by Pandora Pine
“Yeah. I’m terrified it won’t work.” More than anything, Landon wanted to write a book where his main character could love who he wanted to love.
“What do you really want to write? I mean, it doesn’t really sound like you’re very thrilled with the idea of writing another Marcus Pike book.” Noble shifted a little closer, massaging his way up Landon’s arms.
Landon shrugged, not wanting to tell Noble the truth. He didn’t know this man well enough to share something so private.
“Okay, well, I tried.” Noble sighed shifting back away from Landon.
“Romance!” Landon blurted out, not wanting Noble to move away from him. He was going to have to take a chance with his handsome new friend at some point and let the other man in. Why not now?
“Romance, huh?”
Landon couldn’t tell if the easy tone in Noble’s voice was sincere or if the other man was about to launch into a tirade about the kind of men who write or read that kind of shit. Noble, even though he was gay, was a man’s man. He wasn’t the type of guy to swoon over a handsome man and he sure as fuck wasn’t the kind of man to sit with a book and let his imagination conjure up the man of his dreams in the leading role.
“Contemporary or historical?” Noble sounded interested. He started rubbing Landon’s shoulders with a little more force.
Landon shrugged. He still couldn’t figure out what the hell Noble’s deal was. Why was this gorgeous man sitting behind him rubbing his shoulders? “I can see the allure of both.”
Noble nodded. “I read this book in rehab about a gay lighthouse keeper and it sucked.” He burst out laughing.
Ah, well, there’s one mystery solved. Landon didn’t have to guess anymore about Noble’s interested tone of voice. It was obvious he hated romance novels. “Romance isn’t for everyone.” Landon shuddered. He could feel himself pulling back into his protective shell.
“No, that’s not what I meant.” Noble wrapped his arms around Landon’s shoulders, holding him close. “The idea was kick ass, which is why I downloaded the book, but neither of the characters was fleshed out and the story was told rather than shown. Anyway, you’d do it better.”
I’d do it better? Landon must have misheard. There was no way Noble just said that to him. “But you’re only part way through my first book. Why would you think I’d do it better?”
“Your writing is brilliant. Like you said, I’m only part way through the book, but I already love Marcus. The descriptions are so real, it feels like I’m on this journey with him.”
Holy shit! Landon was stunned. He could see it all, clear as day, in his mind’s eye. “I was just thinking about those lighthouses up in Maine that are on islands, not that far off the mainland.” Landon took a deep breath, relaxing back against Noble’s chest. “I’m thinking 1800’s. What if the townspeople somehow found out Bob was gay and sent him to man the light where he couldn’t infect, contaminate, harm, influence other young men?”
Noble laughed. “Bob? Doesn’t sound like a very old-timey name to me.”
Landon raised an eyebrow, grabbing for his ever present notebook which was sitting to the side of the mattress. “His name wasn’t the point of the story.” He pulled away from Noble to start scribbling the idea down.
“I know that.” Noble chuckled in his ear. “What if the town elects someone to row the supplies Bob will need out to the island.”
“Right!” Landon clapped his hands together. “They’d get to know each other over time and then Don gets stranded on the island during a snowstorm.” Landon pointed out the window where light snowflakes were starting to get a bit more plentiful.
“There’d be lots of red hot sex and you could really ratchet up the angst when the weather clears and it’s time for Don to row back to the mainland.”
“But then he comes back. There’s gotta be a happily ever after.” Landon grinned at the thought of Bob’s heart soaring when he saw the rowboat headed back out to the island.
“Why?”
“Most women who read these kind of books want there to be a happily ever after.” Landon liked a happy ending too. He shivered in Noble’s arms, his cock roaring to life. He liked happy endings in books, he meant, not with Noble gagging on his cock. Fuck!
“Gay men like happily ever afters too.” Noble grinned, hopping off the mattress and grabbing the bottle of Jack Daniels.
“Noble! Jesus, don’t!” Landon started forward, needing to stop the other man, no, his friend, from breaking his sobriety.
