Chapter One
Tanner
One last swim .
As I dove into the Nelsons’ pool, the cool water refreshed.
I didn’t remember the summers of my childhood being so damn hot. After hitting over one hundred degrees in the late afternoon, the temperature had only just begun cooling off, despite the late hour.
With Nita in bed, nursing a migraine, I felt I could come down and use the water to find respite. The Nelsons’ house had air conditioning, but I was never a fan of that. I preferred fresh air.
As I swam lap after lap, I tried not to think about today.
Canada Day was a big celebration in the Nelson household.
Not so much in my own.
The Nelsons had been in Canada before it’d become a country.
Although they held their British heritage in high regard, they were fiercely loyal Canadians.
The day was also a big one for our friend Cameron.
His father had come to Canada as a draft dodger of the Vietnam War.
He might’ve stood out as one of the few Black men in Mission City, but he’d been welcomed.
Well, maybe not by all the World War II veterans, but by most people.
He’d married a local woman a bit later in life, and Cameron was their only child.
Although Jeremiah Johns appreciated his American roots, he was quite proud to call Canada home.
I’d done research into my own family history and had come up with very little.
We’d come from Ireland, but any Irish connection was long gone.
My parents weren’t great patriots.
In fact, they hated all politicians and whined about everything.
Kind of grumps.
They suited each other.
I’d gotten out as soon as I’d graduated from high school. They also weren’t my biggest fans. Having a homosexual son didn’t suit their sensibilities. Although they tolerated me, I couldn’t find any love. Any meaningful connection.
Nita and Kade, on the other hand, hit the parent jackpot.
Rob and Donna were the kindest and most gentle people I’d ever met.
They accepted their gay son and slightly eccentric daughter as if that were the most natural thing in the world.
If they fought, I never witnessed it.
Their emotional attachment was clear in their physical affection.
I was jealous. I wanted that with someone special.
Fanciful.
As my fingers touched the edge of the pool, I surfaced and drew in a deep lungful of air.
Toes appeared in my line of sight.
My gaze traveled from enormous feet to lightly dusted calves. Then up to thick thighs, board shorts, a yummy bare chest with a light dusting of bronze-colored hair, a corded neck and, finally, to the face I held so dear.
I swallowed. Hard.
Kade smiled that knowing smile, then launched himself into a smooth dive, hitting the water with barely a splash.
I hadn’t realized he was still awake.
He’d had a couple of beers after the hamburger dinner.
Mine had been vegetarian, of course. I still hadn’t convinced any of my friends of the value of eating less meat, but I was determined.
After a moment, Kade surfaced. He swam over to me. “Hey, pint.”
Oh my God. He’d started calling me pint when I first came by. At what, age four? His six feet no longer towered over my respectable five foot eight, but he never stopped with the nickname.
He cocked his head. “It’s a term of endearment, Tanner. I don’t give nicknames to people I don’t like. Or people I’m indifferent about it.”
And perhaps he meant that to reassure. To comfort. To soothe.
It didn’t. “I know I’m not as big as you and Cameron.”
Kade shrugged. “So what? I think you’re perfect the way you are.”
My breath caught. Was he…? “I should get out.”
“Nah. Stay. It’s still warm out, even at this hour. Let’s hang out.”
That sounded like a really bad idea.
I hadn’t spent any time alone with my crush in about twenty years.
I’d studiously avoided any situation where we might be the only two in a room.
Hadn’t been difficult.
I only visited when Nita was home, and she kept an eye on me. Surely, as a twenty-eight-year-old lawyer, I didn’t require a babysitter.
Still, she babysat.
Kade smiled. “You’ll survive without Nita to protect you.”
How had he read my mind? Not the protection part, of course, but the Nita part? “I’m good friends with your sister.”
“I always thought you’d marry her.”
I sputtered.
He held out his hand. “Well, you didn’t come out until your first year of law school. At twenty-one.”
“We don’t all have your courage.”
His breath caught. “Well, I wouldn’t have put it that way.”
“You didn’t need to come out at sixteen, Kade. I mean, you probably knew your family would be supportive. But you must’ve also known the kids would be ruthless in their torment.”
He flexed his biceps. “No one would’ve dared touch me.”
