A Younger Man (9 page)

Just then Noah came to a stop at the window. As if he no longer had any strength, he dropped to sit on the sill, leaned his elbows on his knees, and clasped his hands together. “So when I ran into my parents this morning,” he looked up at Zane, his face now shadowed by the light at his back, “and they seemed even less comfortable with me, I forced myself to start accepting in a way I hadn’t before that I’ve lost the parents I’d always known, for good.”

Losing the connection of Noah’s stare prompted Zane forward. He didn’t stop until only inches separated them. Then he kneeled in front of Noah, making eye contact with that haunted brown gaze once more. “It’s the loss of your father that’s killing you, isn’t it?” Losing Burt five years ago, the distinct knowledge that the one person who’d had his back emotionally was no longer there, remained fresh in Zane’s mind and heart. The eye color might be different, and the loss might not be to death, but looking into Noah’s eyes right now felt like looking in a mirror for Zane all those years ago. “There’s such love in your voice and eyes when you speak of your father, it’s hard to miss.”

Blinking repeatedly, Noah looked briefly toward the ceiling. “I made my bed,” his jaw ticking once more, he looked to Zane, “now I have to lie in it.”

Zane took hold of the sill on either side of Noah and caged him in. “That’s not a real answer, and you know it.”

“Yes.” The rasp in Noah’s voice, the need in that one word, punched a hole straight through Zane where he kneeled, leaving him gutted. “Yes, okay? I want my father back in my life. He was a lawyer before he retired, and he was a hell of a good one. I respected and idolized him in a way I can’t explain. I’ve never lived in a world without his level-headed guidance and ear when I needed it.” Noah’s voice hitched, and his entire body heaved. “Right now I need him more than I ever have, and he’s not there.”

Oh damn it.
In an instant, overcome, Zane surged up and took Noah in his arms. “I’m sorry.” He clutched the bigger man with all of his might, desperate in his need to make Noah understand he wasn’t alone. “I’m so sorry.” He dug his fingers into the man’s back and pressed his cheek to his shoulder. “So fucking sorry.”

His tone rough, Noah sank into Zane and clutched him too. Raspy as hell, he whispered, “It’s not your fault.”

Zane only squeezed Noah even tighter. “I’m still sorry.”

“Okay.” Still as gruff as Zane had ever heard him, his mouth against Zane’s nape, Noah muttered a few more curses. Each foul word brushed warm air against Zane’s neck and sparked new awareness under his skin.
Oh my goodness.

A sudden new consciousness of their bodies touching so intimately made Zane shiver. His balls pulled in his sac too.
Holy God.
So very quickly hot need sprouted to life from a place deep inside Zane’s being. He scraped his fingers across Noah’s shoulders, absorbing the man’s heat beneath that thin layer of fabric.
Yes.
He brushed his fingertips against the edges of Noah’s hair and the brief contact tingled all the way through his being.
I want more.

Right then, though, Noah abruptly stiffened and pulled away.

Crap.
Zane went still as a statue and prayed for a miracle.

With a gritty chuckle, Noah let his head fall back to rest against the window. He exhaled, and Zane started breathing again.

“Fucking hell.” Noah averted his gaze. “I apologize. I don’t usually lose my shit like that.”

Still fearful of what Noah might have read into the contact between them, Zane took a few steps backward, giving them both some breathing room. “It’s all right. Everyone is entitled to let off some steam once in a while.”

Noah rolled his head and found Zane halfway across the room. “You went above and beyond.” As he held eye contact, some of the brackets around his mouth began to diminish. “Thank you for listening.”

A new ease visibly worked its way through Noah. And that soft
“Thank you for listening”
seemed to release a bubble in him and let all the tension out of the room. Zane let his stupid anxiety about what had, or hadn’t, really, happened drift away.

“You know what you need?” As an idea hit Zane, he suddenly bounced with excitement. “A little levity and fun.”

Crossing his arms, Noah quirked a blond brow. “If you’re calling me Pot, I’m calling you Kettle.”

Warmth crept up Zane’s neck, but he grinned too. “Fair enough. I could use some mindless fun too.” The murmurs outside from the kids prompted Zane to add, “So could Hailey and Duncan, for that matter. Everything has been a bit heavy lately.”

Noah got up and walked backward toward the door. “What do you have in mind?”

“I found some water darts, a volleyball net, and a few other things in the shed yesterday. Everyone in the lake for a swim and some games? What do you say?”