“Calm down, Wordsmith. I’m just sticking it back in the fridge.”
Landon watched dumbfounded. “But it’s only 10:00pm.”
Grinning, Noble shrugged. “It’s a good story. Good enough for me to stay sober for the rest of the night.” He headed off toward the kitchen with the bottle in hand.
Landon relaxed back against his mattress, picking up his notebook. A smile burst across his face when he heard the refrigerator door open and close and Noble walked back with bottles of water for both of them.
XX
As tired as he was, Noble had a hard time falling asleep. After they’d shut the lights off, he’d picked up his Kindle and had gone back to reading Landon’s first book. It was hard to believe that the man who’d made such an amazing beef stew for dinner was the same man who wrote this book.
Noble hadn’t known what he expected when he downloaded Killer Cure, but the one thing he hadn’t expected was to be completely drawn in by the story and its characters. He didn’t want the book to end. He’d put the Kindle down when he reached the halfway point of the book.
While he’d been reading, Landon had been lying on his side seemingly lost in the fire. When he’d set his Kindle down later, Landon had already fallen asleep. Noble grinned, watching his friend sleep.
He didn’t know what had gotten into him, volunteering to rub Landon’s back. It was something he and Vincent used to do for each other after hard days at work. Noble never imagined he’d ever do something so intimate for another man again.
As nice as it had felt being so close to Landon, his mind had been blasting the red alert siren. He knew he needed to focus on his sobriety and restoring the hotel, in that order. Noble had wanted to stay cuddled up with Landon, wanted to spend the rest of the night kissing him and touching his skin, but he knew deep down inside that was the worst idea possible.
Even if Landon weren’t leaving in two weeks, Noble had no business getting involved with the man. Yeah, he was handsome and smart, but Noble couldn’t risk losing him when the time came, as it inevitably would.
He’d never imagined he’d lose his Vincent so soon. Noble thought they’d had all the time in the world to start a family and live happily together. He’d wanted to coach his son in Little League and braid his daughter’s hair before dance recitals. His life wasn’t supposed to have turned out like this. He wasn’t supposed to end up alone.
Rolling to his side, he shook his head at Charlie who was curled up against Landon. Her ears pricked up at the sound of Noble’s movement but soon settled back down. He’d fallen in love with the shepherd at first sight. Part of the reason he’d fought so hard through rehab was to get back home to Charlie.
His father had been as good as his word when it came to sending pictures and videos of Charlie’s progress while he was gone. Nick had said Noble and Charlie both had things to do while they were apart and one of those things for the dog had been puppy kindergarten. Charlie had been at the top of her class. Of course she was, she was Noble’s girl. Seeing her progress had urged him on to do as well as he could in rehab.
All through the twelve-step process, Noble had reached out to his friends to thank them for insisting he go and for all the support they’d given him along the way. As a result, he’d been able to catch up on their lives.
Gregor had told him how hard it was working for the posh restaurant down on Hilton Head, South Carolina. His father was still furious that he’d gone into the Navy and then used his GI Bill t
o go to culinary school instead of enrolling at some Ivy League college to get his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. Senator Allen was still dangling his money like a carrot in front of Gregor, who still wasn’t biting.
Griff was having similar difficulties with his father. The elder Fox was making a hard push to get Griffin to go to Costa Rica to get two new luxury hotels up and running. Griff kept telling him to pound sand now that he had his grandfather’s trust fund in his possession. Griff was holding his own.
Presley, on the other hand, was not. He hated working for Hound Dog Hooch and had been counting the days until he’d be able to come up to Sand Dollar Shoal and start running the hotel. He still hadn’t come up with an exit strategy for getting out of his current position at the distillery. Noble got the impression he was just going to walk out one Friday and never come back. After the way his parents forced him into working for them, Noble hoped Pres did just that.
Feeling his eyes getting heavy, Noble fixed them on Landon, who was adorable in his sleep. His dark hair was sticking up all over the place and he had one hand curled under his cheek. Shutting his eyes at last, Noble let sleep pull him under.
