Naughty Temptations

Chapter One

Chapter One

Andrew had spent most of the afternoon trying not to stare at the blond Viking stretched out on a lawn chair with the ripples from the lake running up and over his toes. The blond had removed his T-shirt and placed his Stetson over his face, but not before Andrew had seen the intense blue of his eyes and the sharp ridge of his nose. Since then Andrew had spent his time appreciating the Viking’s muscled arms and shoulders, his ripped abs and the long, long line of his legs—right down to the toes currently buried under an inch of water. Long, narrow toes, a fitting ending to the long, lean legs that disappeared inside baggy, knee-length shorts.

Likely, his view of the Viking was going to be the most exciting part of his Fourth of July weekend this year. Still, life wasn’t too bad. In fact, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. A bunch of the people from the office had planned to spend the day at a cookout in a city park. Andrew didn’t mind working with them, but he wasn’t ready to spend his vacation days with them as well, which was why he’d decided to come here to the lake for the three-day Fourth of July weekend.

Originally he’d planned to stay on the shore until the nine o’clock “family” fireworks display, then head back into the small tourist town for a meal before the midnight lakeside fireworks. But now his plans were liable to change. If the Viking stayed here, he’d stay. If the Viking went off with friends, that would be the end of his happy thoughts of getting to know the man. The only problem was, he hadn’t quite worked out how to get to know the blond yet.

Part of Andrew wanted to just sit and wait. The Viking had been lying there for a couple of hours already, and unless he planned to get quite wet, he’d have to move his lawn chair soon, as the tide was coming in. Likely when he stood up, Andrew could catch his gaze and say hello. Or something. On the other hand, it seemed rude to keep staring—or pretending not to stare—and not speak. But then, perhaps it would be safer to do nothing at all and just wait and watch. So Andrew waited and watched and tried to make up his mind what to do. Part of the problem was that his relationship with Rory had damaged his self-confidence.

He’d loved Rory passionately, far more passionately than Rory had ever loved him. Andrew had wanted them to live together, to settle down, to be a real couple, but Rory had never agreed to that. Gradually Andrew had realized that they were drifting apart, no matter how hard he’d tried to keep them together. Finally he’d understood that although Rory had been the man for him, he couldn’t fulfill Rory. After that had come a time of intense pain and anguish. A time when he’d wondered if he’d ever be enough to make another man happy. But that was last year, and Andrew was ready to try again. But only with someone who at least thought he might be able to love Andrew back.

Andrew stared at the Viking. He knew nothing about this man except that the blond was delicious eye-candy. However, something strong and powerful drew him to the Viking. Could this be his chance at happiness? Or would it be just another Rory who couldn’t return his love?

*****

Luke had felt the man’s gaze on him almost from the moment he’d settled his lawn chair on the sand. Very gradually he’d turned his hat around so he could see sideways and get a better look at the watcher. Brown hair with a tendency to curl at the ends. Taller than his own six-foot-even. Still fully clothed even in the hot sunshine on the lakeshore. Now that was interesting. The watcher didn’t seem to have unusually pale skin, although a man’s arms could easily be tanned and his chest white, of course. But somehow Luke didn’t think his watcher was worried about sunburn. No, he guessed the man had kept his shirt on for another reason. What could it be? Scars from surgery or an accident? Lack of self-esteem?

Moving slightly to the left, Luke tilted the Stetson a little higher to get a better view of the brown-haired man. He was thin but not skinny. His shoulders were broad and in proportion to his height. His hips were lean and narrow. No, nothing wrong with his physique.

A wave splashed up Luke’s leg, wetting his knee. Okay the tide was definitely coming in. It was time to move. He’d use it as an opportunity to speak to the watcher, to listen to what kind of voice he had, maybe get a good conversation going and find out something about him as a person.

Luke sat up straight and put his hat back on his head, then stood and folded his chair. Purposefully he stretched to his full height, looking all around as he did so. The watcher was looking down at the sand. Luke willed him to look up, and he did. Big brown eyes and a wide mouth that smiled at him. Luke smiled back.

“Hey there. Name’s Luke.”

“Andrew.”

“Do you live here, or are you just here for the Fourth?”

“Neither. I’m here for the three-day weekend. Back to work on Monday.”

He had a nice voice. Light, but not immature. Easy on the ears. Luke could get used to hearing that voice whispering in his ear as they played naughty bedroom games. His eyes gleamed and sparkled in the sunlight as if he was happy to talk to Luke. That was positive. “Me, too. Also, I’m starving. Want to come grab some food with me?”

“Sure. There’s not much choice, though, unless you want to get dressed up and go to the restaurant at the resort. It’s pretty much either hot dogs or pizza.”

“Pizza sounds good to me. How about you?”

Luke was almost blinded by the dazzling smile his watcher—Andrew—gave him. “Pizza is fine by me.”

“Come on then.” Luke shoved his feet into his sandals, slung his lawn chair over his shoulder, and side by side they walked across the narrow band of sand, then up over a grassy area back to the parking lot. He stopped beside his car to drop the chair in the trunk, then they turned right into the heart of the town. Well, “heart” wasn’t the correct word. Main Street wasn’t even a half mile long. There was a general store, a post office, an ice cream store that also sold books and magazines, the pizza place, and not much else. Even though it was mid-afternoon, the pizza restaurant was still crowded. They ordered their pizzas, were given paper tickets, and told “twenty minutes.”

“Let’s wait outside. It’s very noisy in here,” suggested Andrew.

“Yeah. We can come back in fifteen minutes which should be heaps of time.” They crossed the road back toward the lakeside, and Luke dropped down to sit on the grass. He’d been sitting for hours, but he wanted Andrew to relax, and standing together in the center of a patch of grass would look odd, whereas sitting and talking should look like a normal couple on vacation.

“My family came here a few times when I was a kid. I wanted to see if it’d changed,” Luke said.

“And has it?”

“Nope.”

“That’s amazing. Everything changes so fast these days. I’m surprised you even recognize the place.”

Luke nodded at Andrew. “I know. In some ways it’s weird. I walked down to the lake today and put my lawn chair just exactly where my mom always used to put hers. I didn’t even notice I was doing it until after I was sitting down. It’s surprising how powerful old habits become.”

“Habits. I suppose the good ones, it’s smart to copy them. It’s just knowing which are the bad ones that we should get rid of.”

Wow. Sounds like he’s been hurt in a relationship. That was a perceptive comment indeed. Is that why he keeps his shirt on? Has someone told him he’s too skinny? Luke held his breath for a moment. Was this his opportunity to take the conversation deeper, to find out what really mattered to Andrew, or was it much too soon? They hadn’t even known each other an hour yet. But if he wasted the opportunity, who knew if he’d ever get such a perfect opening again? Hoping he wasn’t risking everything, Luke said, “I think we all have areas of our past that we’d like to make over. But that’s not the way it works. What we can do, though, is choose to learn from our mistakes and step out in confidence that the future is ours if we’re willing to take it.”

“You’re right. So let’s do that. Are you here alone this weekend?”

“Not anymore. I’m planning to spend the weekend with you.” And once again, Luke was almost blinded by the brilliance of Andrew’s smile.

Andrew jumped to his feet. “So let’s get our pizzas and plan what comes next.”