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“Whenever you’re ready we can go for a swim. I checked the water quality report today, and it’s safe forswimming.”
Jax had never given any thought to the water quality before when he went swimming, so he was glad he had Noah with him today. He wondered why there needed to be a report but didn’t want to spoil the relaxed feeling by initiating conversation about something he could find out from a Google search. He’d rather sit here and watch as Noah stripped his t-shirt off and exposed his flat stomach and lightly furred chest. The hair on his arms also drew Jax’s eyes to him and he realized with a start that he apparently had some kind of hair fetish where Noah was concerned.
He had never paid attention to any other man as lightly furred as Noah was, and in fact, couldn’t remember ever having even been at all attracted to a hairy man before. But something about the way the hair on Noah’s body lay sleek and soft-looking on his skin, how its darker color contrasted with his fair complexion, made Jax want to stroke him the way he would a cat, to bask in the sensual feel of it against his palm. He remembered how it had felt when Noah’s chest was pressed to his, or when an arm or a leg brushed against his bare skin and now, he wanted that feeling again.
He really shouldn’t encourage such thoughts when he didn’t know where they would be going forward. He sipped the beer that Noah had handed him, distracting himself. The liquid was still ice cold, and he savored the sharp relief it gave him as it slid down his throat.
“Do you come here often?”Why did that sound like a pick-up line?
“Not often, no. I only come here when I havecompany.”
Noah’s full lips, wrapped around the edge of the can, distracted Jax from the uncomfortable feeling of jealousy that swept over him at the thought of Noah with some other man on this beach. Instead, saliva pooled in his mouth at their wet, glistening plumpness. It was a good thing he wasn’t sitting close enough to snatch a taste of them for himself. He stifled a moan and swallowed more beer to cool the rising feelings inside him. He turned his eyes out to where foamy whitecaps barreled onto the shore. Maybe wading before the swim would accustom his body to the temperature of the lake while he put some distance between himselfand Noah.
Jax stood up, resting the beer can on top of the rock he’d been leaning against, and pulled his outer garments off, revealing the slim swim trunks he’d worn beneath his cargo shorts. They were plain black and hugged his ass quite satisfactorily. He hadn’t seen any need to replace the pair over the years, since his only swimming these days was in a pool at the gym, and no one cared what he looked like there.
“Wait up. If you’re ready to go for a swim now, I’ll comewith you.”
Jax held back a sigh. Foiled again! It had probably been stupid to think he could avoid the guy who had invited him out for the afternoon.Suck it up, Knox!He stepped out onto the hot sand and turned his gaze to the water, needing at least the space of a few moments to gather his control back around him. Noah’s hand on his lower back quickly stripped him of the precious tendrils he’d just regained as he gasped in reaction to the touch. Noah kept his hand there ashe spoke.
“You okay?”
Jax nodded, unable to respond for the moment, and stepped away from the tantalizing touch. They were there to swim. Noah hadn’t asked for more, even if the imprint of his hand against Jax’s spine was a burning reminder of everything he had given up and now wanted again desperately. He kept walking, hoping Noah would follow him yet dreading the moment when he must face him. Would he see hurt in those deep brown eyes at his denying the contact between them? He wasn’t rejecting him, but Noah might be forgiven for thinking his actions meantjust that.
He stopped and turned, swallowing the cowardice that’d had him running away fora minute.
“Hey.” He paused, unsure of what to say that wouldn’t make an awkward situation worse. “Thank you for this. I’m having a good time.”
Noah’s eyes were shadowed. “Are you? Because if you can’t even stand for me to touch you, maybe we don’t need to spend any more time together, you know? Why beat a dead horse?”
Damn! Jax deserved the disbelief, the anger that radiated off Noah as he spat the questions at him.
“Noah, babe…” Fuck, that was not what he…
Noah’s lips on his stopped not just his words but his brain function. All he could do was feel the angry press of lips, the teeth nipping at his bottom lip, the insistent tongue that demanded an entry into his mouth. They were not touching anywhere except their lips. Jax let him in, placing a hand on the line of Noah’s jaw to keep their mouths locked together. A spicy sweetness burst in his chest as Noah’s mouth owned him, dominating the kiss with sharp, aching thrusts and commanding sweeps of his tongue.
How had he lived for all this time without the flavor of these kisses? How had he endured the pain of longing, the wound of an absence that he had caused? Finally unable to withhold any part of himself, he released Noah’s jaw and wrapped his arms around him, bringing him into the warm expanse of his chest and holding on for dear life. That they were standing in the middle of a sandy beach where the world and his wife could see them meant nothing in the moment. Only the man in his arms, whose hands gripped his ass cheeks dragging their groins together,mattered.
“Noah!” His name was a wish and a prayer on Jax’s tongue when they pulled away tobreathe.
“Sorry.” Noah tried to step away, but Jax held him firmly in place, not wanting any space between them more than they needed tobreathe.
“Sorry?” His heart drummed a panicked tattoo against his ribcage. “Are you…?”
“No! No!” Noah’s answering panic swelled around them, echoed in the rush of the spent waves on the shore. “The last time you called me ‘babe’ was almost twelve years ago. For years after we broke up, I couldn’t hear that word without falling apart.”
Jax pulled him back into a hug, resting his cheek on Noah’s temple. “Thank God!” He held him there for another moment before releasing him and looking pointedly down at Noah’s cock. “I think maybe we need that swim now, don’t you? I’d rather not be arrested for public indecency.”
Color rode up Noah’s cheeks even as he laughed and pushed past Jax. “Last one in makes dinner tonight,” he yelled as he ran into the surf, still laughing wildly.
The joy in that sound reverberated in Jax’s heart, setting off a corresponding chorus in his own chest that threatened to burst from his lips in wild elation. Instead, he chased after Noah, already trying to figure out what he could do for dinner that would give them more time alone before they each had to return to their own occupied houses. The bracing water temperature on his feet and legs, accompanied by Noah splashing his abdomen and back when he turned to avoid it, was just the distraction he needed from thoughts of himself alone with the man who was still laughing happily just out ofhis reach.
Noah disappeared from view and Jax looked around, wondering where he’d gotten to. The water wasn’t deep enough where they were to be a threat to someone who could swim, but the waves made seeing him difficult. He kept wading out before he threw himself into the surf, exhilarated by the piercing joy he felt for the first time since he and Noah last had been together. He rolled over, prepared to float when a hand dragging him down made him flap his arms to try to keep from going under. Noah slipped away before he could retaliate, and Jax laughed when he surfaced and found the younger man a few feet away grinning widely.
“Payback’s a bitch, babe.”
He spoke the word deliberately this time, watching as Noah’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He swam away before Noah could respond, needing the last word, needing the upper hand if only for the moment. He wasn’t foolish enough to think he held all the cards in this game they were playing, but he did know he wanted them both to win in the end.
When the sunset began to paint the evening sky in lavender and peach shot through with the last flecks of gold and gray, Noah finally came sauntering back to where Jax had been for the last half hour watching him frolic in the lake. His body gleamed as he leaned over to pull a towel from his bag to dry himself. Then he sat on the blanket, the towel draped over his shoulders, and pulled another beer from the cooler.
