Overboard (7 page)

F
uck
. Fuck. Fuck.

Sebastian pulled on his swim trunks and hurried after Duncan to apologize and try to make things right. He cursed again when he saw that Duncan had managed to disappear.

What the fuck was I thinking?

Duncan’s scruffy roughness and blatant nervous energy had been killing Sebastian all morning. Sebastian wanted to keep his hands off, for Duncan’s sake, but he needed some release and figured he could pop off a load while Duncan was gone and be over it for a little while.

Plus, being alone in the small room and realizing that they would be sleeping next to each other had started getting Sebastian aroused.

He had been heading to the bathroom so he could put a locked door between them right when the Duncan had returned. He’d tried to get into his swim trunks before the door opened.

Idiot.

He returned to their room, hoping Duncan had come back. After an hour, he realized that Duncan might not be coming back. Sebastian worried that his friend had taken advantage of the ship still being docked and had given up on the vacation.

Sebastian pushed through a door to get to one of the outside decks. If he couldn’t find Duncan, he at least needed some fresh air. He headed toward the back of the ship since more people had crowded toward the front. Duncan wouldn’t be in a crowd.

He heard sobbing coming from the shadows down in a secluded spot where the two windowless walls came together at the back of the ship.

Sebastian dropped to a squat to see if someone needed help. Seeing that it was Duncan crying broke Sebastian’s heart. He had caused this pain. He needed to make it better.

“Duncan. What are you doing here? Are you...? I’m sorry about back at the room. I was just...well, it won’t happen again. I’ll put a sock on the door handle or something.”

“You are fucking all my shit up,” Duncan said in a quiet monotone. “You are going to ruin my life. I should just go home.” Duncan jumped to his feet. His eyes were wide with panic. “Is there still time? How’d I forget my goddamn watch?”

“Listen, man. We’ll figure this out. Let’s just...”

“Stop acting like you’re in charge. This isn’t your basement anymore. I’m not working for you. You don’t get to do things like change my fucking room.”

“I already explained that. We needed the space otherwise your parents would have assumed I was sitting on your lap whenever we were in the room. There would have been nowhere else to sit.”

Duncan tried to push pass Sebastian.

Sebastian couldn’t let him go. As terrifying as an angry Duncan was, Sebastian stood his ground. His heart raced while waiting for Duncan to decide what to do. Duncan could easily push past if he wanted to. He could pick Sebastian up and throw him off the ship if he wanted and there wasn’t a damn thing Sebastian could do about it.

Looking at Duncan’s eyes, Sebastian worried that getting tossed overboard was a real possibility.

“Why don’t you just tell them the truth? You’re a grown man. You take care of yourself. Whose business is it who you sleep with?”

“No. No. Fuck no. I’m not going to come out of the closet at my sister’s wedding. Can you imagine the nightmare that could cause?”

“But what if it doesn’t?’

“I have to assume that it will. For Katey.”

Sebastian looked over the rail at the Miami skyline. He had spent so much time out of the closet living in a city that was very gay friendly. He had to think back long and hard to even remember the fear that Duncan was going through. When he did, he understood. Coming out was horrible even in the best of circumstances. The longer you waited, the worse it got.

Duncan needed to rip it off like a Band-Aid or live in constant fear of someone else pulling the Band-Aid.

Sebastian understood why Duncan was being such a shit to him. He was worried he would be the one to do it.

Sebastian needed to convince Duncan that he would never out him. Sebastian would find someone else to fool around with and his parents wouldn’t suspect a thing.

Before he could get the words out Duncan continued, “And they’re going to ask why you’re even here. Friends won’t work. You don’t look like any friend I’ve ever had. You’re too pretty.”

Sebastian’s heart skipped at the compliment.

“I’ll wear you down someday, Duncan Mills.”

Duncan tried to push past.

Stupid mouth.

“But not this week. We’re just coworkers. We talked about that. I’m the money. You’re the sexy...you’re the muscle. It’s totally believable.”

“Right, but why are you
here
? This is a family wedding. I shouldn’t have brought a coworker. I should have brought some pretty girlfriend looking to get married and have babies.”

Sebastian took a moment to think. He needed to get this right.

“How about...no. Okay. I just got dumped by the model I was dating. I was distraught. You brought me so I could get away from him and maybe have a fling to clear the palette.”

Duncan growled low in his throat.

Sebastian’s knees wobbled at the manly sound that vibrated his soul. “With someone else, of course. Not you. We’re business partners. It’ll work. My last relationship was with a lingerie model. Six months ago, but still.”

“A lingerie model? Are you bi?”

Sebastian noted that Duncan sounded intrigued by his sex life. If Sebastian moved slowly enough, he might make something happen yet. He hated holding back, but it was the only way it was going to work.

