“Did you know we can get our teeth whitened, our faces injected with poison, and a haircut, without ever leaving the ship?”
No, he had not known that. Not sure he’d needed to, either. While Dare flipped the page in the book, Noah set the bag of food down beside him. Without getting up, Dare managed to retrieve one of the sausage biscuits from inside and unwrapped it, still staring at the book on the bed.
“Or we could learn how to fold napkins, take dance classes, and even learn a language.” Dare looked up. “Who comes up with this shit?”
Noah shrugged. “I’ve always dreamed about folding napkins.”
Dare narrowed his eyes, his mouth full of biscuit. “Really?”
Laughing, he shook his head. “I was thinking we could do the zip line and the surf simulator. But, you know, if the napkin folding has always been your dream…”
Dare stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and sat up. He chewed quickly, then uncapped the bottle of water Noah had brought for him and drank half.
Noah’s gaze traveled the length of Dare’s long neck, watching as he swallowed. Somehow Dare even made drinking water sexy.
“Nah. I’m good with those.” Dare glanced back at the book, turned the page. “However, a massage doesn’t sound all that bad.”
It really didn’t.
“We’ve still got a few more days on the ship.” Noah wasn’t sure when he’d started thinking of this as their vacation, but he did. He found himself planning out things they could do already, and he knew he had to rein it in.
“True.” Dare got to his feet and grabbed a T-shirt. “But simulated surfing and zip-lining it is.” Dare pulled his shirt over his head, cutting off the delicious view Noah had had. Dare met his gaze. “Wanna make this interesting?”
Noah’s dick twitched at the idea. It was a good thing he’d spent ten minutes with his hand already that morning or he might’ve been in a world of hurt. “What did you have in mind?”
Dare shrugged, then grabbed the water bottle as he pushed his feet into his flip-flops. “Not sure yet. Let me think on that.”
Noah had a few things in mind, but he decided against sharing them. No sense in getting himself in more trouble than he already was.
Before Hudson had opened his eyes this morning, he’d known something had happened last night. Something that would change the course of this trip. Something that could ultimately affect him for days, even months to come.
He’d woken up alone.
Granted, that wasn’t the problem. He’d woken up alone every day for the past couple of years without issue. He chose not to have overnight guests because he didn’t particularly care to put himself in that position. But it wasn’t the lack of a man in his bed that was the issue.
It was the lack of a man in the other bed.
The problem was the fact that AJ was supposed to be in the same cabin as him, yet he hadn’t slept in the other bed last night, and that could only mean…
Hudson didn’t know what it meant, but he had a pretty damn good idea.
Since AJ was a big boy and he could take care of himself, Hudson wasn’t worried about him. However, he was worried about the messes that AJ seemed to get himself into. Since he’d had his eye on Milly from the moment he’d seen her, Hudson had to assume that he’d spent the night with her. Last night, when they’d all been at the adult pool, he had personally witnessed AJ and Milly getting a little cozy. It only made sense that they would’ve spent more time together, which had probably led to…
Nope. Not interested in thinking about that.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it, either. He didn’t have cell service out here on the ocean because he hadn’t seen the need to pay for Wi-Fi on the ship, so he couldn’t text AJ without costing himself a fortune. Since the predicament wasn’t that big of a deal—although it was a big fucking deal—he decided to let it go.
After taking a shower, he made his way down to the restaurant for breakfast. Rather than sit at a table by himself, he opted to get his food to go, then took it out onto the deck to get a little sun.
That was the second mistake of the day, the first having been waking up.
While he sat off the beaten path, he caught sight of Teague talking to two attractive guys who looked to be roughly Teague’s age. Teague was intimately close to both of them, sharing a lounge chair, and they were laughing at whatever Teague was talking about.
Hudson remembered the off-handed remarks Teague had made in the past. The ones that referenced his desires to be with more than one man at the same time because one would never be enough for him. Every time Hudson heard that, he wanted to pin Teague to the wall and show him just how damn good the right man could be. Fuck that three-way bullshit.
For some strange reason, seeing Teague get all cozy with the two guys pissed Hudson off. Or maybe it didn’t. Perhaps that was jealousy rearing its ugly head.
Either way, his appetite dissolved entirely, and rather than torture himself unnecessarily, he got to his feet, tossed his food in the trash, and decided to go burn off some energy at the gym.
He had to briefly wonder if he was the only one who wished this trip was over.
Sixteen
“You kinda suck at that.” Dare laughed when Noah emerged from the surf simulator. He’d lasted all of two seconds before he’d wiped out. It had been beautiful.
And fucking hilarious.
“Yeah, thanks.” Noah was still spurting water.
“No problem. Wanna go again?”
“I’m not out of the game yet. That was a practice run.” Noah stood up straight, a challenge in his eyes. “Did you still want to make a wager?”
Based on Noah’s first performance, Dare knew he’d win, so whatever he came up with needed to be in his favor.
However, he wasn’t sure what to wager. His mind, of course, went to sex. Namely blow jobs in the hallway, but he knew that wasn’t an option. He needed to keep his distance from Noah, although the man was making it damned difficult. He liked the idea of establishing a friendship with Noah, and that meant sex was off the table.
