoes, a look I never recalled seeming so appealing before. He looks around the building, apparently ignorant to my presence as he adjusts his white dress shirt, running his fingers along the waistline of his slacks, before leaning into the driver side door for his suit jacket. He lifts his arms and pulls the jacket on, and I admire his long torso. I can see not only from the cut of the suit that he’s got an amazing body, but also just by the way he carries himself.

  He begins walking into the building after closing his jeep door and checks his iPhone. I have no idea what he does or why he’s here, but when he enters the building and I turn my back. I don’t want him to see me, but I don’t know why.

  Evan continues to talk but I can barely concentrate. I haven’t gotten this hard from someone in a long time, maybe ever. I can’t explain how I feel right now. The urge I had for him long ago has only grown with age apparently, and how attracted I am to him.

  When I think the coast is clear, I turn back toward the reception desk expecting him to be gone, but he’s not. He’s standing there, looking at me. We lock eyes, my dick which was granite is now steel. His dark eyes hone in on me like a laser, and I can’t help but scan his body as I inhale slowly and deeply through my nose. Someone behind him says his name and greets him, knocking us from our ogling.

  “Gotta go man,” I tell Evan, ending the call and tucking my phone into my back pocket.

  Rupert begins toward me, and I wince as I start toward him since my cock is being strangled by my jeans.

  “Nolan, I thought that was you,” he says, his voice deep and a little raspy.

  “Rupert, my sister said you were back in town,” I tell him with a nod of my head.

  I can’t help but notice that neither of us have outstretched our hands to shake, and I know that for me, if we were to touch right now, there’s no knowing what the hell would spark from it.

  “Oh, Mr. Harrington,” the receptionist sitting behind the large desk beside us says and Rupert turns his head toward her. “Mr. Frederickson is your first appointment.”

  I watch as his jaw flexes, his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows and puts on a mask of ease before he looks back to me.

  “I can wait down here if you’re just getting in the door,” I state.

  “No, no, come on,” he tells me, licking his lips after speaking.

  I walk behind him, fuck, of course his ass is hard as a rock and plump, clearly he works out. I feel myself stifle a growl in my chest and it’s then I get a whiff of his cologne, musky and rich, my poor cock won’t make it out of this encounter alive if this keeps up. His long arm reaches over to press the up button as we reach the elevator and thankfully there are only three floors in this building or else I might be in trouble. It’s been a while since I’ve had sex, but shit, why do I feel like a seventeen-year-old with internet porn and a king-sized bottle of lotion? I’ve never felt this horny and fucking ready in my life.

  “I guess I didn’t realize you were part of Plantain Construction,” he says after clearing his throat.

  “Yeah, I was doing the car thing for the used dealership, but this is more my speed I guess.”

  He nods but doesn’t look at me, while I can’t take my eyes off him as we stand side by side. The door dings and we enter the empty elevator. A rush of adrenaline pulses through me, I could kiss him in here, wait no, no this is business. What the fuck? Just get through the meeting and then go home and jerk off. We both step on and turn to face the doors still opened to the hallway and they slowly begin to close, then a hand slides in the doors and stops them, opening again to a frazzled woman clearly running late.

  “Morning Sheila,” Rupert says as he leans forward to press the button for the doors to open.

  “Good morning, Rupert,” she sighs as she gasps for air, pulling her bag from her elbow up onto her shoulder.

  The doors close and we begin to go up slowly, long enough for me to get high as I huff on his cologne and honestly fear the imprint of my zipper will cause serious damage to my dick. The doors open and a man is standing there, talking to another man, and when he sees this Sheila lady, he looks at his watch then back at her.

  “Thank you again, Sheila,” Rupert says and both Sheila and I look at him in question. “Mr. Patrick, sorry Sheila’s late, she was helping me figure out where my mailbox was downstairs,” he says.

  We all look at who I presume is Sheila’s boss and he nods at Rupert, “Yes, of course, good work Sheila,” he tells her.

  Sheila looks over her shoulder and mouths a thank you to Rupert and this transaction makes me feel some kinda way. Last version of Rupert I knew, he was an asshole. So, this is somewhat unexpected. He begins down a hallway, cubicles clustering in the center of the large space while single desks line the walls outside of offices. I try to focus on anything but his ass hugged tight by those slacks. How he says hello to everyone, how he seems to know all of them on a personal level. Again, it surprises me. I’d like to think this would be easier if he was still a mega-asshole, but he’s so fucking hot I doubt it. We turn a corner and there’s a youngish woman sitting at a desk outside an office I notice has Rupert’s name on a placard.

