Don't Read in the Closet: Volume Four (99 page)

up.” Dammit. I wasn’t in the mood for this.

Mike didn’t say anything right away. He just stood there with a

weird-ass smirk on his face until he finally said, “Here.” He handed

me one of the bags. It looked a lot like my bag. “That’s yours,” he

said and held up the other. “This one’s mine. Our flight leaves in an

hour, so we better get checked in.”

“What are you talking about?”

He smiled that sexy grin that had his eyes crinkling up and meant

he was seriously enjoying himself. I hadn’t seen that look in a long

time. “Can’t a guy surprise his man after fifteen years?”

I looked at the bag in my hand, then the one in his. “We’re going

somewhere?”

He handed over the ticket.

“Chicago?” I asked. Although it was a stupid question since I’d

read the destination off the printed ticket with my own name.

“Keep reading,” he said.

Another flight. “Hawaii?”

“A private resort on Lanai. We’ll get there after midnight their

time. We’re staying on the beach. Ocean breezes. Fifteen degrees

cooler than here. Should feel damn good.”

I wanted to comment on how much a trip like that must have cost,

but he was weird about money. His grandpa had left him a sum that

would keep him more than comfortable, but he liked earning his own

way. Besides, his family had stopped speaking to him when he’d

come out in his early twenties. He got a kick out of keeping the

money and not touching a dime of it. A private resort? On the beach?

Sounds like he finally found a reason to dip into the funds. Which

blew me away. I hadn’t thought there was a reason in the world why

he’d spend that money. I said, “I have court on Wednesday.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 599

“We get back late Tuesday.” He stepped closer and spoke in that

voice he used when discussing something serious he thought I might

not like. “You need a break.
We
need a break.”

Had he said those words without giving me the ticket first, I

would’ve thought he was calling us quits. Even on the day before our

anniversary. “What are we going to do when we get there?” I asked.

The smile was back. “Now that’s a surprise.” He’d probably found

the one gay bar on the island. Which would be okay. He’d planned

something just for the two of us. Something different than the usual

way we spent our anniversary. I could live with one night out

surrounded by a slew of strangers.

I couldn’t think of anything to say, except… “Tony was talking

about the party tomorrow night.”

“Yeah. I told everyone to keep up appearances.” He laughed. He

was really enjoying this. “Come on. I brought you something to

change into.” The smile on his face grew with a shake of his head.

“That suit has got to go.”

****

working the resort’s front desk smiled at Mike while I stood a step

behind him holding our bags. It was late, and the lobby was empty,

except for the two of us and the clerk with the huge smile checking us

in.

Mike had a way with women. They always thought he was

coming on to them, and he didn’t bother explaining otherwise. Maybe

it was that bad-ass-tough-guy look he had going on combined with the

nicest-guy-you’d-ever-meet personality. He’d give the shirt off his

back (and a hell of a lot more) to anyone who needed it. Maybe that’s

what most women were looking for. Women usually knew what it was

they wanted. Me? I hadn’t a clue until I was so far gone in lust I didn’t

want to walk away, so I actually took the time to get to know him.

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 600

She looked up our reservation and said, “One of our honeymoon

cottages. Excellent choice.”

Okay, she’d seen that I was with him, knew we were sharing a

room, so maybe she got that he wasn’t flirting. I stared at the back of

his head as he signed for the room. Not a room, though. A cottage. A

honeymoon cottage on the beach. Holy shit, he’d gone all out.

Once we were checked in, a young man led us outside. Mike

insisted we carry our bags. We just had the one each, and he never did

like someone else doing something for him he could do for himself,

even when it was an included paid service. We followed the man

down a stone pathway behind the back of the resort’s main building.

Seven-foot-tall torches lit the way, offering a view of the surrounding

foliage and small lighted ponds of colorful tropical fish. The trees and

shrubs were more exotic than anything I was familiar with. It all gave

the place a secluded feel. A second path veered off to the right, and in

another minute we were standing before the honeymoon cottage, a

small one-story building with dim lights already on inside, creating a

soft glow in the darkness of the night.

Mike tipped the young man and went inside. I stepped one foot in

and stopped in my tracks, dropping my bag to the floor beside me. I

was speechless. Across the room was a wall made of glass, a sliding

door with floor-to-ceiling windows on each side and curtains pulled

back to reveal the panoramic view. The door leading to the deck was

open and beyond the deck and white sand of the beach I could see it.

The ocean. Even in the dark of night it was a vibrant blue, clear and

sparkling under the moon’s rays. The waves rolling onto the beach

were hypnotic to watch. I walked straight for the doors and stared out.

The moon was high, and it lit the beach and the water far beyond in

the distance. The sound of the surf rushing in and out mesmerized me.

But the best part, the part I wanted to stand there until I could soak

it into every molecule of my body, and could also figure out how to

bottle it up and take it home with me, was the cool breeze blowing in

off the ocean.

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 601

God, it felt great. Nothing like the stale, humid air in Ohio.

I could have stood there all night, watching the water foam as the

waves crashed onto the shore, the wind on my face, the curtains on

each side of the windows billowing out beside me.

