Chapter 16

It was the fourth morning in a row Adrian had woken up, before dawn, in a sweat and with his hand wrapped tight around his morning wood. He was turning back into a horny teenager. It didn’t stop him from squeezing, though, or rubbing… That felt nice. He huffed out a laugh. Nice, and then some. Especially when Luca twisted into his head, eyes glazed with lust, lips loose and wet, a deep flush colouring his sweat soaked face… His cock thickened in his hand, responding to his lazy but insistent stroke. Up and down, then up again, shivering as he brushed his thumb pad over the moistening slit. Catching his breath, he let his legs flop wider as he increased both pressure and pace as an image of Luca, head flung back, mouth open wide, crying out as he?—

The door barged open. Adrian gasped as his eyes widened.

“Jesus.” Shaky laughter rippled through him, his cock deflating, as Spud ambled across the bedroom and tried to lumber up onto the bed before giving up and flopping down on the floor. Adrian pushed himself up to sitting and glared at the old dog, who wagged his tail in enthusiastic greeting. “You certainly know how to time an entrance.”

Spud cocked his head and gazed up at him looking, as ever, as though he was smiling just for him.

“You’re only looking at me like that because you want your breakfast, you little cock blocker.”

Spud wagged his tail harder in agreement, long pink tongue licking around his chops.

After sorting out his dog, making sure he was fed and had everything he needed, Adrian headed back upstairs for a long, hot shower. Under the fierce flow of water, he let his head hang back.

Four days since he’d succumbed to the madness of blowing Luca on his kitchen table. Four days of not being able to get Luca out of his mind. The man’s ragged breath, his moans, his muttered, incoherent words. The sound of Luca, the smell of Luca, the feel of Luca, all the time both pliant and demanding, and so fucking responsive.

Adrian’s dick bobbed against his stomach, demanding attention. A couple of sharp tugs was all it took for him to paint the tiled walls of the shower cubical. The pummelling water took away his release as he pressed his head against the smooth ceramic, breath coming hard and fast.

Four days since he’d promised to call, reaching for the phone before snatching his hand away. Guilt slithered over his skin. He didn’t want these… feelings. He didn’t want them for any man. He didn’t want them for a man with eyes the colour of cornflowers and a smile that could make his heart turn somersaults. So why the hell had he asked Luca out for a date?

Clenching his fists and pressing his forehead harder against the tiles, he squeezed his eyes shut so hard they stung. He’d call Luca, tell him what had happened between them had been a mistake… an amazing, incredible, breathtaking mistake that was making his heart hammer hard in his chest, and his dick pulse between his legs.

“What the fuck am I doing?” he roared into the steam filled cubicle.

He fumbled for the lever on the shower and wrenched it to one side, gasping as the water turned icy.

Luca had been a mistake. A glorious, fucking, beautiful mistake. And one he wanted to make all over again.

* * *

Trade, as ever, was brisk in the weekly farmers’ market. Adrian eyed his stall. By this rate, he’d be sold out by midday. Just like most weeks. He was supposed to man it until the market finished at 2.00pm, as the po-faced market superintendent never failed to tell him — which Adrian never took any notice of. His stomach rumbled. He’d spent too long in the shower, washing the sweat from his body and Luca from his mind, one more successful than the other. Breakfast had been a casualty. The plan, when he’d arrived, to dash into Harbour Coffee and grab a drink and sandwich had been scuppered as a number of early bird customers had claimed his attention, making him forget about his growling stomach.

“Morning.” Joss was the next in the queue, his smile as bright as ever. “How’s Spud?”

“So much better, thanks to you and Oliver. I was really worried that he… well, you know.”

“I do know.” Joss leant over and gave Adrian’s forearm a small squeeze. “But there’s no need to fret. Yes, he’s old, but he’s basically healthy. If that’s what Oliver says, you can rest easy. He was a top vet in London, you know.” Joss swelled with pride. Like so many, Oliver had decamped from the city for a new life in the village and was one of Love’s Harbour’s most respected residents.

“He’s pretty perky.” Adrian felt the heat in his cheeks, at the memory of Spud disturbing his morning?—

“…meeting this evening, then we’re having drinks in the pub for Oliver’s birthday.”

Joss smiled up at him, the gleam in his eyes showing he was waiting for an answer. Joss chuckled.

“Don’t know where you were for a minute, but it wasn’t the market. There’s a festival meeting later. It’ll only be a short check-in one, as Eva and my nan have it all under control. Honestly, they could organise the whole thing themselves, everybody else is pretty much surplus to requirements. You’ll come over for drinks after, won’t you?” Joss leant in, and lowered his voice. “Nan offered to bake a cake.” Joss grimaced. “I had to try and divert that disaster, and said I’d ordered one from Beryl’s Baps ’n’ Buns. Once I’d said that, I didn’t have much choice. But you can’t have a birthday and no cake, can you? So you will stay?”

The committee, which he really needed to excuse himself from. The committee, where Luca would be.

“I’ll be busy, with the farm?—”

“At 7.30pm?” Joss looked dubious, and Adrian felt a shot of embarrassment as though Joss could see the reason for his puny excuse. “Honestly, it’s just a check-in, quick as you like to make more time for cake and ale!”

Joss’ expression was so hopeful, saying no would be like kicking an over eager puppy.

“Sure. But just for one.” It’d be the ideal time to tell Eva he’d be bowing out.

He sold out of everything on the strike of noon. Packing away, and ignoring the market superintendent’s glare, he climbed into the front of his van. Instead of switching on the ignition, he slumped against the steering wheel as all the thoughts he’d kept at bay when he’d been busy came tumbling down. Why had he let Joss talk him into going this evening? Luca would be there, Luca who he’d not yet called to cancel their date…

A date he wanted to keep… was afraid to keep…

Fucking hell.

His breath stumbled in his throat. Christ, but the man had made him see stars when for so long all he’d stared into had been a dark, lifeless sky. But it was more than the intense physical attraction. It was something altogether more dangerous. Luca switched on a light inside him. With a shaking hand he started up the engine, unsure if he could, or even wanted, to flick it off.