Heath led him to the couch and layered him with towels and blankets before going to deal with the standing water. Lying back against the cushions, Evan closed his eyes and followed thetsksand grumbles as Heath moved through the house, lamenting the wood while dragging towels across the floor.
What happened now? Did they pretend nothing had happened? Maybe they should. It was a tense situation, way out of Heath’s wheelhouse. Overcome with panic, he’d acted rashly. Simple as that.
Or maybe Evan wasn’t giving him enough credit. What if he’d had enough presence of mind to behave like an actual husband would have? You didn’t send your man out into a raging storm without a little luck, right? What if it was the last time you saw them? You’d want something to remember them by.
He covered his face with a pillow and groaned. What in the utter fuck was wrong with him? Where were these thoughts coming from?
“Oh, goddammit!”
Evan shot to his feet and followed the dismay to a trickle of water seeping from the sun porch’s doorway. He hadn’t quite earned his PhD in The Moods of Lennox, but he knew despair intimately, and it was all over Heath’s face.
Shit.
The porch’s amazing view stemmed from the lack of things blocking it, which meant it had become an extension of the swimming pool in the storm and soaked all of Heath’s belongings.
“Oh, damn. Your books.”
Evan moved into the room, robotically plucking them from any surface he found them and stacking them against his forearm. It gave him a purpose, something to focus on that wasn’t the fear and confusion of the last hour.
Some were in better shape than others, but all were a variation of damp. With slumped shoulders, Heath sighed, his eyes settled on the mixture of paperbacks and small hardcovers running from Evan’s wrist to his elbow. “They’ll dry.”
They would, but they wouldn’t be the same.
Evan brought them into the kitchen and laid them out on a dishcloth. Heath appeared next to him and ran his fingers across the darkened fabric of one hardcover. “Oh, dammit.”
Evan watched him pick up the little book and carefully inspect its binding and pages. A couple hung loose, the paper having absorbed too much to hold on. The rest had wrinkled, and some of the ink had run. It was ruined.
He put it back onto the counter and gave it a soft pat before returning to the porch without saying another word. He didn’t need to. The grief was palpable.
Curious, Evan picked it up and turned it over in his hand, promptly choking.
“Please tell me that’s a reproduction.”
Heath looked up from the pile of soggy clothes he’d shoved into a laundry bag. “Oh, no, but it’s only a second printing.”
“A second printing ofHuckleberry Finn,Heath.”
Who the hell brought treasures like that on vacation? Who brought physical books, period? Wasn’t that what e-readers were for?
“I bring it with me when I travel. Like a lucky talisman for adventure.”
He tried and failed not to laugh. “Youwantadventure? You?”
If he were a cat, Heath would have puffed into a fully round ball of exasperation. “I happen to be very open to adventure, thank you. I just prefer a little warning before it happens.”
Lips rolled inward, Evan stared at the floor and breathed through several rounds of comebacks he knew wouldn’t land. “Well, mission accomplished for this trip, I think.”
With a huff,Heath focused his attention entirely on the task of managing his wet wardrobe, but the corners of his mouth quivered upward, giving Evan permission to smile. It killed Heath to like him even the littlest bit, but he clearly did.
Enough to kiss him, in fact.
Kiss.Christ, just thinking the word made his mind replay a quick flash of the moment on the boat. He’d been surprised, the closed-lip attack the last thing he’d expected, but in a breath his instinct kicked in, and it took no effort to bring them up a level. Heath had opened to him instantly, with a sharp intake of breath and the quietest moan. Tasting of sea salt and peaches.
The lights flickered as they returned to the kitchen. Electricity crackled and popped through the air, and then a bright flash and deafeningboomsent them into darkness.
“God fucking dammit!”
Evan let out a surprised laugh at the vehemence and language. “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”
