"You think there's some that are skilled enough?"
"Won't know until we start asking around. Might be good to train some of the young guys around here. A lot of them could stay, and the more that stay, the more work that's needed."
"Rosie said there's a lot of tourism around this time of year and into the fall," Decker added.
"Yeah. Busy times up here. Could draw more people if there were more places for them to stay. Not to mention, it could bring in a whole different type of clientele."
"You're really getting into this small-town thing, aren't you?"
"I am. I never thought I'd like a town this small, but Caroline was right. It kind of grows on you."
"And you?" Cort turned his gaze on Decker who looked him square in the eye. "You've always traveled everywhere, just like me. You're okay here? You like it?"
"Yeah, man. I do. It's time to stop roaming." Cort wasn't ready to admit he agreed. He only nodded and finished off his glass of tea.
"We've got time to see how it all shakes out. For now, though, I'm hitting the hay."
Decker snorted. "That's not all you're gonna be hittin'."
Buck grinned. "Nope. Y'all can show yourselves off Caroline's porch."
Cort and Decker watched as Caroline slid off the arm of Buck's chair, saw the look in the man's eyes when she went inside. Buck followed her through the glass doors and locked them firmly behind himself. "Well, I guess that's our cue."
"I guess so. You staying with Rosie tonight?"
"I am. Or at least I'm going to try."
"Try?"
"She still gets prickly about me staying there sometimes. Claims she needs her space."
Decker rolled his eyes upward, and Cort laughed. He'd never known the other man to be so accommodating with women. If one needed space, Decker always gave it. In spades, never coming back.
"You're whipped, too man."
Decker grinned over at him as they both got up to make their way down the stairs to the ground. The drive from Caroline's to Rosie's wouldn't take long, and Cort figured he'd walk from there back to the cabin Decker had rented.
"When was the last time you worked on a historical?"
"A few months. I did some work in Baltimore on a downtown business. I'll check the county clerk and current code specs and requirements and then get started. You've never seen the place?"
"No. I haven't been out there yet. Only met Blue a few times before you showed up. Don't know her at all really. She's a bit of an eccentric from what Rosie has said."
She was, Cort agreed, but he wanted to hear what Rosie had to say about her. "Eccentric?
How so?"
"She didn't say, and I didn't ask. Just something about the way she was raised and the history of the family, but I don't know any specifics. She said people in town are kind of fascinated but kind of wary when it comes to Blue."
"Is there a point to this little insider's chat?"
"You asked. I'm answering, but to be honest, you've always liked your women straight-laced, and this one isn't anything like that from what I hear and from what I've seen. Last night was a bit eye-opening, watching you two."
"Rosie told you, didn't she?"
"Told me what?"
"You don't pull dumbass off very well. She told you Blue and I have a past, didn't she?"
"She might have."
"Stop bullshitting."
Decker laughed. "Okay, yeah. She told me, but she didn't give me any details. Hell, I don't think she's gotten any details from Blue, and that's pissing her off."
"'Because there's nothing to tell. It was a one-night stand. Shit, man, she was the last person I expected to see when I pulled up to that house yesterday."
"How long ago?"
"Five years."
"Damn, Cort. You're in love with this woman, and you didn't tell either of us."
In love? How did Decker know that? "In love? Nah."
"Now who's bullshitting? You ever gonna tell me what kind of pictures are hanging in her house?"
"You're still on about those? Man, you've got a real live woman in
that
--" he pointed in the direction of Rosie's place "--house, and you're worried about pictures in another one? You're hopeless."
"Rosie said they're the art kind, erotic, but not porn," Decker went on.
He was watching Cort closely for some reaction, and Cort was careful not to show any.
"That's about right." Cort didn't think Blue would care if anyone knew about the pictures. She was a bit of an exhibitionist, but there again was that kick of jealousy. He didn't want his friends seeing her like that. When he'd been staring at her pictures and jerking off, when he'd been thinking about showing her off to other men but not letting them touch her, his two best friends were not in that equation.
