by L. C. Chase
“G’mornin’.” Kellan’s voice was gruff, and his breath could do with meeting a toothbrush, but Jax didn’t care. Morning-breath Kellan was just as gorgeous as dressed-to-the-nines Kellan. Not that Jax had seen him any dressier than jeans and a sweater all week, but it didn’t take a degree in rocket science to know how hot Kellan would be. No matter what he wore—or didn’t—Kellan was beyond gorgeous in his eyes.
Jax kissed the end of Kellan’s nose and smiled. “It’s about to be.”
He slowly slid his hand along the column of Kellan’s neck, his collarbone, over his shoulder, and down Kellan’s side, tracing the dip and rise of his ribs, onto his hip, and then down to cup and fondle fuzzy, soft balls.
“Mmm….” Kellan rolled onto his back and let his legs fall open for easier access. “You might be on to something.”
“Always am.”
Kellan chuckled and then inhaled sharply when Jax gripped his base and squeezed. He slightly loosened his grip and slid his hand slowly up and down Kellan’s hot, hard length. Kellan rocked into his hold. Jax looked up to meet Kellan’s gaze—intense, heated, and locked on Jax. His lips parted, his breath short and rapid.
“I have never seen anything sexier than you,” Jax whispered. And he needed more of him.
He leaned over and took Kellan all the way down in one slide until his eyes watered. But he didn’t pull back. He let the weight of Kellan rest on his tongue, let the taste of him fill his mouth, and when Kellan made a pleading groan and a gentle lift of his hips, Jax began to move. The more Kellan squirmed and begged and cursed, the harder and faster Jax sucked, loving that he was the one driving Kellan mad, driving him to the edge. And when he pushed Kellan screaming over the edge, he swallowed him down until Kellan was spent and boneless beneath him.
Jax dropped back and stared at the ceiling, smiling while Kellan caught his breath.
“You’re definitely right,” Kellan said, breaking the afterglow. “Now it’s a good morning. Great, in fact.”
“You should know I’m always right,” Jax teased. He flipped the sheets back and jumped from the bed, clapping his hands together. “Day’s a-wasting, handsome. Get up and get your shimmy on.”
“Wait. What about you?”
Jax grabbed his hand and tugged. “You’re going to drive me wild tonight.”
“I can drive you wild now.”
“Nope. The minute you start, someone will be banging on your door.”
Kellan laughed and let Jax lead him from the bed. “So true.”
They were on the threshold of the bathroom when, on cue, the doorbell rang.
Jax looked at Kellan, raising both eyebrows, and Kellan lifted his hands in surrender. They both broke into laughter.
“THIS ONE’S huge!” Jax was pointing to a spot under the surface of the water a few feet from where he stood. “Hurry, Kell!”
Kellan laughed and waded through the knee-high water with the small landing net while Jax went from pointing to waving his arms and doing some sort of hilarious bouncy dance without moving his feet. Watching Jax hunt for crab was like watching a kid on Christmas morning, and Kellan could not douse the pure joy he felt if he tried—and he certainly didn’t want to. He couldn’t remember the last time he had so much fun crabbing, and it was all due to Jax.
“Where’s he at?” he asked when he reached Jax’s side, scanning the ocean floor.
“There!”
Bright blue claw tips poked out of the sand near a large clump of seaweed. If the claws were anything to go by, Jax wasn’t kidding about it being huge. Kellan scooped the net down into the sand, well below the shelled sea dweller, dragged it, and scooped up the largest Dungeness crab they’d seen all morning.
Lifting the net with the crawling crustacean in it, Kellan turned and shouted, “Check this one out, Barry!”
The early morning doorbell had been his neighbor Barry, who lived a mile down the highway—a tried-and-true beachcomber. At least once every time Kellan was on the island, Barry either showed up with fresh crab, lobster, or fish for him, or invited Kellan to join him in catching said seafood or simply beachcombing and philosophizing on life and the great big universe.
Couple that with Jax never having done any of the above, and Kellan knew that would be how they’d spend the first part of the day. They’d still be able to get in one more late-afternoon surf before making the trek to Mount Washington for snowboarding the next morning.
