Chapter 23
“ S O…I KNOW it’s been a while, and I’m not sure you’d be interested, but I was thinking we could hook up the kayak and head over to Lover’s Key this afternoon. If you’d like,” Brantley said the following morning as he handed Daniel the tub of butter.
Daniel took it from him and kissed the mouth that was smiling up at him. Once he’d spread the butter over his toast, he reached for the bottle of grape jelly, his favorite, and nodded. Lover’s Key State Park—he hadn’t been there in years.
“I’d love to go. On one condition,” he said with a grin. Then he picked his coffee up and took a much-needed sip of caffeine.
“Oh? Okay. Let me have it.”
He raised his eyebrow and glanced over the mug. “Oh, I’ll let you have it, all right, but when we get home. If we do that on a public beach, we might get arrested. Really, professor—show some restraint.”
“You’re hilarious, Mr. Finley,” Brantley told him as he leaned against the counter and crossed his ankles. “What’s your condition?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of: I’ll go as long as we can take some food and make a day and night of it. Just like we used to. I rather like the idea of revisiting the place where you first professed your undying love to me.”
Brantley laughed. “I don’t remember it being quite so dramatic.”
“Really?” Daniel said as he placed his mug on the counter and took Brantley’s from him. Then he trapped him against the fridge. “How do you remember it?”
When Brantley placed his hands on Daniel’s hips and tugged him forward so they were fitted together, he nipped at his lower lip and whispered against his mouth, “I remember thinking you were a total troublemaker, and…”
“ And? ”
“And I loved you more than I ever thought possible.”
“Brantley.” Daniel sighed against his lips. “If I could?—”
Brantley shook his head and caught Daniel’s lips in a quick kiss. “No. Don’t do that.”
Daniel took a step back and ran his fingers down Brantley’s arm. “Okay.”
“Let’s get the kayak on the car and head down so we’re there by the afternoon,” Brantley suggested, and stepped around him.
Daniel reached for his fingers, and when they looked at one another, the message was clear. They would enjoy the day. Enjoy what they had in that moment, just as they had last night, and then, once Daniel went home, that would be it.
As he released Brantley’s hand, Daniel watched him walk through the archway of the kitchen and clung to the knowledge that at least he’d have this. And he planned to make every minute count.
“OKAY, WHEN YOU said you were kidnapping me, I didn’t actually think you were going to drive me to a secluded park somewhere to do nefarious things to my poor, unsuspecting body, professor.”
When Daniel looked over at Brantley, who was seated behind the steering wheel, he gave his most mischievous grin and had his professor chuckling. Today, they were celebrating a kind of milestone. It’d been two years since Daniel had gotten Brantley to see him as more than just…his student.
“Is that what I do?”
He winked. “Sometimes. If I’m lucky.”
“Yes. Well, I can see how traumatized you are by it.”
“I am. It’s all I think about. Awake or asleep, I can’t get it out of my head. It’s very detrimental to my health.”
Brantley took his eyes off the road to glance Daniel’s way. “You, Mr. Finley, are full of shit.”
Daniel flashed a wide smile. “Maybe. But it worked. I wanted you to look at me.”
“Flirt.”
“And? You got a problem with that?”
Brantley placed his hand on Daniel’s thigh and squeezed. “Definitely not.”
“So, where are you taking me?”
“I thought we’d take the kayak out at Lover’s Key. Have you ever been there before?”
“No. But sounds like a good place to me,” Daniel said as he covered Brantley’s hand and slid it higher up his thigh. “Why’s it called Lover’s Key?”
Brantley turned into a parking lot and stopped the car. “Back in the day, the only way to reach the island was by a boat, and lovers would steal away to go there for privacy.”
“Ohhh…I’m liking this place more and more,” Daniel said. Then he leaned across the console to press his lips to his professor’s. When Brantley chuckled and took his face between his hands, Daniel groaned in protest.
“Hold up there,” Brantley said when he pulled his mouth free. “It’s no longer ‘private,’ and you have to behave yourself.”
“Well, where’s the fun in that?”
“Out,” Brantley said as he shoved Daniel away and pointed to the car door.
“Fine, fine,” Daniel grumbled, and climbed out of the car. When he shut the door and started to untie the kayak, he looked over the roof and said, “Admit it. You brought me down here to do bad things with me. Didn’t you?”
Brantley didn’t answer, but the slight twitch at the side of his lips gave him away. “Just untie the front end, Finn.”
