Starfish and Coffee (10 page)

“You’re one who likes to state the obvious, aren’t you?” Alex couldn’t help but point out. “What’s your deal, Tarrington?”

Matt shrugged, undisturbed. “I just call it like I see it.”

That was the most annoying part of the morning after. Alex discovered Matt didn’t just work well under pressure like he’d promised his first day at Frank’s, but he really was a fast learner. Matt was actually doing fairly well at this shit job, which was more than Alex could say for himself at the moment.

No one liked an overachiever.

After that Alex tried not to talk to him. Every time he heard Matt’s low voice and the lull of his Georgia drawl, he thought of the way he sounded panting and turned on. Alex tried even harder not to look at him, because everything about last night was burned into his brain.

Why did he want him so badly? To the point that he was always in some state of arousal when Matt was around. It was little wonder he was fucking up the orders.

“Heavy lifting. Yeah, right,” Melissa said over the clink of loading up her orders. “You two went out partying last night.”

“No, we didn’t,” Matt argued. “Ask Holly. We worked all day on the rentals.”

“Where’d you get that then?”

Alex turned around to see Matt touch his neck, as if he could physically feel what Melissa was pointing out.

“Right there.” Melissa laughed and reached over the counter to run her finger against the curve of his neck, underneath the collar of his T-shirt. “It’s a mean one! I know I didn’t give that to you.”

Alex’s stomach jolted because he could see what she was talking about, an angry red mark that was more than a hickey; it was an actual
bite
made in a moment of passion.

The nape of Matt’s neck flushed underneath the curl of black hair peeking out from beneath his blue bandanna. “We might have partied after everything was done.”

“I knew it,” Melissa said, not sounding too upset by the confession. “Boys will be boys. Alex always finds a party. If he can’t find one, he makes one.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Matt snorted, the bite of sarcasm heavy in his voice.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve known Alex since high school. I get it.” Melissa laughed as she walked out of the kitchen. “Just hanging on for a ride.”

“You have no idea,” Matt agreed, a little too loud for comfort.

Alex turned around to glare at him once more. What the hell was wrong with this guy’s social sensor? He just blurted out whatever he was thinking.

Seeing they were alone, Alex set aside his spatula and jumped at Matt fast enough to make him jerk in surprise. He pulled at the collar of Matt’s shirt before he could complain, staring at the bite closer. He rubbed his fingers over the angry red mark, making sure he hadn’t broken the skin.

Matt grunted and shuddered in response, the prickle of goose bumps showing up without warning. Alex dropped his hand like he’d been burned when Matt’s reaction triggered something. For reasons he would never understand, rich straight boy Matt was one of the most sexually responsive men he’d ever come across and seeing it fueled a fire already threatening to rage out of control.

“Why didn’t you think to wear a higher-collared shirt?” Sexual frustration made Alex’s voice harsh.

“I didn’t notice it when I got dressed this morning. You’re not the only one
hungover
, Hunter.” Matt turned to give him a look. “You think you’re having a hard time with all this? Try walking a mile in my shoes.”

Alex understood hungover had become synonymous with sexually frustrated, confused, and terrified.

“I have walked a mile in your shoes. Many, many miles. Accepting you’re gay isn’t easy for anyone.”

Matt shook his head. “I’m not gay.”

Alex just stood there and gawked at him.

“What happened last night, then?” Alex finally asked when he found his voice. Then he leaned in and whispered in Matt’s ear, “You seemed pretty gay to me when you were getting off on watching me come on you.”

Alex expected him to deny it, but he didn’t. He just met Alex’s angry glare, the swirl of uncertainty in his light eyes mixing with something darker, more compelling.

Matt shrugged in defeat, because neither of them could deny the attraction. “Maybe I’m bi or something.”

“Or maybe you’re in massive denial.”

“Does it matter?” Matt asked. “Does it make a difference what label you put on it?”

“Yeah,” Alex said, the lust and frustration still colliding together to make him irrationally irate. “It fucking matters. I’m not gonna be some college boy’s experimental phase.”

“Do you want a ring instead?” Matt barked back, his voice every bit as harsh.

