“I bet you do very well for yourself, don’t you?”
Back on the new playing field of his life, he understood the calculation darkening her eyes. The entirety of his existence became dollar signs. Ducky tried his best to ignore Felicia and took a drink of his lukewarm beer. Ava tapped away on her phone until she found his most recent workout video on StreamTrainer and turned the phone’s screen to show those surrounding them.
“I’ve gotta pee,” he said. Heat suffused his cheeks as the camera focused on him. It still took several long moments to untangle himself from the group.
He had nowhere to escape to in the packed house, so he went to his bedroom for as much solitude as he could muster. He hadn’t checked on StreamTrainer all day. If nothing else, email was going to be a bitch to get through.
Chad sat at the kitchen bar, drinking a cup of coffee. One eye on Ducky’s closed door, the other on his cell phone as he searched the local attractions. Their itinerary sat to the side. He used bits and pieces of Dallas’s suggestions for excursions. Many had already been prepaid. Ducky only had to call and set up times.
The list of activities included hiking, biking, parasailing, and surfing. Also boating, skiing, and snorkeling. All included introductory lessons, and none seemed like anything he’d ever known Ducky to like to do.
Perhaps more had changed than just Ducky’s outer shell.
Chad’s full gaze cut to Ducky’s bedroom door again. More than anything, he wanted that door to open.
Yeah, right. More than anything, he wanted Ducky to be in there alone.
He again ticked off the chicks he recalled from the party. The best he remembered, they’d all left the villa, but Ducky’s door had been shut for a good long time.
Focus. He looked back down at his cell phone. The screen had timed out. He didn’t even remember what he’d been reading before.
He swiveled around on the barstool toward the long windows overlooking the beach. He intended to jog off his frustrations this morning. After a fitful night, waking early to greet the rising sun seemed symbolic of shedding all this nervous energy reverberating through him. Now, two and a half hours later, he sat on this stool, his leg bouncing on the bottom rung, hyped up on his third cup of coffee. His foot picked up the bouncing as if to prove the point. His gaze slid to Ducky’s door again.
Why had he agreed to come to Hawaii? He hung his head and turned back toward the kitchen. Because Ducky’s happiness was steadily becoming the most important thing to him. That was the only reason he’d engaged with those superficial women in the first place. Ducky was down and confused with himself. If he had the ability to help ease some of his burden, then he was compelled to.
Same thought applied to all these island activities. If Ducky had changed into a guy who liked to try new sports, then he was the person to help teach Duck. He and his father had tackled all these adventures at various points in his life.
He scratched his naked belly and ran his hand through his disheveled hair. With as many times as he’d executed this same move, the thick strands surely had to be standing on end. He brought his phone back to life, reading the same paragraph for the third time now. The private surfing lessons had availability in a couple of hours then again at that same time every day.
Ducky’s door creaked open. Chad tensed from head to toe. He had to steel his resolve to look over at Ducky. That betraying reaction, the one he’d had during the podcast, lit his body on fire as he stared openly at the man in the doorway. His short athletic shorts hung low on his hips. They were the only thing Ducky wore, which wasn’t much different from what Chad was wearing.
The sexually charged moment had Chad ducking his head, peeking at his lap, praying he hadn’t tented his shorts. He was stone hard, but partially hidden by his underwear. Something so rigid he’d have to rub one off in the very near future.
How the hell could he get through the next thirteen days like this?
Only then did he remember that Ducky might have a bed partner. His gaze shifted behind the object of his desire. Maybe that would be the only thing to tame his visceral reaction. No one followed Ducky out.
“Morning,” Ducky said, his voice deep, thick, and sexy as he scratched the top of his head.
“Morn—” Chad started with a croak and had to clear his throat as he feigned interest in the itinerary and his now darkened phone screen. “Morning. You have a good night?”
Ducky headed toward the coffee pot and let go of a long, jaw-popping yawn. His hand went to his head again. Nothing was a confidence destroyer like knowing he was the only one sexually amped up like this.
“I stayed up working.” Another yawn stopped him midsentence.
Chad’s unabashed gaze slid to Ducky, all pretense of doing anything more was impossible. He soaked in Ducky’s rumpled, sleepy appearance. “I thought you’d be in there with one of those chicks.”
Ducky’s green stare pinned him in place when he looked at him over his shoulder. Ducky was in the middle of starting the Keurig but stopped just shy of pressing the brew button. Confusion showed on his face, which in turn confused Chad too.
“What are you talking about?” Ducky asked, the uncertainty still etched on his face.
“Those women you were talking to. I thought the blonde and brunette were going to throw down over you,” Chad answered, one side of his lips quirking in a smile.
Ducky’s head shook. Not necessarily a no, more like Chad was ridiculous then dismissed. Ducky focused all his attention on the coffee maker. That was all right. Chad mapped every inch of the broad shoulders leading to the muscles running down toward the trim waist. Ducky’s shorts hung so low he could see the two dimples right above his ass. His mouth watered with a desire to nibble on that toned flesh.
Ducky turned toward him again. He clamped his eyes closed, the sweep of Ducky’s strong back and tight ass etched in vivid detail behind the darkness of his lids. When he reluctantly opened his eyes, Ducky stood directly across from him on the opposite side of the bar. Steam rose from the coffee cup sitting between them. Ducky seemed unaffected by the chemistry they shared, a bond Chad felt deep inside his veins. His friend’s elbows landed on the counter as he rubbed his hands down the length of his face and gave a jaw-cracking yawn again.
“Those people last night were weird. I ditched them a few minutes after you left. I swear I saw dollar signs in the blonde’s eyes.”