“Sure thing, professor,” Daniel said, and pulled the rope free. When it was dangling between his fingers, he held it up and asked, “Should I keep this for later?”
Brantley groaned. “This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?”
brANTLEY PULLED INTO a vacant spot, and once the two of them were out of the car, Daniel reached into the back seat to grab their backpacks. As he put them on the hood, he looked over in Brantley’s direction and began to untie the kayak.
“I can’t believe you still have the same boat.”
“Why not? It has…sentimental value.”
Daniel hummed his agreement as they finished pulling it down from the roof. “Is that right?”
“Well, you made sure of that by personalizing it.”
Daniel ran his finger over the inscription he’d carved with his pocketknife the first time they’d gone there. When he raised his eyes, the look there had Brantley catching his breath.
“It’s still true, you know.”
“Stop…”
“What? It is. And they even sell buttons with that quote on it. You really should be careful, professor, or I might get sued for copyright infringement.”
Brantley picked up one of the backpacks and slung it over his shoulder. “I think you’re safe. You weren’t using it in quite the context they mean it.”
Daniel grabbed the second pack and slipped it on. Then they each took an end of the bright yellow kayak and headed across the sandy bank to the ramp that led into the estuary.
Once they’d placed it down into the water, Daniel kicked his flip-flops off and bent to shove them in the end of the boat. When he looked back over his shoulder and caught Brantley staring at his ass, Daniel grinned, and Brantley made no attempt to hide his smile.
Hell, he was pretty sure Daniel knew at this stage he loved everything about him. What did he care if he was caught staring at his ass?
“You gonna get in, professor? Or stand there and ogle me all day?”
“Not a bad way to pass the afternoon.”
Daniel pulled his shirt over his head before tossing it into the boat. “I’m glad to hear it. How about I give you a better view?”
Brantley refused to look away, and instead walked over to the kayak and took his shoes off. “You won’t hear me complain.” He, however, decided to leave his shirt on.
“Not going to enjoy the sun today?” Daniel asked as he turned his face up into the warm rays.
“I think I’m good, but I’m glad you’re partaking in the activity.”
“Well, someone told me I was looking pale.”
“I said paler than usual. But you’ve taken care of that since you’ve been lying out on my deck practically naked for a week.”
As they shoved the kayak into the water and stepped inside in a practiced move, Daniel said, “I’m glad you noticed.”
“You’re kind of hard to ignore,” Brantley replied as they paddled out into the water.
And just like they did with everything else, the two of them slipped straight back into an easy rhythm as they weaved their way up through the mangroves along the familiar two and a half miles of winding waterways.
“YOU KNOW, IT’S polite to share,” Daniel said as he leaned across his towel and snatched the bag of potato chips out of his hand.
Brantley cocked his head to the side and whipped his hand out to take them back after Daniel had grabbed a handful. “It’s also polite to wait until someone offers you one.”
Munching down on the salt-and-vinegar goodness, Daniel grinned around his mouthful. “I take what I want—so sue me.”
“Ironic to think that, one day, you might actually represent an idiot who said that very line to the wrong person.”
“Yeah, yeah. You calling me an idiot?”
“Maybe. But you’re my idiot, so there’s that,” Brantley said with a wink. Then he bit down on a chip.
“This was nice,” Daniel said as he lounged back, his elbows resting on the towel as the sun started to set.
“Mhmm, it was,” Brantley agreed, reaching in the backpack to pull two bottles of water out. He tossed one to Daniel, and when he caught it, unsnapped it, and tipped it up to drink half of the container in one gulp, Brantley kept his eyes glued to Daniel’s tanned throat and Adam’s apple.
When he was finished and facing Brantley, Daniel gestured to the pocketknife lying on the pack between them. It was part of Brantley’s “survival kit” for whenever he did anything outdoors.
“You gonna go out yonder, catch a fish, and gut it for me like a real man?”
The exaggerated twang Daniel used had Brantley’s eyebrow rising.
“No,” he said. “I was going to open my bag, pull out the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made, and maybe—if you’re lucky—share them with you.”
Chuckling, Daniel snatched up the pocketknife and got to his feet.
As he walked up behind them where they’d placed the kayak on the sand and crouched, he flicked the knife open.
But before he touched it to the surface, he looked back at Brantley and asked, “You don’t mind if I leave my mark, do you? ”
Brantley was close to saying that he’d already left a permanent one over his heart, but shook his head.