The Bucket List

by Douglas Black

  He pulled free and just held Blake for a few moments, the condom heavy against his thigh. When Blake started to turn around, Kade went to pull it off, but Blake caught his mouth instead and kissed breath back into his lungs.

  “God, I loved that,” Blake said when he broke the kiss.

  Kade reached down and stroked Blake’s half-erect cock. “You know, I think I could tell.”

  The sweat on his skin under his many layers of clothing made Kade shiver, or maybe it was the cool air against his ass, but either way, he pushed Blake gently back into his boxers and turned away to strip off the condom so he could pull up his own clothing. He tied off the condom, tucked it into the wrapper and let Blake take his hand to drag him back down the beach toward their abandoned picnic site and waiting kayaks.

  Chapter Nine

  I’ll Buy You Dinner

  Darkness had engulfed them by the time they’d reached the beach and Blake’s house loomed into view. They had paddled quickly and silently back from the island, keeping perfect time with each other until they came to the water’s edge and treated their feet to another dunking so they could pull the kayaks back to dry land. They stowed the kayaks upside down so any water could drain away, then Blake took Kade’s hand again and led him back to the house.

  Blake didn’t stay inside for long. He mumbled something about dinner being his treat and pushed Kade in the direction of the bathroom before he headed out again. Kade heard Blake’s Defender start up, but he was too cold, wet and sweaty to think about how surreal it was to be left alone in Blake’s house when really, they were still little more than strangers. He stripped off his clothes, emptied his jacket pockets into the bin in Blake’s bedroom and headed for the shower.

  He hoped Blake had a lot of hot water, because he stayed under that heat long enough for all of the feeling to return to his skin and then some. When he’d finally gotten out and was dressed in his remaining dry clothes, he found Blake waiting in the living room, sitting cross-legged in front of the fire pit in which flames were just beginning to catch. Beside him, on the circular hearth that surrounded the fire, sat two boxes that looked suspiciously like fish and chips containers. On the other side of the fire, their trainers sat side by side, drying out.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  “How’re you feeling?”

  Blake asked like he genuinely wanted to know the answer, so Kade took a moment to think before he answered the question.

  “I feel better than I have in a long time.”

  Blake cocked his head, and Kade wondered if he had given something away that he was going to need to explain. He settled for shrugging and said simply, “I’ve been having a rough couple of weeks. Just…usual crap, but today… Last night and today have been incredible.”

  Blake looked curious. He smiled and said, “Glad to be of service. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “About last night and today?” Kade knew that wasn’t what Blake had meant, but he thought it was worth a shot.

  “No.”

  “Then, no. Really, it’s not important. Just… I feel a lot better now.”

  “It’s important if you’re upset.”

  “I’m not right now. Right now I’m fine. I’m good.”

  “Okay.” To Kade’s relief, Blake stopped staring at him like he could read Kade’s mind. “I got us dinner. I’m going to grab a lightning-fast shower, but feel free to start without me. There’s beer in the fridge.”

  Kade nodded his agreement, but he didn’t start without Blake. He waited until Blake came back, long hair tied back and dripping, his tight T-shirt showing off that nipple bar once more. He wore a baggy pair of board shorts, which Kade would have commented on as being yet another ridiculous clothing choice for November, but the fire was crackling and roaring and Kade already felt too warm in his trackies.

  He pushed a beer and one of the fish suppers toward Blake, who sat down beside him, staring into the fire, their thighs touching. They ate in companionable silence, occasionally breaking it to debate adding more wood to the fire or talk about the loch and the gentle lapping of the water that could be heard beneath the wooden floor they sat on.

  When they were finished eating, Blake went off to fetch some pillows and blankets. He spread them on the floor and pulled Kade close. Blake turned onto his side, and Kade did likewise, resting his head on Blake’s arm. They lay like that for a while, just dozing in silence. Kade wondered if he had fallen over on Friday night and hit his head. Meeting Blake, their first night and their first day together had felt like stepping into a film. If he allowed himself to think of it as a reality, it was one that a few days earlier he would not have been able to imagine ever having. He was about to drift off to sleep when Blake started to speak.

