Courage and Comfort Read online

  “Shit. Zero to one hundred in ten seconds,” Edmund gasped.

  “Yeah, well, it’s been a while since we had a quickie. We can go slow tonight. I have an urge to spank that pale ass of yours. It looks mighty pretty when it’s all pink.” Edmund’s dick stood up again at Utah’s words, and both men laughed. Regretfully Utah tucked it back inside Edmund’s swimwear and zipped up the front of the wetsuit. “Pink from spanking is fine. Pink from sunburn, not so much.”

  They both laughed and rested companionably together, watching a few windsurfers out in deeper water, then turning to look back at the beach and the swimmers in the shallower water. “It’s really peaceful here. There’s no one nearby at all. I’d like to come here again some time for a vacation, when we could just relax.” Utah sighed.

  “Let’s do that. We could even bring Mavis and the baby. Maybe rent a house for a week or something.”

  “But first we need to find this damn Aquamarine,” Utah said, standing up again.

  Chapter Three

  All afternoon they searched for the stone, following the edge of the sandbar, moving across the direct line from the cliff wall, gradually extending their boundaries, then coming back to search again over the same areas.

  “Do you think we should hire a scuba-diving kit tomorrow so we can stay down longer, maybe even dig up the sand some, to check deeper?” Utah asked that night as they rested in their hotel room.

  “I don’t know. I feel so helpless, so confused. Do you think we can’t see it because I don’t want to find it enough? Because I’m a bit skeptical? I do want Mavis to reclaim her life, I truly do. I know it’s much too soon for her to stop mourning John. I know he’ll always be a part of her, and that she’ll always miss him. I just want her to be able to care properly for the baby and to look forward and make a future for John Jr.” Edmund could hear the sadness and desperation in his own voice and was glad no one but Utah could hear him. He didn’t mind baring his soul to his partner, but he sure as hell didn’t want anyone else to know how hard this situation had hit him, how terribly impotent he felt about it all.

  “If we needed to hire equipment or dig, AJ would have told us. What she said was to swim out to the spot and it would call to you. She did say we needed to be together. Do you think she meant like, side by side, not just both looking?” Utah replied.

  Edmund felt a flicker of hope spark inside him. “Yes, she did say our being lovers was important. That’s why she couldn’t go get it herself. Let’s try that tomorrow, then. Stay close together and look again. If that doesn’t work….” The flicker of hope almost died, and he swallowed a lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat.

  “If we don’t find it tomorrow, we’ll hire the scuba gear. We will succeed,” Utah said firmly.

  Damn I love that man so much. Utah was like a solid rock Edmund could lean on. “Deal.” Edmund smiled at Utah, and Utah opened his arms and pulled Edmund into them. “I think we need to go to bed. It’s time for me to love you properly.”

  Edmund lifted his face and kissed Utah, pouring his need and love into the kiss. First it was a sweet touching of lips, but then it deepened until he let himself drown in Utah, giving and receiving all the passion deep inside him. He hoped Utah understood just how much he was loved, appreciated, cherished, and also how his simply being there strengthened Edmund in his resolve to help Mavis and the baby.

  When they broke the kiss, Utah pulled Edmund to his feet, wrapped an arm over his shoulders, and turned them both to the bed. They were so attuned to each other, they undressed and climbed into bed almost matching each other move for move. But then Utah rolled Edmund onto his front and straddled Edmund’s hips. Placing his hands on Edmund’s shoulders, Utah said, “You’re all knotted up with tension. Let’s start by loosening your muscles up some.” He proceeded to dig his thumbs deep into Edmund’s shoulders.

  Edmund let his face sink into the pillow and tried to relax. He hadn’t realized how tense he was. Yes, his shoulders and back were knotted and achy. It was obvious now that Utah had pointed it out to him. And oh, that massage did feel good, Utah’s strong fingers pressing deep into Edmund’s back and working on the tense muscles. He sighed contentedly and relaxed further, letting his whole body sink into the mattress, while his mind drifted over pleasing images of Utah lying naked on a towel, every inch of his muscular body on display. Edmund was just about to lick Utah’s nipples—in his imagination—when a hard slap on his ass startled him out of his reverie.

