Chapter 1 – Xavier

“Can you bring me another?” Cliff, the bartender, was just wiping down the bar in front of me and gave me a nod before turning to pull another draft for me. Growing up in this small town, it felt like I knew everyone, including Cliff, who’d been a grade below me through school and whose sister, Marisa, I’d dated for a short time.

As he slid the fresh, foamy glass in front of me, I asked, “Hey, how’s Marisa doing? Did she have her baby yet?” She’d married a high school teacher the next town over and I think this was her third kid.

“Yeah, all good. Little girl this time. Verity.” I must have pulled a face because he clarified. “I guess it’s a family name on Scott’s side.”

Scott was Marisa’s husband and they’d found rather unique names for all of their kids. Charlton, Bishop, and now Verity. Not that I could say anything with a name like Xavier.

“Poor little bugger,” I said under my breath.

Cliff laughed. “That’s what I told her.”

I took a long sip of my beer, licking the foam from my upper lip as I pulled the glass away. Cliff moved up the bar to serve another customer. I didn’t usually end my days at the pub, but I had a difficult client right now and I felt like I needed to wind down before heading home to my little apartment to figure out what to eat for dinner.

Mrs. Nadon had moved into the area recently. She was a widow and had bought an older house that she wanted upgraded. Unfortunately, much of what she wanted to do was physically impossible. Me and my crew had already gutted and renovated the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms, and now we were supposed to be working on the kitchen. But the ‘plans’ Mrs. Nadon had drawn up on a cocktail napkin for us made no sense unless they tore down the main supporting wall or put a rather large extension on the back of the house.

To make matters worse, she was out of town at the moment–in Toronto to deal with her late husband’s estate–and was issuing edicts to me over the phone. I sighed deeply and took another swig from my glass, shaking my head. I had a video conference booked with her for tomorrow and I was not looking forward to it.

Cliff slid a fresh beer in front of me and I looked up at him in surprise. “Still dealing with Mrs. Nadon?”

I tipped back my glass, swallowing the last dregs at the bottom, then took a grateful sip from the new glass. “Yes, and she is a handful. I’m starting to think we should have taken the place down to the studs and started from scratch.” I looked up at him. “How did you know?”

“Marty was in here yesterday complaining about the job.” Marty was one of my crew. “Said the same thing.”

“I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, you know. She’s willing to pay for what she wants and seems to have the money to do it, but I ain’t no Harry Potter and that kitchen is five feet too small for what she wants us to do in it.”

Cliff’s eyes lifted from mine, so I turned in my seat to see who was behind me. I let my eyes roam up the body of the man striding towards us. He was tall and lean with a build that told me he spent quality time in the gym. He was wearing dress pants that hugged his thighs a little bit too well and a button down, short-sleeved shirt, open at the collar. His hair was a sandy brown–just a shade too dark to be blonde–and just touching his collar, and he was sporting a couple days growth of facial hair. He lifted his chin in greeting when he saw us watching him.

“Hey,” he said to Cliff, coming up beside me. “I’m looking for Xavier. Do you know who that is?”

“That would be me,” I said, bringing my eyes up to his and getting lost in their soft green depths.

“Oh, hi.” His mouth dropped open, then he clamped it shut and swallowed hard.

“I–um–talked to your sister at the hardware store and she said you’d be the one to talk to about doing some repairs in my basement. I went away for a couple of days and came back to a burst pipe.”

My sister, Josie, was always sending work my way, but I wasn’t sure what she was thinking with this job. If it was really bad, I may not be able to get to it as soon as he would need me to.

“Ah, Josie. My marketing manager,” I said easily. “Why don’t you sit and let me buy you a beer and you can tell me what happened.”

“I could use one,” he breathed. “What a fucking nightmare!” Cliff brought him his beer and once he’d gone to help another customer, the man beside me remembered his manners. “Sorry, I’m Xander–Xander Hudson. I bought the place up on the hill–the one with all the windows.”

“Oh, right! I heard that place had been sold. I was in on the initial build.” I held my glass up to him and we tapped in a silent toast. “Good to meet you, Xander. Tell me what happened.”

