The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

“What did you do, require photos and pick the volunteers by how hot they are?” Holden raised his hands, showing me his palms. “Not that I have an interest in any of them. My wife is my queen. Still, I can’t help but notice that there are quite a few attractive women here. I’ve volunteered for other projects, and the crews certainly didn’t look like this.”

My buddies—Owen, Holden, and Colby—had driven up this morning to support the start of renovations on the twenty-third Ryan’s House. We all volunteered for Ryan’s House when we could. Most renovations lasted three to four months, so it was a hefty weekend commitment. But when one of us managed a project, the others all tried to pitch in for at least a weekend or two. It always felt good when we came together like this in Ryan’s honor.

I looked over at Kyra, a super-sexy twenty-something. She caught my eye and flashed a flirty smile. I shook my head. “I have no idea how it happened. But last year when I managed a renovation, I had seventeen dudes, a lesbian couple, and a sixty-year-old woman who reminded me of my aunt and chain smoked. She spent more time outside puffing on butts than she did working inside.”

Holden laughed. “That Kyra has been giving you the look since we walked in an hour ago.”

Normally a woman like Kyra would be right up my alley, but I seemed to have a one-track mind lately. Just then, the object of those singular thoughts entered the room, walking with Chad, a decent-looking volunteer in his mid-forties. They were both smiling.

“Excuse me a minute,” I said to Holden. “I’m going to kick things off. I think an hour for coffee, a tour, and introductions is more than enough.”

Holden put a hand on my shoulder. “Go be the man of the hour, buddy.”

I tossed my empty Dunkin’ cup into the trash and walked into the center of the room. “Can I have everyone’s attention again, please?”

The group of twenty-two gathered around.

“We’re going to get started. As I mentioned when we did introductions earlier, we have two project leaders—Jason and Alex. Jason is going to lead half of you to work on electrical, plumbing, heating, and other mechanics. You’ll see different contractors coming by at various times during the weekends to do the work that requires a license or a special skill. But the teams will do the legwork to support the contractor. For example, an electrician will be coming in to rewire the house. He’ll deal with anything to do with live wires, but you guys might do things like running the Romex cable through the walls before everything is hooked up. The other team will be led by Alex, and they’ll focus on interior-design elements like paint, flooring, fixtures, and appliances. We have a contractor coming in this morning to give lessons on installing the Pergo flooring, and we’ll work alongside him to keep the costs down. Anyone have any questions so far?”

Everyone shook their heads.

I picked up a clipboard from the table. “Alright. Great. When you filled out the volunteer application, we asked if you had any construction experience. A few of you do, so we’re going to split you guys up so both groups have a mix of experienced and inexperienced workers. Everyone else we assigned randomly to one group or another.”

I looked down at the list of teams I’d put together last night and made a last-minute swap. Dave and Holden were the two with the most construction experience, so I’d assigned Holden to Jason’s group and Dave to Alex’s. Subconsciously, I’d probably separated my buddy, whom the ladies always loved, from the woman I had an interest in. But Holden was happily married, and Dave looked a little too excited to spend time with Alex for my liking. So I was definitely swapping the teams those two were on.

I was just about to read the list of team members when Kyra raised her hand. “I have a question.”

“Sure. What’s up?”

She grinned and swayed back and forth. “Can I be assigned to your team?”

From the corner of my eye, I caught Alex frowning. Maybe there’s hope after all. “Sorry. I’m not on any team. I float. But if you need anything, I’ll always be around.”

I read the list of names for each team, silently smirking at the disappointment on Dave’s face when I put him with Jason. After, I gave instructions on where each group would start and sent everyone on their merry way.

To keep the teams from bumping into each other, one group started on the first floor while the other would work on the second. Alex started up the stairs with her folks, but I grabbed Holden’s elbow before he could follow.

“Got a second?”

“For you, I have a lifetime, my friend.”

“Just to let you know, I made a connection with Alex.”

Holden grinned. “Oh yeah?”

“I’m not telling you to ward you off. I know you only have eyes for Lala. But maybe you can talk me up, if the opportunity arises.”

“If talk you up means tell her about the time you pissed your pants in first grade and tried to say one of the fish in Mrs. Reardon’s fish tank jumped out and splashed you, absolutely. I’ll fill her in.”

I shut my eyes. “Why the fuck did I even tell you I was into her?”

Holden chuckled. “Hell if I know. It was pretty dumb.” He lifted his hand. “Yo, Owen. Come here for a second.”

Owen walked over. “What’s up?”

“Our buddy here has the hots for Alex, the design-team leader.”

“Oh yeah? Does she know about when he was four and got angry at me because I accidentally hit him with the ball when we were practicing pitching in the yard, so he held his breath until he passed out and landed in a pile of dog shit?”

I groaned. “I hate you guys.”

Owen cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey, Colby! Come here for a minute.”

The last member of our squad joined us. “What’s going on?”

Holden lifted his chin to me. “Brayden here has the hots for one of the ladies.”

