The Captain and the Best Man

by Catherine Curzon

  “You’ll be sick of the sight of me eventually.” Guy winked. “Because whenever I’m not flying, I’m going to be safely in your bed.”

  “I’ll be waiting to welcome you home!” Josh slipped his hand under the hem of Guy’s loose shirt and circled his palm against Guy’s warm skin. “So how does it work, this piloting lark? How long are you away for?”

  “Usually a few days at a time—it depends how far I’m flying.” Guy kissed Josh’s hair. “I’m at home for a couple of weeks every month, but I can give you my schedule. I’m not away all the time, darling, don’t worry!”

  “Two weeks a month? That’s not bad!” Josh unfastened the top button on Guy’s shorts. “I can wing it a bit so I can work at home sometimes. Then we can have more time together when you’re not thousands of miles away. I will miss you while you’re off flying, but…” Josh slid his hand inside Guy’s shorts. “There…I’ll give you something very nice to come home to.”

  “I can see you’re going to be very bad for early starts,” Guy concluded, roaming his lips over Josh’s throat. Then he wrapped his arms around Josh, silencing them both with kisses.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Josh wheeled his suitcase into the lounge and left it by the door, ready to go. He looked out at the bright dawn sky and wished he didn’t have to leave. But England beckoned.

  “A week without my Guy.” Josh sighed, and gazed at his Guy, who was at that moment on the sofa. First-class lounge, indeed.

  “A week without my Josh,” Guy replied with a pout. “And a week today, Gosh will be together again and you and I will be in bed!”

  Josh crossed the room and knelt on the floor behind the sofa, his arm around Guy. Against his neck, Josh whispered, “I can’t wait a week. I want you now.”

  Guy reached back to caress Josh’s face and said in a low voice, “I want you too.”

  That voice.

  It sent an arrow of desire straight to Josh’s groin. He kissed Guy’s nape, ruffling his hair.

  “There’s time before we have to leave, isn’t there?”

  “If you miss your flight, I’ll fly you home myself,” Guy promised. If only.

  Josh clambered over the back of the sofa, something sensible Josh wouldn’t have been impressed by at all.

  “Do you feel very saucy this morning?” Josh drew his fingertip down the front of Guy’s pristine shirt, hopping over the buttons as he headed down Guy’s chest.

  “This is your captain speaking,” Guy teased, brushing his lips against Josh’s earlobe. “And I feel wildly saucy.”

  “Good. Because so do I.”

  Josh stroked the V of chest that showed at Guy’s opened-necked shirt, then popped open the next button on Guy’s shirt and caressed more of that tempting chest. “Whoops, you’re so sexy, your shirt is just falling off!”

  “It’s a pilot thing.” He slipped his arms around Josh’s waist and drew him closer. “This shirt’ll probably be gone before you know it.”

  The last three buttons seemed to open all by themselves, and Josh parted the fabric so that he could smooth Guy’s chest and caress his stomach. “So. Very. Firm,” Josh purred.

  Guy lifted Josh into his lap for a lingering kiss and whispered, “I love every sensible, romantic bit of you. And I promise you won’t have time to miss me.”

  Josh nibbled Guy’s ear as he tweaked his nipple, then breathed, “I just keep thinking how amazing it’ll be when we see each other again. I might go wild and run through Heathrow naked just to save time! Then you can have me over the counter in the cafe.”

  Guy’s answering laugh was caught in a low moan. Then he pressed his lips to Josh’s and kissed him, his hands nimbly unfastening Josh’s shirt at the same time. Josh moaned into their kiss, pressing his hips against Guy as if showing him something Guy would already have noticed—that Josh was erect.

  It never takes long.

  But such was life with his very own dashing pilot.

  The same dashing pilot slid his hands down Josh’s exposed chest and wrapped his arms around his waist again, holding him tight. Josh felt Guy’s erection pressing against him in turn, the promise of it sending a fresh heat through his blood. Josh began to open Guy’s shorts, carefully tugging down the zip to reveal Guy’s boxers underneath. Josh caressed down Guy’s flat stomach and under the waistband of the boxers, finally taking Guy’s erection in his hand with an assured grip.

