by Pandora Pine
“Still eating,” Noble mumbled.
“What are your plans for the day, Landon?” Nick turned his attention to the virtual stranger.
“Uhh, well, it’s um, um,” Landon sighed. “It’s my day to cook and bring in the firewood. I-I was gonna write and maybe draw a bit too.” Looking down at his hands, Landon noticed the shredded remains of his napkin.
“Sounds like a good day to me, Landon. May the force be with you.” Nick made the Vulcan salute.
Landon burst out laughing. “Thanks, Mr. Killington.”
“Call me Nick.” He slapped a hand on Landon’s shoulder. “Come on, Noble. We’re wasting daylight.”
Landon watched while both men got up from the table and reached for their empty plates. “No, leave them. I’ll clean up.”
“You sure, Wordsmith?” Noble grinned.
“I’ve got it, now go.” Landon smiled at the Killington men as they set out the back door. His stomach plunged to his toes when Noble didn’t turn around to wave or say goodbye.
Marcus Pike wasn’t talking. Or if he was, Landon was too distracted with thoughts of his night with Noble and this morning’s fallout to pay him any attention. Instead of sitting in front of the blinking cursor, which once again seemed to be mocking him, Landon brought his computer into the hotel’s kitchen to look up recipes for tonight’s dinner.
Cooking was always one thing that relaxed him. When his life was going to hell around him, he’d always found solace in the ordered steps of recipes.
Back when he was growing up, he’d painstakingly copy his favorite recipes out of the cookbooks he’d taken out of the library, but now with the internet, all he had to do was save his favorites to a folder on his desktop.
Knowing how hard Noble and his father were working out in the frigid January temperatures, Landon wanted to make a meal packed with protein and vegetables. Julia’s Child’s Beef Bourguignon recipe would be the perfect dinner for the hard-working Killington men.
His mind turned back to Noble as he peeled and sliced the potatoes and carrots. Last night had been the best night he’d ever spent with a man. Not only was Noble able to lift and move him around with ease, he was also a considerate lover, making sure Landon was writhing with pleasure long before Noble sought his own release.
More than what happened physically between them was the connection Landon had felt explode between them. He was not a whimsical man by any stretch of the imagination, but he’d swear to a jury of his peers that he and Noble’s souls had touched each other last night.
Sighing, Landon dumped the root vegetables into the crock pot. He supposed it didn’t much matter what he thought happened last night since Noble wouldn’t even look at him this morning. Well, Noble wouldn’t look at him after his father showed up anyway.
Noble could have been embarrassed by them being caught together or it could have been that he’d just finally realized the impact of what they’d done last night. He could have been feeling guilty for taking his first lover since his husband’s untimely death.
Whatever the reason was for Noble’s behavior, Landon wasn’t going to figure it out without talking to his suddenly shy lover. With Nick staying on for the next day or so, it didn’t seem like Landon was going to get the chance to talk to Noble privately about where they stood. If they stood anywhere at all.
15
“Ouch! Motherfucking God damn it!” Noble shouted, ripping his glove off to check the status of his smashed thumb.
“That’s the fifth time today you’ve done that, son.” Nick’s voice had a touch of amusement in it.
Growling, Noble’s eyes shot up at his father who looked positively cheery. “Thanks for your concern, Dad.” Noble sneered at his father. His thumb hurt like hell but he didn’t think it was broken. One thing was for certain, the thumbnail was going to turn black and most likely fall off.
“Why don’t we call it a night? It’s starting to get dark out anyway.” Nicked dropped his hammer into the loop on his tool belt.
“Fine,” Noble huffed. He was frozen to the bone. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, thoughts of Landon had been distracting him all day. He’d only seen the other man briefly when Landon had been out to walk Charlie and to load up on firewood. Lunch had been a casual affair of sandwiches and Landon had eaten alone at his desk.
Not that Noble could blame him. After Nick had showed up this morning, he’d lied to his father about the nature of their relationship and hadn’t spared his lover a second glance after that lie.
