Courage and Comfort (2 page)

Silently, he followed the
ocean floor, looking for rocks, pebbles, anything that might be an Aquamarine.
But all he could see was sand, the occasional shell, and a bit of seaweed here
and there. He let the air dribble out of his mouth very slowly as he swum up
and down, but he finally needed to return to the top for another breath.

For what seemed like hours—although
was likely less than half of one—he swam up and down, searching until his legs
and lungs ached. Finally he caught Edmund’s attention and gestured to the
sandbar. Utah really needed a rest. He simply wasn’t as good a swimmer as
Edmund.

Edmund nodded and pointed
down again, indicating he would keep searching.

Utah gave Edmund a thumbs-up,
then swam over to the sandbar and floated across it until he reached a high
point where he could sit with his head out of the water. Gratefully, he sank
onto his haunches, then onto his ass, letting his aching legs stretch and float
in the shallow water. He looked at the sky, resting his arms behind him,
filling his lungs with clean air and his face with sunlight.

This was a beautiful place.
The air was so crisp and clean, with a delicious salty tang to it, that every
breath was like savoring a tasty meal. The beach was a mile of pristine sand,
the water was clear, and the deep blue of the sea met the brighter blue of the
horizon in a line far out in the distance. Even the rock cliff at the end of
the beach was a stunning sight of colorful layers—reds, ochers, browns—and
interesting shapes where the cliff had been eroded by the water over millennia.
If he wasn’t here on a quest for the Aquamarine, he’d be more than happy to
just sit and fill his eyes with nature’s wonders for hours on end.

Of course, the most
interesting shape of all was the sleek black form of Edmund, slowly swimming up
and down near the edge of the sandbar. The man was beautiful too. Kind of like
an aquamarine even, with his pale skin, blond hair, and light blue eyes. They’d
been together for over two years now, and Utah had known the instant they’d met
they were right for each other.

Utah sat a little straighter
and moved one arm from behind him to his lap, sliding his hand inside his
swimwear to tug on his cock under the water. He smiled to himself. Two years into
the relationship, and his dick still became hard the moment he thought of Edmund.
They fit together like two parts of a whole. He liked to plan things carefully,
to know exactly what would happen and when. He liked certainty, logic, reason,
likely because of his mathematical background. Numbers were easy to explain.

Edmund was more relaxed. He’d
drop everything if a new project attracted his attention. It’d been Edmund who’d
encouraged Utah to move into a condo together, then to quit their jobs and
start a do-it-yourself kit-building business together.

Inside, Utah’s orderly mind
had been almost panicking over that move, but they’d never had a moment’s
problem with the business. Their skills meshed completely—
his
own
anal, mathematical, business-focused background, and Edmund’s
people-focused, customer-driven attitude. Although many businesses failed in
their first year, theirs was growing steadily.

It had been a major help in
this time of crisis with John’s death too, as they’d been able to continue
running the business while spending many hours with Mavis. Their long-suffering
office manager, Jayne, dealt with the hundreds of e-mails they sent her at all
hours of the day and night, forwarding them only messages that need their
personal attention and dealing with all the day-to-day details in her simple,
no-nonsense way.

Utah thought of Edmund’s
long, lean figure in his bed.
Edmund’s pale skin contrasting
so sexily with his dark tones.
Edmund’s pale pink ass
upturned, open, waiting for his cock to plunge deep inside.
Edmund’s tongue tangling with his.

Whoever it was who’d said a
man couldn’t jack off in water didn’t know what they were talking about. Utah
was tugging hard on his cock now. His dick was full of cum, aching, engorged, and
his balls were drawn up tight against his body. His dick was harder than a
spike, and he was so close. So very close.

Utah pictured Edmund as he’d
been in their bed last night, his blond hair sweaty after a marathon sex
session, his dick still half-hard despite having come twice. He saw himself
flipping Edmund over and driving his own dick deep into the welcoming heat of
Edmund’s dark channel, his hands pulling on Edmund’s cock, his teeth biting
down on that sensitive place where Edmund’s neck and shoulder joined together. Cum
roared up his cock and spurted into the water. Utah groaned as he pulled on his
shaft again, releasing another jet of seed, and another. Finally he leaned
back, breathing
hard,
Edmund’s face still the center
of his mind.