  “Hey, don’t go to sleep on me here!”

  “Actually, sleeping wasn’t what I had in mind for us to do.”

  “Good. Because it sure as hell isn’t what I’d planned either.”

  “Ahh, that feels so much better. You’re very good with your hands.” Edmund flexed his muscles, rolling his shoulders and stretching his back.

  “And about to get better.” Utah slid off Edmund’s hips, slapping Edmund’s ass again as he moved.

  Edmund flipped over onto his back and parted his legs, planting his feet flat on the mattress. Immediately his cock stood straight up from its nest of pale blond curls. Edmund hid a grin as he watched Utah’s gaze fix on his cock. Then Utah licked his lips very slowly, and Edmund felt his own balls tighten. Damn, the man’s sexy. It was hard to tell who was arousing whom here.

  “Lube,” Utah gasped, rolling over to the nightstand and almost pulling the drawer off its tracks in his haste to grab the jar.

  Edmund grinned and watched Utah search madly though the few things in the drawer. The lube jar dropped on the bed, its top wrenched off and sent flying as Utah’s fingers dived into the cream. Teasingly, Edmund raised his ass, joining his hands together under his knees to expose himself to his partner.

  “You do understand this will be all over even faster than on the beach if you don’t stop teasing me real soon.” Utah groaned.

  “What? You, a one-shot-a-night man? I don’t believe it,” Edmund replied.

  “Oh, okay, so this will be the entrée, and we’ll have the main course later. In that case….”

  Edmund gasped as three fingers plunged deep into his ass with no warning. Utah drove the fingers deep, twisting and turning them, stroking Edmund’s walls, causing Edmund’s need to rise to “off the scale” in one second. Precum pearled in the slit of Edmund’s dick, his balls drew up tight, and tingles ran up and down his spine. “Hell!”

  “Got a problem I can help you with?”

  “Yeah. You’d better get your dick in me in the next three seconds, or it’ll be too late.”

  “Three seconds, huh? One.” Utah removed his fingers from Edmund and dug them into the jar of lube again. “Two.” He coated his cock with lube. “Three.” Utah grabbed Edmund’s hips, hauled his partner up close and tight to himself, and slammed his dick into Edmund’s hole.

  Both men groaned as Utah forced his way in, then sighed as Utah’s dick popped through the muscle and slid deep inside. Without waiting to let them both acclimate to the fullness, Utah pulled back out a ways and pushed in again, setting up a fast, hard pace that rocked the bed—and rocked Edmund’s soul right along with the furniture.

  “Damn, you’re good,” Edmund murmured, wrapping his legs around Utah to free his arms so he could hold on.

  “Only with you. I love you, Edmund.”

  “Love you too.” Edmund patted Utah’s sweaty shoulder, then shuddered in pleasure as Utah swiveled his hips, dragging his dick along Edmund’s sensitive walls and heightening the sensations tenfold.

  Utah jack-hammered into Edmund, and Edmund moved right along with him, the bed rocking furiously, their bodies keeping time with it. Edmund’s cock was pressed between them, the damp head stroking against two warm bellies.

  “Now! Come now,” Utah ordered, and the very words were enough to send Edmund over the edge into release, his cock pumping his seed onto their torsos. At the same instant, heat exploded in his ass as Utah spurted his cum in time with their ragged thrusts. Without words they turned their h
eads, and their lips meshed in a hot, hard kiss, noses knocking together until they got the angle right. “Wow. We really need to learn to slow down some,” Utah said before kissing Edmund again.

  “We can work on that in the shower. Let’s get cleaned up.”

  “I like the way you’re thinking,” Utah said, pulling out of Edmund and climbing off the bed. Once he was upright, he extended a hand to Edmund and hauled the man to his feet, and then they walked into the adjoining bathroom together.

  ****

  It was much later when they made love again, and this time it was a long, slow process of gentle, sleepy kisses, soothing touches, long, and strokes of hands and feet and cocks as they used every part of their bodies to arouse each other.

