Chapter 1
Kyle stood with his hand frozen on the doorknob. He could do this. He wanted to do this. For most of his life, he had been denying parts of himself because they didn’t fit the person he was supposed to be.
Then Emma had thrown down the gauntlet. He knew it was because she cared about him. She wouldn’t judge him regardless of what he decided. He also knew if he walked through that door, his life would never be the same. There would be no going back.
He stepped back and tried to quell his nerves. The excited anticipation made him feel like he was attached to a live wire and had his cock straining against his jeans.
Still, he hesitated.
READ MORE“I should have gone home first,” Kyle told himself as he looked down at the dirt-covered jeans and boots. Construction was a dirty business and today had been particularly dirty as they’d dug the basement for a new house. The backhoe had broken down when they were almost done and instead of wasting time waiting for the repair guy to show up, or bringing another one out, they'd grabbed shovels and finished it the old-fashioned way.
He looked down at his calloused hands. Nails blacked with who knew what. The flannel shirt he wore had a rip in it from where he’d caught it on something. She’d said to come over straight after work, but he doubted she’d expected how dirty he’d be.
“You can do this,” he told himself as he turned the knob and pushed the door open. He tried to step inside the familiar house, but he couldn’t get his legs to move. Standing a few feet from the door was Emma. She had a smile on her face and her eyes raked him from head to toe, no doubt taking in every speck of dirt.
“Boots off. Leave them on the porch.”
The confidence in her husky voice made him throb. He bent over, hissing at the pressure it put on his cock as he quickly untied his boots and toed them off, leaving them beside the front door, as she’d ordered.
“Now come inside and shut the door behind you.”
Kyle took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he stepped over the threshold. He tried to act like he wasn’t fighting a million different emotions at the moment. The click of the door shutting seemed overly loud.
Emma didn’t look any different than she normally did. Her russet colored locks were plaited into a thick braid that rested over her shoulder. Her bare feet poked out from beneath the peasant style dress she liked to wear.
“Come with me.” Emma held her hand out to him. Praying he was making the right decision, he took it and let her led him through the great room and down the hall. His heart sped in his chest and he was sure she could hear it beating hard enough to vibrate his entire body.
She stopped in front of the guest bath. “There’s shampoo and soap in the shower and a razor by the sink. Put your dirty clothes outside the door before you get in the shower.”
Kyle gulped and nodded.
“You can still change your mind,” Emma told him.
“No.” He swallowed, trying to ease the tightness in his voice. “No. I made my decision.”
She placed her hand on the side of his face and leaned up, pressing her plump lips against his. It was a sweet kiss, but it made him feel like an untried teenager again. He reached for her, but she stepped back. “Shower first.”
He groaned but hurried into the bathroom. The guest bath was on the small side. It had one of those corner showers, a small vanity, and a toilet. There wasn’t really room for anything else. At six feet, with a muscular build from years of heavy lifting and swinging a hammer, Kyle had to be careful not to knock into things. He stripped out of his work clothes and then cracked the bathroom door and dropped his clothes on the hardwood floor of the hallway before getting in the shower.
One of the nice things about Emma’s place was the hot water on demand system she’d had him install a few years ago—which was how they’d first met. So he didn’t have to wait for the water to heat before stepping into the shower.
His shoulders brushed the sides of the stall. Not that he planned on being in there long. Now that he’d come this far, there was no turning back. Not for him.
Quickly soaping himself, he washed every last inch of his body, wanting to make sure he was clean. Kyle shampooed his hair and scrubbed his body once more, just to be sure, before turning off the water and getting out. He grabbed the only towel hanging in the bathroom and dried himself off before wrapping it around his waist. He took care of the five o’clock shadow on his chin and then brushed his teeth with the new toothbrush sitting on the counter.
He then faced the bathroom door and hesitated as his nerves kicked in again.
As if knowing he was starting to freak out, Emma knocked on the door. “You okay in there?”
“Yes,” he said. “But, uh, I don’t have anything to put on.” Why hadn’t he thought of that before? He’d agreed to the three-day weekend. She said not to worry about clothes or anything because they’d taken care of everything. But now he was suddenly thinking with something other than his dick and he realized there were a lot of question he should have asked.
“Don’t worry about that,” she said in the husky voice that drove him crazy. “I put something in the guest room. I want you to put it on an
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