Almost as if Edmund sensed
what Utah had been doing, he rose out of the water just then and walked across
the sandbar to sit by Utah. “This might take longer than I thought,” Edmund
said.

Utah slowly slid the zipper
down Edmund’s wetsuit, keeping his eyes fixed on Edmund’s face. “Let me just
have a snack while you catch your breath.”

“A snack, huh?”

He reached in and released
Edmund’s cock from the boy-shorts swimwear he had on under the wetsuit. “Yeah,
I want a taste of you.”

“Only
a taste?”
Edmund’s voice was hoarse.

Their positions weren’t ideal
as the dick was underwater, but to stand up would be to risk an observer seeing
exactly what was happening. While they were seated, a watcher might wonder,
even guess, but they’d never be sure. Utah bent down and sucked Edmund’s dick
into his mouth. Next, he pulled Edmund’s ass onto his own thighs, raising him a
little higher so the tip of his cock was out of the water. “That’s better. I
can breathe and suck at the same time now.” He lowered his head once more, and sucked
Edmund’s yummy cock into his mouth. Utah used his other hand to cup Edmund’s
balls. Not only was his partner’s cock huge and engorged, his balls were hard
and tight. This wasn’t going to take long. Edmund was every bit as aroused as
Utah was. Doing something as naughty as this on a public beach was one hell of
an aphrodisiac. No one was in their immediate vicinity, but the risk of being
caught was still very real.

Utah sucked hard, hollowing
his cheeks, stroking Edmund’s balls and the root of the shaft while sucking the
tip. He let the cock out of his mouth a little way,
then
scraped his teeth over the soft cockhead and down the shaft along the big vein.
He made sure his touch was hard enough to arouse but not enough to hurt. Edmund’s
heavy breathing told him he was successful.

Once again he sucked the dick
into his mouth, taking as much of it as he could,
then
humming. This was one of his favorite tricks and never failed to win an instant
response from Edmund. Once again it worked. Edmund’s dick twitched in his
mouth, then a jet of cum shot out and hit the back of his throat. Quickly, Utah
sucked again before releasing the shaft a little way and swallowing Edmund’s
essence. He continued to roll Edmund’s balls, knowing how much the man loved
that, his touch firm but not harsh, just how Edmund liked it best.

“Shit. Zero to one hundred in
ten seconds,” Edmund gasped.

“Yeah, well, it’s been a
while since we had a quickie. We can go
slow
tonight.
I have an urge to spank that pale ass of yours. It looks mighty pretty when it’s
all pink.” Edmund’s dick stood up again at Utah’s words, and both men laughed.
Regretfully Utah tucked it back inside Edmund’s swimwear and zipped up the
front of the wetsuit. “Pink from spanking is fine.
Pink from
sunburn, not so much.”

They both laughed and rested
companionably together, watching a few windsurfers out in deeper water, then
turning to look back at the beach and the swimmers in the shallower water. “It’s
really peaceful here. There’s no one nearby at all. I’d like to come here again
some time for a vacation, when we could just relax.” Utah sighed.

“Let’s do that. We could even
bring Mavis and the baby. Maybe rent a house for a week or something.”

“But first we need to find
this damn Aquamarine,” Utah said, standing up again.

Chapter
Three

All afternoon they searched
for the stone, following the edge of the sandbar, moving across the direct line
from the cliff wall, gradually extending their boundaries, then coming back to
search again over the same areas.

“Do you think we should hire
a scuba-diving kit tomorrow so we can stay down longer, maybe even dig up the
sand some, to check deeper?” Utah asked that night as they rested in their hotel
room.