I might’ve swooned. He hadn’t been this defined at sixteen. Nearly ten years as a physiotherapist had honed his physical fitness. He kept in superior shape. “Yeah, touch you.” Keep your hands to yourself.
After a long moment, as he held my gaze, he swam over to the side and grasped it.
Unbidden, I turned my body to face him, still gripping the side. We were in the deep end of the pool, which felt like a metaphor of my life, when it came to Kade.
He flicked a lock of my hair, startling me. “It’s getting longer.”
“Oh, yeah.” Self-consciously, I ran my hand through it. “I’ve been working on a big case, and getting a haircut hasn’t been a priority. Maybe just before we go to trial, I’ll get that desperately needed trim.”
“To impress the jury? Because I think your pale-blue eyes will mesmerize. If a lock of black hair fell across them, the women would swoon.”
I blinked.
“Oh.” He chuckled. “The men will swoon as well. The gay ones, anyway. The straight ones will be jealous.”
Heat raced up my chest and flooded my cheeks, despite the chill from the water. I swallowed. “Uh, I’m not lead counsel. I’m just the junior prosecutor. I might not even be sitting at the table.”
“Who’s lead?”
“Remy Stevens.”
Kade nodded. “I remember her from Nita’s figure skating. Remy St. Claire, right? She was decent on skates. And adorably shy. She’s two years younger than me.”
“Right.”
“Which means she’s two years older than you.”
“Glad to see those beers haven’t impaired your mathematical abilities.”
He smacked me. Not hard, but enough to cause a ripple in the water. And flutters in my chest.
“We’re up against Rielle Clayton. She doesn’t go to court often, but she’s a formidable defender.” I tilted my head. “When I heard she was opposing counsel, I started going back over our evidence to see if we’d missed something. That maybe we didn’t have the right person for the crime.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah. We have the woman dead-to-rights. You might’ve heard of the case. She stole over a hundred thousand dollars from a non-profit.”
“That does sound open-and-shut.”
“We’re meeting with Rielle on Monday for plea negotiations, but Rielle’s made it clear she wants a trial. That she wants an acquittal—complete exoneration.”
Kade trained his light-brown-eyed gaze on me. Their paleness always fascinated me. Especially how they sparkled in the sunlight. When he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses, that was.
“Hey, isn’t your boss Zach Finnegan?”
I blinked at the change of topic. Or the detour, anyway. “Yeah.”
“He went to our high school as well, but he was ahead of me.”
Which meant I’d missed him entirely.
“He was such a killer hockey player.”
“If you say so.” Where was he going with this?
“And a hunk.”
Ah. “Do you only think about other people in regard to their physical appearance? I didn’t think you were that shallow.”
Unexpectedly, he swung himself around to face me. He advanced until he grasped the edge of the pool with both hands. He’d essentially trapped me. Then, to my horror, he pressed his body against mine. His eyes widened. “Oh, okay.”
Jesus, he can feel my erection. The one I’d had since we’d begun this discussion. Even lawyers, figure skaters, and bosses hadn’t diminished it. Neither had the cooler water.
Kade pressed against me so our chests met. Then he rubbed a little, causing friction against my already-sensitive nipples.
I gasped.
He leaned in. I thought he was going to kiss me, but he shifted at the last minute and nipped my earlobe.
My blood heated.
“If you tell me to stop, then I will, okay? Consent’s a thing.”
“I won’t tell you to stop.”
He pulled back a fraction, so our gazes clashed. “You’re sure?”
I nodded.
“Well, thank Christ.” He leaned over and pressed his lips to mine.
While my one hand continued to press against the wall, I wrapped the other around his neck to grasp his hair to encourage him closer.
He tasted of chlorine, beer, and something intoxicating I couldn’t quite identify.
I was grateful he wasn’t drunk. He didn’t even seem tipsy. If he had been, I would’ve resisted. But no, this was mostly sober Kade, and he was kissing me like a drowning man.
Which we might do if we weren’t careful.
What a way to go.
“Hey, dude. You out here?”
Cameron’s voice rang through the backyard.
Kade jerked back from me and cursed under his breath.
I scooted under his arm, swam over to the ladder, hauled myself out, grabbed my towel and—like the scared rabbit I was—I ran.