Planting his palms flat on the wall, he stared at the tiled floor and tried to catch his breath.
Pierced nipples. Fucking hell.
He heard a noise from the other room—sounded as though something had crashed—followed by “son of a bitch,” and he couldn’t help but laugh, picturing Dare on his ass—naked, jeans around his ankles.
And then his breath escaped him again as the image of Dare reappeared, standing gloriously naked, save for the denim shackles on his legs. He couldn’t stop thinking about the smooth planes of Dare’s sun-bronzed chest … and the sexy pierced nipples … mmm, the ripped abs… Oh, and his cock… The man had been half-hard and damned impressive in that state.
Fuck if that hadn’t been the best goddamn sight he’d seen … in a decade and a half.
No question, Dare was the hottest man Noah had ever laid his eyes on. Definitely more impressive at thirty-four than at nineteen, which was saying something. All smooth, bronzed skin, perfectly sculpted muscles, and those sexy-as-hell nipples… Noah would never forget that image. Not if he lived to be two hundred.
Remembering why he’d chickened out and snuck into the bathroom, Noah quickly changed in the tiny, cramped space, then took several slow, deep breaths before stepping out into the cabin to find Dare… Looked as though he’d left.
Slowly inhaling and exhaling, Noah willed his heart rate to slow down as he dropped onto the edge of the bed and stared at the tiny space. He would be spending a week in this cabin with Dare. Seven long, lonely nights.
He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent the night with a man. It had been a long time ago. Hell, he hadn’t even been with a man in six months, and even then, it had been an ex-semi-boyfriend whom Noah had heard from. They’d slept together after sharing dinner and a couple of beers, and Noah had been quickly reminded why they’d gone their separate ways in the first place.
They simply didn’t mesh.
He hardly remembered that night. Then again, right this second, he couldn’t even remember why the hell he and Dare had broken up, and that had been far more impactful than a brief tumble in the sheets.
Oh, yeah. Dare had wanted long-term and Noah had been … stupid.
But none of that mattered.
Right now, he needed to get out of this stuffy little cabin and get some air. Maybe then he’d be able to go to dinner, meet the rest of the people they’d be spending time with over the course of the next week.
After that, perhaps he’d be able to figure out a way to survive the rest of this trip.
Without jumping Dare Davis’s bones.
Hudson Ballard stood at the back of the room, trying to blend in with the wall. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be here in a room full of people he didn’t know, but he’d learned over the years that people tended to shy away from him when they learned he couldn’t speak. Being on the sidelines had simply become natural for him.
“Hey, bro. What’s up?”
Hudson turned to see his brother, AJ, holding two glasses as he stopped beside him. Hudson graciously took one when AJ passed it his way.
“You good?” AJ asked.
Hudson nodded, sipping his drink as he continued to scan the room, looking for the one man he knew he shouldn’t be paying any attention to. Especially since it seemed Teague was doing his best to piss him off by flirting with every damn thing with a dick.
“So, where’s this boy toy of yours?” AJ smirked.
Hudson flipped him off. Teague damn sure wasn’t his boy toy, and the only reason AJ said that was because Hudson had made the comment that Teague was too damn young for him the last time AJ had brought him up. For some unknown reason, the Pier 70 crew thought Hudson was only thirty-one, and he’d never bothered to correct them. It had made it a little awkward when they had surprised him with a birthday cake with the numbers three and one on it on his last birthday, but he’d suffered through. Apparently someone had read his application wrong because he’d just turned thirty-five, making him ten years older than Teague. Far too old to be entertaining the notion of screwing a twenty-five-year-old kid.
“Okay, fine. My turn.” AJ glanced around the room and Hudson followed his gaze. “Who’s the blonde? She single?”
Hudson’s eyes widened as he stared at his brother, shaking his head when AJ made eye contact.
“What does that mean? She’s not single?”
Hudson set his drink on the table and used his hands to explain. You do not want to mess with Milly.
