Page 59 of The Actor and His Secret

The midday sun beats down on us, hot and unforgiving. Surrounded by nothing but the endless sea, islands speckled in the distance, not a cloud in the sky, we’re forced to hide beneath the canopy on our little boat.

Oli sits on the bench, his legs drawn up beneath his chin, wet hands turning the pages of his book as his hair drips more water onto the crisping pages. I’ve been watching him for a while, devouring the peach in the cool-box I’d prepared. The juices run down my chin and chest, but I don’t care. I’m so transfixed by Oli - how his expressive brow is always responding to whatever scene he’s reading.

Right now, his lower lip is caught beneath his teeth. I can only imagine the filth he’s reading. I bet good money, though, that it doesn’t compare to the thoughts I’m holding for him in this moment.

‘You need to drink some water,’ I say only when I know he reaches the end of his chapter so as not to interrupt him. ‘Dehydrating all these miles from any land wouldn’t be good.’

Oli folds the page down, marks his place in the book, and puts it down. He hasn’t stopped smiling since I brought him to the jetty earlier and revealed my surprise plans. An entire day out at sea, with no one but each other for company. Food, drink, books, swimming. Everything he loved, combined into one experience.

My perfect day, though, simply requires him.

‘And you need to try and get some of that peach inside your mouth,’ Oli replies as he takes the bottle of water from the cool-box and lifts it to his grinning lips. ‘You’re wearing it.’

I look down, and he isn’t wrong. My dark navy swimming trunks are soaked with peach juice - even the dark hairs between my pecs are tangled with sticky the liquid. ‘Do you want some?’ I offer.

‘I do,’ Oli replies, and I swear my dick leaps in my shorts.

‘Here,’ I offer the half-eaten peach, but Oli doesn’t take it. Instead, he puts down the bottle of water, gets on his knees as the boat sways, and shuffles over to me. He eases himself between my spread legs, hands running up my shins and inner thighs.

‘I wasn’t talking about the peach,’ Oli says.

I watch, helplessly in his thrall, as he extends a tongue and traces up over my abs. He groans as he clears the peach juice from my skin, not stopping until his tongue is dancing circles around my nipple.

‘I don’t - remember there being - juice on my - nipple,’ I groan.

Oli laughs. ‘Oh, silly me.’

I grasp his jaw and hoist him up. The peach is now floating overboard, being feasted on by fish. All I care about is tasting Oli, devouring him as I guide his mouth to mine. The sweet taste sparks across my tongue. I groan into his mouth, as Oli grinds himself atop me. Suddenly, we’re arranged down in the boats middle, Oli sitting atop me just as he had this morning when we woke.

‘Now, I should thank you for the most memorable last day.’

I lift my hips, enjoying the press of his arse against my cock. ‘I thought we weren’t calling it that.’

‘What shall we call it then?’ Oli says, pinning my arms down above my head.

‘The magical day,’ I answer, because it was actually something I’d been thinking about.

‘Magical?’ Oli echoes. ‘I like that. But snorkelling, reading, jumping into the water and swimming with fish is great and all. But what would really make today magical, is you being buried inside of me.’

‘Is that so?’

Oli nods. ‘Isn’t it custom to buy a souvenir when on holiday? Something to mark the occasion, so we’ll never forget? This memory will be better than any magnet for my fridge.’

I had plans to buy Oli something to commemorate this trip, but I do something better. I reach into the bag beside me, fingers grasping the cool metal of a phone. It’s his, because mine is still back at the house. I haven’t touched it since we arrived. But Oli has his today, snapping photos of the boat and the waves and the view of the shore. Except he hasn’t taken a single one of us. I know why - he’s respecting my privacy. And yet, right now, I couldn’t care if the world found out. If this was the life I could have, I’d trade it all, every bit of fame and fortune.

I swipe up on the screen, open the camera app and hold it to our side.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Smile,’ I reply, clicking the button three times to capture Oli’s natural surprise melt to happiness. I hand him the phone. ‘Now you have something to look back on and remember today.’

His happiness shifts to something else. It lasts only a moment, but there is no denying the sadness which flashes behind his eyes.

‘Are you okay?’ I ask, already knowing the answer.

Oli fakes a smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘Yes, of course I am.’

He shakes his head as if dusting off the emotion, but it’s clearly sunk its talons in deep. ‘If you would prefer the magnet as a memento, I’ll get you one.’

---