“Fuck you, Tarrington!”

Alex turned back to the flattop before he did something stupid like punch Matt in the face or kiss him until he lost that smug look.

“Fine, you’re gonna be a bitch about it,” Matt said, his tone suspiciously tight beneath the forced casualness. “That’s too bad. I was gonna invite you over after work.”

Did Matt just call him a bitch? And he had the absolute audacity to think he wasn’t gay?

“No fucking way.” Alex shook his head even if his cock jerked in argument. “Go find some other experimental phase, ’cause I’m not interested.”

Matt called out the blatant lie by laughing. Considering Matt was a virgin for all intents and purposes, he certainly was cocky and full of himself, which never stopped being annoying.

This whole thing was a major life complication Alex didn’t need.

He was going to ignore his now fully hard dick as he wondered how arrogant Matt would be pinned to the bed with Alex’s cock shoved up his ass.

Alex was still standing there battling with himself, the orders completely forgotten, when Matt turned to him. He crowded into his personal space and stood on his toes to whisper in Alex’s ear. “If you change your mind, I’m renting the big white house at the end of Bay Boulevard.”

“Good for you.” Alex tried to keep his voice even when everything in him responded to Matt being so close. “Now back off before someone sees you.”

“Tell me you know where it is first,” Matt countered, pressing close enough for Alex to feel the outline of Matt’s hard cock through his jeans and apron.

“Not a clue. I’ve been living on Mirabella my entire life, but I never noticed the huge fucking mansion at the end of Bay Boulevard,” Alex said sarcastically. He could not believe Matt was renting that place. “What’s wrong? Your mama’s estate not big enough for the both of you?”

“I just wanted my own space,” Matt said, completely unapologetic for the obscene abuse of wealth. “It is my year off life. I might as well enjoy it.”

Matt turned away after that, and Alex let out a breath. He felt shaky and turned on and more confused than ever. The last thing in the world he wanted to be was Matt Tarrington’s escape from reality, but everything in him was aching for just one more taste.

It made Alex angry. This was his reality.
Every year
. Working at Frank’s wasn’t just a bet, and being gay wasn’t a phase. Matt was spoiled and used to getting whatever he wanted. He was not going to give Matt the satisfaction of adding Alex to the list. Now all he had to do was convince his dick that pride was worth the sacrifice.

* * * *

Matt sat on the upstairs porch of the house he’d rented, drinking and watching the tourists enjoy the last few hours of daylight. Alex never gave him a commitment about tonight, and the not knowing was driving Matt crazy enough to need something to take the edge off. He started drinking early with the thought this little affair was going to make him an alcoholic.

He wasn’t drinking cheap whiskey either. He was downing some of the scotch his mother kept for entertaining. There was so much of it at the other house she wouldn’t notice Matt had swiped it when he stopped by for his dutiful son visit to hear her bitch about all the ways he wasn’t his father. Now she had his stint at Frank’s café to add to the list of fuckups. The words
trash
and
utter waste of time
had left her mouth at least a dozen times before Matt had stolen the liquor and left.

It was nice too. Very old, very smooth, and went down far too easily.

Even with the warmth of eighty-year-old scotch working to loosen his muscles, Matt was still edgy and frustrated. Only he could find a way to finally leave the stress of college behind, take a year off before he completed his transformation into his father, and wind up in a situation that left him more prone to an anxiety attack than the rest of it.

And he’d done it in less than a week—that was a special trick.

Matt took another drink, savoring the way it rolled down his throat like warm honey, thinking Alex would appreciate it too. Then he found himself wishing the tall blond were there with him. Which would have been crazy if Matt wasn’t honest enough to admit to himself that he’d been drawn to Alex for a very long time. He’d known since his teens he was very likely bisexual, and Alex had always been at the top of his list of guys he found eye-catching. He was attracted to men, no question, but he liked girls too. At least, he thought he did until last night made him start questioning everything.

Girls were fun, but Alex blew his mind.

