Barging In (27 page)

Dan saw the platform guard approaching and tried to school himself into a respectable pose. It wasn’t easy, what with Robin’s hands clutching his rear.

“All right, lads, that’s enough. Move it along, please.”

“Sorry,” Robin said. He didn’t look very sorry, and he gave Dan’s arse a good squeeze before finally letting go. “We’ll ‘move it along’ somewhere else, shall we?” He winked, looking more roguish than Dan had ever seen him before. “I know where we can go.”

They cycled along the towpath until they reached a white metal gate. Dan remembered seeing a park beyond it but had never ventured inside. Now Robin led the way through the gate and into the gloaming. He followed, his headlight picking out the reflective panels on Robin’s bike. They hadn’t gone far before Robin told him to stop and propped his bike up against the back of a bench.

Dan let himself be pulled by the hand into the dark under a low-spreading tree. Branches snagged on his hair as Robin spun him around and slammed him into the trunk. The air rushed out of him, and he gasped as he felt a sharp nip on his neck.

“Now, where were we?” Robin asked.

It didn’t seem like Robin needed an answer, though, as he picked up where they’d left off. His tongue invaded Dan’s mouth as if claiming it. The heat of his desire was plain in every movement, every groan, every thrust. Dan felt it deep in his marrow, the yearning that had been building for the past fortnight cresting high inside him.

Robin’s erection ground against his own, the layers of fabric accentuating the friction. It was delicious. Just this. Nothing more than the overwhelming presence of Robin pressed up against his body, the scent of him sharp in Dan’s nostrils, the taste of him hot on his tongue. Dan’s skin was hypersensitive, registering every scrape of stubble on his chin, every breath ghosting over his cheeks.

“Fuck!” Dan gasped as Robin broke the kiss. “You’re gonna make me come in my pants if you’re not careful.”

“That’s the idea.” Robin’s voice rasped, thrilling through Dan’s body.

It was like Robin gave him permission to take what he needed. After all these years of trying to be a fantastic lover, of holding back and making it last. Of trying to impress yet another random stranger with his technique. With Robin he didn’t need to do anything other than feel and enjoy it. Dan’s lust spiked high, and his balls began to ache. He rutted hard against Robin, trying to relieve his need even as the teeth on his neck made it surge higher.

Dan felt Robin’s hands clutching at his buttocks and lifting him up, increasing the exquisite friction. Between those bruising, grasping fingers and that sucking, biting mouth, he was undone. His breath came in ragged gasps as his desire peaked in a flood of sensation. He bucked his hips, almost knocking Robin over with the force of his orgasm, then was slammed back against the tree as he rode out the waves.

“Robin!” he called, his voice hoarse.

Robin grunted in response, and then he too was jerking his hips hard, thrusting against Dan’s body and biting down on his neck. As their shudders subsided, Dan started to laugh, the sound breathless and startling.

“Been a good few years since I’ve done that,” Dan said.

“Yeah, me too. How long?”

“Dunno. Since I was a teenager, I reckon. Tell you what, two weeks is probably the longest I’ve gone without a shag since then as well.” But Dan knew that wasn’t the only reason he’d come so fast from just a kiss and a frot. It was being with Robin again. The sheer intensity of the way Robin made him feel. He wanted to put a word to it, but the only one that came to mind was too frightening. “That was…intense.”

“Worth waiting for?”

“Oh yeah.” Dan felt his chin being lifted and a lazy kiss pressed to his lips. He shifted his hips, uncomfortably aware that the mess in his pants was going to get chilly before long. “We’re going to have to go back to yours to get changed now.”

“No need. I’ve got a couple of hankies.”

“That’s not going to deal with two weeks’ worth of spunk. And my undies will still be wet. And we’ll stink of sex.”

“Like anyone’s going to notice over the incense and burnt nut roast,” Robin said, sliding a hand down the back of Dan’s jeans and plucking at the undies in question. “If you’re that bothered, stop being such a wuss and take them off.”

“Oi, watch it! You’re giving me a wedgie.”

With hindsight, it probably did sound like a challenge, but by then it was too late and they’d collapsed on the ground in a sniggering tussle.

“You’re late. I hope you have a good excuse.” Mel leaned out of the door to brandish a kitchen knife at Robin as he climbed onto
Galadriel
’s deck.