Barry met them at a cooler they’d left near some logs on shore, with a ruler in hand to make sure the crab was a keeper. Long fuzzy eyebrows crawled up his forehead when he got a look at their catch, and he whistled.
“I can tell right now that boy is going to be well over minimum size.” His voice was as rough as his wind-battered skin and sea-weathered clothing. He deftly worked the crab from the net, and safely holding it by the carapace, he measured its width. “Nine and a half inches. Nice find, boys.”
“This one was all Jax,” Kellan said with a sense of pride.
Jax met his gaze and smiled. “Only because of you two.” His cheeks and nose were rosy red from the cold and wind, and dark blond strands of hair stuck out from under his beanie hat in random array, but the sparkle in his eyes was brighter than the sun—if it weren’t blocked by dense gray clouds, that was.
Kellan’s heart flipped over in his chest. He was seriously falling for Jax and did not want to let him go. In the back of his mind, he started tallying up his available finances and vacation time for a trip to Australia. He’d be on the next plane after Jax, if he could swing it.
“That’s the day’s quota,” Barry said as he placed the fourth crab into the newspaper-lined cooler. “Just drop the cooler off before you head back to the mainland.”
“What? We can’t take all of these, Barry,” Kellan said, humbled once again by how lucky he was to have such amazing neighbors and friends on this island. If only the rest of the world would take their example on how to treat people. Right from the first day he’d met Barry half a dozen years ago, gruffness aside, the old-timer had been nothing but kind and generous. “They’re yours too. Take one at least.”
“Nope.” Barry shook his head, stuffing the ruler into one of his many jacket pockets. “You boys caught ’em all. ’Sides, had my fill of crab this week. Take ’em home and have a great dinner tonight.”
Kellan knew better than to argue. That was a no-win proposition against Barry, wily as he was. “We’ll take them to the bonfire tonight. Come and join us.”
“Nah, that’s for you kids. Got my show to watch and some salmon to cook up.” Barry turned to Jax and held out a hand. “It was good meeting you, Jackson. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay and come back to visit us again one day.”
“I’ll certainly try,” Jax said as they shook hands, shooting his gaze quickly to Kellan and back. “Thank you for introducing me to the art of crabbing.”
“My pleasure,” Barry grunted. Then he clapped Kellan on the shoulder. “Nice young man you got there.” He smiled crookedly and sauntered off down the beach while heat rushed into Kellan’s cheeks.
If only he were my man….
“Well,” Kellan said, meeting Jax’s amused grin and shining eyes.
“Seems like good people.”
Kellan nodded, his throat suddenly tight. Jax was good people too. Too good to let go. How could their week together be so close to an end already? It wasn’t enough time. He cleared his throat, but his voice sounded strained to his ears. “Let’s get these guys home.”
He leaned down to gather the cooler, but Jax stepped into him, placing his hands on Kellan’s hips. His smile was warm, eyes soft blue, and his lips felt like fire when he pressed them against Kellan’s. The kiss was gentle, surprisingly intimate, and over far too soon.
“C’mon. If we hurry, we might have time for a quickie before Remy gets back from school and demands we get at least one wave in before nightfall.”
“A quickie?” Jax laughed, bent to pick up the coo
ler, and with a playful hip-check, started back for the condo. “You sure know the way to a man’s heart.”
“Is that where your heart is?”
Jax’s laughter was louder this time, full and hearty, and Kellan knew he’d never get enough of it.
KELLAN CAME sliding around the corner wearing only socks and jeans, and if a near ten-inch crab weren’t dangling painfully from the middle finger of Jax’s left hand, he’d have burst out laughing at Kellan’s expression. He couldn’t even find it in himself to be embarrassed about his unmanly scream that had brought Kellan running.
“What happe—” Kellan’s gaze bounced from Jax’s face to his hand and back up, and his eyebrows shot toward his hairline. “Shit.”
“Get it off! Get it off!” Jax started to flick his hand to shake the thing off, but Kellan dodged forward and grabbed him by the wrist and biceps, restraining him.
