Island Heat (9 page)

Considering it was his first time, Kevin felt remarkably good standing up and pulling on his clothes, but he did sway lightly from sheer tiredness. He couldn't wait to hit his own bed.

They didn't say much; they didn't need to. Eli seemed perfectly contented to let Kevin dwell in his thoughts, just watching him with more affection than Kevin had expected considering the act was already done. Unless... Eli
was
interested in more than just one night with him.

Kevin was pretty sure he wanted that already.

“Go get some sleep,” Eli murmured when Kevin was finally dressed again. “You've sure as hell earned it. We'll talk tomorrow, hm?”

Kevin nodded. “Tomorrow would be good,” he agreed.

Eli put on trousers to walk Kevin to the door downstairs, even though Kevin tried to insist it wasn't necessary. It secretly made Kevin feel good to be seen all the way to the door.

Kevin lingered on the step once he was outside, turning around to take in Eli. Eli looked contented, if sleepy himself, and he smiled. He had a feeling the tension between them wasn't gone, just subdued for another short while.

“Good night, then,” Kevin murmured.

“Good night,” Eli answered. He caught Kevin's wrist to tug him in slightly, and they both leaned in for a kiss.

Kevin smiled as he pulled away at last and turned to walk down the path towards the road. The door closed behind him a few moments later, and he had to resist the urge to strut. Finally, he knew what Troy was so hooked on – what the rest of the world seemed hooked on – and it made sense.

He wanted to be in Eli's bed again.

The sound of footsteps made his head turn. Just around the corner, down a small alley, a man was walking, and he wasn't quite fast enough to turn his face away.

Oh, my god.

Kevin stopped dead in his tracks as it sank in what he'd just seen – and what that meant.

There was no mistaking him. The man who had just turned a corner in the alley out of sight was undoubtedly Tom Jones.

Tom Jones: the A-list actor who was in just about every hot movie this year, and who had been in at least two of Kevin's favorites in the last two years alone.

That
Tom Jones.

Worse yet, it had just occurred to him where he knew that face from. While stalking Tom's actor profile page, he'd seen press photos of Tom with his fiancé. An out and proud Hollywood star was rare, let alone one happily engaged to a quiet billionaire, Eli Black.

Kevin's hands started to shake.
Not
so happily engaged. He hadn't seen or felt a ring on Eli's hand.

His post-coital high was rapidly fading, but there was no way he could stop himself from doing the stupidest possible thing: marching back up to Elis house.

Seconds later, he stood in front of Eli's door and knocked hard, his chest rising and falling as his mind worked through all the harsh words he wanted to say.

When the door opened and Eli stood there, Eli tried to take his hand in greeting.

Kevin pulled back. The only words that came out were, “It was my first time and you fucking cheated.” Kevin's chest burned, his shoulders rising as he stared at Eli, noticing the confusion.

Then, the light went on in Eli's mind as he opened his mouth and closed it.

Kevin swallowed hard and drew himself to his full height, waiting for a response from the gorgeous liar.

“You know who I am,” Eli murmured quietly, leaning on the doorframe. “You just realized?”

“I – no. You never gave a last name.”

Eli slowly shook his head. “It's not what you think. Tom and I...”

Kevin's eyes widened. Eli looked upset – and not like a man who'd just been caught cheating on his fiancé in a remote resort. “What?”

“We're finished. You can't tell anyone until Tom's reps make it public, but...”

Kevin swallowed, the fight going out of him right away. Now, he just felt bad. “Oh.”

Eli nodded slightly. “We've been finished for a few weeks. I didn't expect to... fall for someone else so soon.”

“I – no, I get it,” Kevin murmured.

“Did you just realize as you were walking home?”

“I... I saw Tom nearby, and I assumed--”

“You
what
?” Eli exclaimed, the shock in his voice impossible to disguise, followed shortly by unmistakable white-hot anger. “You
saw
him?” His voice dropped to a whisper as he stepped out onto the porch, taking Kevin by the forearms. “Are you positive?”

Kevin silently nodded. He'd stake his shop on it, unless there was a very well-paid Tom Jones impersonator on the island.

Eli closed his eyes for a few long moments, then nodded and reopened them, looking calmer again. “Thank you for telling me.” His hands ran slowly down Kevin's hands, and Kevin let him take them. It didn't feel dirty anymore – not now that he knew the truth about Eli and Tom.