  “Earlier, when we arrived then out on the island, I didn’t mean to cause any tension between us.”

  It took Kade a few moments to catch up. “You didn’t. I understand—or maybe I don’t—but I know I don’t like talking about myself that much either, especially not about my past. In fact, I’m in the process of trying to forget as much of it as possible.”

  Blake chuckled and squeezed him tighter. “That sounds ominous. There aren’t any horrific skeletons lurking in my closet. I used to think there were, but now I don’t think I’m any more damaged than the next person. I guess it’s just easier to keep on moving forward if I don’t remind myself too often of who I used to be.” Blake laughed. “You know, it feels crazy, given that we only met on Saturday, but I feel like I could tell you anything. You know?”

  Kade nodded against Blake’s shoulder. He felt the same, but he knew he couldn’t tell Blake anything. The little voice in his head wasn’t far away, waiting to remind him that he was a fraud, and if Blake knew that Kade was really just a chartered accountant working out a sick note from his desk job because his boyfriend had dumped him, he doubted Blake would be so impressed.

  Blake laughed again. He stroked one of his big hands across Kade’s belly. “So you don’t have to work on a Monday. Do you have to work on a Tuesday?”

  Kade shook his head. He rolled onto his back, and Blake propped himself up on one arm, smiling down at him. His hand stayed on Kade’s belly, pushing gently and inching lower.

  “How come? What do you do?”

  Kade took a deep breath. He thought about lying, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to come up with anything convincing, and even if he did and Blake believed him, it was bad enough to have already lied about the bucket list. Given the great day, the wonderful distraction and the more-than-pleasant company Blake had already provided him with, it didn’t seem fair to dole out any further deception.

  He sighed. “I’m an accountant. I know that sounds so boring. Hell, it probably is boring, but—”

  Blake silenced him with a kiss. “That doesn’t sound boring. That’s a hard degree to take and a challenging job to do. Why would you put yourself down?”

  Kade shrugged.

  “Seriously, why?”

  Kade didn’t answer him, and Blake switched tacks.

  “Where do you work?”

  “In Glasgow, but the firm is international. It operates mainly out of Hong Kong.”

  “And you don’t have to work tomorrow because?”

  “I decided I wanted to take a couple of weeks off.”

  “To work through your bucket list?” Blake asked with a smile.

  Kade shook his head, then shrugged. “Something like that.”

  Blake pushed away from him, sitting up so he could stoke the embers of the fire that were slowly starting to die.

  “So if you don’t have to work tomorrow, do you have any other plans?”

  Kade shook his head. “Nope, no plans.”

  “Would you like to make some with me?”

  “That depends,” Kade said, even though it really didn’t. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I was thinking we could head up north for the day—and the night. I have a log cabin up in t
he mountains.”

  “Of course you do,” Kade said, sitting up to be close to Blake once more. Blake laughed. “Of course you have a log cabin.” He sighed. “People don’t just have log cabins.”

  “Not all people, I’ll give you that. Anyway, I’ve been thinking… It wouldn’t be the same as just packing up everything and walking into the wild, but it’s pretty isolated—no phone signal, no Internet, no neighbors…and I have a hot tub.”

  “If there’s a hot tub, I’m definitely sold. Although I don’t have anything with me to wear in a hot tub.”

  Blake leaned in and stole a kiss. “Like I said, I don’t have any neighbors.”

  Chapter Ten

  A Cabin in the Woods

  They didn’t make it to the log cabin the next day, finding instead a much more pleasurable way of passing the time than driving, and they nearly wrote ‘traveling’ off Tuesday’s to-do list as well. They spent most of Tuesday morning in bed, not doing much sleeping. Blake only left Kade alone briefly to make coffee, which they drank, wrapped up in Blake’s soft cotton sheets.