“Milly, huh?” AJ’s gaze once again slid over to where she stood talking to Gannon and Cam. “Interesting name.”
Hudson punched his brother in the arm. No, not interesting. Nothing about her is interesting. Leave her alone.
AJ laughed. “Since it seems to me that you’re trying to warn me away from her, I’m gonna assume she’s single.”
Hudson shook his head again. Not warning you away from her. Her away from you.
“Oh, come on.”
It wasn’t that Hudson cared one way or the other if AJ went after Milly—he was a good guy and all—but the last thing Hudson needed was for something to happen to piss off his bosses. He happened to enjoy the fuck out of his job and wasn’t interested in looking for another.
He elbowed AJ to get his attention, then signed: Seriously.
AJ’s smile widened. “I promise, I’ll be good.” His eyes scanned the room once again. “Plus, it looks to me like you’ve got someone who could keep you pretty busy if you’d stop pretending you didn’t want to bang his brains out.”
Once again, Hudson shook his head in disbelief. Sometimes he couldn’t believe the shit that came out of his brother’s mouth.
But, at the same time, he didn’t disprove his brother’s theory when his eyes slammed into Teague across the room.
Six
Dare had known he wouldn’t last another second in the same cabin with Noah, so he’d changed in record time—thankfully, Cam had insisted that tonight’s dinner was casual, so Dare had opted for shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops—then went straight for the nearest outdoor bar he could find. Now he was walking the length of the ship, carrying a beer he didn’t particularly care for, and trying to get the image of a half-naked Noah out of his head.
He was still tempted to chase down Milly and insist that she change his cabin, or better yet, he would go straight to the check-in desk himself and … what? Show Noah that he was too much of a pussy to stay in the same cabin with him?
Not a fucking chance.
Dare didn’t back down from … well, a dare.
His mother must’ve been high when she’d named him. Wait. She had been.
Never mind.
The more he walked, the better he felt. He could do this. He was fearless, damn it. No mere mortal was going to keep him from having a good time on this trip. Nor was his overtaxed brain. It was time for him to shake it off and get with the program. His best friend was getting married in a few days, and Dare planned to be on his best behavior. In spite of Noah Pearson.
Dare managed to completely clear his head by taking a tour of the ship on his own, walking through the casino, by the pools, past the FlowRider surf simulator (definitely on his to-do list), to the rock wall, beneath the zip line (another must-do), around the sports courts and miniature golf, and finally by the freaking ice skating rink. It didn’t take long before he felt more level-headed, realizing there were plenty of things for him to do to keep his mind off of Noah. Plenty.
His only problem now was deciding what to do first.
When it came time for dinner, a festivity that he’d been assured was time for them to relax and unwind, meet the others who’d come for the wedding, he had weaved his way through the ship until he was in the room reserved for tonight’s event. For a brief moment, he worried he would be underdressed, but he noticed that most of the people he’d seen earlier had opted for casual attire—very similar to his.
As he wound his way through the room, chatting with a few people he hadn�
��t seen earlier, he made his way over to Roan.
“Didn’t get the memo, huh?” Dare nodded toward Roan’s buttoned-up attire. He was wearing jeans and a polo, so he wasn’t exactly dressed up, but he didn’t fit in. Hell, even Cam and Gannon had changed.
“Shut it,” Roan groaned, taking a sip of his beer. “You no longer look like you’re ready to flee. Feeling better?”
“All good,” Dare assured him. It was only a little white lie. “Nothin’ to worry about here.”
Roan chuckled, apparently seeing through Dare’s admission that he would make it through this. Regardless, he would. He had to.
“You get settled in your cabin okay?”
Dare glared at Roan. It was clear he knew that Dare was bunking with Noah.
Asshole.
“So, who is he to you, anyway?”
Dare looked away.
Nope. Not going there. Not tonight. Rather than get into a lengthy conversation with Roan, Dare decided to evade the start of Roan’s impending inquisition, excusing himself.
