Fearless (Pier 70 #2) (6 page)

“Shit,” Cam rumbled, standing up straight. “I better go find Gannon before he disappears. See you at dinner?”

“Definitely.” If he wasn’t passed out by then.

When Cam left him and the bartender asked if he needed another drink, Noah waved him off. The thought of getting shit-faced was appealing, but the last thing he needed to do was get drunk tonight. That wouldn’t go over well with anyone. And since he was still contemplating finding Dare and seeking some of the closure he’d been wanting for the past decade and a half, it was the safest thing to do.

Not that anything about this trip was safe.

Especially not with Dare Davis on board.

Rather than give in to the temptation, Noah pushed away from the bar and went in search of Milly. She’d met him on the ship when he’d arrived, and they’d stashed his suitcase in her cabin so she could introduce him to a few people. Now, he wanted a few minutes to get settled before dinner.

“Hey,” Milly greeted, turning away from a group of people when he approached. “Where’s Dare?”

Noah shrugged. “I need to get my suitcase out of your cabin so I can find mine and get unpacked.”

Milly nodded, then grabbed a key card out of the little clutch purse in her hand. Two key cards. “Here’s mine and here’s yours. You’re in 21218. Same floor as me.”

Noah took both key cards from her and repeated the number in his head. “Thanks.”

“Don’t be late for dinner,” he heard her call out as he sauntered off.

Was it him or was there a hint of mischief in her tone?

Fifteen minutes later, Noah had retrieved his suitcase from Milly’s cabin and was headed down the narrow corridor to his own. He counted down the numbers until he found 21218, as Milly had said.

He swiped the card and pushed open the door, only to come to a jarring halt when he saw…

“What the fuck?” a deep voice bellowed from inside the cabin.

Yeah, his thoughts exactly.

With the door open, Noah peered back at the number once more, just to make sure, although he already knew he was in the correct cabin because the key card had unlocked it.

“You have got to be kidding,” he muttered to himself, watching as Dare planted both fists on his hips and squared off with him from across the room, which was only a few feet away.

“No. No way,” Dare snapped. “One of us is in the wrong cabin.”

Noah smiled, unable to help himself. Rather than stand in the hall and argue with Dare, he stepped into the small cabin and allowed the door to close behind him.

When Dare grabbed his cell phone from the vanity counter, Noah knew he had to say something.

“What are you doing?” He moved farther into the room and parked his suitcase against one wall while he cast a cautious glance at Dare.

The space wasn’t very big, roughly one hundred and twenty square feet, which, for two people, felt like a shoe box. Especially when it was obvious that one of those two people was hostile.

“Calling Milly. She’s gonna have to get me another cabin.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Noah crossed his arms over his chest and faced Dare. “What? You want to piss her off right before the wedding?”

Dare’s hazel gaze lifted to meet his. “And you’re okay with this?”

Noah glanced around. There were two twin beds, a narrow couch, what someone considered a desk, as well as a small bathroom and what he assumed was a closet. Yeah, it would be very close quarters for seven nights, but it was doable. Not like they had to sleep together or anything.

Heat curled low in his gut and his dick twitched.

They would
not
be sleeping together.

Noah cleared his throat, dropped his arms. “It’ll be fine.”

Dare shook his head. “I’ll bunk with Roan.”

“Suit yourself. You can be the one who makes a scene, not me.”

Dare dropped his phone on the counter with a loud clatter. “Fine,” he huffed. “If you’re good with it, I’m good with it.”

Yeah, he sounded like he was good with it.

Noah glanced up at the small window above the bed. They had a nice, albeit limited, view of the ocean, but it wasn’t the view he was looking at. He was trying to determine if Dare would be capable of shoving him out of that little round hole.

Not likely.

Noah sighed, then crossed his arms over his chest again. “Look—”

“Nope. No lectures. No way.”

Yep, hostile. Just like Noah had thought.

Another grin found its way on Noah’s face, but from the looks of it, that pissed Dare off. “Think of it this way”—Noah kept his eyes on Dare’s face—“it’s not like we’ll be in this room much.”

Only to sleep.

Together.

Shit.

This was not at all how he had envisioned this trip going.

Five

Dare saw this playing out one of two ways.

One, he called Milly up and told her to find him another cabin or put him in with Roan so that he wouldn’t have to endure spending even one extra minute alone with Noah. Or two, he sucked it up and pretended that Noah’s presence didn’t affect him.

The first way would make him look like a little bitch. The second … well, he feared that the second would definitely be the harder of the two. That was taking into account how upset Milly would be if he raised a stink about his accommodations, even though he was pretty damn sure she’d played a big part in this clusterfuck.