“Your first time, huh?” Eli murmured, his lips quirking up into a beautiful little smile. “Wasn't that bad, then?”

“No...” Kevin admitted with a quiet laugh. “No, I really liked it.”

“If you want to stop seeing me, now that you know who I am... and what's going on...”

Kevin shook his head, surprising even himself with how quick he was to answer. “I want to see you again. I don't want this to be a one-night stand.”

Eli's shoulders sank with relief and he grinned. “I must have really brought you out of your shell.”

Kevin couldn't help but laugh. “That's the worst fuckin' line yet,” he told Eli, but it broke the ice and made him laugh. It must have been nearly dawn then, since the sky was lightening almost too gradually to notice. “I – I really gotta get home,” he shook his head.

Eli kept eye contact and raised Kevin's hands to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to one of them before letting go. “Thank you for trusting me.”

Kevin nodded, impulsively stepping forward for one more kiss to Eli's lips. “I'll talk to you tomorrow, then,” he promised.

“Tomorrow,” Eli promised firmly, watching him turn and walk away.

Kevin had even more on his mind than he had a few short minutes ago as he turned to walk back to his own apartment. He half-expected to be set upon by Tom, grilled about what he'd been doing there, but much to his relief he encountered nobody in that surreal pre-dawn hour of the day.

As his cheek hit the pillow, he couldn't help but smile. He was going to see Eli again the next day, and in that moment, that was all that mattered to him.

As golden morning rays of sunshine streamed across the cobblestones of Main Street, Eli stepped into the light from the diner, Robby's. By now, they knew his order: one takeout box of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries, fried potatoes, and bacon, and a second box with toast, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, fried mushrooms, and sausages. Breakfast was always packed up neatly for him by the time he arrived at Robby's around eight to pick it up.

From the diner, he walked down the street and nodded to the few early risers he passed on the way to Sweet Nothings, the dessert bar his latest romantic interest co-owned.

Kevin Walker was stunning, and he didn't even know it. He was young, ambitious, loyal, sweet... and supposedly straight. Well, he
had
been. It had taken one look in Eli's eyes for all that to change. A night in Eli's bed later, they'd agreed to keep seeing each other quietly in the mornings while Kevin figured out his newfound attraction.

Wednesday morning was the same as any other morning on Ember Isle, the world's only summer island playground for billionaires, millionaires, and those with enough hundreds of thousands in the bank to splash out on a summer of fun. The rich and famous rented an expensive mansion, ate out at restaurants and bars every day, and spent their days in the surf, sand, and sun.

It was paradise.

“Good morning,” Eli greeted with a smile as he pushed open the door and found Kevin polishing the dessert display cabinet with window cleaner and a rag. “Ooh, Cinderfella, keep polishing... and bend over a little more.”

Kevin burst out laughing as he straightened up, swatting Eli's arm with the rag as he passed by to drop off the supplies behind the counter and wash his hands. “You're horrible.”

“Oh, I'm wounded,” Eli smirked. He set the containers on the nearest table and slid onto the high stool, leaning against the back as he waited for Kevin to be ready for breakfast. “I'm crawling back into my shell now.”

Their private joke was any kind of crab pun or reference, mainly because Eli still found Kevin's dumb moment on the wharf hilarious.

“I'm not acknowledging that one,” Kevin told him, emerging from the kitchen and taking a moment to lean in and kiss Eli.

Eli closed his eyes for a moment to enjoy Kevin's soft lips and his gentle kissing style. It was so sweet. “Why not?” Eli murmured back against Kevin's lips after a few moments.

“It doesn't deserve recognition. You'll have to go back to the drawing board,” Kevin murmured, but he bumped their noses together affectionately before going to sit opposite Eli at the table.

Although they'd only known each other for a week, it already felt like far longer. The way Kevin touched him and moved around Eli was utterly comfortable, until now and then, Eli felt like he was with someone who had known him for years.

Like his ex.

“Has Tom showed up again?” Kevin asked, apparently reading his mind as he started to eat his tomatoes. “It's been a few days now...”

“No,” Eli sighed. “I haven't seen him hanging around, even though I've got security cameras on my house now. Nobody else has seen him around. I've tried to ask subtly, but everyone looks at me like I'm weird... because they think we're still together, so I should know if he's here...”

Kevin's expression cleared with understanding before he frowned. “Oh, yeah, I get that. Wow. That's rough.”

