Barging In (28 page)

That was certainly true. At least one a night. And he’d given only the carefully edited version to Robin as well.

“I’m not like that anymore, Mum. I’ve changed. I don’t even go clubbing anymore. I’ve grown up.” If he kept saying it, then maybe it would be true. Stop him from making a really stupid mistake and ruining things between him and Robin.

“I’m glad to ’ear it. So let’s figure out what you’re going to say to Chantal now, shall we?”

Dan sighed. She was right, of course. Family should come before his career, as should Robin.

It was just so unfair that he couldn’t have it all at once.

In mid-December, the weather closed in.

Serendipity
rocked in the gale. Robin peered out the galley porthole, hoping he’d driven the mooring pins in deep enough. When the ground was soft and wet it could be a real challenge to get the bloody things to stay put. He probably should have stayed on the official moorings where he could have pulled the boat in tight against the bank and stopped it rocking quite so sickeningly. At least he’d remembered to pull in the plank. It could be a real bugger fishing one of those out of the canal the next day.

“I hope Mel and Sparky found somewhere decent to moor up.” Robin couldn’t help worrying about Mel. She’d gone off with Sparky, who was cruising back towards Oxford to spend time with family at Christmas. What if she never came back again? He must be getting used to company, as the thought of being alone had never bothered him this much before.

“They’ll be fine, and stop pacing around, will you? Come on, I need some comforting over here.”

Robin was about to berate Dan for being a great big wuss, but when he saw the look on his face, he kept that to himself. Dan’s eyes were haunted, his arms hugged tight around himself.

“Hey, it’s okay. Just a storm. We’re safe in here, I promise.” He sat next to Dan and pulled him close. Dan shivered, climbed onto his lap and seemed to melt, head nestled in the crook of Robin’s neck. He could feel Dan’s hot breath gusting against his skin, heating his blood.

“Pathetic, aren’t I?” Dan whispered. “It’s just, there’s all that water out there, and I can hear it sloshing around. I keep thinking we’re gonna sink in the night.”

“Rubbish. Not a chance. It would take more power than the wind to push a narrowboat over. Just doesn’t happen.”

“You sure?” The hope in Dan’s voice made Robin feel all warm inside. It was such a high to be able to comfort him.

“I’m certain.”

But Dan wasn’t completely reassured. “What about the…prop shaft? Didn’t you tell me water could get in through there?”

“It’s fine. I packed it good and proper the other day.”

“You packed your prop shaft?”

There was a definite cheekiness to Dan’s tone. Robin figured he should make the most of it. He dropped his voice and slid his hands to Dan’s waist, caressing lightly.

“Yeah, I got the ring all greased up and packed it in there hard. That prop shaft didn’t know what had hit it.”

Dan undulated against him and lifted his face. Robin looked straight into his mischievous eyes.

“Sounds like I should be jealous of this thing you’ve got going on with your boat, Skipper.”

Robin nodded gravely. “A man’s relationship with his boat is sacred. But I’ll tell you what.” He dropped his hands farther, grabbing himself a double handful of Dan’s arse. “Packing her isn’t anywhere near as much fun as packing you.”

“Mmm, glad to hear it.”

There wasn’t a trace of fear in Dan’s voice anymore. Robin revelled in the husky warmth of his moans as he pulled him into a kiss. Dan tasted sweet as ever, with just a trace of lager cutting through his familiar flavour. Robin tried to keep things slow and steady, comforting rather than stimulating, even though his cock was starting to take an interest.

Dan obviously had other ideas, though, and wriggled around until he sat astride him. Then Dan broke the kiss and pulled off his T-shirt.

What a sight. Dan looked so fucking sexy like that, so debauched, all kiss-reddened lips and wild eyes. Robin’s dick stiffened as he traced a finger over the trail of love bites he’d left on Dan’s chest. His heart beat faster. That Dan let him do this, let him make his mark and claim him, let him take just what he needed and seemed to find it every bit as exciting and overwhelming as he did…

It blew his mind.

If only Robin could explain it all, but when he looked up into Dan’s eyes, he realised that maybe he didn’t need to. Dan felt it too. Robin could see it in his face, hear it in his moans, feel it in his every movement.

