Bailey couldn't reject his offer, but he told him, "OK, but there's no rush. If you want to do it, the job is yours. I'll give you the spare key and you can just do it when you have time."
Matt looked way too happy about it, and that open, beautiful smile of his made Bailey want to just give him money and tell him he didn't have to do anything for it. Of course he didn't, that would have been weird.
After lunch, Bailey let Joey splash in the water. "He doesn't know how to swim and we left his water wings at the hotel," Bailey told Matt.
"I'm sure he'll pick it up in no time," Matt said. "I don't even remember not knowing how to swim."
"When I came here, I envied you guys who got to live here year round. I had the idea that it was like an endless vacation." Thinking back to those days, Bailey tried to remember Matt, but he only had a vague memory of a blond kid that he saw with Gwen sometimes. What was the age difference between him and Matt? Maybe five years. So why did it seem like more than that? Maybe it was a difference in hotness, not age, in how vibrant Matt seemed compared to him. Bailey had been accused of beingboring more than once, usually when a guy was breaking up with him.
"You can go in and have a swim," Bailey told him.
"Nah. I want to go back in and pack up more stuff," Matt said and got up, brushing sand off him.
Bailey wasn't in a hurry to see Matt get back to work. It was kind of nice sitting with him there, watching Joey play in the water. But Matt probably wanted to finish up and go. He might have plans. A hot guy like him must have tons of people who wanted some of his time.
Bailey called Joey over and they all went back to the beach house. First they had to stop on the porch and wash the sand off their feet. Getting his feet splashed while he wiggled his toes, Joey looked up at Bailey, "Daddy, I like it here."
As Joey went inside, Bailey looked after him and sighed. "I hope he doesn't fall in love with the place."
"What if you do?" Matt asks him with a teasing smile.
Looking at Matt, at the sun shining off his blond hair, his blue eyes sparkling, his smile gorgeous, Bailey absolutely forbade himself to fall in love with anything or anyone here.
Chapter 4
Bailey was working while also taking in the view of the sun drenched beach and enjoying the sea breeze. He was on the hotel veranda, sitting in the shade of an umbrella with his laptop and tablet on the table in front of him along with an ice cold drink. From where he was sitting, he could watch Joey playing in the sand.
Joey's swimming lessons were going well and he was eager to go swimming. The little guy had to wait until Bailey was done working then they were both going to jump in the water.
Today Matt was cleaning the beach house. He had texted to let Bailey know he was over there. That made Bailey wonder if maybe they should drop by, see how he was doing. It was a very distracting idea.
He kept worrying that Matt would be finished at the beach house before Bailey had a chance to go over there. But he had his own work to do plus he knew his motives weren't pure.
Bailey restrained his impulses and waited until he finished work, then he and Joey were on their way to the beach house. "I'm gonna go swimming," Joey said.
"You will. You're getting so good at it," Bailey praised him.
"You're good too, Daddy," Joey told him sweetly.
At the beach house, they saw that all the windows and doors were open. "Matt must be airing out the place," Bailey said.
"Can I go swimming now?" Joey asked. He wasn't eager to go inside.
"No, but you can stay out here. Just don't go in the water," Bailey told him.
"I only want to go swimming with you, Daddy," Joey told him.
That made Bailey smile. "Good. I won't keep you waiting too long."
Going inside, he called out to Matt. He heard him say hi and found him in the guest room, moving a chest of drawers back into place. "You didn't need to move stuff," Bailey told him.
"I had to clean underneath," he said. He certainly took his work seriously.
"I would think you get enough furniture moving at your other job," Bailey told him as he noticed how much cleaner the place looked.
"That's not a full time job. They just call me in when they need extra help," Matt said.
"I see. Well, you certainly did a great job here," Bailey said. "I was going to go through more of my grandfather's things. There's all that stuff in the office, all those boxes of papers. I want to make sure nothing important gets lost. You interested in helping me with that?" If Matt didn't have a full time job, Bailey though he might want to earn more money.
