Nobody's Son (12 page)

He’d gotten up early to swim before work, knowing the pool would likely be deserted. Maybe swimming alone wasn’t the best idea, but the lap pool was only four feet deep, and he’d stayed near the wall as an extra precaution. He managed two full laps of the pool, which was half regulation length, so that meant 100 yards before he pulled up at the edge to take a break.

“Man, that’s hard work,” he muttered.

“You’ll get used to it.”

Shaun jerked his head up to find Con sitting on the edge of one of the lounge chairs a few feet away, grinning at him.

“Having a nice swim?”

Shaun folded his arms on the side of the pool and rested his chin on his hands. “Probably not the smoothest one in history,” he conceded. “But yeah. I’m enjoying it. Maybe someday I’ll actually be able to finish a lap in less than ten minutes.”

“Hey, you’re swimming.” Con leaned forward, still smiling. “That’s a huge step for anyone, at any age. No one expects you to turn into Michael Phelps or Ian Thorpe overnight. Or ever, for that matter.”

Shaun raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like I’m not the only one who kept an eye on the swim team.”

Con’s smile turned sheepish. “Well, can you blame me? Sleek, muscular bodies in tiny little Speedos? Kind of have to be blind to miss that.” He laughed. “Or straight, I guess.”

Shaun grinned. “A fate worse than death.” He dipped his head below the water’s surface and then lifted it back up. “You comin’ in?”

In response, Con kicked off his flip-flops and reached for the hem of his T-shirt. Shaun watched as he stripped the shirt up and off, muscles playing beneath his skin. Con stood, took the few steps to the edge of the pool, then executed a smooth, shallow dive just behind Shaun, the water barely rippling in his wake. Shaun waited for him to surface and turn in Shaun’s direction before he spoke.

“Show-off.”

Con’s eyes widened, and then he dove toward Shaun. “I’ll show you showing off,” he growled. He wrapped an arm around Shaun’s shoulders and tipped him back against Con’s broad chest. Holding him in place, Con struck out with his other arm, both legs kicking, and swam toward the far end of the pool.

Shaun’s instinct was to fight, but after a second, he relaxed and let it happen. He tried to ignore the way his body stirred, from the combination of Con’s display of strength and the feel of his body so close, but he was glad Con held him back to front and not the other way around.

Con pulled up at the wall a few long moments later, but he didn’t let go of Shaun. He drew him in closer, sliding his big hand across Shaun’s chest, and spoke into Shaun’s ear. “Is that enough showing off for you?” he murmured. “’Cause I got a whole lot more tricks up my sleeve.”

He pressed his lips against the sensitive skin behind Shaun’s ear, and there was no way Shaun could ignore his body then. “Dammit,” he rasped. “You know I can’t get out of the pool now, right?”

Con chuckled and closed his teeth lightly around Shaun’s earlobe for a second. “No one here but us,” he pointed out. “We could lose the suits, and no one would know. Or care if they did.”

Shaun groaned deep in his chest. “They’d notice when I didn’t show up for work.”

Shaun felt the rumble in Con’s chest. “Damn day jobs. Gotta take all the fun out of everything.”

He backed off, though he stayed close by. “You have time for a few more laps?”

Shaun lowered himself until everything from his chin down was covered by the water. “I set an alarm so I’d know when I needed to get dried off and changed. I should have about fifteen minutes left.”

“All right. Let’s give it a whirl.”

He moved to the edge of the pool, and Shaun followed, setting up in the next lane. The bottom of the pool had lane markers painted on it, but the pool was used for general swimming too much of the time to justify floating dividers for the surface.

“Ready when you are.”

Con grinned. “Not racing. Just go.”

He pushed off the wall, powerful legs propelling him through the water, and Shaun hurriedly followed suit, knowing he’d never catch up. He forced himself to settle into his own rhythm—
stroke stroke stroke breath
, lather rinse repeat. When he touched the far wall, he turned and headed the other way. Maybe eventually he’d learn how to turn underwater and push himself off, but for now, he was thrilled just to be able to do a basic crawl stroke.

He’d made it five lengths of the pool, only needing to stop to take a few extra deep breaths twice, before his arms and legs told him he’d better take a break. He made a final push until his fingers hit the wall and then pulled himself up, hooking both forearms over the wall and tipping his head back, eyes closed against the sun.

