It was a perfect ass, everything an ass should be. High, tight, round, plump, it pushed out the worn denim that clung to it, a faded seam disappearing between the luscious mounds. Looking at it, all I could think of was the phrase a half-forgotten bar acquaintance from my long ago partying days used whenever he was faced with such a work of art, "I bet that ass tastes just like filet mignon."
"God, I could tear that up," I thought involuntarily. I even stunned myself. I mean, I am versatile, but I've never considered myself an asshound; but in this case I could make an exception. All I could think of was holding down the slim, young tile layer, Rico, that the perfect ass belonged to and sticking my tongue up that same perfect ass until....
"Brandon" I thought I heard my name. Then louder," BRANDON"
I came too with a start, as if woken from a dream. Oh shit, I wasn't alone, I was at work on a jobsite and had been staring at a sub contractor with my tongue out like some dirty old troll at a strip club. I could feel my color rising, and prayed to god that my dark sunglasses had hidden the direction my eyes were focused.
"I'm sorry. Did you say something?" I turned to Ben, the lead architect on the project. "I was...um,um," I have never been good at lying, especially on the spot, "thinking about the tile layout in the foyer," I managed.
"Really? It looked more like you thinking about laying Rico."
Busted. "I...I...dammit, I never could hide what I was thinking. Reed always said I had an anti-poker face. He made me stop going to investor meetings."
" Well, I'll give you this---Rico IS pretty distracting," Ben laughed. "Anyway, what do you think about changing the door from a double one to a single with one with sidelights? I'm concerned about the swing."
That's the great thing about being an openly gay man, working with another openly gay man, in a city that, by and large, is gay friendly. If you're caught ogling the hot male help, you're usually forgiven, even if it is embarrassing. Ben and I talked about another couple of minor changes, and then I headed off the site.
My partner, Reed, was in real estate development, and since I had a degree in interior design and was used to working on renovations, I was his man in the field, picking finishes, working with the architects on the design schemes, and being the contractor liaison. This latest project was one of our largest to date, the renovation and conversion of an all but collapsing mansion on the edge of the French Quarter into condos. The plus and minus of the situation is that the interior had been basically stipped off most of it's original detailing, so while that gave us leeway to reconfigure the interior in ways best suited to modern living, it had been a challenge to do so while trying to convey a sense of the flavor and history of New Orleans. I was proud of the work our team had done, and it had certainly been well received. even though we were still several months out till completion, 3 of the 6 units had already been sold.
I was still embarrassed that Ben had caught me checking out one of the workers. It was just so unprofessional, and I always tried to maintain a certain level of professionalism, even working with friends like Ben, whose partner usually made up our fourth on social outings. I also couldn't believe I was thinking about a 22 year old's "filet mignon" ass when I had somebody like Reed at home. I kept thinking of Paul Newman and that famous quote of his about fidelity, "Why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home?" And Reed was definitely some prime, USDA beef, tall and dark and lean, with legs and cock for days. I was attractive enough I suppose, at 5'10 with a naturally muscular, stocky build. And I know my broad, hairy chest and blue eyes had always gotten compliments, though not as many at 38. But Reed. Reed was truly gorgeous.
I still remember the first time I saw him. It was on a rainy Monday in November, 2007, and I had just celebrated my 31st birthday. At the time, I was working for a crazy designer who had a studio/showroom on Magazine Street. Her building, luckily, had survived major damage during Katrina, and she had managed to reopen by December of 2005. We had been very busy with the first waves of people returning to rebuild, but by the fall of 2007, things had slowed down considerably. And in fact, when I heard the chimes signalling someone's entering the shop, I started a little since it was first person, besides the mail guy, who had been in all day. It was around 3:00 pm.m, and I was up on the second floor mezzanine level doing some busy work with the fabric samples which always seemed to be in a mess and counting the minutes until I could close up at 5.
"I'll be right down," I shouted, brushing some lint off my dark jeans and heading down the stairs that curved along one side of the building. As I made it about halfway down the staircase, I could see a man's back, looking toward the artwork hung on the back wall of the showroom. He was tall, definitely over 6 feet, and slender, but with broad shoulders, and those shoulders and his hair were dark with rain. As he heard my approach, he turned around.
Thank goodness I was holding the railing, because when I saw his face, I think my knees may have buckled slightly. I may have even left out a small whimper. Here's the deal: I've never really been big on "types" and looks. Up to that point, my various tricks and quasi-boyfriends had been all over the place; I had dated (and slept with) bears and pretty boys, African-Americans and Latinos, nerdy guys and professors, thin dudes and fat guys, tall guys and short ones, etc. All they really had in common is that they thought I was cute and I thought that they were pretty nice. That said, there was one look that had always buttered my bread: the tall, lean type with a swimmer's build, a dark complexion, silky black hair, dark eyes, and an angular face. Honestly, I didn't think that such paragons existed outside of models and movie stars, like Gregory Peck or Keanu Reeves. At least, I had never seen one in the wild. But apparently they did. And apparently they like shopping for furniture on Magazine Street in the rain. Thank God for that.
"Please let him be gay....please let him be gay and single....please let him be gay and single and into 31 year olds with hairy chests and blue eyes...." began running through my head in an endless loop as I pulled myself together long enough to launch into the usual customer greeting