Chapter 21
W ITH A TOWEL under his arm and sunglasses perched on his nose, Brantley made his way down the back stairs of his house the following morning and scanned the beach for… Yes, there he is.
Daniel was several feet off to the left and stretched out on his back, taking in the morning sun. It wasn’t yet scorching, and a breeze drifted through the air as Brantley strolled over to the relaxed man.
He’d been grading papers earlier and told Daniel to leave him alone for an hour so he could actually work, and when he’d walked out the door wearing his blue-and-white board shorts, sunglasses, and nothing else, Brantley had been hard-pressed to make himself wait to track him down.
Once he’d reached him, he dropped a book on the towel, and Daniel lazily rolled to his side. He’d slathered some oil over his toned body, so he sure was something to look at.
“About time you joined me,” he said as he pushed his glasses up on top of his head.
“Well, some of us have to work, you know.” Brantley unbuttoned the light cotton shirt he’d worn, and Daniel’s eyes followed his hand movements.
“Hey, I deserve this vacation. Plus,” he said, pointing to the cell phone lying on the towel, “I’m easily reached if they need me.”
Brantley bundled his shirt up and placed it at the top of his towel as he went down to his knees. He reached for the sunscreen, but Daniel was right there, snatching it up first.
“Don’t think for one minute you’re going to deprive me of this.
You fell asleep when we got home last night, so you are going to turn around,” he instructed, and when Brantley did, Daniel came up behind him and put his hands on his shoulders, making a shudder race down his spine.
“And you’re going to let me put my hands all over you. ”
Brantley angled his head back so his eyes could find Daniel’s, and he grinned at him.
“In the name of protection, of course.”
“Oh, of course.” Laughing, Brantley stayed where he was as Daniel went about applying the sunscreen all over him.
When he was done and they were both lying out, Brantley was surprised to feel Daniel’s fingers reaching for his. He tried to ignore the way that simple gesture made his heart thud, but when he entwined them, just as he used to, there was no stopping it.
All at once, he felt…optimistic. Hopeful that maybe Daniel was seeing more to this than the two weeks he’d originally come there for. That maybe he was starting to see how right they were for one another.
Maybe .
With each passing day, he could feel himself falling harder, and it was no longer the idea of who Daniel had been—the man he’d grown into was stealing his heart.
This sexy, playful, confident man he’d become reacquainted with had his heart in a firm grip, and Brantley wasn’t sure he would survive when he let it go.
“You’re awfully quiet over there. What are you thinking about?”
Turning his head on the towel, he decided to deal with that when the time came. For now, he was going to enjoy Daniel and the days they had ahead of them.
“Nothing. Was just relaxing. What about you? I thought you might be falling asleep.”
“Nope. I was trying to decide how to tell you my mother wants us to come over for dinner.”
Brantley jumped up like a jack-in-the-box at that. “What?”
“My mother asked us to?—”
“No. No way,” he said, adamantly shaking his head. “There’s no way I’m going to your mother’s house for dinner.”
“Why not?” Daniel said as he sat up. “You’ve been to her house many times before. And it will just be her and us. Katrina has gone away with some friends. Celebrating their finals.”
“The operative word being before . Before I knew that she knew I was?—”
“Sleeping with her son?”
He glared at Daniel, and when he flashed that charming grin of his, Brantley lost his annoyance—but not his point.
“It’s not funny, Finn.”
“No, you’re right. You should avoid her for the rest of your life. It’s not like you live in a small town or anything.”
His lips twitched at the smartass opposite him. “You enjoying this?”
Daniel leaned forward and kissed him. “A little. Come on. She’s not going to lynch you.”
“How do you know? I was seeing her baby throughout college.”
“Nooo… You were having a relationship with her adult son.”
“Who was my student. Jesus, Finn. It doesn’t matter if you were nineteen or twenty?—”
“I was both of those.”
“—you were still my student.”
Daniel sat back and shrugged. “Okay. I’ll tell her no.”
Brantley shifted uncomfortably under Daniel’s stare and then frowned. “I think that’s for the best. It’s just so…”
“So what? Do you think what we did back then was wrong?”
“No.”
“Are you ashamed of it?”
“ No . It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“Would you let me think for a minute?” he snapped.
One of Daniel’s eyebrows rose.
“Sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be. You’re seriously hot when you’re freaking out.”
“I’m not freaking out.”
