Not that he wanted to be.
Damn, and there he went lying again.
When his stomach growled for the twentieth time, he managed to push himself up off the bed, pull a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of his suitcase, and get dressed. Rather than mess with his hair, he grabbed his Dallas Cowboys ball cap and pulled it on before slipping his feet into his flip-flops.
He made his way down to the main level, intending to find food. As he walked toward the food court, he stumbled upon Noah, who seemed to be doing the same thing, searching for dinner. He was about to pretend he hadn’t noticed the man when Noah glanced over, their eyes locking. Before he could hightail it out of there, Noah headed his way.
The awkward tension that had been absent for much of the day when they’d been at the beach had returned in full force. Dare had a hard time looking Noah in the eye, much less finding something to say that would make this day better.
“I’m sorry.”
Confused, Dare focused on Noah’s face. “For what?”
“For kissing you.”
Dare shrugged as though it didn’t matter. “Happens all the time.”
Noah laughed and a little of the tension eased from Dare’s shoulders.
“Does it?”
Dare nodded. “Yep. Hot guys find me irresistible. They’re always kissing me.”
“Good to know.” Noah’s smile brightened. “That you find me hot.”
Of course he would fixate on that part.
Dare didn’t respond.
Noah glanced over his shoulder at the food court. “You hungry?”
His stomach growled loudly, answering for him.
Noah’s lips curled up. “Want to have dinner with me? I promise not to trip and let my lips fall into yours.”
Dare cocked his head to the side, pretending to be considering this. “And what about the naked shower thing? How do you propose we keep that from happening again?” Part of him wished it would happen again.
“I’ll work on that and get back to you.”
“Fine. Then I’ll have dinner with you. Maybe we can come up with a plan.” Dare didn’t add one way or the other, which was what he was thinking.
They grabbed burgers and fries, then found a seat at an empty table for two.
“I see you still take in food like you did years ago.” Noah tilted his head at Dare, nodding toward the now nearly empty tray.
“I’m a growing boy.” It was a damn good thing he had a fast metabolism. “I stay pretty active at work.”
“What is it that you do at the marina?” Noah sounded genuinely curious.
“We take clients out on boats if they need a guide for the day. I do some teaching of how to drive the Jet Skis. I’ve also been designated as the one to help out when kids want to learn how to ride them. Seems I’ve got a knack for it or something.” Or so Cam and Roan always told him. Dare believed it was due to the fact that the two of them were scared of the shorter humans, but whatever. He enjoyed it.
“Sounds like fun.”
Dare looked at Noah, trying to see if he was making fun of him. He saw only admiration staring back at him, which made him feel good. “I love it. Never thought I’d have a job spending my day on the water, having fun. I wouldn’t trade it.”
“Can’t say I blame you.”
“What about you? The firefighter thing… It as interesting as it is on television?”
Noah grinned after wiping his mouth with a napkin. “It can be. Then again, on TV, they condense the most exciting events down to one hour a week. Not nearly as eventful in a twenty-four-hour period, but it has its moments.”
“When do you work?” Dare grabbed his drink and downed the rest of it.
“Twenty-four on, forty-eight off.” Noah pushed his tray away, signaling he was finished. “I’ve also got a roofing business that keeps me busy in the meantime. But I don’t let that get in the way of the station.”
“Roofing?” Noah didn’t look like a man who did a lot of manual labor, but maybe that explained the incredible physique.
Placing his elbows on the table, Noah picked up his drink. “At first, it was a way to supplement my income. When that was no longer necessary, I kept it up as a way to fill my time.”
Dare continued to watch Noah. That was interesting information. Sounded as though Noah had his hands full. Glancing around, he realized the place was still busy. “You wanna head outside? Maybe get a beer or something?”
Noah grabbed his tray and stood. “I’d like that, but I’m thinking less beer, more margaritas.”
“You had me at margaritas.”
Dare didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he saw the night taking a much better turn than the day had. Provided he could continue to remind himself that Noah was off-limits, he figured they’d do just fine.
Then again, Dare never had been one to read the warning signs, much less heed them. If the sign said don’t feed the bears, Dare was the first one looking for steak.
Noah wasn’t sure how he’d managed to salvage the day after all the shit that had happened, but he wasn’t complaining. In fact, he was now sitting on a lounge chair beneath the stars, drinking a margarita, and enjoying the time with Dare only a foot or so away from him.
It’d been pure luck that he’d run into Dare when searching for food. As it was, Noah had been thinking about going up to the cabin to invite Dare to dinner. Anything to try and salvage what few gains they’d made before Noah had gone and fucked it up.
Looked as though the planets were aligned in his favor.
He could only hope they remained that way for the rest of the trip, because heaven knew he’d fuck shit up faster than anything if given the opportunity. And he damn sure didn’t want to fuck things up with Dare. Not again, anyway.
“You ever been on a cruise before?” Dare asked.
“First time. You?”
“Not like this. I took a cruise about five years ago on a much smaller ship. Not nearly the amenities.”