“I’m guessing Kyra?”

“Nope. Alex.”

Colby looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yep.” Holden grinned. “So if you happen to spend time with her, make sure you put in a good word for our buddy.”

“Of course. I’ll tell her all about your volunteering.”

“Finally,” I said. “One friend who’s not a total douchebag.”

Colby smirked. “Like that time you volunteered at church when we were in eighth grade and snuck into the confessional to jerk off.”

My eyes widened. “I did not jerk off in a confessional. I went in there to wipe off the freaking Bengay on my dick because stupid-ass Owen told me it was hand cream, and then I went to take a piss and touched my dick. The minute I came out of the church bathroom, he jumped right in so I couldn’t get in there when it started burning. What the hell was I supposed to do? Whip my pants down on the altar?”

Owen patted my shoulder. “Still sticking with that Bengay story, huh?”

I dropped my head, shaking it. “You guys suck.”

The electrical contractor I’d hired arrived a minute later, so everyone went to work. One thing after another seemed to pop up, and before I knew it, it was mid-afternoon and I hadn’t even gone upstairs to check on Alex yet. I’d been looking forward to giving her the nail-gun lesson we’d talked about last night. So I grabbed the carrying case and headed to the second floor.

Alex, Holden, and a volunteer I thought might be named Joe were in the room at the top of the stairs. I heard them laughing as I approached. When I walked in, they looked at me and laughed harder.

“Crap,” I murmured. “This isn’t good.”

Alex tried to say something, but when she opened her mouth, she fell into a fit of hysterics. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke. “Did you really stand up on your first day of preschool and announce, ‘I’m not allowed to play with myself in the tub anymore while my mom washes my hair. I have to wait until we’re done and I’m in my room all alone.’”

I shut my eyes. “I was three, and they made each of us get up and tell something about ourselves. It was the only thing that came to mind. My mother hadn’t told me it was something to keep private.”

Holden rolled on the floor—literally rolled on the floor—he was laughing so hard.

I shook my head. “Thanks a lot, buddy.”

Alex climbed to her feet. She put her hand on my chest, which took the sting out of my buddy’s betrayal ever so slightly. “Don’t worry. He also told us some really great things about you.”

I frowned. “Yeah, I bet.”

“How was your day?” she asked. “I came downstairs to grab a box of screws earlier, and you looked busy.”

“Yeah. But it’s been good. We have a lot started already.” I lifted the case in my hand. “I came up to give you a nail-gun lesson, like we talked about last night. Do you have a few minutes?”

“I do. Two of the guys just went to get boxes of the flooring we’re putting down. But if you’re busy, I can ask Holden to show me how to use it.”

Holden stood and smacked dust from his hands. “Actually, I’m handy. But Brayden is your go-to power-tool guy. He taught me everything I know.”

Of course he was completely full of shit, but I appreciated the bow out. Holden winked from behind Alex.

I nodded toward the door. “Why don’t we go down the hall to the primary bedroom? The beams are all exposed, and no one is working in there today. That way you can practice.”

“Okay!”

In the bedroom, I unpacked the cordless nail gun and gave her a quick tour.

“This is the safety tip. It won’t retract until you press down on whatever you’re going to nail.”

“Oh, alright. Great. That makes me feel better about using it.”

I showed her the jam-release latch, magazine, magazine-release button, and the trigger switch. It wasn’t really very difficult, but considering it was powerful and you could easily shoot a nail through your own hand, I understood her hesitation.

“You ready to try it out?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

I handed her the gun and stood behind her. There wasn’t any certain position you needed to be in, so I took a little advantage of the situation. “Put one foot in front of the other for the best balance,” I said.

“Okay.”

“Now just place the nail gun where you want it.” I reached around her and pointed to eye level. “Let’s tack one in right here. I’ll hold the gun while you pull the trigger the first time so you get the feel.”

My arm wrapped around Alex, enveloping her petite frame in a hug from behind. I liked the feel of it, so I wasn’t going to nudge her to hurry.

“Should I do it?” she asked after a moment.

“If you’re ready.”

She pressed the trigger, and the loud sound of a nail tunneling into the beam echoed around the room. Alex whipped around with an excited smile. “That was easy!”

A piece of hair fell across her cheek. I couldn’t help myself. I reached out and brushed it back from her face. With just the two of us in the room standing so close, the moment grew intimate.

“You’re really beautiful, Alex.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Thank you.”

My eyes fell to her mouth, and her breathing picked up.

“You feel it, too, don’t you?” I whispered.

She swallowed and leaned in. “What?”

“It’s hard to put into words, but it feels like there’s a magnetic force between us. Anytime I go near you, something pulls me closer.”

I heard footsteps pounding down the hall, but I was too lost in the moment for it to really register. At least until Dave ran into the room.

“Pipe busted! Where’s the main shut off?”

Fuck. “I gotta go.”

Alex blinked. “Yeah. Of course. Thank you for showing me the, umm…thing.”