  Very gradually they progressed from touching and kissing to penetration and, finally, orgasm. This time they didn’t bother to clean up but fell asleep again where they lay, tangled together. Edmund’s last thought as he relaxed was, with Utah by his side, he would find the Aquamarine and help Mavis start along the path to coping with her new life.

  When he woke in the morning, that certainty was still with him. “We’ll find the Aquamarine today. I know we will.”

  “If you believe it, I do too,” Utah replied.

  After breakfast, they packed their beach equipment, which was still sitting on the floor of the room from the day before, and by 9:00 a.m., they were on the beach, walking to the rock wall. Once again they left their towels close to the end of the beach, not far from the cliff. Even though the morning was overcast, Edmund covered his skin liberally with sunblock before pulling on his flippers and hanging his goggles around his neck. For just a moment, he was jealous of Utah’s deeply pigmented skin, of the fact that his partner never had to worry about sunburn, before shrugging the feelings away and walking to the edge of the surf.

  “The tide’s well out. I guess that means more of the sandbar will be exposed,” Utah said.

  “That could be the answer. Maybe the Aquamarine was there yesterday, but we just didn’t see it. Although the water was very clear….”

  Utah slung an arm around his shoulder, gave him a quick hug, then punched him on the upper arm. “Yesterday is gone. It’s today that matters. We’ll find that damn rock today.”

  Edmund’s confidence came rolling back, filling him with hope. He took a deep breath, smiled, and said, “You’re quite right. It’s right there waiting for us. Let’s go get it.”

  Hand-in-hand they strode out into the sea, walking until the water was up to their waists. Utah squeezed Edmund’s hand, flashing him a confident grin before diving into the ocean and swimming out toward the sandbar.

  Edmund watched him. Utah had a clean, neat swimming style, with no extra splashing and no wasted energy. His muscular limbs cut through the water as he swum steadily forward. Edmund loved Utah’s body. He was solidly built, but the bulk was muscle, not fat. Utah’s physique was as hard as the rock wall they were using as their marker to find the Aquamarine.

  The Aquamarine. Edmund focused on the task at hand, told his unruly cock to lie down, and dived into the water to follow his lover.

  If there wasn’t the urgency to find the stone for Mavis, Edmund would have enjoyed the search. The sand was lightly rippled from the tide, the water was clear and warm, and the occasional shell buried underwater was invariably pretty. But he wasn’t here for a pleasant swim. He needed to find this mystical Aquamarine that would help Mavis adjust to the changes in her life. To help John Jr. cope with having been born fatherless into the world.

  That was so hard. John had loved Mavis passionately, and together they’d been so excited when she’d found out the baby was on the way. Edmund had known he was gay since his early teenage years and had never been interested in children or babies. But once he’d held his orphaned nephew in his arms, he’d felt a surge of emotion roar through his body. Instinctively he’d known he had to protect this helpless little child, to support his sister, to do what was needed to set them back on the path to enjoying life again. Which meant finding the Aquamarine and taking it to Mavis. He still didn’t know how the stone was supposed to work, but he was 100 percent committed to finding it.

  Edmund kicked his flippers strongly and hurried to catch up to Utah. Maybe there was some validity in the idea that they needed to be together to search. The premise seemed somewhat absurd, but AJ had said the Aquamarine would only call to lovers, and despite all their hours looking yesterday, neither of them had seen anything remotely like an aquamarine. So….

  Together Utah and Edmund floated for a few minutes, clearing and oxygenating their lungs. Then, making sure they were exactly in line with the point, hand-in-hand they dived into the water, trailing slowly along the edge of the sandbar, back and forth, back and forth. Again and again they dived, crisscrossing the sand, always either hand-in-hand or with their bodies touching each other.

  Edmund sensed Utah was tiring and would soon need to rest, but he had the urge to try one more dive, a little farther east than they’d been so far today. He signaled to Utah, and Utah nodded, then wrapped an arm around Edmund’s waist. Locked together, they dived and searched, their gazes moving constantly as they swam very slowly along the edge of the sandbar.

