The sun was nearing the horizon, flooding the town's streets with a golden-orange glow. The shriek of seagulls broke the lazy calm of the approaching evening. The air was thick with salty moisture, a constant reminder of the nearby sea. Colin hadn't made it to the shore yet. He hadn't been to the sea in… He couldn't even remember. Probably not since college. After that, it had been all work. No time for trips to the beach, no time for slow walks like this one.
God, did he have time for anything back then?
He had, he thought bitterly, trying not to dwell on the failure that had exiled him here. The failure that still filled him with resentment.
Colin Stone wasn't in a hurry to return to his new home. The apartment was comfortable enough, but he had no desire to run into Brad Lipski and his family. It wasn't that he disliked them—they hadn't done anything to him, and they were all very kind—but he could sense trouble brewing around them. And trouble was the last thing he wanted.
Well, maybe not them. The twins were just kids. But Brad—damn, that man was definitely bad news.
Just thinking his name sent a wave of heat through Colin. That man was… how to put it? Dangerous… no, dangerously attractive. The kind of guy who was wild and untamed, the type who smelled like a reckless, one-night adventure in some seedy bar. The kind of bar, like the one last night, where Brad had grabbed that guy by the throat and slammed him against the wall so hard that no one else in the room dared to move—like he had pinned not just one man, but everyone.
That was Brad Lipski in a nutshell.
Colin had never had a thing for bad boys. Never dated one. But when a good boy becomes tough enough to get handcuffs on him, the bad boy suddenly starts looking different.
No, that wasn't it, Colin scolded himself. Yes, Lipski was sexy, but not because he was dangerous. He was just… really damn good-looking. And any man could appreciate the raw appeal of a symmetrically built, athletic body stretching beneath a shirt so tight it wouldn't even hide a hardened nipple from the cold.
Maybe that was why Brad always wore that leather jacket.
Colin shook his head as if to drive the thoughts away. He wasn't some hormone-fueled teenager, easily swayed by the sight of the first handsome man he met.
But who said Brad Lipski was just any man?
The guy could easily grace the pages of gay magazines. Or women's magazines.
Absolute perfection.
But also trouble, and Colin REALLY didn't need any complications in his life. Which was probably why he hadn't asked anyone what the fight outside the store had been about. He had a feeling it was more important than it seemed at first glance, but he didn't ask. It wasn't his business.
And he wouldn't ask, he decided. He wouldn't even let Brad know he had witnessed that scene. Why should he? They were just two strangers with a landlord-tenant arrangement and shared meals included in the rent.
Nothing more. And nothing more was what Colin Stone needed in his life.
He felt like he had been telling himself that over and over since yesterday. He probably had.
But who would have thought that, right after moving to this tiny town at the end of the world, he'd meet a man who would shake his senses so thoroughly?
After all, coming here, he knew the odds of meeting a gay man who was his type were close to zero.
Right. Because Brad Lipski wasn't gay.
And if he was?
Colin's heart pounded harder. He took a deep breath.
It wouldn't change anything.
Nothing.
A sharp pain clenched his heart. Did he really have no bigger problems, no more important matters to worry about than dwelling on something he didn't need?
Lost in bitterness over occupying his mind with such trivial thoughts, he found himself standing in front of the gate leading to the Lipskis' property. Instinctively, he took another deep breath and pressed down on the latch. A shower would help—he'd forget all these foolish thoughts in no time…
Damn, shower gel! He'd completely forgotten to buy it! Should he turn back to the store?
Later, he thought. Since he was practically home already, he'd check what else he needed and do a bigger shopping trip then.
He headed toward his annex, passing Stacy's car and the entrance to the main house. The smell of cigarette smoke reached him. His brows furrowed instinctively. He glanced to the right and saw him—the man he had been thinking about the entire way back from the supermarket. Brad Lipski stood leaning against the wooden fence, slightly hunched over, a lit cigarette held between his fingers.
Colin's heart pounded. There was something spellbinding about the sight before him. The sun, nearing the horizon, filtered through the garden's trees, casting a golden glow on him, while shifting shadows danced across his body, alternately revealing and concealing the silhouette that had unsettled Colin so much the night before. Well, not just last night.
Stone's throat went dry. His heart was beating so fast, so hard, that it might have alarmed a cardiologist.
Then Brad lifted his gaze and looked straight at him. Surprise flickered in his eyes, followed by something resembling embarrassment. A crooked smirk tugged at his lips.
"Not a word about the dangers of smoking," he muttered.
Colin suddenly realized he had started walking again. He hadn't even noticed that he had stopped before, frozen in shock—perhaps even paralyzed by the sight and his own body's reaction.
Now he was moving again, but not toward the door of his annex. He was walking toward Brad.
"Actually, I was going to ask if you'd share one with me," he said, coming to a stop beside Lipski and leaning his back against the sun-warmed wood.
"I didn't know you smoked, doc," Brad murmured, shaking the pack so that a cigarette slid out slightly.
Stone reached for it, startled by the tremor in his own hand.
"Learned it in college," he admitted. "Though, luckily, I never got hooked."
Lipski flicked his lighter once, then again, but it refused to cooperate. The stubbornness of inanimate objects could be truly malicious.
"Well, no other choice," Brad announced, and before Colin realized what was happening, his face was right in front of him…