Chapter 2

“Megan!”Colby shakes his head,grinning.“I’ve been gearing up for this damn tournament all summer,same as you.Don’t threaten me.I’m a big boy.Ican handle myself.”

Her gaze flickers over his shoulder and she scowls.“Yeah,but can you handle him?”

This time when a warm hand claps him on the back,Colby’s expecting it.He turns and finds himself face to face with Vander Byron.“Don’t tell him I told you that,”Vallery warned earlier.“He hates his full name.Just call him Van.”

“Hey,”Van says,one corner of his mouth rising in a sexy smirk.His gaze drops to take in Colby,a sweeping once-over that leaves Colby feeling giddy.This close,Van’s eyes are a pale color—green?grey?—so translucent,they seem to reflect the lights shining above the bar.His blond hair is trimmed short on the sides and back but left thick in the front,hanging in wavy bangs that fall to one side of his face.Every now and then he shakes his head to theleft in a poor attempt at trying to push those bangs out of his eyes.

Colby’s hand clenches around the bottle before him,his fingers numbing overthe cold glass.His other hand rests on the pocket of his shorts where his keys bulge;his fist closes over the keys,holding tight as he stares into those washed-out eyes.He wants to brush that errant hair aside,tuck it behind Van’s ear,and he knows if he moves forward to do just that,nothing will stop him from leaning in closer until he falls right into the man beside him.His voice sounds breathy to his own ears as he sighs,“Hey yourself.Thirsty?I bought you a drink.”

“Sam Adams,”Van says with a grin.“My favorite.How’d you know?”

Van’s laugh is deeper than his sister’s.Colby feels it in his head,his chest,his dick.It curls through him like warm milk,settling somewhere justabove his groin,where a steady throb has begun to pulse in time with his heart.Van eases onto the barstool beside Colby and,for a brief moment,his hips thrust forward as he steps up,pushing his crotch against Colby.Something hard and uncompromising hides in the front of those cut-off jeans—it brushes over Colby’s hand that still holds his keys,and he relaxes just enough to trace the outline of Van’s budding erection with his knuckle.

His barely-there touch makes Van’s smile brighten.“I’m Van.”

“I know.”Colby takes a quick swig of his beer,embarrassed.“I mean—I’msorry.I’m Colby,but I’m sure you already know that.Does your sister often screen guys for you?”

“Nah,man.”Van dips his head down,hiding behind that wavy hair,but Colby sees the color pinking his cheeks and grins.So cute,this one.Same nose as his sister,same wide smile,same expressive eyes.Colby bends a little to peek up under those bangs and notices a dimple on Van’s left cheek.Yes,he decides.Damncute.

Van sees him looking and busies himself with his own bottle of beer to buy himself some time.“We have the same taste in men.I wasn’t the only one checking you out when you came in.”He brushes his bangs aside to meet Colby’s gaze,smoothing the waves of hair behind his ear,but the moment his hand is gone,they spring back.“In Philly there’s really no need to do a bait and switch like that,but you got to be careful here.She called it right away—she has wicked keen gaydar—but hey,her loss is my gain.”

“Philly?”Colby frowns—he’s not one for tourists.“So you’re not from around here?”

With a disarming grin,Van says,“Val lives in Wildwood Crest.She says you work on the boards.Are you just here for the season?”

“I’m not a shubie,if that’s what you mean.”Colby uses the local term fortouristso Van knows he lives in Wildwood.

Van slides forward on his stool,pressing his bare knees against Colby’s upper thigh.One rests on the fabric of his shorts but the other touches his skin and he feels giddy all over again.Boldly Colby lets his hand drop from the keys in his pocket down his thigh,to his knee,then over to Van’s knee.Pale hair stands up like peach fuzz beneath his palm.When Van doesn’t move away,Colby dares to rub a little higher,to the hem of Van’s cut-offs,then down again to settle on his knee.

Oh,hell yes.He takes another swallow of ale.All the weariness he felt when he first wandered into the O off his shift is gone now,replaced with a humming desire that trills through him like electricity through wire.Leaning a little on Van’s knee,Colby props his other arm up on the bar and rests his chin in his hand,his eyes focused on the man beside him.“So,”he murmurs,accentuating his words with a squeeze on Van’s knee.“You visit your sister often?”

Van winks,a gesture so quick,Colby almost thinks he imagined it.“I’m always looking for a good excuse to come down the shore.”

****

Three beers later,Van has scooted his bar stool closer and turned his knees out so his hip rests alongside Colby’s.The distance between them is gone;Colby’s hand now rests high up on Van’s thigh and he toys with the frayed fringe on Van’s pocket,his fingers dangerously close to Van’s crotch.Every now and then his pinkie finger touches the bulge at the front of Van’s jeans,which looks like nothing more than the curve of his zipper,but Colby feels the hardness sheathed there and knows he isn’t the only one sporting wood.

Van leans back against the bar,his cheek resting on his shoulder as he laughsat something Colby says.Bar lights flash in his eyes like stars and his lips glisten where he’s licked them a time or two.His bangs fall casually to the side.His laughter ignites the night.

Colby’s no longer hesitant—he reaches out,brushes back that curtain of curls,and twines one corkscrew around his forefinger.His whole body buzzes with booze and lust.Time has slowed to a crawl,and with each minute that trickles by,his hand moves closer to the promise coiled in Van’s shorts.Without looking away from his new friend,he signals for another beer.

When the drinks arrive,the bottles slam down on the bar.The sound jolts themupright,startling them.Van grabs Colby’s wrist and holds it against his thigh as if to keep it from disappearing.He gives Colby a furrowed look,thenfrowns at Megan,who glares at them from the other side of the bar.“This is it,”she snaps.“Drink up.”

As she storms away,Van stares warily at the bottle.“What’s her problem?”

Colby admits,“That’s my cousin.She’d rather I was home and in bed already.”When Van waggles his eyebrow,Colby clarifies,“Alone.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”Van’s pout disappears when he raises the bottle to his lips.He takes a long swallow,then sets it back on the bar,halfempty.“What is she,your mother?Can’t you have a little fun now and then?”