It had Matt wondering if he’d just been doing what he always did—following the rules and letting himself be molded into the vestige of all the Tarringtons before him. He fucked girls because that was what he was supposed to do. It felt good and took the edge off, but he’d never been one of those men who lived and breathed for the next hookup. Not once did Matt understand all the crazy shit his friends would do for pussy. He’d never had the urge to toss responsibility aside for a beautiful woman, but he was willing to do something that’d put his mother on medication for the rest of her days to be with Alex Hunter.

That was very eye-opening.

What if he
was
gay? What if he’d been destined for a lifetime of disappointment now that he knew how good it could really be? What if it got better? Matt got the distinct impression he and Alex had just scratched the surface of what they could do together, and he’d been on edge all day because of it.

Somehow that thought ruled out all the rest, the idea of not knowing, of missing out on something even more phenomenal than the first encounter. It was a hard notion to let go of when Matt felt like he’d already gotten on the plane with his one-way ticket to the life of his father, who’d died at fifty-five stressed out and unhappy, married to a woman he despised and a job that drained him body and soul. If Alex could give him a few memories to sustain him through that horrible existence, Matt wanted a taste of it.

As if the universe heard his plea, the roar of a motorcycle drifted around to the back of the house, and Matt dropped his feet from their resting place on the railing. Not sure if he could hear the doorbell all the way across the house when he was on the second-story balcony, he set his drink on the table beside him, got up, and opened the sliding glass door.

Then he stood there, body tense with hopeful expectation—listening.

When the doorbell rang, his heart jolted. Even as he rushed into the master bedroom he knew this wasn’t just sex. It felt like something more, but what it was exactly, he wasn’t sure. Certainly not love, but there was that pull inside him. It’d been less than a week, but he found himself wanting to be around Alex constantly.

What the fuck was that?

An obsession? Lust? Need?

Hell, maybe it was just the sex, and he simply hadn’t been hooking up with the right people. That had to be it, because he’d never felt this alive before. This excited to be young and healthy and good-looking.

By the time he made it downstairs and into the foyer, he was half ready to confess to being fully gay for no other reason than he couldn’t find another explanation for what he was feeling.

Matt pulled open the front doors, trying to force his shoulders to fall into a more casual stance. Alex stood there, helmet under one arm, a twelve-pack of beer under the other, and a worn backpack over his shoulder. Streaked hair pushed back away from his tan face despite the ride as if he made sure to run his hands through it. Faded jeans that fit his long legs well. Black T-shirt almost
too
tight, showing off the outline of hard muscles and clinging to his biceps. It was a different look for Alex. He was usually more casual in shorts or a swimsuit, loose, worn T-shirts, and a baseball hat, but this worked amazingly well.

Matt immediately lost his cool and stood there staring.

“You gonna invite me in?” Alex finally asked, the annoyance heavy in his voice.

“Sorry.” Matt stepped back, letting Alex walk in. “You look different.”

“Yeah, I figured I’d dress the part,” he said drily and looked up at the chandelier hanging in the foyer.

“Part?” Matt repeated as he tilted his head and eyed the way those jeans hugged Alex’s ass.

“Never mind,” Alex said in exasperation. “Are you gonna take the beer? Tell me where to set down my helmet and backpack in this museum? Be a fucking host of some sort?”

Matt immediately grabbed the beer and shrugged off concern over Alex’s gear. “You can set your stuff anywhere. It’s not my mother’s place.”

Alex set the helmet on the table in the foyer and then followed Matt into the kitchen before tossing his backpack on the counter. “You might wanna put those in the fridge. Let ’em settle from the ride.”

Matt turned to him curiously as the two of them stood there in the large, open kitchen, and asked, “Why’d you come?”

Alex shrugged. “I guess I feel like being an experimental phase.”

“Really?” Matt pressed, because Alex didn’t sound too sure about it.

“I guess,” Alex said with a bitter laugh. “Why else would I be here?”

So it was the sex. The knowledge was both unsettling and tantalizing. Matt’s nerves were raw, but his dick was hard as he opened the fridge. It wasn’t difficult to find space for the twelve-pack. Matt was a single guy who couldn’t cook. He’d just moved in, and he’d had a lot of other things on his mind besides eating this past week. It wasn’t until he saw how empty the large refrigerator was that he realized he hadn’t really planned for this party for two.