Marius Rabineaux lives with his daughter Sherie in an apartment complex. Across the hall is computer tech Xavier McDay, whose niece, Tonya, is best friends with Sherie. Taciturn, clueless nerds have never been Marius's thing, so no matter how hot he may find ‘Uncle Cranky,’ Marius leaves well enough alone. One evening when Marius picks up Sherie from her playdate with Tonya, Xavier insults his parenting skills. Later, Xavier turns up at Marius’ workplace and, instead of apologizing, further offends him by disparaging his work ethic. Xavier finally gets it and apologizes to Marius, who decides to give his clueless neighbor another chance. He accepts Xavier’s offer inviting him and Sherie to dinner. The evening is a fun affair, and while the girls have dessert in Tonya's room, both men get to know each other better. Then Marius challenges Xavier to a night away from computers by going out to a night club. One thing leads to another, and they wind up back at Xavier’s apartment. As things crank up between them, will they get more than they bargain for ... and perhaps a chance at something more?

Crank Me Up

“Yeah, man, no problem. Hey, so you need a new washing machine, right? I got you. Let me show you what we have in top-loaders. I think I can swing you a really deep discount, what with all you’ve done for us here at Appliance Emporium.”


My boss turned to me and said, “I’ll take care of him, Mary—oops, I mean Marius.” With a wink, Larry walked toward a washing machine display.


Great. Way to make me feel even less of a man in that asshole’s presence. Xavier followed Larry a few seconds later after he gave me a searching look, mouth open briefly like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the right words. I turned my back on him and kept on working. Whatever.


Chapter 5