“Who’d you go with?” Noah wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he had to ask.
“Cam and Roan. We spend so much time on the water, and none of us had done it, so we figured what the hell. We had a good time.”
Noah hoped that this trip surpassed that one in terms of fun had by all. He didn’t know why he wanted to make memories with Dare again; he just did.
Ever since he’d had the conversation with Milly, he’d thought about how he had acted toward Dare since his arrival on the ship. They did have history. A very emotional time for both of them, and though they’d gotten this far without the other, he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep moving forward without Dare in his life. Even if they could only be friends.
To test his friendship theory, Noah figured he’d go for a personal question. “Tell me about the last date you went on.”
Dare rolled his head to the side, pinning Noah with a questioning gaze.
“Oh, come on,” he urged. “Two friends, drinking margaritas, talking about the good times, right?”
Dare turned back away, sipped his margarita, then sighed. For a brief second, Noah didn’t think he was going to answer.
“It’s been a while. And I’m not sure it qualified as a good time.”
“How long’s a while?” Noah kept his attention on Dare.
“Eight months.”
Holy shit. Noah wasn’t quite as nervous as he had been.
“You take him out? Or he take you out?”
“He asked me.” Dare made eye contact again. “For the record, it might sound strange, but I haven’t really dated in years. I’ve had a few one-night stands here and there, but even those are few and far between.”
Noah had a million questions he wanted to ask—the foremost being how few and how far between?—but he banked them for later. He settled with keeping on the original topic. “Where’d y’all go?”
“He took me to dinner.” Dare looked away again. “Actually, I met him at the restaurant because I didn’t want hi
m to know where I lived. Privacy and all that. I met him when I went to a bar with Teague one night.” Dare took another sip of his drink. “Of all the places the guy could’ve picked, he wanted to go to Denny’s.”
Noah frowned, trying to process what Dare had just told him. Then he couldn’t help it, he cracked up laughing, nearly spilling his drink all over himself as he folded over. “Denny’s? Really? When is that appropriate for a first date?”
“When is it appropriate for any date?”
“Okay, true.” Noah tried to calm down. “Did he say why he chose Denny’s?”
Dare chuckled before he responded. “Apparently he had an affinity for their omelets. Needless to say, we didn’t go out again.” Dare met his gaze. “What about you? Tell me about your last date.”
“I guess it wasn’t really a date. I met an ex-boyfriend at a bar for drinks.”
“When was this?”
Noah liked the fact that Dare was fishing for details. “Six months ago.”
“That’s the last date you went on?”
“It is.” Noah drained the rest of his drink. “Let’s just say I don’t have a good track record in the dating department.”
“I feel your pain.” Dare stared up at the sky while Noah watched him. “Dating leads to relationships, and I don’t do relationships.”
“At all?” Noah wondered when the last time was that Dare had had a serious, long-term boyfriend.
“At all.”
“When was the last?”
Dare sighed again, then turned his head and held Noah’s stare. “You.”
God, please forgive him, but although that news was sad, it also made Noah want to fist-bump the air. He settled for responding instead. “Don’t feel bad. My last relationship was five years ago. It lasted two months. That’s the only other real relationship I’ve had since … you.”
“Boy, we’re just a couple of real winners, aren’t we?”
“I’ll drink to that.”
Dare grinned, holding up his empty glass. “Well, you’re gonna have to go get us more drinks if that’s the case. But nice of you to offer.”
Noah laughed, thankful they’d made it through that conversation relatively easily. And for that, he didn’t have a problem getting more drinks.
Fifteen
Tuesday, May 31st
Cruise, day three
The following morning, when the sun came shining through the window into their cabin, Dare covered his head with a pillow and groaned. He heard Noah roll over, and he peeked out to see him doing the same.
“Remind me never to let you talk me into Fireball shots again. Seriously.”
Noah’s words were muffled by his pillow when he said, “I don’t think that was my idea.”
“Sure it was.” It really wasn’t. Dare had brought it up, but he enjoyed pointing fingers at Noah. Made things more interesting.
“Good thing my stomach’s lined with lead.”
“What about your brain?” Dare had a pounding headache right behind his eyes, and he needed water.
“I could use some aspirin.”
“Who’s going to get it?” Dare was hoping Noah would offer.
“In my case in the bathroom.”
Well, that made things a hell of a lot easier. “What about water?”
“Sorry, didn’t pack that with me.” Noah chuckled.
“What about food?”
“You’re always hungry, aren’t you?”
Dare lifted from the pillow and glanced over at Noah. “Always.”
“Good to know.”
Neither of them moved, and they must’ve fallen back asleep because the next time Dare awoke, Noah was in the shower. He recalled the last time Noah had emerged from the shower when he’d been jacking off. Figured he probably shouldn’t get himself in that predicament again. Considering his dick was only half-interested in waking up for the day, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“You’re awake.”
Dare glanced over at the bathroom door to see Noah emerging. His hair was wet, and he was wearing what appeared to be swim shorts. Not that Dare noticed the shorts all that much when there was so much naked torso going on. He hoped he wasn’t drooling. “Maybe.”