Decker's laugh echoed off the tress. "No fuckin' help."
"Nope."
"What about the tattoo? She got more than the one?"
"What the hell is it with you?"
"You talk about Buck and I being whipped, but you love her, man," Decker said again. "It's plain as day to us. She feel the same?"
"Yes." It was the first time he'd dared admit it to himself. She'd told him she loved him, said she didn't need him to love her back. He didn't want to admit he believed her either, but he did.
He knew with the way she gave herself to him, offered herself, crawled in his lap that last time...
Dear God, he wanted her. Again. Now. All the fucking time.
"Well, at least you have that."
He only nodded. His dick was harder than a steel rod, and he wanted nothing more than to pile drive it into her. She stirred every emotion he had and some he thought he'd long forgotten.
Sex with her, talking with her, sleeping the afternoon away with her. He'd never felt so good or so odds with himself.
"You want me to drop you at the cabin?" Decker asked as they settled into his truck.
"Nah. I'll walk through that little path you've got between your place and hers."
"You sure? I promise not to ask any more questions."
"Yeah, but after that meal Caroline made, I should probably be walking from here all the way to your place and back about twenty times."
"She's a damn good cook."
"And Rosie owns the diner at the edge of town?"
"She does, but I do the cooking when we're at her place or mine most of the time."
"I can't believe you're settling down, man. I'm not surprised at all about Buck, but you? I thought for sure you would die single."
"I did too. Rosie wasn't part of the plan."
"She is now, though?"
"She is the whole plan," the man said firmly.
"I'm real happy for you and Buck. Real happy." Cort turned his head to look out the window. The mild north Georgia night was unlike any other night in any other place he'd ever been. It was still and quiet save for the engine in Decker's beat-up work truck, but something about the quiet area off the beaten path got to him in a way he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. It felt like home. It was inviting and warm and welcoming and everything he hadn't felt since Alicia had moved out. He could get used to a place like this.
"Thanks. We got lucky."
Cort couldn't argue with that. A few miles down the road, Decker turned to the right and followed a long dirt drive to the cabin he sometimes shared with Rosie. It too, looked warm and welcoming, and the softly rounded woman that stepped out onto the front porch made it even more so. Decker had the engine off and was out of the cab before Cort got his hand around the door release.
"You been home long, baby?"
"Nope. Had some help tonight. Hi, Cort."
She waved at him over Decker's shoulder and smiled. He returned both. "Hi."
"You want some coffee?"
"No, I think I'm going to head on back to Decker's."
"You sure? You want to sit a spell out here on the porch? It's a nice night."
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm beat and stuffed."
"Well okay, then, but just know you're welcome to stay for a while."
"I know. Thanks." He turned and stepped off the porch, but Rosie's soft and full of concern question stopped him and had him looking back at her.
"Are you and Blue going to be okay?"
He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't. "I don't know." He and Blue needed to talk some more and until then, he couldn't say if they were going to be okay or not. He hoped they could at least come through all this with an understanding, if not a future.
Rosie nodded her understanding. "Well, either way, I really appreciate you taking a look at her place and being willing to help her out. The timing couldn't have been more perfect when Decker brought up that you were an electrician."
No, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Not a problem. I'm happy to do it."
"You sure you don't want to take the truck back?" Decker asked, sliding his arms around Rosie from behind.
Cort's chest ached at the sweet, loving sight. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'll walk. Night." He crossed over to the path Decker had carved out between his and Rosie's property. It was lined with solar lights and being as unfamiliar with the north Georgia landscape as he was, he was happy to have the guide.
It really was a beautiful area. He'd been to a lot of places that some would say were more beautiful, but he hadn't been kidding when he said something about this Southern place made him feel different, like he was home. He'd never thought to feel that way anywhere, much less in a part of the country he'd never spent any time in before.
