Mystery
35
Frustrated with himself, his hard cock, and Sage’s PMS, William grabbed what he needed and headed to the next room. It was worse than the last one.
“Who the hell had lived here? A hoarder?” There were stacks upon stacks of newspapers and worn and broken bric-a-brac strewn about the room. One man’s treasures were another man’s nightmare!
It was going to take him the entire day, and maybe a few more, to get this mess cleaned out.
William was seriously considering asking Sage to move the chute from the missing wall to the window in this room. The problem was he couldn’t even see the ledge from the crap piled for a mile in front of it.
After two thousand trips to the next room and pile after pile of trash being tossed down the chute, William hadn’t made a noticeable dent.
“Come get some lunch,” Sage shouted up the stairs. William’s stomach growled in agreement as he walked to the bathroom and tried to wash as much filth off of him as he could. His teeth chattered with the cold water as he splashed it over his arms and face.
It was going to take all night to wash the dirt from his jeans and T-shirt. Well, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do. Maybe he would be too tired to curl back up into Sage once they called it quits for the day.
Boy, was that a disaster waiting to happen.
William shivered again, but this time from the nightmare scenario playing in his head. He could just see it now. William cuddled close, enjoying the strong body wrapped around him. Sage waking up, seeing William’s hard-on. William swearing it was morning wood.
Sage breaking him into tiny toothpicks and then tossing him down the chute.
Gee, it made a guy want to sleep standing up.
“Coming,” he called as he made his way out of the bathroom, grinning widely at his play on words. Too bad that wasn’t really the 36
Lynn Hagen
case. He just bet Sage could make him come for hours and—
William’s thought stopped in its track when he saw Sage glowering up at him.
Fuck. Was it the guy’s time of the month?
“We don’t have all day. There’s a lot we still need to finish before it gets dark.”
Yeah. William was well aware that the days were getting shorter and the nights came more quickly. He mentally grinned when once again the play on words gave him wicked thoughts. “Sorry.”
“Just get down here.”
“Yes, sir, Captain Happy,” William muttered as he made his way down the steps. He wondered if he could knock Sage a good one in his sleep without the guy knowing about it.
“There are fresh sandwiches in the cooler.” Sage jerked his chin toward the kitchen as he walked out onto the porch. William grabbed one, and a container of chocolate milk, and then joined Sage.
“Sorry I’m not more help,” he said as he took a seat on the step.
Sage sighed as he ran a hand over his head and waved back at the house. “It’s not you. I just had no idea how much work was involved in this.”
William breathed easier. So Sage hadn’t figured out William’s gay secret. Thank fuck.
“I don’t mean to be irritable toward you, slim.”
That put William in a better mood. He really hadn’t been looking forward to coldcocking Sage in his sleep. “It’s okay.”
Sage shook his head as he grabbed the container of milk and took a drink, his flexing throat muscles trapping William’s attention. “No,”
he said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’s not.”
Unsure of what to say to that, William shoved the sandwich into his mouth. A thought occurred to him, and William knew he was antagonizing a bear when he opened his mouth to ask. “Sage, can I ask you something?”
Sage’s Mystery
37
“Sure,” he said before taking a bite of his sandwich. William was quickly changing his mind when he saw more than half the sandwich disappear from that one bite. He swallowed, and then opened his mouth again.
“When you went to Mayfield County to buy all the supplies, why