Page 19 of Starfish and Coffee
“With Matt Tarrington?” Holly asked in surprise, making it obvious she’d never thought it was possible either. It’d been a game up until this point, a fantasy for Alex, one of those magical carrots that weren’t ever supposed to be caught, and Holly, being the best friend she was, gladly encouraged the fairy tale. Now she looked unsure. “Can you?”
Alex shrugged once more and looked down at his breakfast, already knowing the answer. Yes, he could.
The only question now was, what was he going to do about it?
Chapter Six
Even with the breeze coming off the ocean, the heat was unbearable. The sweat beaded on Matt’s bare back and dripped from his temples. Mixed with the sand that blew in over the fence when the gusts were strong enough and the stickiness of sunscreen on his shoulders, Matt should be fucking miserable.
Instead he was staring at the way Alex looked bent over in the large storage shed on the side of his house. It held all sorts of items used to maintain and repair the ten beach rental properties to the left of their little yellow house. This tiny area was fenced off, keeping the less-than-eye-pleasing shed concealed from the other properties. It was also hidden from all the tourists, and Matt let himself enjoy the privacy by studying Alex Hunter with blunt appreciation he rarely allowed himself to indulge in.
Alex’s hair color was unique and impossible to name. There wasn’t any one word to describe the array of silky, streaked strands that ranged from honey brown to gold to near bleach blond, like something a hairstylist might try in hopes of capturing the natural art of the sun and likely fail at.
His hair alone intrigued, but it was more than that. Alex was easily six-two, giving him a good three inches on Matt, and that was just the start of the differences between them. Alex’s muscles were more well-honed and defined, reminding Matt of those perfect men on the designer magazines his mother read. There was also an easy grace to him. His athleticism was based on speed and agility, as opposed to the brute force Matt utilized.
“Were you a quarterback?” Matt asked distantly as he admired the way Alex’s muscles gleamed and moved while he dug through the shed.
Alex turned and frowned at him. “I played baseball, man. I never had any use for football. Sorry.”
“Really?” Matt’s eyebrows rose. He was from Georgia. Football was their lifeblood. Baseball was just something to do in the spring. He’d never met a guy who played it exclusively. “What position?”
“Shortstop.” Alex handed him a box of used cleaning supplies. “All this shit is decades old. We can toss it. Just don’t let Holly see you doing it. She’ll start bitching about the environment and disposing of it properly.”
Matt tried to imagine Alex playing shortstop. He was swift, quick thinking, and cool under pressure. Matt could see it. He wished hehadseen it, that he’d gone to one of Alex’s games over spring break all those years ago. He wasn’t really sure why he hadn’t, because he’d always noticed Alex. Since his parents first bought the beach house when Matt was in seventh grade, he’d been aware of Alex, who was one of those guys everyone liked. He stood out in his group of friends. The best looking. The most athletic. The hottest girlfriend.
Matt may not have noticed or cared about most of the locals he’d passed on the beach and in the quaint coffee shops and ice cream parlors of Mirabella Island, but for some reason, Alex stood out, and for the first time Matt was really trying to figure out why.
He threw the stuff away, being careful to look for Holly who was cleaning the rental units the tourists had checked out of this morning. The pile of shit by the garbage cans was growing. More was being tossed out than kept.
“How long has it been since you’ve cleaned out this shed?”
“Never.” Alex appeared from the deep recesses of the rusting shed, pulling several large, warped pieces of wood. “Four years maintaining these places and I’ve never gotten around to it. Who knows how long it was before that?”
Matt walked over and took the wood from him. He lifted them off the ground easily. “We could break these up and burn them tonight.”
“Yeah.” Alex seemed to pause, a hitch of something sounding in his voice. “We could do that.”
Matt turned curiously, the wood still in his arms, and stared back at Alex who was just standing there as if struck by something. His eyes were wide and dazed as he studied Matt, his gaze trained on his biceps that were straining from the weight of all the wood.
Matt turned around when that look started affecting him. As bullish as Alex’s lithe, cut body made him feel, Matt was suddenly grateful for his big, broad body because he’d seen it, the spark of interest in Alex, and even if it was half insane, Matt still wanted to be interesting to Alex Hunter.
A million questions formed in his mind, the same ones that had been brewing since yesterday morning in the kitchen. Some he didn’t want to name, but others were easier. Like, what was Holly to Alex really? And why did he go all the way to Key West to go fishing when there was plenty of fishing to be had right there in Mirabella. What exactly was he hoping to catch?
Instead he asked, “What do y’all need all this wood for anyway?” because he was hard again, and he needed a distraction against it.
Shirtless, with nothing to hide the reaction, Matt was floundering and uncomfortable, but still too hungry to be around Alex to give up the afternoon. That brief moment in the kitchen yesterday had flared something to life, something better left dormant, but Matt found himself clinging to it instead.
“Hurricanes.” Alex frowned after Matt dumped the wood by the garbage cans. “There’s a fuckload in there. We’ve got enough for all the rentals.”
“Right, for the windows.” Matt winced, feeling stupid. “Are you gonna replace it all?”
Alex shrugged and turned back to the shed, cool and easygoing as if the moment had never happened. “Will and me can just pick some up later this week. We got Old Man Grover’s credit card. He lets us get what we need.”
“I could help you,” Matt offered, knowing he was being obvious but finding himself unable to stop. He was looking for a way to stretch the afternoon out longer. “We could grab the groundkeeper’s truck from my mother’s place and get the stuff after we’re done here.”
“Okay.” Alex surprised him by agreeing, and Matt thought he heard it again, that hitch of something in his voice that made Matt’s cock jerk inside his shorts. “If you’re offering free manual labor, I’m not gonna turn it down.”
Matt realized he wasn’t the only one looking to make the day last. Alex was pretty motivated to get things done, which seemed sort of out of character for him. It was likely he had a lot of other things to do besides hang with Matt and clean out a shed.