“The best,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “That’s not burning I can smell, is it?”

“Bollocks!” She turned back to the stove and gave something ominous-looking a stir.

Robin started to wish they’d eaten something before coming. Mel’s cooking was a pot-luck affair at best, and this didn’t look like one of her more palatable efforts. Maybe she’d been distracted by the bloke sitting in the saloon.

Robin sidestepped around Mel and figured he would have to introduce himself. Sparky looked like he’d walked straight out of some 1980s punk band, right down to the safety pins through his ear, studded leather wristbands and the bright pink Mohican. He was smiling—perhaps just a little too brightly—and seemed to find it hard to make eye contact. God, he’d better not be freaked out by Dan. There wasn’t any subtle way of asking Dan to tone it down now they were inside the tiny boat.

“Hi, I’m Robin.” He held out his hand.

“Sparky,” the punk replied, taking Robin’s hand and shaking it briefly. But his voice sounded warm enough, so maybe it was just nerves.

“This is Dan. My…uh…boyfriend.” When was he going to get used to saying that? Hopefully never. He loved the butterflies it gave him every time he used the word. He wasn’t quite so keen on the flush of heat, though, and began stripping off layers and trying to work out where they were all going to sit. He had to move a bag of knitting and a heap of water-damaged anatomy textbooks to make space for him and Dan on the beanbag. It would be intimate, but as the only other space was the sofa, he figured he’d rather squish up with his boyfriend than with Sparky. Dan was considerably less likely to accidentally spike him with dangerous bits of jewelry, for a start.

Sparky didn’t speak much during the meal, but with Dan and Mel rabbiting on, it wasn’t like anyone else had a chance to get a word in. Robin concentrated on balancing his plate on his lap when Dan seemed to be doing his best to climb on there as well, and trying not to accidentally knock knees with Sparky.

“So, are you a writer or something?” Sparky asked Dan when there was a gap in the conversation.

“Yep. Travel writer, and it’s really not as glamorous as it sounds. Robin will vouch for that, won’t you?”

Would he? Dan had mentioned roach-infested hotels and bouts of food poisoning, but it wasn’t like Robin had been along to see it firsthand. All he really knew was that it was one of those jobs that threatened to take Dan away from him at unpredictable intervals. He gave a noncommittal grunt in reply.

“Actually, I need to fess up, hon.” Dan turned to him, dislodging the plate at long last. Robin made only a halfhearted attempt to catch it. No one was going to expect him to eat the last bits now they’d been on Mel’s floor. “Ooops! Sorry ’bout that. Anyway, I’ve been asked to go and cover a gay resort holiday in January. It’s a bit last minute, I know, but I’ve written for
Attitude
before, and the guy who was meant to be going has gone and broken his leg skiing. D’you want to come to Gran Canaria with me? They usually provide an extra-cheap ticket for partners.”

Dan gave him such an appealing smile, and the feel of his body pressed up close was so distracting that it took Robin a moment to process what he was saying.

“You’re going away in January? How long for?”

Dan looked shifty. “Don’t be mad, okay, but Tony reckons he can get me a Rough Guide gig as well, photographs and checking out places for their updated guide book. I’ll be out there for a month. But like I said,” he added hastily, “you can come too.”

“A whole month?” It felt like the bottom had just dropped out of Robin’s world. “I can’t leave
Serendipity
for a whole month. Not in the middle of winter.”

“Why not?”

Robin looked over to Mel and Sparky for support. Neither of them seemed to want to meet his eyes. He sighed. There was just so much Dan didn’t understand about boats and boaters. He tried to explain about ice damaging pipes and the potential for the bilges to overflow if they weren’t regularly pumped out. Dan’s eyes glazed over, brightening only when he mentioned leaky prop shafts. Robin refused to be distracted by smutty innuendo.

“Then there’s the need to keep moving. And there’s Morris. I can’t do it.”

“Surely someone else could keep an eye on Morris and the boat for you?”

Now Mel and Sparky were studiously avoiding Dan’s imploring gaze.

Something else occurred to Robin. “Did you say it was a gay resort?”

Dan gave an impish grin. “Yep. Great fun. Well, they are if you’re single, anyway. Or there as a couple, I expect.”

“I’m not going to a gay resort. No way.” He shuddered. It would be full of guys like Jamie. Guys like Dan used to be before they got together. Or maybe like Dan still was when he wasn’t with him. The thought stabbed him in the gut, and bile rose hot and bitter in his throat.