“Whatever,” Roan called after him. “It’ll be a better trip if you’re not so prickly.”
Dare flipped him off.
Asshole.
He was not prickly, damn it.
He was fun. Interesting. Everyone’s friend.
Yet, tonight, he couldn’t deny it, he felt a little … okay, yes, prickly.
Shit.
Thankfully, Roan didn’t seem intent on trying to get him to talk, and for that, Dare was grateful. Only now, as he stepped into the adjoining room, he noticed people were already seated at round tables, while a buffet was being set up on the far side of the room. As he took it all in, he wasn’t sure avoidance was going to be simple from here on out.
“You’re sitting over there,” Milly informed him, a beaming smile on her face as she pointed in the direction of the table directly to the left of where the grooms-to-be were currently sitting. For casual, this sure seemed a little overdone.
Do not mention the cabin. Do not mention the cabin.
He managed not to mention the cabin or his pain-in-the-ass roommate. Barely. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she whispered, but turned away before he could ask her what that meant.
He took three steps and answered his own question.
There at the table Milly had directed him to was Noah, sitting to the right of the little white card that had Dare’s name on it.
Fucking lovely.
How the hell was he supposed to get out of this?
Remembering his earlier pep talk, Dare squared his shoulders and headed for the table, grateful when he saw Hudson and Teague were also seated there, only they didn’t look any happier to be at the same table. Looked as though Milly was playing matchmaker again.
Taking his seat, Dare downed half of his water before Hudson kicked him—hard—under the table.
“Fucking shit,” Dare hissed, glaring at Hudson.
Hudson responded by nodding his head toward Noah.
Reaching down, Dare rubbed his shin, continuing to hold Hudson’s stare.
“Fine,” he muttered, realizing he was being forced to introduce them. Although he still wasn’t sure why that was his problem. “Hudson, Teague, this is Milly’s stepbrother, Noah Pearson. Noah, this is Hudson Ballard and Teague Carter. They work at the marina, too.”
Hudson gave a chin nod in Noah’s direction, prompting Dare to explain. “Hudson is mute, but he can hear. He knows ASL, in case…” Dare stopped talking when Noah began signing.
Well, fuck.
He hadn’t expected that.
Teague looked as disinterested as ever, his attention on the beer in his hand and the others seated around them. Anything to keep from looking at Hudson, it seemed. Dare briefly wondered where Hudson’s brother was.
He glanced around, checking out the others, trying to identify them one by one. Anything to keep from joining the conversation at the table. Cam and Gannon were talking to Cam’s father, Roan was chatting it up with Cam’s sister, Holly. There were others he didn’t know, all decked out in their cruise attire now, laughing and joking and having a good time. As he finished his perusal of the room, he noticed Hudson’s brother talking to Milly, making her smile brightly.
Interesting.
Dare drained the rest of his water and looked at Hudson, watching his hands.
What the hell?
“No, no way. You are not gonna talk about me behind my back,” he told Hudson firmly.
Hudson grinned, then signed: We’re in front of you, so that’s crap.
Noah chuckled.
Hudson signed to Noah: So, how do you know him?
Dare groaned.
Noah signed back, which pissed Dare off because he could’ve easily said the words aloud. Hudson could hear, as he’d explained.
Dare watched Noah’s hands intently.
We were friends at one point in our lives.
Friends? That’s what they were?
Whatever.
So, did you break up with him or he with you? Hudson’s question was followed by a shit-eating grin.
Asshole.
Noah gave a side nod in Dare’s direction.
Dare turned and glared at him.
Noah laughed.
Nope. This was not going the way he’d planned. He hadn’t been given enough notice to be prepared to have to sit through a meal with Noah.
Then again, nothing in his entire life would’ve prepared him for seeing Noah again, period.
Nothing.
Dinner went much more smoothly than Noah had anticipated it would, especially after he’d realized he was seated at the same table as Dare. Well, technically he was within inches of the man, but he hadn’t noticed.
Much.