No fooling around on the cruise. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to win him over so we can fool around afterward.

“No. The model’s name was Keith. He did some adult website modeling. Just in lingerie and out of it. No partners in the shoots. He wasn’t a porno guy. Just sexy boudoir stuff. You would have liked it. You like the pretty boys, right? We actually broke up because neither of us could handle being with another pretty boy. We both wanted someone rougher. Someone with a hairy chest and...”

Sebastian snapped his mouth shut.

Duncan was smiling at least. That was encouraging.

“I’m so screwed,” he said with a pained chuckle.

“I hope so. But not on the ship,” Sebastian quickly added. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”

“So you are on the rebound. My sister will try to set you up with someone. You might have to take one for the team.”

“Does she have good taste in men? I’ll tell her to find someone just like you, only gayer.”

Sebastian saw Duncan’s smile, trying to hide behind his beard. “Asshole,” he said. “Be as gay as you want, just leave me out of it.”

“Well, then I can’t be as gay as I want, can I?”

Duncan looked like he was ready to kill him.

Sebastian swallowed, trying to decide whether to back down or just say fuck it and torment him some more. For the first time, Duncan seemed to be enjoying talking to Sebastian. He wanted to keep that going as long as possible. But the more he talked, the more likely he was to say something that caused Duncan to throw the barriers back up.

He was saved by the horn signaling that the boat would be leaving soon.

Duncan leaned back against the railing. Even in his ugly t-shirt with paint spattered all over it and cut-off blue jeans, he managed to look sexy. The bulging biceps made it easy for Sebastian to ignore the man’s horrible taste in clothes.

“Your family must be on board by now. How are you supposed to meet up with them?”

“Dinner. We have a few tables reserved for our family and friends. We’ll see them there.”

Perfect. Now, how can I keep us alone for as long as possible?

“Okay. I say we do something that they definitely won’t be doing for the next few hours. Something where there’s no way they bump into us. Swimming?”

“Mom and Dad will live by the pools.”

“Casino.”

“Katey. She’s the luckiest person I know. She’ll play from the second she gets here until she hits something big.”

Sebastian tugged on Duncan’s shirt. Duncan didn’t flinch from the touch.

“We could go shopping for some new clothes.”

“What’s wrong with this?”

“Are you...you’re kidding right? Did you cut those jeans into shorts yourself?”

Both men looked down at Duncan’s legs.

“Of course. The knees got torn on a nail and I...okay. Fine. They are ugly. But no shopping. I can’t afford it.”

Sebastian’s heart broke listening to Duncan talk about money. In his opinion, Duncan should never have needed to worry about money.

“Listen,” Sebastian said. “Please, listen carefully. I’m paying for this trip.” Sebastian waved down Duncan’s protest. “Dude. Let’s make this trip something to remember. Money is just something I have. Let me do something worthwhile with it for once and pamper you a little bit. It’s your sister’s wedding. Don’t spend it like a pauper. Just charge shit to the room and I’ll take care of it.”

“Shit. That goes to your bill, doesn’t it. I accidentally charged the water to the room. I’m so sorry.”

Sebastian patted Duncan on the side of his arm and couldn’t stop himself from squeezing his bicep.

“Jesus man. Those arms. Charge whatever to the room. Don’t even think of it. My money is your money for the rest of the cruise. Let’s just have fun. Straight, nonsexual, best-friend fun... Unless you change your mind and want the best kind of fun two men can have.”

Duncan paused to consider the offer.

Please say yes. You deserve to be spoiled. Let me do something good with Dad’s money.

“Shit. I want to say no, but fuck, I’m broke as a joke. I have no money. Thanks, man. But just necessities. I need a swimsuit. I’ll get by with the rest of my own clothes.”

Duncan stunned Sebastian by giving him a big bear hug. Sebastian closed his eyes and inhaled Duncan’s musky cologne. Sebastian never wanted to let him go.

“The gym,” Duncan said, playfully pushing Sebastian away.

“Yeah, I can tell you like the—”

“No. My family won’t even go on the same floor as the gym. It’s perfect. We’ll pump some iron until dinner.”

Sebastian looked at his watch and wondered if Duncan really planned to lift weights all the way until dinner. The man was a behemoth but must still have some kind of limits.

“Sure, Duncan. We can lift weights all afternoon.”

“Yeah, man,” Duncan shouted excitedly. “Let’s do this. Do you think those little chicken wings of yours will be able to spot me?”

“I’m pretty sure the gym only has machine weights.”

“I bet you a dollar they don’t. Real men take cruises too and real men use free weights. Come on. Let’s go get changed and check it out.”

