by Jan Irving
The engine sputtered and died, and the powerboat drifted away from the dinghy.
ONE of the things he’d thought about during his time alone was whether he’d wasted those years he’d competed, but now Mal had a purpose again. His body was strong and sure in the water as he cut through the waves toward the dinghy.
In a flash of lightning, he saw a pale, frightened face and a frail hand curled around the dinghy’s tether.
He swallowed more water before he took hold of that hand, looking into eyes the same color of his lover’s. “I got you!” he rasped.
Leif’s father complained, “Not so tight, boy!”
Mal’s arms were getting leaden, holding tight to the older man. It was too rough to break for shore. He’d make it, but not Leif’s Papa. But if they stayed out here much longer….
Water slapped his face and he choked, but he lifted Mal’s father higher against the upturned dinghy.
Leif, come on!
And then he heard Leif shouting and the roar of a laboring engine.
The powerboat was almost on top of them, and then the rope hit Mal’s arm, and somehow, even with his numb arms and screaming back, he held tight to Leif’s father as he grabbed for the line.
Leif was a dark figure, shouting again, but Mal still couldn’t hear him, and then the line snapped taut and they were yanked through the water. Choking, Mal gripped the old man, and Leif was—Shit, he was heading straight for shore to beach his boat!
Mal heard the snap of the craft’s spine as it struck and the engine cut off. But in the fork of lightning from above them, he glimpsed Leif, pulling the rope, hand over hand, pulling Mal and his father to the beach, to safety.
“YOU did go out!” Papa accused him as soon as Leif dragged him up on the beach.
Leif laughed, except there were tears stinging his eyes as he crushed his father close. Oh, God, Papa….
He looked up and met Mal’s eyes, seeing perfect understanding.
“Who is that man?” Papa demanded, pulling away to give Mal a confused look. “He was in the water with me.”
“He’s my boyfriend, Papa,” Leif said.
“Oh.” The older man looked around the dark beach, wrapping his arms around himself. “We have a long walk.”
Mal made to trail after them as they climbed onto the grass that ran by the familiar strip of highway, but Leif waited until he caught up. Finally Mal said, “My place is closest.” He looked at Leif’s father, who was shivering under Leif’s arm but was doggedly walking forward. “I have cocoa.”
LEIF’S father slept in Nan’s room, wrapped in her summer quilt, as Leif and Mal sat in the rocking chairs by the fire in the great room.
“Two broken windows,” Leif noted. “And some of the old roof looks like it’s in the trees now.”
Mal nodded, taking a sip of his cocoa. “Save John the job of removing it, I guess,” he joked. “There are more trees down in the back.”
The thunder had softened to a rumble not unlike a herd of cows moving off. The storm was passing.
“I’m thankful,” Leif said, echoing Mal’s feeling perfectly.
He took a deep breath and reached for Leif’s hand, squeezing it. Leif answered by pulling him down to the coiled rag rug in front of the fire. Encompassed in his muscular arms, Mal let himself rest against him.
“I don’t know how I’m going to see you… you know, from day to day,” Leif fretted a little. “Just because I love you, shit doesn’t disappear.”
“Why don’t we just take it day to day?” Mal suggested, feeling serene as he remembered his last letter from his Nan. She’d said he’d find what he was looking for here in Sylvan, and it wasn’t all the answers to the questions he’d been asking himself or even a career. It was more basic than that.
He reached up and adjusted the plaster bandage on his forehead that Leif had insisted he wear, though the gash wasn’t so bad. “Because I don’t know what I want to do or how I’ll make a living beyond this summer. But I do know I want you,” he said, repeating the words that Leif had given him earlier.
And he saw in Leif’s eyes that he understood him perfectly
.
About the Author
JAN IRVING has worked in all kinds of creative fields, from painting silk to making porcelain ceramics, to interior design, but writing was always her passion.
She feels you can’t fully understand characters until you follow their journey through a story world. Many kinds of worlds interest her, fantasy, historical, science fiction and suspense—but all have one thing in common, people finding a way to live together—in the most emotional and erotic fashion possible, of course!
Visit Jan’s blog at http://jan-revealed.livejournal.com.
Also by JAN IRVING
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Copyright
Sylvan ©Copyright Jan Irving, 2010
Published by
Dreamspinner Press
4760 Preston Road
Suite 244-149
Frisco, TX 75034
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the
authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover Art by Dan Skinner/Cerberus Inc. [email protected]
Cover Design by Mara McKennen
This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is
illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon
conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No
part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. To
request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press at: 4760 Preston Road, Suite
244-149, Frisco, TX 75034 http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
Released in the United States of America
April 2010
eBook Edition
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-244-8