A loud howling startled Noble awake. Sitting up on one elbow, he could make out a shadow in front of the French doors. Another chilling howl echoed through the hotel. Noble could see beams of light flooding in through the glass. Charlie was howling at the moon.
Snorting, he crawled to the end of his mattress and onto the plank flooring until he reached the puppy who was excited to see him. “What’cha doing, girl?”
Charlie stopped licking Noble long enough to howl again.
Laughing, Noble joined in. Man and dog howled together.
“I can’t decide if this is the sweetest or craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Landon said sleepily from his mattress.
“Shut up and get over here, Wordsmith.” Noble grinned at Landon in the dark.
Moments later, Landon joined him and Charlie in front of the window. Landon howled along with them the next time Charlie started.
“Have you ever howled at the moon before?” Noble grinned, giving Landon’s shoulder a playful shove.
“Nope. First time for me. How about you?”
“I’m sure I must have at one point while I was drinking.” Noble’s voice was barely audible. He didn’t like thinking about those days.
“You’re not that man anymore, Noble.” Landon sat back on his heels, reaching a hand out to Noble’s arm.
“Of course I’m that man. I might be sober, but I’m still a drunk.”
“You know, I think that AA has a lot of good ideas and practices, but I don’t like how they want you to label yourself as a drunk for the rest of your life. You’re so much more than your past, Noble.”
“They do that so we never forget who we are and what got us into needing rehab in the first place.”
“You’ll never forget. We both know that. I just think the label is hurtful.”
“If I’m not a drunk, what am I?” Noble challenged, feeling his hackles rise.
“You’re Charlie’s Dad, my friend, master builder, snow shoveler.” Landon paused taking a deep breath. “A reader, a dreamer, who’s kind and giving.”
Landon’s impassioned words took his breath away. He couldn’t believe his friend saw all of those things inside him.
“You’re also sexy as hell with those blue eyes and that toned body made for sin. You spend your days trying to find reasons not to drink, well I’ve been spending mine trying to invent reasons not to kiss you.”
“It’s past midnight,” Noble’s voice was pitched low. He wanted to kiss Landon too. Badly. “What’s your reason for not kissing me today?”
“Haven’t thought of one yet.”
Noble could hear the smile in Landon’s voice. “So then, what are you waiting for?”
Not wasting another moment, Landon leaned over and pressed his lips to Noble’s.
Noble reached out for Landon’s face, holding him tight, not wanting him to pull away before he’d gotten a real taste of Landon. Applying gentle pressure to Landon’s chin, Noble urged him to open up.
Landon surrendered, opening his lips and reaching out to Noble with his tongue.
Noble moaned. He couldn’t help himself. Landon was delicious. He could spend the rest of the night feasting on his full lips.
Charlie stopped howling long enough to turn and lick out at both men’s faces.
Noble reluctantly pulled away from Landon. “No, Charlie. No kisses for you.” He hugged the dog and rubbed her silky fur, feeling a pang of disappointment in his gut when Landon stood up and walked back to his bed.
Sighing, Noble got up and followed suit. There would be plenty of time to talk about what had just happened in the morning.
11
“Pres! It’s good to see you, man!” Noble was sitting at Landon’s desk, his computer was side-by-side with Landon’s. He’d sent Presley an email earlier in the day asking if he’d have time to catch up over Skype.
“Hey, yourself, Noble. How are you doing?” Presley’s red hair was shining brightly.
“I’m good. Four months and nineteen days sober.” Noble was all smiles.
“That’s good, Noble. Real good. How are things coming along with Sand Dollar Shoal?”
“I’ve got seven of the guest rooms finished. I had a plumber in here last week who went through all thirty-six rooms and the kitchen, inspecting the pipes. He said the entire hotel is up to code.”
“That’s great news. Things have been so crazy at work that I haven’t really had much of a chance to catch up with Griff on the hotel’s progress.”