He blew out a deep breath and placed his glass on the bar. “I was gone four days and when I came back, I noticed dripping in my laundry room. When I pulled down the acoustic tile, the water just came pouring down. I found the leak and was able to repair it, but I don’t have time to tackle gutting the basement and redoing it.”

“You fixed the leak yourself?” Most homeowners were not up to that level of plumbing repair.

“Yeah, my dad is in construction so I know what I’m doing around the house. But I work full-time from home, so tackling that big a job on my own isn’t possible. Your sister gave me your name and your card but she said I might find you here tonight.” He took another sip of his beer, not taking his eyes off of me.

I held his eye until he looked away and thank God! He was insanely attractive and I was having a hard time thinking straight with those gorgeous eyes on me! I’d seen him around town and I’d heard that he was a bit of a player–but only with women, which didn’t help me at all.

Yes, I am queer. It’s not secret in this town and, for the most part, I’ve found acceptance here–mainly because most people have known me all my life. But I’d learned the hard way to be careful. I had no idea if Xander was gay as well and until I did, I wasn’t going to go there–but his gorgeousness was definitely going to make my life a lot more difficult–especially if I ended up taking this job and having to spend time with him! On the other hand, it would be nice to get to know him and to see him every day.

“My crew is working on another job right now, so I may not be able to take yours on. I know another crew in town that may be able to do it if I can’t, though. I’m meeting with my client tomorrow about some…issues…with her job, so I’ll know more then, if you’re willing to wait.”

He shrugged and curled his lip up at the corner in the most adorable way. “Sure. You’ll let me know tomorrow, though? I don’t want any mould issues developing.” He reached into his breast pocket and handed me his business card: Xander Hudson–Financial Advisor

I nodded, pocketing the card. “I’m meeting with her by Zoom tomorrow morning and I can let you know after that.”

“Sounds good.” He lifted his glass and drained it–and I couldn’t take my eyes off of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. “Wish I could stay for another, but I spent the day dealing with the leak, so I’ve got to work tonight.” He stood up, pulling his wallet out.

I waved him away–I had invited him for a beer after all. “I got this. I’ll call you once I’m done with my client.” He smiled–pink, full lips stretched over straight, white teeth with one side lifting higher than the other–maybe I should pass this off to the other crew because this guy was already getting to me!

“He’s cute,” Cliff said, lifting his chin towards Xander’s retreating back–which I didn’t turn to look at. I was in enough trouble around this guy without taking the image of what I would assume would be a perfect ass away with me!

“Is he?” I prevaricated, finishing my beer to hide the flush I could feel heating my cheeks.

Cliff quirked a knowing eyebrow at me and I pulled out my credit card to settle the bill.

At home, I ended up reheating some stew that Josie had brought over for me a couple days before. I spent a little bit of time on the drafts I’d been doing for Mrs. Nadon so that I could be prepared for our meeting in the morning, then I headed for bed.

Xander floated through my mind as I tried to fall asleep and I wondered what it would feel like to bury my head in his firm chest and feel his strong arms around me when life got to be too much. It was with that comforting thought that I drifted off.

The next morning’s meeting was contentious. Mrs. Nadon was not a visual person and could not grasp what I was telling her about the kitchen reno–that we didn’t have enough space in the existing room to do what she was asking us to do. In the end, she put a stop to the work until she returned from the city in two weeks. This would usually not have been good news–losing work and having to lay my crew off–but this would free us up to take on Xander’s project, if he still wanted us to.

As I logged off of Zoom, I could feel the smile on my face. Even if Xander was straight, maybe we could be friends. I had a ton of acquaintances in town but I didn’t really have any friends–other than my sister, that is. Growing up together in a difficult household had made us depend on each other a great deal.

I pulled out Xander’s card and dialed his cell number and was disappointed to get his voicemail. I left a quick message, then started texting my crew about the Nadon job. Before I even got the text sent, though, my phone rang.

“Sorry!” Xander said when I answered. “I was just getting off a call and I couldn’t get to the phone on time.

“No worries. Um–just got off my call with my other client and she’s put her job on hold for a couple weeks. If you want, I can come by and take a look at the damage in your basement. I can be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, please!” He sounded more than a little relieved as we ended the call.