“No, no,” Kellan panted. “Do that, and you might lose your whole finger.”
“So not what I needed to hear right now.” He glanced down at his finger, the skin already reddening where the pincer had him and blood dripping to the floor.
“It’ll be okay,” Kellan said, “just lower it back into the water in the cooler, and it’ll let go.”
“Seriously?” His voice cracked, or maybe squeaked, but he was beyond caring.
“Seriously,” Kellan said with authority.
Jax eyed him dubiously for a couple of seconds, but the pain in his finger increased. Damn crab was tightening its grip. Trusting Kellan, Jax dropped his hand back into the cooler—which was how he got it clamped in the first place—but nothing happened.
“Ah, mate….” He looked at Kellan, raising a questioning eyebrow as a frisson of panic started circling through his chest.
“Give it a sec. Trust me.” Kellan put a comforting hand on his shoulder and held his gaze. His voice was smooth and soothing. “He’ll let go. Just breathe.”
Jax kept his eyes locked on Kellan’s, studying the striations of golds and greens and browns of his irises. He inhaled a long, slow breath of air that tasted like Kellan—a little citrusy, a little salty—and the crab let go.
Jax jumped back halfway out of the kitchen, holding his hand up and away, and stared back at the cooler, half expecting the thing to jump out and chase him around the condo.
“See?”
“Except for the nearly bit my finger off part.” Jax held his hand close to his chest, as if that would ward off the throbbing pain racing up and down his digit.
“Yep, drama queen,” Kellan teased. He grabbed a towel and ran it under cool water. “Here, let me see.”
Jax gingerly held out his hand, and Kellan cradled it with the wet towel. Now that he had a chance to actually look at it, there was about a one-inch-long puncture on either side between the first and second knuckle of his index finger. Not deep enough to see bone, and maybe not deep enough for stiches, but certainly deep enough to bleed far more than he liked.
Kellan looked up at him and smiled. “You’ll be fine. I don’t think you’ll need stitches. Stay here, and I’ll get my first aid kit.”
While Kellan went to rummage through a cupboard, Jax glared at the cooler. He couldn’t see the crabs from his vantage point across the kitchen, but he dared the little bastard to crawl out. He wouldn’t get caught unawares a second time.
Kellan returned, placed the kit on the counter, and gently pulled Jax’s hand toward him. He hadn’t put on a shirt yet, and Jax admired the way smooth skin moved over muscle and bone, the lean definition of Kellan’s biceps, the veins that traveled just below the surface of his forearms as he deftly went about tending to Jax’s finger. With small antibacterial wipes, Kellan cleaned the wound.
“Always my hero,” Jax whispered and smiled when a pink blush spread over Kellan’s cheekbones.
“Hardly.” Kellan glanced at him, his expression warm and comforting, and Jax wanted to wrap his arms around him, curl into his side, and not ever let him go. “This’ll sting a little.”
“Wha— Ow!” Jax tried to yank his hand back, but Kellan held on tight.
“Big baby.” Kellan flashed a teasing smile at him. “It’ll only sting for a second.”
And he was right. A second later, no more sting.
Jax watched with rapt attention as Kellan returned to his careful ministrations, seeming assured the wound was properly cleaned and treated, and carefully applied butterfly strips. That done, he grabbed a roll of gauze and wrapped it around the finger a few times and then secured the whole thing with medical tape.
I could fall so hard for you. Shit. What? Jax gave himself a mental shake. He did not want to get tangled up in someone, but if he was being honest with himself, he already was. He had probably been all tangled up in Kellan since that first time he’d seen him on the ferry deck. Which he couldn’t believe was less than a week ago. It felt as if he’d known Kellan for years.
“There. You’ll be good as new in no time,” Kellan said, leaning back and looking up. He tilted his head. “Aside from the obvious, are you okay? You look a little shaken.”
Jax looked away, not sure if he could hide what he was feeling. He couldn’t drop a bomb on Kellan and then leave the country. “Yeah. All good.”
