Page 42 of Deep Waters

“Listen… I’ll take some pictures when we’re out tomorrow—the boat, the coast, you. Then I’ll set up a profile for you over the weekend and show you how easy it is. It’ll get much more attention than that dreary website of yours.”

“Huh. Thanks for the encouragement,” he said dryly.

“You’ll thank me next week.”

“I’d better go,” Harry said. “I’ve got a date and need to change.”

“Whoa, hold on. Not so fast. A date. Who with?”

Oh, what the hell. Might as well tell him.

“Christian,” Harry said.

“Who’s that? Oh, wait. The writer dude from Monday?”

“Yes,” he said, experiencing a strange giddiness just talking about him.

“I didn’t know you liked him.”

“Neither did I,” Harry admitted. “Not in the beginning. It just kind of happened.”

“Good for you. Go for it. He seems like a nice bloke.”

“He is.” Harry found it difficult not to gush. “He’s affected me in a way I didn’t think possible. I know I need to be cautious. After what went down on Monday, my emotions are probably a little unstable at the minute, but I feel calm when I’m with him. And he’s so easy to talk to. I feel like I’ve known him for far longer than these few days.”

“Oh, fuck caution,” Tom said. “What happened to Niko and that other guy should have taught you to appreciate how short life is. Anything could happen at any time. Don’t put something off until tomorrow because you might not get a chance to do it. Go on that date tonight and do every fucking thing you can imagine with him.”

There was an ache in Harry’s cheeks from smiling so much. “I didn’t expect to get relationship advice from you.”

“Well, you’d better take it, cousin. I’m older, wiser and married. I know what I’m talking about. Now, get off this damn phone and get your fishy arse in the shower. Christian doesn’t want to smell that boat stink on you tonight.”

Harry laughed out loud. “All right. I’m going. See you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there, waiting for all the juicy details.” Tom laughed again and hung up.

Tom had a blunt way of putting things, but Harry knew he was right. He wanted to appreciate every second of his time with Christian and hurried inside to get ready.

Chapter Fifteen

“I met your ex today,” Christian said. “Antoni.”

They lay in Harry’s bed, basking in the afterglow of terrific sex. The plan had been for them to go out to dinner after he’d given Christian the tour of his home, but just like their date earlier in the week, passion had taken over, and when he showed him the bedroom, they didn’t get any farther.

They lay on their backs, side by side, one leg entwined with the other beneath the covers. Outside, the harbour was filled with the noise of a busy Friday evening, but in here it was just the two of them, in a world of their own, intimate and close.

“How come?” Harry asked.

“I was passing by the gallery when I walked into a confrontation between Antoni and Roger with a couple of Nyemouth hoodlums, a bit like the situation you told me about the other day.”

Harry rolled over, rising onto one elbow. “Aw, shit. Not again. Are they okay?”

Christian remained on this back, though his eyes moved sideways to look at him. “I think so. It was a verbal altercation—nothing violent and no damage was done. It was that awful brother and sister. What are their names again?”

“The Bewicks, Dean and Linda.”

“That’s them.”

“Bastards. These fucking numpties have nothing better to do with their idle lives than cause trouble for decent people. I went to school with Dean. He was always a prick, and he hasn’t changed.”

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