The house on the hill–that’s what the locals called it. It was a fairly new build so it had a modern feel to it with lots of large windows and a view of the lake nearby. The trim was black and the whole aesthetic was sleek and contemporary. I hadn’t been to the house under the previous owner, but I had done a lot of the work inside when it was built so I was very familiar with the layout.

I rang the doorbell and stepped to one side of the door waiting for Xander to answer.

Chapter 2 – Xander

I trotted down the stairs from my office on the second floor to answer the door, knowing it was Xavier. As I approached the door, I could see him through the glass sidelight, taking in the view of the lake and I smiled to myself as I took a moment to check him out.

His chestnut hair was longer–almost shoulder length–but he kept it loose and he reached up to push it back from his face as I pulled open the door. His smile was genuine, but not wide–just a tightening of his cheeks to bring the corners of his lips up. He was freshly shaven and I was tempted to reach out and stroke my hand over his smooth cheek.

“Hey! Come on in.” I stepped aside to let him pass into my marble-tiled foyer. As he moved past me, I just caught a hint of his sandalwood cologne.

I’ve been aware of my attraction to both men and women since high school, but I didn’t find most men attractive, so I usually stuck to dating and bedding women. It looked like Xavier would be the exception. From the moment I’d seen him on that barstool, I’d been smitten. He was the most beautiful man I’d seen in a very long time.

Xavier scanned the open concept living room/dining room/kitchen with approval. “This was a fun house to work on with all the light. You can really play with colours in here, if you want to.”

I shrugged. “The clean white works for me right now, although I did pick up a painting on my trip to Toronto for the living room. It’s metallic silver with splashes of copper, gold, and green. Can’t wait to get it up.”

Xavier nodded. “So let’s take a look at the basement and I can get to work on a quote this afternoon.”

In the basement, Xavier poked walls and lifted the corners of the flooring where he could before he turned back to me.

“Well, the ceiling should probably all come down. A couple of the walls are a little mushy, so we should replace the drywall on those. And I’d take up the whole floor–sorry–last thing you want to be dealing with in a few months is mould.”

I looked around the basement. “What about if I wanted to change the set up completely?”

Xavier’s eyes lit up. “What are you thinking?”

“There are too many walls down here. There’s the bar area, then a bedroom, then the rec room. I really like the open concept upstairs much better. Other than the laundry room and bathroom, I’d like to get rid of the rest of the walls–open it up with a wet bar in that corner, a gaming/home theatre area in the rest of the space with the pool table in between.. Like a man-cave, you know?”

Xavier was nodding as I laid out my vision. It’s what I’d wanted to do down here since I first saw the place, but I’d been working too many hours to even get a start on it. This burst pipe may end up being a blessing in disguise.

“You’ve got good natural light down here, but, you’re right. With all the walls, you don’t get it through the whole space. What would you want to do with the ceilings? Acoustic tile again?”

I shook my head. I knew exactly what I wanted up there. “Nah, I just want it open and painted–like an industrial look.”

“I love that! Then you don’t have to worry about missing the next burst pipe.” He smiled slyly at me.

“Don’t even say that!” I gave him a playful punch to the shoulder. “Never want to have to deal with that again!”

“Okay, so let me get some measurements, then I can go home and draw up some plans and give you an estimate. We’re going to have to get a dumpster, so I can order that. Will probably be here tomorrow morning.” He met my eyes and for just a moment, and I thought I saw a flash of attraction there, but it was gone too fast for me to be sure.

I nodded. “You go ahead and do what you have to do.” I checked my watch. “I have another call to hop on in ten minutes, so you can just let yourself out when you’re done.”

He nodded at me and I thought I saw it again, but then he turned away and pulled out his tape measure. I lingered for just a moment before heading up the stairs to my office.

Just as I was shutting down my computer for the day, I saw Xavier’s truck pull into my driveway, so I went out to meet him on the porch.

He brought his briefcase up with him and he smiled up at me from the stairs. “I got the plans and the quote for you–I just need to check a couple of measurements. I assumed you finished working at five, so I thought I’d just bring them over.”