  Before they got out of bed to hit the road, Blake pushed Kade back against the pillows and spread his legs. His mouth was still warm from the coffee when he started to press kisses against Kade’s inner thighs. Kade cradled Blake’s head, tangling his fingers in the man’s long hair to hold him in place. There was something about that hot tongue licking him teasingly close to his sac, combined with the rough scratch of Blake’s stubble, that got sparks flying fast and hot from Kade’s belly to his groin.

  He nearly lost it when Blake took him into his mouth, swallowing him down before pulling back to show Kade what he already knew—that Blake could take it, could take all of him. The look in Blake’s eyes encouraged Kade to start moving into the tight, wet heat of Blake’s mouth and throat.

  He arched up off the bed, sliding his cock past those full lips so he could rub against the back of Blake’s throat. He was ready to lose himself in Blake’s mouth. Blake moved his hand from Kade’s thigh to his own cock.

  Knowing Blake was jacking himself to orgasm increased the heat in Kade’s groin tenfold. His legs started to tremble, and it felt like his spine was going numb. He fisted one hand in Blake’s hair and the other in the soft white sheets as he started to come.

  Finally, spent and with Blake swallowing hard, Kade forced himself to pull free. He moved around to link the fingers of his hand with Blake’s, just in time to feel Blake’s cock pulse and coat their fingers in cum.

  Blake collapsed on top of him and Kade wrapped both arms around his strong shoulders. He wondered what was wrong with them that they were thinking about spending the next few hours driving up into the mountains when they could easily spend the whole day tangled together in Blake’s beautiful bed, but he couldn’t deny that the idea of Blake naked in a hot tub was an appealing one.

  While Blake showered, Kade packed up his now-dry clothes and shoved them into his rucksack. He glanced at his phone without thinking and saw he had two missed calls from Niall. He also had a voice mail, but Kade didn’t bother to listen to it. He turned his phone off and buried it in the bottom of his bag. Niall had managed to ruin so much lately and Kade was going to make damn sure his ex didn’t ruin his time with Blake, regardless of what that nagging voice had to say.

  The drive up to Blake’s cabin took them the better part of the afternoon. Darkness was falling when Blake turned off what passed for a main road in the Highlands and onto a farmer’s track. Kade could see a forest looming in the distance, illuminated by the dying light of the sun. Blake didn’t speak until he pulled the Defender to a stop in a little clearing, seemingly in the middle of the forest, right in front of a log cabin that looked like something a Disney animator would sketch.

  “You know,” Kade said when Blake killed the engine, “I don’t think I’ve ever met a man with such an impressive property portfolio.”

  “Well, none of them are mansions, but they do me fine.”

  “You must be the world’s greatest outdoor activities instructor if you can afford all of this.”

  Blake laughed and fished around in his coat pocket. He pulled out a key and passed it over to Kade. Then he gestured toward the cabin.

  “Would you open the cabin door? I’ll get the bags. It’s cold here,” Blake said, stopping Kade with a strong hand on his shoulder just as Kade was reaching for the interior door handle. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, though, since it’s probably about time we started learning things about each other beyond what we like in bed. It was the rigs that paid for this, not that water-sports business. That hasn’t turned a profit since I opened.”

  Kade slipped out of the Defender, unsure what to make of that. He made his way quickly across the clearing and unlocked the door of the cabin. He had to put his shoulder to the solid wood to get it to swing open.

  From what little the dying light allowed him to make out, the cabin seemed to be sparsely decorated with furniture but rich in textiles. Blake seemed to have a thing for excessive quantities of blankets and cushions—and open fires. A musty smell hung in the air, suggesting the cabin had stood empty for a long time. Kade flicked at a light switch but nothing happened.

  “There’s an old generator out back. I’ll go get it started, unless you want me to build a fire first.”

  Kade didn’t have to think about that for long. It was as cold inside the cabin as it had been outside. “If you don’t get a fire started soon, you’re going to be spending tonight with my corpse.”

