Wyatt was almost as tall as me, which was nearly impossible for most people, and had almost the same muscle mass. Before my girls came along, we used to exercise together after work. Straight from heavy-lifting construction to weights at the gym. We’d been strict with ourselves, diet included, but then life changed. We both moved up the ladder in the industry, and Liv had given birth to Addy. We caught up for exercise when we could, but it rarely happened anymore.
“Fuck.” Wyatt drummed his fingers harder and glared out toward Hawthorne, and I didn’t miss the way he glanced away quickly when Hawthorne turned and stared back at him. “I’m fine. Lena wants a divorce.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked tentatively, squeezing his shoulder tighter. He’d told me he and his wife were arguing more than ever, and after Lena cheated on him with her tennis instructor, they’d become practically strangers. He’d moved out of their home a few months back, and they were on a break.
Wyatt’s gaze roamed to Hawthorneagain, and I followed it. Hawthorne had his back facing to us and was yammering at another one of our carpenters, a young newbie by the name of Kaulana. They laughed and Hawthorne slapped his hand on Kaulana’s bicep, and Wyatt’s jaw tightened, his bottom lip twitching. I’d never seen him like this before.
“Hey.” I shook him, and he glowered at me before his shoulders relaxed.
“Sorry.”
“I need your mind on the job.” I gave him a bright smile. “We’ve got the summer and some of fall before we need to close down for winter, and these bankers aren’t patient people, Wyatt. I need your head in the game, so if there’s something you want to tell me—”
“There’s not. It’s fine.” The quick gaze he flicked at Hawthorne said otherwise.
I shook my head and straightened when the executive walked back to us and under the tent that kept us shaded from the sun. He smiled, pleasant and charismatic, and Wyatt tensed.
Hawthorne held out his hand to me and I took it, shaking. “Thank you so much for letting me visit again, Mr. Wolf. I really appreciate you taking the time to put the board members’ minds at ease.”
Wyatt snorted, and I gave him a glare before smiling at Hawthorne. “It’s my pleasure, sir. You’re always welcome here.”
“Thank you.” Hawthorne’s attention slid to Wyatt before he swept past us and toward a Rolls Royce he’d parked beside the construction trucks. Very on-brand for him, considering his first name was Royce.
Wyatt grumbled something, and I sighed, not willing to get into his issues with Hawthorne today. “I need to go out and visit city hall for an hour or so. Can you handle the place for that time? I don’t need to come back to find out you’re fired because you said something stupid to an exec.”
“It’s only him who drives me crazy,” he said, then sighed. He waved his massive paw at me. “Go, I’m fine. Do what you need to do, Boss.”
I patted him on the back and went into the office trailer, sliding open the glass door and grabbing my keys from the small two-seater table. The building had a kitchenette setup, a running air conditioner, a couple of small chairs, and was specifically for me and Wyatt, but we shared it with the other boys when they needed a good break. The heat could be a killer, and no one needed heatstroke when the temp pushed ninety. While we were in charge now, it hadn’t been long ago that we were in the same position as our men, working hard in the scorching hot sun with only a hard hat to keep us safe.
Walking out again, I saluted Wyatt on the way past to my big black Ram truck. I wasn’t far from city hall, about fifteen blocks away, but lunchtime traffic was hectic, and it took longer than I would have liked to get there. Parking cost a mint, too, but it was worth it. Mark had said to hunt him down, and that wasn’t a challenge I could resist. I’d thought about him too much last night, the memory of his writhing body on my sheets burned into my brain while I jerked off to it. I wanted him again, the urge to taste the sweat on his skin while I fucked into him too great to ignore. I wanted to mark him, bury my teeth in the succulent skin of his neck.
He was mine, and I needed every other man to know it, too. They couldn’t have him.
By the time I got to the front doors of the building, my body was buzzing with lust, my cock plump in my underwear. It took all my effort to stop myself from popping full wood right then and there. That would get me the same jail cell the previous mayor had occupied.
I pasted what I hoped was a kind smile on my face as I strode through the lobby to the front desk. My size scared most people, and even if I wasn’t doing anything they reacted negatively, as though I’d hurt them, so when I wanted something, I had to be extra polite.
The polished tiles gleamed under my muddy boots and I felt bad for the tracks I’d leave behind on them. The desk the receptionist sat behind was thick and solid, beechwood if I had to guess, and the finish was flawless. Even though I was here to charm the pants off Mark, I couldn’t help but stop to appreciate the design.
The receptionist smiled nervously, pushing her red glasses up her nose as she raised her gaze up my chest and to my face, eyes widening. “Hello.”
I flashed her my teeth in what I hoped was a noncreepy way and resisted the urge to lean on her clean desk. That would get me on her bad side if I left dirt behind, and I had plans to come back here often. “Hello, ma’am. My name is Camden Wolf. I’m here to see Mark.”
“Mark… who?” She blinked big brown eyes at me, and I faltered.Shit. I didn’t actually know his last name, and Mark was a popular first name.
“He works for the mayor?” I offered, but all I could get was a thin-lipped expression from her. Fuck, I was in trouble. “Listen, I met Mark over the weekend. He told me he is the mayor’s assistant, but he didn’t tell me his last name. He left his wallet at the bar.” I tugged out my wallet and shook it at her, hoping she’d take the bait, but she held out her hand expectantly.
“I can give it to him.”
I snatched the wallet back before she could take it. “I’d rather do it. We’re… friends.”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I didn’t hold my breath because I didn’t want to seem obvious, but when her eyes widened and a grin spread across her pink lips, I frowned. “Oh myGod. Are you his boyfriend? OhmyGod. You are!”
I didn’t get a word in before she stood. Heelsclacking, she raced around the desk to step in front of me while sizing me up with an impressed stare.
“You’re huge. I told Becky over at the law firm Mark would be into big men. I told her, but she wouldn’t believe me. She said she saw him with a skinny, nerdy type, and I told herno. I said Becky, he’d like to be thrown around.” She went to touch my chest but snapped her hand back as though she realized she couldn’t touch, and all I could do was raise my eyebrows and wait. “Oh. You want to see him. Of course.” Waving her hand at the elevators, she grinned. “He’s on the top floor. You’ll find him in the mayor’s office at the front desk.”
I nodded and thanked her as I strode past the sparsely decorated reception area and toward the elevator she pointed at. It was hard to miss the wide stares sent my way, but I was used to it by now, from kids and adults alike. At least children addressed the issue and asked why I was so big, but everyone else thought it was okay to gape.