“I work my own hours, but, yeah, I’m done for the day. Come on in. Do you want a beer?”

We settled at my large kitchen island with a couple of beers and the plans Xavier had mocked up for me. It didn’t take long for me to be in awe of his talent! He’d given me everything I’d asked for and more. Special mounts for a 4K, big screen TV, a reinforced wall behind the wet bar to hold the heavy liquor bottles, even a retractable wall to use between the pool table and home theatre areas.

“These are great, Xavier!” I gushed. “What I wanted and more! How did you come up with that retractable wall?”

He shrugged, not seeming comfortable with the praise. “This way, guests who aren’t real interested in gaming or watching won’t disturb those in the home theatre. They can come out and socialize in the bar area or play pool.” He pointed to another area of the plan. “And we can build out your laundry room a little bit so it’s not so cramped.”

I nodded. “This all looks great. When can you get started?”

“The price is okay?” he asked. I flipped the plans over to the costing sheet and scanned down it. After years working in finance, I was pretty well-off. I kept a condo in downtown Toronto for when I visited the city and was able to buy this house in the Muskokas with a minimal mortgage. The price he’d quoted for the reno was well within my budget.

“Yes, the price is fine. Does that include the cost of the dumpster? How much do you want up front?”

Xavier gave me a guarded look. “Yes, the dumpster and dumping fees are included. Would thirty percent up front to be okay?”

I felt my brow furrowing and I could almost hear my mom saying “If you make a face like that, someday it’ll freeze that way.”

“Why not fifty percent? You have to buy materials and pay your crew.” I know that’s what I’d usually ended up paying for renos on my condo.

“If that works for you, it works for me. I–you don’t know me, so I thought…”

I waved off his concern. “You said you worked on this place and, other than the pipe bursting, everything else looks great so far, so I know your work. I’ll go to the bank tomorrow for a bank draft for half and you can get started as soon as the dumpster arrives.”

Xavier nodded. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Xander.” He held out his hand to shake on the deal. “I’ll bring the final quote and plans with me in the morning and you can sign them then.”

“Sounds good. Do you want another beer?” His nod sent me to the fridge as he gathered his paperwork into his briefcase. By the time he left half an hour later, I realized that I liked him. I really liked him–not as a bed partner, but as a friend. He was self-deprecating, funny, kind, and so competent at his trade.

Having said that, though, I have to admit that when I watched his rough and callused hands move through the air as he explained a particularly difficult job to me, I couldn’t help but think about what they would feel like on my body. So sue me!

The next morning, the dumpster was delivered as I was getting out of bed at six-thirty and Xavier showed up with his crew of four at seven-thirty.

I had picked up some extra Keurig pods the night before so that I could make sure the crew was well caffeinated while they worked and they each filled their travel mugs with coffee before heading downstairs with their tools to start the demo while Xavier and I went over the final quote in detail and I signed off on it.

I had a couple of hours before I could get to the bank, so I decided to get my work-out in, then shower and work for a bit. I had sectioned off a corner of my living space to work out and that’s where my treadmill was. I could see the crew moving back and forth between the side door and the dumpster through my floor to ceiling windows as I ran.

It took them only a day and a half to finish the demolition, then they started on the renovation. Each morning, Xavier and I would take a few minutes over coffee to discuss that day’s work, then I would head for my treadmill and he’d head into the basement. By the end of the first week, the floor was laid and the new walls all roughed in. They’d be starting to drywall on Monday.

As Xavier was leaving on Friday, I stopped him. “I’m going down to Toronto for the weekend, so I’ll give you a key. Sometimes I stay through to Monday so I can stop at the office before coming back.”

Xavier accepted the key and told me to have fun.

As he pulled the front door closed behind him, I smiled. Oh, I planned to have fun. I wasn’t sure what the climate around gays was in this town yet, so I’d stuck to women in the three months since I’d been here. This weekend, I was planning on finding a willing male partner to help ease the frustration seeing Xavier daily was causing me. I watched Xavier climb into his truck and sighed. He’d given me no indication that he was interested or even that he swung that way. Better to go home and find a willing companion than to moon over an unwilling one.