  “Captain Collingwood, I’ve found something in your shorts. You’ll have to go through the red channel when we land… You really should declare this.”

  “I told you.” He unfastened Josh’s shorts, his movements leisurely. “It’s a pilot thing. We’re just made this way.”

  “You’re cleared for take-off, darling.” Josh began to stroke him, back and forth, enjoying being stripped by his boyfriend. Guy laughed, nuzzling Josh’s throat as he eased his shirt down his arms and threw it aside. Then he teased his fingers lower, taking Josh’s erection in his hand and giving it a very leisurely caress.

  Josh rocked his hips, a cheeky smile on his face as he went on stroking Guy. He gazed up at him happily, his nearly naked and very debauched boyfriend on the sofa beneath him. Guy blinked up at Josh, his gaze filled with desire when he whispered, “Let’s go wild, darling.”

  “But not too wild.” Josh drew a condom and a tube from his pocket. “Wild but sensible,” he said, and tore the packet open with his teeth.

  “Wild but sensible,” Guy agreed with a comically stoic nod. “That’s my Josh!”

  Josh kissed Guy as he prepared him, then he kicked off his shorts, his tan body revealed to Guy. He appeared to be still wearing a pair of shorts.

  “In case I forgot to say it today, you’re gorgeous,” Guy told him, taking his face in his hands. “And I know I’ve said this too many times, but I love you.”

  Josh combed his fingers through Guy’s hair. “I love you, too, and yes, you have told me I’m gorgeous, but you can say it all you like because it sounds wonderful in your voice.”

  “I love this thing you have for my voice.” Guy kissed him again and whispered in a smooth purr, “You’re gorgeous.”

  “Say it again,” Josh pleaded. “Say, I’m Captain Collingwood, and you’re gorgeous.”

  “To my favorite first-class passenger, welcome aboard.” Guy kissed Josh’s neck. “I’m Captain Collingwood and, Josh, you’re gorgeous.”

  A delighted shiver ran through Josh and he attended to Guy’s erection with renewed vigor. “That just makes me melt.”

  “I’m Captain Collingwood,” Guy whispered, “And I want you, Josh Robertson.”

  “Then have me.” Josh shifted so that he was straddling Guy’s lap, still stroking him. “I’m all yours. However, wherever, whenever you want me.”

  Guy closed his hands over Josh’s hips and eased him a little higher, teasing the tip of his erection against Josh’s buttocks. Then, as slowly as the kisses he was pressing to his lover’s throat, he eased him down.

  No matter how often they made love, Josh was never bored of it. He only hungered all the more for Guy. For that wonderful body, and for his assured touch and accomplished movements. Guy was the best lover Josh had ever known, who had been in tune with him from that very first evening they had spent together in the little hut on stilts around the headland.

  The island was paradise already, but here, hidden from the world, they made a paradise of their own. It followed them around, followed the kisses and the soft words and the stolen moments. Guy was right. This was a place where magic happened.

  Josh moved with him, echoing each thrust, delicious pleasure trembling through his limbs. He placed his palms flat on Guy’s chest, feeling the effort in his muscles as he tensed and moved. Was he peacocking a bit? Of course he was. And Josh loved it.

  Guy took Josh’s erection in his hand, jerking his wrist in time with the rhythm in his hips. He was definitely peacocking, Josh knew now, seeing the muscles in his arm tense. His pilot, putting on a show just f
or him.

  Josh was carried away on a tide of passion, and his climax began. He knew Guy would realize, that Guy would hear the tell-tale sighs that Josh always made as bliss began to consume him. And Guy was carried away with him, his kisses growing hungrier, his thrusts deeper as he carried them both over the edge.

  “Guy—oh, Guy!” Josh tried to hold on, but with Guy’s body joined so deeply to his, he couldn’t stop his hips from jolting forward, and he came across Guy’s stomach.

  “Josh,” Guy gasped, letting his head drop to Josh’s shoulder as he caught his breath. “Bloody hell, you’re perfect…”

  Josh ruffled Guy’s sweaty hair. “Yes, that was definitely saucy.”

  “Pride of the fleet,” Guy told him. “Time for a quick swim before we head out?”

