CHAPTER FOURTEEN Cole

"Shit," I whispered, leaning closer to the bathroom mirror. I used two fingers to spread the delicate skin at the corner of my eye. The result was terrific if I could keep my fingers there permanently, but of course, when I removed them, the crow's feet returned.

"You look distinguished, Cole,"Marla had told me when I pointed out the offending wrinkles over Memorial Day weekend on Fire Island. We went for the holiday weekend to see if I could be cheered up. What I'd felt like, was old, not cheerful. Exactly like I felt now. "You're a successful man in his late thirties. That is considered a catch in my world," she'd said.

"Your world isn't gay,"I'd reminded her.

"Stop with the negative attitude, darling,"she trilled. "You are fucking hot, and I should not have to keep reminding you of that."

"You're currently the only one saying that."

I was currently reminded of how negative I'd been on that trip. The further away from my broken relationship that I got, the worse I became. Time was not healing all wounds, and I no longer believed the assholes that said it would.

I dabbed more eye cream around my eyes, adding some to the smile lines I also discovered on my wrinkle tour. "You're just old," I muttered, backing up and taking in my naked body.

My body, in my humble opinion, was how I defied age. The face revealed a man in his late thirties. The toned and muscular body said a decade younger than that. I ran a hand along my pronounced pecs and down my ripped stomach. Three hundred sit-ups a day kept the abdominals demarcated into a six-pack.

My obliques stood out near my waist and directed one's eye to a sizable endowment. Alan had loved my penis. He hadn't liked it in the beginning, but couldn't get enough once he got used to its considerable girth. I wondered if his boss's was as big.

Just the visual thought of him with his boss caused butterflies to take flight in my gut. I couldn't let go of the fact that I didn't think his boss was very attractive. I'd compared myself to him nonstop ever since Alan dumped me for him. The man must have had something. That, or I hadn't taken good care of my relationship. I'd begun to believe it was more to do with that.

"Stop being so hard on yourself," I said, doing my best to pump myself up before going to the neighbors' for dinner. I wanted to look good and to appear casual and light, maybe even fun. Was that even possible?

My idea of seeing Chad again almost worked to perfection. I'd called his father Alex and asked about him and his wife coming for dinner at my house, and of course added that it would be nice if their son could attend as well. Alex, unsure of Chad's work schedule, suggested I come there instead so that maybe Chad would be home early enough to spend time with us. I liked the idea immediately and agreed to the change of venue.

Now all I had to do was look presentable and do my best to come across as less of an asshole to Chad. Even if he didn't want to work for me, perhaps we could be neighborly friends and see where that got me.

Having any sort of attraction to a guy was a pleasant surprise. Quite a length of time had lapsed since I'd felt even an inkling of excitement at the prospect of romance. According to his father, Chad was only twenty-two. I figured that he wouldn't like older men, but I was motivated to see where he stood with that.

I'd had the advantage of knowing he was gay because his father outed him on our initial phone call when mentioning his son as a candidate for caretaking at my house. Alex had mentioned Chad was home for the summer after a breakup with his boyfriend. That revelation was one of the minor reasons I'd agreed to hire him. Chad's experience running his folks' oceanfront home was the main reason.

The day I'd shown up at my new home was the first time I'd laid eyes on him. It was immediately impossible not to notice how striking of a young man he was. He had a natural and attractive physical appearance. Lucky to have been a winner in God's DNA gene pool lottery, he stood out above most young men his age. The best part? I don't think he saw himself that way.

Whereas Chad was personable and had a great ability to hold your gaze while speaking, a natural shyness or modesty came through when he spoke. He seemed to choose his words carefully, as if each one had a purpose to him. I admired the subtle way he came across as inviting without being phony. I noted that approach to be a terrific skill on a boy so striking to look at.

Our initial encounter had been brief indeed. I'd pulled into the driveway to a half-naked boy washing my vehicles, so naturally I was caught off guard. I actually sat in the SUV longer than seemed appropriate because I needed to get a grip from the surprise. Seeing the sun reflecting off his moist skin, combined with the mist from the hose enhancing every muscle as it clung to him, damn near made me faint.

I'd led the way along the sidewalk as he carried my luggage, trying to be decent about the thoughts careening through my filthy mind after glimpsing his bubble butt in his board shorts when I'd pulled in. His narrow waist barely held the shorts up and they were hanging so low that the top of his ass crack was in view. Paler smooth skin was exposed below his tan line as it disappeared into the material I wished I was inside of. Perhaps I'd done more than glimpsed.

In fact, I was so aroused by his physical presence that I felt an erection coming on in my tight golf shorts. My cock was growing so fast and so hard that I waited and watched as he lugged my belongings up the stairs to the second floor, remaining at the bottom of the stairs, just needing a moment to gather myself. That particular view did little to minimize my growth issue.

What happened next was where I fucked up royally. After composing myself, I hurried upstairs and found him holding the picture of Jack and me. In my defense, I was surprised he was holding one of my belongings, but that wasn't what set me off. He said he knew Jack. Communicated with Jack—a very dead Jack. That was what did it.

I hadn't expected his response when I asked him how he knew Jack, so in my usual suspicious and judgmental way, I accused him of being crazy. In fact, I think I told him he was from Crazy Town, or something along those lines.

Initially, Chad had seemed strange to me and had definitely caught me out of my element with his belief that he spoke with the dead. But Jack was my best friend, and I had a reason to be weirded out. What were the odds that I'd buy a new house, move to a new town, hire a new employee, and then have that person drop a bomb like that on me? And that was day number one. Hell, that was hour number one.

Yet, here I was, a week later and unable to get the young man out of my mind. I knew absolutely nothing about him other than he was gorgeous and I'd found him odd the day I met him, but still, something about him tugged at my heart and I had no idea what that was.

A never-before-heard inner voice insisted I take another look with an open mind. I didn't know I had an inner voice, and if I had, I doubt I would have trusted it, but nonetheless, a voice was pushing me along and I was listening.