“Thought I’d run down and grab some food. Bring it back up.”
“You should probably know, I’m a whore for food.” Realizing what he was saying as the words were coming out of his mouth, Dare flopped back on the bed and sighed. “Didn’t mean it like that.”
Noah chuckled. “Take a shower while I’m gone. You’ll feel better. There are no stops today, so I figured we’d check out some of the things to do on this thing.”
Dare liked the fact that Noah was including him in his plans. He wasn’t sure what to think about it yet, but he couldn’t deny that he looked forward to spending the day with Noah.
Or he would, once his fucking head stopped pounding.
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
Dare nodded, watching as Noah headed for the door.
When the door shut behind Noah, he managed to force his lazy ass out of the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. Maybe a shower would make him feel more human. If not, he could always take another nap.
Except he didn’t want to take a nap. He wanted to wash the hangover away, then move on to the important stuff. Like getting out of this cabin and enjoying some time on the ship. Up to this point, the trip had been touch and go. Since last night when he’d had dinner with Noah, Dare had decided he would let things work themselves out. He had absolutely no expectations.
Turning on the water, he shed his boxers and stood beneath the spray. It wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t cold, so he gave it a second. While he stood there, eyes closed, he thought about Noah. They’d shared some laughs last night, and it had felt like old times. Not once had he thought back to what had happened between them, and it had helped him to relax. The margaritas hadn’t hurt, either. Nor had the Fireball shots.
Then again, the alcohol had dulled a lot of his senses, including how he felt about Noah.
The truth was, Dare still had feelings for the man. Those feelings were causing problems because he couldn’t seem to get past them. It didn’t help that he and Noah got along so well. They’d always had an easiness between them that Dare didn’t feel around most people.
Reaching for the shampoo, Dare washed his hair, then grabbed the bar of soap. The heat from the water was doing wonders for his headache, so he took his time lathering up. The next thing he knew, he was stroking his dick, imagining Noah in the shower with him. Had Noah done that a few minutes ago? Had Noah jacked off to thoughts of him?
He hoped he had. He wasn’t sure why, he just did.
His dick swelled in his hand as he jerked himself harder, faster. There was no way he’d make it through the day unless he took care of business now. The mere sight of Noah without a shirt had sent his hormones rioting. Without some form of release, Dare knew he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions. Not where Noah was concerned.
He leaned back against the wall, spreading his legs wide. Reaching down with his other hand, he fondled his balls while continuing to jack his dick roughly. With his eyes closed, he could almost imagine Noah stroking him. As his release barreled down on him, Dare held his breath and let the climax rip through him while he gave in to his imagination, picturing Noah right there with him, mouth open while Dare came on his tongue.
“Fuck.” His dick jerked again.
He knew he couldn’t give in and be with Noah, but he was beginning to think it was inevitable.
And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet.
Or, more importantly, how he was going to avoid it.
Before heading down to the main floor, Noah stopped at Milly’s cabin to check on her. He hadn’t seen her since yesterday when they’d had their chat by the pool. Since his cell phone didn’t work on the ship, he had tucked it into his suitcase, not bothering to check it. Considering he’d promised to keep an eye on her, he fi
gured he should at least attempt to do so.
Noah knocked on her door, but no one answered. It was only nine, and though he’d never known Milly to be a morning person, he figured she could’ve been downstairs already. As he turned to go, he heard the sound of the lock disengage, and he pivoted back around to see Milly peeking out through a small crack in the door. She definitely hadn’t been awake.
He took in what little of her he could see. Her fancy hair from yesterday was long gone. She had definite bedhead as well as dark rings from her mascara around her eyes.
“Good morning,” he greeted, smiling.
Milly’s smile widened. “I hope you’re here to bring me breakfast.”
“I can. I was just going down to get something for Dare.” Hmm. That sounded far more intimate than he’d meant it to.
Apparently his stepsister agreed. Her eyebrows lifted and she pulled the door open a little more. She appeared to be hugging a sheet against her chest. It was almost as though she was hiding something in her cabin.
Wait…
Noah leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Is someone in there with you?”
He could see the smile reach her eyes. “Maybe.”
“Do I even want to know?”
“Probably not.”
“Do you want me to bring you breakfast? For two?”
Milly glanced over her shoulder, then back at him. “No, I think we’re good. Thanks, though.”
“I would say be good, but I think that’s no longer an option.”
Milly chuckled. “I’d have to agree with you.” She paused, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Oh, and for the record, I no longer need to see Cam’s pierced penis. I now have a firsthand experience under my belt.”
Good Lord. He could’ve gone his whole life without knowing that.
Shaking his head, Noah left her to get back to whatever it was she’d been doing. Or rather, whoever it was she’d been doing. And she was right, he really didn’t want to know.
Twenty minutes later, Noah returned to the cabin to find Dare semi-dressed and sprawled out on the bed on his stomach looking at the book that detailed all the amenities aboard the ship.
Fearless (Pier 70 Book 2) Page 12