“Jax….” Kellan spoke his name softly, reverently, and cupped his jaw with a warm hand that felt like home and man, oh man, did he want to stay. He met Kellan’s gaze, and the doorbell rang.
Kellan groaned and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Three guesses who that is, and the first two don’t count.”
Jax stayed where he was, collecting himself while Kellan went to the door. Two more days before he would be jetting back home. How on earth would he be able to leave Kellan behind? He hadn’t been looking for this, certainly hadn’t expected this, but here he was. Hung up on a guy who lived on the other side of the world. He’d known from the get-go that Kellan would be trouble. His gut instincts remained flawless.
When Kellan returned a minute later with Remy and Adam in tow, Jax felt a little more under control, but not by much.
When the boys saw his hand, their eyebrows shot up in unison. Jax would have sworn they were twins if there weren’t three years between them.
“What happened to your hand?” Remy asked, coming forward.
“Crabbing accident.”
Remy and Adam both looked across the kitchen to the cooler, back to Jax’s now-bandaged finger, and started laughing.
“Dude!” Remy shook his head and doubled over with laughter.
Adam held it together a little better, just, and said, “The first rule of crabbing is don’t get pinched!”
Jax threw both hands in the air and then winced at the throb of pain the movement sent down his damaged finger.
“Does this mean we’re not going surfing now?” Remy’s laughter died, and his shoulders sagged ever so slightly.
Kellan ruffled Remy’s dark hair. “Probably best he doesn’t, kiddo. Would suck to get an infection on his last surf, wouldn’t it?”
Remy shrugged, and his voice full of pout, he said, “I guess.”
“No worries, Rem,” Jax said. “You guys surf, and I’ll cheer you on from the shore.”
Seeming appeased, Remy’s eyes lit up, and he straightened his shoulders. “Cool.”
“I’ll hang on the beach with you,” Adam said. He’d wandered over to the cooler and looked inside as he spoke. “I was only going to surf since it was your last day here and all, but I can keep you company while Kell and Rem surf.”
“You got it, mate,” Jax said.
“You guys got some nice crabs,” Adam said and pointed to the creatures inside. “That one is huge!”
Jax winced, and another throb of pain shot through his finger. “Ugh, don’t get too close. That one is evil!”
Adam shot him a “puh-lease” look, and the three of them started laughing.
“Sure, gang up on the injured guy.” But Jax was laughing too.
Sometime during the
week, this shy, introverted teen had opened up and become like a little brother to him. Remy too. All of Kellan’s friends here on the island had welcomed Jax into their fold with open arms and warm hearts, and he couldn’t remember feeling so completely welcomed and accepted, like he belonged. Not that he ever felt he didn’t belong anyway—his mum always made sure he was happy and knew he was loved no matter what—but this was a different kind of belonging. Like a family that found you rather than the one you were born into. If only there weren’t a massive ocean between them. And right then it hit him hard in the solar plexus. He wanted this. All of this. It would be more than Kellan he’d miss when he left the country.
Chapter Nine
KELLAN DID not want to get out of bed. Not today. Tomorrow they had a ferry to catch, and the following day Jax had an early morning plane to board. This gorgeous Australian who’d dropped into his life when he wasn’t looking, but had somehow became an integral part of it, would be leaving. Possibly forever.
Jax rolled onto his back and lifted his arm without opening his eyes. Kellan was only too happy to oblige the unspoken invitation and tucked himself under Jax’s shoulder. They’d had less than a week together, but already waking up next to Jax, reveling in the warmth that radiated from him, had grown into a joy Kellan did not want to give up.
“Mornin’,” Jax mumbled gruffly.
“Hey.” Kellan rested his chin on Jax’s bare chest and dragged lazy figure eights with his hand over warm, smooth skin. “So… one more surf before we go to Mount Washington?”
Jax lifted an eyelid and angled his head toward the window. He chuffed a laugh-snort. “Did you notice that white stuff falling from the sky?”
“Perfect,” Kellan said, snuggling closer into Jax’s side as though he could merge them into one. “You haven’t truly winter surfed until you’ve surfed while it’s snowing.”
