Fearless (Pier 70 #2) (14 page)

Fifteen

Tuesday, May 31
st

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 figured 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.

“Did you know we can get our teeth whitened, our faces injected with poison,
and
a haircut, without ever leaving the ship?”

No, he had not known that. Not sure he’d needed to, either. While Dare flipped the page in the book, Noah set the bag of food down beside him. Without getting up, Dare managed to retrieve one of the sausage biscuits from inside and unwrapped it, still staring at the book on the bed.

“Or we could learn how to fold napkins, take dance classes, and even learn a language.” Dare looked up. “Who comes up with this shit?”

Noah shrugged. “I’ve always dreamed about folding napkins.”

Dare narrowed his eyes, his mouth full of biscuit. “Really?”

Laughing, he shook his head. “I was thinking we could do the zip line and the surf simulator. But, you know, if the napkin folding has always been
your
dream…”

Dare stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and sat up. He chewed quickly, then uncapped the bottle of water Noah had brought for him and drank half.

Noah’s gaze traveled the length of Dare’s long neck, watching as he swallowed. Somehow Dare even made drinking water sexy.

“Nah. I’m good with those.” Dare glanced back at the book, turned the page. “However, a massage doesn’t sound all that bad.”

It really didn’t.

“We’ve still got a few more days on the ship.” Noah wasn’t sure when he’d started thinking of this as their vacation, but he did. He found himself planning out things they could do already, and he knew he had to rein it in.

“True.” Dare got to his feet and grabbed a T-shirt. “But simulated surfing and zip-lining it is.” Dare pulled his shirt over his head, cutting off the delicious view Noah had had. Dare met his gaze. “Wanna make this interesting?”

Noah’s dick twitched at the idea. It was a good thing he’d spent ten minutes with his hand already that morning or he might’ve been in a world of hurt. “What did you have in mind?”

Dare shrugged, then grabbed the water bottle as he pushed his feet into his flip-flops. “Not sure yet. Let me think on that.”

Noah had a few things in mind, but he decided against sharing them. No sense in getting himself in more trouble than he already was.

Before Hudson had opened his eyes this morning, he’d known something had happened last night. Something that would change the course of this trip. Something that could ultimately affect him for days, even months to come.

He’d woken up alone.

Granted, that wasn’t the problem. He’d woken up alone every day for the past couple of years without issue. He chose not to have overnight guests because he didn’t particularly care to put himself in that position. But it wasn’t the lack of a man in
his
bed that was the issue.

It was the lack of a man in the
other
bed.

The problem was the fact that AJ was supposed to be in the same cabin as him, yet he hadn’t slept in the other bed last night, and that could only mean…

Hudson didn’t know what it meant, but he had a pretty damn good idea.

Since AJ was a big boy and he could take care of himself, Hudson wasn’t worried about him. However, he was worried about the messes that AJ seemed to get himself into. Since he’d had his eye on Milly from the moment he’d seen her, Hudson had to assume that he’d spent the night with her. Last night, when they’d all been at the adult pool, he had personally witnessed AJ and Milly getting a little cozy. It only made sense that they would’ve spent more time together, which had probably led to…