Shit.

He was so screwed.

But if Noah could do this, then so could he. Hell, he could do it better.

“Fine.” Dare glared at Noah, trying to sound unaffected by their sleeping arrangements. “Which bed do you want?”

“You were here first,” Noah responded immediately. “You pick.”

“Fine.” The single word popped out again, and Dare realized that was one word he needed to drop from his vocabulary. “The left.”

Noah nodded and moved to the twin bed on the right. Not that it really mattered which bed he chose. They would still be close enough to touch.

The thought sent a frisson of awareness coursing through him.

No. Not awareness. Dread. That was definitely dread.

Or not.

Dread didn’t usually make his dick hard.

Damn it.

Unable to look away, Dare watched as Noah easily lifted his suitcase and set it on the bed, unzipping it and then unpacking it with care, sliding his clothes into one of the drawers beneath the vanity, moving to the bathroom and stowing stuff in there, then returning to zip up the suitcase and put it away.

Before Dare knew what was happening, Noah was pulling off his shirt.

“Shit. What the hell are you doing?” Dare blurted, eyes locked on the hard muscles of Noah’s well-defined back.

Noah cast him a glance over his shoulder. “Changing. What does it look like I’m doing?”

Dare noticed the smirk.

Asshole.

Fine. Two could play that game. They hadn’t nicknamed him Double Dare for nothing.

Dare immediately pulled off his own shirt, dropped it on the floor.

Noah chuckled as he turned around.

And there they stood, both of them shirtless.

The first thing Dare noticed was that the man a few feet away from him did not look anything like the guy he’d once been in love with. This version of Noah was fucking ripped.

“Nipples pierced, huh?” Noah said, his dark eyes dropping to Dare’s chest.

Dare peered down at the silver rings piercing his nipples—his
hard
nipples. It was the metal that did that. Really.

He ignored his traitorous nipples and looked up at Noah again.

“Tattoo, huh?” Dare countered, admiring the fire department symbol that was tattooed on Noah’s left pec.

Noah glanced down, then back up to meet Dare’s eyes as his hands slid to the button on his jeans, beneath the dark trail of hair that led down, down, down.

Damn it.

Holding his breath, Dare prayed his face didn’t reflect the anticipation currently bottled up inside him. He noticed the minor twitch of Noah’s fingers as he flipped the button on his jeans loose. Dare matched his movement, unbuttoning his own jeans.

Noah pulled his zipper down; Dare did the same.

When Noah pushed his jeans down his hips a little bit, revealing navy blue boxers, Dare…

Stopped.

Shit. He’d gone commando today because he’d been in such a rush, grabbing underwear hadn’t been high on his priority list.

Suddenly this wasn’t a fair fight.

“Problem?” Noah goaded.

Dare narrowed his eyes, then pushed his jeans down slightly. “Not at all.”

His breath lodged in his throat when Noah’s eyes darted down to Dare’s waist, heat infusing the chocolate depths. When Noah’s eyes widened, Dare paused.

This wasn’t a game he was going to win, no matter how much he wanted to, so he decided to save face.

For both of them.

“Wouldn’t want to tempt you with something you can’t have,” Dare grumbled, preparing to pull up his zipper.

Noah didn’t flinch. “Not like I haven’t seen it before.”

Dare cocked his head to the side. “And I’m sure it took you a long damn time to forget about it, too.”

“Not that long,” Noah returned, but Dare suspected that was a lie.

Or maybe that was just wishful fucking thinking.

“Oh, it’s still long,” Dare countered. “And thick. Very, very thick.”

Noah rolled his eyes.

Dare smirked. “Fine. You think you can handle it?”

Noah’s Adam’s apple bobbed slowly, his eyes once more sliding down Dare’s chest, and he felt the heat like a physical caress.

Figuring what the hell, Dare shoved his jeans down his legs, letting them pool at his ankles. And there he stood, stark naked, except for the denim now trapping his feet and the damn shoes he’d forgotten to take off.

But instead of shoving his own jeans down, Noah grabbed his clothes from the bed and then spun around and went right for the bathroom, sliding the door closed behind him.

And somehow, Dare managed to breathe.

Right before he stumbled and fell flat on his naked ass.

Mother of all things holy. What the fuck had made him do that?

Taunting Dare?

Stupidest thing ever.

Unfortunately, Noah hadn’t had enough to drink to blame it on the alcohol.

Planting his palms flat on the wall, he stared at the tiled floor and tried to catch his breath.

Pierced nipples. Fucking hell.

He heard a noise from the other room—sounded as though something had crashed—followed by “son of a bitch,” and he couldn’t help but laugh, picturing Dare on his ass—naked, jeans around his ankles.

