Starfish and Coffee (19 page)

He reached down to fist his cock when he thought about it, but Alex grabbed his hand before he could get more than a few strokes in. He wrenched Matt’s arm behind his back, holding it there as he pulled out and thrust back in hard to make his point.

Matt didn’t struggle to break free. He just let Alex pin him down and fuck him, taking what he wanted while preventing Matt from touching himself to help things along. Forcing Matt to get off from nothing but the feel of Alex’s cock thrusting in and out in hard, dominating strokes prolonged the sex to the point they were both past words and shaking with the need to come.

Matt honestly thought it was going to be impossible. He was suspended in that wonderfully torturous place where his balls were tight, and the pleasure was so intense he felt it all the way down to his toes, but there wasn’t that final push that threw him over the edge. He was just about to jerk his arm out of Alex’s steely grasp and ruin the high by stroking his dick until he came, but it turned out he didn’t have to.

Alex put his knee up on the seat, changing the angle of his thrusts. The next hard stroke hit Matt in a way that forced the ecstasy to slam into him. He started coming without warning, the pleasure emerging from that deeper place only Alex could tap, overwhelming Matt with the force of bliss that lasted longer and felt so good his dick started hurting when it began to subside.

“Shit,” Alex choked when his orgasm hit.

He freed Matt’s wrist to wrap his arm around him as he rode out the storm of his release, his hips jerking against Matt’s over and over, sending little aftershocks of pleasure reverberating through Matt.

When it was over, the two of them untangled and forgot about lunch to go swimming. Only this time they left the bathing suits behind. In the light of day it was so freeing to go skinny-dipping with Alex. Especially when they spent most of the time treading water and making out.

Breathless from kissing, Alex slipped out of Matt’s arms to suddenly dive beneath the surface without explanation. Matt swam up to the swimming platform on the back of the boat and used it as leverage to look into the crystal water below to see Alex moving deeper easily without fins or a mask.

Matt admired Alex for the few minutes it took for him to cool off and when Alex did finally break the surface again, he was far more breathless than he would be if he’d been swimming with fins. His chest heaved as he swam up to the swimming platform and then wrapped his arms around Matt. He rested his cheek against Matt’s bare shoulder, using him like a big floating device.

“Holly thinks I should tell you I love you,” Alex whispered once he caught his breath. “At a time when it actually counts.”

Matt’s chest tightened, and he had to clear his throat. “Now would probably count.”

Alex reached up and brushed at Matt’s wet hair; then he pushed up and whispered into his ear, “I love you, Matty.”

Somehow being in the water, something that was such a huge part of who Alex was, made the confession all the more potent. Matt found himself taking several long gulps of air to fight the emotions welling up in him. Then he wrapped his hand around Alex’s that still rested on Matt’s stomach and squeezed it tightly.

“I love you too.”

After it was out, they stayed there in the silence, the water lapping at their skin and sun beating on their backs as they held each other. Matt knew for years that he was sexually attracted to men, but he never expected to love one so deeply it actually hurt every time he thought about it.

Alex finally broke the silence to press a kiss against Matt’s shoulder. “Now all I’ve got to do is catch the great white whale to make this day perfect.”

“Then let’s eat lunch and catch it. You said today’s your day. I believe you.”

“Okay, then.” Alex broke away from Matt to climb up on the platform. “Let’s catch ourselves a marlin.”

Matt followed him up, willing that big catch for Alex with every ounce of his being. They ate lunch, pulled up the anchor, and then Matt drove the boat to deeper waters while Alex worked on setting up the fishing poles. They trolled for hours, but at the end of the day Alex didn’t catch the marlin he’d been chasing for years—Matt did.

Life was golden.

Chapter Twelve

March 2007

Matt enjoyed winter on Mirabella Island, when the air was cool, but not freezing and the beach was mostly empty. The tourists were gone, replaced with Florida snowbirds like his mother, who might walk along the beach at night, but certainly weren’t out there partying it up all day long.

