Fearless (Pier 70 #2) (13 page)

“Who’s Lulu?”

“The marina dog,” she explained. “Dare refuses to leave Lulu at the marina overnight by herself, although Cam and Roan both live in apartments above the place, so he takes her home and pays a ridiculous amount to his landlord just to keep her there overnight. Sure, he’s fun to be around, and he always keeps everyone laughing, but I damn sure don’t find fault in that.”

Okay, not how he’d pictured this playing out at all. For once, he had hoped someone would be on his side. Then again, after all that,
he
wasn’t even on his side.

After sucking down more of his beer, Noah dropped his head back and stared up at the blue awning. “I fucked up, Mill. I fucked up then and I fucked up now.”

“How did it end?” she asked, her tone softer than moments before.

He knew she wasn’t talking about today. “He left in the middle of the night. Packed what few things he’d had at my place, and I never saw him again.”

“You didn’t go after him?”

Noah shook his head. He’d wanted to, but he never had. In his defense, he had a damn good reason for that.

“Well, you’re an idiot.”

His head snapped around, his gaze slamming into Milly’s. He was just about to tell her exactly what he thought when she held up her hand and smiled.

“And he’s an idiot. And anyone who looks at the two of you would be an idiot if they didn’t see just how much you still love each other.”

It was his turn to snort. “It’s been fifteen years, Mill. I’m thinking love’s no longer the problem.”

“No?” Milly leaned forward. “So you’re telling me you don’t love him?”

“I didn’t say that, but I’m not admitting it, either.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Fuck. I came face-to-face with him less than twenty-four hours ago, after fifteen fucking years. I’m not sure I understand how I’m even having this conversation.”

“Sometimes time doesn’t matter. When you really, truly love someone, I don’t think that ever dies. No matter how much time you spend apart.”

Noah shook his head, not wanting to agree.

But still, he couldn’t deny it, either, because, unfortunately, Milly had nailed it.

Fourteen

Before getting dressed and resigning himself to finding something to eat, Dare had spent the last couple of hours alone, lying on his bed in his cabin, staring at the ceiling, and trying to figure out how things had gone so wrong so quickly. One minute he and Noah were making a pact that they would survive the trip without jumping one another, and the next minute Noah was kissing him.

Worst part, Dare wanted Noah to kiss him again.

And again. And…

Damn it. It was all he could fucking think about.

Except hooking up wouldn’t be good for either of them, because once they left this ship, it wasn’t like Dare would see Noah again. They’d built lives for themselves, and although Dare didn’t know much about Noah, other than he’d become a firefighter, he had to assume that Noah had a full life—one that didn’t include Dare in it. And based on the way Noah had dodged his question earlier, Noah had no intention of allowing Dare to be part of it, either.

Not that he wanted to be.

Damn, and there he went lying again.

When his stomach growled for the twentieth time, he managed to push himself up off the bed, pull a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of his suitcase, and get dressed. Rather than mess with his hair, he grabbed his Dallas Cowboys ball cap and pulled it on before slipping his feet into his flip-flops.

He made his way down to the main level, intending to find food. As he walked toward the food court, he stumbled upon Noah, who seemed to be doing the same thing, searching for dinner. He was about to pretend he hadn’t noticed the man when Noah glanced over, their eyes locking. Before he could hightail it out of there, Noah headed his way.

The awkward tension that had been absent for much of the day when they’d been at the beach had returned in full force. Dare had a hard time looking Noah in the eye, much less finding something to say that would make this day better.

“I’m sorry.”

Confused, Dare focused on Noah’s face. “For what?”

“For kissing you.”

Dare shrugged as though it didn’t matter. “Happens all the time.”

Noah laughed and a little of the tension eased from Dare’s shoulders.

“Does it?”

Dare nodded. “Yep. Hot guys find me irresistible. They’re always kissing me.”

“Good to know.” Noah’s smile brightened. “That you find me hot.”

Of course he would fixate on that part.

Dare didn’t respond.

Noah glanced over his shoulder at the food court. “You hungry?”

His stomach growled loudly, answering for him.

Noah’s lips curled up. “Want to have dinner with me? I promise not to trip and let my lips fall into yours.”

Dare cocked his head to the side, pretending to be considering this. “And what about the naked shower thing? How do you propose we keep that from happening again?” Part of him wished it would happen again.

“I’ll work on that and get back to you.”

“Fine. Then I’ll have dinner with you. Maybe we can come up with a plan.” Dare didn’t add
one way or the other
, which was what he was thinking.

They grabbed burgers and fries, then found a seat at an empty table for two.

“I see you still take in food like you did years ago.” Noah tilted his head at Dare, nodding toward the now nearly empty tray.

“I’m a growing boy.” It was a damn good thing he had a fast metabolism. “I stay pretty active at work.”

“What is it that you do at the marina?” Noah sounded genuinely curious.

“We take clients out on boats if they need a guide for the day. I do some teaching of how to drive the Jet Skis. I’ve also been designated as the one to help out when kids want to learn how to ride them. Seems I’ve got a knack for it or something.” Or so Cam and Roan always told him. Dare believed it was due to the fact that the two of them were scared of the shorter humans, but whatever. He enjoyed it.

“Sounds like fun.”

Dare looked at Noah, trying to see if he was making fun of him. He saw only admiration staring back at him, which made him feel good. “I love it. Never thought I’d have a job spending my day on the water, having fun. I wouldn’t trade it.”

“Can’t say I blame you.”

“What about you? The firefighter thing… It as interesting as it is on television?”

Noah grinned after wiping his mouth with a napkin. “It can be. Then again, on TV, they condense the most exciting events down to one hour a week. Not nearly as eventful in a twenty-four-hour period, but it has its moments.”

