The Current Between Us (6 page)

“
It’s a family deal. My father was an electrician. Union,” Trent responded in almost a croak. He lowered his brow and narrowed his eyes, mouthing the words he’d just said, wondering where such a stupid response might have come from. He scribbled on the clipboard, went over a few of the numbers with his pencil, but it was all a charade masking the sexual tension rolling through him. Finally, he lifted his head to stare blankly at the breakers in the panel box. If this were the pickup it felt like, Gage would have to make the first move. No way could he give back the sexy banter or the hot come on lines needed to seal this deal.

“
Mmmm… You own your own business?” Gage asked. No mistaking the step in the guy took or the hard dick slightly pressing against his ass. The sensation sent goose bumps prickling up Trent’s arms and his heart picked up several beats, beginning a slow steady thumping in his chest. He stood cornered with no place to hide, so he didn’t try, but leaned toward the panel box, needing distance between them. Trent flipped through the pages of his clipboard to the pictures of his children and begged his brain to remember why he stood there!
Everything has a separate compartment in my life for a reason. Remember that reason. Don’t blow it now, Trent Cooper.

“
I can take care of what’s going on in those brand new Levi’s of yours, handsome. There’s a bathroom attached to my office. Meet me there, it’s discreet.” Trent felt Gage’s hand snake across his hip, slide down the front of his jeans, and moments passed before he remembered to breathe. His eyes closed at the feel of the graze Gage gave his rock hard dick. And then both of Gage’s hands slid down over his ass, gripping each ass cheek. It took him a minute to speak and when he did, he forced the images of his children into his mind. The strength of his voice surprised him.

“
I’m not interested. I don’t roll that way,” Trent said. Saying it aloud somehow gave him the continued strength to step out from under the mind-blowing touches and turn back around to face Gage.

“
The panel box is gonna be a problem. I need to check the units out on the roof, but it’s not gonna be big enough to hold all the power you need. It’s also not what was on the specs given to me. This one will only hold up to about a hundred and fifty amps. You need at least half more. It’s also extremely outdated.” With each word said, Trent turned back into the professional he berated himself for not being since first meeting Gage Synclair. As he spoke, the basement door opened above. The curator now stood at the top of the stairs, poking her head down. Trent’s eyes darted up, making eye contact with her, relieved they were no longer alone. If Gage would have made another move, his resolve would surely break and this would be a far different game he played.

“
How was this missed? Or perhaps a better question might be, does it have to be done now?” Gage asked. He also turned his head to follow his gaze up the stairs, before turning back to Trent, confusion clear on Gage’s face.

“
If you’re able to get a green tag during the final inspection from the city, I’d be shocked. Regardless, it won’t hold through the opening. Something will blow, tripping something else. Everything electrical won’t be able to work together.”

“
Shit! Where’s McCall? Jacquelyn, could you get McCall for me” Gage said over his shoulder, acknowledging the curator for the first time. “What’s it going to take to replace it and keep everything on task?”

“
I need to look closer at your schedule. Right now all I can say is it’s gonna take time and money. We’ll pull a special permit for this. I’ve got to check the roof and the wiring. Depending on what I find, the electric company has to shut off the power and let us replace it. The city inspects the work, then gives the go ahead back to the power company to turn it back on. Here, let me show you what we’re talking about.” Trent pulled his clipboard forward to show Gage the numbers he’d worked up a few minutes earlier. “Here’s the simple math of it. This column’s the estimated average amp usage you’ll need to run this building every day based on the equipment I’ve seen. At the very best case is two hundred, probably more like two twenty-five. Your current box supports up to one fifty.”

“
Shit, how wasn’t this caught before now?” All the sexual tension between them left as quickly as it came. Those sexy, steamy hot blue eyes were turning into shards of ice shooting daggers as he spoke. No way did Trent want any part of where those daggers might land.

“
Mr. Synclair, the plans are showing a bigger box here. I’m not sure who drew up these specs… but yeah, it should have been caught before now… I guess it’s past blame time. Even if we did a temporary to get you through the opening, you’re gonna have to take the time to replace this thing. I can try to call in favors, I have a few, but I first need to see what I’m working with upstairs and outside before I talk to anyone.”

“
So what’s the best possible time frame on this?” Gage asked.

“
Off the top of my head, and best case scenario, my part can be done overnight. It’ll be a solid eight to twelve hour job, but we can get our part done in one shot. It’s the city and electric company who’ll require time. I may have a connection in the city who might work closely with us. I don’t know, though, it’s asking a lot in such a short time. Let me get up on top, see what I’m looking at and make some calls. It won’t take me long. I’ll find you when I’m done and we can talk pricing and timeframes,” Trent said as McCall came through the basement door.

“
I’ll be in my office. McCall, I need to see you,” Gage didn’t say anything more, but took off up the stairs and out the door, Roger McCall at his heels.

Chapter 4

Trent paced the outside sidewalk in the front of the gallery, treading a solid path back and forth on the small walkway beside his old pickup. He’d called his men, all his suppliers, and the city, trying to come up with the best possible solution to get this panel change completed as soon as possible. Roger McCall all but abandoned him after what he supposed was a solid chew out by Gage Synclair. The large glass panels separating the office from the rest of the showroom hid nothing as Gage lit into McCall’s ass. He didn’t let him out for a good twenty minutes. McCall immediately left the jobsite, spouting something about ‘informing corporate’ as he tore his ass past Trent, and hadn’t been back since.

