The Current Between Us (7 page)

Focus Trenton
Cooper.
You need this business to support your babies all the way through their lives. Getting caught with Gage Synclair would ruin it all.

****

Gage listened carefully to Trent’s researched explanation, and completely ignored his project manager sitting in the chair beside Trent. “The cost will be around forty-five hundred dollars. My company can do it Saturday evening and through the night. My supplier’s able to work with me on anything we need, no problem. I can have guys out here at six that evening, and I’ll be here as I can, and stay through the night. Twelve hours should give us the time to pull new wire and replace the box. We can temporary it in. The city will come out first thing Monday morning, I’ve been assured. Now, ComEd says they’ll work with us. I’m not so sure of that, but the temporary power should provide for the crews on Monday until it’s all taken care of.” Trent sat there, all business, drawing out his plan to keep this remodel on schedule.

“
I’ve spoken with the city and ComEd personally. After we agree on things here, I’ll have them call you. They’ll be on standby Sunday for your call when you’re done, regardless of the time. The only thing I ask, I need you personally to stick around until everything’s complete on all ends, to be available to make whatever changes they need,” Gage said directly back to Trent, sitting back in his desk chair, flipping a ball point pen through his fingers while watching the sexy electrical contractor look impressed with the strings he’d pulled. Gage absently wondered if this Trent Cooper might be so impressed, he’d go ahead and give Gage a quick pity suck to help relieve the hard-on he’d sported since first meeting him four hours ago.

“
Wow. All right. That’s no problem for me,” Trent said. Nowhere in those eight words could Gage find even a hint of the suggestion:
Meet in the bathroom, and I’ll suck you
…

“
If we do all this, the project will stay on track, correct?” Gage seemingly ignored Trent’s comment. Between the electric company and the city, this little panel change snag took more money than he cared to think about in order to have them all on standby this weekend.

“
Yes, as long as it’s a reasonably easy switch. Based on what I’m seeing, it looks like it will be. I can keep you briefed the entire time,” Trent replied.

“
And this is absolutely needed?” Gage asked. He’d already verified it needed to be done. He wondered if he were still asking these questions so he could keep his eyes on the hot Trent Cooper. His voice seemed to soothe Gage, like a balm over his severely irritated heart…
Where the fuck are these thoughts coming from? He’s just a guy, an apparently straight guy. And how did I get that so completely wrong? I never get that wrong.

“
Yes, absolutely,” Trent said with a strong nod in confirmation.

“
What if I got a second opinion?” Gage asked, hoping he looked like he contemplated all of Cooper’s answers as he again wondered why he asked questions he already knew the answers too.
Perhaps the clues are hidden in the way Trent Cooper nods.

Gage
focused back on the Trent’s head bobbing, certain the motions would look similar if he sucked Gage hard. A smile tugged at his lips as he realized he’d make sure the head continued to nod throughout this entire conversation, just for his own perverse pleasure. If Gage were bold, he’d get up, walk around the desk and drop his pants. Then Trent wouldn’t have to do anything, but open his mouth to answer Gage’s questions and nod… Trent would deep throat him over and over…

“
Please feel free. Just let me know as soon as you can,” Trent said. Gage just let the comment go, reminding himself it wasn’t the invitation he wanted it to be, and he honestly barely even heard the rest of what Trent said after ‘please feel free’.

“
McCall, this should have been caught earlier,” Gage’s voice hardened, cutting his eyes to the man sitting next to Trent. He’d magically shown up seconds before Trent came in to have this conversation. It pissed Gage off even more when he realized he lost his few minutes alone with Trent and he then promptly ignored McCall until this moment.

“
Agreed,” McCall replied back, staying quiet for a minute. After a pregnant pause of Gage just staring McCall down, he turned his head back to a far more pleasing view. Trent was a stunningly attractive man, with all those good boy looks. All except the small growth on his face and Gage found he wanted to rub his cheeks against those sexy whiskers just to see what they felt like… Gage let his eyes travel lower down Trent’s massive chest. It must be forty-six to forty-eight inches… hmmm… And since he already took these bold steps of examining Trent’s body, he let his eyes scan lower to the still partial hard-on rockin’ those hot new Levi’s. God, he wanted that hard-on to be focused on him.

Reluctantly,
Gage knew he needed to let the meeting end, but damn he liked the idea of having this one hanging around his gallery. He loved watching Trent’s thunder thighs walk up and down the sidewalk, right outside his office window. He’d watched Trent adjust himself over and over, trying to get comfortable. Whatever had made Trent so hot and heavy shouldn’t matter at this point, but Gage found it’s all he could think about and again wondered if he should offer help in relieving the burden he carried in his jeans.

After a
t least a full minute of staring, Gage saw McCall lift his gaze for almost the first time since coming in here and Gage adjusted his stare to look directly at the project manager, hoping he looked like he contemplated his electrical options, not ogling the electrician in front of him.

“
All right then, let’s move forward. How do you take payment?” Gage asked, leaning forward in his chair, reaching to pull his checkbook from the side drawer of his desk.

“
Half now, the rest upon completion,” Trent said, his gaze never wavering, but Gage wasn’t quite sure Trent looked him straight in the eye. It seemed he might be looking at his nose… Gage again sat there a minute, staring at the young man sitting across from him, trying his best to figure him out.

Gage
never got it wrong! Trent must be gay or at least bi-sexual. Surely… Jacquelyn was a beautiful woman, but at least twenty years older than Trent. She had been standing on the porch when Trent arrived and also while he paced outside, but she wasn’t in the gallery when Trent grew hard at their first meeting. Trent’s reaction was obvious and immediate, and Gage experienced it in a seriously major way. Hell, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it since it happened and clearly his body still wanted relief, ASAP. Something this strong didn’t happen often, and for Gage, it never happened where he wasn’t able to find immediate release with the guy.

