1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jesse

I shoved the last of the camping supplies in the back of my pick-up and took a step back.

"Everything's loaded up. I left a space for your brother's duffle bag. Are you sure he won't need any more room than that?"

"I'm sure. I told him we were bringing all the supplies, that all he had to bring was a couple changes of clothes and his toiletries."

"Okay," I said. "I can't think of anything else we need. We have food, tents, a cook-stove, and fuel."

"And fishing gear." Victor reached up and pulled down the tonneau cover on the back of my truck. "Once we get there, we can rent some kayaks or maybe a boat. I'm really looking forward to spending some time out on the lake."

"Me, too. My family spent so much time at Lake Bishop when I was growing up. I keep thinking maybe I should look into getting a cabin over there."

"You should look while we're there."

"I might just do that. Now, let's go get your brother."

"Are you sure you don't mind waiting for Andy? If you do, I could hang around until he's done, and we could take my car." Victor motioned towards his Porsche that sat in his open garage.

"That Boxster has no business roughing it at the campgrounds. Besides, it makes more sense for us to take one vehicle."

His little brother Andy was a firefighter here in Vesper, and they were doing a photoshoot this morning for a charity calendar. Victor and I had already worked it out for us to both be gone for a few days from the club we owned together, so when this calendar thing came up, it was too late for us to change the camping trip. Andy had offered to just skip the trip, but Victor had wanted him to come, so we agreed to wait to leave until after it was done.

A few minutes later, we pulled into the Joe Gonzales Park. It wasn't hard to figure out where to go, since their photoshoot included a fire truck, an ambulance, and a bunch of dogs of various breeds and sizes. They'd also attracted a pretty large crowd of spectators. Apparently, firefighters and puppies were a big draw.

I found a place to park, and Victor and I got out. I'd expected to see firemen in their firefighting gear, but they were wearing the pants, a pair of suspenders, and nothing else. Now that I saw the way they were dressed, or not dressed as it was, the crowd made a lot more sense.

I scanned the group of shirtless men, looking for Andy, but I didn't see him anywhere.

"Do you see him?" I asked.

"No, but he has to be here somewhere."

I didn't know Andy very well. Victor and I opened the club together a few years ago, but Andy had only recently moved to Vesper. He'd been into the club fairly often, usually to hang out with Victor, and of course, I'd noticed that he was objectively hot, but he was Victor's little brother and not really my type. I preferred my boys a little extra. That was why I'd been so set on us having Daddy/boy nights at the club.

Those were the only nights I still worked as a bartender. It helped me to keep an eye on things and make sure the boys were safe. Plus, it had been my idea, not Victor's, so I felt a responsibility to make sure those nights went well.

I'd seen Andy come in on more than one of the Daddy/boy nights, although I wasn't sure why. He didn't put off Daddy vibes, but nothing I'd seen had made me think boy either. More than one of the local firefighters came on those nights, so maybe he was just hanging out with his friends.

It was hard to say what his deal was, especially since I'd heard stories from Victor about what a wild child his brother was and how much trouble he'd gotten into back in New Jersey. For that reason, I kept an eye on him at first to make sure he stayed out of trouble, but so far, I'd seen no sign those stories were true. Not that I thought Victor lied, just that maybe the stories he'd heard from friends back home had been exaggerated.

"Oh, there he is." Victor pointed. "He doesn't look like a happy camper, that's for sure." He chuckled and shook his head. "That looks like the Andy I know and love."

I followed his finger to where he pointed and almost swallowed my damn tongue. It was Andy all right, but not like I'd ever seen before. This Andy I could see being a troublemaker and a boy. A very, very sexy boy.

For some god-forsaken reason, he was wearing a pair of bunny ears, and heaven help me, no shirt. I'd known he had to be fit. You didn't make it as a firefighter if you weren't, but he'd always seemed a bit small for the job to me. Little did I know that the clothes he normally wore hid a rock-solid body of pure toned muscle.

He was wearing the firefighter pants like all the other guys, and they'd added a pair of light pink suspenders that really emphasized the tan color of his skin. He had his arms crossed across his chest and a picture-perfect pout that had brat written all over it. That, mixed with the bunny ears, was centerfold worthy, and I had a feeling I was going to be buying myself a calendar. I would just keep it at home. Victor didn't have to know.