Tren
t worked out possible solutions to the time frame as he continued to check the blueprints now spread across the hood of his truck. His head journeyman grumbled over the idea of an all-night, Saturday evening panel change and then a full day of work the next day, but he reluctantly agreed with double overtime pay as enticement. Trent called Sophia next to beg her to watch the children since Rhonny already had out-of-town weekend plans. She lived up to her reputation as Auntie Crazy when she agreed to his request but insisted he lied to her and really planned a hot sex date instead.

The
supply company kept him on hold while checking pricing and availability of the different panel options. It had already been eight of the longest minutes of his entire life! This forever hold pattern completely pissed him off. They were taking their sweet time and every minute that ticked by felt like dog years. To top it all off, even after all this aggravation, his fucking hard-on still wouldn’t settle the fuck down. Interesting how his super easy morning of everything falling into place took a huge nose dive, skidding him slowly and painfully across the concrete floor. Already, the anxiety of this job was past the point of dumb, and it hadn’t even officially started yet.

His stomach let out a loud angry grumble
of protest. He looked down at his watch. How could it already be a quarter to one in the afternoon? What he’d intended as a quick check in had turned into almost four hours already, and this stop was so not on his to-do list for the day.

Trent forced himself to calm
down and stop pacing. He leaned his butt back against the side of the truck and took several deep, relaxing breaths. He listened to the terrible hold music for a minute while turning his face up to the sun, closing his eyes, letting its warmth coat his skin. He refused to think about this job for the next couple of minutes as he waited on hold. Instead, his thoughts strayed back to his conversation with Auntie Crazy and the next terrible topic in his life.

Trent
couldn’t even remember the last time he got to partake in real sex, which must mean it was quite a while ago. Even thinking hard, he still didn’t come up with much. Shit. A year ago? Hell, maybe even longer. The bottom line, he needed to have more sex if his response this morning were any indication. It just wouldn’t do for him to be out in public reacting like this on a regular basis. He didn’t want to go back into the life of random, meaningless sex. Okay, he needed to rephrase that thought. He absolutely could go back to a life of frequent, random sex, but that life usually started after ten at night, and being a single parent, he went to bed around nine. Sometimes, if he got lucky, it would be more around eight thirty when he hit the sack.

Before his sister died,
Trent was all about the meaningless sex. He could stay up all night, doing whoever presented available. Back in the day, he would get off work, clean himself up, and immerse himself in Chicago’s club scene. He totally lived the stereotypical life of a single gay man. Sex and more sex. He got laid all the time. Then he’d been given responsibility of the kids and everything had changed. He’d had to stop being that guy, and shit got more serious. He took the responsibility to heart because he owed it to Hunter and Emalynn to be there and be the father they needed.

When Emalynn,
only a few weeks old, had gotten sick, he’d had the shit scared out of him. He’d loaded up both kids and taken them to the hospital to have her checked out. The staff had given him grief over providing care once he told them he was her guardian, not her father. Social workers got involved; making it a giant fucked up mess.

T
he next day, he called his attorney and started the paperwork to make them legally his so they would never have to go through all the problems again. But that step changed everything again. In Trent’s mind, a guardian’s job was a way different thing than a dad’s job. He understood how crazy that sounded, but it was true. Being a father meant setting an example, and that didn’t include leaving them at home all night while he partied it up in some random gay club.

Trent
had tried dating. It made perfect sense in his mind. He needed to find a committed relationship. He stupidly put self-imposed sex restrictions on his dates, requiring more than one date before allowing himself release. There would be no more random one night stands. And he’d stuck to it. Then again, only a couple of times over the last four years had he found anyone willing to go on more than one date. He did get to have sex a few times during, but it ended pretty quickly after Trent had to cancel a few dates because of a sick child.

Interestingly enough, he found if he
were into the ladies, his plan would have worked. Single men with children drew women in like flies to honey. At least once a day some random female would hit on him when he towed his kids around. Funny though, the children weren’t the same magnet to gay men and the restrictions which came along with being a single father kept him from being in the circles needed to meet people like himself or to do the things he liked to do. Like go out to dinner, see a movie, or take an overnight stay away.

He dropped
the back of his head against the truck with a thump and kept the phone parked at his ear, listening to the beat of the music coming through the speaker, his foot tapping out the rhythm. He thought it might be some Bee Gee’s classic disco remake, and he let out a huff as he realized how pathetic it was that he knew the tune so well he could tap it out with his work boot without conscious thought.

Images of Gage came back to his mind
despite all his effort to stop them. Never had he been in a situation quite like this one, and without question, pulling away from the swipe of Gage’s hand down the front of his jeans had cost him dearly. He wasn’t sure his dick would ever forgive him for turning that down.

If he were
being honest, Trent was fine with his life and fine with his lack of sex. He totally bought into the theories of a bigger purpose and a greater good. But Gage Synclair was just too fucking hot. He loved the stories Gage created with his camera. To have Gage Synclair rubbing on his dick, propositioning him with a quick round in the closest restroom truly shocked the shit out of him. The whole thing was beyond incredible. It actually ranged more in the ridiculously unbelievable category of life.

Seriously, how did Trent
not say ‘screw the big picture’ and go in the bathroom to fuck the guy’s brains out? Trent sighed. He knew the reason. Nothing was worth jeopardizing what he built with the kids or their future. Not even fifteen minutes alone with the super-hot, apparently gay, celebrity Gage Synclair sucking him hard. And boy would he make Gage… Suck. Him. Hard. Who knew what Gage’s preferences were, but it would have been required to have those lips on his dick for a certain amount of time.

“
Mr. Cooper, thank you for holding. I’ve got the information you need,” the nasal tone of his supplier interrupted his dangerous thoughts. Shaking his head, he forced himself back into the moment to take down the quote on parts.