Fuck! Noble sighed. He needed to talk to his lover, but didn’t know when he’d get the chance. His father had been like a dog with a bone trying to get Noble to fess up about the nature of his relationship with the writer, but Noble hadn’t given an inch.
He sure as fuck wasn’t going to try to talk things out with Noble while his father was looking back and forth between them with a foolish grin on his face.
The one thing he could do was try to give Landon some sort of signal that things were good between them. Maybe he could write him a note?
Shit! Noble snorted. Writing notes was something lovesick high school girls did, not grown men. Besides, with his luck Nick would intercept the note and make Noble read it out loud.
“Something funny?” Nick’s grin was back in full-force.
“Are you ever gonna let this go, Dad?” Noble fisted his hands on his jeans.
Nick’s smile faded instantly. “This is the happiest I’ve seen you since Vincent…” Nick trailed off, pain slashed through his blue eyes. “Landon could be a second chance at happiness for you and I don’t want to see you throw that opportunity away because you’re afraid of getting hurt again.”
“Says the man who’s been alone for the last twenty years.” Noble looked away from his father’s pained expression.
“Touché, son.” Nick’s smile held no warmth. “After we lost your mother, my sole focus was on taking care of you. I needed to make sure you had everything you needed to get over her death and live a happy life. Over the years, I had a string of lovers.”
“What?” Noble was shocked. He’d never for one second thought that Nick had dated at all after his mother passed away.
“I wasn’t a monk, son, but I wasn’t about to sit down to dinner and tell you all about it either.” Nick wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulder, steering him toward the back door of the hotel. “I regret that all I did was hook up with random women rather than look for a partner I could share my life with. I don’t want you to fall into that same trap. You’re so young and you’ve got so many years left ahead of you, not to mention how badly I want to be a grandfather.”
“I’ll think about it, Dad. That’s the best I can do right now.” Noble didn’t want to think about this at all. He just wanted things to go back to the way they were last night when the only thing Noble had been listening to had been the demands of his body.
When they walked back into the hotel, Charlie barked from her spot at Landon’s feet and ran toward Noble.
“Hello pretty princess.” Noble got down on his knees and played kissy face with the puppy.
“How was your day, Landon?” Nick started peeling off layers of cold weather gear.
Landon shrugged. “It was okay. I wrote a little and drew a little.”
“When am I gonna get to see the sketches you’ve been working on for the stairs?” Nick sighed with happiness when first one then the other boot hit the floor.
“Dad,” Noble drawled exaggeratedly. “He’ll show the drawings when he’s ready for us to see them.
Landon laughed at the banter between the Killington men. Setting a hand on his overturned sketchbook, he seemed to be thinking over what to do next. “You can see them. They’re only preliminary drawings, nothing carved in stone.” He busied himself flipping through the book before handing it to Nick.
“Let’s have a look.” Nick set the pad down on one of the dining room tables, motioning Noble to join him.
“I’
ll go check on dinner.” Landon stood up and headed toward the kitchen, giving Noble a wide birth.
“Hold on there, Landon. Sit.” Nick was smiling as he pointed to the empty seat next to Noble.
“Drill sergeant,” Landon mumbled under his breath.
“You have no idea,” Noble whispered back.
“I heard that, boys.” Nick smirked, flipping the sketchpad over. “Damn!” He turned the drawing so that Noble could see it.
It was the sketch of the running sandpipers Noble had seen a few days ago. Since the last time he’d seen it, Landon had added color, giving the small birds an extra layer of depth. They still looked like they were about to run off the page and onto the table. “Landon, this is incredible.” He set a hand down on Landon’s, who thankfully didn’t flinch or pull away. Noble didn’t miss the smirk on his father’s face.
With his free hand, Noble flipped to the next picture which featured different shorebirds, some kind of plover, Noble thought, running in and out of long sand grasses. “Amazing,” Noble whispered under his breath, flipping the page again.