The island took on a much more laid-back, cozy feel to it, as if all the worries in the world evaporated once you crossed the bridge. In many ways, it echoed the changes in Matt’s own existence. Sheltered from the constant stresses of family and corporate obligations, happy and content in his relationship with Alex, Matt had started plotting ways to make this year-long vacation into a lifelong reality.

He wanted it for himself so badly that when the winter turned to spring, a panic set in as the town locals began planning for spring break and his uncle was calling on a weekly basis wondering when Matt’s hiatus was up.

Matt wasn’t the only one. Alex felt it too, and the two of them started partying harder and fucking longer because of it.

On the first Saturday in March there were people everywhere. Even if the mansion was large, Alex and Matt had enough friends combined to fill it. The fish-fry parties at Matt’s place had become a regular occurrence, but the Hunter brothers weren’t being very social for this get-together as they had the same argument Matt had heard at least five times before.

“Why can’t you stay here? Doesn’t Mirabella need lawyers too?” Alex barked at his brother as the two of them faced off on the patio of the beach house.

“Look, Alex, I know you don’t get it,” Will said tiredly. “But this is an amazing opportunity. Offers like this go to people who graduate from Harvard law, not some guy who grew up on the docks on Mirabella Island. It could change my life—our lives. We’re still a team.”

“Yeah, some fucking team.” Alex snorted. “You’re not just taking off. You’re talking about dragging my best friend with you. Holly would
hate
New York.”

“It’s not forever. Do you get what sort of opportunity this is? Ask Matt, he’ll tell you.”

Alex turned to Matt, giving him a look that said where he could shove his opinion. Considering Matt had already voiced his thoughts on the matter in private with Alex, that it
was
a chance of a lifetime for Will, Matt decided to escape before Will could drag him down with the ship.

Alex was never going to get why Will needed to go. To him life was about the next fishing trip. Bigger ambitions just weren’t part of his makeup. Losing his family for a job was completely foreign to him. Will might as well be speaking a different language to Alex.

Instead of answering, Matt pushed away from the table. “You guys want more beer?”

“Pussy.” Will snorted.

“Call him that again.” Alex’s eyes narrowed at his brother. “And I will fuck your shit up.”

“Why are you always defending him?” Will shifted a baffled look from Alex to Matt. “He’s got at least thirty pounds on you, but you jump to his defense like he’s the runt of the class.”

“For the record, I don’t need Alex to fight my battles.” Matt glared at Will. “I’m perfectly capable of defending my opinions.”

“Oh, we noticed, Tarrington. Not like you have a shortage of opinions,” Will said with a laugh of disbelief. “I just want to know why my little brother has to jump on his white steed every time someone insults you. You’d think you were his girlfriend or something.”

Matt turned and left with that because that was the other big elephant in the room. Neither of them had come out to their friends and family. It was starting to make their lives very difficult. They were so deeply involved it was hard to curb something that came so naturally to them like protecting and defending each other. Kissing, hugging, touching; the list was endless.

It was really unfair they had to hide what straight people could do anywhere. Matt realized now that he’d taken all of it for granted. More often than not he got mad about the injustice, far more so than Alex did, because Alex had never seen the other side of the coin.

Matt was one smart comment away from telling the whole world what he and Alex were to each other and fuck the consequences. It had to be better than living this lie.

“Oh, I got beers.” Holly met Matt at the sliding glass door, two beer bottles in each hand. “Is that—”

“Walk with me.” Matt wrapped an arm around Holly’s waist and kept walking, forcing her to take two steps backward before she turned, letting herself be led farther into the house. “They’re having the argument again.”

“Ugh.” Holly led the way after that. She didn’t want to get sucked into the fight any more than Matt did. “I’m so sick of New York, and I haven’t even moved there yet.”

“Do you want to move there?” Matt asked before he could stop himself.

Holly turned back to him, a stricken look crossing her face. She stood stock-still for one long moment, making it obvious no one had asked her flat-out like that.

Finally she shrugged. “It’s an amazing opportunity for Will.”

“I’m not asking about Will,” Matt said in a stern voice that was enough to make Holly’s back stiffen in defensiveness. “Do you want to leave Mirabella and live in New York? Is that something you really want for yourself?”

