Page 24 of Father Figure

“I am so ready, Chico.” Manu got excited about everything, kind of like me.

I loved his exotic South American accent. Nothing exotic ever happened in Cooper’s Cove. Heading to the stern, I raised our ensign, the American flag, and the yellow quarantine flag, to the top of the mast. It was difficult in the stiff wind, and my skin burned from the coarse rope. I returned to the flybridge and showed Cass my hands.

“Damn, come with me.”

I followed him below deck to our tiny bathroom. One person could barely fit in it, let alone two, and I was very aware of his proximity and his warm breath on my neck. Cass opened a bottle of some sort of lotion and squeezed a dollop into his palm. He grasped my sore hands, using his thumbs to rub the lotion into my skin. His touch felt sensual. His calloused skin was so different from my smooth, soft hands. Cass had hands that belonged to a man—hands that I wanted all over my body.

I couldn’t help it; my dick began filling with blood, and I squirmed, which only drew attention to what was happening between my legs. I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. We were standing close enough that it could so easily happen again—if I just raised my head and looked into his eyes, leaned in a little further.

But I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t afraid of kissing Cass again; I was afraid of pushing him further away.

“You’ve got to be more careful, Nicky. I hate when you hurt yourself,” he murmured.

My heart was beating painfully hard, and it was so loud he must hear it. My mouth felt dry, and it was hard to swallow. He continued to caress my hands, his fingers sliding gently over my skin, and I felt it in every part of my body. At least, I imagined I could.

“You have to take better care of yourself. I have so many fun things planned for us this week, but you can’t do them if you’re injured.” Cass placed a kiss on the palm of my hand, over my rope burn. The brush of his lips tickled, shooting sparks up my arm. “I would give you the whole world if I could, Nicky.”

Then he looked into my eyes and leaned in close, and my heart stopped beating.

He's gonna kiss me! Oh, my God, he’s gonna kiss me!

But Cass moved past my mouth, pressing his lips to my temple instead. It was sweet and poignant… and totally disappointing.

I don’t want the world, I screamed inside my head. I just want you.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“He’s a fat little porker,” Nicky squealed, swimming after the pig.

I was going to have to pull out all the stops to get him to leave this island. After seeing the tide pools where he pointed out at least twenty-five different varieties of crustaceans, including sea urchins, sponges, shrimp, crawdads, and God knows what else, he filled the pockets of his board shorts with shells until he clinked when he walked. Next, we rented scooters and rode over the Glass Window Bridge that divides the dark blue waters of the Atlantic from the turquoise waters of the Caribbean.

And now the damn pigs.

“Hand me another orange, Cass!”

I felt like a vending machine, constantly handing out snacks to the boys so they could feed the pigs. With my waterproof camera, I captured several shots of Nicky petting them. Thank God he had worn a regular bathing suit today. I wished I could say the same for Manu, though I really didn’t care what he wore because he didn’t affect me like Nicky did.

Another thing that affected me? Nicky’s eyes were on me constantly, checking to see if I was watching him, or maybe just curious about what I was doing. His eyes were also on Manu, and at first, I thought maybe he was interested in the handsome boy with the tanned skin and dark hair, but then I realized, Nicky wasn’t interested in Manu, he was curious if I was interested in Manu.

Was he jealous? Christ, I was just getting deeper and deeper in trouble.

At this point, it would be a blessing if the Bermuda Triangle swallowed me whole.

“Ow!”

I looked up in time to see Nicky’s head disappear below the surface. The water was crystal clear, like bathwater, and I didn’t see anything near him, like stingrays or sharks. Maybe he stepped on a piece of coral?

“Cass! Something got me!”

In a panic, I swam over to him and dove beneath the water to inspect his legs. Nothing. Everything appeared fine.

Surfacing, I shook the water from my hair. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure?”

“It burns bad,” he cried, hopping on one leg as tears gathered in his eyes.

Nothing wrenched my heart like Nicky’s tears. He didn’t shed them often, but when he did, there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make him feel better.

“It was probably a jellyfish. Some of them are so tiny and translucent, they’re impossible to see.”

---