Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

"You know your sister's gonna cut off your dick and choke you with it, right?"

Snorting, I spared Cass a sideways glance before bringing my attention back to the horizon. It felt good to be back on the water again after several days cooped up at home dealing with Mattie's drama. Not that I minded it. Someone had to stick up for the boy. My sister sure wasn't. The wind slapped my face, and I breathed in a lungful of salty air. It was the first deep breath I'd taken in days.

"Have you fucked him yet?"

Cass was keeping me company on the flybridge as I steered, but his company was beginning to grate my last nerve. I lowered my gaze, dropping my eyes to the boys standing on the bow. Both were dressed in their uniforms of khaki shorts and navy blue polos with the Harlowe Charter Adventures logo on the breast. Nicky's uniform fit tighter because he deliberately wore his shirt six sizes too small, whereas Mattie's uniform was filled out by his solid, toned frame. Both boys had dark, wavy hair, and both were gorgeous, in their own way, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Mattie. Lately, everything he did drew my attention—the way he moved, his furious attitude or petulant pouting, the way he was so sweet to Nicky, like a brother or a cousin? Now my thoughts were going in a different direction, a direction I didn't want to think about in front of Cass. Not when he was already busting my balls.

"No." One word was all he was getting from me on the subject.

"But you want to?"

"Fuck off, Cass. Go find something to do."

He leaned against the arm of the canopy. "I'm good right here. Nicky tells me it's only a matter of time before Mattie makes his move." A muscle in my jaw ticked, and the longer he stared, my nostrils flared. "Maybe he already has," Cass guessed. "So, what are you gonna do about it?"

"If you're trying to make a point, fucking make it already. Otherwise, get off my flybridge."

Cass chuckled, which annoyed the fuck out of me. The heat of the day was already getting to me. Shit, everything was getting to me this morning .

"Why are you fighting this so hard? When it was my ass on the line, you had nothing but positive, encouraging things to say about how I ‘ should go after my boy ,' and ‘ don't let a good man slip away .' But when it comes to you, it's ‘ get the fuck off my flybridge .' What gives?"

Sighing loudly, I finally met his eyes. "I guess I can see now how you were conflicted. I wasn't, because it wasn't my ass on the chopping block with Brian."

"But now that it is with your sister, you have doubts?"

"Legally, he's my step-nephew."

"Legally, he's not shit. Nobody cares about that. His father just kicked him out, for God's sake."

My jaw tightened, and the sound of my molars grinding together sounded loud inside my head. His fucking father was a piece of shit.

"He's young," I pointed out. Cass doubled over, laughing. I wanted to kick him in the nuts. "He's a virgin and still figuring out his sexuality."

"That's fucking bullshit," Cass argued. "He might be a virgin, same as Nicky was, but I've never seen someone so eager to get rid of their virginity, except my own boy. He's not na?ve about his sexuality. I think he's got it all figured out. With a father like his, can you blame him for not going public with that shit any sooner? It wasn't safe for him. You gave him that safe space to come forward. What you did for him was huge, Sam. It was life-changing. "

"You think he wants to fuck me out of some sort of debt of gratitude?"

We both gazed out over the bow, watching the boys tickle each other with their toes, laughing and thriving in the sunshine.

"Debt of gratitude, my ass. That boy is hung up on you, Nicky, and the idea of the three of us together. Take mercy on him before he does something incredibly stupid to get your attention."

"The kind of relationship I want with him… I don't think he has any clue what that would look like."

"Then teach him. Teach him what it is to be your boy. I think he's perfect for the role."

After lunch, I switched out with Cass, giving him a turn at the wheel, and ran through my mental checklist of shit I needed to get squared away. Lifting the lid on the equipment box on deck, disguised as a bench with a cushion on top, I checked several lines of rope I'd asked the boys to coil when we left the marina. Sure enough, they looked like shit. Tossed in a heap instead of coiled and tied off like they should have been. Like I taught them. I glanced up and the first one I saw was Nicky.

"Come here," I barked, crooking my finger .

"Yes, sir?"

"Did you do this?" I pointed to the rope thrown into the box.

"No, sir," he said, his throat sliding as he gulped.

"I see. Find your partner in crime and send him to me, please. Pronto."

Damn, I was pissed. This was my boat, my baby, and I wasn't going to tolerate bullshit and shoddy work. I worked hard, and I expected everyone else around me to work just as hard.