“Hey, Thorpedo!”

Shaun glanced over his shoulder to find Con smiling at him as he paddled his direction from the far end of the pool, keeping his head above water. “You’re getting the hang of that,” he said. “Some kinda natural or something. Another few weeks and we’ll have Olympic team recruiters lurking.”

Shaun snorted and went back to basking. “If they’re looking around here, they’re a lot harder up than I think they are.”

Just like that, Con had himself wrapped around Shaun from behind again. “Plenty of
hard
things
up
around here, but none of them have to do with Olympic teams. Unless they go back to the whole naked-athletes thing.”

Shaun shivered and let out a laugh. “That’s not exactly helping with the having to go back to work, y’know.”

As if on cue, Shaun’s phone began to trill from the table nearby where he’d left it with his towel. Con sighed and pressed one kiss to side of Shaun’s neck before letting him go.

“Duty calls,” he said. “Don’t want to make you late and tick off the boss.”

They both knew the boss would probably encourage anything the two of them might do together, no matter how late it made Shaun for work, but they also knew neither of them would take advantage like that. Shaun sloshed over to the ladder and climbed out, ignoring the teasing whistle Con gave as he walked over to grab his towel.

“I’m gonna hang here a while longer,” Con said while Shaun dried off. “I have to head back to Nashville tomorrow morning for a couple days, but I should have the security system done before I leave tonight.”

“Great.” Shaun flashed him a smile. “The new computer’s already awesome, and I know Jimmy’s relieved that everything gets backed up automatically now.”

Con snorted. “Can’t believe he’d left it for so long. But yeah, it’s a good thing. And once the security’s up and running, that’ll be good too. Then it’s just upgrading the Wi-Fi for the cabins, and you’ll be all set.”

And you won’t have a reason to be here anymore.

The realization hit Shaun like a bucket of cold water. In another couple of weeks, once Con finished the work Jimmy had hired him to do, he wouldn’t need to stay at the resort. He’d be off in Atlanta, working for other clients and building his life there. Presumably going out, too, where he’d find plenty of openly gay men who’d be more than happy to spend time with someone as gorgeous as Con.

I can’t deal with this.
Shaun’s mind shut down, and he wrapped the towel around his waist and forced a smile.

“That’ll be great,” he said, picking up his phone. “If I don’t see you before you go, have a good weekend.”

He headed inside, the blast of cold air when he stepped into the lobby sending him into shivers. Teeth chattering, he grabbed his backpack and hurried down the hallway to the restroom, where he closed himself in and changed into his work clothes as quickly as he could. He hung the towel and his swimsuit over the door of the small shower that rarely got used and paused to force himself to
breathe, dammit
.

Too much. He needed a break from life, and he didn’t see an opening anywhere. He’d have to power through.

After grabbing up his backpack, he unlocked the door and headed to work.

SHAUN DIDN’T
see Con again until a half hour before his shift ended. Jimmy made an appearance shortly after lunchtime, shuffling into the lobby looking like death warmed over.

“Thanks for covering last night.” He didn’t sound like his usual jovial self at all, voice thin and reedy. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Not a problem.” Shaun gave him a smile. “Sorry you’re feeling so awful.”

“Think the worst is over,” Jimmy said. “Haven’t tossed my cookies since about one this morning, and I think I’ve kept down a whole bottle of Gatorade since then.”

Shaun winced in sympathy. “The other guys are still okay?”

“Yeah. They haven’t had any issues at all, but I started upchucking about two minutes after we got home. Don’t know if it’s food poisoning or if I developed a sudden allergy to something. I
can
tell you it’ll be a long time before I want to go near Chinese food again.”

“I can imagine.” Just talking about what Jimmy had been through was enough to make his stomach rebel. “So.” He shifted the subject away from all that. “Do you need anything? More Gatorade? I can run down to the QuikTrip and bring some back before I head home.”

“You’re sweet to ask,” Jimmy said with a wan smile. “But Mikey went out and got stuff late yesterday.” He snickered. “Turns out young Mr. O’Malley isn’t good dealing with puke. Has a tendency to bring the same out in him.”

“Ahhh.” Shaun nodded. “So Cory played nursemaid while Mikey ran errands?”