“Loser buys lunch.”
Noah laughed. “Lunch is free on the ship.”
Right. “Loser buys drinks.”
“Drinks are billed to the room.” Noah narrowed his gaze, then grinned. “We share a room. A room that’s billed to Gannon, at that.”
“True.” But that was beside the point. “Are you worried you’ll lose?”
Noah cocked his head to the side. “Come on, pretty boy. Let’s get this over with.”
“Why does everyone insist on calling me pretty? I’m not pretty. Not by a long shot.” Dare continued walking with Noah as they worked their way back to the line of people waiting to jump into the giant wave machine. “I’m handsome. Gorgeous, even. Not. Fucking. Pretty.”
Noah snorted.
A couple of girls in front of them turned back and smiled, giggling as they did.
“Do you think so?” he asked them. “He called me pretty. Am I pretty?”
Noah placed his hand on Dare’s arm, the heat immediately sinking into his skin and making his dick twitch in his shorts.
“Maybe a little,” the blonde chick said.
The brunette beside her nodded.
“Whatever. Sexy, yes. Definitely not pretty.” He pretended to grumble as he looked to his left to see Noah staring back at him, laughing. “Quit that shit. I’m not pretty.”
“Not when you get all sassy, no.”
“Sassy?” Dare turned to face Noah completely, causing Noah’s hand to fall from his arm. “You did not call me sassy.”
“I kinda did.”
Dare heard the women giggling, but he didn’t look away from Noah. Instead, he leaned forward and pressed his lips close to Noah’s ear. “I’ll show you sassy.”
When he pulled back, Dare saw the girls still staring at them. He wasn’t sure what they were looking at or why their eyes were so bright.
The
brunette answered that question when she opened her mouth. “Why is it that the hot ones are always gay?”
“I know, right?” The blonde frowned.
Dare smiled, his attention still rooted on Noah. “See, she called me hot. Not pretty.”
“How do you know she wasn’t talking about me?” Noah countered.
“Because you’re…”
Noah’s eyebrows lifted. “I’m what?”
“Okay, fine. You’re hot. Whatever.”
Dare turned back to the line and moved forward when the girls did. For the next few minutes, they waited there patiently, watching as person after person wiped out in the water, a few hanging for quite some time beforehand. When it was finally Dare’s turn again, he decided to up the ante. Before he took the board from the attendant, he glanced back at Noah.
Keeping his voice low so that the kids in line couldn’t hear him, Dare kept his eyes locked with Noah’s as he said, “Let’s make a day of it. Loser gives the winner a blow job.”
With that, he spun back around, ready to take his turn.
Holy fuck.
Did he have water in his ears?
Noah absently put a finger in to see if his ear was clogged. Nope.
He stood motionless, his brain processing what Dare had said before he’d walked away. Loser gives the winner a blow job.
Great.
Now how the fuck was he going to get out of this one?
Not that he really wanted to. The mere thought of Dare Davis and a blow job—giver or receiver, it didn’t much matter—was enough to make his dick stand up and take notice. He immediately thought about algebra equations. This was not the place for his dick to decide to get excited. There were kids around, for fuck’s sake.
He turned his attention to Dare and frowned.
The question he wanted to ask himself was, did he want to win or lose? As far as he was concerned, this was a win-win situation. For him, anyway.
Except it wasn’t. They weren’t supposed to be flirting, let alone offering blow jobs. But he’d heard Dare loud and clear.
Trying to keep his mind out of the gutter, Noah focused on watching Dare, who was now in the water, easily maneuvering that board. He wasn’t the only one who was impressed by Dare’s skill. As he looked around, he noticed a lot of eyes were on Dare.
The guy didn’t have a problem getting to his feet, when most people had a hard time holding on to the damn thing, much less moving on it. Since this was their second time, he figured Dare had probably gotten the hang of it. Then again, he’d seemed to have mastered it the last time, which was telling.
Noah, on the other hand, was about as uncoordinated in the water as they came. Unless it was coming out of a fire hose, he didn’t spend much time around water. He might’ve been water-skiing once in his life. Maybe twice. He was good at a lot of things, but surfing … not so much.
Still, he wanted to win this bet for no other reason than the fact that he would have a say in what happened between them. He’d learned his lesson yesterday when he’d kissed Dare.
From that moment on, Noah hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the man. It was obvious that Dare was simply being the carefree, fun-loving guy he was known to be. Only this was a bet that could drastically change things between them. Noah had to wonder if Dare realized that or if he’d simply spouted the first thing that came to mind.
Who knew when it came to Dare.
What Noah did know was that he was enjoying the easy friendship they were establishing. He liked hanging out and letting loose for a little while. He didn’t take the opportunity much, because he’d decided long ago that work was more important. He hung out with a couple of the firefighters from time to time, but he didn’t have any close friends. Not like Dare did.
Noah smiled. For a few days, he could be carefree and enjoy this time with these people. That was the reason they were there. And right now, nothing was important except spending a few relaxing hours outside under the sun with the guy who made him smile.