Daniel grabbed his arm and tumbled him to his back. “Yes, you are.”
Brantley rolled his eyes. “Okay. Fine. I am. But can you blame me? I’ve been walking around town thinking no one knew, and the one person who did was your mother.
Your. Mother. The lady I’ve had discussions with regarding her son’s and daughter’s educational future.
The same woman who would bump into me at the grocery store and tell me all about her son’s amazing… ”
Daniel’s grin widened to a full-blown smile. “See. She was telling you all of this when she knew. She doesn’t hate you, Brantley. She doesn’t even think badly of you. In fact, she tried to convince me?—”
When Daniel stopped talking, Brantley waited, suspecting there was more to come.
“She tried to convince me that you probably thought you were doing the right thing by sending me away.”
He winced at that and stroked his fingers through Daniel’s hair. “Tried?”
“Well, that was when I first got here. I was pretty angry.”
“Hmm… And now?”
Daniel rested his forearms by his head on the towel. “Now, I’m right back where I was before I left.”
“And where’s that?”
“Tangled up in you,” he whispered against Brantley’s ear. “It’s always been you.”
And Brantley knew right then there wasn’t a damn thing he wouldn’t do for Daniel if he asked, including have dinner at his mother’s.
DANIEL TRIED NOT to overanalyze his feelings as he stood out on the balcony, waiting for Brantley to finish getting ready.
He knew that Brantley was seeing this as the teacher who took advantage of his student. But the two of them— and, more than likely, my mother —knew he wasn’t the kind of man who would’ve taken advantage of anyone.
Brantley Hayes was the most caring, genuine, and intelligent person Daniel had ever met, and the thought of him being ashamed of himself or any part of what they’d shared had Daniel frowning.
He’d changed into some khaki-colored slacks and a white polo shirt, and the strap of leather that was a permanent fixture about his wrist called to him as he stared down at it. He stroked his fingers over the wide band on top and shut his eyes.
Fuck, he’d really gone and complicated his damn life.
Then again, had he expected anything else when it came to Brantley?
If he were being honest with himself, and he figured it was time to be, then he’d known from the second he’d opened that envelope that if he got on a plane and went back home, he would be at risk of losing his heart to this man all over again.
And it was happening—he knew it. Knew the signs as clear as a flashing neon light blazing at him.
“Finn?”
He turned as Brantley walked toward him in a pair of shorts and a green shirt. He was wearing sandals and holding two bottles of wine, and the grimace pulling his lips tight had Daniel making his way over to him.
“Does your mom prefer red or white?”
“Just the fact that it’s not in a box is a huge step up. She’ll love whichever one you’ve picked.”
Brantley shook his head. “That’s not very helpful.”
“Yes, it is. I said she’d like either.”
“Ugh…”
Daniel chuckled, and the glare Brantley leveled him with should’ve had him lying dead at his feet.
“I’m glad this is so amusing to you.”
He touched his fingers under Brantley’s chin and lowered his head to brush their lips together. “I promise I’m not laughing at you—more like the situation.”
“You find the situation amusing? How?”
“Because I’m finally taking a guy home to meet my mother. That’s funny when you think about the fact that you’re the only one I would’ve taken home before. She’s been waiting her entire life for this moment. You wouldn’t want to rob her of that, would you?”
Brantley’s eyes narrowed. “We’re only going to dinner, right? You aren’t going to spring anything else on me?”
“Nope. Just dinner.”
“A hell of an awkward one.”
“Which at the end of, you’re going to bring me home and to your bed, where you can take all of your frustrations out on me.”
“Oh, good. Because knowing that won’t make dinner even more awkward, Finn.” Brantley rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll just take both.”
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Is it?”
And, as the words hovered between them, Daniel wondered if Brantley was asking about the dinner or something much more complex. Either way, he was unsure how to answer. So he took a step back and held out his hand.
“Come on, Professor Hayes. Let me take you to my mother’s house for dinner.”
DANIEL WIPED HIS hands over the black slacks his mother had pressed for him and waited for the front door of the dean’s house to open.
“Would you stop fidgeting? You look very handsome this evening, Finn.”
He looked at his mother, who was standing beside him with a proud smile on her face, and all he could think about was the fact that he was about to be in a room with his teachers, his friends, his mother, and the man he was sleeping with each night. Oh wait, yeah, he’s also one of my teachers.