“It won’t be forever.” She looked past his shoulder toward the patio as if silently searching for some sort of confirmation she wouldn’t have to leave the island forever. “Five years, maybe.”

“You think he’s just going to leave one of the top firms in New York and come back here?” Matt shook his head. “Even if he
thinks
that’s what he’s going to do, it’ll never happen. There’s nothing here that’ll equal the money and success he can generate there. This is a forever type thing, Holly.”

Rather than respond, Holly handed Matt three of the beers in her hands and then opened the fourth. She took a long drink of it, looking miserable as she turned and walked into the kitchen without another word.

Matt let her go, knowing she probably needed space, and found himself thinking of his own situation. Alex and Holly were like opposite sides of the same coin, yin-and-yang beach rats who lived to play on the shore at sunset and go diving at sunrise. The reason Alex kept arguing with his brother so furiously was because he knew Holly didn’t want to go to New York. She
would
to hold on to the love she shared with Will, but she would never be happy there.

And Alex would never be happy in Atlanta.

If Matt wanted to hold on to him, he was going to have to walk away from a legacy that dated back sixty years. He needed to quit the job he’d never wanted with Tarrington Enterprises and be his own man.

“When are you going to take me on one of those spearfishing trips you go on?”

Matt turned when Devon Hastings and Alex’s friend Brandon Carver walked up behind him. He pulled a face at Devon. “Do you
want
to go spearfishing?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Brandon here was telling me about it. You know I live for the next adventure.” Devon put a hand on Brandon’s shoulder. “Maybe I could fly you guys out to Key West. I heard there’s some amazing fishing out there. My new jet has plenty of room.”

“Definitely.” Brandon nodded, his eyes wide at the prospect of flying in Devon’s private jet out to Key West. “Alex used to go out there all the time. Not this season though. I guess the fish just weren’t biting this year. There’s still lobstering, but that doesn’t start until August.”

Matt snorted, unable to help the laugh that burst out of him. “That must be it.”

“And Key West has a ton of great wrecks for diving. That’s fun all year,” Brandon went on, obviously anxious to sell Devon on the idea. “You dive, Hastings? My dad owns a scuba shop on Bay Boulevard.”

“I do.” Devon nodded, clearly interested. He pointed to the beers in Matt’s hand that Holly had handed him. “You drinking those, Matt?”

“No.” Matt handed a beer to each of them. “Enjoy.”

His and Alex’s worlds had collided over the course of this year, and it wasn’t as bad a mesh as everyone thought it’d be. There were still some issues, like Matt’s mother who had never warmed up to Alex, or Will, who tolerated Matt at best, but those were minor issues.

Matt walked away when Brandon and Devon started talking about scuba diving, and went to grab two more beers out of the kitchen. Holly was having an animated discussion with Melissa over something, and Matt was glad they barely noticed him as he dug into the cooler full of ice next to the fridge. His mind was on Alex and what needed to be done to make sure they had a future together. The distraction of being social became a little too much for the moment.

When he made it back out to the patio, Alex and Will were still arguing. Matt didn’t say anything. He just set a beer in front of Alex and then handed another one to Will.

Alex looked away from his brother when Matt sat down next to him, this time a little closer than was typical. Instead of scooting his chair away, Alex just reached under the table and slyly squeezed Matt’s thigh. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Matt grinned at him. “Figured you needed it.”

They weren’t trying so hard anymore to be something they weren’t. Alex was as tired of the lie as Matt was. Spring didn’t just mean tourists and warmer waters.

It meant Alex and Matt were coming out.

* * * *

Alex jumped up on the bed and reached his hands up, successfully touching the ceiling in Matt’s bedroom. Naked and still buzzing after the party, he grinned at Matt who was lying on his side, head propped in his hand as he looked up at Alex with an arched eyebrow.

“Suck my dick,” Alex said as his grin broadened.

“Is that how it works?” Matt asked with that haughty rich-boy voice he used so well. “Just ask, and you receive?”

“Usually, yeah.” Alex laughed. “It helps that you’re a total cock whore.”