  “Morning, Beth,” he says with a nod and reaches for a stack of papers and envelopes piled neatly on the corner of her desk.

  “Morning,” she says with a small wave and a s
mile, but not looking up from her computer screen as she types furiously.

  “Coffee?” Rupert asks, glancing over at me.

  “Sure.”

  “Coffee when you can, Beth.”

  “One…minute,” she says pressing enter and rising from her seat.

  Rupert moves into his office as I follow, the Beth chick looks familiar but not familiar enough to think about long enough to remember. We live in a small town, I’m sure I’ve come into contact with her one time or another.

  “So, you living here now or you used to have an apartment in Bannister, right?” I ask.

  I stop just in front of his desk between a set of twin leather and metal chairs, while he moves around his desk, looking down at the papers in his hand and unbuttoning his suit coat with the other. Fuck his fingers are long and his hands are big, like his cock.

  “I’m living in my parent’s place, they’re always out of the country. That apartment was a friend’s, I just hated living alone then.”

  “And now?” I question.

  “What’s that?” he asks, looking up confused.

  “You don’t mind living alone now?” I ask with raised brows.

  “Oh, no, I mean… after college, sharing with a bunch of guys for years, it’s nice to be alone,” he chuckles slightly and the laugh makes my insides flip and flop. “How about you?”

  “My grandparents old place,” I shrug a shoulder.

  “Wow, that house looks so amazing from the outside, I always wondered what it looked like inside,” he comments.

  “You can come over and see it any time,” I propose, wanting to see his reaction.

  He looks up at me, blinking, lips parting. Hopefully my eyes are portraying what I really mean by that statement. The door behind me opens and I hear muffled footsteps on the carpet, snapping me out of my boner coma and taking a seat in one of the chairs as Rupert steps aside, removing his jacket and Beth sets the two cups of coffee on the desk.

  “Cream and sugar?” Beth asks me.

  I shake my head and take the cup, trying not to notice his fitted dress shirt and I take a deep inhale as I focus on the steam rising-up from my coffee mug.

  “Do you need me for this?” she asks Rupert.

  “No,” he shakes his head once as he raises the cup to his full lips.

  Beth turns to leave and I look around the decently sized office. Three oil paintings line one wall, a small bar sits in the corner along a wall completely made of mirrors and a leather couch facing the desk.

  “Oh, and Beth, no interruptions.”

  “Got it,” she says, and I look over to give her a smile, which when she connects eyes with me, her smile falters and she hurries to close the door.

  My brows pinch because that was weird.

  “You fucked her,” Rupert states.

  I look at him, my face still one of confusion.

  “I know that look, the one when you see someone you had sex with, then they see you and you’ve come out,” he elaborates.

  I squint my eyes and look down, trying to remember her but she was just another faceless, nameless pussy I nailed in an attempt to fuck the gay away.

  “Anyway, let’s get down to it.”

  “Had a lot of those?” I ask, looking at him as he sits down at his desk. “Women looking at you like that?”

  “Nah, I only slept with your sister and a handful in college, but I’ve had boyfriends and witnessed them running into ex’s.”

  I nod, internally cringing at the memory of him and Irys.

  “She said you guys got together the other day.”

  “Yes,” he nods, “I’m happy she didn’t hold anything against me, I deserved a lot worse from her, but she’s, ya know-”

  “The most forgiving person you know?” I finish.

  He gives me a smile and our eyes lock, a zing of electricity shooting through my spine.

  “We should go over the plans,” he tells me, clearing his throat and I know I’m having an effect on him.

  Setting our coffees down onto the desk, we both stand and he moves to the opposite corner to a conference table I missed in my scanning of the room. There’s already blueprints rolled out and he stands at the table, his hands pressed on the papers and I move up just beside him. Fuck he smells so damn good, and I think I could rest my erection on the table at this point.

  He glances over and I wonder if he notices the massive bulge in my jeans. Resting my hand just beside his, I look over at him. His eyes still downcast, his long, dark lashes fluttering along his cheekbones, the dark stubble dusting his cheeks and chin, I want to feel that on my thighs. I only recall one other time being this close to him. It was when he was still dating Irys.