  “Very quick.” Although Josh was in no hurry to move. “Gimme a couple of minutes first.”

  “You can stay like that as long as you like,” he whispered, kissing Josh’s shoulder. Then he slipped his arms around Josh, holding him a in a tender embrace.

  Josh closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of Guy’s warm skin and his cologne, and feeling the press of their bodies together. It’s only a week, then we’ll be together again.

  One long, long week.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Josh waved hello to the captain of the speedboat as he and Guy headed to the jetty. Then Guy kept walking.

  “Guy? The boat’s that way.”

  “One thing about pilots”—Guy swung their joined hands—“we never use boats when there’s a seaplane on offer. I thought you might like one more flight with your captain before you head for Blighty.”

  “Seaplane? I’ve never been in one before!” Josh almost skipped with glee at the prospect. “And you’re flying?”

  “It’s a last hurrah before Victor sells off his two birds.” The island-hopping service, Josh realized. Guy’s dream. “He’s off to live with his daughter and her family, and I couldn’t let you miss the opportunity before you go.”

  Josh nodded. If Guy bought Victor’s business, then what would become of Gosh? But Josh wasn’t going to make him abandon his dream for someone he’d only known a week.

  “Lead the way, Captain Collingwood!”

  Guy was excited as a child on Christmas morning as they strolled. He towed Josh’s suitcase along behind him, all the time filling Josh in on the intricacies of the seaplane, which seemed almost as precious to him as his Jaguar. The Jaguar he had promised to Rey, in fact. Yet there was nothing but joy in Guy’s chatter, no hint of ruefulness about anything other than Josh’s imminent departure.

  The modest, tidy airstrip ran parallel to the glittering ocean. It couldn’t have been much more different from the vast airport where the two men had met just a week earlier, and Guy’s enthusiasm was infectious. He squeezed Josh’s hand and pointed toward a small white plane that bobbed on the water.

  “There she is!” Guy exclaimed. “Your carriage awaits, sir!”

  “This is so exciting!” And so beautiful, the perfect little plane bobbing on the surface of the almost millpond sea.

  “And there’s Victor!”

  Victor was sitting on a low, comfortable-looking deckchair under a faded sun umbrella advertising Martini. Josh wasn’t sure how anyone could look more chill than he did, and that was even after the storm that had skirted the island. Victor waved to them and pushed himself slowly up from his chair.

  “Guy! She’s got a full tank and she’s ready to go!”

  “Victor, this is Josh, Josh, Victor.” Guy left the suitcase and waved to Victor in return. “How could you give all this up? What can retirement offer that this little strip of runway can’t?”

  Victor chuckled as he came over to them, on slightly creaky legs. He shook Guy’s hand, then Josh’s. “Retirement—when the day comes when you’re happier in a chair on the ground than behind the controls of a plane, that’s when you know it’s time.”

  “Have you got a buyer?” Guy asked. “Go on, give me the bad news—who’s taking my favorite seaplane?”

  Victor shook his head. “No one yet. There was that banker I told you about, who I think wasn’t interested in the planes at all, but wanted to bulldoze my airstrip and build a golf course. I told him it wasn’t for sale when I found that out. But once I’ve found someone to sell it to, who’ll fly the planes, then I’ll retire.”

  Josh grinned at Guy. “You wouldn’t turn the airstrip into a golf course, would you?”

  “Not a bloody chance!” Guy assured them. “It’s an island-hopping service, so I’d be hopping islands. St Seb’s doesn’t need a banker’s golf course. Someone’ll come along—I’ll put the word around with the fliers I know too.”

  “You still want to fly the big jumbos?” Victor raised an eyebrow at Josh. “I used to, back in the day. Flew for Air France.” Victor pointed at Guy and laughed, as if remembering a shared joke between them. “Then one day, I thought, I don’t want to spend all that time away from home. I want to be on St Seb’s. And so…this is what you see before you.”

  “I can understand wanting to be here.” Guy squeezed Josh’s hand. “But the man I love won’t be on St Seb’s even if I am, and if there’s one thing that even I put ahead of flying, it’s being with Josh. We’ll find someone, Victor, don’t worry.”

