Every Shade by Nora Phoenix
1
AJ Wilson snickered as he read the ad on Heart2Heart. It never failed to amuse him that the very thing that brought him relaxation was such a source of stress for others. Then again, he’d built so many cabinets and beds and dressers by now that he rarely needed the instructions anymore unless it was a new product.
He might as well help this guy out before the dude gave himself a heart attack out of frustration and make a few bucks in the process. His bank account could use it, he’d ascertained that morning. Until he heard back from the dozens of emails he’d sent out with pitches for shoots, this would have to pay the bills. As cute as they were, Mike and Melissa didn’t bring in money either—his million Instagram followers who had fallen in love with the little mice notwithstanding.
He shot off a quick text.
AJ:Hej! (That’s Swedish for hi.) I’m AJ, and I speak IKEA fluently. I’m also available on a short-term basis, have tons of patience, and ask for a reasonable payment. No need for marriage or babies, Princess Leia. ;)
He put his phone down to grab his camera and take his daily picture of Mike and Melissa and hopefully Mini when his phone pinged with an incoming message. IKEA guy was that desperate, huh? Instead, it was his oldest brother on their group app.
Donovan: Call Mom. She complained to me AGAIN.
Before he could even reply, one of his other brothers, Nicolas, chimed in as well. Oh lord, now it was only a matter of minutes before all four of his brothers jumped on it.
Nicolas: To me too. Call her bro, no joking. I don’t need her riding my ass to get you to call her.
AJ:I freaking called her TWO WEEKS AGO!
AJ:Like, I can’t go a week without checking in?
Donovan: lol
Nicolas: Sweet summer child
Stephen: He still hasn’t figured it out, has he?
Donovan: Nope.
Nicolas: You gotta call every week at least, man.
Dandy: You’re the baby. You know she worries.
Ugh, Dandy had to go there, didn’t he? He was exactly six months older than AJ, and he couldn’t stop rubbing it in every chance he got.
AJ: Oh shut up, you.
AJ: You call her every other day, you little brownnoser.
Dandy: Yeah, and I ain’t getting any messages from my brothers that I need to call her, now do I?
AJ: All right, whatever, I’ll call her. Sheesh.
Donovan:Good boy.
Dandy:Good baby, lol.
God, his brothers sucked. He loved them more than anything, but they still sucked donkey balls.
With a deep sigh, AJ hit the speed dial for his mother, walking out to his deck. If he was gonna spend half an hour on the phone, he might as well grab some vitamin S, as his mom always called it. She always said sunshine made you feel better, and well, she wasn’t entirely wrong.
“AJ!” The joy in his mother’s voice was unmistakable, and for a second, guilt barreled through him. “I was about to sic your brothers on you out of fear you were lying dead in your bathroom.”
And…guilt evaporated.
“How are you, other than overly dramatic, Mom?”
He settled into one of the Adirondack chairs he’d built himself and had painted bright red.
His mom huffed. “I haven’t heard from you in weeks.”
“Two weeks, Mom. I called you thirteen days ago…and I told you it would be a while since I was traveling.”
He’d traveled for exactly four days, a quick out-and-back to a London suburb to shoot a gorgeous classic English rose garden, but his mom didn’t need to know the details.
“Right, right. What magazine was that for again?”
“A British garden magazine. They’re sending me a copy when it’s published, so I’ll show you when I have it.”
“And they flew you in all the way from Maryland?”
“They loved a spread with my pictures in their American sister magazine. That was that wild garden I shot in Connecticut.”
He caught movement from the corners of his eyes and turned his head. Ah, his new neighbor was out of the house. He’d seen the guy move in two weeks ago, noting with interest that he was not only single—at least, he was moving in by himself and AJ hadn’t spotted a significant other—but made his gaydar go off. And he was exactly AJ’s type. The chances of them being a good fit sexually were low, as always, but he could damn well hope.
So far, he hadn’t actually spotted the man outside after his move. That was a shame because with that house, he had bought himself a gorgeous garden that had been meticulously maintained by the previous owners. Granted, Mrs. Harrison’s fondness for birdhouses had been a bit over the top even for AJ’s tastes, but she’d had a great eye for color. In months like this, the middle of July, that garden was an explosion of purples and pinks.
“I worry about you, baby,” his mom said, rounding up what seemed to be another mini-sermon he’d tuned out.
“You should worry about my brothers.” He had no qualms throwing them under the bus. They’d do the same to him. “Did you know Donovan broke up with his girlfriend?”
“He did? You boys will be the death of me. How can I raise five boys and not have a single wedding to plan, huh? Not even one grandchild…”
He grinned. “Don’t look at me for the latter, Mom. I miss the necessary equipment to get pregnant, and you know girls are not my thing.”
“You need to find yourself a nice boy and settle down.”
AJ let out a mental sigh. He had zero interest in boys. He wanted a man. But at the same time, he didn’t want to be a boy either, which was the role most men he met wanted to push him into. The cute twink who bottomed for them. The boy to their Daddy, the submissive to their dominant, the one on his knees. Oh, he didn’t mind being on his knees, but on his terms. When he chose to, not because some guy got off on wielding his physical strength over someone half his size.
No, he wanted a man who was big and strong and yet willing to let AJ be himself. A fucking unicorn, that’s what he was looking for. Something that didn’t exist. But right now, he’d settle for a hookup, because he could use it, that was for sure.
Maybe with a man like…well, like his new neighbor, for example, who had taken off his shirt and was now performing a series of yoga poses in ways that showed off his body. His big, furry body, which was strong yet soft in all the right places. He had dark hair that looked like he needed a haircut and a little scruff on his chin. AJ couldn’t make out the color of his eyes from that distance, but the whole package was hella attractive. Now, that was what his ideal man looked like. Yummy.
“All my gray hairs are because of you boys.” His mom was still going strong.
“You love us, Mom, and you know it. You chose us, handpicked us.”
“And you guys remind me of that every single chance,” she shot back.
He’d been the last addition, the last boy Brody and Elaine Wilson had adopted from foster care. At four years old, he’d lost his mom and dad in a car accident when they were on their way to pick him up from pre-K. With no other relatives to take care of him, he’d ended up in foster care until the Wilsons had taken him in. He was their fifth lost boy, as they called it, and they’d loved him as one of their own, just like his four older brothers.
His mom was the most overprotective mom that ever mommed, but she loved them fiercely, and god help whoever tried to hurt them. She’d been notorious among their friends and teachers, many of whom would ten times rather deal with his laid-back dad than with his mom, who could incinerate you with one look.
“I love you, Mom.” The familiar mix of love and gratitude welled up inside him. He could bitch all he wanted, but at the end of the day, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she loved him. And so did his brothers.
“I know you do. Now work on that wedding, would you?”
AJ thought of the ad he’d replied to with the marriage option thrown in and grinned. He’d better not tell his mom. She’d start planning the wedding right away.
His eye fell on his neighbor, who had bent over in a downward dog, his ass toward AJ. Mmm, such a damn perfect ass it was…a gorgeous, firm butt that begged to be kneaded and would jiggle perfectly when fucked. Marriage was still a long ways off, but maybe he could introduce himself to his neighbor first?
“How are the little mice?” his mom asked, and AJ launched into a tale of the latest adventures of Mike, Melissa, and baby Mini.