Okay, so that was a huge fucking lie.
He’d noticed.
In fact, he had taken in every little detail from how good Dare smelled—something musky and potent—to how warm his skin was when Dare’s arm had accidentally brushed his at one point.
Luckily for all parties involved—except maybe Teague, who looked as though he wanted the table to open up and swallow him—Hudson had carried the conversation, which had provided some distraction. Because it suited him, Noah had opted to sign his responses, rather than speak them aloud. Mainly because he’d realized early on that the fact that he knew American Sign Language had taken Dare by surprise. Then, it had pleased him when he’d noticed Dare keeping up with the conversation.
“Since when did you learn sign language?” Dare asked when the dinner plates were being cleared away.
“Since when did you?” Noah retorted. Dare didn’t seem impressed by his counter, so Noah explained. “About ten years ago, we were called out on an out-of-control brush fire that was threatening a nearby neighborhood. When we came upon a house that still had occupants inside, we were advised to urge them to leave due to the danger. The husband and wife were both deaf. Although I managed to communicate by typing the instruction on my phone and having them read it, I figured it would be beneficial—for any future instances—to learn. So I did. Your turn.”
Dare nodded toward Hudson. “He’s our boat mechanic, and though he can hear me just fine, I wanted to be able to talk to him, not at him. So, in order to level the playing field, I decided to learn.”
Interesting. The Dare he had known fifteen years ago wouldn’t have bothered.
Or—something he didn’t want to think too much about—perhaps he would have and Noah simply hadn’t known him as well as he’d thought he had.
They announced that dessert was being added to the buffet, but Noah opted to decline, choosing to watch the interactions around him, namely Cam and Gannon, who were seated at the head table directly to the right and in front of him. The two of them looked incredibly happy, surrounded by their family and friends.
Noah couldn’t help but be glad he was part of this, even if the situation was far from ideal. The last time he’d been to a wedding was
when Milly’s father had married his mother. If he was completely honest with himself, he hadn’t paid much attention during that stressful period because he hadn’t been happy they’d decided to get married in the first place. Even though he didn’t have anything against Milly’s father, he’d felt as though his mother was letting go of his father forever. It had been a stupid reaction, but one he couldn’t change. He had since apologized to them both for it.
There was a tap on Noah’s shoulder, and he turned to see Gannon and Milly standing at his side. He instantly glanced back at the table where Gannon had been a minute ago and noticed it was empty.
Weird. He could’ve sworn he was just watching them.
“You got a minute?” Milly inquired, doing that chin nod thing that signaled she wanted to talk to him away from the table.
“Excuse me,” he said, placing his napkin on the table and getting to his feet.
He followed Gannon and Milly out into the hallway, his curiosity growing.
When the two of them stopped and turned toward him, Noah patiently waited for whatever it was they had to say. He noticed Milly’s eyes snap over to Gannon, as though she was silently urging him to talk. When he didn’t, Milly huffed.
“Gannon wants to ask you something.”
Noah shifted his attention to Gannon. “Sure. What’s up?”
Gannon swallowed hard and it was clear whatever he wanted to ask wasn’t easy for him. On top of the nervous tension radiating from him, Noah noticed he was paler than he’d been earlier. Gannon cleared his throat and then wiped his hands on his shorts. Yep, extremely nervous.
“I wanted to know if you’d be one of my groomsmen.” Gannon cleared his throat again, locking eyes with Noah. “It’s just that I don’t have any family … well, other than Milly, so I don’t have anyone to stand up for me besides her. And since Cam has Roan, Dare, Teague, and Hudson, I kinda—”
Noah stopped him mid-ramble. Placing a hand on Gannon’s shoulder, he smiled. “Man, I’d be honored. Seriously. And I think it’s safe to say that you’ve got more family than you realize.”
For a brief moment, Noah was almost certain he saw a sheen of moisture in Gannon’s eyes. But then it was gone as Gannon righted his glasses.
Fearless (Pier 70 Book 2) Page 6