A few seconds later, he jerked his head to the side like someone had called him, and he stomped over to where a small group of people were sitting. When he reached them, he stopped right in front of Keith Brooks. I knew both him and his boy, Caleb, from the club. He was a firefighter, as well, and worked at the same station as Andy, but he'd been injured on the job a month or so ago.

Andy listened while Keith spoke to him, and he plopped down on the ground like a put-out toddler. It shouldn't have been cute, but it was. At one point, he motioned towards us, and the whole group turned to look, but their attention was drawn back to him because he was still talking and using his hands to make whatever point he was trying to make.

Keith said something else, and Andy's whole body deflated, and he nodded in agreement.

"Remember that fishing hole we found last time we went?" Victor asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said, but I never took my eyes off Andy. Fuck, I hope he wasn't planning on going shirtless all weekend, or I was going to have a hard time, literally.

"I hope we can find it again. You know, I don't know if Andy has ever gone fishing. It wasn't really my parent's thing." He continued talking about all the things he wanted to do this weekend, and I managed to say the right things in the right places so he wouldn't realize I was busy perving on his little brother.

The guys over near the firetruck called out Andy's name, and he hopped up off the ground where he'd been talking to Caleb. He reached around and brushed the dirt off his very firm ass, and damn, who knew firefighter pants fit that damn good? Or maybe they didn't. Maybe that was a special pair for the photoshoot.

As he made his way over to where the photographer waited, I forced my gaze away and tried to think of something halfway intelligent to say. I noticed all the puppies in their crates and thought that seemed like a safe subject. "Do you ever think about getting a dog?"

"Me? No, I'm not really a dog person. I don't want to worry about where it is or if it has food and water. Andy has one, though. Her name is Persephone, but he calls her Seph. He loves that animal."

"What kind is she?"

"No idea. She's a mix of some kind. Thing is big as a horse. Made it hard for him to find a place to rent. Although I'm still not sure why he felt like he had to get his own place so quick, it wasn't like he was in the way at my house or anything."

"I don't know. Maybe he just likes his independence." I was trying really hard to keep my focus on Victor and what he was saying, but Andy was like a magnet, drawing my gaze back to where he was posing for the photographer over and over. To have been as moody as he'd been a bit ago, he was having a ball with it now, and he looked damn good doing it.

I'd been sneaking glances, trying not to be obvious, but now he was bent over, mimicking picking up the small white fur ball he was posing with, and I swear it was borderline obscene. "What kind of calendar are they making over there?" I growled without thinking.

"What?" he asked before turning his attention to where Andy was, and then he laughed. "I'm sure that shot won't make the calendar. That's just Andy being Andy. He was always a bit over the top. You should see our old family photos. Our father used to get so mad because Andy was always cutting up and doing crazy things to be the center of attention."

"That's too bad. I'm sure he was just having fun." My brother Shawn was like that, and I was so glad my parents never tried to change him.

"Nah, our dad was never mean about it or anything. He just thought there was a time and place for that kind of thing. Our mother, on the other hand, adored that kid. He could do no wrong as far as she was concerned."

A smile tweaked his lips as he talked about his parents. The Ward family had been close and losing their parents so unexpectedly had been hard on him, and I was glad to see him smiling at the memories.

He looked back over at Andy, who was laughing and trying to prop the bunny ears he'd been wearing on the head of a tiny little fluff ball. "To be honest, I'm kind of relieved to see him like this. He's been so…dull since he moved to Vesper that I was afraid I made a mistake by making him come here."

"Well, he's anything but dull today. It looks like he's finishing up, though, so we should be able to get on the road pretty soon."

A few minutes later, he was headed our way. He'd changed clothes, and to both my relief and my disappointment, he'd ditched the firefighter outfit and the bunny ears, and he was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt that said Little Beach Bay, New Jersey on it.

I lifted the cover on the bed of the truck and waited while he tossed his duffle in.

"Sorry that took so long. They did the cover first and then did the other shots in order of the month. I couldn't get them to just take me first, so I had to wait my turn."

"It's no problem, kid. We'll still get there plenty early." And yes, I purposely called him kid as a reminder to myself that this was Vic's little brother, not a sexy, bratty boy that I had any business lusting over.