  I watched as my sister and Daisy danced together, and noticed as I drank with my brother and Evan, Rupert sneaking out the front door. I wasn’t sure if he was attempting not to be seen by me or Wyatt, like we were going to beat him up or something for the shit he’d been pulling with my sister, or if he didn’t want me specifically to see him. I decided to sneak away for a smoke, but mainly because I wanted to see him. I didn’t know why he interested me so much, the fact that he kissed my sister, let alone probably fucked her, should disgust me, but it didn’t. Fuck, I wish it did. I’ve been pining over this dude for three years now, ever since the shower. I’ve tried to fuck him out of my brain, but no chick can break me free. My first trip to a gay bar, hours away, was propelled by my need to get Rupert out of my head. But the dude I hooked up with didn’t quench my thirst, suppress my hunger, or hold me over in anyway. I want Rupert.

  I used to not make an effort to come to Sunday dinner, especially when I was at school. But knowing Rupert would be there, I went. Just to see him. Just to be in his space. I wanted him to see that I was there for the taking, sitting across from him at the dinner table, I’d look at him and try to show that I was interested. But he seemed oblivious. I knew I was gay ever since I can remember, and Rupert had been the only guy in real life that got me hard, but I knew he wasn’t ready to admit he was what I was.

  I nudged my brother in the arm and signaled I was going outside. He nodded but his eyes focused back on Daisy, which we didn’t know was a thing going on at the time.

  I didn't see Rupert anywhere as I walked to my truck, opening the driver side door and reaching in to grab my cigarettes from the center console. I heard a car door open and looked over to see Rupert’s car across from mine. I casually lit my cigarette and watched as he pretended not to notice me. So, I cleared my throat and said, “When you gonna break up with my sister?”

  I don’t know where the words came from or why I chose then to say them. Maybe I was hoping he’d get his head out of his ass and just be gay, and with me.

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  “I said, when are you going to break up with my sister?”

  “Why would I do that?” he asked, looking confused.

  “Because it's obvious that you're not into her,” I stated.

  He gave me a quizzical look and I closed my truck door, inhaling my cigarette deeply and walking into the puff of smoke from my exhalation.

  “Why would I break up with your sister? I love her,” he told me.

  It took everything in me not to laugh.

  “You’re fucking kidding me if you think that you're fooling anyone.”

  Again, he looked almost offended, and this time I did let out a faint, deep chuckle.

  “I know I’m hot as fuck… but straight guys don’t usually stare at me and jerk off in the shower.”

  I could tell by his reaction that he didn’t know I’d seen him in the shower, and his cheeks flushing gave my cock a jolt of pleasure. I stepped closer until the car door was the only thing between us.

  “What? I never-”

  “Did you think I didn't see you? You don't think I touched myself just for you?”

  He just stared at me, swallowing thickly and as his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat, I wanted to lean over and kiss him there. His br
eathing picked up and I watched as his shirt grew tight across his pecs, I wanted to rip it off him and really, more than anything, I wanted to drop to my knees for him. Moving around the car door, his body turned to face me as he waited for my next words.

  I stopped close, so close that our exhales were hitting each other’s faces and I smelled his sweet, beer flavored breath, along with a hint of cologne on his body. The heat radiated off him as he stared down at my lips. I licked them and leaned closer, reaching down to grasp his hard-on beneath his jeans and squeezed.

  “You going to deny this too?” I asked, feeling him twitch under my palm and he let out a shuddering breath.

  I felt my dick grow hard and painful and wished that I’d worn underwear to help with the pressure. But the moment I thought would change my life, ended when we heard his friends approaching us from the bar. I’ve thought about that night often, and jerked off to it often too, imagining me giving him the blowjob of his life.

  “We have several sketches,” he breathes out, snapping me into the now. “The city knows what they want, but the schoolboard also wants certain amenities. We have a decent budget, but I want to get a feel from you if what we have here is doable.”

  The tone of his voice changes, at first breathy and a very pillow talk tone to business voice. I glance down and look over the blueprints, my eyes scanning the lines and designs, and it’s silent for a short time as he lets me just look. He steps back as I lean over and grab the other set of blueprints further up the table. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I think I feel his eyes on my ass.

  “Look good?” he asks.

  I smirk to myself. “Yeah, these are doable. We can mix both drafts; I’ll talk with the school board and see what they definitely must have. I remember from high school that the original layout was weird and I’d like to change that personally.”

  The showers, for one and the memory of Rupert in the shower pops into mind. Stop it Nolan, this is work, focus.

  “Yes, I agree. The budget going to work?” he asks.