“I don’t know. I feel so
helpless, so confused. Do you think we can’t see it because I don’t want to
find it enough?
Because I’m a bit skeptical?
I do want
Mavis to reclaim her life, I truly do. I know it’s much too soon for her to
stop mourning John. I know he’ll always be a part of her, and that she’ll
always miss him. I just want her to be able to care properly for the baby and
to look forward and make a future for John Jr.” Edmund could hear the sadness
and desperation in his own voice and was glad no one but Utah could hear him.
He didn’t mind baring his soul to his partner, but he sure as hell didn’t want
anyone else to know how hard this situation had hit him, how terribly impotent
he felt about it all.

“If we needed to hire
equipment or dig, AJ would have told us. What she said was to swim out to the
spot and it would call to you. She did say we needed to be together. Do you
think she meant like, side by side, not just both looking?” Utah replied.

Edmund felt a flicker of hope
spark inside him. “Yes, she did say our being
lovers was
important. That’s why she couldn’t go get it herself. Let’s try that tomorrow,
then. Stay close together and look again. If that doesn’t work….” The flicker
of hope almost died, and he swallowed a lump that had suddenly appeared in his
throat.

“If we don’t find it
tomorrow, we’ll hire the scuba gear. We will succeed,” Utah said firmly.

Damn
I love that man so much.
Utah was like a solid rock Edmund
could lean on.
“Deal.”
Edmund smiled at Utah, and Utah
opened his arms and pulled Edmund into them. “I think we need to go to bed. It’s
time for me to love you properly.”

Edmund lifted his face and
kissed Utah, pouring his need and love into the kiss. First it was a sweet
touching of lips, but then it deepened until he let himself drown in Utah,
giving and receiving all the passion deep inside him. He hoped Utah understood
just how much he was loved, appreciated, cherished, and also how his simply
being there strengthened Edmund in his resolve to help Mavis and the baby.

When they broke the kiss,
Utah pulled Edmund to his feet, wrapped an arm over his shoulders, and turned them
both to the bed. They were so attuned to each other, they undressed and climbed
into bed almost matching each other move for move. But then Utah rolled Edmund
onto his front and straddled Edmund’s hips. Placing his hands on Edmund’s
shoulders, Utah said, “You’re all knotted up with tension. Let’s start by
loosening your muscles up some.” He proceeded to dig his thumbs deep into
Edmund’s shoulders.

Edmund let his face sink into
the pillow and tried to relax. He hadn’t realized how tense he was. Yes, his
shoulders and back
were
knotted and
achy. It was obvious now that Utah had pointed it out to him. And oh, that
massage did feel good, Utah’s strong fingers pressing deep into Edmund’s back
and working on the tense muscles. He sighed contentedly and relaxed further,
letting his whole body sink into the mattress, while his mind drifted over
pleasing images of Utah lying naked on a towel, every inch of his muscular body
on display. Edmund was just about to lick Utah’s nipples—in his imagination—when
a hard slap on his ass startled him out of his reverie.

“Hey, don’t go to sleep on me
here!”

“Actually, sleeping wasn’t
what I had in mind for us to do.”

“Good. Because it sure as
hell isn’t what I’d planned either.”

“
Ahh
,
that feels so much better. You’re very good with your hands.” Edmund flexed his
muscles, rolling his shoulders and stretching his back.

“And
about to get better.”
Utah slid off Edmund’s hips,
slapping Edmund’s ass again as he moved.

Edmund flipped over onto his
back and parted his legs, planting his feet flat on the mattress. Immediately
his cock stood straight up from its nest of pale blond curls. Edmund hid a grin
as he watched Utah’s gaze fix on his cock. Then Utah licked his lips very slowly,
and Edmund felt his own balls tighten.
Damn,
the man’s sexy
. It was hard to tell who was arousing whom here.

“Lube,” Utah gasped, rolling
over to the nightstand and almost pulling the drawer off its tracks in his
haste to grab the jar.

Edmund grinned and watched
Utah search madly though the few things in the drawer. The lube jar dropped on
the bed, its top wrenched off and sent flying as Utah’s fingers dived into the
cream. Teasingly, Edmund raised his ass, joining his hands together under his
knees to expose himself to his partner.