A minute later, Matteo popped his head up from below deck. "Yeah?"

"Yeah?" I repeated. "It's ‘ yes, sir .'"

"Okay, sir?"

"Did you do this?" I asked angrily.

"Yeah—yes sir."

"Is that how I showed you to tie rope?" He shook his head slowly, apparently afraid to say no. "I'll stand here and wait while you do it properly, like I showed you."

"Yes, sir."

Of course, he knew how to do it. Apparently, he was just being lazy. Thinking I wouldn't notice. Eventually, he would learn that I noticed everything that happened on my boat.

"Sorry, won't happen again," he murmured, turning away.

"Not so fast." I reached out to snag his wrist. "Hands out, palms down."

Taking the shortest length of rope from the box, I bound his wrists together.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"It's what are you doing, sir," I corrected. "Maybe you need to spend a little time with the rope, one-on-one, so you learn how to treat it with more respect."

"It's scratching my skin," he complained, testing his binds.

"Tough shit."

"But…"

"Tough shit," I repeated. "Go downstairs and kneel next to my bed. Don't touch anything, for God's sake," I bit out, "and don't touch yourself either," I emphasized, remembering how hard he was last time he kneeled for me.

"Yes, sir."

Thirty minutes later, I checked on him. He was kneeling, like a good boy, with his eyes closed, hands resting on his thighs.

I crouched down in front of him. "I like this, the way you kneel for me so perfectly." I stroked my hand down his thigh, and sure enough, his dick began to thicken before my eyes, straining at the fabric of his shorts. "You look so good like this, obedient and willing. Just imagine if you were…"

Naked . Naked and hard, with the tip of your cock dripping for me.

"If I were what, sir?" he asked .

You know what. "There are so many things I want to teach you."

"I want to learn."

Damn, his voice sounded breathy. He really was turned on. "I don't think you're ready for the kind of things I want to teach you."

Mattie swallowed nervously, but he bravely met my eyes. "I won't know unless I try. I agreed to be your apprentice for the summer, but I don't want to learn about fishing and tying knots. I want to learn what you really have to teach me. About becoming a man."

"You agreed to be my apprentice? Agreed is a strong word. More like roped into it," I teased, stressing the word roped. I began to untie his wrists.

"I think I'm ready."

"You think ?" Without realizing it, I leaned in closer, close enough to feel his breath puff across my lips.

"I know ," he amended.

"We'll see about that." He flexed his wrists, rubbing at the chafed skin, and I brought his hands to my lips, pressing a soft kiss over the pulse point in each wrist. Mattie gasped, and when I looked up, his lips were parted. The perfect invitation.

"Thank you for kneeling for me so beautifully. Thank you for your obedience. The next time I give you a job, I hope you remember this lesson."

"Maybe if you kiss me, I'll be sure not to forget," he said boldly, licking his lips.

Fuck, but I wanted to taste his kiss so badly. Taking hold of his jaw, I rubbed my thumb across his chin. "Are you scheming again, brat?"

"No, sir," he breathed.

Just one kiss, Sam. Just once. Softly, my lips brushed over his, but on my second pass, his tongue snaked out to lick my lips. I sucked it into my mouth, taking long pulls on it, as if I were sucking his cock. Mattie moaned. What I wouldn't give to hear him moan like that while riding my cock. He slanted his lips against mine, fitting together perfectly, our tongues dancing together in the wet heat of my mouth. Grabbing his hips, I tugged him over my lap. He pushed his cock against mine, grinding on me. The friction made me almost desperate to tear his clothes off. Mattie broke the kiss in order to pull his cock out, and I dragged a deep breath into my lungs, letting it clear some of the fog from my brain.

"Mattie, stop."

"But…"

"Not like this, not right now. It was just a kiss."

"Just a kiss?" he asked angrily.

There he was, my Mattie-boy, my brat.

"Let that be your next lesson."

"What's that? How to be a dick?"

"No, that I don't give away my kisses so easily. And neither should you. They should be earned. You behaved beautifully on your knees, which earned you a kiss. Don't push your luck."

I could see his wounded pride reflected in his eyes. It was our first kiss, so no doubt his hormones were bubbling over with a vengeance. But if he could continue to behave himself, I would make it up to him. Eventually.