The stars decked out the black sky. His last job had been in Montana, and he'd spent many nights on the balcony of the lodge looking up at the stars. It was different here, though. They seemed closer, almost touchable, and that didn't make any sense to him either. He wasn't fanciful. He wasn't a dreamer. He liked cold, hard facts, life in black and white with a little gray thrown in for good measure, structured business, and structured relationships.
The outline of Decker's cabin appeared through the darkness, and unconsciously his steps quickened. He was anxious to be inside, to be surrounded by four walls and not the openness of the Southern night. It was quiet, and while he liked the quiet, this was too much for his taste. It gave him too much time to think. Decker and Buck didn't do a lot of thinking. They were more action oriented. Jump in headfirst and give whatever it was their complete attention and focus.
But Cort was the thinker, the one who looked at something from all angles before dipping his toe in. It's what had built his professional reputation. He thrived on knowing all the ins and outs of a project. Since Alicia and more recently since Blue, it's how he approached women too. Only now with Blue, he couldn't do it that way. If he tried to analyze it or scope out the exits or handled things with kid gloves, he was liable to lose her a second time. He didn't want that.
Once inside the cabin, Cort emptied his pockets onto the small table beside the door, then headed for the kitchen. He took a beer from the fridge and popped the top off before making his way up the stairs for a shower. His mind drifted to the two women his friends had fallen in love with.
Rosie and Caroline. From what he'd heard and seen with his own eyes, one was feisty and needed a strong hand to rein her in, and the other was sensual, passionate in everything she did.
Decker and Buck adored them, and he could certainly see why. Neither man had ever settled on just one type of woman. They'd loved whatever attracted them.
He felt like he was at some sort of crossroads in his life, and he didn't really understand it.
He hadn't felt it when he left Montana, but the second he'd driven over the Mississippi River, it had settled itself in his chest and hadn't let up. It was like something was tugging at him. He didn't believe in signs or superstitions, and he'd never once read his horoscope, but there was something different about this small town in the northern part of Georgia, something he felt deep down inside. He figured now it had everything to do with the woman who was a few miles outside town.
Shit.
A nice hot shower was in order; afterward, he'd take a look at the blueprints of the plantation house. She'd had some survey work done, had a firm from Atlanta come up and do an updated blueprint. In all honesty, he couldn't wait to get into the work itself. He loved opening up walls and ceilings and sometimes floors to see what was what, what was there, what he could do to make it better. He would install an up-to-date electrical panel and see if he could get Blue to agree to central heating and air. From what he'd seen, the house didn't have either feature, and she'd need it for a bed and breakfast. They could have that work being done too while he was working on the wiring. He wondered if she'd already had the plumbing updated and would make it a point to ask.
He took a swallow of the beer and set the bottle on the counter beside the bathroom sink. He was damn excited about plantation job, and he was man enough to admit, a lot of that excitement now centered around the woman who owned it.
Blue.
He flipped on the faucet in the shower and waited until it was near scalding before stripping and stepping into the stall. The water felt great on his tired and tight muscles. He lowered his head to his chest and let the massaging showerhead rain down on the back of his neck. The sigh he heaved echoed around him. Before leaving Blue's place earlier, he'd been relaxed, near sated, and happy. Then Neil walked in and all that changed. He knew the other man wasn't a threat, but the sheer fact that he'd fucked Blue before just clawed at Cort's insides. Sure the man was gay now, but still… Then there was the whole naked thing.' God, she was fucking beautiful from head to toe. While he himself wasn't an exhibitionist and generally kept his clothes on, she was comfortable in her nudity. That was evidenced by not only the pictures on her walls but also by the fact that she hadn't been one bit shy or embarrassed to walk around her house naked with him or Neil there. Hell, she'd even stepped out onto her front porch naked. He tamped down the memory of his words as he left her. Talk about screwed up. He'd told her to get dressed, as if she should have something to be ashamed off. He knew better, and so did she. He was just at such a loss as to what to say. They were so close to some kind of understanding before being interrupted and everything shattered. He needed to get back out there to see her, to talk to her.