Now in the hall, Noah jerked his thumb toward the front room and open cabin door. “I have to run to my cabin to gets trunks for me and Matt.”

“No, no, no.” Rushing to Noah, Zane grabbed his arm and dragged him to the porch. “This is fun because it’s spontaneous. Take off your shirt, go in your cargo shorts, and we’ll all do the same.” His sister’s high-pitched giggles twinkled from the grassy slope up to Zane. “Hailey can stay in her T-shirt too.”

A wicked grin—something Zane remembered Noah briefly flashing the first day they’d met—appeared. “Yeah?”

Somersaulting acrobats went crazy in Zane’s stomach—the good kind. Without looking away, he huskily said back, “Yeah.”

In a holding pattern on the porch, Noah looked like a rugged carpenter who was somehow also meant to be in the ocean. A heartbeat later, he beckoned Zane with his hands. “Race you to the water? Do cannonballs off the dock?”

Grinning back, Zane let a challenge ignite in his stare. “Start running.”

With a glint of competition sparking in the bigger man’s dark eyes, Noah took off at a dead sprint, surprisingly fast and nimble for such a muscular body. He yelled at the kids, “Come on! Get ready to get wet!” as he ran past them on his way to the water.

Laughter bubbled in Zane, and watching Noah made his insides flutter in the sweetest, most wonderful way. Zane grabbed Hailey and Duncan on his way past them, pulling his brother and sister out of their stunned stupor.

Just then Noah ripped off his shirt. The garment cleared his head and the fabric drifted across the warm air to settle behind him on the grassy slope of front lawn.
Good God Almighty.
In response to the spectacular sight of Noah’s sculpted, bare back, Zane stumbled. Forget Zane’s thought that the T-shirt had been too thin to conceal anything. This, this bare skin, the visible definition of spectacular muscles, had not been on display before. Zane gulped, and he stared. No one man should be so beautiful that he rendered straight guys—albeit this one inexperienced and a virgin—speechless.

“Zane?” Hailey tugged his hand. “Are you okay?”

Ripping his gaze away from the perfection that was Noah, Zane looked down at his sister’s puzzled expression.
Holy hell, I was staring like he was a model or something.
Shaking himself, Zane promised, “I’m fine.”

As Zane got his head back on straight and ran for the lake, getting closer to Noah and his shirtless chest with every step he took, Zane deep down feared he wasn’t fine. At least not in relation to his growing, perplexing attraction to Noah Maitland. He didn’t understand his responses to the man, or how to handle them, at all.

Then Zane’s brother and sister, happier and more exuberant than he’d seen them in ages, hit the water, shrieking with delight, and nothing else mattered.

* * * *

Hours later, as the sun began to fade over the lake, creating shimmers of soft light across the surface of the water, Noah held his hand extended to Zane, waiting for the guy to take it so Noah could hoist him to the dock.

Even with sunblock eventually having been applied, Zane still had a rosy hue to his skin, and Noah suspected he might have a sunburn by the time he hit the sheets tonight.
Good Christ.
Noah glanced at the kids trudging up the slope to the cabin, and he silently reminded himself not to put Zane in any scenarios that involved a bed or his body stripped of clothing. Not even in his imagination.

“If you don’t get out of the water soon,” Noah wiggled his fingers, but deliberately kept half his focus on the brood headed toward the cabin, “the kids are going to take that as a sign to raid the kitchen for food on their own.”

His eyes still half-closed, Zane floated near the dock on his back. “I don’t have enough food in the fridge to make that a compelling threat.”

Smiling for a moment, feeling fucking indulgent, Noah forced himself to rein in the ridiculous giddiness coursing through him—all as a result of the last two hours in the water spent in Zane’s company. “Doesn’t mean they can’t still make a huge mess.”

With a groan, Zane forced himself upright. “Good point. Okay.” He swam backstroke a dozen feet away, grabbed a few stray water darts, and handed them up to Noah. “Grab this stuff.”

After tossing the plastic toys into the pile with the others, Noah wrapped his hand around Zane’s forearm and hauled him out of the water. They both broke contact quickly; Zane rushed toward the cabin, and Noah was thankful for the reprieve. He quietly followed.