“When do you work?” Dare grabbed his drink and downed the rest of it.

“Twenty-four on, forty-eight off.” Noah pushed his tray away, signaling he was finished. “I’ve also got a roofing business that keeps me busy in the meantime. But I don’t let that get in the way of the station.”

“Roofing?” Noah didn’t look like a man who did a lot of manual labor, but maybe that explained the incredible physique.

Placing his elbows on the table, Noah picked up his drink. “At first, it was a way to supplement my income. When that was no longer necessary, I kept it up as a way to fill my time.”

Dare continued to watch Noah. That was interesting information. Sounded as though Noah had his hands full. Glancing around, he realized the place was still busy. “You wanna head outside? Maybe get a beer or something?”

Noah grabbed his tray and stood. “I’d like that, but I’m thinking less beer, more margaritas.”

“You had me at margaritas.”

Dare didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he saw the night taking a much better turn than the day had. Provided he could continue to remind himself that Noah was off-limits, he figured they’d do just fine.

Then again, Dare never had been one to read the warning signs, much less heed them. If the sign said don’t feed the bears, Dare was the first one looking for steak.

Noah w
asn’t sure how he’d managed to salvage the day after all the shit that had happened, but he wasn’t complaining. In fact, he was now sitting on a lounge chair beneath the stars, drinking a margarita, and enjoying the time with Dare only a foot or so away from him.

It’d been pure luck that he’d run into Dare when searching for food. As it was, Noah had been thinking about going up to the cabin to invite Dare to dinner. Anything to try and salvage what few gains they’d made before Noah had gone and fucked it up.

Looked as though the planets were aligned in his favor.

He could only hope they remained that way for the rest of the trip, because heaven knew he’d fuck shit up faster than anything if given the opportunity. And he damn sure didn’t want to fuck things up with Dare. Not again, anyway.

“You ever been on a cruise before?” Dare asked.

“First time. You?”

“Not like this. I took a cruise about five years ago on a much smaller ship. Not nearly the amenities.”

“Who’d you go with?” Noah wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he had to ask.

“Cam and Roan. We spend so much time on the water, and none of us had done it, so we figured what the hell. We had a good time.”

Noah hoped that this trip surpassed that one in terms of fun had by all. He didn’t know why he wanted to make memories with Dare again; he just did.

Ever since he’d had the conversation with Milly, he’d thought about how he had acted toward Dare since his arrival on the ship. They did have history. A very emotional time for both of them, and though they’d gotten this far without the other, he wasn’t sure he wanted to keep moving forward without Dare in his life. Even if they could only be friends.

To test his friendship theory, Noah figured he’d go for a personal question. “Tell me about the last date you went on.”

Dare rolled his head to the side, pinning Noah with a questioning gaze.

“Oh, come on,” he urged. “Two friends, drinking margaritas, talking about the good times, right?”

Dare turned back away, sipped his margarita, then sighed. For a brief second, Noah didn’t think he was going to answer.

“It’s been a while. And I’m not sure it qualified as a good time.”

“How long’s a while?” Noah kept his attention on Dare.

“Eight months.”

Holy shit. Noah wasn’t quite as nervous as he had been.

“You take him out? Or he take you out?”

“He asked me.” Dare made eye contact again. “For the record, it might sound strange, but I haven’t really dated in years. I’ve had a few one-night stands here and there, but even those are few and far between.”

Noah had a million questions he wanted to ask—the foremost being
how few
and
how far between?
—but he banked them for later. He settled with keeping on the original topic. “Where’d y’all go?”

“He took me to dinner.” Dare looked away again. “Actually, I met him at the restaurant because I didn’t want him to know where I lived. Privacy and all that. I met him when I went to a bar with Teague one night.” Dare took another sip of his drink. “Of all the places the guy could’ve picked, he wanted to go to Denny’s.”

Noah frowned, trying to process what Dare had just told him. Then he couldn’t help it, he cracked up laughing, nearly spilling his drink all over himself as he folded over. “Denny’s? Really? When is that appropriate for a first date?”

“When is it appropriate for
any
date?”

“Okay, true.” Noah tried to calm down. “Did he say
why
he chose Denny’s?”

Dare chuckled before he responded. “Apparently he had an affinity for their omelets. Needless to say, we didn’t go out again.” Dare met his gaze. “What about you? Tell me about your last date.”

“I guess it wasn’t really a date. I met an ex-boyfriend at a bar for drinks.”

“When was this?”

Noah liked the fact that Dare was fishing for details. “Six months ago.”

“That’s the last date you went on?”

“It is.” Noah drained the rest of his drink. “Let’s just say I don’t have a good track record in the dating department.”

“I feel your pain.” Dare stared up at the sky while Noah watched him. “Dating leads to relationships, and I don’t do relationships.”

“At all?” Noah wondered when the last time was that Dare had had a serious, long-term boyfriend.

“At all.”

“When was the last?”

Dare sighed again, then turned his head and held Noah’s stare. “You.”

God, please forgive him, but although that news was sad, it also made Noah want to fist-bump the air. He settled for responding instead. “Don’t feel bad. My last relationship was five years ago. It lasted two months. That’s the only other real relationship I’ve had since … you.”

“Boy, we’re just a couple of real winners, aren’t we?”

“I’ll drink to that.”

Dare grinned, holding up his empty glass. “Well, you’re gonna have to go get us more drinks if that’s the case. But nice of you to offer.”

Noah laughed, thankful they’d made it through that conversation relatively easily. And for that, he didn’t have a problem getting more drinks.