“Mm,” Eli agreed around his bite of food. “I think...” He licked his lips and settled back. “I think I'll ask a few more people, start to drop hints. I mean, his reps haven't made the press release, but it's always been a rule that what happens here stays here. People who know us both will be discreet.”

“Are you sure?” Kevin murmured. “Is that breaking any... I don't know, clauses?”

“We were engaged, not in a contract,” Eli laughed quietly. “The prenups weren't signed yet.” Kevin winced and Eli continued quickly, not wanting to make him feel bad. “But no, it's mostly out of... consideration for him, I guess.”

He still hadn't told Kevin all the details of how they'd broken up, nor why. The sight of Tom fucking his co-star on their soon-to-be wedding bed not even two months after they'd gotten engaged wasn't something he ever wanted to talk about again.

Honestly, Eli hadn't even wanted to tell his new romantic interest about his recent breakup, but after their very first night together, Kevin had sworn he'd spotted the A-list actor walking away from Eli's house. He'd thought Eli was cheating on Tom with him.

Thank god he'd let Eli explain.

A man like Tom didn't just magically appear and disappear on an island like this, though. He had to get here somehow, rent a mansion from the rentals office that controlled all housing here... there had to be a trace of him somewhere if it was really him. Unless Kevin had just seen someone who
looked
like Tom, thus prompting Kevin's memory about where he'd seen Eli – in press photos, on Tom's arm. That could have been enough to jog his memory.

But Kevin had sworn it was Tom.

“Mm,” Eli murmured, letting the subject drop until they finished breakfast. “What do you have to do today?”

Kevin packed up his empty container and disposable utensils. “Already took stock, and we're selling out of a lot more tarts than anything else. People really like them. So I have to make two more batches for tonight and tomorrow, and then start figuring out a menu for next week. We're rotating menus every two weeks.”

“Sounds tricky. Do you need any help? I mean, I'm not an expert like you, but... I can taste-test,” Eli teased, wiping off his fingers on a napkin and stacking his garbage with Kevin's. “It's arduous, but I'll volunteer.”

Kevin half-smiled, not fully distracted by the teasing, which was a sure-fire sign he was worried about something. “We have a meeting with Rube today, so Troy will be in early.”

His best friend and co-owner of the dessert bar didn't yet know about them. Eli gathered that Kevin wanted to keep it that way until he was ready to come out to his gay best friend as being non-straight, too. He also didn't really want to run into Rube, their business mentor and a good associate of his, and let Rube draw assumptions about them this early in their relationship – whatever it was going to be.

“Of course,” Eli nodded, rising to his feet as Kevin tossed the garbage in the trash. “I'll be off, then. How about lunch tomorrow instead of breakfast? I want to see you properly.” He liked catching up with Kevin in the mornings before Kevin's work truly began, but he wanted to see him in private, too. There were so many other things they still had to explore together.

Kevin smiled back, his cute brown eyes brightening. “Oh, that sounds great. Where?”

“My house? I'll get my chef to cook a nice lunch,” Eli offered. “Come by after you're done prepping.”

“Yeah, I will,” Kevin promised. He walked back to Eli to take his hands as Eli rose to his feet, leaning in for a chaste kiss.

Eli wasn't going to let him get away with
that
. He wanted to leave Kevin aching for his touch, yearning for his lips, imagining all the other things he had yet to teach him...

He deepened the kiss, leaning into Kevin and sliding his hands out of Kevin's hold to grip his waist and pull him close. Their groins brushed, their chests close together. The heat between them multiplied as the chemistry built. Eli let his lower lip slowly slide along Kevin's, brushing it up along it before sucking Kevin's lip into his mouth to slowly flick his tongue along it in a little suggestive move.

Kevin blushed and pulled away, his lips swollen and pupils dilated. He was blushing – he blushed so easily, Eli marvelled – and breathing heavily. “I'll – yeah, I'll see you tomorrow,” he murmured.

Eli smirked back at Kevin and let his hands slowly slide away from Kevin's waist until he tucked them in his own pockets again. “I can't wait,” he told Kevin, then winked. “Good luck with your meetings.”

As he walked out the door, he could feel Kevin's eyes falling to the curve of his backside. He glowed, the warm morning sun nothing compared to the glow he felt in his chest for the man he was going to see at his house again in just a day.

He'd thought he couldn't replace Tom, but he was starting to wonder if he'd found a candidate for his heart.