Now
, they sat together in his office. Trent sat across from him, making something close to eye contact, talking things through as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be half erect, fighting a full hard-on for most of the entire morning and doing nothing about it. Maybe it’s how straight guys lived their lives but it certainly wasn’t how he lived his life. Mr. Hot and Sexy sat across the desk from him, not blinking an eye at the discomfort he may or may not be feeling.

Regardless
of the guy’s sexual orientation, he clearly wasn’t interested in finding his release with Gage, and that, for some reason, bothered the hell out of him. Maybe Trent was in a committed relationship. The jealousy snaking through his heart at the thought came out of nowhere.
And what the hell is that about?
Gage didn’t even know how to process jealousy. Was it truly jealousy? He’d never been jealous of anyone a day in his life.

P
utting aside the jealousy, a raging hard-on, being gay or straight, and every electrical problem in this place, this man in front of him clearly wasn’t interested. He’d said as much earlier. Well, all right then! Gage would leave it alone. He would find someone else to help take care of this bulge between his legs. After all, Gage had found this morning he lived in the right neighborhood to find a hot male model that would be ready to spend time with him. Right now he had a bigger more immediate problem: where in the hell did he leave off in this conversation? Hmmm…

“
I understand they’re expecting you downtown for the permits. I’ll have my person call you in the next few minutes. I need your number please, Trent. You’ll also handle the electric company from here. I’ll give you my contact’s information. Please call them today and work out the details. McCall, I suppose you will let the others know what we’re doing, so no one is stuck in the middle of something important when the power is cut, correct?” Gage said, jotting the numbers down for Trent.

“
Yes, sir,” McCall said and looked up at him again for the second time this last hour.

“
Then, I think I’m done with you, McCall. Take care. Trent, I’ll have your check ready in a moment. Hang tight,” Gage said, dismissing the project manager. Gage wrote the check, never looking up as McCall left the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Trent stand and move behind the chair, in a clear attempt to put more space between them.

“
Will you be monitoring the work personally?” Gage asked again for the second time in the last few minutes. He stopped the stroke of his pen halfway through writing the check. He looked up at Trent and his heart bounced around in his chest. He found it difficult to breathe properly. Trent stared down at him, the connection jumped out very clearly there between.

“
Yes, sir, I will,” Trent said. Now they were all the way back to ‘yes, sir’. He didn’t like it at all. Gage couldn’t stop the pitter patter of his heart, and Mr. Yes Sir over there put as much distance between them as he could.

“
What’re your qualifications?” Gage asked, laying the pen down. He already knew the answer to this question. He’d checked out every contractor himself before they were brought in, but he stalled to keep Trent in this room.

“
I’m a master electrician,” Trent said, his voice not quite as strong as before. The simple reply gave Gage just what he needed to help break the tension forming between them since McCall left the room.

“
Mmm…” A smile tore across his lips at the thought of this man in front of him being his master. Yeah, he could see Trent was well-qualified to hold such a position. His phone rang disturbing the perfect image playing in his mind. He finished the check, tearing it at the perforated edge, but didn’t hand it to Trent, instead looked down at caller ID.

“
I need to answer this, hang on.” Gage answered without waiting for a response. “Gage Synclair, can you hold a moment? Good. Thank you. Hang on.” He put the call on hold, before turning the full weight of his stare back to the hot-number in front of him. A smile tore across his face as he chuckled at the one-liners he kept coming up with all day long about Trent Cooper. It seemed to be a pattern forming where the guy was concerned.

“
So, Saturday evening at six, and you’ll handle the city and the electric company?” Gage asked still chuckling to himself.

“
Yes, sir,” Trent said, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the chair in front of him. Good, he shouldn’t be the only one living in this hell between them.

“
And your crews will move forward on the remodel tomorrow?” Gage asked, knowing the phone call held for him. It was the every two-hour check-in from the field operations in Mexico. He needed to take the call, but he didn’t want Trent to leave him.

“
Yes, sir,” Trent said again.

“
I’m Gage,” he said, with a little too much snap in the two words, and he could feel the smile leave his face.

“
Got it,” Trent said, and again Gage got the impression Trent stared at his nose, not his eyes. He checked the urge to run his hand over his face to see if anything might be on there to cause Trent to become distracted.

“
You could say it,” Gage said, surprised by his own words.

“
Yes, Mr. Synclair…” Trent said, and Gage watched him bite his lip. Gage’s hips rolled forward involuntarily, and he almost came right there, watching Trent’s tongue dart out over the soft skin of his lips. “Gage, we’ll see you in the morning.”

“
Perfect. I like the sound of it,” Gage said. “I have one last question, do you wear the beard all the time or are you a clean shaven kind of guy?”

“
I, ah… The storm woke me, and I… Yeah, I shave every day,” Trent said, stumbling on his words. The look on Trent’s face made it clear the question confused him.

“
I thought as much,” Gage said. He didn’t stand because he didn’t want to scare Trent away with the solid tent in his pants, but instead lifted the check and both telephone numbers toward Trent who leaned in to take them. Then Gage did the most stupid thing of all, he offered his hand. The handshake they shared caused his heart to slam into his chest and his stomach to flutter, but he squelched it down. This man across from him didn’t want to be interested, and there were plenty more who did. Forcing his thoughts back to the phone call, Gage answered it again before Trent even turned away from him.