The next two drawings were of tide pools featuring starfish, crabs, scallops and sand dollars. Landon’s talent took his breath away.
“Where did these ideas come from?” Nick asked with awe in his voice.
A pretty pink blush stained Landon’s cheeks. “I pictured in my mind what this beach would look like in the summer. I could see the weeds and tall grass and the different types of birds and sea life that I’d be likely to see here on the Cape. I wanted the steps to be a progression of what someone would see if they were walking onto the beach for the first time. The last couple of drawings are of the ocean.”
Noble flipped to them while Landon was speaking. The images featured ocean swells, seagulls and the setting sun. “Can I show these to Griff and the other guys?” Noble held his breath, afraid Landon would say no.
Nibbling his bottom lip, Landon seemed to be thinking over Noble’s question. Before he could answer one way or the other, Nick interrupted.
“Let’s not put him on the spot. I’m gonna go grab a shower.” Nick paused and bent low to Landon, whispering something in his ear too low for Noble to hear. Nick patted his shoulder, grabbed his overnight bag and headed up the stairs.
“What did he say?” Noble asked, his curiosity winning out over his manners. He knew damned well if his father had wanted him to hear what he was saying, Nick would have said it out loud.
“Just that he was proud of me.” Landon had a shocked look on his face.
Noble was about to remind Landon that he told him all the time how proud of him he was, but at the last minute, shut his mouth with an audible clack of his teeth. He realized that it had been years, if ever, that a father figure had told Landon he was proud of him. Noble wasn’t about to say anything to take that away from his lover.
Speaking of his lover… Noble cleared his throat. He’d been thinking about Landon all day, but it wasn’t what he’d say to the other man when they got a moment alone together. It had more to do with neither one of them wearing a stitch and what he wanted to do to Landon’s body. “Uh, Landon, I…”
Gathering up his sketchbook, Landon turned to stand up.
“Wait, don’t go. Just… Just give me a second.”
Landon silently nodded and sat back down, giving his full attention to Noble while clutching his sketchpad to his chest as if it were a shield.
“I’m sorry I lied to my father this morning about us being lovers. It’s been years since he’d caught me like that and I…”
“Felt like you were sixteen again?” Landon offered.
Thank Christ Landon was at least speaking to him again. “Yeah. It’s not that I was ashamed of you or what we had done together. I didn’t want my Dad to know what we’d done because I still hadn’t really processed it myself.”
“Have you processed it now?” Landon’s voice held no hint of emotion. Neither did his hazel eyes, which were now a deep green.
Noble nodded, reaching out a hand toward Landon. He was surprised when Landon reached for him and then pulled back. After the way he’d acted this morning, Noble deserved that. “Last night was good. Real good, not just physically, but emotionally too.” Noble sighed. Standing up, he fisted his hands on his hips and started pacing around the dining room. Charlie followed behind him.
Landon snorted, his eyes on Charlie as she ran into the back of Noble’s legs when he stopped short.
Noble laughed along with Landon, bending down to see if Charlie was okay. “I could feel a connection between us.” Noble took another deep breath. He was sure he should just shut up now and not say the words burning on his tongue, but he felt like something inside him was pushing him to finish his thought. “I want to explore that connection. Uh, if you, um, felt it too.”
He didn’t want to look up at Landon. He didn’t want to see a mocking look in his eyes. Worse, he didn’t want to look up and see rejection either. It had been so long, since high school, when he’d first asked Vincent out. He wasn’t used to baring his soul like this. He could only hope Landon didn’t crush him like a seashell under his boot.
“I felt it too,” Landon said quietly, standing up and walking toward Noble and Charlie. “My usual thing is one-night stands, but…”
Noble finally glanced up at his lover, whose arms were crossed over his chest, an unreadable look in his eyes. Knowing he was going to have to face Landon at some point, he stood up, taking half a step closer to him. Was he going to say that their one night together had been amazing, but that was all he had to offer Noble? Fear sliced through him like a hot knife through butter. “But?”