  Blake stroked a hand down Kade’s cheek and laughed. “Now there’s an unappealing thought,” he said before dropping in front of the fireplace.

  It didn’t take him long to get a small collection of flames licking and crackling in the center of the hearth. Kade wondered if his fire-starting skill was something Blake had picked up on his solo adventures into the wild or when he was in the Scouts. He made a mental note to ask, if Blake ever made it back from the battle with the generator that it sounded like he was currently engaged in.

  Blake did return, albeit sometime later, announcing that they now had electricity and running water. While the hot tub filled and heated, Blake put some of the sausages they had brought with them into a metal jerry can. He left it sitting right at the edge of the hearth.

  “They can warm through while we do the same in the hot tub. We’ll fry them off later. Do you want the grand tour?”

  There wasn’t much to see inside the cabin. There was a compact bedroom and bathroom off a short hallway that was lined with bookcases, which were all overflowing with piles of faintly musty-smelling tomes. Blake took them back outside into the cold to point out the complete blackness of the night. Just as he had promised, there were no neighbors in sight. Blake hadn’t long concluded his home tour and exhausted his repertoire of stories about the cabin before he was leading Kade around to the back of the property.

  The hot tub took pride of place on the decking at the rear of the cabin. Blake had set up storm lamps all around the tub. The small flames from their candles flickered in the darkness, casting shadows from the trees across the surface of the water.

  “You do realize how ridiculously romantic this is?” Kade asked as Blake retrieved one of the bottles of champagne he had stuffed in with the other food and supplies he had brought with them.

  “What can I say?” Blake asked, shrugging. “I’m trying really hard to impress you—harder than I can remember ever trying to impress anyone in a very, very long time, in fact.”

  “Why?” The word was out of Kade’s mouth and hanging in the air between them.

  “Because I like you. And I want you to like me too. And I really hope that wasn’t you putting yourself down again. Come on. You’ll have to make do with a mug for your champagne, I’m afraid. I’m not in the habit of keeping a stock of wine glasses up here.”

  Kade walked in front of Blake and out onto the deck. Maybe it was stepping away from the fire or maybe the temperature outside had droppe
d again, but there was no mistaking that it was winter. It wasn’t anywhere close to freezing, but neither did it feel like the sort of weather to be ditching clothes in. Kade rushed through the process of stripping as fast as possible and launched himself into the hot tub. It was like sinking into a bubble bath after a long day out in the rain.

  Blake passed Kade both mugs and Kade settled down, sinking his shoulders under the water while holding the mugs clear. He watched as Blake stripped. If it hadn’t been for the sight of Blake’s hard nipples or the fact that Kade knew about the man’s penchant for blankets and fires, Kade would have thought Blake was immune to the cold.

  Blake took his time undressing, pulling his jumper and T-shirt over his head and dropping them on the decking. He toyed with the buttons on his jeans, never breaking eye contact with Kade.

  Kade watched the shadows dance across Blake’s strong chest. He watched as the Aussie shoved his jeans and boxers out of the way, tangling them in his boots as he kicked the whole bundle away from the tub. He was half-hard. He climbed in slowly, settling down opposite Kade before reclaiming his mug.

  “Is it to your liking?”

  Kade wasn’t sure if Blake meant the striptease or the hot tub, so he decided just to nod.

  Blake leaned forward and clinked his mug loudly against Kade’s. “What do you want to toast to?” he asked.

  Kade could think of any number of things, all soppy nonsense that suggested he had already lost all sense of propriety and reasoning, even without the help of the champagne.

  “Let’s just say ‘cheers’,” he said finally.

  Blake smiled. “Cheers, Kade…?”

  “Doherty,” Kade said finally, when he worked out what Blake was asking. “Kade Doherty.” He took a long drink of champagne and tried not to think about how close he had come a year earlier to becoming Kade Doherty-McGee.

  “Kade Doherty. Well…cheers, Kade Doherty. I can’t think of anyone else I would rather share this hot tub with.”