Mike cleared his throat.

I forced myself to turn and look over the rest of the place. The

cottage was one large room in a tropical decor of blues, greens, and

yellows with hardwood floors and bamboo-style rugs. There were

windows on every wall, including a picture window above the bed’s

headboard. That one king-size bed was the focal point of the room. No

desk. No TV. Nothing to distract. A ceiling fan spun silently

overhead. I could see a full bathroom through the open door behind

Mike. The tub looked large enough for two. “This is…”

“What?” he asked as he tossed his bag on the chair beside the bed.

“Romantic.”

He smiled and looked around. “Yeah, I didn’t do too bad, did I?”

“I didn’t know you knew how to do that.”

“What?”

“Romance.”

“Fucker.” He smirked, and a second later he came at me. In a rush

he took me in his arms and planted one hell of a kiss on my lips.

That was more like Mike.

He moved me backward out the open doors. “You need a shower.”

I pointed to the door on the other side of the bed. “That’s the

bathroom.”

“The ocean is this way.” He kept moving me until we made our

way across the deck. “Ever swim naked in the Pacific?” he asked.

“Never swam in any ocean, clothes or no clothes.”

“It’s about time we changed that.”

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 602

“It’s the middle of the night.”

“It is,” he said. “Which means it’s officially our anniversary.”

We’d slept on the plane or I might have argued with him that we

were too tired to swim in the ocean at this hour, no matter how bright

the moonlight. Hell, even without the sleep I wouldn’t have said

anything. He was being romantic. A moonlit anniversary swim with a

naked, romantic Mike. I wasn’t missing that.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sleep’s overrated.” I didn’t want to waste one

minute alone with him.

He raised my T-shirt over my head and dropped it to the wood

deck. With his tongue he traced the beaded tattoo that wound around

my neck and down my chest. He only ever made it a few inches along

that path. He moved lower to my pecs. I always got off on his lips and

tongue teasing my nipples. He knew it and used that to his advantage.

But it had been such a damn long time since he’d done so.

He straightened, took a step back, and stripped off his shirt. “Get

undressed.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice, and it wasn’t just because I’d been

dying to sit around naked for the past twelve hours. He lowered his

shorts to the deck, and I stopped with mine halfway down my thighs.

Mike was hard. Seriously hard, with a drop of precum lingering at the

tip of his cock. One kiss and a short suck of my nipple and he was

ready to pop. Maybe he needed this trip even more than I did.

Maybe he needed me — just me — more than our usual anniversary

party, more than I’d given him credit for. The relief washed over me,

and the muscles in my neck and shoulders loosened as if he’d just

given me an hour-long message. Guess it hadn’t been only work

making me so tense.

I expected him to bend me over a piece of the matching wicker

deck furniture, the table or maybe one of the oversize lounge chairs,

but he didn’t. He smiled again. I hadn’t seen him smile this much in

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 603

months. He looked like a dope with the silly grin and his dick rock

hard. I didn’t care. It was a stunning combination.

“Race you,” he said, then jumped off the deck and ran onto the

beach stark naked, heading for the water’s edge.

“Asshole,” I called out as I kicked off my shorts and shoes. I

chased after him, laughing all the way to the water. He’d already

made it in waist-high by the time I got there. He splashed me as I ran

in. I lunged at him, and he let out a huge-ass giggle as I wrapped my

arms around his chest from behind. A fucking giggle.

Wait. That hadn’t come from him. It was from me. His laugh still

sounded like a guy his size normally would. It sounded great. I

sounded like a kid running to get to the dodgeball first at recess.

Maybe it was the sound of pure joy.

I had every intention of dunking him under the water, but I gave

up on that idea. I couldn’t bring myself to end his laughter. Better to

cut off my own embarrassing sounds. I let go of him, dove under the

surface, and basked in the cool water that surrounded my heated flesh

from head to toe. The stickiness of the past twelve hours washed

away, and every concern and worry went with it.

Maybe I had been under too long. His large hands grabbed my

arms and yanked me up. “Come here.” He brought his lips to mine.

The stubble on his face was wet, and the water dripped to my chest as

we pressed closer together.

He grabbed the back of my head and parted his lips. So many

times we’d done this, a caress of tongues, the intensity building, our

cocks growing harder as our bodies surged together, as we shifted our

hips and found the rhythm that drove us both to the edge. But we’d

never done anything outside. We’d fucked year after year in front of

forty guys, but not once had he given me a simple kiss on the lips

outside of our place or a gay bar. Never outdoors where someone

might see. Never standing naked in the ocean.

Don’t Read in the Closet – volume four 604

He backed up a few steps toward the cottage tugging me along

with him, never stopping the touches or the kisses until we reached

the water’s edge. He pulled me down to the sand until I was lying on

top of him. I braced myself, hands in the wet sand on each side of his

head, and lined up our bodies groin to groin. I stared down at him.

The wet hair on his chest shone in the dim light of the moon. The

muscles of his biceps flexed as he ran his palms down my arms. His