I demonstrate using the zip tool on one of the panels beside me before retrieving a hammer from my tool belt and using the claw end to remove the nails from the top strip. Unhooking the panel, I slide it under my arm. I knock out a part from the top down and then demonstrate removing the laths and intermediate siding with a crowbar, which I also bought three of—one for each of us.
“Any questions?”
“I think that looks easy enough,” Scott says.
“Yeah, I think we can handle this part.” Kate sounds like she’s fine, but I can tell she’s already overwhelmed. I know it’s because she feels guilty about all the repairs we need to do.
“For this part, at least,” I add. “I’ll get the ladder and get the higher pieces, and we’ll stack them…” I glance around the yard. We’re going to have a whole bunch of crap that needs to be chucked. Anywhere will really do right now. “Just at the other end of the house, since that’s where we’ll all end up anyway. Then—”
“Whoa, whoa, moving a little quick already, aren’t we?” Scott asks with an amused expression. I can tell he’s trying to get me to relax, but since we’ve been running around all morning getting ready for our first big day, I feel like all the pressure of this project falls on me. Scott at least reminds me that I’m not totally alone in this.
I fetch the ladder that I bought this morning from Home Depot along with plenty of other supplies to help us through the renovation.
As I work on my ladder, tearing apart the siding on the other side of the house, I see just how high the termite damage extends on the studs. At least it doesn’t go up to the second floor on this part of the house, something that’ll help make this slightly less of a pain in the ass.
While I’m moving the ladder over to get to the next area, I see Scott with a serious expression on his face as he carries some insulation and laths to the junk pile we’ve created.
He looks so serious about it, and I’m kind of relieved that he gets that this isn’t going to be a cake walk. I definitely plan on making it worth his while, but I was a little nervous that he didn’t get that this is just going to be work—and a lot of it.
I toss my shirt off pretty soon after we start because the humidity jacks up, and I notice that Scott keeps glancing my way, to the extent that Kate whispers something to him and he giggles.
Oh my God. They’re like schoolgirls.
“Scott, did you have any questions about the siding?” I call to him.
“No, Mr. Bradshaw. I think we’re doing just fine.”
As soon as I get back to work, I hear my sister try to whisper, “You are shameless, flirting with my straight brother.”
If only she knew.
When we finish up, we head inside. I fucking have a film of sweat covering my body, and as I review some of my initial plans with them at the table we moved into the kitchen the first day we got here, I notice Scott keeps ogling me.
I want to make a comment so bad, but I restrain myself. Goddamn my sister feeling responsible for this. If she’d left the two of us to this project, I’d already have him bent over with his elbows on the kitchen counter as I take him from behind.
And now that I’m thinking about that, I’m getting hard. Fuck.
The doorbell rings.
“Chinese is here!” Kate announces before she heads for the door the way she used to when our parents would order take-out when we were younger.
As I hear the door open, I lunge at Scott and wrap my arms around him, pushing him back against the pantry door. He seems stunned for a moment, but it’s not long before he’s sliding his hands up and down my slick body. I kiss him in such a frenzy that I forget to breathe. The sweat on his lips tastes so good, like it did when we fucked in the car the other day.
He opens his mouth, releasing a soft groan. I can tell he’s stifling it to keep Kate from hearing.
I reach down and feel the hard erection in his pants. “Stop flirting with my sister’s straight brother,” I tease him.
He chuckles until he snorts again. “Oh my God. I don’t normally make that sound,” he whispers, but I don’t give him a chance to offer any more of a defense. I just crush my lips against his.
When I hear the door close, I back away quickly and return to the table. Scott stands at the pantry door, frozen, looking like I just sucker punched him.
When Kate enters with two big brown paper bags, she glances at Scott like she’s trying to figure out how he got over there.
“Are you looking for the plates?” she asks. “I have some in a box in the living room.”
“Oh, yeah. That was it.”
He heads into the adjacent living room to fetch them while Kate and I pull out the containers of Chinese.