“You look like shit, Pres. Tell me what’s going on.” Noble grinned at the shocked look on his friend’s face.
Presley rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Miss America! You’re not looking so hot yourself.”
“We’ll talk about me later. Now spill it, Pres.” Noble raised an eyebrow.
Sighing, Presley shook his head. “Same old shit. I hate working at the distillery. None of the workers respect me because I’m the bosses’ son. I guess it doesn’t help too much that I hate the job. You’ve been down here before. It’s a big open factory floor. It’s loud and this isn’t what I studied day and night at Yale for. This place is my parents’ dream, not mine. There’s this guy, Tom, he’s been working here since he was in high school. This is his job I stole.” Pres made finger quotes.
Noble nodded. He had been down to the Hound Dog Hooch distillery in Memphis back when they were in high school. All of the noise jangled his nerves. Noble broke into a smile.
“I’m losing my shit here, Noble and you’re smiling? Jesus Christ.”
“Calm your britches, Scarlett.” Noble laughed at his sputtering friend. “Do you remember that tour of the Budweiser brewery up in Merrimack, New Hampshire?” Griffin was the youngest of the four of them and they’d taken him up there on his twenty-first birthday to celebrate.
“Yeah, it was a good day.” Presley didn’t seem to be impressed by this stroll down memory lane.
“It was, but not my point. Remember the tour and then we got to try the beer in the tasting house?”
“Yeah, there was a guide who showed us around and we got to taste different beers and there was a gift shop too. They had a room full of steins. We bought one for Griff.”
“Exactly.” Noble nodded. “Hound Dog doesn’t have any of that, right?”
“Jesus, no. It’s like we’re still in the dark ages here.” Presley paused, his face lighting up. “I could mock up a plan to implement those kinds of things here.”
“And, correct me if I’m wrong, that’s precisely what you studied so hard at Yale to do.” Noble waggled his eyebrows in triumph.
“Damn, that’s a killer idea, man. I could also get Tom in on it. I think it will go better introducing the idea to my parents with him in on it too.”
“You’ve got three months to put the wheels in motion before you’re up he
re at Sand Dollar Shoal for good.”
Pres nodded. “What’s it like, Noble? Does it feel like home?”
Before Noble could answer, Landon came back into the dining room from outside with Charlie.
“It’s colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra out there, but Charlie didn’t seem to care.”
“Who in hell is that?” Presley was all smiles now.
“Oh! I didn’t know you were on Skype. I’ll go get started on lunch.” Landon yanked off his boots.
Noble held a hand out toward Landon, waving him forward. “Come here. I want you to meet Pres.”
Grabbing a chair, Landon sat down next Noble. “Hi, I’m Landon Fairchild.”
“Hi Landon! I’m Presley Forrester. It’s nice to meet you.” Presley looked happy to meet Landon, if a little surprised.
“Noble’s told me all about you and your Band of Brothers.”
“Has he now? I wish I could say the same about you.” Pres raised a questioning eyebrow at Noble.
Landon gave Noble a side-long glance. “I’ve gotta go get lunch started. Noble’s relentless. Nice to meet you, Presley.” Landon waved and took off toward the kitchen.
“You’re relentless? No wonder it looks like you haven’t slept in a week.” Presley burst out laughing. “Nice to see you’ve gotten back up on the horse, man.”
“Whoa, wait! I’m not on any horse. Landon is staying at the hotel for a few weeks.” Noble could feel cold sweat trickling down his spine.
“Staying at the hotel?” Presley looked dubious. “It isn’t even open yet.”
“Landon didn’t know that. He’s a writer and was having trouble with his new book, so he came down here to work things out.” It sounded stupid saying it out loud like that. “We’re not sleeping together.” He wanted them to be, but they weren’t. Shit, where did that come from?
Presley laughed at Noble. “Well, whatever is going on up there in snowy Massachusetts, you look happy.”
“I am happy, Pres. For the first time in a long time.” Noble meant it. He’d deal with whatever that meant later, but for now, he was just going to enjoy it.
XX