“We’ll talk about it later, okay?” Dan said, squeezing his shoulder.

Robin just nodded, and everyone seemed relieved when Mel brought out a pack of cards and set up a tiny, rickety table between them. No one seemed to notice that he didn’t say anything more than the bare minimum after that. No one except Dan, who kept trying to make eye contact.

Robin glared at his cards.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“’Ello, love. What’s all this about? Not like you to phone on a Friday evening.”

It wasn’t, and Dan felt distinctly guilty about interrupting her favourite telly night, but he couldn’t lie to his mum. “I know. It’s just, I’m not going to be able to make it on Sunday, so I wanted to give you notice. I know Chantal’s expecting me.” He’d promised to take his favourite niece to the zoo next time he had a free Sunday.

“You’re gonna break that little girl’s heart, you know. It’s all she’s been on about for the last fortnight.”

Could she make him feel any worse than he already was? “I know, I know, and I’m sorry. But I’ve been given a really good commission. I can’t turn it down. You understand, don’t you?”

She sniffed, and the noise of the television suddenly ceased. “All I know is, we’ve hardly seen ’ide nor ’air of you for the last month. Family’s more important than your career, love. You should know that.”

Dan deserved the guilt pooling heavy inside him.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy, but it’s not all been work, I promise.” He took a deep breath. He’d been avoiding telling her about Robin because he wasn’t sure how to describe this thing they had going on. Truth was, he’d wanted to wait until he was sure he wouldn’t just mess it all up by going back to his old ways, because disappointing his mum always made Dan want to crawl away and die of shame. “I’ve met this bloke. A boater. Robin, his name is. I think you’d really like him.”

There, it was out in the open now.

“Are you sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’?”

“If you think I’m saying that I’m seeing someone, then yes.”

“Like, a proper boyfriend? Oh love, that’s smashing.” That was better. Her usual warmth was back in spades. “Tell me all about ’im. Did you meet on that boat holiday? I thought you seemed a bit bloody mysterious when I asked you about it.”

“That’s right. I’ve been going back there whenever I can. It’s… It’s early days yet, but I think this might be something.”

“You don’t know how ’appy I am to hear you say that. My little boy, fallen in love at last!”

“Mum! We’re not ‘in love’. It’s just… I dunno. We’re just seeing what happens, okay?”

“Whatever you say, poppet. So go on, what’s this Robin fella like? Good lookin’, I s’pose, knowing you.”

“I hope you’re not saying I’m shallow.”

His mum giggled. “I just know you’ve got a keen eye, even as a littl’un. Always noticed the way you perked up when an attractive fella came on the screen.”

Yep, that sounded about right. His mum may have dropped out of school pregnant at age fifteen, but she’d always been an acute observer of people.

“He’s tanned and fit. Amazing body. All natural, not like he’s all pumped up on steroids either. Umm, what else? Tattoos and piercings, could do with a complete wardrobe overhaul. I’m gonna have to say tall, dark and handsome, even if he’s only tall compared to me. Gorgeous dark blue eyes. Sound good to you?”

“Sounds lovely. But what’s he really like? D’you get on well?”

“Oh yeah. Really well. We have great fun, and he’s kind and thoughtful, even if he doesn’t like people to notice. I mean, he can get moody, and I don’t always know what he’s thinking. Last time I saw him, he tried to pay me back for some stuff I’d bought him and got really grumpy when I wouldn’t take the money. Couldn’t figure out why, because he wouldn’t talk about it. And there’s other stuff he won’t explain…” He trailed off, thinking of Robin’s point-blank refusal to come with him to Gran Canaria.

“Is something the matter, love? You know these relationship thingies take some work, but it’s well worth puttin’ in the effort.”

“Yeah. I dunno. I can’t really figure him out, to be honest. He’s had a really messed-up past, a junkie boyfriend who cheated on him and then killed himself, but I don’t know… It’s like he’s scared of being gay. I asked him to come out to a gay resort with me. Thought it could be a holiday for us both while I get paid to write it up, but he won’t even consider it.”

She made sympathetic noises. “I always thought they sounded like abominable places, and I
know
you only gave me the edited ’ighlights. God knows what you really got up to. Different man every night, knowing you.”