  Josh blinked at Guy. No one had ever loved Josh enough to give up their dream for him. “But it’s your dream. Don’t let me stand in the way of it, please don’t.”

  “I’ll have her back with you before dinner,” Guy told Victor, then turned to Josh. “Ready?”

  “Yes.” Josh nodded to Victor. “Nice to meet you! I hope you can get back to your deckchair soon!”

  “Nice to meet you too. You look after Captain Collingwood, Josh!” Victor smiled, and he threw a bunch of keys toward Guy. “Beautiful day for a flight!”

  Guy caught the keys then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, shot Victor the most glorious salute Josh had ever seen. “Let’s go,” he announced. “Don’t want to keep BA waiting!”

  Once Josh was sure they were out of Victor’s earshot, he remarked, “You can do that salute again. Preferably when we’re alone with a large bed to hand!”

  “Even better”—Guy paused at the edge of the quay and opened the door to the plane—“I could do it when we’re alone with a large bed and I’m showing you my old uniform from the RAF days. I used to be Wing Commander Collingwood, you know.”

  “Now that I would definitely love to see. I’m not even surprised it still fits.” Josh tested a foot on one of the plane’s floats. “I’m sort of nervous and excited about this—but more excited than nervous!”

  “Hop in, you’re in very safe hands.”

  And of that, Josh had no doubt. If he’d stopped to think about how this small plane would take off from the surface of the sea Josh might’ve been rather less excited than he was, but something about Guy’s confident manner was as infectious as his enthusiasm, and as they gathered speed and he watched St Seb’s begin to rush past, it was safe in the knowledge that he’d be here again in just a few months, ready to see in the new year with the man he loved. The man who’d given up all of this for a chance of happiness as one half of Gosh.

  They lifted effortlessly into the air and beneath them, as the propellers whirled, Josh saw the cluster of huts on stilts, the headland and there, shining in the sunlight, Guy’s own island palace.

  Paradise.

  “You’re not standing in the way of anything,” Guy told Josh once they were airborne. “I want to be with you, not halfway across the world wishing we were together. This is great, but you… You’re glorious, remember?”

  Josh watched the plane’s shadow skip over the clear blue sea below, then he turned to Guy. “No one’s ever loved me enough to give up their dream for me.”

  “Most men never have any dreams come true at all, but you and I have.” Guy glanced at Josh and smiled. “That’s more precious than anything else, and this isl
and will always be here for us. It doesn’t matter that it’s just for a few weeks a year, because we’ll be here together.”

  “And we’ll have a wonderful time!” Josh saw the mainland advancing up ahead and the plane began to drop in altitude. Josh’s island holiday was rapidly nearing its end. “So…Victor’s business. It’s him and two planes. Or does he have another pilot, and ground crew? Someone in an office selling tickets and keeping an eye on the books?”

  “Him and his wife mostly.” Guy looked down at the water below them, concentration on his face. “I just don’t have the business brain for it and I don’t want to get into interviewing and employing people and all that hassle. I just like flying!”

  “Okay…” Josh nodded. He didn’t speak, as Guy seemed to be listening to someone on his headphones. No, he couldn’t…but he could…Josh could do it. He could sit in an office on the airstrip while Guy flew his planes. And bloody hell, wouldn’t a little office on a Caribbean island be nicer than the open-plan barn of a place he currently worked in?

  “We’re cleared for landing on the beautiful waters of the Caribbean,” Guy informed him with a smile. “Then we’ve got a short walk to the airport and there, though I really don’t want to, I have to let you go.”

  Josh tried to swallow the lump in his throat. But he didn’t see England in his mind anymore when he thought of home. Instead, he saw St Seb’s. But what about his parents? What about Rey and his other friends?

  They landed so smoothly that it felt as if they were still among the clouds and the propellers slowed to a halt as the plane came to rest beside the quay. This might not be first class, but even that wouldn’t be so exciting this time, because this time Guy would still be here. And Josh wouldn’t.

  “Before you know it, I’ll be home,” Guy told Josh as he took off the headphones. “It’ll whizz by. I guarantee it’ll seem like no more than a few hours before you see me again.”