Page 71 of Primary Seduction
Max’s heart broke for him, and he fought to stay back and not go over. “Of course I will.”
Although Max had heard last night, Trent told him the plan again, and then he left. Luckily, his house latched itself, otherwise, Max would’ve been stuck. He shook his head and smiled. He loved the fact Trent had so much trust in him. That brought him up short before he left. Fuck. He loved him.Though why he was surprised, he didn’t know.
****
Max drove home to collect his things before heading out to his first appointment of the day. At nine-thirty, he had a slightly later start than Trent, but he was guaranteed to hit some traffic.
Arriving just before his time, he knocked on Mr Sanders door and waited for the elderly gentleman to answer.
“Good morning, young Max. How are you today?” Mr Sanders was a wonderfully enlightened and energetic man for his generation. He had a shock of white hair, perfectly combed and he dressed in his best every day of the week. He claimed his enlightenment came from having two gay grandsons and a bisexual son-in-law. Max had been surprised when he’d mentioned about his son-in-law because an acquaintance of his was in a similar situation but would never admit to being bisexual. He said it would cause too many issues as to why he was married to a woman and had two children. Max could see both sides of it, he supposed, but he admired Mr Sanders son-in-law for being honest and open about it all.
“I’m very good, Mr Sanders. How are you this fine morning?” Max entered and shut the door behind him, following Mr Sanders into his kitchen.
“Good, good.” He looked over his shoulder at Max and smiled. “I can tell you’re very good, Max. There’s something that gives you away.” He laughed and turned to make coffee as he always did.
Max unconsciously lifted a hand to the hickey he’d spotted in the bathroom before leaving home. It gave him a thrill every time he saw them, and he was certainly not hiding them from anyone. And if anyone had any issues with them, then they didn’t have to hire him, did they?He knew Mr Sanders would have no issues, but some of his other clients might.
Mr Sanders set a coffee in front of Max and sat opposite him at the table. “So, have you redone the changes for me?”
“Yes, I have. I hope you’ll like them. I’ve included a couple of little extra points as well that you might want to consider, but they can be removed if they don’t work for you.” Max spread out the papers and talked him through what they were looking at. Mr Sanders was holding a nineteen-fifties style reunion for his classmates and their partners in a couple of months, and he’d asked Max if he would like to take care of the interior design aspect. It wasn’t what Max usually did because it would be only a temporary weekend-long design inside a huge banquet hall of a local hotel. But he’d been inspired by the stories and plans Mr Sanders already had in place and decided to have to go. They’d been working together for the last three months to make sure as many details as possible were correct to the decade he wanted.
Max had been elbow-deep in research for weeks and had loved every minute of it. So much so, that he considered adding another bow to his string and advertising for these types of jobs as well. That would need a lot more thought because, as he had told Trent last night, he was already booked solid for the next three months. If he did this, he may have to consider taking on a partner or something.
He spent the next hour and a half discussing the project before he had to leave for his next appointment. “I’ll look into the colour scheme a little more and see if I can source some swatches to give us a better idea of how they’d look. I’m sure I can find something that will work well.”
“Thank you, Max, as always. You’re doing an amazing job.” Mr Sanders patted him on the back. “Make sure you keep tight hold of him,” he said, pointing to Max’s neck. “You’re glowing, my boy. Hold tight, and don’t let go.”
Max smiled. “I don’t plan to let go, Mr Sanders.”
“See you in a couple of weeks, Max.”
“Bye.” He turned to his car, smiling. He wished he had grandparents like Mr Sanders.
His next appointment was a consultation with a Miss Rosen, who wanted her lounge redesigned to a more minimalist look, much to Max’s silent dismay. To top it all she wanted the monochromatic look. He spoke to her at length about her reasons for it, trying to explain his reasonings as to why he thought another look might work better. In the end, she was adamant, and he told her he would have to decline. She wasn’t happy, but he had been able to give her the names of two other people he knew would help her out, which gave him some brownie points.
After that was another quick consultation with Mrs Ward about her kitchen refit. He couldn’t do any wrong in her eyes apparently and she agreed with everything he said. It always worried him when clients did that because it was usually after he left that they thought about what he said and realised it wasn’t what they wanted after all, then they had to start the process all over again. He told Mrs Ward, he would create a quote for her, and then get in touch once she’d had time for the designs to sink in and they would discuss them again. There was no way he was going to start the job without double checking first, otherwise, it would be twice the work for half the pay.
He managed to fit in a quick lunch by stopping at a deli for a takeaway chicken Caesar salad and a fruit pot, along with a coffee and a bottle of water before heading over to Miss Timms, or Alice as she had asked him to call her. He’d already done her kitchen, and she was happy with it, so he knew her style already. This time she wanted her lounge redesigning, and they were able to quickly decide on a lot of details. Alice already knew it would be a wait before it could be done, and she was more than happy with the delay.
Sitting in his car before heading off, he blew out a breath. This was roughly a usual day when it came to quotes and consultations. He usually made sure to have one day a week like this except if he had a long job. If a job took two weeks, then he’d have a day before it started and then a day as soon as it finished. That way people weren’t waiting too long.
He glanced at the time and started the car, heading for the centre of town. Maybe he could grab drinks before the others arrived, he’d be early anyway.
****
Trent
Trent finished work at one-thirty after explaining a little about what happened to his boss. He sat in his car, debating whether to call Trish or not and see what she knew about the accounts. As far as he knew, the only names on the accounts were his, Jocelyn and Harper’s. He’d been the only one paying into it, so he hadn’t seen the point in adding Trish’s name. He decided to call and see what she said. He didn’t think it would be her, but something niggled at him.
“Yes?” she answered, voice harsh. “What do you want?”
“I’ve been told there has been a problem with the university fees being paid. There’s enough money in the accounts so I don’t know what’s happened. Have you received any paperwork or phone calls about it?” Trent wasn’t going to tell her that he’d spoken to Harper and Jocelyn about it, otherwise, she may just go ranting to them.
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” she said snootily.
“The fees for university should be coming out of Jocelyn’s uni account. You know, the one I’ve been paying into each month? The uni said there’s been a problem receiving the fees. Have you heard anything?”
“No, I’ve heard nothing.”