The temptation to touch Zane had simmered within Noah for much of the time they’d spent in the water. He could only attribute the presence of the kids for keeping their play light and innocent. Christ knew Noah had fought an insanely powerful urge to take Zane into his arms more than once. The hug they’d shared in the spare bedroom earlier remained front and center in Noah’s mind. Jesus God, the feel of Zane’s arms wrapped around him, the always surprising strength in his hold, the way his lips had brushed Noah’s nape when he’d spoken… Hell, that little accidental graze of lips against skin had given Noah far too much of a vision of what a kiss would feel like from that soft, sexy mouth. Fuck, even the way Zane had pressed his fingers to Noah’s lower back had pushed Noah’s thoughts toward reciprocating—but without a shirt between Noah’s fingertips and Zane’s skin.

Just then, in front of Noah, an “Oh fuck,” slipped from Zane’s lips. The man’s arms spun like propellers and he lost his footing on the damp grass covering the slope to the cabin. Zane toppled back into Noah, and together they
oomphed
as they lost control of their tangled limbs. Gravity forced them both backward, and Noah grabbed Zane just as they hit the ground. Noah slammed into the soft earth, with Zane on top of him. As they started to roll, Noah wrapped his arms around Zane, and Zane did the same to Noah. Their teeth and bones clattered and rang together in their rolling descent back to the dock.

Noah’s side made impact with the wood, and he grunted as a slice of pain ripped through his shoulder and hip. Zane thudded to a stop in a sprawl across Noah, making the air whoosh out of Noah’s lungs. A minute went by, and then two, where Zane lay pressed against Noah, and both men struggled to regain their breathing. Then Zane made a grunting noise and shifted to straddle Noah’s stomach. He braced himself on Noah’s chest with one hand, and, with a groan, he rubbed the back of his head. The sunset, full of pinks and oranges, set a beautiful backdrop for Zane, and Noah didn’t know where to land his gaze first. Then Zane’s palm slipped; his fingers grazed across Noah’s nipple, and everything around them ceased to exist.

Zane’s fingertips, brushing in innocence across Noah’s nipple, made the flesh twist; wonderful, powerful sensations shot straight through Noah’s body. In immediate response, Noah’s cock reared, suddenly full of delicious rigidity, and pushed toward his belly. Right near Zane’s ass.

Fuck.

Noah froze.

Chapter 5

On top of Noah, Zane shifted again, and a second rush of unbearably wonderful sensation zinged through Noah’s cock and pushed his shaft harder against his belly.
Good Christ.
If Noah were to shift his lower body just a hair, the fat head of his dick would push out from the waistband of his cargo shorts, visible for anyone to see. Noah gritted his teeth. Then again, much worse, if Zane moved his ass just one inch lower, his buttocks would brush against Noah’s cock, and Noah would lose control and spill himself faster than he had in twenty years. Noah looked up at Zane, into blue eyes he’d let himself get lost in too many times already, and his nuts pulled dangerously against his body.
What in the hell am I supposed to do?

Zane’s stare suddenly narrowed. “Noah, are you all right?” He rose up to his knees and started feeling all over Noah’s chest, stomach, and arms, sending Noah’s flesh into a fiery inferno. “Where are you hurt?”

Just as Zane pushed his hand toward Noah’s lower belly, Noah groaned and shoved the man off him. Rolling to his side, Noah grunted, “You were on my bladder,” shot to his feet, half hunched, and started to run. “I have to take a piss.”

Without looking back or apologizing for his rudeness, knowing he didn’t have a spare second, Noah stumbled for the cabin as fast as his state of arousal would let him. Once inside, he tore down the short hall, straight for the bathroom, and pushed his way inside. Sparing the quickest second to lock the door, Noah then shoved his damp cargo shorts and underwear down to his hips while moving to the toilet. With his cock already practically plastered to his stomach, Noah began jerking his length, and didn’t even let the sharp sting of pulling his shaft dry slow him down. His balls rolled in his sac. The veins shaping his cock quickly filled with even more blood, and Noah parted his lips to release a silent moan.

Feeling the endgame already upon him, Noah went to brace himself against the edge of the sink and instead his fingers twisted in a lump of fabric. As if he could feel Zane with him—his heat, his presence, in the room—Noah opened his eyes and zeroed in on the black T-shirt with the toaster design on it.
Zane’s T-shirt.
Noah remembered the guy wearing it the other day. Noah crushed the T-shirt in his hand, brought it up to his face, and buried his nose in the material. Zane’s musky yet sweet scent filled Noah’s being. His essence mainlined straight to Noah’s cock, feeding his ever-growing fantasies. Suddenly Noah no longer jerked on his own cock. In his mind, Noah now felt Zane standing behind him. Zane now held Noah around the waist, keeping them close. He stroked Noah’s cock for him, and whispered dirty words about Noah’s big dick and needing to see him come.