Dan’s hands were deftly unbuttoning his fly.

“Stay right here,” Dan said, then got up and stumbled his way through to the bed cabin.

Robin humoured him and stayed put—he had a pretty good idea what Dan was fetching—but as Dan hadn’t mentioned anything about clothing, he took the liberty of stripping off, then sat back again with legs planted wide and his hands behind his head.

The delighted surprise on Dan’s face made Robin’s heart swell.

“Great minds think alike,” Robin said, because Dan was every bit as naked as he was.

“Oh yeah. Hold that thought. In fact, hold it just like that.”

Robin’s hand had moved to his cock, and he kept it there, watching Dan sway closer. A fierce gust of wind shook the boat, and Dan fell onto him, narrowly missing planting an elbow in his groin.

“Whoa! Careful there. You nearly ruined your chances of getting lucky.”

Dan giggled breathlessly but soon righted himself and straddled Robin.

“Like this, okay?” Dan asked as he rolled the condom onto him.

Robin had no complaints. It was always a buzz to let Dan take a bit of control back from him, and if that’s what he needed to ride out the storm, he could have it.

He held himself firm as Dan lowered his body, pulling him in with rippling muscles. Exquisite heat enveloped him as he drank in the incredible sight of Dan wincing and gasping and shuddering with pleasure as he sank down.

Dan came to rest, his forehead pressed against Robin’s and his breath shallow.

Robin waited for him. He could give him all the time he wanted. It felt right, just having Dan around him and pulled in against him. He could feel the damp heat of Dan’s cock and balls pressed up against his belly.

The wind gusted hard again, and something rattled against the outside of the boat. Dan’s head whipped around.

“Shhh, just a twig or something. Sounds worse than it is.” Robin could tell what all the sounds were: the tarpaulin snapping in the wind, the stovepipe rattling, the logs shifting, the intermittent raindrops. All perfectly normal sounds but no doubt alarming to Dan’s city-boy ears. “Just try to ignore it and listen to me.”

Dan shifted, and Robin looked up into his eyes. They were so trusting it made him long to live up to whatever it was Dan was expecting.

“Well, go on, then,” Dan prompted.

Shit. He was going to have to talk. He didn’t do talking during sex. But he’d have to try, what with Dan looking at him with those big puppy-dog eyes.

“See these?” he said, running his hand over Dan’s chest. “These marks? Just looking at them turns me on. Sometimes I want to rip all your clothes off just to check they’re st-still there. Oh God, that’s good!”

Dan had started moving, lifting right up, gyrating his hips and driving down on him with force.

“Keep going, and I’ll keep moving,” Dan said, pausing.

It was going to be bloody hard work concentrating, but he’d give it his best shot if it meant more of that.

“They look so fucking sexy on you. The bites. Sometimes I want to make other marks. I want to…” Oh God, could he actually admit to this? But Dan stopped moving, and he wanted more. Needed more. His voice came out gruff and demanding. “I want to bend you over and smack your bum until it’s red, and then—and then fuck you so hard it stings and you c-can’t sit down for days.”

Dan was panting almost as fast as him, and Robin’s hand found its way to Dan’s cock. It was slippery already, and he knew it wouldn’t take much to tip them both over the brink.

“Any more?” Dan asked, not really pausing this time but slowing down a little.

“You need more? Shit, I…I’ve never wanted anyone like this. Scares me. All the things I want to do to you. With you. Yeah, like that. Dan, I, I think I—”

I love you.

The words were lost in a rush of sensation. Robin felt Dan go first, filling the space between them with hot seed. He braced himself against the floor and thrust up into Dan’s pulsing, twitching body, determined to milk Dan’s orgasm for as long as he could. To help him push back the fear and the wind and the rain.

He didn’t let himself follow until he felt Dan collapse against him.

He hadn’t said it. He couldn’t, not even then.

But he knew the words inside him were true.

Just three little words that scared him stupid.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Robin was going to blow a gasket.

Probably.

Dan pulled himself together and dialled his number. He knew exactly what he was going to say—that he was helping out a friend in distress and Robin hadn’t wanted the spare ticket anyway. He’d put it better than that, of course.

