Jose's Surrender, Remmy Duchene [the best e book reader txt] 📗

to meet up again to figure out what your color schemes are and how many paintings you would need per office and that sort of thing."

"Yes. I agree. First I need to go see the place. I haven't gotten to that yet. Then I'll have to meet with my team and my shoppers and then I can tell you. I would get all that done as soon as possible so it wouldn't be last-minute work for you."

"How long do we have?"

"Four months."

"Damn. That's not much time."

"That's what I said," José said softly. "But he's a friend and I will get it done."

"A friend?"

José nodded. "Laird."

Once more Ronin tackled a couple of boxes then returned with two medium-sized frames. He handed the first over. "I did this a couple of months ago for a record label in Careless, Arizona. What do you think?"

José stood and took the frame. He walked to the desk and rested it upright against it then stepped back to inspect the painting. He nodded in appreciation.

"So do you think you would be in?" José asked.

Ronin shrugged. "Why not? I could use the distraction from unpacking the boxes."

"I do not envy you."

"No one does." Ronin chuckled.

Their conversation continued about some things—

most were essential to the work ahead but others not so much. Through it all, José couldn't help imagining stripping Ronin naked and licking him from the tip of his chin to the tip of his toes. His body was shivering. He could feel each pinch of pleasure dancing off his spine.

They exchanged cards and shook hands before Ronin walked him to the door. The moment José could escape, he darted to his car. Ronin probably thought he was crazy at the speed he left. Sitting behind the steering wheel, he panted for air and rubbed a hand over the arousal standing at attention in the front of his pants. How was he going to work with Ronin McCall?

Chapter Three

Long after his guest left Ronin could still smell his cologne. He could see the green of José's eyes, the sleekness of his muscular body beneath his dress shirt, and the way his long, black hair fell against his back. Though José was a shorter than he was, Ronin couldn't help thinking José could more than match him in bed. Pressing his eyes closed, he wondered why his mind would go there of all places. But he couldn't help himself. He loved the hardened planes of a man's body and José seemed hard in all the right places.

A low growl emanated from Ronin's throat and he licked his lips. Curling his fingers, Ronin bit against the back of his knuckles. "This is ridiculous." Still he stood by the window watching the dust fall in the direction José's car had gone. It'd been so long since he'd been aroused simply by staring at a man, by thinking of a man. It'd been a long time since he'd even gone out on a date. It wasn't for a lack of eligible men but Ronin had been knee-deep in the Navy and didn't need the extra drama a developing relationship would bring.

Now he was out—what was his excuse?

The day after meeting José, Ronin woke up from a dream. He glanced down his naked body to see his cock

standing straight up. He bit his lower lip, holding his body still. If he moved and anything brushed his dick he was sure he would explode. Taking a deep breath, Ronin closed his eyes and thought of winter, water, anything he could to make the arousal go away. Nothing worked.

Gingerly, he climbed out of bed, waddled into the bathroom, and stood beneath a cold shower. Once he was shivering, he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his hips.

The day slithered by with him working like crazy to unpack everything. He had a few designs he had to get done for his T-shirt business, plus a conference call with a couple of his distributors as well as one with a monster truck division from Ottawa. Standing in the kitchen, he looked at all the boxes with fragile scribbled on the sides in his brother's handwriting.

"This is going to be a long-ass day," he muttered.

Two meetings, a few impromptu phone calls to other designers and a couple of T-shirt developers, and unpacking what felt like a million boxes later, Ronin stood back and looked around. The living room was finally done.

He'd unpacked all the boxes and felt quite proud. He broke down a few more then walked them to the porch and dropped them on top of the others. Though he was tired, he only took a moment to inhale the freshness of the Eros air.

It was tinged with salt from the ocean blowing across the land. He removed his hat, dragged his hand over his head, and closed the door. The next thing was dinner. He wanted to go back to Anatolis. If José DeLuz was friends with the Anatolis brothers perhaps he would be there.

Pressing his back to the wall he cleared his throat.

That thought scared him. He was going to work with the man so there was no way he should want to see him again outside of that. A relationship wasn't the reason for him moving to Eros in the first damn place. Besides, José looked like a high-society type who would freak out if he were ever found in a wonderful, compromising position.

Ronin shook it off and focused on making dinner. He was in the middle of slicing some onions when the telephone rang.

"Yeah," Ronin answered, sniffling. He used the back of his hand to wipe the tears away but the burning was still there. His mother always told him to put the onion in the fridge to stop the burning but he didn't have that kind of patience.

"Ro, it's your brother. How are you settling in?"

Ronin sniffled. "Hey. I'm pretty good."

"Are you crying? You never cry!"

"Mack, I'm not crying.