Speaking of smile…
Noah cracked up laughing when Dare stepped wrong and ended up being shot backward by the water. The crowd applauded while Noah tried to contain himself. There was no way he was going to win this, but he knew he had to put forth the effort.
If he was going to go down in flames, he was going to enjoy the fuck out of it.
Seventeen
By the time the sun was down and night had fallen, Dare wasn’t sure who the real winner from the day was. In fact, it very well could’ve been a tie.
Sixty-nine, anyone?
Sure, he’d slaughtered Noah when it came to anything in the water, although the best part had been when the pressure from the water had damn near taken Noah’s shorts right off with all eyes on him. Dare had to admit, the guy had been pretty damn quick when it came to keeping his unmentionables unmentioned. They’d all gotten a quick shot of a full moon, but nothing more.
So in order to make it fair, they had ventured on to other things. Like ice skating. For the record, that shit was not cool. Dare wasn’t a fan of gliding around on the ice and trying not to land on his ass. He’d failed miserably. Several times. On the other hand, Noah had looked like a freaking hockey player out there with all his fancy moves.
But Dare had survived.
They’d done the zip line, but there really wasn’t anything competitive about that. They’d learned that they both enjoyed it, neither of them affected by heights. When they’d been there, they had stumbled upon Cam and Gannon. Gannon had nixed the idea, but Cam had given it a go.
It’d been the same with miniature golf. If anything, Noah might’ve beaten him by a couple of strokes (ha ha … strokes), but that was all. They would have to tally it up to figure out who’d won. Dare really wasn’t sure.
Now that they had showered (separately, thank you very much) and had dinner, they were heading out to the deck where a movie was playing on a giant screen.
Definitely not a bad way to spend a Tuesday.
Granted, Dare was pretty sure they were both avoiding the giant elephant on the ship. The one that started with blow and ended with job. The stupid wager Dare had made on a whim. Neither of them had talked about it all day, but it had lingered in the back of Dare’s mind for hours. Hell, he was still thinking about it.
As he drank a beer and relaxed in the chair sitting next to Noah, he tried not to think about it. When his arm brushed Noah’s, the electrical current that ignited reminded him of it. Then again, every time his lips touched the rim of his beer bottle, he was reminded of it. Also when the wind blew.
Yep, he had a one-track mind, all right.
He cast a sideways glance at Noah and wondered if he was also thinking about it.
Not that he was going to ask.
Dare was half-tempted to pretend it’d never happened. His dick wasn’t on board with that idea, but it seemed the lesser of two evils. What if they did give in to this unruly attraction? What kind of damage would it do? If any?
He knew he didn’t have a problem with a casual sexual encounter. He’d had plenty over the years. Not once had he allowed it to affect him emotionally. That was what he’d learned to do. Keep a distance. Make it easy and fun. Nothing more.
Surely he was capable of keeping that up with Noah.
He glanced at Noah again.
Or maybe not.
Noah had decided halfway through the day to pretend that Dare hadn’t wagered a blow job. He’d also decided to pretend he hadn’t almost lost his shorts during his second attempt on the wave machine.
Okay, he’d tried to pretend. On both counts.
Surprisingly, pretending the second hadn’t happened was a hell of a lot easier than the first.
Didn’t mean he hadn’t busted his ass in an attempt to beat the man, but still. It had been a silly, spur-of-the-moment suggestion that was better left several hours behind them. Except he was having a damn hard time not thinking about it.
Every time he did, he peered o
ver at Dare only to find Dare staring at the screen. Clearly he wasn’t having a hard time battling the urge.
“What is this shit?” Dare whispered, pointing toward the screen with his beer bottle.
Okay, maybe he was.
Noah shrugged. “No idea. Thought maybe you knew.”
“Nope. Completely lost.”
“You wanna keep watching it?” Noah didn’t care what they did as long as they didn’t go back to their cabin. He would prefer to spend the rest of the night walking around the ship than going back to the cabin, where temptation would turn into a tangible thing.
“I’m good.” Dare sighed. “Good to chill for a while.”
Dare’s arm brushed against Noah’s again, and he was tempted to hold Dare’s hand. When was the last time he’d held someone’s hand? Years, for sure.
Lifting his beer to his lips, Noah managed to refrain. Until the next time that it happened. He wasn’t sure what spurred him to do it, but he was close enough that he could simply rest his hand over Dare’s. When he felt Dare’s eyes on him, he cast a sideways glance, waiting for Dare to pull away.
He didn’t.
In fact, Dare flipped his hand over and linked their fingers. The churn of excitement filled his chest. He felt like a teenage boy experiencing this for the very first time. The emotion bubbled up inside him, but he managed to hold it in, forcing his attention on the screen. He wouldn’t have been able to say what the movie was even about, because the only thing he could focus on was their clasped hands.
In a weird way, this was so much better than a blow job.
Okay, in an entirely different way, but it was.
Dare leaned over. “This isn’t weird, is it?” There was a hint of wonder in Dare’s tone, as though he couldn’t believe it.
“No. It’s not.” It was comforting, actually.
“So who taught you to ice-skate?” Dare asked.
“No one.” Noah had never been taught; he simply had a pretty good sense of balance.
Fearless (Pier 70 Book 2) Page 13