And then his breath escaped him again as the image of Dare reappeared, standing gloriously naked, save for the denim shackles on his legs. He couldn’t stop thinking about the smooth planes of Dare’s sun-bronzed chest … and the sexy pierced nipples … mmm, the ripped abs… Oh, and his cock… The man had been half-hard and damned impressive in that state.

Fuck if that hadn’t been the best goddamn sight he’d seen … in a decade and a half.

No question, Dare was the hottest man Noah had ever laid his eyes on. Definitely more impressive at thirty-four than at nineteen, which was saying something. All smooth, bronzed skin, perfectly sculpted muscles, and those sexy-as-hell nipples… Noah would never forget that image. Not if he lived to be two hundred.

Remembering why he’d chickened out and snuck into the bathroom, Noah quickly changed in the tiny, cramped space, then took several slow, deep breaths before stepping out into the cabin to find Dare… Looked as though he’d left.

Slowly inhaling and exhaling, Noah willed his heart rate to slow down as he dropped onto the edge of the bed and stared at the tiny space. He would be spending a week in this cabin with Dare. Seven long, lonely nights.

He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent the night with a man. It had been a long time ago. Hell, he hadn’t even been with a man in six months, and even then, it had been an ex-semi-boyfriend whom Noah had heard from. They’d slept together after sharing dinner and a couple of beers, and Noah had been quickly reminded why they’d gone their separate ways in the first place.

They simply didn’t mesh.

He hardly remembered that night. Then again, right this second, he couldn’t even remember why the hell he and Dare had broken up, and that had been far more impactful than a brief tumble in the sheets.

Oh, yeah. Dare had wanted long-term and Noah had been … stupid.

But none of that mattered.

Right now, he needed to get out of this stuffy little cabin and get some air. Maybe then he’d be able to go to dinner, meet the rest of the people they’d be spending time with over the course of the next week.

After that, perhaps he’d be able to figure out a way to survive the rest of this trip.

Without jumping Dare Davis’s bones.

Hudson Ballard stood at the back of the room, trying to blend in with the wall. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be here in a room full of people he didn’t know, but he’d learned over the years that people tended to shy away from him when they learned he couldn’t speak. Being on the sidelines had simply become natural for him.

“Hey, bro. What’s up?”

Hudson turned to see his brother, AJ, holding two glasses as he stopped beside him. Hudson graciously took one when AJ passed it his way.

“You good?” AJ asked.

Hudson nodded, sipping his drink as he continued to scan the room, looking for the one man he knew he shouldn’t be paying any attention to. Especially since it seemed Teague was doing his best to piss him off by flirting with every damn thing with a dick.

“So, where’s this boy toy of yours?” AJ smirked.

Hudson flipped him off. Teague damn sure wasn’t his boy toy, and the only reason AJ said that was because Hudson had made the comment that Teague was too damn young for him the last time AJ had brought him up. For some unknown reason, the Pier 70 crew thought Hudson was only thirty-one, and he’d never bothered to correct them. It had made it a little awkward when they had surprised him with a birthday cake with the numbers three and one on it on his last birthday, but he’d suffered through. Apparently someone had read his application wrong because he’d just turned thirty-five, making him ten years older than Teague. Far too old to be entertaining the notion of screwing a twenty-five-year-old kid.

“Okay, fine. My turn.” AJ glanced around the room and Hudson followed his gaze. “Who’s the blonde? She single?”

Hudson’s eyes widened as he stared at his brother, shaking his head when AJ made eye contact.

“What does that mean? She’s not single?”

Hudson set his drink on the table and used his hands to explain.
You do not want to mess with Milly.

“Milly, huh?” AJ’s gaze once again slid over to where she stood talking to Gannon and Cam. “Interesting name.”

Hudson punched his brother in the arm.
No, not interesting. Nothing about her is interesting. Leave her alone.

AJ laughed. “Since it seems to me that you’re trying to warn me away from her, I’m gonna assume she’s single.”

Hudson shook his head again.
Not warning you away from her. Her away from you.

“Oh, come on.”

It wasn’t that Hudson cared one way or the other if AJ went after Milly—he was a good guy and all—but the last thing Hudson needed was for something to happen to piss off his bosses. He happened to enjoy the fuck out of his job and wasn’t interested in looking for another.

He elbowed AJ to get his attention, then signed:
Seriously.

AJ’s smile widened. “I promise, I’ll be good.” His eyes scanned the room once again. “Plus, it looks to me like you’ve got someone who could keep you pretty busy if you’d stop pretending you didn’t want to bang his brains out.”