  An almost-physical tug stopped Edmund, causing Utah to have to somersault to stay with him. Aquamarine? Is that you? Where the hell are you?

  Utah grabbed Edmund’s arm and pointed. Almost buried in the sand was a rock. Together they dived deeper and hovered over it.

  Should I pick it up? Should we pick it up together? Unwilling to risk jeopardizing their mission—if this even was an aquamarine not just an ordinary rock—Edmund took Utah’s hand, and with clasped fingers, they reached down and picked the stone up together. It felt almost warm in Edmund’s hand, and he floated for a long moment, staring at it, until he realized they’d better get to the surface and breathe, or the rock wouldn’t be their biggest problem anymore.

  Edmund pointed upward, and he and Utah kicked up to the surface, then swam together over the sandbar to a very shallow area where they could sit. The tide was still out, so the top of the sandbar was actually out of the water completely. They settled on the damp sand and looked at the stone in their still-joined hands.

  “It’s so smooth,” Utah whispered.

  Gently they turned it over and saw the pale blue flash of light on the underside. “It is the aquamarine.”

  For long moments they stared at the gemstone, and then Edmund smiled. “Hey, we did it! We found the aquamarine!”

  “We need to get back to the hotel so we can phone AJ and tell her. Then we have to pack up and head home as fast as we can.”

  “Yes. Should we keep holding it do you think, or is it safe for me to zip it into my wetsuit?”

  “Oh. That’s a tricky question. I don’t know. What do you think it wants?”

  Edmund held the rock and stared into the heart of the pale blue fire. All he could think of was fucking Utah’s brains out with the joy of their success. He was pretty sure that wasn’t what he was supposed to be thinking. He cleared his mind and asked, “Do we have to keep holding you?” Again, all he received was a picture of himself leaning against the wall as Utah slammed into his ass. He turned to Utah and felt the heat of a blush cross his face. “The only message I’m getting is that we should fuck.”

  “Woo-hoo! I’m agreeable!” Utah paused, then said more soberly, “You know, AJ was quite clear that only lovers could find the stone. Maybe us fucking is part of the process that makes it work.”

  “Well, it just seems weird. We’re doing this to help my sister.”

  “I’m pretty sure she knows we fuck.”

  Edmund laughed. “That’s true. Okay.” He tucked the stone inside his wetsuit and waited to see if he got a contradictory message, but nothing came to him. “Let’s go back to the room, call AJ and Mavis, and then—fuck.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Chapter Four

  Utah stood toweling his hair, wa
tching and listening as Edmund called AJ on the speaker of his cell phone. Edmund had been in such a rush to tell her they’d found the aquamarine, he was still wearing his wetsuit, although he’d unzipped it, and was holding the stone in his hand as he spoke.

  “It was right where you said it’d be, although I’m sure we looked there yesterday and didn’t see it. But today I knew to move a little farther east and then I saw it.”

  “I said it’d call to you. It calls to lovers. What’s it saying to you now?”

  Utah hid a grin as red flushed across Edmund’s pale skin. His skin was so fair, blushing made him look adorable.

  “Um, actually, AJ, I don’t think you want to know.”

  AJ’s laugh echoed through the room. “Uh-huh. Well, you go off and do that. We’ll expect you back here in time for lunch tomorrow. I need to meditate on how to give Mavis the stone. It needs to be introduced to her with ceremony and sensitivity. And I believe we all need to be present to do it.”

  Giving Mavis the aquamarine during a ceremony seemed reasonable to Utah. More important was the information that the stone really did want them to fuck. Well, Utah was always ready to get into Edmund’s pants. The man was dead sexy and didn’t even realize it. Nothing was more arousing than to see his pink handprints on Edmund’s white ass, unless it was maybe to wrap those silky blond locks around his fist as he pulled Edmund’s head back and fucked him against a wall.

  Hmm, there’s a plan for what to do next. Spank him, then fuck him against a wall. Beds are boring. Vertical sex is much more arousing.