Sebastian had to sprint to keep up with the lumbering giant who finally had some pep in his step and a destination in mind.

D
uncan couldn’t believe
that the thin Sebastian could bench-press two hundred pounds as easily as he did.

“I guess that weight room at your place doesn’t go to waste.”

Sebastian finished his set and returned the weights to the bench. While wiping sweat from his face, he said, “Yeah. There’s something about lifting. It’s very soothing. I can’t believe they actually have free weights in this dive. I’ll hand it to you. You were right.”

“Dive? This is a palace compared to the little setup I have in my garage.”

“You should start coming over and working out with me.”

Duncan had trouble imagining a workout at Sebastian’s involving any weights. When he realized that he was once again thinking about sex with the pretty man, he wanted to just give in to the bad idea. It wouldn’t take Sebastian long to grow bored quickly, but it would be one hell of a ride while it lasted.

The way that Sebastian sat with one leg on each side of the bench had forced his shorts up high on his thighs. Duncan dragged his eyes away from the long, lean, smooth skin of Sebastian’s legs. He was pretty sure that Sebastian had gotten a chubby. He was certain that Sebastian had been looking up Duncan’s shorts while he spotted him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a spotter wearing boxer shorts before. Thanks for the nice view,” Sebastian said while rising from the bench.

Duncan snapped his towel at Sebastian’s butt.

Duncan tried to change the subject before he did something he would regret. “Anyway. What’s with the gym addiction? I thought your reputation was to avoid hard work.”

“I guess. I don’t really know what my reputation is sometimes. I joined a gym to try and hook up with a trainer a few years back. It ended poorly.” Sebastian smile said that it had been his fault.

No surprise there.

When Sebastian continued, he sounded a little lost in his thoughts. “I did learn that I like lifting weights, though, so I had the gym installed. It’s like my own little meditation time. The physical act and the sweating...”

He shrugged to show that he didn’t understand it any further than that.

Duncan sat on the bench for his turn, but didn’t lie down. He gave Sebastian time because he seemed to have more that he was trying to say. Sebastian opening up was a pleasant surprise. It made him more vulnerable and human. In those moments, he became the sort of man Duncan wanted to be around.

“Like the other day when I was helping clean up the basement. That felt good. Even without talking, it felt like we were connected. Afterward, when my arms were all jelly, it was like I was part of something bigger. Stupid, right?”

Chills ran down Duncan’s spine.

“Nah. That makes sense. I normally work alone, but when I find a good partner, that feeling happens sometimes. The time just flies by and it isn’t work anymore. It’s like an art project. We’re creating something, and it’s so much better together than it would have been alone. It’s almost magical.”

“Maybe we could work on something else together when we get home. Like for real start that business. I think we’d be good partners.”

Duncan heard the hopeful tone in his new friend’s voice. Unless he was mistaken, Sebastian was hoping for more than a quick fuck. He seemed to be looking for something deeper than that.

Duncan wanted to believe that it was more than just a game Sebastian was playing to get into his pants.

What would it really hurt to believe in magic?

“Maybe. I make lots of messes and I can always use a good, dependable worker to help out. Why don’t you come spot me and we’ll see how you do. We’ll consider it your interview.”

Duncan dropped to his back and focused on the bar. After a few reps, though, his eyes wandered to Sebastian’s crotch. He nearly dropped the weight when he saw the signs of a full erection that the tight shorts failed to hide at all.

Sebastian didn’t notice. He was focused so completely on the barbell.

Duncan let the barbell rest on his chest for a couple of seconds.

Sebastian dove forward to help. His dick bumped against Duncan’s forehead. His fingers brushed against Duncan’s hands. Together they set the bar back in place.

Duncan’s heart skipped. Desire poured through his body. Duncan wanted Sebastian and wasn’t really interested in fighting the feelings anymore.

I’m going to give in. There’s nothing I can do to stop even if I wanted to.

“Hey, Sebastian.” While Duncan turned and searched for the words to seduce Sebastian back to their room, he noticed the clock on the wall. They only had thirty minutes until dinner.

With his family.

Fuck.

That killed the mood.

“It’s almost time for dinner,” Duncan said with regret. “We should go get cleaned up.”

“Sure thing, boss. Time to meet the family. Let’s do this.”

Sebastian high-fived Duncan.

Duncan felt like this trip was his Titanic and that dinner would be the iceberg. Nothing to do but get it over with, though.

“Race you to the room,” Sebastian said and took off, giving himself a head start.

Even if Duncan could have overtaken Sebastian, he had no interest in passing up the opportunity to watch Sebastian’s legs and ass pushing the perfect body up the stairs and down the hallways.