Chapter 2

All night, Daniel had dreamed of this morning, only for Richard to inform him in the bright unforgiving light of day the boat was no longer seaworthy. To add the right touch of a travesty, the radio refused to work.

“I’m blaming you for all this,” Daniel said, uncaring if Richard fired him. He didn’t see why he needed to be here. Why would Richard insist Daniel check out the company’s newest resort? “You’ll love it; it’ll be fun,” Daniel lamented blinking up into an expanse of endless blue. A perfect sky might be the last thing he enjoyed. Owing to the storm having damaged the instruments, Richard said he couldn’t tell on which island they were now stranded.

“You stay there much longer you’ll start to burn,” Richard warned with his back still turned.

Daniel tried to snub him, some vague ideas of surpassing the man at his own game running through Daniel’s mind even as he lay there detesting the rich tremor of Richard’s voice, hating the fact he was right about the sunburn. Even this early the heat made his skin prickle. “You could leave the lotion.”

“I’m taking it with me. If you want to act stupid, to lie there, and bake, that’s your choice. I need protection as much as you do.”

Daniel gritted his teeth while digging his fingers deeper into the sand leaving ugly, angry divots. To compound immediate worries, no one expected them back for at least three days. A wild tiger might devour them before anyone sent out a search party. Even though Richard maintained no dangerous animals lived on these islands, Daniel saw no reason to believe him. He couldn’t trust a man who beached them in the middle of nowhere. He couldn’t! Besides, the man laughed when Daniel asked if there were any man-eaters. Laughed and demanded whether Daniel was Robinson-bleeding-Crusoe. How dare Richard make fun of him when the situation was so dire? He turned his head to say so.

The sight of Richard eradicated his anger. Richard had changed his clothes while Daniel lay complaining. He did the whole jaw-drop performance, snapping his teeth shut only because he feared he might swallow an insect.

Richard seemed so different out of a tailored suit Daniel struggled to accept this same man snapped orders in his direction most days. The alteration in his boss’s appearance happened shortly after their arrival when Richard exchanged fine tailoring for a white shirt and slacks, but this morning simple socks and trainers, a T-shirt and shorts had never struck Daniel as delectable. Sleeves tightened over never previously revealed biceps and the way Richard crouched not only provided Daniel with a fine view of bulging calves and strong-looking thighs, but the T-shirt rode up and his shorts pulled down enough to expose a lovely strip of skin. The term builder’s bumnever inflamed such arousing connotations. Daniel caught the tip of his tongue between his teeth as he thought of licking his way along the length of Richard’s spine, caressing each vertebra.

Better yet, he would start at the nape of Richard’s neck, licking away the salt of his sweat, the fine hairs there tickling his tongue. Then he would be able to work his way down. Once he came to Richard’s waist, he could reach around, tug open his shorts, pulling on them, slowly revealing more of that tight roundness. When he exposed Richard’s lovely bum, he would press his tongue into the tender dip at the base of Richard’s spine where the separation led down to…

Daniel gave himself a mental shake and turned his head away, focusing on the blue expanse. He shouldn’t let such a thing as naked flesh best him even if he was more used to seeing Richard clothed in fine suits. He was no adolescent. Time he got over this and stopped pining for a man he couldn’t have. An arrogant son of a bitch at that. Not only straight, Richard gave it straight, pulled no punches. Working for Richard was no laugh-a-minute exercise. Sometimes Daniel wondered why he stayed with the company at all. The long hours Richard made him work, even the good bonuses…Money barely made it worth not having a life at the end of the day. He needed to go out more, find someone to love, and that wouldn’t happen while he spent every waking hour at the office, struggling to concentrate on architectural drawings and building plans not risking even a glance at Richard’s dark hair and eyes, the square ridge of his jaw, those full lips.

“Come on, Daniel. Get up. Stop behaving like an adolescent. This isn’t helping the situation.” Richard stood, lifting the pack, setting it on a rock, tightening straps, all the time not even glancing at him.