I bolted down the stairs with the smile still on my face. But it wilted when I got to the kitchen. Water sprayed from a pipe in the ceiling. The main shut-off valve was in the basement, so I took the steps two at a time and twisted the knob.

“Water stop?” I yelled up the stairs.

“Not yet!”

“Give it a minute. Whatever’s in the lines is going to piss out before it’s done.”

After another thirty seconds, someone yelled down that the water was slowing, so I went back upstairs. “What the hell happened?”

“It’s my fault,” Jason said. “We were doing wall and ceiling prep work. I had a couple of people pulling all the old nails out. But I didn’t specify to remove only nails in the beams. Apparently there was an old, rusty nail lodged in a pipe. Drywaller must’ve hit it when they were sheetrocking decades ago. Guess it was acting like a plug, until one of the ladies removed it.”

Kyra pouted. “It was me. I’m sorry. I got carried away and wasn’t thinking.”

I held up a hand. “It’s okay. There shouldn’t have been one there to begin with.”

Holden came into the room. “What happened?”

“Hole in a pipe. I’m going to run to the plumbing-supply store. Hopefully they’re still open, or we’re not going to have water. They close early on Saturday.”

“I’ll take the ride with you.”

“We’ll get everything cleaned up while you’re gone,” Jason said.

Since it was two thirty already, I hit the gas as soon as we got on the highway, just in case they closed at three.

“That was the only bad story I told her, you know,” Holden said. “I’d been talking you up all morning and thought my spiel would sound more genuine if I added something that didn’t make you seem like a priest.”

“Uh-huh.”

“No, really. But tell me what’s going on with you and the MILF?”

“Don’t call her that.”

“Why not? It’s just a term. I don’t actually mean I want to fuck her.”

My jaw tensed.

“Holy shit.” Holden pointed to my face. “You really like her, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do.” I shrugged. “We’re obviously not an ideal match since she lives in Connecticut and has a stepkid my age. But I don’t know… There’s something about her.”

“Dude, my wife is a researcher with a PhD. I’m a dumb drummer who doubles as a handyman. Who we’re attracted to doesn’t always make sense.”

“Have you ever gone out with an older woman?”

“Hell yeah. Best sex of my life, aside from my beloved wife, of course. They know what they want and aren’t afraid to take it.”

I sighed. “Not sure I’ll get to find out. Alex wants nothing to do with me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I noticed the way she frowned when that Kyra woman was flirting with you this morning. You don’t get jealous over things you don’t want.”

“You caught that, too, huh?”

“Yep. But you’ve never dated someone older before, have you?”

“Never.”

Holden scratched his chin. “I guess it kind of makes sense you’d be into an older woman, if you think about it.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you have mommy issues, dude.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I do not.”

“Your mother took off when you were nine and left your dad to raise you and your brother. The four or five times she came around to visit each year, she had some random young guy with her that she wanted you to call Uncle whatever. You probably have an underlying need to be coddled or some shit.”

I glanced over at Holden and back to the road. “I think you should leave the research and analysis to your wife.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. But it makes sense.”

***

Hours later, we’d fixed the busted pipe and most of the volunteers had left for the day. My buddies, the two team leaders, and Kyra were the only ones left.

“What do you say we all go out for a drink?” Colby asked. “We deserve it after all the work we got done today. There’s a sports bar not too far from the hotel. They’ll probably have the Rangers game on.”

I looked over at Alex. “You in?”

“Umm…”

“Come on. At least for one drink?”

I sensed she was about to say yes, but then Kyra looped her arm through mine. “I’m in!”

Alex’s face fell. “I think I’m going to pass. It’s been a long day. But you young people should go enjoy yourselves.”

Young people.

She pretty much ran out of the house after that.

My mood was somber the rest of the night. I always had a good time with my friends, but after two beers, I was ready to go to my room and get some sleep. Kyra, on the other hand, had a little too much fun in a very short time. She could barely walk when we got back to the hotel. Owen, Colby, and Holden had rooms on the first floor. Lucky me had a room on the same floor as Kyra, so I got the honor of making sure the drunk girl got back to her room safely.

I pushed the button for the elevator and guided her inside when it arrived. As the doors slid closed, she threw her arms around my neck.

“I think you’re schmexy,” she cooed.

I peeled her arms off. “And I think you’re a little drunk.”

She leaned in, pushing her big tits against my chest, and traced my mouth with her fingernail. “I thought you were sexy before I had anything to drink.”

I reached over and pushed the button for the fifth floor, even though it was already illuminated and we were moving. The damn car felt like it was crawling.

I put my hands on Kyra’s shoulders and gently nudged her a few steps back. “What’s your room number, Kyra?”

She batted her eyelashes. “Have you ever had elevator head?”

Before I could respond, she sank to her knees and reached for my belt.

Which was exactly the position she was in when the elevator doors slid open on the fifth floor…

And Alex was standing on the other side.

My eyes flared wide. “Fuck. This isn’t what it looks like.”