“Exactly.” Jimmy yawned. “Oh man. Sorry about that. Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“You should get back to it,” Shaun said. “I’ve got things under control here, and Phillip will be here in a while. We’ll take care of everything. Okay?”

Jimmy nodded and smiled sleepily. “Okay. See you in the morning?”

“I’ll be here.” He watched as Jimmy made his way back out the side door, feeling sorry for what he’d gone through but equally glad it wasn’t him. He’d had food poisoning like that a time or two, and he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy.

Well, maybe his very worst enemy, but they’d have to have done something awful to deserve it.

He went back to work, closing out the receipts for the night before and checking in one more pair of guests before Con bounded in through the front door of the lobby at three thirty. He was covered in dust and sweat, but even so he looked good enough to eat.

“Hey!” he exclaimed. “You busy after work?”

Con radiated excitement, practically bouncing on his toes, and just that started cracking through the walls Shaun had tried to erect.

“What’d you have in mind?”

“I saw Mikey a little while ago, and he said there’s one of those little fairs set up down near Commerce. A little early in September for fall-festival time, but it’s open ’til ten tonight. Thought maybe you’d want to go make yourself sick on the Tilt-A-Whirl.”

Shaun winced, the memory of his conversation with Jimmy still fresh. “Maybe without the making myself sick part.”

Con laughed and winked. “Yeah, probably good to avoid that. But carnival rides and junk food? That we can do. You in?”

Shaun’s reservations fell away. He needed a break—even one that included one of the reasons he needed it—but even more than that, he just couldn’t resist that little-boy grin.

“I’ll call Gran.”

THE SMELLS
of grease and sugar combined with the garish flash of neon lights to assault Shaun’s senses as he climbed out of Con’s car. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been to one of these little carnivals. He’d been spending most of his time in the city until he started working at the resort, and there just weren’t the wide-open spaces in town like this for them to set up.

“So what’s your midway poison?” Con gave him a grin and headed toward the carnival. “Funnel cake? Candy apples? Cotton candy?”

“Chili dog and a caramel apple,” Shaun replied, his stomach growling and his mouth watering at the thought. He’d probably regret both tomorrow, but it would so be worth it.

“Mmm, I think we can manage that.” Con pointed. “Hot dogs and fries there, unless you want to eat your dessert first?”

Shaun laughed. “I’m pretty sure we should decide if we want to ride anything first. Don’t want to end up rainbow puking all over you.”

“Good point.” Con turned, scanning the options. “We have a couple of whirling-twisting things, a set of swings, a handful of kiddie rides, and two different Ferris wheels. How do you feel about heights?”

“Heights are fine. Let’s do the big Ferris wheel and the spinny stuff first, and save the other wheel for later.”

“You’re on!”

FIVE RIDES,
two chili dogs, two Cokes, and two sticky, messy, delicious caramel apples with nuts later, Shaun and Con stood in line for the smaller of the two Ferris wheels, this one the classic design with swinging cars rather than the oversized gondolas they’d ridden earlier.

“Ugh.” Con shook his head, one hand on his stomach. “I think I’m gettin’ too old for this sh—stuff.” He glanced at the preteens in line ahead of them as he censored himself. Two downsides of a country carnival for a date: it was overrun with kids, and Shaun didn’t feel comfortable doing much of anything overly date-like. Con hadn’t so much as tried to hold his hand, so Shaun assumed he felt the same way.

Within a few minutes, it was their turn to board the wheel, and Con waved Shaun in ahead of him. Once they had the bar secured and were headed up into the air, though, Con finally made a move. He slid over and wrapped one long arm behind Shaun’s back, gripping Shaun’s waist to pull him closer.

“Nothing like a little romantic view to finish off the night, hmmm?” His lips were close to Shaun’s ear, and the brush of his breath sent shivers down Shaun’s spine. He forced himself to keep his eyes open and check out the view… miles and miles of nothing but treetops, bisected by headlights and taillights running up and down the interstate.

Shaun turned toward Con instead, feeling brave in the dark. “Not much of a view,” he murmured, “but you sure can’t beat the company.”

As the ride picked up speed, so did Shaun’s heart rate. Con stayed close, not kissing him but near enough that they breathed each other in. Con’s body radiated heat, warding off the slight chill from the air rushing by as they spun through the night.