“But, I don’t want to run from you or this thing building between us.”
Before he could think better of it, Noble pulled Landon into his arms. His lover was giving him a chance. That was all Noble needed to hear.
XX
“Damn, Landon! This is delicious!” Nick grinned over his bowl. “Thank God it was your night to cook, otherwise we’d be having frozen pizza.”
Landon burst out laughing at the blush creeping up Noble’s neck. He wanted to kiss the rising color all the way up to his lover’s lips. “I know how hard the two of you were working out there in the cold today and wanted you to have a hearty meal tonight. I know what it’s like working with Noble. He’s a strict task master.”
Nick’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“Oh please, Wordsmith.” Noble smirked at Landon. “I’m not that bad. Am I?”
“I was minutes away from frostbite the other day when we were shoveling, but you said to keep going.” Landon was enjoying teasing Noble like this.
Noble frowned. “Yeah, well, we were wasting daylight.”
“Where have I heard that phrase before?” Nick burst out laughing.
Noble rolled his eyes, reaching for the loaf of crusty Italian bread Landon had set out for dinner. He cut a few more slices and helped himself to more of the beef. “After dinner, I’ll bring down another mattress for you, Dad.”
Nick, still chewing, shook his head no. “I’ll sleep upstairs in one of the guest rooms.”
“You can’t. There’s no heat up there yet.”
“We’ve got space heaters, right?” Nick didn’t seem bothered at all by thought of sleeping in a cold room.
Noble nodded.
“Good. I’ll grab one of them.” Nick’s tone of voice sounded like the decision had been made.
“Dad…” Noble raised an eyebrow at his father.
“Don’t ‘Dad’ me, son. You two lovebirds need some time alone to work things out between yourselves. You don’t need me getting in the way.”
“Time to do the dishes!” Landon shot out of his seat practically running toward the kitchen. He could deal with him and Noble being friends with benefits or whatever the hell they were, but he wasn’t ready to toss the “L” word around yet. He might never be ready to use that word.
Love meant pain. It meant abandonment
. Landon wasn’t strong enough to go through losing someone else close to him. Friends with benefits suited him just fine.
With that kind of arrangement, he and Noble would be able to fuck and suck each other’s brains out without the chance of either of them getting hurt.
Startling Landon out of his head was Noble pushing backward through the swinging kitchen doors carrying the crock pot. “Thought you’d need this if you were planning on washing the dishes.”Noble was wearing a cheeky grin.
Landon snorted. “Sorry I bolted. I just…” he threw his hands in the air, not quite sure how to explain the jumbled thoughts in his head.
“Dad told me today that this is the happiest he’s seen me since before the accident. Calling us lovebirds is just his way of trying to make me see that I’m not meant to live the rest of my life alone.”
“That’s understandable.” Hearing Noble say that made Landon feel a bit more relaxed. Nothing made him want to run faster than the idea of Noble wanting something from him that he wasn’t capable of giving.
Noble set the crock pot down near the sink and stepped up to Landon. “Listen,” he gently cupped the side of Landon’s face. “Whatever happens between us is something we both have to want. It’s not going to work if I try to force something on you that you’re not ready for and the same is true the other way around. I like what we have together. Like you said earlier, I want to see what happens next between us, but I’m in no hurry to rush things, okay?”
Landon nodded, nibbling his bottom lip nervously. “Okay.” He relaxed into Noble’s gentle touch, loving the feel of his lover’s work-roughened hands on his face.
“Since my father is sleeping upstairs tonight, that means we can-”
Landon snorted, slapping a hand over Noble’s mouth. He didn’t want to hear the dirty thoughts on Noble’s mind. “Not with your dad here.”
Noble licked out at Landon’s hand.
“Damn it, Noble.” Landon sighed, pulling his hand away from Noble’s full lips.
Noble was smirking at his lover. “Okay. I promise to keep my hands to myself while my father is staying at the hotel.” Noble crossed his heart. “But, I can’t be responsible for my actions if you touch me.”