But he knew Robin still wasn’t going to like it.

He was right.

“You’ve invited Tris? Are you serious?”

“He’s really upset, babe. His stint in La Cage ended, Alex dumped him just before Christmas, and he needs something to cheer him up.”

“Needs a shoulder to cry on, more like.”

“Yeah, well that’s what friends are for, isn’t it?”

The silence stretched out.

“You tell me what friends are for,” Robin said, his voice hard and bitter. “According to you, friends are for fucking as well. According to you, we’re just friends. What’s to say Tristan doesn’t want a bit of that kind of cheering up too?”

“I expect he does, but he’s not going to be getting it from me!”

Dan heard Robin mutter something that sounded suspiciously like “Yeah, right”.

Charming. Well, he could do angry every bit as well as Robin could. In fact, he could do righteous anger.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. We’re more than friends, and you know it. When was the last time I slept with anyone other than you?”

“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re the one who has trouble keeping it in his pants.”

Shit, that hurt. That really hurt. It felt like Robin had just stabbed him in the chest, twisted the knife and spat in his face.

“Is that really what you think of me? You really think I’m screwing around behind your back? I’m not like your precious Jamie, you know. And anyway, you stuck with him for ages even though you knew he was a no-good junkie slut.”

As soon as the words were out, Dan wanted to claw them back again. It was obvious Robin had worshipped the ground Jamie walked on, and those feelings still lingered. Dan should have known better than to insult the guy, even if every word was true.

Robin was silent for a long time. Dan could hear harsh breathing, but it gradually slowed. He hated to be the cause of such distress. He should have waited, told Robin in person when he could have reassured him physically. Shown him the honesty in his eyes.

“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to bring him into it. What you had going with him is none of my business.”

“No.” Robin’s voice was softer now, the anger replaced by pain. “You’re right though. I did. I trusted too much. I can’t go through that again.”

“You don’t have to. Look, we’ll see each other in a couple of days. It will all look better by then, and I can show you how there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

They talked of other things for a while, but Robin sounded tired, and they said their good nights earlier than usual. When Dan put down the phone, he realised his shoulders were still tensed up. He’d been way too stressed just lately, what with the mountain of work to get finished before going away, the prospect of no Robin for a whole month, and now this stupid argument…

What he needed was a night out. A chance to blow off some steam before seeing Robin again.

He dialled Tris’s number.

“It’s like he doesn’t fucking well trust me. He thinks you’re gonna seduce me while we’re away and I’m…I’m just a cheap slut who can’t keep it in his pants.” Dan hiccupped and sloshed back another mouthful of Sex on the Beach. He wasn’t used to drinking this much, but the boozy fruit juice was sliding down easily.

Tris stared at him over the cocktail umbrellas. “Sounds like he’s got a pretty accurate picture of you, darling, if your track record’s anything to go by. How many different guys was it last time you went to one of these resorts?”

Dan scowled. He didn’t need to do the mental arithmetic as he could remember bragging about it on his return. “’S’not the point. I’m a reformed character. When’s the last time you remember me fucking anyone other than Robin?”

“Hmmm…” Tris was doing that really annoying thing where he pursed his lips and looked like he was seeing right into Dan’s fucking soul. “Okay, granted. But what is it about this Robin that’s keeping you faithful? I mean, I want to believe in true love and all that bollocks, but I’ve never seen you as the type.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Dan glared at Tristan, wanting to resent his oldest friend but not able to summon up enough anger at him to make it work. In the end, he just sighed. “I dunno. Really, I don’t know what it is, but I just want to be with him all the time, and when we are together, it’s fucking amazing.”

“The sex?”

“Yeah. No! Not just the sex. I mean, the sex is something else, but it’s more than that.” Dan gestured with the wrong hand, slopping sticky liquid all over his fingers. He put the glass down on the table and attempted to steady himself. It was tricky when the world insisted on slipping sideways all the time. “It’s just, spending time together, you know?”

Tris got that funny look he’d had a lot recently. The one where it seemed he was seeing something good, but it wasn’t right here, right now. Wistful, that was it. “I think I know what you mean.” His lips twisted in a bitter smile. “I was feeling that way about Alex.”